Ibn Arabi

Lore & Background

Ibn 'Arabī was born in the Taifa of Murcia on 17 Ramadan 560 AH (28 July 1165), though some sources give 27 Ramadan 560 AH (6 August 1165). His father, ʿAli ibn Muḥammad, served in the Army of Ibn Mardanīsh, ruler of Murcia. When Murcia fell to the Almohad Caliphate in 1172, Ibn Mardanīsh was killed, and his father pledged allegiance to the Almohad caliph Abū Ya'qūb Yūsuf I. The family relocated from Murcia to Seville. Ibn 'Arabī came from a mixed background: his father descended from Arab emigrants to al-Andalus; his mother was presumably of Berber descent. As a teenager, he experienced his first vision (fanā) and later wrote of it as 'the differentiation of the universal reality comprised by that look.' His father mentioned this change to philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes), who asked to meet Ibn 'Arabī. From that meeting, Ibn 'Arabī learned to perceive a distinction between formal rational knowledge and unveiling insights into the nature of things. He then adopted Sufism and dedicated his life to the spiritual path. Ibn 'Arabī left Andalusia for the first time at age 28, arriving in Tunis in 1193. After a year, he returned to Andalusia in 1194. His father died soon after his arrival in Seville; his mother died some months later. He left Andalusia for the second time and traveled with his two sisters to Fez, Morocco in 1195. He returned to Córdoba in 1198, and left Andalusia crossing from Gibraltar for the last time in 1200. He received a vision instructing him to journey east. He performed the Hajj in 1202 and lived in Mecca for three years, where he began writing Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya. He then traveled across Syria, Palestine, Iraq, and Anatolia. In 1204, he met Majduddīn Isḥāq ibn Yūsuf, a man of standing at the Seljuk court. Ibn 'Arabī had three wives: Maryam, a woman from an influential family who shared his Sufi aspirations; Majd al-Dīn's widow, whom he married during his stay in Anatolia; and the mother of his son Imāduddin, to whom he bequeathed the first copy of Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya. He died on 22 Rabī' al-Thānī, 638 AH (16 November 1240) at age 75, and was buried in the Banu Zaki cemetery on Qasiyun Hill, Salihiyya, Damascus.

Reader's Guide

Ibn 'Arabī's significance rests on his explicit delineation of wahdat al-wujūd (unity of existence), a monist doctrine claiming all things in the universe are manifestations of a singular reality, which he called 'the Absolute' (al-wujūd al-muṭlaq). His cosmological teachings became a dominant intellectual framework in many regions of the Muslim world. His traditional title was Muḥyiddīn ('The Reviver of Religion'); after his death, practitioners of Sufism began referring to him as Shaykh al-Akbar ('The Greatest Shaykh'), from which the term Akbarism is derived. He is considered a wali (saint) by some scholars and Muslim communities. There are 850 works attributed to him, though only 700 are considered authentic, and only 400 are extant. His most prominent students include Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi (d. 672/1273), who transmitted his ideas, and Baybars (d. 676/1277). In his final years, after wandering for 25 years, he chose Damascus as his home in 1223 at age 58, composing Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam in 1229 and finalizing two manuscripts of Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya in 1231 and 1238.

Did You Know?

• Ibn 'Arabī's father served in the army of Ibn Mardanīsh, the ruler of Murcia, and after Murcia fell to the Almohad Caliphate in 1172, the family relocated to Seville.
• As a teenager, Ibn 'Arabī experienced his first vision (fanā), which he later described as 'the differentiation of the universal reality comprised by that look.'
• He met philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes) as a young man and learned from that meeting to distinguish formal rational knowledge from unveiling insights into the nature of things.
• Ibn 'Arabī had three wives, including Maryam, who shared his Sufi aspirations and once recounted a vision about the path to spiritual realization.
• Of the 850 works attributed to Ibn 'Arabī, only 700 are considered authentic, and only 400 are extant.