Mysticism in Islam. `Umar Farrukh is a fine Orientalist--in the good sense of the word. He studied under Germany's best Orientalist, and returned to Lebanon. The sectarian features of the Lebanese university system excluded him from the teaching field so he taught in Al-Maqasid high school. I re-read his classic, At-Tasawwuf fi-l-Islam on the plane. What a great and erudite book. His introduction provides a sweeping and brliant critique of Orientalist literature on mysticism. He provides a strong argument against Massignon's translations and interpretation. He has a list of words and phrases that Massignon got wrong (which reminds me of the great review that A.L. Tibawi wrote of Rosenthal's translation of Ibn Khaldun's Muqaddimah.--talking about translations: Tarif Khalidi's new transation of the Qur'an just came out. Can't wait to read it, and I trust Tarif's translation and knowledge and wisdom. When I was in high school, I had a bet with him about an Arabic word, and I will not say who won). And Farrukh makes excellent case for the context of Sufi expressions. It is clear that Al-Hallaj and Sahrawardi were killed for political reasons and not for religious reasons, as some Orientalists would have us believe. Some of those mystics were quite interesting: one cold source talked about them doing "shameful things" in their homes. I want to know what they did NOW. What I like about Farrukh is that he had the knowledge and skills of Orientalists but was open-eyed and critical.