Ibn al-Arabi

For more information on Ibn al-'Arabi, visit Britannica.com.

Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-Arabi (1165-1240) was an outstanding Spanish-born Moslem thinker and mystic. One of the most prolific writers of the Islamic Middle Ages on the subject of mysticism, he also wrote love poetry.

Ibn al-Arabi was from Murcia, of a family which prided itself on ancient Arabian lineage. He received his education in Seville, where his father was a friend of the philosopher Averroës. A vision experienced during a youthful illness deepened Ibn al-Arabi's religious tendencies, and he began the serious study of tasawwuf, or Islamic mysticism. Until the age of 30 he studied with several Sufi (guides to the mystic life), both in Spain and in North Africa.

Ibn al-Arabi began to write in Morocco. His first pilgrimage to Mecca, in 1202, was (as for countless other Moslems) a deeply moving experience. He stayed 2 years in the holy city, writing there his encyclopedic exposé of mystic philosophy, Meccan Revelations, which he claimed was dictated to him by supernatural beings. At the same time and place he also composed a collection of love poetry inspired by a beautiful Persian woman named Nizam, although one of the introductory passages of the volume disclaims any worldly intention.

Pilgrims from Konya to Mecca induced Ibn al-Arabi to return with them and visit the Seljuk domains in Anatolia, which he did in 1205. He appears to have spent a good deal of time traveling, with passing references in his works to sojourns in Baghdad, Aleppo, Damascus, Jerusalem, Cairo, and again Mecca. He finally settled in Damascus, under the patronage of a wealthy family, and in his last years composed there one of his most important works, Bezels of Wisdom. The book is Ibn al-Arabi's summary of the teachings of the 28 persons recognized by the Moslems as prophets, from Adam to Mohammed, the author claiming that it was dictated to him in a dream by the prophet Mohammed himself. Ibn al-Arabi's tomb still exists in Damascus, where he died.

Ibn al-Arabi's importance for Islamic mysticism lies in the fact that he was a speculative thinker of the highest order, albeit diffuse and difficult to understand. His central doctrine is the unity of all existence: all things preexist in God's knowledge, and the world and everything in it is an outward aspect, the inward aspect of which is God. Man, more exactly the idea of man, is a microcosm uniting all the divine attributes. There is a "Perfect Man," and there have been several incarnations of the "Perfect Man," beginning with Adam and ending with Mohammed. With Ibn al-Arabi, Sufism moves away from anguished and ascetic searchings of the heart and conscience and becomes a matter of speculative philosophy and theosophy.

In terms of his influence Ibn al-Arabi, the mystic speculator, prepared the ground from which was to spring the rich harvest of Islamic - especially Persian - mystical poetry. There seems some evidence also that Ibn al-Arabi may have influenced Christian thinkers such as the Catalan Raymond Lull and possibly also Dante Alighieri.

Further Reading

Reynold A. Nicholson translated and edited Ibn al-Arabi's book of poems, The Tarjuman al-Ashwaq: A Collection of Mystical Odes (1911). A. E. Affifi analyzes his thought in The Mystical Philosophy of Muhyid Din-Ibnul Arabi (1939). Majid Fakhry, A History of Islamic Philosophy (1970), is recommended for general background. For Ibn al-Arabi's possible influence on Dante see Miguel Asín Palácios, Islam and the Divine Comedy, translated and abridged by Harold Sunderland (1926).

The visionary mystic Ibn al-'Arabi, Muhyi ad-Din (1165-1240), born in Murcia, Spain, is considered the greatest Sufi theorist and expounder of metaphysical doctrine. He studied at Seville and Ceuta, and, after visiting Mecca and Baghdad, he settled in Damascus.

Ibn al-'Arabi provided a remarkable theory of imaginative cognition and claimed to have considerable visionary experiences and a remarkably lucid imagination. He stated that "this power of the active imagination developed in me visually in a bodily, objective, extra-mental figure just as the angel Gabriel appeared bodily to the eyes of the Prophet." This apparition left him in an astonished state for many days, to such a degree that he could not even take nourishment. He continued to contemplate the figure for a long time without tasting a bit of food, experiencing neither hunger nor thirst.

This visionary event was the source of Ibn al-'Arabi's work The Spiritual Conquests of Mecca, which was the product of a long spiritual maturation. During a visit to the Black Stone in Mecca, he met the figure that had appeared to him in his vision, which he recognized and described as a young man who was neither living nor dead. He suddenly perceived the temple as a living being and asked his visitor to accept him as his disciple and to teach him all of his secrets. He was so overwhelmed that he lost consciousness.

An explorer of altered states of consciousness, Ibn al-'Arabi also advocated the practice of what we today would call lucid dreaming: "A person must control his thoughts in a dream. The training of this alertness … will produce great benefits for the individual. Everyone should apply himself to the attainment of this ability of such great value".

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2008)

This article may not meet the general notability guideline. Please help to establish notability by adding reliable, secondary sources about the topic. If notability cannot be established, the article is likely to be merged or deleted. (December 2008)

Ibn al-Arabi

Andalusian scholar Medieval era
Full name	Abu Bakr Ibn al-Arabi
Died	543H 1148
School/tradition	Maliki
Influenced by Al-Ghazali

• For the Sufi scholar, see Ibn Arabi.

Ibn al-Arabi (Arabic: أبو بكر بن العربي‎) was an Islamic scholar from Spain. It is reported that he was a student of Al-Ghazali for some time. He was a master of Al-Maliki Jurisprudence. His father was a student of Ibn Hazm although Ibn al-Arabi considered him to be deviated. He also contributed to the spread of Ash'ari theology in Spain.

Works

His Major books are:

• Commentary on Tirmidhi's Hadith Collection (book) famously known as "'Aridhat al-Ahwazi'".
• Commentary on the Quran known as '"Ahkam al-Quran"'. It contains commentary on the legal rulings of the Qur'an according to the Maliki school.
• Al-'Awasim min al-Qawasim (العواصم القواصم) or "Defense Against Disaster", is a history book that became famous for his strong reply against the Shia.

References

Arabic Wikisource has original text related to this article: Ibn al-'Arabi

This article about an Islamic scholar is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)