Approaching Ibn ʻArabi: Foundations, contexts, interpretations

Transcription

1 Approaching Ibn ʻArabi: Foundations, contexts, interpretations Author: James Winston Morris Persistent link: This work is posted on Boston College University Libraries. Pre-print. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source. The publisher or original authors may retain copyright to the materials.

2 1 Approaching Ibn Arabi: Foundations, Contexts, Interpretations by James Winston Morris [Incomplete DRAFT not to be published or posted without author s express written permission, copyright 2017 James W. Morris,]

3 2 Table of Contents Introduction [to be completed] 4 PART I. FOUNDATIONS: AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL DIMENSIONS AND SPIRITUAL PRACTICE The Spiritual Ascension: Ibn Arabi and the Mi rāj 7 As for your Lord s blessings, recount them! : Personal Stories xx and Spiritual Realization in Ibn Arabi s Meccan Illuminations [to be completed late 2017?] Ibn Arabi s Account of His Father s Death [part of above essay in progress] 66 Ibn Arabi s Mission of Spiritual Advice (Nasīha) : Selections 68 From His Dreams of Good Tidings [part of above essay] From Ethics and Devotion to Spiritual Realization: Ibn 'Arabi's Book of the 71 Quintessence Concerning What Is Indispensable For the Spiritual Seeker (incomplete) Ibn Arabī s Book of Spiritual Advice 81 PART II. APPROACHES: RHETORIC, HERMENEUTICS, AND POLITICAL DIMENSIONS OF THE FUTŪHĀT How to Study the Futūhāt: Ibn Arabī s Own Advice 111 Ibn Arabī s Rhetoric of Realization: Keys to Reading and Translating 128 The Meccan Illuminations Freedoms and Responsibilities: Ibn Arabī and the Political Dimensions 188 of Spiritual Realization Ibn Arabī s Messianic Secret: From the Mahdi to the Imamate Every Soul 220 of Spiritual Authority and Universal Revelation: Ibn Arabi s Conception 233 of Islamic Law PART III. HISTORICAL CONTEXTS: IBN ARABI S INTERPRETERS AND THE AKBARI TRADITION...Except His Face : The Political and Aesthetic Dimensions of Arabi s Legacy 257 Ibn Ibn Arabi and His Interpreters 266 The Continuing Relevance of Qaysari s Thought: Divine Imagination 351 and the Foundations of Natural Spirituality Theophany or Pantheism?: Jāmī and the Importance of Balyānī's al-ahadiyya 356 Risālat

4 3 Rhetoric, Philosophy and Politics in Ibn Khaldun s Critique of 367 Sufism and Ibn Arabi PART IV. IBN ARABI TODAY: PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES Ibn Arabī in the Far West : Spiritual Influences and the of Spirituality 412 Science Second Readings : Ibn Arabī s Futūhāt and the Renewal of 438 Islamic Thought Mulla Sadra, Ibn Arabi, and the Emerging Science of Spirituality 448 The Contemporary Appeal of Ibn Arabi's Thought 461 BIBLIOGRAPHY 476

5 4 INTRODUCTION [to be completed no more than 15 pages]

6 5 Part One Foundations: Autobiographical Dimensions and Spiritual Practice

7 The Spiritual Ascension: Ibn Arabi and the Mi raj INTRODUCTION 6 The initial indications in the Qur an and hadith concerning the Prophet's Ascension (mi raj) or nocturnal voyage (isra, at Qur an 17:1) and the revelatory vision in which it culminated (Qur an 53:1-18) subsequently gave rise to a vast body of interpretations among the many later traditions of Islamic thought and spirituality. 1 Ibn 'Arabi's personal adaptation of that material, in at least four separate longer narratives, reflects both the typical features of his distinctive approach to the Qur an and hadith and the full range of his metaphysical-theological teachings and practical spiritual concerns. For him, the Prophet's nocturnal journey an expression he prefers both because it is that of the Qur an and because it is more appropriate to the complete, circular nature of the movement in question 2 is above all an archetypal symbol of the highest, culminating stages in the inner, spiritual journey that must be followed by each of the saints or mystical knowers who would 1 In this Introduction we have usually employed the expression Mi'raj ( Ascension ) most commonly used in Islamic languages, although Ibn 'Arabi himself prefers to follow the Qur an (for reasons detailed in the following note) in referring instead to the isra' of the Prophet and the saints. In most of the hadith accounts of this Ascension the revelations alluded to in the Qur anic verses 53:1-18 play an integral (even decisive) role, and they are understood in that context by Ibn 'Arabi in all of his Mi'raj narratives. Ibn 'Arabi's own distinctive use of the canonical hadith materials is outlined in n. 9 below and followed in detail in the notes to the translation. For further references, see the general indications (from a historicist perspective) and bibliography in the articles Isra' (B. Schreike) and Mi'raj (J. Horovitz and B.W. Robinson) in the SEI and EI; the full range of hadith and legendary materials studied in the opening chapters of M. Asin Palacios' La Escatologia musulmana en la Divina Comedia (Madrid, 1919) there is also an abridged English translation, which eliminates many references to the Arabic sources, cf. Islam and the Divine Comedy (New York, 2008 originally London, 1926, first reprint London, 1968); and G. Widengren, The Ascension of the Apostle and the Heavenly Book (Uppsala, 1950). See also the striking pictorial representations of many stages of the Mi'raj incorporating, however, a wide range of legendary or popular materials not used by Ibn 'Arabi by the 15th-century Timurid school of Herat in The Miraculous Journey of Mahomet: Miraj Nameh (New York, 1977). 2 There are a number of shades of meaning in the Qur anic expression asra (at 17:1 and in the related hadith) that help explain Ibn 'Arabi's preference for that term: in addition to its being used to describe a complete spiritual journey involving both ascent and return (ruju') a fundamental dimension he emphasizes especially in the R. al-anwar the term refers more specifically to a nocturnal voyage, with all the implications of a hidden, profoundly inner spiritual transformation that are so decisive for the journeys of the saints described in all these narratives. Finally, the verbal form clearly insists on God as the (ultimate) Agent and Source of this movement, pointing to the key factors of divine grace and individual predisposition that are also central to Ibn 'Arabi's consideration of this journey (whether for the Prophet or the saints), especially in the autobiographical context of the K. al-isra'. (None of this is implied by the much broader and less specific Qur anic usage of mi'raj in the plural at 43:33 and 70:3). These two shorter treatises by Ibn Arabī can be found in Rasāʻil ibn al-ʻarabī (Bayrūt, 1968).

8 participate fully in the heritage of Muhammad, 3 even if the subjective phases and experiences marking that route necessarily appear differently to each individual. 4 7 Thus the theme of the Mi'raj provides Ibn 'Arabi with a single unifying symbolic framework for the full range of practical spiritual questions and theoretical issues (ontological, cosmological, theological, etc.) that are discussed in other contexts throughout the Futuhat and his other works. 5 If each of his treatments of the Mi'raj approaches those issues from its own particular standpoint and purpose and with, in addition, very different literary styles and degrees of autobiographical openness they all do share what is perhaps the most fundamental feature of all of his writing: the continually alternating contrast between the metaphysical (universal and eternal) divine point of view 6 and the phenomenological (personal and experiential) perspective of each individual 3 While acknowledging the uniquely physical nature of the Prophet's Mi'raj (in section II below), Ibn 'Arabi stresses the primary importance of the spiritual isra'at even for Muhammad in the proportions implied by the Prophet's thirty-three other, purely spiritual journeys mentioned at the end of that section (n. 46 below). The crucial importance of the notion of the saints' participation in the prophetic heritage (wiratha) is assumed throughout all of these Mi'raj narratives: for Ibn 'Arabi, its ultimate verification (and perhaps even its source) is to be found in the revelation of the Muhammadan Station in section IV-I and in the corresponding passage from the K. al-isra' (Rasāʻil ibn al-ʻarabī, pp : see our translation and commentary in our article on The Spiritual Ascension: Ibn 'Arabi and the Mi'raj, cited at n. 13 below.) For further references to this key notion in Ibn 'Arabi's religious thought, see chapter 5 of Michel Chodkiewicz s Seal of the Saints (Cambridge, 1993); and Hakim s Al-Muʻjam al-sūfī (Beirut, 1981), pp A fundamental point that is openly stressed here in the reminder of Yahya (= John the Baptist, at the beginning of IV-F, the sphere of Aaron) that each person has a path (tariq) that no one else but he travels, which...comes to be through the traveling itself. The more specifically personal, autobiographical dimensions of Ibn 'Arabi's Mi'raj accounts are most evident in the K. al-isra' (see the important passage translated in our JAOS article cited at n. 13 below) and in the concluding section (IV-I) of this chapter from the Futuhat. 5 This is brought out more fully in the cross-references in the notes to this translation. In particular, it is clear that the spiritual phenomena underlying this particular schema provided by the Mi'raj are not essentially different from the realities Ibn 'Arabi discusses elsewhere in terms of other traditional Sufi categories, such as the metaphor of the spiritual journeys in God (asfar) or the complex distinctions of stations (maqamat), stages (manazil), etc. employed throughout the Futuhat itself: see, for example, his revealing remarks concerning Ansari's classic Manazil al-sa'irin and his own Manahij al-irtiqa' near the end of the Ascension outlined in chapter 167 (II, 280 all citations to the Futuhat are from the reprint of the four-volume Būlāq Cairo edition, unless otherwise specified), and translated into French by S. Ruspoli in L Alchimie du Bonheur (Paris, 1981), pp In addition to Ibn 'Arabi's own explicitly metaphysical language, that perspective is more dramatically represented in chapter 367 of the Futuhat (translated below) by the spirits of the

9 voyager. The aim of this sort of dialectic, as he pointedly reminds his readers at the very beginning of chapter 367 (= section I of the translation below), is quite clear: if the journey in question necessarily appears to move through time and distance, that is not so that we can eventually reach God since He is with you wherever you are but rather so that He can cause [us] to see His Signs (Qur an 31:31) that are always there, on the horizons and in the souls. The heavens of this journey, the prophets and angels who populate them, the Temple or the Throne where the final unveiling takes place all of these, he insists, are so many places of the Heart. 7 8 Modern readers who want to understand these narratives on this ultimate and most intimate level, however, must first find their way through an extremely complex set of symbols and often only implicit references to what are now largely unfamiliar bodies of knowledge: the task of interpretation is therefore not unlike that facing students of Dante's Divine Comedy (and more particularly the Paradisio). Therefore our annotation to this translation of chapter 367 of the Futuhat concentrates on providing that indispensable background in the following areas: (1) the actual Islamic source-materials in the Qur an and hadith which provide the basic structure and key symbols for all of Ibn 'Arabi's Mi'raj narratives; 8 (2) the cosmological and astrological presuppositions which he generally shared with other traditions (more or less scientific ) of his different prophets, especially Adam, Idris and Aaron all of whom tend to speak here, as is often the case with God in the Qur an, from a transcendent divine or supra-temporal perspective. 7 Hence the central importance of the celebrated divine saying (hadith qudsi) with which he concludes the opening section (at n. 37): My earth does not encompass Me, nor does My heaven,but the heart of My servant, the man of true faith, does encompass Me. He returns to stress the fundamental position of the Heart, in a more autobiographical and experiential context, in section IV-H (notes ) below. For further references to this fundamental concept in Ibn 'Arabi's thought, see Hakim, Al-Muʻjam al-sūfī, pp , and the famous chapter on the wisdom of the Heart (Shu'ayb) in the Fusus al-hikam (Cairo, 1946), I, pp ; or R.W.J. Austin s translation in The Bezels of Wisdom (New York, 1980), pp These works provide a perfect illustration of Ibn 'Arabi's typical (and highly complex) approach to hadith. See our more general discussion of this topic in our article, Ibn 'Arabi's 'Esotericism': The Problem of Spiritual Authority (Studia Islamica 71, 1990). He scrupulously and literally follows the sayings and deeds of the Prophet as recounted in the canonical collections in this chapter (367), relying especially on the Sahih of Muslim (who devotes a special section [iman, ] to the events connected with the Mi'raj) and, to a slightly lesser extent, on the Sahih of Bukhari and most often develops his own spiritual interpretations from close attention to the slightest literal details of those narratives (thereby implicitly excluding the vast body of non-hadith legends that had become popularly associated with these events). Rather than focusing on the external differences or apparent contradictions among various hadith (which are quite apparent, for example, concerning the number or order of stages in the Ascension), Ibn 'Arabi typically one might say ecumenically concentrates on conveying the spiritual meaning and intentions implicit in each Prophetic saying, pointing to a level of understanding unifying what might otherwise be seen as differing or conflicting expressions. (This approach mirrors his more general attitude to the various Islamic sects and schools of law, and ultimately to the observable diversity of religions and beliefs.)

10 9 time; 9 (3) his own personal metaphysical and cosmogonical theories or doctrines, which are basically those found throughout his other writings; and (4) his conception of the particular spiritual heritages and distinctive qualities of each of the prophets encountered during the Mi'raj, as they are developed in the Fusus al-hikam and throughout the Futuhat. 10 Finally, since Ibn 'Arabi's four major Mi'raj narratives do share certain common features and since several are available (at least partially) in French and English translations it may be helpful, for comparative purposes, to point out some of the more distinctive features of each. 9 Fortunately, these elements are much less important here than in chapter 167 (see below), which assumes a far more detailed acquaintance with alchemy, Ptolemaic-Aristotelean astronomy (as transmitted, among others, by the Islamic philosophers), a wide body of traditional astrological lore concerning the particular influences of the stars, and additional esoteric sciences. In any case, it is important to note that virtually all those matters which Ibn 'Arabi treats there as inherently knowable by man's natural observation and reasoning (nazar) primarily concern the symbolic framework for the Mi'raj narrative and not its universal spiritual content, which is usually expressed in much more immediately accessible form in this chapter (367). 10 Allusions in both of these areas are clarified in the footnotes as they are mentioned, usually by cross-references to related passages in the Futuhat, Fusus and other writings. We should add that other prophets not explicitly mentioned in the hadith and these narratives concerning the Mi'raj are elsewhere frequently associated by Ibn 'Arabi with particular heavenly spheres: see, for example, Noah's connection with the sphere of the sun, mentioned at the end of chapter 3 of the Fusus, and in reference to a longer account in Ibn 'Arabi's K. al-tanazzulat al-mawsiliya, cf. Majmūʻat rasāʾil ibn ʻArabī (Bayrūt, 2000), volume II.

11 10 The Other Mi'raj Narratives: 11 Kitāb al-isrā, Risālat al-anwār, Chapter 167 of the Futūhāt The Kitāb al-isrā', 12 at once the earliest, the longest and the most personally revealing of the works discussed here, was composed in Fez in the year 594, apparently only a relatively short time after certain decisive personal inspirations concerning the ultimate unity of the prophets in the spiritual station of Muhammad and the inner meaning of the Qur'an in its full eternal reality that were soon to coalesce in Ibn 'Arabi's conception of his own unique role as Seal of the Muhammadan Saints. 13 In an emotionally fluid and highly expressive Arabic style, drawing on an incredibly dense 11 There are also a number of other, shorter or less complete treatments of the Mi'raj theme in Ibn 'Arabi's extant writings, some of which are cited in notes below. The longest (and most accessible) is the passage on the Ascension of the Prophet understood as the cosmic Muhammadan Reality or Perfect Man in the Shajarat al-kawn (Dimashq, 2003; and RG, no. 666), now available in translations by A. Jeffery, Ibn 'Arabi's Shajarat al-kawn, (Studia Islamic 10 & 11, 1959; Mi'raj section at pp ); and by M. Gloton, L'Arbre du Monde (Paris, 1982; Mi'raj section pp ). Although the French translation does give more useful references to the Qur an and hadith background of this passage, neither version provides sufficient annotation to make intelligible most of this treatise's extremely complex metaphysical, theological and cosmological allusions, whose density is comparable to that of the K. al-isra' (Bayrūt, 1968). Unlike the treatments of the Mi'raj discussed below, the protagonist of this Ascension (in Shajarat al-kawn) is the Prophet himself although often described in metaphysical terms clearly applicable to the Perfect Man in general, and Ibn 'Arabi does not bother to mention here the various intermediate stages of his celestial encounters with the earlier prophets which are so prominent in the other accounts (and in the original hadith). Instead he here assumes, as throughout the Shajarat al-kawn, the universal presence of this cosmic Muhammadan Reality, and takes a relatively few elements from the Mi'raj narratives (especially those of the divine Throne and the Prophet's different steeds ) as symbols for celebrating that central metaphysical theme. 12 See RG, no. 313; this entry mentions several alternative titles and an extant commentary by Ibn 'Arabi's close disciple Isma'il b. Sawdakin, which is extremely useful in deciphering this difficult work. References here are to the text given in the Rasa'il, I, no. 13, pp The date and place of composition are mentioned in the author's own colophon (p. 92). The recent article by Joanna Wronecka, Le kitab al-isra' ila maqam al-asra' d'ibn 'Arabi, (Annales Islamologiques 20, 1984), contains only brief first impressions of this book and the translations of a number of section headings (plus several verses from the concluding munajat), while announcing the author's plans to begin a dissertation on this subject at the University of Warsaw. 13 See especially our translation and commentary of a crucial autobiographical passage (pp WHAT IS THIS REFERRING TO??) perfectly complementing the culminating stage of Ibn 'Arabi's spiritual ascension here (section IV-I below) in The Spiritual Ascension: Ibn 'Arabi and the Mi'raj, parts I and II (Journal of the American Oriental Society 107, 1987, & 108, 1988). The K. al-isra' (Bayrūt, 1968) as a whole conveys a mood of excitement and immediacy that must reflect the relative proximity of some decisive (and perhaps not yet fully assimilated) personal spiritual

12 11 and allusive symbolic vocabulary 14 and combining long poetic interludes with rapidly moving rhymed prose and culminating in a series of remarkable intimate conversations (munajat) with God (pp ), he constantly returns to celebrate and elaborate on the twin themes of the eternal Muhammadan Reality (encompassing all the prophets and their teachings) and the metaphysical universality of the Qur'an as they were inwardly realized and verified in his own mystical experience. Here the passage of this autobiographical voyager 15 through the heavenly spheres and the higher revelatory stages of the Mi'raj (pp ) is not so much a means for describing the successive steps of the spiritual path and progress of the saints more generally as it is, to some extent, in all the other Mi'raj narratives but instead primarily a framework for evoking and clarifying various aspects of the author's own spiritual achievement, as they mirror the even loftier rank of the Prophet (pp ). What is perhaps most noteworthy about this composition, in a way that reinforces Ibn 'Arabi's repeated assertions that he first received all of this only by divine inspiration (and not through an individual effort of reasoning), is the way the complex systematic metaphysical and ontological framework developed in the Futuhat is already entirely present, but for the most part only implicitly expressed instead through an incredibly profuse array of symbols and allusions drawn from the Qur an and hadith (and whose full explanation is to be sought, for the most part, only in later, more analytical prose works such as the Futuhat). inspiration. More specifically, the K. al-isra' does not yet seem to distinguish with complete clarity between what Ibn 'Arabi later calls the maqam muhammadi (the spiritual station of Muhammad ) or that supreme part of it uniquely reserved for himself as the Seal of Muhammadan Saints and what he then calls the station of Proximity (to God) (maqam al-qurba) attained more generally by the highest rank of the saints, the afrad or malamiya. In the K. al-isra' he frequently alludes to his own attainment of a lofty Muhammadan station, but still employing terms as continued to be the case with many later Sufis that also suggest he is speaking of a spiritual rank ultimately accessible to other Muslim saints as well. For a careful discussion and extensive references concerning the broader context of this important question for our understanding of Ibn 'Arabi's own spiritual autobiography, see Chodkiewicz, Seal of the Saints, chapter 9 (Cambridge, 1993), as well as the famous opening passage of the Futuhat recounting Ibn 'Arabi's subsequent experience (or complete recognition) of his investiture as the Seal of the Muhammadan Saints : this event is described in the Khutbat al-kitab (Futuhat I, pp. 2 ff.; OY ed., I, 43-55), and is also accessible in a French translation by M. Valsan in Avant-Propos (Etudes traditionnelles 311, 1953, pp ). 14 bayn al-marmuz wa-l-mafhum (Rasa'il I, no. 13, p. 3): most of this labyrinth of symbols and allusions to the Qur an and hadith (usually through only a single word or brief phrase) could potentially be elucidated by extensive reference to the Futuhat and other works. However, such a commentary would often require page-long notes of explanation for virtually every other word an approach which could not hope to convey the poetic, immediately expressive emotional quality that is the essential trait of this work. 15 The autobiographical nature of the K. al-isra' is not even thinly disguised. At p. 66, Ibn 'Arabi explains his continued reference to himself as a salik in terms of his desire to emphasize the fact that even now (i.e., after reaching the highest spiritual station) I am still voyaging in other words, as evidence that he is not claiming union in the sense of some absolute mutual identity with God.

13 12 Compared to the literary and doctrinal complexities of the preceding work, the Risalat al-anwar, a relatively brief prose treatise composed at Konya in 602 A.H. (near the beginning of Ibn 'Arabi's long stay in the Muslim East), is stylistically far more accessible and its contents are more readily understandable features which (along with the existence of an excellent commentary by 'Abd al- Karim Jili) no doubt help account for its popularity with modern translators. 16 Written in response to a request by a Sufi friend and fellow master, this study, as its full title partly indicates, 17 is above all practical in intention and experiential (rather than primarily doctrinal or metaphysical) in its terms of reference and expression; it is aimed at the needs of a reader who, already necessarily possessing a considerable degree of personal accomplishment and experience, is intimately involved with the spiritual direction of disciples at earlier stages of the Path. While the allusions to the Mi'raj proper (pp. 9-13; = English tr., pp ) are very brief mentioning for the most part only the cosmological powers or spiritual qualities traditionally associated with each of the heavenly spheres and the Qur anic cosmography of the Gardens of Paradise, the divine Throne, Pen, etc. 18, it does provide an indispensable complement to the other Mi'raj narratives in two critical areas: (1) its relatively detailed discussion of the essential practical methods and preliminary stages preparing the 16 For the date and place of composition, see RG, no. 33; the long list of manuscripts there may likewise reflect the relatively accessible character of this short work. Page references are to the Arabic text in the Rasa'il I, no. 12, pp To facilitate reference by non-arabists, citations of this text in the notes below also mention the relevant sections from both of the following French and English translations. The complete English translation by T. Harris, Journey to the Lord of Power (New York, 1981), although without any annotation, does have the advantage of being accompanied by long and useful selections from Jili's commentary, which itself consists largely of citations (mostly unidentified in the translation) from related sections of the Futuhat. The concluding chapter of Chodkiewicz, Seal of the Saints, consists of a translation of most of the R. al-anwar (original in Rasāʻil ibn al-ʻarabī) accompanied by an extensive set of explanations and complementary developments drawn from many of Ibn 'Arabi's writings, including more particularly selections from the two Mi'rajnarratives (chapters 167 and 367 of the Futuhat) discussed below. The first European translation of this text, by M. Asin Palacios, in El Islam Cristianizado (Madrid, 1931), was neither complete nor annotated. Asin's work is now also available in French translation, L'Islam christianisé, (Paris, 1982), with the translation of R. al-anwar on pp The Treatise of Lights, Concerning the Secrets Bestowed on the Person in Spiritual Retreat (sahib khalwa). (Other titles are mentioned in RG, no. 33.) For the Sufi practice of spiritual retreat more generally, see the references in the article khalwa (by H. Landolt) in EI. Chapters of the Futuhat (II, ), on the stations of khalwa and tark al-khalwa, involve a more metaphysical approach to the subject; see also French tr. by M. Valsan, Sur la notion de khalwah. (Etudes traditionnelles 70, 1969). 18 These cosmological features are all most elaborately developed in chapter 167 of the Futuhat (described below). In particular, the R. al-anwar does not contain any of those personal encounters with the prophets symbolically associated with each sphere (or with each planet's respective spiritual entity [ruhaniya], such as Mercury, Mars, Venus, etc.) that make up the major part of the Mi'raj-narrative in both chapters of the Futuhat, as well as in the corresponding section of the K. al- Isra'.

14 13 way for the inner realization of these more advanced spiritual insights; and (2) Ibn 'Arabi's repeated emphasis on the fundamental importance of the concluding phase of the saints' return to a transformed awareness of the physical and social world (in its immediate relation with God) and to the particular responsibilities and activities whether teaching and spiritual guidance, or the less visible tasks of the representatives of the spiritual hierarchy flowing from that realization. 19 Finally, the long chapter 167 of the Futuhat, On the Inner Knowledge of the Alchemy of Happiness, 20 uses the framework of the Mi'raj to retrace, in ascending order, the many levels of Ibn 'Arabi's complex cosmology or cosmogony. 21 Its primary focus (compared with the other works mentioned here) is on the objective metaphysical realities underlying the spiritual insights described in more experiential terms in the other narratives: in this respect it often resembles the Fusus al-hikam, and the treatment of the various prophets encountered during this heavenly voyage (e.g., Jesus, Aaron or Moses) often closely parallels that found in the corresponding chapters of the Fusus. This feature is further underlined by Ibn 'Arabi's narrative technique of comparison, throughout this ascension, between the initiatic spiritual knowledge granted to the follower of 19 The extensive commentary by M. Chodkiewicz (Seal of the Saints, chapter 10) provides important references to many other works of Ibn 'Arabi (especially sections of the Futuhat) further illustrating both of these key themes. (The latter point, in particular, is also stressed in a number of important sections of chapter 367 translated below.) 20 II, ; also available in French translation by S. Ruspoli, L'Alchimie du Bonheur Parfait. (The translator promises (p. 26) a more complete commentary in the future.) An earlier partial French translation of this chapter, without notes or commentary, was also published by G. Anawati, in L'alchimie du bonheur, d'ibn ʿArabī (kimyā al-sa'āda) (Revue de l'institut Dominicain d'etudes orientales du Caire, Melanges 6, 1961). 21 The best general survey of this difficult subject (although by no means complete) probably still remains the introduction (pp ) of H.S. Nyberg's Kleinere Schriften des Ibn al-'arabi (Leiden, 1919), based largely on Ibn 'Arabi's K. Insha' al-dawa'ir. Within the Futuhat, one of the most comprehensive treatments can be found in chapt. 360, (III, ), while the same themes are also developed in the earlier chapters 4-12 (I, ). A much briefer and more accessible account can also be found in the translation and introduction, by D. Gril, of Ibn 'Arabi's short R. al-ittihad al- Kawni (RG, no. 317), entitled Le Livre de l'arbre et des Quatre Oiseaux (Paris, 1996, reprint of 1984 edition). See also the related cosmological chapters from the Futuhat translated by W. Chittick in The Meccan Revelations, volume one (New York, 2002). This cosmological perspective accounts, in particular, for the many additional levels or sites marking the final phases of this Ascension in chapter 167 especially the third, purely noetic (ma'nawi) stage (II, ; Alchimie, pp ) which are not explicitly mentioned in the hadith concerning the isra'. These distinctions correspond to the initial, most abstract stages of Ibn 'Arabi's cosmological system, and in fact he even stresses there that the rationalist thinker accompanying the saint also participates to a considerable extent in the awareness of the universal metaphysical-cosmological principles perceived at that stage. In terms of their spiritual content, therefore, these stages do not constitute a higher or more advanced station than the culminating revelation described in the final section of chapter 367 (= IV-I below).

15 14 Muhammad (representing the methods of the saints and Sufis more generally) and the limited cosmological and theological insights available to his companion, the archetypal man of reason. 22 In general, the elucidation of many of those complex allusions would require extensive reference to some of the most obscure and unfamiliar aspects of the Shaykh's thought. Ibn 'Arabi's Own Mi'raj: Chapter 367 Ibn 'Arabi's long treatment of the Mi'raj in chapter 367 of the Futuhat is marked by some distinctive features that make it considerably more accessible (at least for most modern readers) than either chapter 167 or the Kitab al-isra'. To begin with, it is written for the most part in relatively straightforward expository prose; the style does presuppose a profound acquaintance with Ibn 'Arabi's systematic terminology and symbolism (largely drawn from the Qur an and hadith) as it is to be found throughout the Futuhat, but the role of unfamiliar Arabic literary and artistic effects is relatively less important. Secondly, the focus of this chapter is almost exclusively on the universal spiritual dimensions of the Mi'raj, especially as expressed in the language of the Qur an and hadith, in a way that should already be familiar to readers of the Fusus al-hikam; unlike chapter 167, it does not presuppose such extensive acquaintance with the vocabulary and symbolism of other relatively esoteric medieval Islamic sciences (alchemy, astrology, etc.). Similarly, the encounters with the individual prophets associated with each heavenly sphere can often be readily illuminated by comparison with corresponding passages elsewhere in Ibn 'Arabi's writings. 23 And finally, as so often in the Futuhat, the genuinely autobiographical passages, 24 especially at the conclusion of Ibn 'Arabi's own spiritual ascent (section IV-I below), add a powerful new dimension of clarity and persuasive force to what otherwise might appear to be simply a complex intellectual and symbolic system. 22 sahib nazar: the insights of this allegorical character (or psycho-spiritual type ) reflect features of several different rational sciences of Ibn 'Arabi's day, including kalam (especially for its negative theology or tanzih concerning the highest insights into the divine nature), the popular mixture of astrology (concerning, e.g., the particular influences and qualities of various planets) and Aristotelean-Ptolemaic astronomy, and even more esoteric sciences of the time, such as alchemy. (However, it should be stressed that the alchemical vocabulary used in this particular chapter is not at all mysterious; it is used here in a clearly spiritual, symbolic sense whose meanings corresponding to familiar Sufi technical terminology are copiously illustrated and explained elsewhere in Ibn 'Arabi's work.) 23 Such cross-references in the notes are concentrated on other chapters of the Futuhat and corresponding sections of the Fusus al-hikam, especially given the relatively greater accessibility of translations and commentaries of the latter. 24 Although all of section IV, the greater part of this chapter, is narrated in the first person, that is often clearly a literary device, in those cases where the prophets are explaining what readers can readily recognize as Ibn 'Arabi's own characteristic insights and perceptions. However, section IV-I clearly summarizes his own direct personal experiences of what were evidently judging by his ensuing account of what was seen there some of the most important stages on his own spiritual path.

16 15 The overall structure of this chapter is quite clear, consisting of four successively broader and more detailed elaborations of the central theme of the inner spiritual meaning of the nocturnal journey, a theme whose ultimate premises and metaphysical-theological context are briefly evoked in the opening lines (section I), already summarized at the beginning of this introduction. In section II, Ibn 'Arabi takes up the hadith accounts of Muhammad's Mi'raj which provide the formal framework for the rest of the narrative and adds his own allusions to many of the key themes developed at greater length in the following sections. In section III, he provides a condensed, still highly abstract schematic outline of the spiritual journeys of the saints (awliya'), expressed in his own distinctive metaphysical-theological terminology (i.e., in His Names in their names ). Finally, the greater part of the chapter (= section IV) is taken up with Ibn 'Arabi's account, narrated in the first person and closely following the path of the Prophet, of the climactic stages of his own personal spiritual journey. 25 If the autobiographical guise at first seems only a sort of didactic literary device, at the end (section IV-I) he does conclude with the description of a decisive personal revelation, a compelling spiritual experience that seems to have contained or at least confirmed virtually all the most distinctive points of his later thought and conviction, the forms of divine knowledge which he goes on to elaborate in a long enumeration of what he saw in that culminating Muhammadan Station. 25 Which, as he reminds us at the beginning of Section IV, closely parallels his earlier autobiographical descriptions of the same personal spiritual itinerary in the Kitab al-isra'; see our translation and commentary of a key corresponding passage from that work in the article cited at n. 13 above.

17 16 Chapter 367: Concerning the Inner Knowledge of the Waystation of the Fifth Tawakkul, Which None of the People of Realization Has Discovered, Because of the Rarity of Those Apt to Receive It and the Inadequacy of (Human) Understandings to Grasp It 26 [I. Introduction: the Context and Purpose of the Spiritual Journey] 26 III, pp ; sections omitted from our translation are clearly indicated in the accompanying notes or summarized (within brackets) in the body of the text. The enigmatic title of this chapter is partially illuminated by a brief passage near the end (III, ), where this mysterious fifth tawakkul is again briefly mentioned as one of the distinctive forms of spiritual knowledge Ibn 'Arabi saw in his culminating vision of the Muhammadan Station :...And I saw in it the knowledge of the person who acts deliberately and (at the same time) relies on God, and this is the fifth tawakkul, and it is (expressed in) God's saying in Sura 73: '[...There is no god but Him,] so take Him as your Trustee (wakil)!' (73:9). Elsewhere (chapter 198, II, p. 420, 36th tawhid), Ibn 'Arabi explains this same Qur anic verse as a reference to man's inherent ontological status as a pure servant, with no possessions of his own, a description resembling the inner state of pure servanthood Ibn 'Arabi also realized in his culminating revelation (IV-I below). Similarly, a key phrase in this description, to act deliberately (itta'ada), is applied in Ibn 'Arabi's cautionary advice earlier in chapter 367 (at n. 143 below; = III, ) to those Sufis who would mistakenly take the ecstatic state of annihilation in God (fana', implying a heedlessness of the external world) to be the end and goal of the spiritual Path. All of these hints seem to point to this highest form of trust in God as reflecting an advanced inner state of spiritual insight in which the saint's absolute reliance on God an attitude that in lower stages of tawakkul is usually conceived of as implying a sort of ascetic disdain and unconcern for the secondary causes (asbab) or things of this world is now seen as simultaneously affirming the secondary causes (a phrase from opening poem of this chapter, at III, ), which are finally perceived in their true metaphysical status, as necessary and intrinsic manifestations of the ever-present divine Reality. This form of tawakkul would thus closely correspond to Ibn 'Arabi's characteristic emphasis on the superiority of the state of enlightened abiding in the world (baqa') characterizing those saints who like the Prophet have returned (the raji'un) from the station of divine Proximity while retaining the ongoing realization of that insight in the world. The term tawakkul, trust or inner confidence in God, occurs many times in the Qur an and gradually became a key term in Sufi spiritual psychology; see, for example, chapter 118 of the Futuhat (II, ), on the maqam al-tawakkul, where Ibn 'Arabi mentions at the end that the levels of tawakkul, for the true Knowers, are Near the beginning of the R. al-anwar (Chodkiewicz, Seal of the Saints, p. 151; T. Harris, Journey to the Lord of Power, p. 30) he also discusses tawakkul as the last of the preparatory stages before the spiritual Mi'raj, marked by four distinctive charismatic powers (karamat).

18 17...God said There is nothing like His likeness [and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing] (Qur an 42:11), 27 so He described Himself with a description that necessarily belongs only to Him, which is His saying: And He is with you wherever you are (Qur an 57:4). 28 Thus He is with us wherever we are, in the state of His descending to the heaven of this world during the last third of the night, This famous Qur anic verse, with its paradoxical double negations (corresponding to the shahada) of God's resemblance to created things, is usually treated by Ibn 'Arabi as a classic reference to the mystery of the simultaneous immanence (tashbih) and transcendence (tanzih) of the Divine Reality reflected in the Perfect Manwhich is the central intuition of all his work. Often he even interprets the expression His Likeness in this verse as a direct reference to the Perfect Man, alluding to Adam's creation (according to a famous hadith) in the image of the Merciful : see the famous discussions of this verse in the chapters on Noah (ch. 3) and Hud (ch. 10) in the Fusus al- Hikam, and further references in the Futuhat I, 62, 97, 111, 220; II, 129, 510, , 541, 563; III, 109, 165, 266, 282, 340, 412, 492; IV, 135, 141, 306, 311, 431. In addition to the ambiguity of the expression kamithlihi (which can also be read simply as like Him i.e., like God), Ibn 'Arabi likewise stresses the apparently paradoxical contrast between the absolute insistence on divine transcendence at the beginning of this verse and the apparent anthropomorphism of its conclusion. Thus, according to either reading, the absolute universality of the divine Presence implied by this verse includes all the particular, restricted modalities of the divine descent (nuzul) and Self-manifestation indicated in the following verses and hadith each of which is likewise the subject of numerous discussions throughout the Futuhat. 28 For Ibn 'Arabi, this verse is simply a direct implication of the broader truth implied in the opening verse: this inner correspondence between the different manifestations of God and the Perfect Man (al-insan al-kamil), at all the levels of being (or worlds ) is assumed throughout the rest of this chapter. More generally, the reality of the divine compresence (ma'iya, with-ness ) with all things expressed in this verse is discussed in many parts of the Futuhat, including a number of the shorter metaphysical or cosmological excerpts included in this anthology. 29 A reference to a famous divine saying (hadith qudsi) which Ibn 'Arabi included in his own collection of such hadith, the Mishkat al-anwar (no. 56, and cited from the Sahih of Muslim); available in English translation by S. Hirtenstein and M. Notcutt in Divine Sayings, p. 65: God, ever mighty and majestic is He, says, when He descends during the third part of the night: I am the King! Who is there that calls out to Me, that I may answer him? Who is there that asks of Me, that I may give to him? Who is there that asks pardon of Me, that I may forgive him? [MORRIS S TRANSLATION Our Lord descends every night to the heaven of this world when the last third of the night remains, and then He says: 'I am the King! Whoever calls on Me, I answer him. Whoever asks (something) of Me, I give to him. Whoever requests My forgiveness, I forgive him. ] This hadith is recorded, with a number of minor variations, by Muslim, Malik, Bukhari, Tirmidhi, Ibn Maja, and Ahmad b. Hanbal: see detailed references and variants in W. Graham, Divine Word and Prophetic Word in Early Islam (The Hague, 1977), pp As Ibn 'Arabi explains in detail in the latter part of chapter 34 of the Futuhat (OY ed., III, ), the night, in this hadith, is the place of the descent in time of God and His Attribute (of Mercy), and this last third of the night which, Ibn 'Arabi insists, lasts forever is none other than the Perfect Man (the first two thirds being the heavens and the

19 18 in the state of His being mounted upon the Throne (Qur an 5:20; etc.), 30 in the state of His being in the Cloud, 31 in the state of His being upon the earth and in heaven (Qur an 43:84; etc.), 32 in the state of His being closer to man than his jugular vein (Qur an 50:16) 33 and all of these are qualifications with which only He can be described. earth, man's two parents ). The following verses and hadith (at notes here) are interpreted in chapter 34 as references to different ontological degrees or moments of that universal divine Self-manifestation. 30 There are seven Qur anic verses referring to God's being mounted (istawa') on the Throne, often following the creation of the heavens and the earth (i.e., what lies beneath or constitutes the Throne in its cosmological sense). For Ibn 'Arabi's understanding of these verses, see the extensive references to the Futuhat in Hakim, Al-Muʻjam al-sūfī, pp (on the many meanings of the divine Throne, 'arsh) and pp (on istiwa'). For Ibn 'Arabi, however, an even more fundamental meaning of the Throne is the Heart of the man of true faith (which is the Throne of the Merciful, according to a famous hadith), i.e., the Perfect Man (see Hakim, Al-Muʻjam al-sūfī, pp , on the qalb). The inner connection between these two senses is brought out explicitly in the famous hadith qudsi discussed at n. 7 above and quoted at n. 37 below, and is a basic assumption throughout sections III and IV below, since the Heart is precisely the theater of the entire journey: that point is made most forcefully in sections IV-G and IV-I below. Elsewhere, (e.g., in chapter 34, OY ed., III, 320 ff.), Ibn 'Arabi frequently stresses the particular importance of the Qur anic specification (at 5:20) that it is the Merciful (al-rahman), the Source of all being, Who is mounted or seated there. 31 A reference to the following hadith, concerning the Prophet's response to the question Where was our Lord before He created the creation? : He was in a Cloud ('ama'), without air above it and without air below it, and He created His Throne upon the Water. (This famous hadith is found in the collections of Ibn Maja, Tirmidhi and Ahmad b. Hanbal.) Our translation here reflects Ibn 'Arabi's interpretation in chapter 34 of the Futuhat (OY ed., III, 323 ff.), where he also stresses the fact that this particular ontological reality concerns the divine Name Lord (rabb) and not the Merciful (see n. 29). For the broader meaning of the term 'ama' ( the Cloud ) in Ibn 'Arabi, see the references in Hakim, Al-Muʻjam al-sūfī, pp and in the Futuhat II, 310, as well as its treatment in the penultimate stage of the cosmological mi'raj in chapter 167 (S. Ruspoli, L Alchimie, pp ). 32 This phrase is contained (with minor variations) in a number of other Qur anic verses (3:5; 10:61; 14:38; 22:70) all insisting on God's intimate acquaintance with all things: see, for example, Our Lord, surely You know what we say openly and what we hide: not a thing upon the earth and in heaven is hidden from God (Qur an 14:38); or even more appropriately, He is God in the heavens and upon the earth; he knows your secret [sirr] and what you proclaim, and He knows what you gain (Qur an 6:3). 33 Ibn 'Arabi's understanding of the divine nearness (see the related notion of with-ness, ma'iya, at n. 28 above) expressed in this Qur anic phrase is intimately bound up with the reality of

20 19 Hence God does not move a servant from place to place in order that (the servant) might see Him, but rather so that He might cause him to see of His Signs (Qur an 41:53; etc.) 34 those that were unseen by him. He said: Glory to Him Who made His servant journey one night from the Sacred Place of Worship to the Furthest Place of Worship, whose surroundings We have blessed, so that We might cause him to see of Our Signs! (Qur an 17:1) 35 And similarly, when God moves (any) perpetual creation (khalq jadid) expressed in the rest of the verse and its immediate context:...yet they are in confusion about the (ever-) renewed creation; but surely We created man [alinsan] and We know what his soul insinuates to him and We are closer to man than his jugular vein (Qur an 50:15-16). As indicated in the Introduction, for Ibn 'Arabi the spiritual station of Proximity (maqam al-qurba), in which one actually realizes the full extent of this intimate relation with God, is the ultimate goal of the Ascension of the saints outlined in this chapter: that relation is outlined schematically, in the theological language of 'ilm al-kalam, in section III and discussed in more experiential terms in the final two parts of section IV. (See the extensive references in Hakim, Al-Muʻjam al-sūfī, pp and Chodkiewicz, Seal of the Saints, index s.v. [maqam al-qurba].) 34 While Ibn 'Arabi is alluding in particular to the reason for the Prophet's Ascension described at Qur an 17:1 (see following note), the same phrase (with only minor variations in the pronouns) is addressed to mankind more generally in a number of other Qur anic verses (27:93; 31:31; etc.). Of these, certainly the most important and best known is the verse 41:53 to such an extent that it is clearly assumed whenever Ibn 'Arabi mentions the divine Signs (ayat): We shall cause them to see Our Signs on the horizons and in their souls, so that it becomes clear to them that He is the Truly Real [al-haqq] or is your Lord not enough, for surely He is witnessing every thing! What, are they in doubt about meeting their Lord? Does He not surely encompass all things? Especially important, for Ibn 'Arabi as for so many other Islamic thinkers, is the insistence in this verse on the coincidence of the Signs on the horizons, i.e., in the external world (but note also Muhammad's decisive revelation at the Loftiest Horizon, Qur an 53:7) and those in the souls, in the totality of awareness of the Perfect Man (al-insan al-kamil). Secondly, Ibn 'Arabi always emphasizes the causative, active meaning of the verb form 'Ara as to make someone see, not just to show : for him, God's Signs are already there, in the totality of our experience, but usually unseen (ghaba) i.e., not perceived as such. Thus the whole purpose of the spiritual journey is simply to open our (spiritual) eyes to the reality of things as Signs, or as Ibn 'Arabi goes on to explain immediately below (and in more detail in section III), to recognize the divine Names in our states. All this is implicit in the famous prayer of the Prophet likewise assumed throughout this chapter: O my God, cause us to see things as they really are! 35 The masjid al-haram ( Sacred Place of Worship ) was a common name for the sanctuary of the Kaaba at Mecca, but there is some disagreement in the hadith surrounding the identification of the masjid al-aqsa: it was sometimes, especially in later traditions, identified with the site of the Temple at Jerusalem (al-bayt al-maqdis, the sacred House ) where Muhammad stops to pray before his heavenly ascension according to several hadith accounts (including that followed by Ibn 'Arabi below); but the earlier traditions agree that it refers to the furthest point (al-darah) or goal of the Mi'raj (i.e., where Muhammad received the culminating revelation described in Sura 53), and is therefore more or less identical with the Inhabited House or heavenly Temple of Abraham (al-bayt