Ibn Arabi was an Arab Andalusian Sunni scholar of Islam, mystic, poet, and philosopher.
Background
Ibn Arabi was born on July 26, 1165, into the Moorish society of Andalusian Spain, the focal point of an uncommon thriving and cross-treatment of Jewish, Christian and Islamic thought, through which the major investigative and philosophical works of ancient times were transmitted to Northern Europe. His father, 'Ali ibn Muḥammad, served in the Army of Ibn Mardanish. In 1172 AD, when ibn Mardanīsh passed away, 'Ali ibn Muḥammad quickly moved his dependability to the Abū Ya'qūb Yūsuf I, Almohad Sultan and got to be one of his military advisers. His family then moved from Murcia to Seville. His dad's family guaranteed to plummet from the fanciful Arabian writer Hatim al-Tai.
His mom originated from an honorable Berber family with solid binds to northern Africa. Al-Arabi notices Yahya ibn Yughman, his maternal uncle, who was at one point a rich ruler of the city of Tlemcen, yet had left that position to lead an existence of a deep sense of being subsequent to experiencing a Sufi spiritualist.
Education
He received his education in Seville, where his father was a friend of the philosopher Averroës. A vision experienced during a youthful illness deepened Ibn al-Arabi's religious tendencies, and he began the serious study of tasawwuf, or Islamic mysticism. Until the age of 30 he studied with several Sufi (guides to the mystic life), both in Spain and in North Africa.
Career
Ibn ‘Arabī began to write in Morocco. His first pilgrimage to Mecca, in 1202, was (as for countless other Moslems) a deeply moving experience. He stayed 2 years in the holy city, writing there his encyclopedic exposé of mystic philosophy, Meccan Revelations, which he claimed was dictated to him by supernatural beings. At the same time and place he also composed a collection of love poetry inspired by a beautiful Persian woman named Nizam, although one of the introductory passages of the volume disclaims any worldly intention.
Pilgrims from Konya to Mecca induced Ibn ‘Arabī to return with them and visit the Seljuk domains in Anatolia, which he did in 1205. He appears to have spent a good deal of time traveling, with passing references in his works to sojourns in Baghdad, Aleppo, Damascus, Jerusalem, Cairo, and again Mecca. He finally settled in Damascus, under the patronage of a wealthy family, and in his last years composed there one of his most important works, Bezels of Wisdom. The book is Ibn ‘Arabī's summary of the teachings of the 28 persons recognized by the Moslems as prophets, from Adam to Mohammed, the author claiming that it was dictated to him in a dream by the prophet Mohammed himself. On November 16, 1240, at the age of seventy-five, Ibn ‘Arabī died in Damascus. His tomb still exists there.
Although Ibn ‘Arabī stated on more than one occasion that he did not prefer any one of the schools of Islamic jurisprudence, he was responsible for copying and preserving books of the Zahirite or literalist school, to which he has been ironically and erroneously ascribed. He shared Ghazali's views that Islamic law was only a temporary means to a higher goal, eschewing the heavy focus on worldly matters such as financial transactions and regulations regarding clothing.
Ibn al-Arabi's importance for Islamic mysticism lies in the fact that he was a speculative thinker of the highest order, albeit diffuse and difficult to understand. His central doctrine is the unity of all existence: all things preexist in God's knowledge, and the world and everything in it is an outward aspect, the inward aspect of which is God. Man, more exactly the idea of man, is a microcosm uniting all the divine attributes. There is a "Perfect Man," and there have been several incarnations of the "Perfect Man," beginning with Adam and ending with Mohammed. With Ibn al-Arabi, Sufism moves away from anguished and ascetic searchings of the heart and conscience and becomes a matter of speculative philosophy and theosophy.
Connections
He married a woman by the name Maryam who was from an influential family.