Marietta Stepaniants is Director of the Center for Oriental Philosophies, Institute of Philosophy, at the Russian Academy of Sciences.

This book is the first work in English to present a view from Russia of Islamic mysticism. Ibn Arabi and Rumi are the main characters of the book. Their views reflect Sufi understanding of the Absolute being, of man, of the place and role of humans in the universe, of the way of knowledge, and of the fundamentals of morality.