Ibn Arabi

Origin

Ibn Arabi comes from a very famous family in Moorish Spain. His father was an influential man to his friends, among others, the philosopher and physician Averroes ( Ibn Rushd ), and Abd al -Qadir al - Jilani included. However, the family used not only good social and cultural relations, but it was also a strong religiosity present. Some uncle Ibn Arabi were also Sufis.

Youth

After the occupation of Murcia by the Almohads, the family of the then eight-year Ibn Arabi moved to Seville. There he received a traditional Muslim education: He studied the Qur'an and its interpretations, the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad ( Sunna ), Islamic law ( Shari'a ), Arabic grammar and heard lectures of the most famous teachers of his time.

He was also reported by two holy women educated, Umm al- Shams Fuqara of Marchena and Fatima bint Munah Ibn al- Muthanna from Córdoba. Both at the time were already very old, the latter over 90 years.

Some years later, Ibn Arabi married to a woman named Maryam bint Muhammad ibn Abdun. This was a very popular and influential person and told her husband the desire to walk the path of Sufism.

Travels

In 1193 Ibn Arabi left the Iberian Peninsula and traveled to Tunis. On this trip, he reported to have had several experiences with Khidr, the mythical companions of Moses and spiritual leader of the mystics. From him personally he had the khirqa, the garb of the Sufis is obtained. The cloaks of the sheath is an initiation ritual, initiated with the Sufi disciples of their master.

Due to the ongoing fighting in North Africa, he decided later that year to return to Andalusia. Here he met on the way to Seville in the town of Tarifa on al - Qalafat to discuss with him about the merits of poverty and wealth.

In the years 1195 and 1197 he traveled to Fez, where his reputation attracted a large number of students and admirers. Then he returned to his native town of Murcia; on the way there he stayed in Granada and visited the Sufi school of Almería, which was founded by Ibn al - Arif.

1202 took Ibn Arabi a long journey to the Orient, where he visited Mecca and finally Alexandria, Cairo, where it was not long that spread the news of his arrival in the city. There he met the most important personalities of Sufism that time until he left Mecca and went to Baghdad in 1205. He then traveled throughout Egypt, before returning to 1207 again to Mecca.

Ibn Arabi also visited the city of Konya (now Turkey), where his wisdom and spirituality with the locals left a big impression. His stay in this city is also of great importance for the Eastern Sufism to India.

In 1223 Ibn Arabi decided to settle in Damascus, where he lived until his death in 1240.

Teaching

Ibn Arabi stressed several times that of fiqh and its madhhab and the theology directions are only temporary and he was not followers of this. These are only temporary facilities in order to reach a higher goal, such as the renunciation of worldly things. Especially his interpretation of Tawheed later made him an attack of his opponents. In particular, his doctrine of wahdat al - wudschūd. ( " Unity of being "). It starts from a corporeal unity between Creator and creation. Nūr ad -Din ar - Rānīrī throws him to deny in this regard before the createdness the world of God that emerges in the Koran. Called Universal his opponent's theory as kufr. Ibn Taymiyya compares in this regard with the Trinity in Christianity.

Sufis have reinterpreted Tawheed unlike ibn Arabi questioned the doctrine of Wadschibatul wudschūd on these notes that the " essence of God " is like nothing else and in no unit exists with a creation. The " union with God " here is rather explained by to obtain the termination of one's will to God's will, the task of their own egos. To get there, it requires a great effort ( jihad ) as a struggle against its own interior, the so-called "lower ego " ( an-nafs al - Ammara ). The highest level is considered the " pure ego " ( an-nafs al - safiya ), which can be only achieved by a few Sufis.

See: A ʿ yan Thabita

Opponent

Muslim scholars in all time periods were often strong and polarizing viewpoints on ibn Arabi. During his followers declared him one of the greatest spiritual leaders, look at him different, especially from the Orthodox Islam as heretics or even apostates. The best known applies Ibn Taymiyah enemies. In its teachings, many like-minded scholar Ibn Qayyim al - example Dschauziya, Imam Muhammad ibn Birgivi or Abd al- Wahhab support for him. Approximately in the same period as Ibn Taymiyah, Ibn Katheer worked, which is also an opponent of Ibn Arabi. Another notable opponents Nūr ad -Din ar - Rānīrī, Kadızade Mehmed Ali and El - kari can be mentioned. There are few who keep a neutral stance on ibn Arabi, as some scholars of the Deobandi. In the Middle Ages, most opponents ibn Arabi came from the camp of the Hanbali followed the Athari theology and from the camp of the Orthodox Maturidiyyah. Today, especially the followers of Salafism, the lean in their views strongly to the Hanbali can be regarded as opponents.

Works

Ibn Arabi during his travels and in the last years of his life written there are an enormous amount of works that have almost all Islamic mystics influenced more or less by him greatly. It says there is no greater love than his poetry and not a Sufi 've been using the inner meaning of his life and his work impressed the orthodox theologians more than he.

A small selection of his works:

• Tardschuman al - aschwaq ( " Interpreting the longings " )
• Al- Futuhat al - Makkiyya ( " The Meccan Revelations " )
• Al- Futuhat al - Makkiyya (Chapter 178, published as Treatise on the Love); Zurich: Chalice, 2009; ISBN 978-3-905272-74-1
• Fusus al - hikam ( " ring stones of divine wisdom "); 1947 first translated into German by Hans Kofler, appeared in 1970 as The Book of signet ring stones of wisdom sayings in the Graz Academic Printing and Publishing Company (2nd edition, 1986, ISBN 3-201-01333-1 ). 1955 was an (incomplete ) translation into French by Titus Burckhardt; This French translation was translated into German by Wolfgang Herrmann and published in 2005 as The Wisdom of the Prophets of Chalice in Zurich (ISBN 3-905272-71-7 ).
• Ruh al -Quds fi munakahat an-nafs ( "The Spirit of holiness, who leads the soul " )
• Durrat al - fakhirah fi dhikr you intafa'tu bihi fi tariq al - Akhirah ( " The Perfect Pearl, tells the stories of those who have helped me on the way to the other world " )
• Lubbul Lubb ( " The innermost core " ) and Kitab al - Ajwibah ( " He who knows himself ... "); both texts published in German under the title The hidden treasure ISBN 3-905272-72-5
• Risalat a- Anwar ( "Journey to the Lord of Power" ) and Chapter 367 of the Futuhat al - Makkiyya ( " My trip was only in myself "); both texts with detailed comments on German published under the title Journey to the Lord of Power ISBN 978-3-905272-73-4