View source for Ibn Arabi

{{Short description|Sufi scholar and Sunni philosopher (1165–1240)}}
{{use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{distinguish|Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi}}{{Infobox religious biography
| honorific_prefix   = [[Sheikh (Sufism)|Sheikh]], [[Mujaddid]]
| native_name        = محيي الدين أبو عبد الله محمد بن علي بن عربي الحاتمي الطائي
| native_name_lang   = ar
| image              = قبر الشيخ محيي الدين بن عربي.jpg
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1165|07|28|df=yes}}
| birth_place        = [[Murcia]], [[Taifa of Murcia]]
(now Murcia, [[Region of Murcia]], [[Spain]])
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1240|11|16|1165|07|28|df=yes}}
| death_place        = [[Al-Salihiyah, Damascus|Salihiyya]], Damascus, Ayyubid Sultanate
| resting_place      = [[Mount Qasioun]], Damascus, Syria
| children           = Sa'ad al-Din, Imad al-Din; [[Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi]] (stepson)
| father             = Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Arabi al-Hatimi al-Tai
| mother             = 
| religion           = [[Islam]]
| nationality        = [[al-Andalus|Andalusian]], [[Ayyubid]]
| denomination       = [[Sunni]]
| jurisprudence      = [[Mujtahid]] (often confused for [[Zahiri]], [[Maliki]] or [[Hanbali]])<ref>Nafh al-Tayyib - Lisan al-Din Ibn al-Khatib</ref><ref>Al-Wafi bi'l-Wafayat - Salah al-Din Khalil ibn Aybak al-Safadi</ref>
| creed              = Founder of [[Akbarism]]
| occupation         = [[Tafsir|Mufassir]], [[Hadith studies|Muhaddtih]], [[Theologian]], [[Philosopher]], [[Academic staff|Academic]], [[Poet]]
| main_interests     = {{hlist|[[Sufism]]|[[Tafsir]]|[[Epistemology]]|[[Ontology]]|[[Poetry]]|[[Fiqh]]}}
| notable_works      = [[Al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya]]
| influences         = 
| influenced         = Virtually all of [[Sufism]]
| students           = [[Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi]]
| module             = {{Infobox Arabic name|embed=yes
| ism = Muḥammad<br/>محمد
| laqab = Muḥyī d-Dīn<br>محيي الدين<br/>
| nisba = [[Hatim al-Tai|al-Ḥātimī]]<br>الحاتمي<br>[[Tayy|aṭ-Ṭāʾī]]<br>الطائي}}
| caption            = Tomb of Ibn Arabi, [[Damascus]], [[Syria]]
| era                = [[Medieval philosophy]]
* [[12th century in philosophy|12th century philosophy]]
* [[13th century in philosophy|13th century philosophy]]
| region             = [[Middle Eastern philosophy]]
* [[Islamic philosophy]]
| name               = Muḥyī d-Dīn ibn ʿArabī
| teachers           = Shaykh Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Tamīmī ([[Junayd al-Baghdadi|Junaydiyya]]), Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Mahdawī ([[Qadiriyya]])
}}
{{Sufism}}
'''Ibn Arabi'''{{efn|{{langx|ar|ابن عربي}}, {{ALA-LC|ar|Ibn {{ayn}}Arabī}}{{lrm}}; full name: {{lang|ar|أبو عبد الله محـمـد بن عربي الطائي الحاتمي}}, {{transliteration|ar|ALA-LC|Abū {{ayn}}Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn {{ayn}}Arabī al-Ṭā{{hamza}}ī al-Ḥātimī}}}} (July 1165–November 1240) was an [[al-Andalus|Andalusian]] [[Arabs|Arab]] [[Sunni]] scholar, Sufi [[Mysticism|mystic]], poet, and [[Philosophy|philosopher]], who exercised notable influence within [[Islamic thought]]. Of the 850 works attributed to him, about 700 are considered authentic, and more than 400 are extant. His [[Cosmology|cosmological]] teachings became a dominant intellectual framework in many regions of the [[Muslim world]].<ref>Ibrahim Kalin, Salim Ayduz ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Science, and Technology in Islam'', Vol. 1 (Oxford University Press, 2014 {{ISBN|9780199812578}}), p. 162</ref>

His traditional title was ''[[Mohyeddin|Muḥyiddīn]]'' ({{langx|ar|محيي الدين}}; ''The Reviver of Religion'').<ref>{{cite book |last=Corbin |first=Henry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nK3_AwAAQBAJ |title=Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi |year=2014 |isbn=9781400853670 |page=76|publisher=Princeton University Press }}</ref>{{sfn|Addas|2019|p=9}} After his death, practitioners of [[Sufism]] began referring to him by the honorific title ''Shaykh al-Akbar'' ({{langx|ar|الشيخ الأكبر}} ''The Greatest [[Sheikh|Shaykh]]''),<ref name=":3" /> from which the name [[Akbarism]] is derived. Ibn ʿArabī is considered a [[Sufi saint|saint]] by some scholars and Muslim communities.{{sfn|Chittick|2005|p=1}}<ref name="suyuti">[[Al-Suyuti]], Tanbih al-Ghabi fi Tanzih Ibn 'Arabi (p. 17-21)</ref><ref name=":1" />

Ibn 'Arabi is known for being the first person to explicitly delineate the concept of "''[[wahdat al-wujud]]''" ("Unity of Being"), a [[Monism|monist]] doctrine that claimed that all things in the universe are manifestations of a singular "reality". Ibn 'Arabi equated this "reality" with the entity he described as "[[the Absolute Being]]" ("''al-wujud al-Mutlaq''").

==Early life==
Ibn Arabi was born in [[Murcia]], [[Al-Andalus]], on the 17th of [[Ramadan|Ramaḍān]] 560 AH (28 July 1165 AD),<ref name=":1">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Ibn Arabi |encyclopedia=[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |location=Stanford |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2018/entries/ibn-arabi/ |access-date=19 July 2018 |last=Chittick |first=William |date=Summer 2018 |author-link=William Chittick |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. |editor-link=Edward N. Zalta |quote=Ibn 'Arabî referred to himself with fuller versions of his name, such as Abû 'Abdallâh Muhammad ibn 'Alî ibn al-'Arabî al-Tâ'î al-Hâtimî (the last three names indicating his noble Arab lineage)}}</ref> although other sources suggest the 27th of Ramaḍān 560 AH (6 August 1165 AD) as an alternative birthdate.{{sfn|Addas|2019|p=14}} His first name was Muhammad.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Hirtenstein |first=Stephen |title=Names and Titles of Ibn [al-]'Arabī |url=https://ibnarabisociety.org/names-and-titles-of-ibn-arabi-stephen-hirtenstein/ |website=The Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi Society|date=16 January 2020 }}</ref> After he had a son, he was called 'Abū 'Abdullāh (meaning: ''the father of Abdullāh'') according to classical Arabic tradition. In some of his works, Ibn 'Arabî referred to himself with fuller versions of his name as ''Abû 'Abdullâh Muhammad ibn 'Alî ibn al-'Arabî al-Tâ'î al-Hâtimî'',<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> where the last three names indicate his noble Arab lineage.<ref name=":1" /> [[Hatim al-Tai|Ḥātim aṭ-Ṭā'iyy]] was well known as a poet of pre-Islamic Arabia{{sfn|Addas|2019|p=12}} from the [[Qahtanite|South Arabian tribe]] of [[Tayy|Tayyi]] (Yemen).<ref name=":4">{{cite web |title=Ibn al-ʿArabī {{!}} Muslim mystic |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ibn-al-Arabi |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |date=24 July 2024 |language=en}}</ref>
===Family===
Ibn ʿArabī came from a mixed background.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EBlfEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA105 |title=Illustrated Dictionary of the Muslim World |date=2011-01-15 |publisher=Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC |isbn=978-0-7614-9966-4 |pages=105 |language=en}}</ref> His father descended from Arabic emigrants to Al-Andalus in the early years of the [[Muslim conquest of Spain|Arab conquest of Iberia]], while his mother was presumably of [[Berbers|Berber]] descent.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hirtenstein |first=Stephen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EBjyBc_0zjMC&pg=PA32 |title=The Unlimited Mercifier: The Spiritual Life and Thought of Ibn 'Arabi |date=1999 |publisher=Anqa Publishing |isbn=978-1883991296 |location=Oxford |page=32 |quote=Like many Andalusians, he came of mixed parentage: his father's name indicates an Arab family, which had probably emigrated to Andalusia in the early years of the Arab conquest, while his mother seems to have come from a Berber family...}}</ref> In his ''Futūḥāt al-Makkīyah,'' he writes of a deceased maternal uncle, a prince of [[Tlemcen]] who abandoned wealth for an [[Asceticism|ascetic life]] after encountering a Sufi mystic.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hirtenstein |first=Stephen C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KplVDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA252 |title=The Unlimited Mercifier: The Spiritual Life and Thought of Ibn 'Arabi |date=September 1999 |isbn=978-1905937387 |page=252|publisher=Anqa }}</ref> His paternal ancestry came from [[Yemen]] and belongs to one of the oldest Arab strains in [[Al-Andalus|Andalusia]]. They had probably migrated during the second wave of the Muslim conquest of the [[Iberian Peninsula]].{{sfn|Addas|2019|p=11}}

His father, 'Ali ibn Muḥammad, served in the Army of [[Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Saʿd ibn Mardanīsh|Ibn Mardanīsh]], the [[Taifa of Murcia|ruler of Murcia]].<ref name=":1" /> When Murcia fell to the [[Almohad Caliphate]] in 1172, Ibn Mardanīsh did not survive the defeat and was killed in battle, leading to his father pledging allegiance to the Almohad Caliph [[Abu Yaqub Yusuf|Abū Ya'qūb Yūsuf I]]. At the time, Ibn ʿArabī was only 7 years old, and his family relocated from Murcia to [[Seville]] to serve the new ruler.{{sfn|Addas|2019|pp=14–15}}

Ibn ʿArabī had three wives. He married Maryam, a woman from an influential family,<ref name=":1" /> when he was still a young adult and lived in Andalusia. Maryam shared his aspiration to follow the Sufi path, as quoted by Austin in ''Sufis of Andalusia'': <blockquote>"My saintly wife, Maryam bint Muhammad binti Abdun, said, 'I have seen in my sleep someone whom I have never seen in the flesh, but who appears to me in my moments of (spiritual) ecstasy. He asked me whether I was aspiring to the Way, to which I replied that I was, but that I did not know by what means to arrive at it. He then told me that I would come to it through five things: trust, certainty, patience, resolution, and veracity.' Thus, she offered her vision to me (for my consideration), and I told her that was indeed the method of the Folk (Sufis). I myself have never seen one with that degree of mystical experience."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Austin |first=R.J.W. |title=Sufis of Andalusia: The Ruh Al-Quds & Al-Durrat Al-Fakhirah |publisher=New Leaf Distributing Company |year=1988 |isbn=9780904975130}}</ref></blockquote> During his years-long stay in Anatolia, Ibn ʿArabī—according to Arabic and Persian sources—married Majd al-Dīn's widow and took charge of the education of her young son, [[Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi|Sadruddin al-Qunawi]].{{sfn|Addas|2019|pp=109–110}} Ibn ʿArabī also mentioned his third wife in his writings, the mother of his son Imāduddin, to whom he bequeathed the first copy of ''Futūḥāt al-Makkīyah''.{{sfn|Addas|2019|p=110}}
===Teachers===
{{Ibn Arabi}}
Ibn 'Arabi studied under many scholars who were mentioned in the [[ijaza]] (permission to teach and transmit) written to [[Al-Muzaffar Ghazi|al-Muzaffar Baha' al-Din Ghazi]]{{efn|Ibn 'Arabi presented this [[ijaza]], which enumerates in various manuscript versions from 270 to 290 works, to the Damascene ruler al-Malik al-Muzaffar Baha' al-Din (d. 635/1237) in 632/1234.{{sfn|Knysh|1999|p=295}}|group=Note}} (son of [[Al-Adil I|al-'Adil I the Ayyubid]]).<ref name="Gibril Fouad Haddad">{{cite web|url=https://sunnah.org/2020/11/21/muhiydin-ibn-arabi/|title=Muhyiddin ibn 'Arabi|author=[[Gibril Fouad Haddad]]|website=sunnah.org|date=21 November 2020 |publisher=[[As-Sunnah Foundation of America]]|archive-url=https://archive.today/20231021023555/https://sunnah.org/2020/11/21/muhiydin-ibn-arabi/|archive-date=21 Oct 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z69qDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT9|title=عنقاء مغرب في ختم الأولياء وشمس المغرب|trans-title=The Fabulous Gryphon/Phoenix on the Seal of the Saints and the Sun of the West|author=Ibn 'Arabi|editor='Asim Ibrahim al-Kayyali|location=[[Lebanon]]|publisher=[[w:de:Dār al-Kutub al-ʿilmīya|Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyya]]|via=[[Google Books]]|language=ar|edition=2|date=2009|pages=9–14|isbn=9782745145925}}</ref> Some of these most prominent scholars of the time were:{{sfn|Nader Jamil Jum'a|2020|pp=75–81}}{{sfn|Muhammad Faruq Salih al-Badri|2006|pp=29–32}}<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L0RwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT6|title=الفتوحات المكية|trans-title=The Meccan Revelations|author=Ibn 'Arabi|editor=Ahmad Shams al-Din|location=[[Lebanon]]|publisher=[[w:de:Dār al-Kutub al-ʿilmīya|Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyya]]|via=[[Google Books]]|language=ar|edition=3rd|date=2011|pages=7–11|isbn=9782745122759}}</ref>
* [[Ibn 'Asakir]] (d. 571/1176), and his son {{ill|al-Qasim b. 'Ali b. 'Asakir|ar|القاسم بن عساكر}} (d. 600/1203)
* [[Abu Tahir al-Silafi]] (d. 576/1180)
* [[Ibn Bashkuwal]] (d. 578/1183)
* {{ill|'Abd al-Haqq al-Ishbili|ar|عبد الحق الإشبيلي}} (d. 581/1185) the student of [[Ibn Hazm]]. Ibn 'Arabi read all of Ibn Hazm's books while studying under him.<ref name="Gibril Fouad Haddad"/>{{sfn|Knysh|1999|p=40}}<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-nZTDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT25|title=محيي الدين ابن عربي - حياته، مذهبه، زهده|trans-title=Muhyi al-Din ibn 'Arabi: His Life, Doctrine, and Asceticism|author=Faruq 'Abd al-Mu'ti|location=[[Lebanon]]|publisher=[[w:de:Dār al-Kutub al-ʿilmīya|Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyya]]|via=[[Google Books]]|language=Arabic|edition=1st|date=1993|page=26}}</ref>
* [[Abu Zayd al-Suhayli]] (d. 581/1185)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mithaqarrabita.ma/الإمام-السُّهيلي|title=Imam al-Suhayli|author=Jamal Bami|website=mithaqarrabita.ma|publisher=[[w:ar:الرابطة المحمدية للعلماء|Muhammadiya Association of Scholars]] (al-Rabita al-Muhammadiyya lil-'Ulamā')|location=[[Morocco]]|language=ar|archive-url=https://archive.today/20231021015321/http://www.mithaqarrabita.ma/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%8F%D9%91%D9%87%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A|archive-date=21 Oct 2023|quote=وللإمام السهيلي تلاميذ كثر منهم فرج بن عبد الله الأنصاري الاشبيلي، سمع عن أبي القاسم السُّهيلي بعض مصنفاته كما في كتاب "الذيل والتكملة لكتابي الموصول والصلة" لابن عبد الملك المراكشي. ومنهم أبو القاسم ابن الملجوم الفاسي (ت603هـ)، أخد عن الإمام السهيلي بمالقة، ومنهم محي الدين بن العربي الحاتمي صاحب "الفتوحات المكية" المتوفى بدمشق سنة 638هـ، وقد أخطأ صاحب "شجرة النور الزكية" محمد بن محمد مخلوف بجعله شيخا للسهيلي بينما هو تلميذه على الحقيقة كما عند صاحب "الإعلام بمن حل بمراكش وأغمات من الأعلام" العباس بن إبراهيم السملالي.}}</ref>
* {{ill|Ibn Zarqun|ar|ابن زرقون}} (d. 586/1190)<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2mZoEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT64|title=الخيال عند ابن سينا ومحيي الدين ابن عربي - دراسة تحليلية ومقارنة|trans-title=Imagination/Fiction according to Ibn Sina and Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi: An Analytical and Comparative Study|author=Ibrahim Muhammad Hussein al-Wajrah|location=[[Lebanon]]|publisher=[[w:de:Dār al-Kutub al-ʿilmīya|Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyya]]|via=[[Google Books]]|language=Arabic|edition=1st|date=2022|pages=64–65|isbn=9782745196507}}</ref>
* {{ill|Ibn al-Jadd|ar|أبو بكر بن الجد}} (d. 586/1190)<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=veVhDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA7|title=شرح الصلاة الأكبرية للشيخ الأكبر محيي الدين ابن عربي|trans-title=Sharh al-Salah al-Akbariyya|author=Muhammad ibn 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-Jalil al-Qadiri|editor='Asim Ibrahim al-Kayyali|location=[[Lebanon]]|publisher=[[w:de:Dār al-Kutub al-ʿilmīya|Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyya]]|via=[[Google Books]]|language=ar|date=2009|page=7|isbn=9782745161925}}</ref>
* [[Abu Madyan]] (d. 594/1197)<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ueRhDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT150|title=شيخ الشيوخ في الأمصار أبو مدين الغوث|author=Ahmad Farid al-Mazidi|location=[[Lebanon]]|publisher=[[w:de:Dār al-Kutub al-ʿilmīya|Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyya]]|via=[[Google Books]]|language=Arabic|date=2010|page=150|isbn=9782745168269}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=30NaDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA302|title=الرحلات الحجازية المغاربية: المغاربة الأعلام في البلد الحرام|author=Hifnawi Ba'li|location=[[Jordan]]|publisher=Yazouri Group for Publication and Distribution|via=[[Google Books]]|language=Arabic|date=2018|page=302|isbn=9789957791360|quote=ومن تلامذة الشيخ أبو مدين شعيب: الشيخ الأكبر محي الدين بن عربي الحاتمي الطائي، وأبو عبد الله حماد الصنهاجي القلعي، والشيخ الفقيه أبو عبد الله محمد بن إبراهيم الأنصاري.}}</ref>
* [[Averroes|Ibn Rushd (Averroes)]] (d. 595/1198)
* [[Ibn al-Jawzi]] (d. 597/1201)
* {{ill|Ibn Abi Jamra|ar|أبو بكر بن أبي جمرة الأندلسي}} (d. 599/1202)
* Abu Shuja' Zahir ibn Rustam al-Isfahani (d. 609/1212) [[Imam]] of the [[Maqam Ibrahim|Holy Shrine]] in the [[Great Mosque of Mecca]].
* {{ill|Jamal al-Din b. al-Harastani|ar|جمال الدين ابن الحرستاني}} (d. 614/1217)
* [[Ibn Malik]] (d. 672/1274)
===Students===
Among his most prominent students were:{{sfn|Nader Jamil Jum'a|2020|pp=82–86}}{{sfn|Muhammad Faruq Salih al-Badri|2006|pp=32–36}}
* Badr al-Din al-Habashi (d. 618/1221)<ref name="Al-Shaykh al-Akbar">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=POQrEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT210|title=الشيخ الأكبر محيي الدين بن العربي سلطان العارفين|trans-title=The Greatest Master Muhyi al-Din ibn al-'Arabi the King of Gnostics|author='Abd al-Hafiz Farghali 'Ali al-Qarani|location=[[Giza]], Egypt|publisher=Arab Press Agency (Publishers)|via=[[Google Books]]|language=Arabic|date=2021|page=211|isbn=978-977-991-172-4}}</ref>
* [[Ibn al-Farid]] (d. 632/1235) was considered by [['Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi]] among Ibn 'Arabi's students.<ref name="Al-Shaykh al-Akbar"/><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TVKtDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA451|title=موسوعة الصوفية|trans-title=Encyclopedia of Sufism|author=Al-Husaini al-Husaini Ma'addi|location=[[Cairo]], Egypt|publisher=Kenouz for Publishing and Distribution|via=[[Google Books]]|language=Arabic|edition=1st|date=2013|page=451|isbn=9796500154978}}</ref>
* Al-Muzaffar Baha' al-Din Ghazi (son of [[Al-Adil I|al-'Adil I the Ayyubid]]) (d. 613/1216 or 635/1237)
* {{ill|Zakiy al-Din al-Birzali|ar|زكي الدين البرزالي}} (d. 636/1239)
* {{ill|Shams al-Din al-Khuwayyi|ar|أحمد بن خليل الخويي}} (d. 637/1239)
* [[Ibn al-Dubaythi]] (d. 637/1239)
* [[Ibn al-Najjar]] (d. 643/1245)
* [[Diya' al-Din al-Maqdisi]] (d. 643/1245)
* Isma'il ibn Sawdakin (d. 646/1248)
* [[Sa'd al-Din al-Hamawi]] (d. 650/1252)
* Muhyi al-Din Yahya ibn al-Zaki (d. 668/1270) who patronized Ibn 'Arabi in Damascus, and who arranged that Ibn 'Arabi be buried in the family cemetery of the Banu al-Zaki.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sC5tDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT5|title=ديوان ابن عربي|trans-title=Diwan of Ibn 'Arabi|author=Ibn 'Arabi|editor=Explained by Ahmad Hasan Bassaj|location=[[Lebanon]]|publisher=[[w:de:Dār al-Kutub al-ʿilmīya|Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyya]]|via=[[Google Books]]|language=ar|edition=3rd|date=2011|pages=6|isbn=9782745108012}}</ref>{{efn|The Ibn al-Zaki family (Banu al-Zaki) were hereditary judges of Damascus since the first half of the 6th/12th centuries. Among many members of this clan, Muhammad b. 'Ali b. al-Zaki al-Qurashi (d. 598/1202), the chief qadi of the [[Shafi'i madhhab]].{{sfn|Knysh|1999|p=289}}|group=Note}} He was a descendant of Zaki al-Din 'Ali b. Muhammad b. al-Zaki (d. 564/1169), the Shafi'i chief qadi of Damascus, who formed a powerful political alliance with the 'Asakir family (Banu 'Asakir),<ref>{{cite journal|author = Gerald Elmore|year = 1997|title = New Evidence on the Early Life of Ibn al-ʿArabī|journal = [[Journal of the American Oriental Society]]|volume = 117|issue = 2| pages=347–349 | doi=10.2307/605498 |jstor = 605498}}</ref> whose members occupied prestigious positions as judges and scholars of the Shafi'i school of Sunni law in Damascus for close to three centuries (late eleventh to early fourteenth centuries).
* [[Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi]] (d. 672/1273)
* [[Baybars]] (d. 676/1277)
===First vision===
[[File:Plaza Virgen de los Reyes, Seville, Spain - Sep 2009.jpg|thumb|[[Seville]], where Ibn Arabi spent most of his life and education]]
Ibn ʿArabī grew up at the ruling court and received [[military]] training.<ref name=":1" /> In his writing ''[[al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya]]'', he confessed he preferred playing in a military camp with his friends rather than reading a book. However, when he was a teenager, he experienced his first vision (''fanā'') and later wrote of this experience as "the differentiation of the universal reality comprised by that look".{{sfn|Chittick|2005|p=5}}

His father, noticing a change in him, mentioned this to philosopher and Judge Ibn Rushd ([[Averroes]]),{{sfn|Chittick|2005|p=5}} who asked to meet Ibn Arabi. Ibn Arabi said that from this first meeting, he had learned to perceive a distinction between formal knowledge of rational thought and the unveiling of insights into the nature of things. He then adopted [[Sufism]] (Tasawwuf) and dedicated his life to the spiritual path.{{sfn|Chittick|2005|p=5}}
===Pilgrimage to Mecca===
Ibn Arabi left Andalusia for the first time at age 28 and arrived in [[Tunis]] in 1193.{{sfn|Addas|2019|pp=51–53}} After a year in Tunisia, he returned to Andalusia in 1194. His father died soon after Ibn Arabi arrived at Seville. When his mother died some months later, he left Andalusia for the second time and traveled with his two sisters{{sfn|Addas|2019|p=61}} to [[Fez, Morocco]] in 1195.{{sfn|Addas|2019|p=64}} He returned to [[Córdoba, Andalusia]] in 1198, and left Andalusia crossing from Gibraltar for the last time in 1200.{{sfn|Addas|2019|pp=65–68}} While there, he received a vision instructing him to journey east. He then visited various places in the [[Maghreb]],{{sfn|Chittick|2005|p=5}} including Fez, where he accepted spiritual mentorship under [[Mohammed ibn Qasim al-Tamimi]].<ref name="Renard2009">{{cite book |author=John Renard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=srZ5L70phwQC |title=Tales of God's Friends: Islamic Hagiography in Translation |date=18 May 2009 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-25896-9 |page=35 |access-date=11 February 2012}}</ref> In 1200, he took leave from one of his most important teachers, Shaykh Abu Ya'qub Yusuf ibn Yakhlaf al-Kumi, then living in the town of [[Salé]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Elmore |first=Gerald T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mD5ogBK5eS8C&dq=Y%C5%ABsuf+al-K%C5%ABm%C4%AB&pg=PA69 |title=Islamic Sainthood in the Fullness of Time: Ibn Al-ʻArabī's Book of the Fabulous Gryphon |publisher=Brill |year=1999 |isbn=978-90-04-10991-9 |pages=69 |language=en}}</ref> He left Tunisia in 1201 and arrived for the [[Hajj]] in 1202.{{sfn|Chittick|2005|p=5}} He lived in [[Mecca]] for three years, and there began writing his work ''Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya'' ({{lang|ar|الفتوحات المكية}}), ''The Meccan Illuminations''—only part of which has been translated into English by scholars such as [[Eric Winkel]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Futuhat Project |url=https://ibnarabisociety.org/futuhat-al-makkiyya-translation-eric-winkel/ |access-date=2022-12-02 |website=The Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi Society|date=12 January 2020 }}</ref>

===Journey north===
[[File:Ibn Arabi Books.png|thumb|240px|Medieval list of Ibn Arabi's books.]]
After spending time in Mecca, he traveled across [[Syria (region)|Syria]], [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], Iraq, and [[Anatolia]]. In 1204, Ibn Arabi met Shaykh Majduddīn Isḥāq ibn Yūsuf (شيخ مجد الدين إسحاق بن يوسف), a native of [[Malatya]] and a man of great standing at the [[Great Seljuq Empire|Seljuk]] court. It was during this time that Ibn Arabi traveled north; first they visited [[Medina]], entering [[Baghdad]] in 1205. This visit offered him a chance to meet the direct disciples of [[Abdul Qadir Gilani|Shaykh 'Abd al-Qādir Jīlānī.]] Ibn Arabi stayed there for only 12 days because he wanted to visit [[Mosul]] to see his friend 'Alī ibn 'Abdallāh ibn Jāmi', a disciple of the mystic Qaḍīb al-Bān (471-573 AH/1079-1177 AD; قضيب البان).<ref>Testament to Qaḍīb al-Bān's life exists in a manuscript at the [[University of Baghdad]] (no. 541).</ref> He spent the month of [[Ramaḍan]] in Mosul, and composed ''Tanazzulāt al-Mawṣiliyya'' (تنزلات الموصلية), ''Kitāb al-Jalāl wa'l-Jamāl'' (كتاب الجلال والجمال, "The Book of Majesty and Beauty") and ''Kunh mā lā Budda lil-MurīdMinhu''.<ref name=hirtenstein>{{cite book|last=Hirtenstein|first=Stephen|title=The Unlimited Mercifier, The Spiritual life and thought of Ibn 'Arabi|isbn=978-0953451326|publisher=Anqa Publishing & White Cloud Press|year=1999}}</ref> 

===Return south===
In 1206, Ibn Arabi visited [[Jerusalem]], Mecca, and Egypt. It was the first time that he had passed through Syria, visiting [[Aleppo]] and [[Damascus]].

In 1207, he returned to Mecca, where he continued to study and write, spending his time with his friend Abū Shujā bin Rustem and family, including Niẓām.<ref name=hirtenstein/>

The next four to five years of Ibn Arabi's life were spent in these lands. He also kept traveling and holding reading sessions of his works in his presence.<ref>Islaahe Nafs ka AAiena e Haq</ref>{{fcn|date=December 2024}}

=== Final years ===
[[File:Maqam Ibn-'arabi2.jpg|thumb|Ibn Arabi's tomb in Damascus]]
After leaving Andalusia for the last time at the age of 33 (1198 AD){{sfn|Addas|2019|p=68}} and wandering in the Islamic world for 25 years, at the age of 58 (1223 AD), Ibn Arabi chose Damascus as his final home and dedicated his life for teaching and writing.{{sfn|Addas|2019|p=118}} In this city, he composed the ''Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam'' in 1229<ref name=":4" /> and finalized two manuscripts of ''Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya'' in 1231 and 1238.{{sfn|Addas|2019|pp=3–5}}
==Death==
Ibn Arabi died on 22 Rabī' al-Thānī, 638 AH (16 November 1240), at the age of 75. He was buried in the Banu Zaki cemetery, the family cemetery of the nobles of [[Damascus]], on [[Mount Qasioun|Qasiyun Hill]], Salihiyya, Damascus.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tomb of Ibn al-'Arabi |url=https://www.qantara-med.org/public/show_document.php?do_id=1268&lang=en |access-date=December 14, 2022 |website=Qandara: Mediterranean Heritage}}</ref>
==Legacy==
[[File:Ibn Arabi.jpg|thumb|Ibn Arabi as imagined by a later artist]]
After his death, Ibn Arabi's teachings quickly spread throughout the Islamic world. His writings were not limited to Muslim elites; they spread to other segments of society through the widespread influence of the Sufi orders. Arabi's work also spread widely through works in [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Turkish language|Turkish]], and [[Urdu]]. Many popular poets were trained in the Sufi orders and were inspired by Arabi's concepts.{{Sfn|Chittick|2005|pp=2–3}}

Contemporary scholars like [[al-Munawi]], [[Ibn al-Imad al-Hanbali|Ibn 'Imad al-Hanbali]], and [[Fairuzabadi|al-Fayruzabadi]] all praised Ibn Arabi as "a righteous [[Wali|friend of Allah]] and faithful scholar of knowledge", "the absolute [[Ijtihad|mujtahid]] (independent thinker) without doubt", and "the imam of the people of [[Sharia|shari'a]] both in knowledge and in legacy, the educator of the people of the way in practice and in knowledge, and the shaykh of the shaykhs of the people of truth though spiritual experience ("[[dhawq]]") and understanding".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ibn |first=Khafif |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eFmKGFZTTcoC&q=the+imam+of+the+people+of+shari'a+both+in+knowledge+and+in+legacy,+the+educator+of+the+people+of+the+way+in+pactice+and+in+knowledge,+and+the+shaykh+of+the+shaykhs+of+the+people+of+truth+though+spiritual+experience+(dhawq)+and+understanding&pg=RA1-PA3 |title=Correct Islamic Doctrine/Islamic Doctrine |date=1999 |publisher=ISCA |isbn=978-1-930409-01-9 |language=en}}</ref>
==Islamic law==
Although Ibn Arabi stated on more than one occasion that he did not blindly follow any one of the [[Madhhab|schools]] of Islamic [[Fiqh|jurisprudence]], he was responsible for copying and preserving books of the [[Ẓāhirī|Zahirite]] or literalist school, to which there is fierce debate over his adherence.<ref>Mohammed Rustom, [http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ip/MR-Chodkiewicz.pdf Review of Michel Chodkiewicz's An Ocean without Shore]</ref><ref>Hamza Dudgeon, "[https://www.academia.edu/36173562/The_Counter_Current_Movements_of_Andalusia_and_Ibn_%CA%BFArab%C4%AB_Should_Ibn_%CA%BFArab%C4%AB_be_considered_a_%E1%BA%92%C4%81hir%C4%AB The Counter-Current Movements of Andalusia and Ibn ʿArabī: Should Ibn ʿArabī be considered a Ẓāhirī?]" 2018, Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi Society Vol. 64.</ref> Many prominent Ibn Arabi scholars, including [[Claude Addas|Addas]], [[Michel Chodkiewicz|Chodkiewicz]], Gril, [[Eric Winkel|Winkel]], and Al-Gorab, contend that he did not follow any [[madhhab]]. Some scholars, such as Hamza Dudgeon<ref>Dudgeon, "The Counter-Current Movements of Andalusia and Ibn ʿArabī: Should Ibn ʿArabī be considered a Ẓāhirī?," 104.</ref><ref>Hamza Dudgeon, "[https://www.academia.edu/101952124/Review_of_Sufis_and_Shar%C4%AB%CA%BFa_The_Forgotten_School_of_Mercy Review of Sufis and Sharīʿa: The Forgotten School of Mercy]" in the ''Journal of Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi Society'' 74 (2023): .</ref> and [[Ignác Goldziher|Ignaz Goldziher]], reject this notion. Goldziher held that Ibn Arabi belonged either to the Zahiri or [[Hanbali]] school of Islamic jurisprudence.<ref>[[Ignác Goldziher|Ignaz Goldziher]], The Ẓāhirīs: Their Doctrine and Their History, ed. and trans. by Wolfgang Behn (Leiden: Brill, 1971), 169.</ref>

In an extant manuscript of Ibn Ḥazm, as transmitted by Ibn ʿArabī, Ibn ʿArabī gives an introduction to the work where he describes a vision he had:

{{Quote
|text="I saw myself in the village of Sharaf near Siville; there I saw a plain on which rose an elevation. On this elevation the Prophet stood, and a man whom I did not know, approached him; they embraced each other so violently that they seemed to interpenetrate and become one person. Great brightness concealed them from the eyes of the people. 'I would like to know,' I thought, 'who is this strange man.' Then I heard some one say: 'This is the traditionalist ʿAlī Ibn Ḥazm.' I had never heard Ibn Ḥazm's name before. One of my shaykhs, whom I questioned, informed me that this man is an authority in the field of science of [[Hadeeth]]."
|author=Goldziher
|source=''The Ẓāhirīs: Their Doctrine and Their History'' (1971)
}}Goldziher says, "The period between the sixth (hijri) and the seventh century seems to have been the prime of the Ẓāhirite school in Andalusia."<ref>Goldziher, The Ẓāhirīs, 170-171</ref>

Ibn Arabi did delve into specific details at times and was known for his view that religiously binding [[Ijma|consensus]] could only serve as a source of sacred law if it was the consensus of the [[Sahaba|first generation]] of Muslims who had witnessed revelation directly.<ref name=ali281>[[Chiragh Ali]], The Proposed Political, Legal and Social Reforms. Taken from Modernist Islam 1840-1940: A Sourcebook, pg. 281. Edited by [[Charles Kurzman]]. [[New York City]]: [[Oxford University Press]], 2002.</ref>

Ibn Arabi also expounded on Sufi allegories of the Sharia, building upon previous work by [[Al-Ghazali]] and [[al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi]].<ref> Hamza Dudgeon, "The Revival of Sharia's Allegories," 2019 Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi Society Vol. 66. https://www.academia.edu/40585698/The_Revival_of_Sharia_s_Allegories</ref>
==Theoretical mysticism==
{{copyedit section|date=December 2024}}
Ibn Arabi is considered to be a foundational figure in the development of [[Sufism|Islamic mysticism]], and [[Al-Andalus]] was home to a variety of [[Tariqa|mystical movements]] reflecting the influences of figures like [[Ibn Barrajan]], [[Ibn al-Arif|Ibn Arif]], and [[Abu al-Qasim ibn Qasi|Ibn Qasi]] in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The social and spiritual atmosphere of the [[Mashriq|Islamic East]] was also influenced this milieu, as did Islamic philosophers and mystics such as [[Avicenna|Ibn Sina]], [[Shahab al-Din Yahya ibn Habash Suhrawardi|Suhrawardi]], and [[Averroes|Ibn Rushd]].

During his adolescence and early adulthood, Ibn Arabi was exposed to numerous mystical currents that informed his writings. In one of his works, he refers to nearly seventy teachers who influenced his spiritual development.{{sfn|Chittick|2005}}{{page number needed|date=December 2024}}
===Knowledge===
Ibn Arabi distinguished between three types of knowledge. The first is rational knowledge, derived from theoretical reasoning, which he considered fallible and subject to error.<ref name="Great Islamic Encyclopedia Center">{{cite web |title=افزودن به کتابخانه من درباره کتاب نوشتن یادداشت خرید کتاب دربــارهابن عربی، ابو عبدالله|url=http://www.cgie.org.ir/fa/publication/entryview/2388 |website=The Great Islamic Encyclopedia, Volume 4 |access-date=23 May 2021|language=ar}}</ref> The second is [[Dhawq|''dhawq'']] (translated as "taste" or "delight"), a form of experiential knowledge that cannot be attained through rational reflection or expressed through logical argument. Examples include the knowledge of love, pleasure, or sexual experience. The third is mystical or divine knowledge, which transcends the limits of reason. Ibn Arabi believed this form of knowledge was granted to prophets and their spiritual heirs. He held that true knowledge—understood as knowledge of a thing in itself—belongs exclusively to God, rendering [[definition of knowledge|human definitions of knowledge]] ultimately inadequate. For Ibn Arabi, knowledge possesses a divine nature. He maintained that the ultimate reality, or the "Real Being," has eternal self-awareness and manifests as both singular and manifold: one essence known by many names.
===Imagination===
According to [[William Chittick]], little attention has been paid to the importance of imagination to Ibn Arabi. Before Ibn Arabi, imagination was counted as one faculty among the senses, but Ibn Arabi tried to develop it conceptually. He interpreted imagination as follows: all beings are images of real Being and non-being. In other words, all things have two dimensions, being and non-being.{{sfn|Chittick|2005|pp=106–107}} The universe and all other things counted as imagination, which has a middle nature between sheer reality and utter nothingness. All things are considered as qualities and reflections of one thing in many ways.<ref name="Imaginal worlds">{{cite book |last1=Chittick |first1=William C. |title=Imaginal worlds: Ibn al-ʻArabī and the problem of religious diversity |date=1994 |publisher=State University of New York Press |location=Albany |isbn=978-0-7914-2249-6}}</ref> It refers to the theory of the unity of existence.
===Al-Insān al-kāmil===
The doctrine of perfect man (''[[Al-Insān al-Kāmil]]'') is popularly considered an honorific title attributed to [[Muhammad]], having its origins in Islamic mysticism, although the concept's origin is controversial and disputed.<ref>{{Encyclopædia Iranica|title=EBN AL-ʿARABĪ, MOḤYĪ-al-DĪN Abū ʿAbd-Allāh Moḥammad Ṭāʾī Ḥātemī|first=William C.|last=Chittick|fascicle=6|volume=7|pages=664–670|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/ebn-al-arabi}}</ref> Arabi may have first coined this term in referring to Adam as found in his work ''Fusus al-hikam'', explained as an individual who binds himself with the Divine and creation.{{sfn|Fitzpatrick|Walker|2014|p=440}}

Taking an idea already common within [[Sufi]] culture, Ibn Arabi applied deep analysis and reflection on the concept of a perfect human and one's pursuit in fulfilling this goal. In developing his explanation of the perfect being, Ibn Arabi discusses the issue of oneness through the metaphor of the mirror.<ref name="Little, John T. 1987">{{cite journal|last=Little|first=John T.|title=Al-Insān Al-Kāmil: The Perfect Man According to Ibn Al-'arabi|date=January 1987|journal=The Muslim World|volume=77|issue=1|pages=43–54|doi=10.1111/j.1478-1913.1987.tb02785.x}}</ref>

In this philosophical metaphor, Ibn Arabi compares an object being reflected in countless mirrors to the relationship between God and his creatures. God's essence is seen in the existent human being, as God is the object and human beings the mirrors. This means two things: that since humans are mere reflections of God there can be no distinction or separation between the two and, without God, the creatures would be non-existent. When an individual understands that there is no separation between human and God they begin on the path of ultimate oneness. The one who decides to walk in this oneness pursues the true reality and responds to God's longing to be known. The search within for this reality of oneness causes one to be reunited with God, as well as improve self-consciousness.<ref name="Little, John T. 1987"/>

The perfect human, through this developed self-consciousness and self-realization, prompts divine self-manifestation. This causes the perfect human to be of both divine and earthly origin. Ibn Arabi metaphorically calls him an [[Isthmus]]. Being an Isthmus between heaven and Earth, the perfect human fulfills God's desire to be known. God's presence can be realized through him by others. Ibn Arabi expressed that through self manifestation one acquires divine knowledge, which he called the primordial spirit of Muhammad and all its perfection. Ibn Arabi details that the perfect human is of the cosmos to the divine and conveys the divine spirit to the cosmos.<ref name="Little, John T. 1987"/>

Ibn Arabi further explained the perfect man concept using at least twenty-two different descriptions and various aspects when considering the [[Logos]].<ref name="Little, John T. 1987"/> He contemplated the Logos, or "Universal Man", as a mediation between the individual human and the divine essence.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dobie|first=Robert J.|title=Logos and Revelation: Ibn 'Arabi, Meister Eckhart, and Mystical Hermeneutics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rWVwT3UpthUC&pg=PA225|location=Washington, D.C.| publisher=The Catholic University of America Press|page=225|isbn=978-0813216775|quote="For Ibn Arabi, the Logos or "Universal Man" was a mediating link between individual human beings and the divine essence."| date=2010}}</ref>

Ibn Arabi regarded Muhammad as the primary example of the perfect man, embodying the moral attributes of God.{{Sfn|Fitzpatrick|Walker|2014|p=445}} He believed that the first entity brought into existence was the reality or essence of Muhammad (''al-ḥaqīqa al-Muhammadiyya''), considered the master of all creatures and a central model for human emulation. According to Ibn Arabi, God's attributes and names are manifested in the world, with their most complete and perfect expression found in Muhammad. He asserted that one could perceive God through the reflection of Muhammad, maintaining that Muhammad served as the clearest proof of God and that by knowing Muhammad, one could come to know God.{{Sfn|Fitzpatrick|Walker|2014|p=446}}

Ibn Arabi also described Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and all other prophets and various ''Anbiya' Allah'' (Muslim messengers) as perfect men, but never tires of attributing lordship, inspirational source, and the highest rank to Muhammad.{{sfn|Fitzpatrick|Walker|2014|p=446}}<ref name="insan">{{citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HqZTDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA15|title=Rethinking Ibn 'Arabi|page=15|author=Gregory A. Lipton|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780190684518|date=2018-04-02}}</ref> Ibn Arabi compares his own status as a perfect man as being but a single dimension to the comprehensive nature of Muhammad.<ref name="insan"/> Ibn Arabi makes extraordinary assertions regarding his own spiritual rank, but qualifying this rather audacious correlation by asserting his "inherited" perfection is only a single dimension of the comprehensive perfection of Muhammad.<ref name="insan"/>
==Reaction==
{{See also|Tanbih al-Ghabi bi-Tabri'at Ibn 'Arabi}}
The reaction of [[Ibn 'Abd as-Salam]], a Muslim scholar respected by both Ibn Arabi's supporters and detractors, has been of note due to disputes over whether he himself was either a supporter or detractor. He was known by the title of Sultan al-'Ulama, the Sultan of scholars, was a famous [[mujtahid]], [[Ash'ari]] theologian, jurist and the leading [[Shafi'i school|Shafi'i]] authority of his generation.<ref>Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W.P.; Lecomte, G. (1997). Encyclopaedia of Islam. Vol. IX (San-Sze) (New ed.). Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. p. 812. ISBN 9004104224.</ref> As such, the figure of Ibn 'Abd al-Salam was claimed by each faction of the Ibn-'Arabi controversy due to his impeccable record as a staunch champion of the [[Sharia|Shari'a]].{{sfn|Knysh|1999|p=79}}

[[Ibn Taymiyyah]]'s report was based on the authority of two reliable transmitters, [https://www.taraajem.com/persons/114101/أبو-بكر-بن-عمر-بن-السلار Abu Bakr b. Salar] and [[Ibn Daqiq al-'Id]]. According to it, Ibn 'Abd al-Salam declared Ibn 'Arabi "a master of evil" and "a disgusting man", who "professed the eternity of the world and did not proscribe fornication."<ref>Majmūʿat al-rasāʾil wa al-masāʾil, vol. 4, pp. 73 and 75</ref> This severe verdict, whose authenticity Ibn Taymiyyah considered to be beyond doubt, was pronounced by Ibn 'Abd al-Salam upon his arrival in [[Egypt]] in 639/1241- that is, one year after his death.{{sfn|Knysh|1999|p=66}} The versions of the story furnished by [[al-Safadi]], a cautious supporter of Ibn 'Arabi, and [[al-Dhahabi]], his bitter critic, and teacher of al-Safadi, are especially helpful in placing Ibn 'Abd al-Salam's censure into a meaningful historical framework. Both al-Safadi and al-Dhahabi insisted that they read the story recorded in [[Fath al-Din Ibn Sayyid al-Nas|Ibn Sayyid al-Nas]]'s own hand. And yet, their versions vary. 

Both variants describe Ibn Daqiq al-'Id's astonishment at his teacher's sharp critique of the acclaimed [[wali]], which caused him to ask for proof of Ibn 'Arabi's lies. Ibn 'Abd al-Salam obliged by the following reply (in al-Safadi's recension):{{sfn|Knysh|1999|p=67}} "He used to deny [the possibility] of marriage between human beings and the [[jinn]], since, according to him, the jinn are subtle spirits, whereas human beings are solid bodies, hence the two cannot unite. Later on, however, he claimed that he had married a woman from the jinnfolk, who stayed with him for a while, then hit him with a camel's bone and injured him. He used to show us the scar on his face which, by that time, had closed."<ref>Al-Wafi, vol. 4, p. 174</ref> In al-Dhahabi's rendition: "He [Ibn 'Arabi] said: I married a she-jinni, and she blessed me with three children. Then it so happened that I made her angry and she hit me with a bone that caused this scar, whereupon she departed and I have never seen her again since."<ref>Al-Dhahabi. Mizan, vol. 3, p. 656</ref> The authenticity of Ibn 'Abd al-Salam's disparagement of Ibn 'Arabi seems to find support in his "Epistle on the [Saintly] Substitutes and the [Supreme] Succor" (Risala fil-'abdal wal-ghawth).{{sfn|Knysh|1999|p=72}}

On the other hand, another narration in praise of Ibn 'Arabi by al-Izz is reported by [https://tarajm.com/people/10313 'Abd al-Ghaffar al-Qusi] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409152208/https://tarajm.com/people/10313 |date=9 April 2023 }}, [[Fairuzabadi|al-Fayruzabadi]], [[:ar:جعفر بن أحمد السراج|al-Qari al-Baghdadi]], [[al-Suyuti]], [[al-Sha'rani]], [[Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari|al-Maqqari]], [[Ibn al-Imad al-Hanbali|Ibn al-'Imad]], and some other supporters. Despite minor variations in their accounts, all of them cite the same source: lbn 'Abd al-Salam's unnamed servant or student. In al-Qusi's redaction, Ibn 'Abd al Salam and his servant were passing by Ibn 'Arabi, who instructed his disciples in the Great [[Umayyad Mosque]] of Damuscus. Suddenly, the servant recalled that Ibn 'Abd al-Salam had promised to reveal to him the identity of the supreme saint of the epoch, the "Pole of the Age". The question caught Ibn 'Abd al-Salam off guard. He paused hesitantly for a moment, then pointed in the direction of Ibn 'Arabi, saying: "He is the Pole!" "And in spite of what you have said against him?" asked the servant. Ibn 'Abd al-Salam ignored this remark and simply repeated his reply.{{sfn|Knysh|1999|p=74}} In al-Fayruzabadi's version of the story, Ibn 'Abd al-Salam is presented as a secret admirer of his who was fully aware of the latter's exalted status in the Sufi hierarchy. However, as a public figure, Ibn 'Abd al-Salam was careful to conceal his genuine opinion of the controversial Sufi to "preserve the outward aspect of the religious law". In so doing, he, according to al-Fayruzabadi, shrewdly avoided an inevitable confrontation with the "jurists," who viewed Ibn 'Arabi as a heretic.{{sfn|Knysh|1999|p=75}}

The importance of Ibn 'Abd al-Salam's ambiguous evaluation of Ibn Arabi for the subsequent polemic is further attested by the detailed treatment of this story in al-Fasi's massive biographical dictionary, "The Precious Necklace" (al-'lqd al-thamin). A bitter critic of Ibn 'Arabi's monistic views, [[Taqi al-Din al-Fasi|al-Fasi]] rejected the Sufi version of the story as sheer fabrication. Yet, as a scrupulous [[muhaddith]], he tried to justify his position through the methods current in hadith criticism:{{sfn|Knysh|1999|p=76}} "I have a strong suspicion that this story was invented by the extremist Sufis who were infatuated with Ibn 'Arabi. Thereupon the story gained wide diffusion until it reached some trustworthy people, who accepted it in good faith .... My suspicion regarding the authenticity of this story has grown stronger because of the unfounded supposition that Ibn 'Abd al-Salam's praise of Ibn 'Arabi had occurred simultaneously with his censure of him. Ibn 'Abd al-Salam's statement that he censured Ibn 'Arabi out of concern for the shari'a inescapably implies that Ibn 'Arabi enjoyed a high rank in the same moment as Ibn 'Abd al-Salam was censuring him. Such a blunder could not have happened to any reliable religious scholar, let alone to someone as knowledgeable and righteous as Ibn 'Abd al-Salam. Anyone who suspects him of this makes a mistake and sins [by holding him responsible for] mutually contradictory statements .... One may try to explain Ibn 'Abd al-Salam's praise of Ibn 'Arabi, if it indeed took place, by the fact that [Ibn 'Abd al-Salam] was hesitating between praise and censure, because at the time he spoke Ibn 'Arabi's state had changed for the better. If so, there is no contradiction in Ibn 'Abd al-Salam's words. Were we to admit that the praise occurred, it was nevertheless abrogated by Ibn Daqiq al-'Id's report concerning lbn 'Abd al-Salam's [later] condemnation of lbn 'Arabi. For Ibn Daqiq al-'Id could only hear Ibn 'Abd al-Salam in Egypt, that is, a few years after Ibn 'Arabi's death. This cannot be otherwise because he ... was educated at Qus, where he had studied the [[Maliki]] madhhab, until he mastered it completely. Only then he come to Cairo to study the Shafi'i madhhab and other sciences under Ibn 'Abd al-Salam's guidance. ... His departure could only take place after 640, by which time Ibn 'Arabi had already been dead. ... Now, Ibn 'Abd al-Salam's praise, as the story itself testifies, occurred when Ibn 'Arabi was still alive. For did he not point to [Ibn 'Arabi], when that individual [the servant] asked him about the Pole or the [greatest] saint of the age?"<ref>Al-Fasi. 'lqd, vol. 2, pp. 184-185.</ref>
=== Creed ===
His best-known book, entitled '[[al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya]]' (The Meccan Victories or Illuminations) begins with a statement of doctrine (belief) about which [[al-Safadi]] (d. 764/1363) said: "I saw (read) that (al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya) from beginning to end. It consists of the doctrine of [[Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari]] without any difference (deviation) whatsoever."<ref>{{cite book|author=[[Ibn Khafif]]|translator=[[Gibril Fouad Haddad]]|title=Correct Islamic Doctrine/Islamic Doctrine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eFmKGFZTTcoC|date=1999|publisher=[[As-Sunna Foundation of America]]|isbn=9781930409019|page=4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=[[Gibril Fouad Haddad]]|title=The Biographies of the Elite Lives of the Scholars, Imams and Hadith Masters|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RwPnCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA319|date=2015|publisher=Zulfiqar Ayub|page=233}}</ref>
==Works==
[[File:Khalili Collection Islamic Art mss 0225 fol 60b-61a.jpg|thumb|Page from a Syrian manuscript of Ibn Arabi's six-volume [[Diwan (poetry)|''Dīwān'']].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Khalili Collections {{!}} Islamic Art {{!}} Volume Four of the Diwan of Ibn al-'Arabi |url=https://www.khalilicollections.org/collections/islamic-art/khalili-collection-islamic-art-volume-four-of-the-diwan-of-ibn-al-arabi-mss225/ |access-date=2023-06-08 |website=Khalili Collections |language=en-US}}</ref>]]Approximately 800 works are attributed to Ibn Arabi, although only some have been authenticated. Recent research suggests that over 100 of his works have survived in manuscripts, though most printed versions remain unedited and contain many errors.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cis-ca.org/voices/a/Ibn-Arabi.htm |title=Ibn Arabi (560-638/1165-1240) |publisher=Cis-ca.org |access-date=2018-11-05 |archive-date=2008-05-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080526170034/http://www.cis-ca.org/voices/a/Ibn-Arabi.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[William Chittick]], a specialist on Ibn 'Arabi, citing Osman Yahya's definitive bibliography, states that of the 850 works attributed to him, around 700 are authentic, and over 400 remain extant.<ref>{{cite book|first=William C.|last=Chittick|title=Ibn 'Arabi: Heir to the Prophets|publisher=Oneworld Publications|date=2012|isbn=978-1-78074-193-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PBu9DwAAQBAJ}}</ref>{{page number needed|date=December 2024}}
* ''[[Meccan Revelations|The Meccan Illuminations]]'' (''Al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya''), his largest work in 37 volumes originally and published in 4 or 8 volumes in modern times, discussing a wide range of topics from mystical philosophy to Sufi practices and records of his dreams/visions. It totals 560 chapters. In modern editions, it amounts to some 15,000 pages.<ref>Michel Chodkiewicz, introduction in ''The Spiritual Writings of Amir 'Abd al-Kader'', SUNY Press (1995), p. 7</ref>
* ''The Ringstones of Wisdom'' (also translated as ''The Bezels of Wisdom''), or ''Fusus al-Hikam''. Composed during the later period of Ibn 'Arabi's life, the work is sometimes considered his most important and can be characterized as a summary of his teachings and mystical beliefs. It deals with the role played by various prophets in divine revelation.<ref>Naqvi, S. Ali Raza, THE BEZELS OF WISDOM (Ibn al-'Arabī's Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam) by R.W.J. Austin (rev.), Islamic Studies, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Summer 1984), pp. 146-150</ref><ref name="ChittickDisclosure">Chittick, William C. "The Disclosure of the Intervening Image: Ibn 'Arabî on Death", Discourse 24.1 (2002), pp. 51-62</ref><ref>Almond, Ian. "The Honesty of the Perplexed: Derrida and Ibn 'Arabi on 'Bewilderment'", Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 70, No. 3 (Sep., 2002), pp. 515-537</ref> The attribution of this work (Fusus al-Hikam) to Ibn Arabi is debated and in at least one source<ref>Al Futuhat Al Makkiyya, Dar Sader, Beirut, Lebanon, Book 1, pg 7</ref> is described as a forgery and false attribution to him reasoning that there are 74 books in total attributed to Sheikh Ibn Arabi of which 56 have been mentioned in "Al Futuhat al-Makkiyya" and the rest mentioned in the other books cited therein. However, many other scholars accept the work as genuine.<ref name="ChittickDisclosure"/><ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/isl/siim/siim16.htm#page_149 Notes on Fusus ul Hikam], [[Reynold A. Nicholson]], ''Studies in Islamic Mysticism''</ref>
* The ''[[Diwan (poetry)|Dīwān]]'', his collection of poetry spanning five volumes, mostly unedited. The printed versions available are based on only one volume of the original work.
* ''The Holy Spirit in the Counselling of the Soul'' (''Rūḥ al-quds''), a treatise on the soul which includes a summary of his experience from different spiritual masters in the Maghrib. Part of this has been translated as ''Sufis of Andalusia'', reminiscences and spiritual anecdotes about many interesting people whom he met in [[al-Andalus]].
* ''Contemplation of the Holy Mysteries'' (''Mashāhid al-Asrār''), probably his first major work, consisting of fourteen visions and dialogues with God.
* ''Divine Sayings'' (''Mishkāt al-Anwār''), an important collection made by Ibn 'Arabī of 101 hadīth qudsī
* ''The Book of Annihilation in Contemplation'' (''K. al-Fanā' fi'l-Mushāhada''), a short treatise on the meaning of mystical annihilation (''[[Fana (Sufism)|fana]]'').
* ''Devotional Prayers'' (''Awrād''), a widely read collection of fourteen prayers for each day and night of the week.
* ''Journey to the Lord of Power'' (''Risālat al-Anwār''), a detailed technical manual and roadmap for the "journey without distance".
* ''The Book of God's Days'' (''Ayyām al-Sha'n''), a work on the nature of time and the different kinds of days experienced by gnostics
* ''The Astounding Phoenix regarding the Seal of Saints and the Sun of the West'' ({{langx|ar|عنقاء مغرب في معرفة ختم الأولياء وشمس المغرب}}, {{ALA-LC|ar|ʻAnqāʼ al-Mughrib fī Maʻrifat Khatm al-Awliyāʼ wa-Shams al-Maghrib}}), a book on the meaning of sainthood and its culmination in [[Jesus]] and the [[Mahdi|Mahdī]]
* ''The Universal Tree and the Four Birds'' (''al-Ittihād al-Kawnī''), a poetic book on the Complete Human and the four principles of existence
* ''Prayer for Spiritual Elevation and Protection'' ('''al-Dawr al-A'lā''), a short prayer which is still widely used in the Muslim world
* ''The Interpreter of Desires'' (''[[Tarjumān al-Ashwāq]]''), a collection of [[nasīb (poetry)|nasībs]] which, in response to critics, Ibn Arabi republished with a commentary explaining the meaning of the poetic symbols. (1215)
* ''Divine Governance of the Human Kingdom'' (''At-Tadbidrat al-ilahiyyah fi islah al-mamlakat al-insaniyyah'').
* ''The Four Pillars of Spiritual Transformation'' (''Hilyat al-abdāl'') a short work on the essentials of the spiritual Path
===The Meccan Illuminations (Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya)===
{{main|Meccan Revelations}}

According to [[Claude Addas]], Ibn Arabi began writing ''Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya'' after he arrived in Mecca in 1202.{{sfn|Addas|2019|pp=73–75}} After almost thirty years, the first draft of ''Futūḥāt'' was completed in December 1231 (629 AH), and Ibn Arabi bequeathed it to his son.{{sfn|Addas|2019|p=3}} Two years before his death, Ibn 'Arabī finished a second draft of the ''Futūḥāt'' in 1238 (636 AH),{{sfn|Addas|2019|p=5}} of which included several additions and deletions as compared with the previous draft, that contains 560 chapters. The second draft, the more widely circulated version, was bequeathed to his disciple, [[Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi]]. Many scholars have attempted to translate this book from Arabic into other languages, but there is no complete translation of ''Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya'' to this day.

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Ibn arabi judgement day.svg|Diagram of "Plain of Assembly" (''Ard al-Hashr'') on the Day of Judgment, from autograph manuscript of ''Futuhat al-Makkiyya'', ca. 1238 (photo: after ''Futuhat al-Makkiyya'', Cairo edition, 1911).
File:Levels of heaven.png|Diagram of Jannat Futuhat al-Makkiyya, c. 1238 (photo: after Futuhat al-Makkiyya, Cairo edition, 1911).
File:Ibn Arabi's Diagram.png|Diagram showing world, heaven, hell and barzakh Futuhat al-Makkiyya, c. 1238 (photo: after Futuhat al-Makkiyya, Cairo edition, 1911).
</gallery>
===The Bezels of Wisdom (Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam)===
There have been many commentaries on Ibn 'Arabī's ''Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam'': Osman Yahya named more than 100 while [[Michel Chodkiewicz]] precises that "this list is far from exhaustive."<ref>Michel Chodkiewicz, ''An Ocean Without Shore: Ibn Arabi, the Book, and the Law'', SUNY Press (1993), p. 59</ref> The first one was ''Kitab al-Fukūk'' written by [[Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi|Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Qunawī]] who had studied the book with Ibn 'Arabī; the second by Qunawī's student, Mu'ayyad al-Dīn al-Jandi, which was the first line-by-line commentary; the third by Jandī's student, [[Dawūd al-Qayṣarī|Dawūd al-Qaysarī]], which became very influential in the Persian-speaking world. A recent English translation of Ibn 'Arabī's own summary of the ''Fuṣūṣ, Naqsh al-Fuṣūṣ'' (The Imprint or Pattern of the Fusus) as well a commentary on this work by [[Jami|'Abd al-Raḥmān Jāmī]], ''Naqd al-Nuṣūṣ fī Sharḥ Naqsh al-Fuṣūṣ'' (1459), by [[William Chittick]] was published in Volume 1 of the ''Journal of the [[Mohyeddin|Muhyiddin]] Ibn 'Arabi Society'' (1982).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibnarabisociety.org/journals.html |title=Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi Society |publisher=Ibnarabisociety.org |access-date=2018-11-05}}</ref>
==== Critical editions and translations of Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam ====
The ''Fuṣūṣ'' was first critically edited in Arabic by 'Afīfī (1946) that become the standard in scholarly works. Later in 2015, Ibn al-Arabi Foundation in Pakistan published the Urdu translation, including the new critical of Arabic edition.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://ibnularabifoundation.org/index.php/publications/fusus-al-hikam|title=Fusus al-Hikam|publisher=Ibn al-Arabi Foundation|others=translator: Abrar Ahmed Shahi|year=2015|editor1-last=Sultan al-Mansub|editor1-first=Abd al-Aziz|editor2-last=Shahī|editor2-first=Abrar Ahmed}}</ref> 

The first English translation was done in partial form by Angela Culme-Seymour<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/9060216/Angela-Culme-Seymour.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/9060216/Angela-Culme-Seymour.html |archive-date=2022-01-12 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live | work=The Daily Telegraph | title=Angela Culme-Seymour | date=February 3, 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref> from the French translation of [[Titus Burckhardt]] as ''Wisdom of the Prophets'' (1975),<ref>Culme-Seymour, A. (tr.) (1975), "The Wisdom of the Prophets", Gloucestershire, U.K.:Beshara Publications</ref> and the first full translation was by Ralph Austin as ''Bezels of Wisdom'' (1980).<ref>Austin, R.W.J. (tr.) (1980), "Ibn Al'Arabi: The Bezels of Wisdom", Mahwah, NJ: The Paulist Press, {{ISBN|0-8091-2331-2}}</ref> There is also a complete French translation by Charles-Andre Gilis, entitled ''Le livre des chatons des sagesses'' (1997). The only major commentary to have been translated into English so far is entitled ''[[Bursalı İsmail Hakkı|Ismail Hakki Bursevi]]'s translation and commentary on Fusus al-hikam by [[Mohyeddin|Muhyiddin]] Ibn 'Arabi'', translated from Ottoman Turkish by [[Bulent Rauf]] in 4 volumes (1985–1991).

In Urdu, the most widespread and authentic translation was made by Shams Ul Mufasireen Bahr-ul-uloom Hazrat (Muhammad Abdul Qadeer Siddiqi Qadri -Hasrat), the former Dean and Professor of Theology of the [[Osmania University]], [[Hyderabad, Telangana|Hyderabad]]. It is due to this reason that his translation is in the curriculum of Punjab University. Maulvi Abdul Qadeer Siddiqui has made an interpretive translation and explained the terms and grammar while clarifying the Shaikh's opinions. A new edition of the translation was published in 2014 with brief annotations throughout the book for the benefit of contemporary Urdu reader.<ref>[http://www.guldustah.com/fusoos-ul-hikam.html Fusus Al Hikam] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150704094712/http://www.guldustah.com/fusoos-ul-hikam.html |date=2015-07-04 }}, Translated by Muhammad Abdul Qadeer Siddiqui, Annotated by Mohammed Abdul Ahad Siddiqui, 2014 Kitab Mahal, Darbar Market, Lahore, Online Version at [http://www.guldustah.com/ guldustah.com]</ref>
==In fiction==
{{Main|İbn-i Arabi (fictional character)}}

In the Turkish television series ''[[Diriliş: Ertuğrul]]'', Ibn Arabi was portrayed by [[Ozman Sirgood]].<ref name="Resurrection: Ertuğrul (İbn-i Arabi)">{{Cite web|url=https://www.sabah.com.tr/osman-soykut-kimdir|title=Osman Soykut Kimdir? - Güncel Osman Soykut Haberleri|website=www.sabah.com.tr|access-date=12 June 2020}}</ref> In 2017, Saudi Arabian novelist [[Mohammed Hasan Alwan]] won the [[International Prize for Arabic Fiction]] for his novel ''A Small Death'', a fictionalized account of Ibn Arabi's life.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1329268 |title=Saudi wins award for novel on Ibn Arabi |newspaper=[[Dawn (newspaper)|Dawn]] |date=26 April 2017 |accessdate=5 August 2021}}</ref>

==See also==
{{div col}}
* [[Ibn Sufi]]
* [[Ain al-Kheil Mosque]]
* [[Hossein Nasr]]
* [[Ibn Masarra]]
* [[Ivan Aguéli]]
* [[List of Sufis]]
* [[Mahmud Shabistari]]
* [[Miguel Asín Palacios]]
* [[Mohyeddin]]
* [[Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi Society]]
* [[Mujaddid]]
* [[Transcendent theosophy]]
{{div col end}}
==Notes==
{{notelist}}
{{Reflist|group=Note}}
==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}
===Sources===
*{{cite book |last=Addas |first=Claude |title=Ibn Arabi: The Voyage of No Return |publisher=Islamic Texts Society |year=2019 |isbn=9781911141402 |edition=2nd |location=Cambridge, UK }}
*{{cite book|last=Chittick|first=William C.|date=2005|title=Ibn 'Arabi: Heir to the Prophets|url=https://archive.org/details/IbnAlArabiIbnArabiHeirToTheProphetsByWilliamCChittick2005161Pp|location=Oxford|publisher=Oneworld Publications|isbn=978-1851685110|author-link=William Chittick}}
*{{cite book|last1=Fitzpatrick|first1=Coeli|last2=Walker|first2=Adam Hani|date=2014|title=Muhammad in History, Thought, and Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2AtvBAAAQBAJ|location=Santa Barbara, California|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1610691772}}
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bpzODwAAQBAJ|title=محيي الدين بن عربي وآراؤه الفقهية في الفتوحات المكية|trans-title=Muhyi al-Din ibn 'Arabi and his Jurisprudential Opinions in al-Futuhāt al-Makkiyya|author=Nader Jamil Jum'a|location=[[Lebanon]]|publisher=[[w:de:Dār al-Kutub al-ʿilmīya|Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyya]]|via=[[Google Books]]|language=Arabic|edition=1st|date=2020|isbn=9782745192783}}
*{{cite book|last=Knysh|first=Alexander D.|title=Ibn 'Arabi in the Later Islamic Tradition: The Making of a Polemical Image in Medieval Islam|location=Albany, NY|publisher=SUNY Press|date=1999|isbn=9780791439685|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RVVMT1K7whMC}}
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=godxDwAAQBAJ|title=فقه الشيخ محيي الدين بن عربي في العبادات|trans-title=The Jurisprudence of Shaykh Muhyi al-Din ibn 'Arabi in Acts of Worship|author=Muhammad Faruq Salih al-Badri|location=[[Lebanon]]|publisher=[[w:de:Dār al-Kutub al-ʿilmīya|Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyya]]|language=Arabic|edition=1st|date=2006|isbn=9782745151193}}

{{CCBYSASource|sourcepath=https://www.scribd.com/doc/17234271/Syakh-alAkbar-Ibn-Arabi-brief-biography|sourcearticle=A Concise biography of Ibn 'Arabi|revision=380294912}}

==Further reading==
===English translations===
* {{cite book
| author = Ibn 'Arabi
| others= Translated by Tosun Bayrak
| title = Divine Governance of the Human Kingdom
| publisher = Fons Vitae
| year = 1997
| isbn = 9781887752053
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T40JAAAACAAJ&q=Divine+Governance+of+the+Human+Kingdom}}
* {{cite book
| author = Ibn 'Arabi
| others = Translated by Tosun Bayrak
| title = What the Seeker Needs: Essays on Spiritual Practice, Oneness, Majesty and Beauty, with Ibn ʻArabi's Glossary of 199 Sufi Technical Terms
| publisher = Threshold Books
| year = 1992
| location = University of Virginia
| isbn = 9780939660414
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=engwAAAAYAAJ&q=What+the+Seeker+Needs}}
* Ibn 'Arabī. ''Nasab al-Khirqa''. Trans. Gerald Elmore. Vol. XXVI. Oxford: Journal of the [[Mohyeddin|Muhyiddin]] Ibn 'Arabi Society, 1999. Print.
*{{cite book|author=Ibn 'Arabī|title=Divine Sayings: The Mishkat al-Anwar of Ibn 'Arabi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JplVDwAAQBAJ|location=Oxford|publisher=Anqa Publishing|date=2005|isbn=9781905937134}}
* Ibn 'Arabi. ''The Meccan Revelations''. Pir Press.
===Life and work===
* Addas, Claude, ''Quest for the Red Sulphur'', [[Islamic Texts Society]], Cambridge, 1993. {{ISBN|0-946621-45-4}}.
* Akkach, Samer, ''Ibn 'Arabî's Cosmogony and the Sufi Concept of Time'', in: ''Constructions of Time in the Late Middle Ages'', ed. Carol Poster and Richard Utz. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1997. Pp. 115-42.
* [[Titus Burckhardt]] & Bulent Rauf (translator), ''Mystical Astrology According to Ibn 'Arabi'' (The Fons Vitae Titus Burckhardt Series) {{ISBN|1-887752-43-9}}
* [[Henry Corbin]], ''Alone with the Alone; Creative Imagination in the Sūfism of IbnʿArabī'', Bollingen, Princeton 1969, (reissued in 1997 with a new preface by [[Harold Bloom]]).
* Elmore, Gerald T. ''Ibn Al-'Arabī's Testament on the Mantle of Initiation (al-Khirqah)''. Journal of the [[Mohyeddin|Muhyiddin]] Ibn 'Arabi Society XXVI (1999): 1-33. Print.
* Elmore, Gerald T. ''Islamic Sainthood in the Fullness of Time: Ibn Al-'Arabī's Book of the Fabulous Gryphon''. Leiden: Brill, 1999. Print.
* {{cite book|last=Hirtenstein|first=Stephen|title=The Unlimited Mercifier, The Spiritual life and thought of Ibn 'Arabi|isbn=978-0953451326|publisher=Anqa Publishing & White Cloud Press|year=1999}}
* Hirtenstein, Stephen, and Jane Clark. [http://www.ibnarabisociety.org/articles/mssarchivereport2009.html Ibn 'Arabi Digital Archive Project Report for 2009] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150102164234/http://www.ibnarabisociety.org/articles/mssarchivereport2009.html |date=2015-01-02 }} [[Mohyeddin|Muhyiddin]] Ibn 'Arabi 1165AD - 1240AD and the Ibn 'Arabi Society. Dec. 2009. Web. 20 Aug. 2010.
* Torbjörn Säfve, ''"Var inte rädd"'' ('Do not be afraid'), {{ISBN|91-7221-112-1}}
* Yahia, Osman. ''Mu'allafāt Ibn ʻarabī: Tārīkhuhā Wa-Taṣnīfuhā''. Cairo: Dār al-Ṣābūnī, 1992. Print.
* Yousef, Mohamed Haj. ''Ibn 'Arabi - Time and Cosmology'' (London, Routledge, 2007) (Culture and Civilization in the Middle East).
* Yūsuf, Muhammad Haj. ''Shams Al-Maghrib''. Allepo: Dār al-Fuṣṣilat, 2006. Print.
*{{cite book |last1=Kiliç |first1=M.Erol |last2=Caradaş |first2=Cağfer |last3=Kaya |first3=Mahmut |title=İBNÜ'l-ARABÎ, Muhyiddin - An article published in Turkish Encyclopedia of Islam |date=1999 |publisher=[[TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi]] |location=Istanbul |isbn=978-975-389-447-0 |pages=493–522 |volume=20 (Ibn Haldun - Ibnu'l Cezeri) |url=https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/ibnul-arabi-muhyiddin#3-islam-dusuncesindeki-yeri|lang=tr}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Rustom |first1=Mohammed |title=Ibn ʿArabī's Letter to Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī: A Study and Translation |journal=Journal of Islamic Studies |date=2014 |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=113–137 |doi=10.1093/jis/ett071}}
* [http://www.ibnarabisociety.org Ibn Arabi Society page about Ibn Al 'Arabi]
* [https://ebnearabi.com/en/ Exploring Ibn Arabi, Mysticism and Sufism] - a website presenting Shia perspective.
* [http://www.unc.edu/depts/sufilit/AL-ARABI.htm Ibn Arabi & Mystical Journey:The Journey to the Lord of Power] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060909113228/http://www.unc.edu/depts/sufilit/AL-ARABI.htm |date=2006-09-09 }} (John G. Sullivan, Department of Philosophy at [[Elon College]])
* [https://www.academia.edu/2634736/George_Grigore._Le_concept_damour_chez_Ibn_Arabi_Romano-Arabica_II_Bucharest_Center_for_Arab_Studies._2002_119-134 Le concept d'amour chez Ibn 'Arabi] {{in lang|fr}}
* [http://www.ibnarabi.net/ Ibnarabi.net - Download Books]
* [https://www.dar-alifta.org/ar/ViewFatwa.aspx?ID=14254 حكم من يدعي إجماع أهل السنة على تكفير الإمام محيي الدين بن العربي] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210725000440/https://www.dar-alifta.org/ar/ViewFatwa.aspx?ID=14254 |date=2021-07-25 }}—[[Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah]] {{in lang|ar}}
* [https://halaqa.home.blog/2019/02/21/ibn-arabi-and-wahdat-al-wujud/ Ibn 'Arabi and Wahdat al-Wujud]
*[https://www.tentacularmag.com/issue-2-text-1/ibn-arabi-53 Ibn 'Arabi's poem ''Tarjuman Al Ashwaq (The Interpreter of Desires),''] translated by [[Yasmine Seale]] and [[Robin Moger]]
*[https://www.kidpaw.net/famous-people/ibn-arabi-pid110297 Ibn Arabi Biography, Birthday & Nationality] - presenting spouse, place of birth, biography

{{Sufi}}
{{Arabic literature}}
{{Islamic philosophy}}
{{Zahiri scholars}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arabi, Ibn}}
[[Category:Ibn Arabi| ]]
[[Category:Articles with imported Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 text]]
[[Category:1165 births]]
[[Category:1240 deaths]]
[[Category:12th-century Arabic-language poets]]
[[Category:13th-century Arabic-language poets]]
[[Category:Zahiris]]
[[Category:Asharis]]
[[Category:People from Murcia]]
[[Category:Philosophers from al-Andalus]]
[[Category:Medieval Islamic philosophers]]
[[Category:Sufi poets]]
[[Category:Sufi mystics]]
[[Category:Sufi saints]]
[[Category:Sufis from al-Andalus]]
[[Category:Arabs from al-Andalus]]
[[Category:13th-century writers from al-Andalus]]
[[Category:12th-century writers from al-Andalus]]
[[Category:12th-century Arab people]]
[[Category:13th-century Arab people]]