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English, Sufism

The Muhammadian House: Ibn Arabi’s concept of ahl al-bayt

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Claude Addas Ahlu baytī amān li ummatī’, ‘The people of my house are a safeguard for my community’. Although it is not included in any of the canonical collections,[1] this saying attributed to the Prophet is one of the innumerable traditions [2] which in Islam are the basis of the respect which the faithful have towards the ahl al-bayt,[3] the ‘Family of the Prophet’, understood here in the broader sense and including the shurafāʾ, the direct descendants of the Prophet from his daughter Fātima. The expression ahl al-bayt appears on three occasions in the Qurʾān,[4] and one of these concerns the family – this is verse 33 of the … Continue reading The Muhammadian House: Ibn Arabi’s concept of ahl al-bayt

English, Sufism

The Experience and Doctrine of Love in Ibn Arabi

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Claude Addas “By God, I feel so much love that it seems as though the skies would be rent asunder, the stars fall and the mountains move away if I burdened them with it: such is my experience of love.” If I attributed this quotation to Rūmī or to Ruzbehān Baqlī, no one would be surprised: they are both unanimously acknowledged to be among the most illustrious representatives of the “way of love” which is at the heart of the mystical tradition of Islam. But it is from the Futūḥāt, the work whose “impassive and icy tone” Massignon denounced, that this … Continue reading The Experience and Doctrine of Love in Ibn Arabi

English, Sufism

Themes in Ibn Arabi’s writings

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On this page, there is a selection of articles from the Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi Society. Although these do not represent an analytical treatment of Ibn Arabi’s teachings, they do reflect the breadth of subjects in his writing. In what I have written, I have never had a set purpose, as other writers. Flashes of divine inspiration used to come upon me and almost overwhelm me, so that I could only put them from my mind by committing to paper what they revealed to me. If my works evince any form of composition, that form was unintentional. Some works I … Continue reading Themes in Ibn Arabi’s writings

English, Sufism

Selected Poems by Ibn Arabi

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Poetry is an essential dimension of Ibn ‘Arabi’s work. His well-known Tarjuman al-ashwaq is entirely made up of poems, but there is a great deal of verse in his other writings. Roger Deladriere found that there were more than 7000 lines of verse in the Futuhat al-Makkiyya, for example. The year 2011 was the centenary of the publication of The Tarjuman al-ashwaq by R. A. Nicholson, the Arabic text with a translation into English, the first work by Ibn ‘Arabi to appear in a Western language. For more in depth about the place of poetry in Ibn ‘Arabi’s writing, see the article by Claude Addas “The Ship … Continue reading Selected Poems by Ibn Arabi

English, Sufism

The Futuhat Project of Ibn Arabi

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The Openings Revealed in Makkah (al-Futūḥāt al-Makkīyah) was handwritten in a second edition by Ibn al-ʿArabī a few years before he died in 1260. Sitting with a dozen or so people, he spoke and read from notes to himself while the writing proceeded, in different houses, over a period of three years. The audience checked the folios, and one, Umm Dalāl, was given authority not only to transmit (copy) the work but also to teach it. It is widely recognized in Islamic and Sufi studies as the greatest work of the “greatest master” (shaykh al-akbar) and has had an enormous influence … Continue reading The Futuhat Project of Ibn Arabi

English, Sufism

The Time of Deeds and the Time of Spiritual Knowledge

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Pablo Beneito The past and future of gnosis and sainthood in Ibn ‘Arabī’s Kitāb al-isfār [1] In his Book of the Unveiling of the Effects of Travelling [2] (or, alternatively The Revelation of the Fruits of the Holy Books), Ibn ‘Arabī refers to those who “are guided to travel in God” (lit.: “those who are made to travel in Him”), that is to say, those who do not travel by their own means, efforts and faculties, but by the grace of Divine Providence. The author says that those “who are made to travel in Him […] are the messengers, the prophets and the chosen among the close friends … Continue reading The Time of Deeds and the Time of Spiritual Knowledge

English, Sufism

Baba Bulleh Shah

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Syed Abdullah Shah Qadri (Punjabi/Urdu: سید عبداللہ شاہ قادری‎) (Shahmukhi); 1680–1757) popularly known as Bulleh Shah (بلھے شاہ), was a Mughal-era Punjabi Islamic philosopher and Sufi poet. His first spiritual teacher was Shah Inayat Qadiri, a Sufi murshid of Lahore. He was a Sayyid/Syed, a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. Early life He was born in 1680 in Uch, Mughal Empire (present day Pakistan). After his early education, he went to Lahore where he met Inayat Arian, and became his disciple. Later years and death He died in 1757, at the age of 77. He was buried in Kasur, and … Continue reading Baba Bulleh Shah

English, Sufism

Sehwan: The undisputed throne of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar

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FAROOQ SOOMRO – FEB 17, 2017 Farooq Soomro, the man behind ‘The Karachi Walla’ and ‘Overheard in Karachi’ explores the mysteries and wonders of places in Pakistan which fall off the beaten path. Sehwan can be the perfect weekend getaway for a Karachi Walla especially in winters. Or let’s just say one should go there only in winters; I can say that because I went in the summers and it was too hot. The road from Hyderabad is well maintained and traffic seems to be well in order. The fields of sunflowers by the highway make the route even more scenic. It takes … Continue reading Sehwan: The undisputed throne of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar

English, Sufism

Who is Ibn Arabi?

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Ibn ‘Arabî First published Tue Aug 5, 2008; substantive revision Fri Aug 2, 2019 Ibn ‘Arabî (1165–1240) can be considered the greatest of all Muslim philosophers, provided we understand philosophy in the broad, modern sense and not simply as the discipline of falsafa, whose outstanding representatives are Avicenna and, many would say, Mullâ Sadrâ. Salman Bashier (2012) has even argued that “the story of Islamic philosophy” depicts an initial rationalistic phase and culminates with an “illuminative phase” best represented by Ibn ‘Arabî. Most Western scholarship and much of the later Islamic tradition have classified Ibn ‘Arabî as a “Sufi”, though he … Continue reading Who is Ibn Arabi?

Extremism, Urdu

بے چہرگی – کیا طالبان، لشکر جھنگوی اور القاعدہ بے چہرہ اور بے شناخت ہیں؟ عامر حسینی

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ہمارے ہاں بہت سے ایسے سادہ لوگ بھی موجود ہیں جو صدق دل سے یہ خیال کرتے ہیں کہ مسلمان جو ہوتے ہیں وہ نہ تو مساجد پر حملہ کرتے ہیں-نہ ہی امام بارگاہوں کو نشانہ بناتے ہیں-نہ ہی وہ غیر مسلموں کی عبادت گاہوں کو نشانہ بناتے ہیں-ان کا یہ بھی خیال ہے کہ مسلمان بچوں،عورتوں اور معصوم شہریوں کو بھی نشانہ نہیں بناتے-وہ یہ تسلیم کرنے سے قاصر ہیں کہ مسمانوں کے کسی بھی مسلک سے تعلق رکھنے والا کوئی فرد اس طرح کے فعل میں ملوث ہوسکتا ہے-یہ لوگ اس بات سے بھی انکاری ہیں کہ کوئی … Continue reading بے چہرگی – کیا طالبان، لشکر جھنگوی اور القاعدہ بے چہرہ اور بے شناخت ہیں؟ عامر حسینی