Description
The understanding of contemporary IR remains perturbed by a range of unsettled debates: (1) realities of one world versus many worlds; (2) boundaries of inside versus outside; (3) trials of pain-receiver versus pain-giver; (4) implications of reason versus emotion; and (5) supremacy of science versus metaphysics. Frequently, the offshoots of these debates trigger an unsubstantiated tug-of-war between the two distinct geo-cultural groupings, the former dominated by the West and the latter embodied by the non-West. This paper aims to show how the tripartite scheme of Sufi theology – that is, ‘aql (rational along with reflective thinking), naql (religious tradition), and kashf (direct intuitive knowledge) – responds to these unsettled debates, thereby carving an alternative theoretical-practical pathway to reconcile the tensions between different worlds and to deal with the challenges of current global politics.
