Waḥdat al-Wujūd: A Treatise on Self-Reformation

Abstract

A profound Islamic reflection on the self, knowledge, reason, reality, and the journey toward God. Waḥdat al-Wujūd: A Treatise on Self-Reformation is a contemplative work on the formation of the human self and the search for the dunia kamāl—the world of perfection. It is not written as a technical manual of Sufism, nor as a simple self-help book, but as a serious meditation on how the human being may reform the self through knowledge, thought, discipline, wisdom, and spiritual awareness. This book begins with the question of the "I": who is the human being before God, before the world, and before the self? From there, it moves into the deeper territories of selfhood, knowledge, thinking, reality, gnosis, and wisdom. At its heart is the conviction that the human journey is not merely social, intellectual, or psychological, but also metaphysical. Through reflections on īmān, ʿilm, ḥaqīqah, maʿrifah, ḥikmah, kashf, fanāʾ, tawḥīd, and the meaning of the human being as khalīfah, this book invites readers to reconsider the purpose of life as a return to God. Inside this book, readers will explore: the meaning of the "I" and the problem of ego; the self as a field of discipline, struggle, and transformation; knowledge as a path toward God; the limits of rationality and the role of the heart; the difference between outward reality and inner reality; gnosis, unveiling, and the trials of spiritual experience; wisdom as the balance between reason, knowledge, and divine truth; the human being as microcosm and vicegerent. Waḥdat al-Wujūd: A Treatise on Self-Reformation is for readers interested in Islamic spirituality, self-knowledge, Islamic philosophy, metaphysics, Sufi thought, spiritual discipline, Malay-Indonesian Islamic reflection, and the inner transformation of the human being. This is a book for those who do not merely want to understand life, but to examine the self before God.