Ibn Arabi
Andalusian Sufi philosopher and mystic, born in Murcia in 1165 and the most influential Islamic metaphysician of the medieval world. Known as al-Shaykh al-Akbar ("The Greatest Master"), he developed the doctrine of wahdat al-wujud ("the unity of being") which has shaped Sufi thought from his time to ours. His vast corpus — the 560-chapter Futuhat al-Makkiyya (Meccan Revelations) and the densely poetic Fusus al-Hikam (Bezels of Wisdom) — explores the interpenetration of God and creation through the lens of the Perfect Human (al-Insan al-Kamil), the divine names, and the mirror of the heart. He died in Damascus in 1240.
106
quotes in library
Quotes by Ibn Arabi
106 quotes“He who knows himself knows his Lord.”
self-knowledgeFutuhat al-Makkiyya
“The Real is the apparent. The apparent is the Real. They are not two.”
non-dualityFusus al-Hikam
“Allah is the mirror in which you see yourself, as you are His mirror in which He sees His names.”
mirrorFusus al-Hikam
“Without His self-disclosure, the world would not be. Without our reception, His names would have no manifestation.”
manifestationFutuhat al-Makkiyya
“The most perfect knowledge of God belongs to the heart that is unbound.”
heartFutuhat al-Makkiyya
“To bind God to one form is to deny His other forms.”
formsFusus al-Hikam
“The Beloved is veiled by the multiplicity of His names.”
veilFusus al-Hikam
“Each name of Allah is a doorway. Through any door, you arrive at the same chamber.”
namesFutuhat al-Makkiyya
“The Perfect Human is the locus of the divine self-manifestation.”
perfect-humanFusus al-Hikam
“Every form is the locus of His presence. Every face is His face.”
presenceFusus al-Hikam
“Knowledge is light. Ignorance is the absence of light. The light is always there.”
knowledgeFutuhat al-Makkiyya
“In the breath of the Compassionate, all forms are exhaled.”
breathFutuhat al-Makkiyya
“The lover and the Beloved are one. Only the names differ.”
unityTarjuman al-Ashwaq
“In the Real, there is no other.”
unityFusus al-Hikam
“Every belief is a knot in the heart. The lover unties them all.”
beliefFutuhat al-Makkiyya
“The heart of the Realized is wider than the heavens.”
heartFutuhat al-Makkiyya
“What is hidden is revealed in the heart of the gnostic.”
gnosticFutuhat al-Makkiyya
“Allah is in your heart. Search no further.”
heartFutuhat al-Makkiyya
“My heart has become capable of every form: a pasture for gazelles, a cloister for monks, a temple for idols, the Kaaba of the pilgrim, the tablets of the Torah, the scrolls of the Quran. I follow the religion of love, whichever way its caravans take.”
unityTarjuman al-Ashwaq
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