Table Of ContentIbn al-ʿArabī and the Sufis
Also available from Anqa Publishing
The Seven Days of the Heart: Awrād al-Usbūʿ (Wird)
by Ibn ʿArabī
Translated by Pablo Beneito and Stephen Hirtenstein
Contemplation of the Holy Mysteries: Mashāhid al-Asrār
by Ibn ʿArabī
Translated by Cecilia Twinch and Pablo Beneito
The Universal Tree and the Four Birds: al-Ittiḥād al-Kawnī
by Ibn ʿArabī
Translated by Angela Jaffray
A Prayer for Spiritual Elevation and Protection: al-Dawr al-aʿlā
by Ibn ʿArabī
Study, translation, transliteration and Arabic text
by Suha Taji-Farouki
The Four Pillars of Spiritual Transformation: Ḥilyat al-Abdāl
by Ibn ʿArabī
Translated by Stephen Hirtenstein
The Unlimited Mercifier: The Spiritual Life and Thought of Ibn ʿArabī
Stephen Hirtenstein
Ibn ʿArabi and Modern Thought: The History of Taking Metaphysics Seriously
Peter Coates
The Nightingale in the Garden of Love: the Poems of Üftade
by Paul Ballanfat
Translated from French by Angela Culme-Seymour
Beshara and Ibn ʿArabi: A Movement of Sufi Spirituality in the Modern World
Suha Taji-Farouki
The Lamp of Mysteries: A Commentary on the Light Verse of the Quran
Translated and edited by Bilal Kuşpınar
The Teachings of a Perfect Master: An Islamic Saint for the Third Millennium
Henry Bayman
Ibn al-ʿArabī and the Sufis
Binyamin Abrahamov
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© Binyamin Abrahamov, 2014
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to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication
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Preface
The present work followed two articles I wrote on two important
Sufi figures that influenced Ibn al-ʿArabī: ‘Ibn al-ʿArabī’s Attitude
toward al-Ghazālī’, and ‘Ibn al-ʿArabī and Abū Yazīd al-Bisṭāmī’.
I owe thanks to Brepols Publishing for giving me permission to
publish the first article in the present volume. My thanks are also
extended to the journal al-Qanṭara for allowing me to incorporate
the second article in my work.
I am extremely grateful to Stephen Hirtenstein of Anqa Pub-
lishing, whose comments and suggestions undoubtedly improved
the discussions in Ibn al-ʿArabī and the Sufis. Thanks also to my stu-
dents in the course of Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam, at Bar Ilan University. They
enriched my insights of the Greatest Master. Michael Tiernan
prepared the text for copyediting and Anne Clark successfully per-
formed the copyediting. Both deserve my gratitude for their exact
work. Thanks are also extended to Judy Kearns for her meticulous
proofreading. I thank David Brauner, who became fascinated by
Ibn al-ʿArabī’s thought, for skilfully correcting my English.
I hope this modest volume will contribute to our understand-
ing of the thought of one of the greatest thinkers of humanity,
who bestowed on us an original and penetrating perception of the
cosmos.
v
Contents
Preface v
Reference abbreviations viii
Introduction 1
the earlier sufis
Al-Muḥāsibī 13
Dhū al-Nūn al-Misrī 19
∙
Abū Yazīd al-Bisṭāmī 35
Sahl al-Tustarī 53
Abū Saʿīd al-Kharrāz 63
Al-Junayd 69
Al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī 85
Al-Ḥusayn ibn Manṣūr al-Ḥallāj 91
Ibn Masarra 97
Abū Bakr al-Shiblī 103
Abū Ṭālib al-Makkī 111
the later sufis
Al-Ghazālī 117
Ibn Barrajān 135
Ibn al-ʿArīf al-Ṣanhājī 139
Ibn Qasī 145
ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī 151
Abū Madyan 157
Abū al-ʿAbbās al-ʿUraybī 165
Conclusion 171
Bibliography 181
Index 189
vii
Reference abbreviations
The following are commonly cited in the notes. Full details are
given in the Bibliography.
Bezels The Bezels of Wisdom, trans. R.W.J. Austin
Dimensions Mystical Dimensions of Islam, A. Schimmel
EI Encyclopaedia of Islam Online
FM Al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, Dār Sādir
Fut. Al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, Dār al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya
JMIAS Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn ʿArabi Society
MP The Mystical Philosophy of Muhyid Dīn-Ibnul ʿArabī,
A.E. Affifi
Quest Quest for the Red Sulphur, C. Addas
SDG The Self-Disclosure of God, W.C. Chittick
Seal Seal of the Saints, M. Chodkiewicz
SPK The Sufi Path of Knowledge, W.C. Chittick
Sufis Sufis of Andalusia, trans. R.W.J. Austin
viii
Introduction
Every scholar of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s thought has been impressed by the
wealth of his mystical and philosophical ideas, parables and poems.
From the earliest research on Ibn al-ʿArabī’s thought, scholars
have tried to trace his sources and to evaluate his originality.1 This
is an extremely difficult task not only due to the huge quantity
of his writings,2 but also with regards to the complexity of his
theories. An analysis of the Greatest Master’s attitude toward the
Sufis, both his predecessors and contemporaries, has not yet been
accomplished, except for William Chittick’s discussion of three
mystics.3 Such a work is needed to enhance our knowledge of the
foundations of his thought and answer, at least as an initial step,
the question of the measure of his originality.
The present volume examines Ibn al-ʿArabī’s attitude toward
the Sufis and assesses the extent of their influence on him. A crucial
point is Ibn al-ʿArabī’s general acceptance or rejection of the Sufis’
views and practices. We do not pretend to be exhaustive, because
the basis of our research is mainly al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, Fuṣūṣ
al-ḥikam and some of the author’s epistles. We believe that these
writings are representative of his thought and hence appropriate
to serve as the basis of our investigation.
1. MP, pp. 174–94.
2. Osman Yahia counts 700 books, treatises and collections of poetry, but only some
95 are extant. For details see J. Clark and S. Hirtenstein, ‘Establishing Ibn ʿArabī’s
Heritage’, JMIAS, 52 (2012), pp. 1–32.
3. SDG, pp. 371–86. Affifi’s treatment of the Sufis in Ibn al-ʿArabī’s writings is
rather brief and does not teach us much about the latter’s attitude toward them. Also his
examination of Ibn Masarra’s role in the development of the Greatest Master’s thought
should be revised in the light of Addas’ research, which will be referred to in the present
work. C.W. Ernst’s article, ‘The man without attributes: Ibn Arabī’s interpretation of
Abu Yazid al-Bistami’, JMIAS, 13 (1993), pp. 1–18, examines a number of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s
interpretations of the sayings of Abu Yazid but lacks an overall view of Abu Yazid’s
impact on Ibn al-ʿArabī. See the section on Abū Yazīd al-Bisṭāmī below.
1
