Wahdatul Wujud: Membedah Dunia Kamal [Wahdatul Wujud: Dissecting the World of Perfection]

Abstract

A book by Kamaruzzaman Bustamam Ahmad on the teaching of wahdatul wujud (the unity of being), with a foreword by Prof. Drs. H. Yusny Saby, M.A., Ph.D., and edited by Iskandar Norman. The author traces the roots of this doctrine in the philosophical Sufism (tasawuf falsafi) of Ibn Arabi and his successors, its journey into the Malay world through Hamzah Fansuri and Syamsuddin as-Sumatrani in the Sultanate of Aceh, and the polemic and rejection by Nuruddin ar-Raniri, which culminated in the burning of the wujudiyah books. More than a historical study, this book dissects the "dunia kamal", namely the world of the inner perfection of the human being (insan kamil), and the way the Sufis understood the relationship between God, nature, and humanity, while also weighing the relevance of this thought for the spirituality, culture, and religious life of present-day Aceh. The work shows the author's attention to the intellectual and mystical heritage of Acehnese Islam within the framework of the anthropology of religion.