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Interpreting Ibn ʿArabī: Philosophy, Theology, and Exegesis in Later Islam offers a comprehensive and critical examination of one of Islam's most enigmatic and influential thinkers. Through close engagement with major controversies surrounding Ibn ʿArabī's ideas— from the doctrine of the Oneness of Being to his vision of sainthood and Qurʾānic interpretation— this volume traces the rich and contested legacy of his thought across the Islamic intellectual tradition.
Addressing the most debated aspects of Ibn ʿArabī's teachings, this book surveys the major contests around the fixed entities, Divine Power, human freedom, and the nature of the Perfect Man. It delves into accusations of pantheism and theological transgression, and explores the strategies employed by the Shaykh al-Akbar's followers to clarify, defend, or reinterpret his views. It also explores Ibn ʿArabī's provocative Qurʾānic hermeneutics, which includes perspectives on mercy, the problem of idolatry, and the fate of unbelievers, situating the Shaykh's teachings within broader Sufi, philosophical, and theological currents. Finally, it reveals how Ibn ʿArabī challenged dominant rationalist frameworks and expanded the boundaries of Islamic knowledge by restoring to imagination a central epistemological role.
This book is an essential resource for scholars of Islamic philosophy, theology, Sufism, Qurʾānic studies, and the intellectual history of the Muslim world, shedding new light on the interpretive debates that have shaped Ibn ʿArabī's enduring legacy.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Note on Transliteration and Translation
Introduction
The Problems (mushkilāt) of the Fuṣūṣ: Interpretive Divergences
From the Lack of Understanding (ʿadam al-fahm): Solving the Problems of the Fuṣūṣ
The Present Study: Interpreting Ibn ʿArabī
1 "All is He, All is Not He": The Vision of Huwa-lā Huwa
The Entities (aʿyān) are Not Made (ghayr majʿūl) and Non-Existent (maʿdūm)
The Mirror-Entities and the Color-Entities
The Pre-Existent Forms (ṣuwar) of the Entities: The Cloud, the Barzakh, the Creator-Real
2 Divine Power and Human Freedom
The Essence (Dhāt) and the Divinity (Ilāh), Determination (taqdīr) and Creation (khalq)
Freedom and Compulsion, Responsibility (taklīf) and Predestination (qadar)
3 Incomparability and Similarity
To Affirm Incomparability is to Affirm Limitation (taḥdīd) and Restriction (taqyīd)
Transcending the God of Beliefs (al-ilāh al-muʿtaqadāt)
The Divinity Clothed in Forms of Belief: Worshiping the Idols of Belief
4 "Created in his/His Form": The All-Comprehensive Form of Man
Originated and Beginningless (ḥādith azalī), Perpetual and Endless (dāʾim abadī)
The Problem of Man's Firstness (awwaliyya)
Creation (khalaqa) in Two Senses: Determination (taqdīr) and Existentiation (ījād)
5 Becoming a Form of God (ṣūrat al-Ḥaqq)
The False Form (ṣūra bāṭila) of the Pharaoh of Moses (Firʿawn Mūsā)
The Form of al-Kharrāz, One of the Tongues of God (lisān min alsinat al-Ḥaqq)
6 The Messenger takes his Knowledge from the Seal of the Saints
The Prophets (anbiyāʾ) in the Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam
The Seal of the Saints: "the space for two bricks" (mawḍiʿ labinatayn)
7 Interpreting the Qurʾān
Between taʾwīl, ishāra, and ʿubūr: Ibn ʿArabī's Qurʾānic Hermeneutics
Abraham's Sacrifice (dhabḥ), God's Deception (makr), Drowning in Knowledge
8 The Hermeneutics of Mercy
The Faith of Pharaoh (īmān Firʿawn) in Q. 10:90-92
From Torments (ʿadhāb) to the Sweetness of Torments (ʿudhūba)
Conclusion: Interpreting the Shaykh al-Akbar
"He/not He" Revisited: Ambiguity and Knowledge as Perplexity (ḥayra)
"He who does not know the status of imagination has no knowledge"
Bibliography
Index
