• We are happy to announce the publication of our latest Matheson Monograph, Weighing the Word: Reasoning the Qur’an as Revelation, by Peter Samsel, available today from booksellers worldwide. This book is pioneering as an exercise in Muslim apologetics, exploring the many arguments, studies and traditions regarding the status of the Qur’an as a revealed text. Click here for more information, to read an excerpt and to buy a copy.

• Our Hinduism section has a new brief article by Swami Prabhavananda on “The Mystical Word OM”, introducing the Hindu doctrine of sphota-vada, “the way of utterance” or “philosophy of the word”, explaining why

The Yogis claim that through meditation one may hear this word OM vibrating through the universe.

• We also have a new article by Hieromonk Elisha (Hiéromoine Élisée) of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, the “Petite mystagogie de la Divine Liturgie”, a profound meditation on the inner aspects of time and space in the Christian liturgy.

Le chrétien doit se séparer de l’esprit du monde pour participer aux mystères, mais, en retour, ceux-ci refluent vers le monde pour le bénir, par la médiation des serviteurs du Verbe. Ainsi s’édifie mystérieusement le royaume de Dieu, espérance et but de l’univers.

• Finally, we have a new Italian article on the relation between the Sufi invocation and the body’s subtle centres (lata’if, chakras) as explained in some Urdu treatises: “Istruzioni sullo dhikr nei centri sottili in alcuni trattati in urdu sulla via mistica”, by Fabrizio Speziale, contains a wealth of references to little known doctrines found among Central Asian Sufi brotherhoods, such as the doctrine of the five hearts.

I cinque cuori (qulub) sono il cuore carnale, il cuore penitente, il cuore bello o grazioso, il cuore che testimonia e il cuore reale (qalb-i haqiqi).