Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi is unquestionably one of the most profound and remarkable figures in the history of world spirituality.

Known as "the Greatest Master" (al-Shaykh al-Akbar), he led an extraordinary inner and outer life. He traveled huge distances, from his native Spain to Syria and Turkey, writing over 350 books on the
mystical path.

Ibn 'Arabi's writings are founded on a totally harmonious vision of Reality, integrating all apparent differences without destroying their truths. They are singularly appropriate and needed in the world of today.


How can I know You when You are the Inwardly Hidden who is not known?

How can I not know You when You are the Outwardly Manifest, making Yourself known to me in every thing?


He lived at a time of great cultural and spiritual flowering in the West, in the Jewish and Christian traditions as much as in the Muslim
world.

Ibn 'Arabi in the West

Ibn 'Arabi was born in Murcia in southern Spain on 27 July 1165 (17 Ramadan 560 AH), at a time when the lands of al-Andalus had already
been under Muslim rule for over 450 years.

At the age of eight, he moved with his family to Seville, which remained his home for the next 27 years.

When he was about 16, he experienced a strong calling to turn to God and entered into a retreat. He tells us that he came to the spiritual path through a vision of Jesus, Moses and Muhammad, the prophets of the three major religions stemming from Abraham. As a consequence of this retreat, he met the famous philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes) in
Cordoba.

Ibn 'Arabi began to study the Quran and Hadith in earnest, and soon came under the instruction of his first spiritual master, al-'Uryani.

During his youth Ibn 'Arabi kept company with many spiritual teachers, men and women, in Seville and throughout al-Andalus; later he wrote
about them in his Ruh al-quds (Epistle of the Spirit of Holiness).

He had many mystical experiences, visions and revelations, including a meeting with Khidr, the immortal guide who imparts hidden mysteries.....

It is reported that the Messenger of God said: "God is beautiful and He loves beauty".
It is God who made the world and brought it into existence. The entire universe is therefore supremely beautiful. There is nothing ugly in it. On the contrary, in it God has brought together all perfection and all beauty.
Futuhat al-Makkiyya


In 1190 he had his great vision of all the prophets, from the time of Adam onwards; a theme which found its most complete expression in his book Fusus al-Hikam (Settings of the Wisdoms).

In 1193 he left the Iberian Peninsula and travelled to Tunis to visit Shaykh 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Mahdawi, one of Abu Madyan's pupils. While there, Ibn 'Arabi entered "God's Vast Earth" or the "Earth of Reality", an intelligible, spiritual realm in which the real, effective adoration of God takes place.

On his return to Seville he began his writing career, with the Mashahid al-asrar (Contemplation of the Holy Mysteries) being one of the very first books he composed.

He had the power of meeting with the spirit of any of the prophets or saints of the past whom he chose. He was able to do this in three ways: sometimes he made their spirit descend into this world, where he perceived them in a subtle corporeal form similar to the one they had
when alive;......

In 1197 he experienced a dramatic spiritual ascension in the city of Fez, at the end of which he wrote in his Kitab al-Isra' (Book of the Night-Journey):

I gained in this night-journey the true meanings of all the Divine Names, and I saw that they all referred to One Named and One essential Reality. This Named was my very object of contemplation; that Reality
was my own being.



Every other writer acts according to the dictates of their own choice or free-will, or according to the knowledge which is being promulgated. He puts in what he wants and leaves out what he wants; or he puts in what this knowledge gives him, once the question under consideration has become clear to him.

We, on the other hand, write in the following fashion: the heart clings devotedly to the door of the Divine Presence, watchful for what unfolds when the door is opened, in poverty and need, empty of all knowledge. Whatever comes to it from behind that curtain, the heart hastens to obey and sets it down according to the measure appointed in
the divine command.

Futuhat al-Makkiyya

In what I have written, I have never had a set purpose, as other writers. Flashes of divine inspiration used to come upon me and almost overwhelm me, so that I could only put them from my mind by committing to paper what they revealed to me.

Futuhat al-Makkiyya

From.."The One Alone" Ibn Arabi


Know that He is never in anything, nor is anything in Him. He
is neither inside nor outside of anything. None can see Him,
whether with the eyes of the head or with the inner eye; nor
can any conceive Him with senses, knowledge, mind,
intelligence or imagination. Only He can see Himself; only He
can conceive Himself. None can know Him; only He can know
Himself. He sees Himself by Himself; He conceives Himself by
Himself; He knows Himself by Himself. None other than He
can see Him. None other than He can know Him. That which
hides Him is His oneness. None but Himself can hide Him. The
veil that hides Him is His own being.

He is not within you; nor are you in Him. He does not exclude
you, nor are you excluded from Him. When you are addressed
as you, do not think that you exist, with an essence and
qualities and attributes; for you never existed, nor do exist, nor
ever will exist. You have not entered into Him, nor He into
you. Without being, your essence is with Him and in Him.
Without having any identity, you are Him and He is you. If you
know yourself as nothing, then you truly know your Lord.
Otherwise, you truly know Him not.