Transcendent Philosophy: An International Journal For Comparative Philosophy And Mysticism

Major Themes in the School of Ibn ‘Arabī: A Brief Selection

Published by London Academy of Iranian Studies: December 2024

Volume 25, Number 36

Author(s):

Seyyed Shahabeddin Mesbahi
Majd Institute, Shiraz, Iran

Keywords: Ibn ‘Arabī (d. 638/1240), School of Ibn ‘Arabī, tajallī (Divine Manifestation), ḥaḍarāt (Divine Presences), ṣifāt (Divine Attributes)

Abstract

Muḥyiddīn Ibn ‘Arabī’s exceptional and multidimensional influence, which perhaps was mainly the result of his extraordinary and comprehensive approach to spiritual concepts, through utilizing his unique linguistic skills in formation of an array of creative terms, expressions, and themes, earned him the title of shaykh al-akbar (the greatest master). This short note provides a few selected examples of central and popular themes in the School of Ibn ‘Arabī.[i]

Type:

Research Article

Information:

Transcendent Philosophy Journal, Volume 25, Issue 36 , Published on December 2024, Pages 81-90

DOI:

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https://iranianstudies.org/transcendent_philosophy/volume-25-number-36/major-themes-in-the-school-of-ibn-arabi-a-brief-selection

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Copyright © London Academy of Iranian Studies, 2025.

Selected Major Themes

I. Tajallī (Divine Manifestation) and ḥaḍarāt (Divine Presences)

In his Kitāb al-Ma‘rifah,[2] Ibn ‘Arabī distinguishes between marātib (“levels”) and majālī (“loci of manifestations”). Marātib includes six stages beginning with al-ḥaḍrat al-aḥadiyyah (“the Presence of exclusive unity”), while the first stage in majālī is called haḍrat al-waḥdāniyyah (“the Presence of Oneness/inclusive unity”).[3]

Ibn Arabī utilizes various terms to refer to numerous aspects of the Absolute’s Self-manifestations. For example, in many occasions, he makes use of such terms as ḥaḍarāt (presences), nasha’āt (“configurations”),[4] ta‘ayyunāt (“entifications”),[5] tanazzulāt (“descending stages”), shu’ūn (“levels or loci of manifestations”), tajallīyāt (“manifestations”), aḥkām (“properties”),[6] wujūh (“aspects”), a‘dād (“numbers”), and al-a‘yān al-thābitah (“immutable entities”).[7]

II.ifāt (The Divine Attributes)

The 14th century distinguished spiritual master and one of the most well-known commentators of Ibn ‘Arabī, Sayyid Ḥaydar Āmulī (d.787/1385), in his Jāmi‘ al-Asrār (“The Compendium of Secrets”), employs the metaphor of “ink and letters”:

“Ink structurally corresponds to the all-pervasive unique reality of existence while the letters written with it corresponds to the “quiddities” (māhiyyāt) as actualized in the forms of the various things in the empirical world.”[8]

In the introduction to his commentary on Ibn ‘Arabī’s Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam (“Bezels of Wisdom”), Naṣṣ al-Nuṣūṣ fī Sharḥ al-Fuṣūṣ, Āmulī explains the focal aspects of the concept of waḥdat al-wujūd through his elaborations on the Absolute’s manifestation (tajallī).[9] He mentions the Presence of aḥadiyyat (“the Absolute’s exclusive unity”) as the first manifestation, which he refers to as the manifestation of the Absolute’s Essence or tajallī al-dhātī.[10] In describing the characteristics of this manifestation, Āmulī speaks of a certain type of waḥdat (“unity”), which borrows its entire validity and essence from the very nature of Absolute’s Dhāt (Essence). The key to understanding this unity, according to Āmulī’s explanation, seems to be the fact that the unity of the Essence, which is the sheer existence of the Truth (Ḥaqq), is exactly the same (‘ayn) as the Essence Itself.[11]

III. Asmā (The Divine Names)

The mystical expressions such as tajllī-yi shuhūdī (“manifestation of witnessing”) and tajllī-yi shuhūdī-yi fi‘lī (“manifestation of witnessing act”) for the second manifestation of the Absolute seems to be the outcome of Āmulī’s extensive knowledge of Islamic mysticism along with his own creativity. Employing the same expression, he calls the third category of the Absolute’s manifestation, tajallī al-wujūdī al-shuhūdī (“manifestation of existence through witnessing”). This type of manifestation is referred to by Āmulī as the appearance of wujūd through the function of the Absolute’s Name Nūr (“Light”).[12]

By elaborating upon these categories of tajallī, Āmulī connects the concepts of the Absolute’s ‘ilm (“knowledge”), qudrah (“power”), irādah (“will”) to the Absolute’s Dhāt (“Essence”), ṣifāt (“attributes”), and af‘āl (“acts”) respectively.[13] Using the well-known Akbarian expression haḍrah (“Presence”), Āmulī provides us with another set of expressions to make his aforementioned categories more comprehensible. He indicates that in the first tajallī, the known content (ma‘lūmāt), is manifested through ḥaḍrat ‘ilmiyyah (“the Presence of the Absolute’s knowledge”). By the second manifestation (or manifestation of the Names), the existent beings enter the ḥaḍrat rūḥāniyya al-ghaybiyyah (“Presence of the Unseen Spirit”), and finally by the third manifestation, they face ḥaḍrat jismāniyyah shahādiyyah (“the Presence of the physical realm”).[14]

IV. Tashbīh (God’s similarity) and tanzīh (God’s peerlessness)

Ibn ‘Arabī’s discussion of the Absolute’s unity contains both dimensions of tanzīh (“Absolute’s peerlessness”) and tashbīh (“Absolute’s similarity”). To understand the correlation between the kathrat/takaththur (“multiplicity/many-ness”) and waḥdah (“unity”), we should pay attention to the manner in which Ibn ‘Arabī and his followers have clarified the different Presences or planes of existence. Perhaps every one of these Presences – which Ibn ‘Arabī refers to, by employing such terms as haḍarāt (“Presences”), nasha’āt (“configurations”), ta‘ayyunāt (“entifications”), tanazzulāt (“descending stages”), or tajallīyāt (“manifestations”) – is discussed to make the reciprocity of the manyness-oneness more imaginable. Each of the Absolute’s tajallīyāt (“manifestations”) is a portrayal of such ties.[15]

V. Al-insān al-kāmil (the Perfect Human Being/the Perfect Man)

We might state that in the view of Ibn ‘Arabī, the genuine medium through which an audacious wayfarer arrives at a more comprehensive level of knowing/realizing wujūd (“existence”), as the manifestation of His waḥdah, is the way of kashf (“unveiling”), shuhūd (“witnessing”) and dhawq (“tasting”). The Absolute becomes unveiled to the mystic through His constant self-disclosures. In each of these everlasting mystical experiences, he witnesses a new effusion of the Absolute. This “method of knowing,” which perhaps for Ibn ‘Arabī, is the preferred pathway for approaching the Real, distinguishes the most exceptional seekers of the way (i.e., Perfect Human Beings) from the rest of wayfarers. Ibn ‘Arabī confirms that “the prophets and friends among the Folk of Allah have no knowledge of God derived from reflection. God has purified them from that. Rather they possess the opening of unveiling through the Real.”[16]

VI. Waḥdāh (unity) and kathrah (multiplicity)

Ibn ‘Arabī’s approach to the problem of multiplicities, facilitates an essential move from waḥdat (“unity”) towards waḥdāt (“unities”). His concise but effective argument reveals a very substantial reciprocation between the two concepts of waḥdah (“unity”) and kathrat (“multiplicity”). Through this approach, both “unity and unities” complement each other in every respect without any contradiction. In Ibn ‘Arabī’s words, the unities (waḥdāt or the world/existence itself) function as the most perfect realm for the “most elevated mystical experience” (i.e., unity of witnessing intertwined with an elevated knowledge of unity).

VII. Barzakh (the isthmus)

The Perfect Human Being, as the creation par excellence, and the barzakh (“mediator/medium”) between the Absolute and creation,[17] deciphers, interprets and experiences the entirety of existence through renewing the Absolute’s words. Ibn ‘Arabī explains the fundamental ties between the letters (ḥurūf) and the Names (asmā’). Through this clarification, Ibn ‘Arabī refers to the role that human breath plays in creating letters by constant reciprocation with the Divine Names:

“Each name has two forms. One of them is ours and is formed by our breath from the letters that we assemble. It is through (these Names) that we invoke Him, and they are the names of the Divine Names, like cloaks that they put on. Through the form of these names, we describe the Divine Names. The forms of that latter are close to the Most Merciful in so far as He speaks and is qualified by speech. Behind these forms there are meanings (ma‘ānī) which are like the spirits of the forms. The forms of these Divine Names by which God refers to Himself in His discourse (i.e., the Qur’ān) have their existence in the Breath of the Most Merciful.”[18]

Ibn ‘Arabī also makes a parallel comparison between the manifestation of entities within the Absolute’s Breath and the letters within man’s breath by referring to a well-known Qur’ānic verse (16:40) regarding creation.[19]

VIII. Nūr (light)

Ibn ‘Arabī states that “the Perfect Man possesses light (nūr),”[20] and “the Real is sheer light, while the impossible (muḥāl) is sheer darkness.”[21] He delves into the concept of the Perfect Human Being’s capacity of seeing the Absolute through a creative approach to the Names.

“Hence the Perfect Man is the Real in his poverty, like the names, and the Real in his independence, since he does not see that which is subjected to him, only that which possesses effects. In other words, he sees the divine names, not the entities of the cosmos. Hence he is poor only toward God within the entities of the cosmos, while the cosmos knows nothing of that.”[22]

He also defines the concept of “witnessing”:

“Everything manifest in the cosmos is an imaginal engendered form that conforms to a divine form. For He discloses Himself to the cosmos only in accordance with that which corresponds (munāsaba)-in the entity of an immutable substance just as man is immutable in respect of his substance. Thus you see the immutable through the immutable and that is “unseen” in respect to you and Him. You see the manifest through the manifest and that is the “witnessed, the witnesser, and the witnessing” in respect to you and Him.”[23]

We might say that the realization of “witnessing” occurs through the manifestation of the Absolute’s Light (Nūr), making the Names (asmā’) appear in their visible forms.

Concluding Remarks

Ibn ‘Arabī’s extensive corpus has been shaped around the concept of tawḥīd. Futūḥāt, which is the longest literary exercise of Ibn ‘Arabī within its 560 chapters, appears as “the vast encyclopedia of the Islamic sciences within the context of tawḥīd, the profession of God’s Unity that forms the core of Islam.”[24]

This theme (i.e., tawḥīd) which is perhaps the most important doctrinal ground for Ibn ‘Arabī’s entire weltanschauung, leaves its substantial mark on all of his technical terms, themes and expressions, and also binds together his whole realization of existence within his school.

Bibliography

  1. Āmulī, Shaykh Sayyīd Ḥaydar. Naṣṣ al-Nuṣūṣ fī Sharḥ al-Fuṣūṣ. Translated into Persian by Muḥammad Riḍā Jawzī. Tehran: Chāpkhāna-yi Intishārāt-i ‘Ilmī wa Farhangī, 1375/1996.
  2. Chittick, William C. The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn al-‘Arabī ‘s Metaphysics of Imagination.  Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989.
  3. Ibn ‘Arabī, Muḥyiddīn. Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam. Edited by Abu’l ‘Alā ‘Afīfī. Cairo: Dār al-Kitāb al-‘Arabīyah, 1980.
  4. _____. Kitāb al-Ma‘rifah. Edited by Sa‘īd Abu’l- Fattāḥ. Beirūt: Dār al-Mutanabbī, 1993.
  5. _____. al-Futuhat al-Makkiyyah. 4 vols. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1994.
  6. Izutsu, Toshihiko. The Concept and Reality of Existence. Tokyo: Keio Institute of Cultural and Linguistic Studies, 1971.
  7. Khwārazmī, Tāj al-Dīn Ḥussain ibn Ḥassan. Sharḥ-i Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam. Edited by Najīb Māyīl Heravī. Tehrān: Intishārāt-i Mowlā, 1368/1989.
  8. Lory, Pierre. “The Symbolism of Letters and Language in the Work of Ibn ‘Arabī.” Journal of the Muḥyiddīn Ibn ‘Arabī Society 22-23 (1998): 32-42.
  9. Mesbahi, Seyyed Shahabeddin. Ibn ‘Arabī and Kubrawīs: The Reception of the School of Ibn ‘Arabī by Kubrawī Mystics. Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 2019.
  10. _____. Method and Mysticism: Cosmos, Nature and Environment in Islamic Mysticism.  Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 2011.
  11. Qūnawī, Ṣadr al-Dīn. Nafaḥāt al-Ilāhiyah (Mukāshīfat-i Ilāhī). Translated by Muḥammd Khwājavī. Tehran: Intishārat-i Mowlā, 1375/1996.

End Notes

[1] For a detailed discussion of popular expressions in the School of Ibn ‘Arabī, see, for example, my book, Ibn ‘Arabī and Kubrawīs: The Reception of the School of Ibn ‘Arabī by Kubrawī Mystics (Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 2019).
[2]Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabī, Kitāb al-Ma‘rifah, ed. Sa‘īd Abu’l Fattāḥ (Beirūt: Dār al-Mutanabbī, 1993), 79.
[3] See ibid.
[4] See William C. Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn al-‘Arabī ‘s Metaphysics of Imagination (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989), 68.
[5] Ibid., 83.
[6] Ibid., 39.
[7] Ibid., 7.
[8] Toshihiko Izutsu, The Concept and Reality of Existence (Tokyo: Keio Institute of Cultural and Linguistic Studies, 1971), 46.
[9] Shaykh Sayyīd Ḥaydar Amulī, Naṣṣ al-Nuṣūṣ fī Sharḥ al-Fuṣūṣ, trans. into Persian by Muḥammad Riḍā Jawzī (Tehran: Chapkhāna-yi Intishārāt-i ‘Ilmī wa Farhangī, 1375/1996), 399.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Ibid.
[15] For additional popular expressions in the School of Ibn ‘Arabī, see, for example, Tāj al-Dīn Ḥussain ibn Ḥassan Khwārazmī, Sharḥ-i Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam, ed. Najīb Māyīl Heravī (Tehrān: Intishārāt-i Mowlā, 1368/1989), 11, 13, 56 and 647. See also other expressions such as Ghayb-i Muṭlaq-i Awwal (“The First Non-delimited Unseen”), Ghayb-i Kulli-yi Rabbānī (“The Universal Unseen Divine”) in Ṣadr al-Dīn Qūnawī, Nafaḥāt al-Ilāhiyyah, trans. into Persian, Muḥammad Khwājavī (Tehran: Intishārāt-i Mowlā, 1375/1996), 3, 13 and 24.
[16] Ibn ‘Arabī’s Futūḥāt III, cited in Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge, xii.
[17] See Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge, 126.
[18] Ibn ‘Arabī’s Futūḥāt II, cited in Pierre Lory, “The Symbolism of Letters and Language in the Work of Ibn ‘Arabī,” Journal of Muḥyiddīn Ibn ‘Arabī Society 22-23 (1998): 35.
[19] See, for example, Ibn ‘Arabī’s Futūḥāt II, cited in Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge, 128.
[20] Futūḥāt II, cited in Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge, 366.
[21] Futūḥāt III, ibid.
[22] Ibid., 369.
[23] Futūḥāt III, cited in Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge, 362.
[24] Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge, xi.