ABSTRACT
The reader is introduced to al-Jīlī’s life and works. The chapter situates al-Jīlī, who lived from 1365 to 1408 and was principally based in Zabid in Yemen, in the context of Rasulid Yemen and in the wider intellectual and religious context of the Islamic world in the late medieval period, which saw the emergence of a synthesis of the theological, philosophical, and mystical intellectual traditions, and a heightened conception of the exalted cosmic status of the Prophet Muhammad, developments which helped shape al-Jīlī’s thought. I justify my description of al-Jīlī as a ‘Sufi metaphysical thinker in the Ibn ‘Arabian tradition’, list his most important writings, and discuss the structure, contents, style, and influence of his most important work, al-Insān al-kāmil.
