Ibn Arabi
Andalusian Sufi philosopher and mystic, born in Murcia in 1165 and the most influential Islamic metaphysician of the medieval world. Known as al-Shaykh al-Akbar ("The Greatest Master"), he developed the doctrine of wahdat al-wujud ("the unity of being") which has shaped Sufi thought from his time to ours. His vast corpus — the 560-chapter Futuhat al-Makkiyya (Meccan Revelations) and the densely poetic Fusus al-Hikam (Bezels of Wisdom) — explores the interpenetration of God and creation through the lens of the Perfect Human (al-Insan al-Kamil), the divine names, and the mirror of the heart. He died in Damascus in 1240.
106
quotes in library
Quotes by Ibn Arabi
106 quotes“Whoever judges Allah by His acts knows Him not.”
transcendenceFusus al-Hikam
“The polished mirror reflects the divine. The unpolished hides it.”
polishingFusus al-Hikam
“Every sage is a son of his time.”
timeFutuhat al-Makkiyya
“In the cosmos there is no rest from the divine self-manifestation.”
manifestationFusus al-Hikam
“The names of Allah are the ladders by which the soul ascends.”
ladderFutuhat al-Makkiyya
“Love is the substance of all worship.”
loveFutuhat al-Makkiyya
“In the heart of the gnostic, the divine names dance.”
namesFutuhat al-Makkiyya
“The world is the appearance of the Real. Do not despise its forms.”
worldFusus al-Hikam
“Whoever sees only one face has not seen at all.”
multiplicityTarjuman al-Ashwaq
“The mystics are at variance, but the One they describe is the same.”
unityFutuhat al-Makkiyya
“In the depth of unknowing, the highest knowledge is found.”
unknowingFutuhat al-Makkiyya
“The Friend is closer than the jugular vein.”
intimacyFutuhat al-Makkiyya
“To say 'God' and 'I' as two is the deepest error.”
non-dualityFusus al-Hikam
“The heart that is empty of all but Allah is full beyond measure.”
emptinessFutuhat al-Makkiyya
“Every prophet brought the same essential message in different language.”
prophecyFutuhat al-Makkiyya
“The traveler does not own the road. The road is the road.”
pathFusus al-Hikam
“He who is annihilated in the Beloved is named by the Beloved's name.”
annihilationFusus al-Hikam
“The world has no existence apart from the existence of the Real.”
existenceFusus al-Hikam
“My heart has become capable of every form: a pasture for gazelles, a cloister for monks, a temple for idols, the Kaaba of the pilgrim, the tablets of the Torah, the scrolls of the Quran. I follow the religion of love, whichever way its caravans take.”
unityTarjuman al-Ashwaq
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