Abstract
Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ‘Arabī (d. 638/1240) is regarded as one of the foremost mystical thinkers in Islam. This paper explores the ways in which he and his followers distinguish between the reality of Muḥammad (al-ḥaqīqa al-Muḥammadiyya) or the light of Muḥammad (al-nūr al-Muḥammadī), as the metaphysical reality of Muḥammad, and his metahistorical manifestation as Muḥammad Ibn ‘Abd Allāh. In his metaphysical reality, Muḥammad is the manifestation of the qur’ān, which ‘brings together’ the divine and His creation. Muḥammad’s metaphysical reality, as the primary recipient of the divine outpouring, enables further differentiations of the divine to emerge in the form of the universe, and establishes his connection to the divine. Yet the Qur’an is also temporal in terms of being an historical act of revelation. Likewise, Muḥammad Ibn ‘Abd Allāh, in terms of his physical reality, was temporally circumscribed. It is in these ways, argues Ibn ‘Arabī and his acolytes, that Muḥammad, as reality and personality, brings together the divine and the temporal, in the same manner as the qur’ān/Qur’an respectively.
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Notes
I would like to acknowledge a huge debt to the anonymous reviewers who enabled me to make this distinction far more clearly. It is due to their extremely insightful and constructive feedback that I was able to refine this paper considerably.
For details on the association between orthopraxy and orthodoxy or, more accurately, the former as a legitimation of the latter, see Josef van Ess (2006, 16).
Such was Ibn ‘Arabī's literal approach to interpreting the Qur’an and ḥadīth that he was assumed by many to be an adherent of the literalistic Zahirite school of law. However, the Sufi himself explicitly denies this (Ibn ‘Arabī, 1996, 48).
See, for instance, Ibn ‘Arabī’s insistence in Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam that Khalīl Allāh, the epithet of Ibrāhīm, is derived not from the verb khālla (form III), which denotes to associate with as a friend, as all lexicographers seem to assert (Lane, 2003, 2:778), but from takhallala (form V), which means to penetrate or pass through (Ibn ‘Arabī, 2002, 80). Similarly, in the very next chapter, he claims that the name of the Prophet Isḥāq comes from the root ḥ-q-q and not s-ḥ-q, which contradicts the opinions of Qur’anic specialists (Al-Qurṭubī, 2004, 2:94), linguists (Al-Iṣfahānī, n.d., 226), grammarians (‘Al-Naḥḥās, 2009, 1:80), and lexicographers (Abu’l-Faḍl ibn Manẓūr, n.d., 1956).
Though beyond the scope of this study, it is interesting to note that Ibn ‘Arabī’s metaphysical denotation of qur’ān satisfies both criteria of Stern (1931) for semantic modification. First, there is novel apprehension of a known referent—‘bringing together’ does not just mean bringing together physical chapters, but also the divine Names as the creation. Second, there is extension of the semantic range to include additional referents, in this case the divine Names as well as the chapters (1931, 163). Toshihiko Izutsu elaborates on this in his study of the semantic fields in which keywords or ‘focal words’ are deployed (1998, 18–26).
For a detailed analysis of this term and its usage in the Qur’an, see Rubin (2009).
Although it is also used for the Torah (Qur’an, 2:53; 21:48) as it too differentiates between truth and falsehood (Ibn Manẓūr, n.d., 3399).
Both these terms are synonymous and denote the metaphysical reality of Muḥammad. See below for details on what this signifies.
Chittick (1982) explains the five levels of divine differentiation in Ibn ‘Arabī’s ontology, as formally articulated by his acolytes, in ‘The Five Divine Presences’.
The divine outpouring, it must be remembered, is not a temporally circumscribed act, according to Ibn ‘Arabī; rather, it is a constantly unfolding process. This bears significant parallels with Ash'arite occasionalism; however, Ibn ‘Arabī accuses the Ash‘arites of not comprehending the whole truth as they fail to grasp the divine substrate that underpins all reality and causal relations. This topic falls outside the purview of this paper. For more details, see Lala (2019b). For a detailed exploration of the interplay between the divine outpouring and causality, see Koca’s (2020) excellent article, ‘The World as a Theophany and Causality: Ibn ʿArabī, Causes and Freedom’.
‘Abd al-Karīm al-Jīlī (d. 812/1408?) expatiates on the concept of the Perfect Man, and even though his thought is not entirely consonant with that of Ibn ‘Arabī, it exerts a powerful influence on subsequent followers of Ibn ‘Arabī’s thought (See Morrissey, 2020).
For biographical details on al-Jāmī, as well as his interpretive modus operandi, see Rizvi (2006).
Todd (2014) has written extensively on the philosophical outlook of al-Qūnawī and his overall significance for subsequent commentators of Ibn ‘Arabī’s works in The Sufi Doctrine of Man: Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Qūnawī's Metaphysical Anthropology.
Dagli (2016) provides a brief overview of al-Jandī’s life and views on existence in Ibn al- ‘Arabī and Islamic Intellectual Culture: From Mysticism to Philosophy, 95–104.
Exploration of the issue of whether the Qur’an is eternal or temporal falls outside the scope of this paper. For details on how this controversy played out in the form of the Inquisition (miḥna) and explanations for it, see Nawas (1994).
Bashier (2004) conducts a deep exploration of this topic in Ibn Al-ʿArabiʿs Barzakh: The Concept of the Limit and the Relationship between God and the World.
Rustom (2005) provides a brief outline of al-Qayṣarī’s life and thought in ‘Dāwūd al-Qayṣarī: Notes on His Life, Influence and Reflections on the Muḥammadan Reality’.
Lala elucidates that Ibn ‘Arabī uses the term aḥadiyya (unity) to denote God in his absolute numinosity before He is differentiated into the Names (Lala, 2019a, 135). Al-Qayṣarī appears to be using the term in the same way.
Very popular in mystical works, this saying does not appear in the most notable compilations of ḥadīth. A tradition of the Prophet Muḥammad that is of similar meaning (‘I was a prophet whilst Ādam was between soul (rūḥ) and body (jasad)’) is recorded in Ibn Abī Shayba (1997, 7:329), Al-Bazzār (1988-2009, 11:476), Ibn Ḥanbal (2001, 27:176), Al-Ṭabarānī (n.d., 4:272; 1994, 12:92), Al-Tirmidhī (1998, 5:585).
Titus Burckhardt elaborates that the reality of Muḥammad is the first differentiation that contains all further differentiations within it, and as it is the means through which God is known in the world but also unknown in itself, it alludes to the cataphasis and apophasis of the divine (1987).
Al-Ḥakīm elucidates that this is another synonym of the reality of Muḥammad as it is the first differentiation of the divine essence (1981, 348).
This incident is mentioned many times in the Qur’an. Amongst the most detailed references to it is: Q11:25–49.
Qur’an, 21:69.
This event is also referred to numerous times. A detailed account is found in Q20:9–36.
Qur’an, 2:60.
There are many works devoted to this incident. For an analysis of the Ascension, as presented by the highly influential early exegete, Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī (d. 310/923), see Khetia (2012).
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers of this paper who, through their careful analysis, penetrating insights, and constructive feedback, allowed me to refine this paper and offer a far clearer discussion of the metaphysical and metahistorical aspects of this topic. The author declares no competing interests.
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Lala, I. Muḥammad as the Qur’an in Ibn ‘Arabī’s Metaphysics. SOPHIA (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11841-022-00941-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11841-022-00941-0