33 Facts About Ibn Arabi

In some of his works, Ibn 'Arabi referred to himself with fuller versions of his name as Abu 'Abdullah Muhammad ibn 'Ali ibn al-'Arabi al-Ta'i al-Hatimi, where the last three names indicating his noble Arab lineage.

Ibn Arabi married Maryam, a woman from an influential family, when he was still a young adult and lived in Andalusia.

Ibn Arabi ask me whether I was aspiring to the Way, to which I replied that I was, but that I did not know by what means to arrive at it.

Ibn Arabi then told me that I would come to it through five things: trust, certainty, patience, resolution and veracity.

Ibn Arabi said that from this first meeting, he had learned to perceive a distinction between formal knowledge of rational thought and the unveiling insights into the nature of things.

Ibn Arabi then adopted Sufism and dedicated his life to the spiritual path.

Ibn Arabi left Andalusia for the first time at age 36 and arrived at Tunis in 1193.

Ibn Arabi's father died soon after Ibn Arabi arrived at Seville.

Ibn Arabi returned to Cordoba, Andalusia in 1198, and left Andalusia crossing from Gibraltar for the last time in 1200.

In 1204, Ibn Arabi met Shaykh Majduddin Ishaq ibn Yusuf, a native of Malatya and a man of great standing at the Seljuk court.

The next four to five years of Ibn Arabi's life were spent in these lands and he kept travelling and holding the reading sessions of his works in his own presence.

Ibn Arabi died on 22 Rabi' al-Thani 638 AH at the age of seventy-five.

Ibn Arabi's was buried in the Banu Zaki cemetery, family cemetery of the nobles of Damascus, on Qasiyun Hill, Salihiyya, Damascus.

Ibn Arabi's writings were not limited to the Muslim elites, but made their way into other ranks of society through the widespread reach of the Sufi orders.

Ignaz Goldziher held that Ibn Arabi did in fact belong to the Zahirite or Hanbali school of Islamic jurisprudence.

Ibn Arabi did delve into specific details at times, and was known for his view that religiously binding consensus could only serve as a source of sacred law if it was the consensus of the first generation of Muslims who had witnessed revelation directly.

Ibn Arabi expounded on Sufi Allegories of the Sharia building upon previous work by Al-Ghazali and al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi.

In developing his explanation of the perfect being, Ibn Arabi first discusses the issue of oneness through the metaphor of the mirror.

Ibn Arabi expressed that through self manifestation one acquires divine knowledge, which he called the primordial spirit of Muhammad and all its perfection.

Ibn Arabi further explained the perfect man concept using at least twenty-two different descriptions and various aspects when considering the Logos.

Ibn Arabi contemplated the Logos, or "Universal Man", as a mediation between the individual human and the divine essence.

Ibn Arabi believed Muhammad to be the primary perfect man who exemplifies the morality of God.

Ibn Arabi regarded the first entity brought into existence was the reality or essence of Muhammad, master of all creatures, and a primary role-model for human beings to emulate.

Ibn Arabi believed that God's attributes and names are manifested in this world, with the most complete and perfect display of these divine attributes and names seen in Muhammad.

Ibn Arabi maintained that Muhammad was the best proof of God and, by knowing Muhammad, one knows God.

Ibn Arabi described Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and all other prophets and various Anbiya' Allah as perfect men, but never tires of attributing lordship, inspirational source, and highest rank to Muhammad.

Ibn Arabi compares his own status as a perfect man as being but a single dimension to the comprehensive nature of Muhammad.

The reaction of Ibn 'Abd as-Salam, a Muslim scholar respected by both Ibn Arabi's supporters and detractors, has been of note due to disputes over whether he himself was a supporter or detractor.

Ibn Arabi was known by the title of Sultan al-'Ulama, the Sultan of scholars, was a famous mujtahid, Ash'ari theologian, jurist and the leading Shafi'i authority of his generation.

Ibn Arabi used to show us the scar on his face which, by that time, had closed.

For Ibn Daqiq al-'Id could only hear Ibn 'Abd al-Salam in Egypt, that is, a few years after Ibn 'Arabi's death.

Two years before his death, Ibn 'Arabi embarked on a second draft of the Futuhat in 1238, of which included a number of additions and deletions as compared with the previous draft, that contains 560 chapters.

The only major commentary to have been translated into English so far is entitled Ismail Hakki Bursevi's translation and commentary on Fusus al-hikam by Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi, translated from Ottoman Turkish by Bulent Rauf in 4 volumes.