Ibn al-ʿArabī and the Sufis Also available from Anqa Publishing The Seven Days of the Heart: Awrād al-Usbūʿ (Wird) by Ibn ʿArabī Translated by Pablo Beneito and Stephen Hirtenstein Contemplation of the Holy Mysteries: Mashāhid al-Asrār by Ibn ʿArabī Translated by Cecilia Twinch and Pablo Beneito The Universal Tree and the Four Birds: al-Ittiḥād al-Kawnī by Ibn ʿArabī Translated by Angela Jaffray A Prayer for Spiritual Elevation and Protection: al-Dawr al-aʿlā by Ibn ʿArabī Study, translation, transliteration and Arabic text by Suha Taji-Farouki The Four Pillars of Spiritual Transformation: Ḥilyat al-Abdāl by Ibn ʿArabī Translated by Stephen Hirtenstein The Unlimited Mercifier: The Spiritual Life and Thought of Ibn ʿArabī Stephen Hirtenstein Ibn ʿArabi and Modern Thought: The History of Taking Metaphysics Seriously Peter Coates The Nightingale in the Garden of Love: the Poems of Üftade by Paul Ballanfat Translated from French by Angela Culme-Seymour Beshara and Ibn ʿArabi: A Movement of Sufi Spirituality in the Modern World Suha Taji-Farouki The Lamp of Mysteries: A Commentary on the Light Verse of the Quran Translated and edited by Bilal Kuşpınar The Teachings of a Perfect Master: An Islamic Saint for the Third Millennium Henry Bayman Ibn al-ʿArabī and the Sufis Binyamin Abrahamov ANQA PUBLISHING • OXFORD Published by Anqa Publishing PO Box 1178 Oxford OX2 8YS, UK www.anqa.co.uk © Binyamin Abrahamov, 2014 Binyamin Abrahamov has asserted his moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. PDF ISBN: 978 1 905937 53 0 Cover design: meadencreative.com Preface The present work followed two articles I wrote on two important Sufi figures that influenced Ibn al-ʿArabī: ‘Ibn al-ʿArabī’s Attitude toward al-Ghazālī’, and ‘Ibn al-ʿArabī and Abū Yazīd al-Bisṭāmī’. I owe thanks to Brepols Publishing for giving me permission to publish the first article in the present volume. My thanks are also extended to the journal al-Qanṭara for allowing me to incorporate the second article in my work. I am extremely grateful to Stephen Hirtenstein of Anqa Pub- lishing, whose comments and suggestions undoubtedly improved the discussions in Ibn al-ʿArabī and the Sufis. Thanks also to my stu- dents in the course of Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam, at Bar Ilan University. They enriched my insights of the Greatest Master. Michael Tiernan prepared the text for copyediting and Anne Clark successfully per- formed the copyediting. Both deserve my gratitude for their exact work. Thanks are also extended to Judy Kearns for her meticulous proofreading. I thank David Brauner, who became fascinated by Ibn al-ʿArabī’s thought, for skilfully correcting my English. I hope this modest volume will contribute to our understand- ing of the thought of one of the greatest thinkers of humanity, who bestowed on us an original and penetrating perception of the cosmos. v Contents Preface v Reference abbreviations viii Introduction 1 the earlier sufis Al-Muḥāsibī 13 Dhū al-Nūn al-Misrī 19 ∙ Abū Yazīd al-Bisṭāmī 35 Sahl al-Tustarī 53 Abū Saʿīd al-Kharrāz 63 Al-Junayd 69 Al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī 85 Al-Ḥusayn ibn Manṣūr al-Ḥallāj 91 Ibn Masarra 97 Abū Bakr al-Shiblī 103 Abū Ṭālib al-Makkī 111 the later sufis Al-Ghazālī 117 Ibn Barrajān 135 Ibn al-ʿArīf al-Ṣanhājī 139 Ibn Qasī 145 ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī 151 Abū Madyan 157 Abū al-ʿAbbās al-ʿUraybī 165 Conclusion 171 Bibliography 181 Index 189 vii Reference abbreviations The following are commonly cited in the notes. Full details are given in the Bibliography. Bezels The Bezels of Wisdom, trans. R.W.J. Austin Dimensions Mystical Dimensions of Islam, A. Schimmel EI Encyclopaedia of Islam Online FM Al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, Dār Sādir Fut. Al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, Dār al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya JMIAS Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn ʿArabi Society MP The Mystical Philosophy of Muhyid Dīn-Ibnul ʿArabī, A.E. Affifi Quest Quest for the Red Sulphur, C. Addas SDG The Self-Disclosure of God, W.C. Chittick Seal Seal of the Saints, M. Chodkiewicz SPK The Sufi Path of Knowledge, W.C. Chittick Sufis Sufis of Andalusia, trans. R.W.J. Austin viii Introduction Every scholar of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s thought has been impressed by the wealth of his mystical and philosophical ideas, parables and poems. From the earliest research on Ibn al-ʿArabī’s thought, scholars have tried to trace his sources and to evaluate his originality.1 This is an extremely difficult task not only due to the huge quantity of his writings,2 but also with regards to the complexity of his theories. An analysis of the Greatest Master’s attitude toward the Sufis, both his predecessors and contemporaries, has not yet been accomplished, except for William Chittick’s discussion of three mystics.3 Such a work is needed to enhance our knowledge of the foundations of his thought and answer, at least as an initial step, the question of the measure of his originality. The present volume examines Ibn al-ʿArabī’s attitude toward the Sufis and assesses the extent of their influence on him. A crucial point is Ibn al-ʿArabī’s general acceptance or rejection of the Sufis’ views and practices. We do not pretend to be exhaustive, because the basis of our research is mainly al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam and some of the author’s epistles. We believe that these writings are representative of his thought and hence appropriate to serve as the basis of our investigation. 1. MP, pp. 174–94. 2. Osman Yahia counts 700 books, treatises and collections of poetry, but only some 95 are extant. For details see J. Clark and S. Hirtenstein, ‘Establishing Ibn ʿArabī’s Heritage’, JMIAS, 52 (2012), pp. 1–32. 3. SDG, pp. 371–86. Affifi’s treatment of the Sufis in Ibn al-ʿArabī’s writings is rather brief and does not teach us much about the latter’s attitude toward them. Also his examination of Ibn Masarra’s role in the development of the Greatest Master’s thought should be revised in the light of Addas’ research, which will be referred to in the present work. C.W. Ernst’s article, ‘The man without attributes: Ibn Arabī’s interpretation of Abu Yazid al-Bistami’, JMIAS, 13 (1993), pp. 1–18, examines a number of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s interpretations of the sayings of Abu Yazid but lacks an overall view of Abu Yazid’s impact on Ibn al-ʿArabī. See the section on Abū Yazīd al-Bisṭāmī below. 1 introduction We assume that the recurring mention of a name in Ibn al- ʿArabī’s texts testifies to the importance the author ascribes to the individual, whether the author learns from this individual or criticizes him.4 However, the possibility of a Sufi or other thinker influencing Ibn al-ʿArabī without the author explicitly referring to him must not be excluded.5 A note should be made on Ibn al- ʿArabī’s criticism of individuals and groups. On the one hand, he does not hesitate to censure individuals and groups regarding their approaches, while, on the other, we discern a mild attitude toward opposing views. For example, he opposes the Ashʿarite theory according to which the attributes are added to God’s essence. However, he says that his way is not to refute this opposing view, but to clarify it and its sources, and to ask whether the view has any effect on the success of the Ashʿarite school of thought. The reason for this approach is the vastness of the Divine (al-ittisāʿ al- ilāhī), or God’s infinite manifestations, among which the Ashʿarite position concerning the attributes is included.6 One should bear in mind that throughout his life Ibn al-ʿArabī met many hundreds of people, both in the West and the East. He learned from many of them, especially from the Sufi way of life.7 However, he had contacts not only with Sufis, but also with scholars from other fields of thought, such as theologians,8 philosophers, grammarians and poets.9 For the present study I concentrate on those Sufis who seem to me to have had the greatest influence on him. 4. Ibn al-ʿArabī’s self-confidence was so great that he did not hesitate to criticize even his outstanding teachers. Sufis, p. 3. 5. See the case of al-Ghazālī. 6. Fut.I:309f.; FM.I:204, ll.16–27; SPK, p. 96. 7. Ibn al-ʿArabī held that there is no fault in learning from many teachers. He acknowledged that he had three hundred teachers. Quest, p. 67. 8. B. Abrahamov, ‘Ibn al-ʿArabī on divine love’, in S. Klein-Braslavy, B. Abrahamov and J. Sadan (eds.), Tribute to Michael, pp. 7–36. 9. Quest, pp. 93–103. 2 introduction It is impossible to include a detailed discussion of every Sufi who appears in this work. Hence, I confine my examination to the broad lines of their teachings, in order to show how their ideas expressed the principal perceptions of Sufism. In other words, the Sufis of the ninth and tenth centuries, often mentioned in Ibn al- ʿArabī’s writings, introduced the foundations of Sufism. We can generally point to each individual’s specific contribution to Sufi thought and practice.