by Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi (Author) , R. W. J. Austin (Translator) The Ruh al-quds and al-Durrat al-Fakhirah The introduction is by the late Martin Lings who was a British convert to Islam and Sufi who wrote a number of books most notably a biography of Muhammad, a biography of the late Algerian Sufi Sheikh al-Alawi and several works in defence and support of Rene Guenon. The translator R.J. Austin provides us with an introduction to ibn Arabi's life and times giving us a detailed biography of the man and the cultural world in which he lived in. He then provides an introduction to Sufism it appears using much of Martin Lings' works as reference before the translation. The translation itself is simply a brief biography of Sufis who were ibn Arabi's teachers, people he met or scholars he knew of. Several of them are women, something that may be of surprise to some though during ibn Arabi's time it was fairly common to find women in high theological positions and well respected Sufis. The style is common to many books that can be found in the Muslim world as it was a common practice for a Sufi master to compile a biography of his teachers or of his Sufi lineage.