Note on controversy
Ibn Arabi’s metaphysics have been praised and condemned inside Islamic intellectual history. Popular summaries sometimes flatten him into pantheism. Prefer specialists who keep Qur’anic and Sufi technical vocabulary visible.
Life
Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī (1165–1240) was an Andalusian-born Sufi whose Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam and al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya articulate waḥdat al-wujūd discourses of divine self-disclosure. He travelled widely in the Islamic world and remains central—and contested—in Sufi metaphysics. ORDL presents him historically alongside Rumi; this is not tariqa instruction or a substitute for madhhab guidance.
The system
- Waḥdat al-wujūd debates: unity of being / divine self-disclosure.
- Prophetic wisdoms (Fuṣūṣ) as metaphysical mirrors.
- Sufi metaphysics inside Islamic frames—not generic New Age monism.
Key works
- Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam (Bezels of Wisdom) Amazon
- al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya (Meccan Revelations)
- Tarjumān al-Ashwāq (poetry)
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Where to start
- A reliable Fuṣūṣ translation with commentary
- A short academic intro to Ibn Arabi before diving into the Futūḥāt
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