Knowledge › History & Heritage

Ibn Arabi — The Greatest Sheikh: Wahdat al-Wujud, the Meccan Revelations, and the Seal of Muhammadan Sainthood

ابنُ عَرَبِيّ — الشَّيخُ الأَكبَر: وَحدَةُ الوُجُودِ وَالفُتُوحَاتُ المَكِّيَّةُ وَخَاتَمُ الوِلَايَةِ المُحَمَّدِيَّة
2 min read · 260 words

Muhyi al-Din ibn Arabi (مُحيِي الدِّينِ مُحَمَّدُ بنُ عَرَبِيّ; 1165-1240 CE; born Murcia, al-Andalus; died Damascus; called *al-Sheikh al-Akbar* — the Greatest Sheikh; Sufi metaphysician, poet, and author of over 300 works; his two major works — *al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya* and *Fusus al-Hikam* — are the most systematically sophisticated and most controversial texts in the history of Islamic mysticism) developed a metaphysics of existence (*wujud*) in which being belongs to God alone, and all creation is the self-disclosure (*tajalli*) of the divine names and attributes. His doctrine of *wahdat al-wujud* (unity of being) was embraced by Sufi orders across the Muslim world and condemned by others as implying pantheism — a charge his defenders have consistently disputed as misreading.

Al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya: The Meccan Revelations

Ibn Arabi received the impetus for his vast Futuhat al-Makkiyya (Meccan Revelations) during his first visit to Mecca in 1202 CE. The work eventually encompassed 560 chapters covering cosmology, prophetology, the spiritual stations, Quranic commentary, legal matters, and eschatology — a complete theosophical summa.

Ibn Arabi described receiving content through kashf (mystical unveiling): “This book was not composed by choice… it was dictated into my heart.”

Fusus al-Hikam: The Bezels of Wisdom

The Fusus al-Hikam (Bezels/Settings of Wisdom) — received, Ibn Arabi claimed, directly from the Prophet in a vision — is a series of 27 chapters, each dedicated to a prophet, exploring the particular wisdom each prophet manifests. The wisdom of Adam is the wisdom of uluhiyya (divinity-relatedness); of Moses, ‘uluwwiyya (sublimity); of Jesus, nabawiyya (prophecy). Each prophet is a unique facet through which one of the divine names shines.

Wahdat al-Wujud: Unity of Being

The doctrine that became associated with Ibn Arabi — though he did not use the phrase himself — teaches:

  1. God alone truly exists (wajib al-wujud — necessary being)
  2. Creation is the divine self-disclosure (tajalli): the divine names long to be known, and creation is their manifestation
  3. The human being is the microcosm: encompassing all divine names, the insan al-kamil (perfect human) is the mirror in which God knows Himself

This was not pantheism (God = world) but panentheism: the world is IN God, as manifestation in Being — but God transcends the world.

See also: Sulook, Batin Zahir, Hikma Wisdom, Tazkiyah, Al Rumi Mawlawi, Farid Al Din Attar

← All articles
← Previous
Surah al-Ma'arij — The Ascending Stairways: Time, Patience, and the Questioner Who Asked About Punishment
Next →
Bilal ibn Rabah — The First Muezzin: His Voice, His Chains, and His Place in the Prophet's Heart
✦

More in History & Heritage

Prophet Muhammad (SAW) — The Seal of Prophets

The life, mission, and legacy of Sayyidna Muhammad ibn Abdullah (SAW) — the Seal of Prophets, the beloved of Allah, the Natiq of the final divine dispensation, and the one through whose lineage the Imamate continues in the Ahl al-Bayt. This is the foundation of every Bohra belief and practice.
Sayyidna Ibrahim al-Khalil (AS) — The Friend of Allah

Sayyidna Ibrahim ibn Azar (AS) — the Prophet Abraham — is the father of monotheism, the builder of the Ka'ba with his son Ismail (AS), and the ancestor through whom both the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) via the Ishmaelite line and a vast number of Prophets via the Israelite line descend. He is called Khalilullah (the Friend of Allah) and his trials are among the greatest in prophetic history. Hajj itself was established by him and restored by the Prophet (SAW).
The Fourteen Masumeen — Prophet and Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt

A reference guide to the 14 Ma'sumeen — Rasulullah (SAW), Syedatona Fatema (AS), and the 12 Imams — whose names, lives, and legacy form the devotional and theological core of Bohra and wider Shia Islamic tradition.
← Back to all articles