Ibn 'Arabī and Modern Thought

The intellectual authorities of modernity are legion and diverse. In relation to modern philosophy, sociology and psychology there has been a decided tendency for this sub-set of disciplines to legislate what counts as acceptable rational enquiry and what constitute legitimate claims to know. In modern philosophy, in particular, there have been attempts to demarcate legitimate knowledge from disreputable metaphysics directly in line with Kant's and Hume's concern to curb what were deemed to be the extravagances and excesses of the speculative human intellect. More generally, modern philosophy, sociology and psychology have been much influenced by the scientific and technological world-view of modernity, both in their theorizing and their preferred methodologies. There can be little doubt that the findings of (and debates within) these academic perspectives, both collectively and separately, raise serious questions about the whole concept of rationality and its epistemological credentials which have implications far beyond the disciplines themselves. These are questions which make it pertinent and timely to ask how these preferred epistemologies of modern thought look in the light of the metaphysics of Wahdat al-Wujud. What follows are some preliminary observations, which form the basis of a more extended study, entitled "Ibn 'Arabī: Degrees of Knowledge" and sub-titled "Modern Thought and the History of taking Metaphysics Seriously".

First of all, even with only a precursory understanding of Ibn 'Arabī's viewpoint, one can hardly fail to be struck by the alarming modern-ness and freshness of his insights and the somewhat astonishing glimpses they afford into the era and times in which we live. We, as it were, quickly become aware that in reading Ibn 'Arabī we are not dealing with some medieval theological fossil unrelated to modern times. It is one of the aims of the book (mentioned above) to show that, in fact, we are not dealing with a fossil at all but with the here and now. One might say that the reading of Ibn 'Arabī is capable of transforming one's view of the era of modernity: capable of reconceptualizing its metaphysical co-ordinates in order to bring out hitherto unnoticed features of its landscape. In short, we are presented with an invaluable opportunity to go beyond the self-descriptions of an age, particularly when this age is our own. In an important sense Ibn 'Arabī and modernity are at home and, perhaps contrary to some opinion, not at all essentially antithetical. This, I suggest, is for two reasons: firstly, because of the universality and generosity of his vision, and secondly, because of his understanding of what constitutes the Era and, in particular, by extrapolation, what constitutes the unprecedented nature and actuality of our own times. These two considerations (and much, much more) are encapsulated in that remarkable and evocative hadith rendered in Ismail Hakki Bursevi's translation and commentary on the Fusus al-Hikam by Ibn 'Arabī in the Chapter on Aaron as "Do not revile the era, because the era, it is God."[2]

First, then, a word about the inestimable influence of the universality and generosity of Ibn 'Arabī's vision on my understanding of the relationship between the metaphysics of Ibn 'Arabī and modernity. In this respect I would like to quote myself – that is, to read a small snippet from the first chapter of my book which deals with the book's specific orientation and the contribution it proposes to make to the study of Ibn 'Arabī. It is a theme of the book that there is an inescapable logical and historical entanglement between metaphysics and modern thought: a theme which would be lessened if it were not to include an understanding of a general feature of Ibn 'Arabī's metaphysical outlook which it is important to hold in view. This feature is difficult to pin down but it is extremely important – it is a kind of tolerance, openness and metaphysically-inspired generosity of outlook. It is the kind of outlook which will have nothing to do with the petty and the mean-spirited or the dogmatic and the intolerant. It is an outlook which continually re-affirms the great nature which God has essentially bestowed upon the human Self in making man in His image. There is a vastness about Ibn 'Arabī's metaphysics which makes it antithetical to any narrow religious fundamentalism or closedness and inflexibility of mind. In brief, Ibn 'Arabī's metaphysical writings reflect the strength, generosity and grandeur inherent in the vision of the original unity alluded to in the description Wahdat al-Wujud.

From the point of view of such an all-embracing outlook it becomes clear that any analytical treatment of modern thought such as the book proposes requires that we give to modern intellectual authorities (like philosophy, social science and psychology) their due place and value. That is, give to them at least the value and importance that any student of modern culture, history, philosophy, science or literature would give who has benefited from their intellectual force, content and forms of analyses. The theoretical architecture of modern thought will quite legitimately continue to "roam in its own specific playing field", to use Ibn 'Arabī's own locution. We must avoid any closedness or inflexibility of mind regarding it: for, in one sense, modern theoretical culture is an ever-open playing field capable of self-transformation. Or to put the matter in another way, it is fruitful to avoid any fundamentalist conceptualization of it, secular or otherwise. Modern thought reflexively encapsulates and refracts, in one way or another, the denying characteristics of our own era. It also exemplifies the predispositions of the intellectual authorities themselves. We need not conclude, therefore, that contemporary theoretical discourse is to be regarded as anything absolute or self-sufficient. If we allow that the intellectual authorities of modernity (and perhaps postmodernity?) to some extent reflexively encode the self-descriptions of the age, then to go beyond these descriptions is not to see them as groundless or worthless but to see them rather as limiting cases or particular theoretical frames of reference which illustrate, within the axiomatic co-ordinates of their respective domains, the principle of the immanencing of knowledge so vividly portrayed in the saying (often referred to by Ibn 'Arabī) "I conform to the opinion my servant has of me". There can be little doubt that this important principle is perfectly in keeping with the metaphysical largesse of Ibn 'Arabī's viewpoint.

But as we know, Ibn 'Arabī's is much more than a metaphysical theory. In fact, it is not primarily a metaphysical theory at all, although it can be to some extent metaphysically formulated as, for instance, Izutsu's classical study exemplifies. Again I quote from my own study:

What is clear is that the metaphysics of Ibn 'Arabī is not a personal intellectual construction of his own. To conceive it as such would be to misconstrue the whole point that the metaphysics of Wahdat al-Wujud intends to convey. It is precisely because it is not a personal intellectual construction that it avoids the accusation of being based on the extravagances of the human intellect. If such metaphysical insights concerning "the whole as a whole" are left off the intellectual agenda or left unaddressed one can never be sure that local, regional, cultural and intellectual preferences are not mistaken for a more universal point of view.

This point raises the whole question of the status and epistemological reliability of the intellectual constructions of modernity. Chapter Two of the book deals extensively with this philosophical question. It deals with the authority Ibn 'Arabī ascribes to reflective reason as a source of knowledge in the light of Kant's and Hume's attempt to curb the excesses of speculative reason and further in the light of the Kantian imperative for "the self examination of reason by itself". This leads to a careful consideration of two very influential intellectual constructions of the twentieth century: Logical Empiricism and Modern Existentialism. Of course, the Logical Empiricists were influenced very much by their interpretation and reading of another famous and equally influential twentieth century philosophical classic: Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. For quite some time scientifically inspired Empiricist views of the nature of knowledge, especially scientific knowledge, became dominant in all kinds of academic areas including, in particular, modern philosophy and modern psychology. By contrast I chose to examine contemporary Existentialism because of its antithetical stance towards the dominance of a purely objective scientific attitude towards human knowledge. Between them these two contemporary schools of thought represented, on the one hand, a philosophy of the Object and, on the other hand, a philosophy of the Subject. And even more importantly they illustrated rather nicely the essentially contested nature of human intellectual constructions of this kind and degree of generality.[3] Nietzsche, that alleged inaugurator of modernity, called such views "expedient falsifications of reality" by which he meant that we must recognize the perspectival nature of all humanly constructed systems of knowledge. Of course, much post-empiricist and even postmodern theories of knowledge do recognize this and this perhaps is part of their appeal and strength. Again, quoting from my text:

Part of Ibn ' Arabi's strategy is, if we may employ a semantic item of much postmodern theorizing, to deconstruct and re-evaluate such partial human constructions from a more universal ontological vantage point. A universal viewpoint from which the whole creation is seen as possessing a perfectly rational structure in which "everything" has its allotted place, including human reason itself.

The point is that the contention that reason alone plays a decisive and unequivocal role in the theory-preferences of modernity is far from being borne out, even in such would-be rational procedures as natural science. In the theoretical discourses of philosophy, social science and psychology (the main areas with which the book deals) we can discern quite clearly – more clearly than one might at first be willing to admit – something of what Ibn 'Arabī meant by the insight that the self-disclosure of the Real conforms to the mental constructions or beliefs of the receptor. We can see rather clearly sometimes that their preferred pictures of reality and preferred epistemologies seem to be equally related to the fundamental predisposition of the person as much as to any processes of reason. Or, to re-orchestrate Hume's famous dictum, reason is the slave of predisposition. And a slave which, according to Ibn 'Arabī, can uncover at best a mere fraction of the nature of reality. The findings of unaided reason may sometimes be very useful and even astonishing but they are not only provisional, perspective-dependent and sometimes unreliable but they also do not constitute the epistemic means for arriving at the fullness of truth. Nothing becomes more apparent than this as the theoretical architecture of modernity has increasingly taken up Kant's challenge to submit reason to "the self-examination of reason by itself". What is equally interesting is that the prevailing cognitive map provided by the intellectual authorities of modernity (which in one form or another are being assimilated by more and more young people entering higher education) is recognizing, with an acute clarity, the historically positioned and perspective-bound nature of its own productions. Its self-descriptions are largely that: self-descriptions; perhaps the need to move beyond such descriptions will one day be widely and keenly felt. But for this to happen it might not be a bad idea to engage in an assessment of the value of these self-descriptions in a tolerant and generous manner befitting the metaphysics of unity so beloved by Ibn 'Arabī. My book may help to open a few doors in this direction: it will certainly hopefully ring a few intellectual bells. It is therefore a subtext of the present study that some of its potential readers might come to an understanding of the immediate and contemporary relevance of Ibn 'Arabī's thought not in spite of, but in view of their own acquaintance with the theoretical culture of modernity.

So one might say that initially it was the study of Ibn 'Arabī plus my own professional academic experience of teaching philosophy and modern thought which determined the orientation of the book and its epistemological emphasis on the nature and role of knowledge. It behoves us also to remember that contemporary theorizing in philosophy, sociology and psychology are themselves products of modernity: of modern, industrial, post-industrial technological and global society. In no earlier society could we have had, for example, the development of computational theories of mind – itself a central theoretical issue in modern cognitive science.

Chapter Three is therefore devoted to the very notion of the modern era: its logical contours and characteristics, the intellectual authorities who make it their study, and to an understanding of it vis-a-vis Akbarian metaphysics. It is perhaps this section of the book which touches most directly on the lived-experience of our own times: of the ubiquitous alignment of science and technology with the economic rationality and values of Industrial Capitalism, with the associated ideas of human progress and with the global economy.

Modernity has been described as "the greatest transformation in human history since remote times". This fundamental qualitative transformation began, according to the historian Eric Hobsbawn, in or about the 1780s.

As I express it in the text:

Thus begins modernity: the era of the Industrial Revolution, of Industrial Capitalism, of Science and Technology. There had, of course, been forms of science and technology long before this but it had never constituted a central defining characteristic of the era. And even more significantly, the adamantine alignment of science and technology with the rationality of Industrial Capitalism was unique in its history and strategic to its prodigious development.

This "Great Transformation", as it is often described, gave birth to a new kind of intellectual authority – Sociology, whose founder figures provided a series of conceptual maps of the landscape of modernity. The calling cards of modernity undoubtedly became science, technology and economics configured in a historically unique and unprecedented form. Modernity and its consequences became the subject matter of sociology both in the theorizing of its founding triumvirate, Marx, Durkheim and Weber, and its contemporary theorists, like Anthony Giddens. The promises of modernity have suffered some serious setbacks in the twentieth century and there are those critics who suggest that its benefits no longer outweigh its human cost. In one sense, modernity is facing a metaphysical crisis, which at its most abstract level is a crisis about rationality itself. As Giddens, amongst others, suggests, the ever increasing dominance of the economic rationality of Industrial Capitalism, the rationality of the global economy, the ubiquitous rationality of technology and science can be seen to be replacing "tradition" in all forms of life. Written into the logic of modernity, as it were, is the replacement of tradition by reason – or certain forms of reason – what Max Weber called "Zweck-rationality". In the twentieth century this has translated into an increasing sense of the sheer rapidity and intensity of social, cognitive, historical and global change which is a phenomenon that can bring with it a certain unsettling appreciation of the phrase "all that's solid melts into air". Or in Giddens' words:

Rather than these developments taking us "beyond modernity", they provide a fuller understanding of the reflexivity inherent in modernity itself. Modernity is not only unsettling because of the circularity of reason, but because the nature of that circularity is puzzling .. . Modernity turns out to be enigmatic at its core, and there seems to be no way in which this enigma can be "overcome". We are left with questions where once there appeared to be answers, and I shall argue subsequently that it is not only philosophers who realize this. A general awareness of the phenomenon filters into anxieties which press on everyone.[4]

In this sense reason is increasingly seen to be "human, only too human". In the book I conclude a quite extensive and detailed treatment of these issues with:

Both modernist and postmodernist theories of knowledge are human intellectual-constructions which, if we are to follow the warnings of Ibn 'Arabī, cannot arrive at "decisive certainty" concerning knowledge of "the Real". Modernism extols the efficacy of human reason and Postmodernism affirms its inevitable relativity. Both are simply theories of knowledge which, from the point of view of Akbarian metaphysics, lack the theophanic epistemological credentials of Wahdat al-Wujud. When Giddens asserts that "modernity is enigmatic at its core, and there seems to be no way the enigma can be 'overcome'", he is perhaps not only attesting to the inability of the "circularity of reason" to overcome this enigma but implicitly recognizing also the boundaries of reason's "own proper playing field". According to Ibn 'Arabī it is a kind of progress for reason to recognize its own epistemological boundaries for it attests to the incapacity of human beings to reach knowledge of the Real via unaided reason. The enigma of modernity can therefore be seen as indicating that we take seriously the possibility of alternative epistemic means of grasping and recognizing the theophanic significance of the era. We can perhaps be reminded of what George Berkeley records in The Principles of Human Knowledge: "We should believe that God has dealt more bountifully with the sons of men than to give to them a strong desire for knowledge which he has placed out of their reach."[5]

Before leaving this discussion on Ibn 'Arabī and the Era there is a final observation which it is useful to make. For Ibn 'Arabī, the modern Era, with its particular determining qualities of science, technology, calculative rationality, globalization, its polytheism of values and its matrix of meta-narratives testifies, like all eras, to the ontological fact "that every day He is engaged upon a task". The unique configuration of predominating qualities of the modern era are none other than part of the infinity and inherent contents of the Self-disclosure of Being in its love to be known. To envisage the Era in this manner or to contextualize it from the universal point of view of Ibn 'Arabī is not to alter phenomena, for they are what they are, but to begin to see "the theatre of manifestation" from its own point of origin and essence rather than it being coloured by the predisposition of a particular theorizer. That such a universal vision is existentially possible and attainable is at the heart of Ibn 'Arabī's metaphysics.

The final chapter and heart of the book is a look at what all this may mean for an understanding of the Self. It examines the question of the contribution of modern psychology to this central ontological issue. But perhaps enough has already been said to convey a fair idea of what prompted the writing and content of this book.

I could not finish, however, without profoundly acknowledging the generosity and tolerance of Bulent Rauf in providing the opportunity for a student steeped in the analytical tradition of twentieth century Western philosophy to engage in the study of Ibn 'Arabī. If this was not an act of sheer generosity and tolerance – I do not know what is.

-------------------
this article written by Peter Coates, source: www.ibnarabisociety.org

1. Reprinted from the Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi Society, Vol. XXV, 1999. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Annual General Meeting of the Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabī Society in Oxford on 28 November 1998.

2. Ismail Hakki Bursevi's translation of and commentary on Fusus al-Hikam by Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabī. Rendered into English by Bulent Rauf. 4 vols (Oxford, 1986-91), Vol 4, p. 942.

3. From W. B. Gallie, 'Essentially Contested Concepts', Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Vol. 56, 1955-56.

4. Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity (Cambridge, 1990), p. 39.

5. Vol. 35 (Chicago, 1987), p. 405.

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Theophanies and Lights in the Thought of Ibn 'Arabi

The Theory of Akbarian Theophanies

Ibn 'Arabi's idea of theophanies is closely tied in with his theories on being, knowledge and spiritual experience. More precisely, this idea forms the basis of his description of existence, knowledge and liberating experience. For the Master, existence, like knowledge and liberating experience, is only a reflection of theophanic effects and particular aspects of their universal manifestation. From this we already have an intimation of the importance of theophany and its major role in the thought of Ibn 'Arabi on three levels: existence, knowledge and the liberating experience of the human being.

Theophanies, Sources of Existence

Theophanies in the realm of being are manifestations of the divine Truth with regard to infinite perfection and eternal glory. God-Truth in Himself is an inexhaustible source of riches and splendors: He is the "Hidden Treasure" which longs to express itself and be known. God-Truth is Beauty and the property of beauty is to shine forth. He is Love whose nature is to give of itself The divine theophanies are essentially the outpouring of His Beauty, His Perfection and His Love which are expressed in the immense theatre of the universe. The Existential Theophanies taken as a whole comprise three levels which the Master calls hadarât (Presences or Dignities).

First level: Pure Essence. These are called existential theophanies of the Essence.

Second level: the Attributes. These are the existential theophanies of divine qualities.

Third level: Acts. These are the active existential theophanies since the nature of God or the divinity as such is Essence, Attributes and Action, personified by His Divine Names.

The existential theophanies of the divine Essence are the determinations of God in Himself, for Himself in His Essence transcending all manifestation and form. The world from which these theophanies and their radiance spring is that of Unity ('alam al-ahadiyya). In this universe, the divine Essence appears as beyond all description, name or qualification. It is the world of pure Essence considered as Mystery of Mysteries and Secret of Secrets from which the theophanies of the Essence originate, the mirror in which the absolute existential Reality is reflected.

The existential theophanies of divine Attributes are the determinations of God in Himself for Himself under the aspect of His intrinsic Names and Attributes. The world specified for this type of theophany is the Unicity ('alam al-wahda) of the Essence with Its Attributes. God-Truth manifests both in His Essence and in His intrinsic Perfection after his concealment as "Hidden Treasure

This appearance arises by the mediation of what Ibn 'Arabi calls the most holy emanation (al-fayd al-aqdas). In this particular world of theophanies the beings destined to incarnate appear in the form of immutable realities.

The existential theophanies of divine Action are the extrinsic effects of divine Power in the manifest world. The world where these theophanies are exercised and revealed is called by the Master 'alam al-Wahdâniyya, the Unity in its three aspects: Essence-Attribute-Action. It appears by the way of the holy emanation (al-fayd al-Muqaddas): a universe where God manifests Himself in the form of eternal realities encompassing species and individuals, sensible forms and abstractions.

God-Truth alone is, then, the principle and source of existential theophanies. He contains the theophanies in their many dimensions. As we have just seen, the theophanies revolve around the Essence, Attributes and Actions. They do not come from nothing nor do they return to nothing. From the fact that God is at the centre of the existential theophanies, the source of their manifestations and many dimensions, they are nothing but the manifestation of the Absolute and cannot be dissociated from Him. They come from God-Truth and return to Him.

Thus the existential theophanies are manifested in the three levels of Being: ahadiyya (Unity) - wahda (Unicity) - wahdâniyya (Unification), according to the modes of Essence, Attributes and intrinsic and extrinsic Action. That, in substance, is Ibn 'Arabi's theory of theophanies. It is different on the one hand from the idea of emanation (al-fayd) cherished by the philosophers, and on the other hand from the idea of creation advocated by the Moslem theologians (mutakalimun), even if certain aspects and conclusions coincide.

The fundamental difference which distinguishes Ibn 'Arabi from the philosophers is the Master's notion of the Unity of Being in its creative act, which is at the base of all existential manifestations, whilst the philosophers favour the notion of the multiplicity of Being. Ibn 'Arabi considers Being as an unconditional absolute (mawjûd-la-bi-shart) beyond all duality or multiplicity. According to him, the multiplicity which we observe at the sensible or spiritual levels does not affect the Unity of Being in its creative act. It simply represents its various degrees and many states. The existential theophanies, therefore, only constitute a facet of the Absolute-God who is One in His existence and many in His manifestations. One sees how the philosophical theory of emanation goes against that of Ibn 'Arabi. For the philosophers, Absolute Being is subject to a negative condition (mawjûd-bi-shart-la) from which the possibility of the multiplicity of being within the manifest follows, at every level, spiritual or material.

The major difference which divides the Akbarian idea of theophany and the theologians' notion of creation, hangs on the understanding of the existential multiplicity as a divine action outside of Being in its Essence and its Attributes on the part of the theologians, who do not distinguish between Essence, Attributes or Action within the divinity. Ibn 'Arabi, on the contrary, conceives of the many aspects of creation as an effect of the existential theophany itself in act in the manifold modes of manifest existence. The theophanies of Act, like those of Attributes and Essence, revolve in the divine sphere: they are the expressions of Its absolute Perfection. For the Master, nothing is external to the divinity and nothing can exist outside of the Absolute.
Theophanies, Sources of Knowledge and Spiritual Realisation

As we have seen, the Akbarian theory of theophanies is not limited to the sphere of existence, it is related to knowledge and spiritual realisation. The divine theophanies are the origin of sensible and spiritual knowledge, the mainspring of its evolution and the domain of its diffusion. They are the eternal archetypes which, by lighting up the mirror of the heart and the intellect, give rise to experiential knowledge and Certainty. In reality, the links between being and knowledge are sufficiently strong to provoke the expansion and evolution of consciousness because the most subtle part of the human being is his intelligence and his heart: they are the quintessence of man himself, the heart is the receptacle of gnosis and the intellect is the centre of knowledge. This is how Ibn 'Arabi defines theophany as the basis of knowledge: "It is what reveals itself to the heart in the lights of the Invisible." This definition enlightens us on the nature of knowledge, its source, its means, and its object. Knowledge is the unveiling of the deep reality of things, its essence, before the gnostic. This unveiling works symbolically by the opening of the heart under the influence of the divine theophanies which project their lights into the heart.

This allows us to grasp the nature of knowledge and the relationship established between being and knowledge, principally at the level of the human condition. It thus renders credible the thorny questions which one asks oneself, such as:

- What is the intermediary between being and knowledge?

- How is knowledge transformed into being in the heart of the gnostic?

- How does being in turn become knowledge in the heart of the gnostic?

Light is the link which binds being to knowledge. It is the crucible of the final transmutation. It is through It and in It that the nature of knowledge is transformed into being in the heart of the gnostic. Just as the nature of being in turn is transformed into knowledge, and it is then that the most subtle mysteries are revealed in the inmost depths of his heart and the reality of things appears to him in their archetypal form.

When Light shines on the mirror of the heart it is gradually diffused in the same manner as the irradiation of the existential theophanies. Each particle of Light projects spiritual knowledge according to distinctive nuances of colour. One may thus differentiate between what the Master calls:

(a) nûr al-anwâr (The Light of lights). This comes from the essential theophanies of absolute Truth. Ibn 'Arabi sometimes calls it "the dazzling irradiations" which provoke the annihilation of the being and cannot be perceived by him except in the most intimate secret of his heart (as-sirr). This secret of the heart is an uncreated substance, of celestial origin, by which man gains access to the superior angelic and divine world. It is the theophany of the Light of lights which reveals the absolute reality in its most transcendent aspect, and causes certainty at its highest degree to be born in the heart. Ibn 'Arabi calls this form of knowledge haqq-al-yaqîn (absolute Certainty), and it is the fruit of direct experience.

(b) anwâr al-ma'âni (The Light of the intellect). By this term, Ibn 'Arabi refers to the intellectual knowledge transmitted by these theophanies at the moment of their irradiation in the heart. This light is the way of access to the meaning of Truth as it is grasped by human intelligence. Thanks to it man sees the reality of existence in the world of Unicity with the eye of the heart. He also perceives the link which unites all things to God. Thanks to the irradiation of the theophany of the Light of the intellect in the heart, Certainty is established ('ayn al-yaqîn) - the Certainty which comes from direct vision.

(c) anwâr al-tabi'â (The Light of nature). This refers to the learning and knowledge which human reason acquires under the influence of the existential theophanies in Act. It is here that the gnostic and the philosopher concur in the acquisition of learning. At this level, they join together in studying the exterior phenomena of existence: their appearance, their evolution and their disappearance. But the gnostic perceives them as an effect of the celestial lights propelled on to the stage of outward existence whilst at the same time detecting beneath the surface the shadow of the superior Being. Thus, in the world of multiplicity the sublime signs of the world of Unification appear to him. Philosophers and learned men only see isolated earthly phenomena. The influence of the theophanies of the lights of nature produces in the heart a form of knowledge called ilm al-yaqîn (Certainty arising from knowledge).

The world of Unity is the domain where the existential theophanies of the divine Essence are manifested; the world of Unicity is the domain of theophanies of divine Attributes; the world of Unification is the domain where the divine theophanies occur, extrinsically and intrinsically, in Act. Knowledge and illumination at the level of being follow the same process.

The theophanies of the Essence at the level of being are comparable to the theophanies of the Light of lights at the level of knowledge. The theophanies of Attributes at the level of being are comparable to the theophanies of the Light of the intellect at the level of learning. The theophanies of Acts at the level of the being relate to the theophanies of nature at the level of knowledge of matter. There is therefore a perfect concordance between the three forms of unity of the theophanies of Being and those of knowledge.
Theophanies and Liberating Experience

For Ibn 'Arabi, the theophanies of lights are the sources of gnosis and knowledge, and transmit learning and knowledge through the organs of man's senses in the form of waves of light. As we have already said, lights are the principles of existence in Ibn 'Arabi's perception and it is due to the effect of their emanation and diffusion that things move and come to life. Knowledge and existence are joined together in human consciousness at the level of the spiritual plane and man's ultimate destiny. For man light is, therefore, principle, means and end. It is at the origin of his condition of being for it is an integral part of his constitution and of all elements of life -simple or complex. It is also the channel through which man subsists on the material and spiritual planes. It is both food and drink and the essence of sensible, rational and spiritual knowledge. Lastly, it is the final destiny of man for it is through it that immortality is achieved.

If what we have just explained comes from the truth, it is easy for us to grasp the close links which exist between the notions of theophany and liberating experience. That leads us to examine this particular aspect of Ibn 'Arabi's thought, viz. liberating experience which is the pivot of his general theory of divine existential theophany. It is thanks to the divine theophanies that the man on the Way is guided in his quest for perfection through the stages and abodes up to the highest station. The spiritual knowledges which irradiate his being are intangible realities which spring from the source of absolute Truth. They fill his heart with joy and happiness; they arouse in him the taste for perfection and the desire to attain saintliness. They penetrate the whole of his being, his thought, his will, his sensibility, his consciousness, his feelings and his aspirations, transformed into energies of light and fire. Then the man becomes a living witness to purity, saintliness and redemption.

The Stages, Abodes and Stations are the components of the Temple of walâya: human-divine friendship in Islam. They are its composition and meaning. For Ibn 'Arabi this building material comes from the divine theophanies, whether they manifest on the plane of being or knowledge.

The Stages (al-ahwâl) result from psychological or spiritual influences which affect the man of the Way during his progress towards the God-King. We might mention Ecstasy (wajd), Annihilation ('istilâm), Happiness (bast), Despondency (qabd), Awakening (sahû) Drunkenness (sukr), etc... They arise like flashes on the horizon, blinding flashes of lightning which straight away disappear. However, these stages are necessary for the liberating experience of man; thanks to them he may distinguish the contingent from the permanent, the ephemeral from the eternal, until there no longer remains in his consciousness anything except that which is destined to endure.

The Abodes (manâzil) are the spiritual places of the divine Sphere. They are the luminous oases of eternal paradise, the palace of Truth. The man of the Way takes refuge there, and rests after the vicissitudes of his quest and his struggle. There he finds the shadow of light, rays of knowledge and the joy of saintliness.

Finally, the Stations (maqâmât) are the topmost foundations of walaya: the moral distinctions and spiritual degrees accorded to the men of the Way. They constitute the stabilising element of liberating experience.

According to Ibn 'Arabi, al-fanâ' (extinction) is the apex of the Stages; al-baqâ' (permanency) the apex of the Abodes; al-yaqîn (certainty) the apex of the Stations. Each one of these manifestations assumes three distinct forms and at the same time is in close and constant relationship with the divine theophanies in their existential and gnostic manifestations.

Al-fanâ' (extinction) is a sort of mental, yet real, death. The man of the Way experiences it freely; it is the final passage which leads to the summit of the Stages. It liberates man from all contingency outside of his spiritual quest; his ultimate aim is the Truth. Three degrees may be distinguished here: fanâ' of acts, attributes and essence.

The Sufi fanâ' in its triple manifestation does not have an exclusively negative effect or action; it is the annihilation of everything contingent, whether this be in the form of action, attribute or essence; more precisely, it is the annihilation of everything that is not God, and God - may His Name be praised - is the supreme object of all good, all beauty. Fanâ' thus conceived is an internal state which requires from the Sufi a sustained and permanent effort of concentration to break his fetters and take on the demands and calls of truth, by his acts, his moral virtues, his whole being. That implies perfect control of himself: in words, deeds and thoughts. It is at this price that he attains an interior spiritual state where he becomes the pure and clear mirror in which the lights of Truth are reflected in all their splendour.

The state of baqâ', permanency, is life with God, through God, in God, for God. It is the summit of the mystical Abodes in the waiting for the Beloved. Here there are also three degrees, each one referring to a particular aspect of the divine theophanies as principle of existence and its qualitative evolution: faith - knowledge - grace.

The first aspect of the Sufi permanency is situated at the level of acts. The action of the Sufi is here united with the divine action acquiring its order, harmony and durability. This specific degree of Sufi baqâ' is the result of the shooting forth of the divine theophany as existential principle and the lights of nature as source of knowledge.

The second aspect of permanency is situated at the level of qualities and attributes. Here human virtues are raised to the level of the divine Attributes, acquiring their perfection, dignity and durability: such that the man's heart attains to a spiritual abode where it is the pure and clear mirror on which the characteristics of the supreme Creator are engraved. In its turn, the power of acts in the abode of permanence becomes a docile instrument by which the divine plans in the world and within the living person, are realised. This particular form of baqâ' is a reflection of the divine existential theophanies at the level of the Attributes and Qualities, and the effect of the lights of the intellect as principle of knowledge.

The last degree of baqâ' is permanency of the essence. In this domain the essence of the servant is raised to the height of the divine Essence in its Unity, Sublimity and Universality. He is totally absorbed by the divine Life. It is through God that he sees, through Him that he hears, through Him that he expresses his will, through Him that he contemplates. This is the most perfect form of Sufi baqâ', the final stage of the hero's quest. This particular abode is in its turn acquired by the effect of the theophanies of the Essence on the existential plane and by the effect of the theophanies of Light at the gnostic level.

But in what form does man receive these three degrees of fanâ'? How can he realise his quest for permanency which is the pinnacle of the abodes of heroes? In short, what is the mount which allows the Sufi to realise the state of fanâ' and baqâ'? By means of divine Love is the Master's reply. Only Love is capable of guaranteeing us access to the degrees of fanâ' and baqâ'. Let us hear Ibn 'Arabi, in his symbolic and poetic language, describe to us the experience of fanâ' in its various modes and the degrees of baqâ' in the shadow of Love and the presence of the Beloved, God-Truth:

My Beloved, joy of my eyes
You are me as Myself, there where I am My companion at every moment
- May God be glorified! -
You are my essence
Hand in hand let us enter together into the presence of the only Beloved
Let there be no more distinction between us Becoming One in Reality
Oh, how wonderful a thought
and what subtle blending:
"The transparency of the glass, the purity of its contents become identical causing confusion:
Is it the glass or is it the wine that we see? "
All life in the universe vanishes
Moons are eclipsed, the sun disintegrates, the stars explode.
We are thus thrice annihilated.
Similar to annihilation itself
And we attain to the three degrees of Permanency
Following the example of Permanency itself.

Certainty (al-yaqîn) is the summit of the Stations, as we have already seen. By it the Temple of walâya is fully completed. This is the repository of liberating experience in Islam. In relation to the exoteric religious life Certainty is the sister of religious life in its perfection (ihsân), that is to say the adoration of God - may He be exalted - according to the visionary way; through this channel it is the pillar of Islam in the accomplishment of its external practices, as it is the foundation of faith (imân) in its internal dogma. It is in fact ihsân which gives the external religion its true meaning and the domain of faith its real values.

Certainty (al-yaqîn), like Permanency and Extinction, comprises three degrees. The first degree is referred to by the Master and by current Sufis by the name 'ilm al-yaqîn (the knowledge of Certainty), which means that Certainty is the result of knowledge. At this degree the object of Certainty is knowledge just as the aim of knowledge is Certainty. Both together are in the soul uniquely, such that Certainty is the first degree of spiritual life and the last of speculative experience. This particular degree of mystical yaqîn is the result of divine theophanies in Act at the level of existence and also the result of theophanies of lights of nature at the gnostic level.

The second degree of yaqîn is what one calls in Sufi terms 'ayn al-yaqîn (the Eye of Certainty), that is, Certainty as a consequence of contemplation and vision. At this level, the object of Certainty is present in front of the gnostic and is not only a speculative concept. Here knowledge becomes what one calls 'ilm-hudûrî (Presence of knowledge), and that is the second aspect of Certainty in the spiritual way and in liberating experience. By this kind of knowledge, the man of the Way is distinguished from philosophers and learned men. This particular degree of spiritual Certainty is the result of divine theophanies of Attributes at the level of existence, just as it is the result of theophanies of lights of the intellect at the level of gnosis.

Finally, the last degree of yaqîn is called haqq al-yaqîn (the total reality of Certainty), that is, Certainty as supreme truth. Here, Certainty has a particular colouring: it is the fruit of an all-embracing experience because the object of Certainty is identical to the one who is experiencing it, knowledge being transformed into actual experience and actual experience into knowledge. At this stage, in fact, knowledge is not limited to the intellect, nor to the vision of the one who is contemplating it, it becomes one with the human being. This is the final phase of yaqîn, the apotheosis of the spiritual and intellectual journey. This high degree of Sufi Certainty is the effect of the Emanation of the divine Theophanies in Essence at its existential level and that of the diffusion of the Light of lights (Dazzling Irradiations) at the level of the theophanies of the gnostic.

Translated from the French by Cecilia Twinch

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source: www.ibnarabisociety.org

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