Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
What are the good writings on the soul, the stages it foes through, and man’s place in this world?
Walaikum assalam,
There are two works I would whole-heartedly recommend:
1. Degrees of the Soul
One of the best and most systematic works on this subject is Degrees of the Soul, by Shaykh Shabrawi, which was brilliantly translated by Dr. Mostafa Badawi and published by Quilliam Press. It is widely available.
2. Man and the Universe
Dr. Mostafa Badawi has also authored Man and the Universe: An Islamic Perspective, which is an excellent work on the Islamic worldview, his relation to his Lord, and place in creation. It is a brilliant statement of Reality, and how man fits into it. In many ways, it is a primer on Islamic psychology, by a scholar with deep insight into the oceans of Islamic scholarship and spirituality, as well as Western thought and the modern world.
Man and the Universe has been published in a beautiful edition masterfully typeset by Sidi Sohail Nakhooda for Wakeel Books (www.wakeelbooks.com), and is a must for anyone seeking understanding.
As one reviewer said, “It is a modern classic.”
Wassalam,
Faraz Rabbani