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Sin in the Cosmological Function of the Mystical View- Point of Ibn 'Arabī: An Journal of Advances in Humanities and Social Sciences JAHSS 2020, 6(2): 53-60 PRIMARY RESEARCH Sin in the cosmological function of the mystical view- point of Ibn ‘Arabī: An interdisciplinary approach Saeideh Sayari * Faculty of humanistic, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany Keywords Abstract Sin This paper approaches mystic’s interpretation through a comprehensive and integrated system of existence re- Chaos garding the theory of the unity of being as a central point in Ibn ‘Arabı̄’s thought. This study begins with analysis Complexity of the concepts ‘sin’ and ‘repentance’, and the theory of the unity of being in Ibn ‘Arabı̄’s texts. It also highlights Dynamic how these concepts and theory were arranged to depict a systemic net of the actions and reactions in the cosmos. Human beings In the ŭirst step, Ibn ‘Arabı̄’s doctrine is explained, and then based on the concepts such as open systems, dynam- Unity of being ics, complexity, and chaos a discussion is developed. The result will lead us to answer the question that how Ibn ‘Arabı̄ justiŭies the concept of sin and how his interpretation helps to understand the position of human beings in Received: 5 November 2019 the universe. He looks at the phenomenon of human as a complex, open, chaotic system that reŭlects the divine Accepted: 14 January 2020 attributes. Published: 13 June 2020 © 2020 The Author(s). Published by TAF Publishing INTRODUCTION cases, they are not compatible. Although scientiŭic theories Sin is one of the religious conceptions, which have been in- concerning the evolution of the human species have pre- terpreted in various schools of thought, for example epis- sented major challenges for theologies and understandings temological (Kaldis, 2008), ethical, ontological, historical, of original sin, the analysis of the religious concepts based mystical (Ibn & Fusus, 1979), and religious (Ghazzali, 2002) on the other approaches will help the scholars to better un- interpretations. Since it has roots in religious paradigm, derstand those concepts in the religious realm and allow religious interpretations are more famous than other ap- for new creative explorations that may deepen our under- proaches which they started when the scientiŭic study of standing of classic doctrines (Azhar, 2015; Van den Toren, religion appeared in the 19th century. The scientiŭic study 2016). For example, some of new researches explain the of religion opened a new space for investigation of reli- corrosion of the world from a scientiŭic (entropy) and a the- gion for the religious researchers who used the new ap- ological (original sin) perspective and show how potentially proaches that emerged from scientiŭic methodologies and these two disciplines reach a position for a more fruitful di- even philosophy. For example, having used phenomenol- alogue (Bradnick, 2009). Some others try to reconcile the ogy, religious researches tried to present new interpreta- original sin and human origin with evolution, and also they tions of religious phenomena. The epistemological, onto- demonstrate what in this case seems to be most consistent logical, ethical, historical, phenomenological, logical, and le- with science, human experience, philosophy, and theology gal investigations are some examples of the interpretation (Flaman, 2016). of the concept of sin. Sometimes these interpretations are In this paper, I do not investigate the concept of sin based on compatible with the religious interpretations, and in some the ethical, axiological, and jurisprudential aspects, but I ap- *corresponding author: Saeideh Sayari †email: [email protected] The Author(s). Published by TAF Publishing. This is an Open Access article distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivatives 4.0 International License 2020 S. Sayari – Sin in the cosmological function of the . 54 proach the issue through a kind of cosmological dimension Systems theory and concepts related to that mutually help in Ibn ‘Arabı̄’s thought. I will investigate Ibn ‘Arabı̄’s inter- us to obtain a cosmological base to interpret the concept pretation of the concept of sin and repentance regarding his of sin based on the theory of unity of being in Ibn ‘Arabı̄’s main theory, the unity of being. The effort of this article is to thought. submit a cosmological interpretation of sin or human errors in the mystic perspective comparing new concepts such as Sin complexity and chaos. The presupposition is that mystics The notion of sin comes from religions. In the holy books of such as Ibn ‘Arabı̄ considered a systemic perspective when Abrahamic religions, sin is some deed doing against God’s encountered with this phenomenon with many dimensions will (Baylor, 1977) and they are from minor errors to the and huge functions. The importance of the issue will be deadly sins. Some people held that sin is the act that believ- clearer when one knows that many attitudes, sentences, ers do while it is against their beliefs (Baylor, 1977). The and reactions in religious realms, especially among Islamic Holy texts introduce sin in different words; sin is “miss the groups and societies originate from the authorities’ inter- mark” (John 8: 21) or it is breaking the law of God (1 John pretations of the concept of the sin in the human deeds. To- 3: 4) to exceed His commandments (Qurʾān 5: 63). The two day, some part of violence that is related to the religious ter- most commonly used words for sin in the entire Bible are rorists and other extremist groups reŭlects their interpreta- the words chata and hamartia (Willmington, 2018). In the tion of the concept of sin or disobedience of God. Islamic world, Ghazzālı̄ considered a sin as leaving or doing I will begin by analyzing the concepts ‘sin’ and ‘repentance’, something opposite to God’s will (Ghazzali, 2002). Some in- and the theory of the unity of being in Ibn ‘Arabı̄’s texts, then terpreters classiŭied sin into the sin which appears and the move to see how these concepts and that theory were ar- sin which does not appear (Tabatabai, 1979). Sometimes ranged to depict a systemic net of the actions and reactions sins are known as serious crimes such as murder, rape, and in the cosmos. First of all, I explain my approach to the so on, but the range of sin can go even to the very private research process positing myself as a critical scholar. The affairs of believers. In ancient times, sin was an act that methods which I will use are conceptual analysis and inter- made the gods and goddess angry. For example, in Hin- pretation arguing the function and the use of the concepts duism, there are some acts considered sin such as sleeping such as system, chaos, and dynamic process in Ibn ‘Arabı̄’s after sunrise or at sunset or marrying off the young sister thought without using new terms of these concepts. while the older is yet not married (Glucklich, 2003). In some religions, sin relates to Adam and Eve, as they did the sin THE METHODOLOGICAL CONCERNS and ate the forbidden fruit they exiled from Heaven, and A. Using the conceptual analysis, I analyzed the conceptions because of that sin, all of their children were punished up ‘sin’, ‘unity of being’, and ‘repentance’ based on Ibn ‘Arabı̄’s to coming to the Christ. In fact, death and sin are related terminology. In this qualitative research, library and online to Adam while life and righteousness relate to Christ (Ro- research including databases were used for collecting data. mans 5: 11). In some religions, sin is a tendency for dis- The main method which I used in this research is the con- obeying which is rooted in the nature of humans (Qurʾān ceptual analysis which comprises explanation, description, 33:72; 24:34; 103:2). The human had a capacity and quali- and interpretation. ŭication to be a totally divine-being creature, but he did not B. With the advent of new ŭields, new horizons to inter- use his faculty, therefore, he was unjust and cruel about pret the theories have been prevalent in the context of himself (Tabatabai, 1979). new methods of research such as interdisciplinarity, trans- Up to the modern time, religions gave the most important disciplinarity, multidisciplinarity, and pluridisciplinarity interpretations of the Scriptures and it is important to know (Max-Neef, 2005; Rezaei, 2017). Max-Neef stated that the basis of these interpretations. I divide metaphysical “Pluridisciplinary implied cooperation between disciplines, perspectives into two groups: Abrahamic or monotheistic without coordination. The study of each one of them rein- and non-monotheistic. In non-monotheist religions, we en- forces the understanding of the others” (Max-Neef, 2005; counter a variety of gods, metaphysical ideas, and human Ranathunga, Karunarathne, & De Silva, 2018). Therefore, fate. The central points are evil and good forces and also new concepts such as chaos, complexity, and systems the- following one of these two sides. Of course, like monotheist ory open up new possibilities to perceive meanings of con- religions, they have faced many changes over time, but they cepts in some ŭields such as mysticism (which includes have maintained their bases. Monotheist religions have two many vague concepts and interpretations) and philosophy. histories, one before the Renaissance and the other after ISSN: 2414-3111 DOI: 10.20474/jahss-6.2.2 55 J. adv. humanit. soc. sci. 2020 that. We can see some common traits in monotheist reli- that source is the origin of creation and legislation (Ekhart, gions until the Renaissance and modernism. The task of 1941). Ibn ‘Arabı̄ as an Islamic philosopher and mystic be- theology in the Middle Ages was to reduce the creatures lieved that only being is God (Ibn, 2000) and the universe is into the lowest level as much as possible for the sake of His manifestation (Ibn & Fusus, 1979).
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