Ibn ‘Arabi’s Philosophical Mode of thinking

C. Chittick, William; Mutahhari, Mahdi

Ibn ‘Arabi’s Philosophical Mode of thinking

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

William C. Chittick ¹

Mahdi Mutahhari ²

¹ Article author

² Trans

Abstract

Considering Ibn ‘Arabi as an active Muslim scholar, theosopher and, to some extent, philosopher, both and influential, who wrote voluminously at an exceedingly high level of discourse, making him one of the most difficult of all Muslim authors, the writer has made an attempt to find his relation with philosophy in three aspects, and judge whether he deserves the name faylasuf or not:
1) Aquaintance with falsafah: Though it is clear that he was conversant with the fundamental sources of the Islamic Tadition and the intellectual currents of his day, especially the wisdom tradition, most of what he says is the product of his unveiling (Kashf)
2) View of falsafah: According to him, the unveiling achieved by sufi practitioners is a mode of knowing superior to reason, but reason is necessary for acquiring a true knowledge, therefore, tashbih (God’s incomparability) and rahmah (God’s Mercy) take precendence over his tanzih (His similarity) and Ghadab (Wrath).
3) Contributions to philosophy: His contributions to philosophy can be summarized in three intimately interwined theories as follows: The Oneness of Being (wahdat al-wujud), the world of Imagination (alam al-khayal), and the perfect human being. The first theory is basend on the theory of tashbih; the second, in its broader sense, applies to the cosmos itself and to every thing within it, and lies between the two grand worlds, the visible (al-shahadah) and the Invisible (al-ghayb), to use the Quranic terms. And the third, the perfect human being, having actualized every possibility of knowledge and existence, fulfils the purpose of creation.

Keywords

The perfect humanbeing

The world of Imagination

Oneness of being

Unveiling

Philosophy

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