ibn arabi's wahdat al-wujud

8/13/2019 Ibn Arabi's Wahdat Al-Wujud

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Ibn Arabi's Wahdat al-Wujud

Ahmad Imran

29thFebruary, 2014

Ibn Arabi was given the name Abu Bakr Mohammed ibn al-Arabi al-Hatimi al-Tai, but given

the title of Muhy al-Din (the evivifier of eligion! and maybe deemed the ar"hety#i"al $ufi, and the

e#hemeral %afir (non-believer! to his Muta&alite, 'eo-Muta&alite ortho#rai" )hawari*i detra"tors+ IbnArabi has been a""used of being a #antheist, #anentheist, eistential monist, and a follower of natural

mysti"ism+ In his book Three Muslim $ages $eyyed Hossein 'asr defends Ibn Arabi from the above

a""usations and e#lains Ibn Arabi.s "on"e#t of /ahdat al-/u*ud+

A""ording to 'asr then, Ibn Arabi "an withstand the a""usations rather easily, be"ause his

detra"tors mistake the meta#hysi"al to #hiloso#hy and that gnosis is not se#arate from gra"e and

san"tity+ A""usations of #antheism, mostly originating from /ahhabi and $alafi ty#es, is the easiest torebut in that #antheism is a #hiloso#hi"al system and Ibn Arabi was never a follower of a #arti"ular

system nor did he "laim to "reate a system of his own+ 'asr further e#lains that #antheist a""users

obfus"ate the differen"e between (a! The essential identifi"ation of the manifested order with itsontologi"al 0rin"i#le and their (b! substantial identity and "ontinuity+ [1] These notions "ategori"ally

"ontradi"t everything Ibn Arabi and other $ufis arti"ulate about the Divine 1ssen"e+

A""usations of #anentheism are to be re*e"ted sin"e 2od does dwell in things, however, those

things do not "ontain nor are they in themselves 2od+ The "on"e#t of #anentheism would be erroneous

of union3singularity of 2od "on"e#t of /ahdat al-/u*ud 456+'asr.s e#lanation of the negation of Ibn

Arabi.s being an 1istential Monist utterly baffled this author, thus different sour"e was used to u#holdIbn Arabi.s defense+ 1istential monism is defined by Dean 7immerman as 1very #ro#er #art of the

universe is eistentially de#endent u#on the one ob*e"t that has every other ob*e"t as a #art, whi"h

shows "lear de#enden"y while Islami" notions of 2od are those of $u#reme Trans"enden"y with node#enden"y [3] 8urthermore, the label of natural mysti"ism is a 9atholi" "onstru"t to delineate from

other 9hristian gnosti" notions of su#ernatural mysti"ism and would sim#ly not a##ly to Ibn Arabi

who sees no distin"tion between the two+

The arti"ulation of /ahdat al-/u*ud or unity of Being or uni"ity of eality sim#ly "omes

down to the notion that 2od is utterly trans"endent in relation to the :niverse, however, Universe is

still mysteriously plunged in God, meaning 2od trans"ends the mundane #hysi"al reality but that

reality is #art of 2od and not se#arated+ 'asr #ara#hrases Ibn Arabi beautifully when he says, It

signifies that to believe in any order of reality as autonomous apart from the Absolute Reality is to fall

into the cardinal sin of Islam, namely, polytheism (shirk), and to deny the Shahadah (la ilaha ill!allah)! there is no divinity but the "ivine # $hich means ultimately that there is no reality than

Absolute Reality%&

'asr goes on to %uote fromRisalat!al!ahadiyah ('reatise on Unity)[4]a #assage whi"h

e#lains the "on"e#t of /ahdat-al-/u*ud, in the most lu"id and #rofound terms, the ultimate defense of

the Islami" monotheisti" tradition in the following terms;


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He is, and there is $ithHim no after nor before, nor above nor belo$, nor far nor near, nor unionnor division, nor ho$ nor $here nor $hen, nor time nor moment nor age, nor being nor place& AndHe

is no$ asHe $as,& He is the One $ithout oneness andSingle $ithout the singleness& He is not

composed of name and named, forH

is name isH

e andH

is named isH

e&&&

Understand therefore He is not in a thing nor a thing inHim, $hether entering in, or proceeding

forth& It is necessary that thou kno$Him after this fashion, not by kno$ledge, not by intellect, nor byunderstanding, nor by imagination, nor by sense, nor by perception& 'here does not see himHim, save

Himself& yHimselfHe seesHimself, and byHimselfHe kno$sHimself& *one seesHim other than

He, and none perceivesHim other thanHe& His veil is +only a conse-uence% and effect of.His

oneness/ nothing veils other thanHe& His veil is +only. the concealment ofHis e0istence inHisoneness, $ithout any -uality& *one seesHim other thanHe # no sent prophet, nor saint made perfect,

nor angel brought nigh kno$Him& His 1rophet isHe, andHis sending isHe, andHis $ord isHe&

He sentHimself $ithHimself toHimself+ [!]

Ibn Arabi goes on further in his "ir"ling the s%uare by bringing u# seeming "ontradi"tions or

o##ositions then annihilating them in the trans"endan"y of the Divine 1ssen"e meaning, for eam#le+ 0age @C

456 Ibid

46 htt#;33fas-#hiloso#hy+rutgers+edu3&immerman3e"ent+Defense+of+Monism+#df , 0age @ , #ulled@35E35@F

Existential Monism =dfEvery proper part of the universe is existentiallydependent upon the one object that has every other object as a part4F6 htt#;33www+di"tionaryofs#iritualterms+"om3#ubli"32lossaries3terms+as#GID@@E

4C6 'asr,$eyyed Hossein+ 9aravan 0ubli"ations, Delmar '? @>+ 0age @>
http://fas-philosophy.rutgers.edu/zimmerman/Recent.Defense.of.Monism.pdfhttp://www.dictionaryofspiritualterms.com/public/Glossaries/terms.aspx?ID=118http://www.dictionaryofspiritualterms.com/public/Glossaries/terms.aspx?ID=118http://fas-philosophy.rutgers.edu/zimmerman/Recent.Defense.of.Monism.pdf


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46 Ibid, 0age @E

4>6Modernists here to mean the /ahhabi, $alafis, Ikhwanists, Jamaat e Islami, Hi&bis et" deemed as

either munafi%s, murtads, %afirs, but "ertainly )hwari*is (se""eeders!

Further &eadin

htt#;33www+s"ribd+"om3do"3E@55E@3$eyyed-Hossein-'asr-Three-Muslim-$ages

htt#;33www+ibnarabiso"iety+org3htt#;33#lato+stanford+edu3entries3ibn-arabi3

htt#;33islam+uga+edu3ibnarab+html

htt#;33www+un"+edu3de#ts3sufilit3A=-AABI+htm

($$)s by Ibn Arabi

htt*s+.$ns/itae%$mnline#t$retabid!%id11Ibn-Arabias*

htt*+alibris%$mb$$)sear%h

#&5authIbn6Arabi5ad*$s2t35%reati/e2223740095net$r)5mat%hty*ee5de/i%e

%5utm8termIbn8Arabi5utm8%am*ainn$ne5%lid:;a1FW?7A$d@nIA4A

htt*+ama$n%$msie=;F5)ey$rdsB22ibn6arabiB225ta$$hydr-

205indestri*b$$)s5h/adid32992474!5h/*$s2t25h/eid5h/net5h/rand99!294

09"4!40045h/*$ne5h/*t$5h/Cmte5h/de/%5re.*d8sl8"020rbe%C8e
http://www.scribd.com/doc/81228199/Seyyed-Hossein-Nasr-Three-Muslim-Sageshttp://www.ibnarabisociety.org/http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ibn-arabi/http://islam.uga.edu/ibnarab.htmlhttp://www.unc.edu/depts/sufilit/AL-ARABI.htmhttps://www.fonsvitae.com/OnlineStore/tabid/58/cid/11/Ibn-Arabi.aspxhttp://www.alibris.com/booksearch?S=R&wauth=Ibn+Arabi&adpos=2t3&creative=22238874009&network=g&matchtype=e&device=c&utm_term=Ibn_Arabi&utm_campaign=none&gclid=CPTa1Y3UpLwCFWwV7AodZnIA4Ahttp://www.alibris.com/booksearch?S=R&wauth=Ibn+Arabi&adpos=2t3&creative=22238874009&network=g&matchtype=e&device=c&utm_term=Ibn_Arabi&utm_campaign=none&gclid=CPTa1Y3UpLwCFWwV7AodZnIA4Ahttp://www.alibris.com/booksearch?S=R&wauth=Ibn+Arabi&adpos=2t3&creative=22238874009&network=g&matchtype=e&device=c&utm_term=Ibn_Arabi&utm_campaign=none&gclid=CPTa1Y3UpLwCFWwV7AodZnIA4Ahttp://www.scribd.com/doc/81228199/Seyyed-Hossein-Nasr-Three-Muslim-Sageshttp://www.ibnarabisociety.org/http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ibn-arabi/http://islam.uga.edu/ibnarab.htmlhttp://www.unc.edu/depts/sufilit/AL-ARABI.htmhttps://www.fonsvitae.com/OnlineStore/tabid/58/cid/11/Ibn-Arabi.aspxhttp://www.alibris.com/booksearch?S=R&wauth=Ibn+Arabi&adpos=2t3&creative=22238874009&network=g&matchtype=e&device=c&utm_term=Ibn_Arabi&utm_campaign=none&gclid=CPTa1Y3UpLwCFWwV7AodZnIA4Ahttp://www.alibris.com/booksearch?S=R&wauth=Ibn+Arabi&adpos=2t3&creative=22238874009&network=g&matchtype=e&device=c&utm_term=Ibn_Arabi&utm_campaign=none&gclid=CPTa1Y3UpLwCFWwV7AodZnIA4Ahttp://www.alibris.com/booksearch?S=R&wauth=Ibn+Arabi&adpos=2t3&creative=22238874009&network=g&matchtype=e&device=c&utm_term=Ibn_Arabi&utm_campaign=none&gclid=CPTa1Y3UpLwCFWwV7AodZnIA4A

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