محيي الدين ابن عربي
Ibn 'Arabi (RH)
Muhyi al-Din Ibn 'Arabi
Also known as: Ibnu Arabi, Ibn Arabi, al-Shaykh al-Akbar
560–638 AH · 1165–1240 CE
Sufism & Theology Sufism
al-Shaykh al-Akbar, the Andalusian mystic whose vast writings shaped later Sufi thought.
Born in Murcia in al-Andalus, Ibn 'Arabi grew up in Seville and met many of the Sufi masters of the Maghreb. Around 1200 he left the West for good, performing Hajj and beginning in Makkah his monumental al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya, the Meccan Openings. After years of travel through Anatolia, Iraq and Syria he settled in Damascus, where he wrote Fusus al-Hikam.
His teachings on the Divine Names, the Perfect Human (al-insan al-kamil) and the oneness of being, later summed up as wahdat al-wujud, deeply shaped Sufism from Anatolia to the Malay world. His ideas have also long been debated: some scholars held him in the highest regard, while others strongly criticised parts of his writings.
Life journey
- 1165 CE Murcia مرسية
- 1172 CE Seville (Ishbiliya) إشبيليةGrew up in Seville and travelled within al-Andalus and the Maghreb.
- 1202 CE Makkah مكةBegan al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya in Makkah.
- 1205 CE Konya قونيةBased in Anatolia for many years, travelling to Baghdad, Aleppo and Malatya.
- 1223 CE Damascus دمشقDied 1240 CE · 638 AHSettled in Damascus; buried at the foot of Mount Qasiyun.
Key works
- al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya الفتوحات المكيةThe Meccan OpeningsA vast encyclopaedia of Sufi doctrine begun in Makkah.
- Fusus al-Hikam فصوص الحكمThe Bezels of WisdomTwenty-seven chapters, each on the wisdom revealed through a prophet.
Places in their life
Photo: Adli Wahid (minor modifications by Basile Morin), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Sources
- Claude Addas, Quest for the Red Sulphur: The Life of Ibn 'Arabi (1993)
- al-Maqqari, Nafh al-Tib
- al-Dhahabi, Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'