The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn al-?Arabi's Metaphysics of Imagination

Ibn al-'Arabi is still known as "the Great Sheik" among the surviving Sufi orders. Born in Muslim Spain, he has become famous in the West as the greatest mystical thinker of Islamic civilization. He was a great philosopher, theologian, and poet. William Chittick takes a major step toward exposing the breadth and depth of Ibn al-'Arabi's vision. The book offers his view of spiritual perfection and explains his theology, ontology, epistemology, hermeneutics, and soteriology. The clear language, unencumbered by methodological jargon, makes it accessible to those familiar with other spiritual traditions, while its scholarly precision will appeal to specialists. Beginning with a survey of Ibn al-'Arabi's major teachings, the book gradually introduces the most important facets of his thought, devoting attention to definitions of his basic terminology. His teachings are illustrated with many translated passages introducing readers to fascinating byways of spiritual life that would not ordinarily be encountered in an account of a thinker's ideas. Ibn al-'Arabi is allowed to describe in detail the visionary world from which his knowledge derives and to express his teachings in his own words. More than 600 passages from his major work, al-Futuhat al-Makkivva, are translated here, practically for the first time. These alone provide twice the text of the Fusus al-hikam. The exhaustive indexes make the work an invaluable reference tool for research in Sufism and Islamic thought in general.

Table of Contents:
Introduction The Life and Works of Ibn al-'Arabi The Meccan Openings Koranic Hermeneutics The Study of Ibn al-'Arabi in the West The Present Work 1. Overview 1. The Divine Presence Finding God Worlds and Presences Being and Nonexistence The Divine Attributes The Divine Acts The Macrocosm The Microcosm Cosmic Dynamics The Return to God Assuming the Traits of God Theomorphic Ethics The Scale of the Law Seeing Things as They Are Human Perfection 2. Theology 2. The Names of God Names, Attributes, and Relationships (1) The Names of the Names (2) Relationships (3) The Two Denotations of the Names (4) Realities, Roots, and Supports (5) Properties and Effects The Names of Engendered Existence Secondary Causes 3. The Divine Roots of Hierarchy and Conflict Hierarchy in the Names Ranking in Degrees The Names Personified The Divine Conflict The Unity of the Essence Names of Incomparability and Names of Acts 4. The Essence and the Divinity The Divinity The Unkowability of the Essence The Independence of the Essence The Name "Allah" The Disputes of the Angels Incomparability and Similarity Incomparability Similarity Combining Incomparability and Similarity 3. Ontology 5. Existence and Nonexistence Being/Existence and the Existent: Wujud and Mawjud Possible Things Entities Things Loci of Manifestation Self-Disclosure and Receptivity Oneness of Being and Effects of the Names 6. The New Creation Infinite Possibility Perpetual Renewal Divine Tasks Breaking Habits Transmutation and Transformation Never-Repeating Self-Disclosures Boredom The Heart Nondelimitation 7. Cosmic Imagination He/Not He Imagination Dreams The Manifestation of the Impossible 8. The Supreme Barzakh The Cloud The Breath of the All-Merciful Relief Through Mercy The Real Through Whom Creation Takes Place The Universal Reality Nature 4. Epistemology 9. Knowledge and the Knower Knowledge and Knowledge The Usefulness of Knowledge Limits to Knowledge The Infinity of Knowledge 10. Acquiring Knowledge The Rational Faculty Reflection Consideration Following Authority Unveiling 11. The Scale of the Law The Revealed Law The Scale Wisdom and Courtesy The Scale of Reason Affirming Similarity Reactions to the Revelation of Similarity 5. Hermeneutics 12. Faith and Rational Interpretation Faith Interpretation The Rational Thinkers Acts of God and Acts of Man 13. Knowing God's Self-Disclosure Finding Light The Lights of Self-Disclosure Naming the Perception of Light Witnessing and Vision 14. Understanding the Koran The Goal of Rational Inquiry Reason versus Unveiling The Character of Muhammad The Context of the Koran The Commentary of the Folk of Allah Commentary by Allusion Knowledge of Hadith 6. Soteriology 15. Weighing Self-Disclosure Knowledge and Practice The Inviolability of the Law Spiritual States Spiritual Mastery 16. Names and Stations The Divine Form The Stations of the Path Assuming the Character Traits of God Noble and Base Character Traits 17. Pitfalls of the Path Good and Evil The Two Commands The Perfection of Imperfection God's Conclusive Argument The Straight Path Nobility of Character 18. Safety in Servanthood The Servant's Worship of his Lord The Perils of Lordship The Exaltation of Lowliness The Perfect Servant Worship Through Free Will Offerings Obligations and Supererogations 7. Consummation 19. Transcending the Gods of Belief The Roots of Belief Worshiping God and Self Knowing Self Paths of Belief Belief and the Law The Belief of the Gnostic Beatific Vision 20. Seeing with Two Eyes Duality and the Signs of Unity The Possessor of Two Eyes Being With God Wherever You Are Two Perfections Serving the Divine Names The People of Blame The Station of No Station Notes Bibliography Indexes

About the Author :
William Chittick is a Professor of Religious Studies at State University of New York, Stony Brook. He is author of The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi and nine other books.

Review :
"For the first time in the history of Orientalism, a thorough study of Ibn al-'Arabi's thought is now available. William Chittick has given us a translation of numerous passages from the work of the Magister Magnus and placed them in their theological context, thus removing many misunderstandings that have prevailed both among Muslims and in the West when interpreting Ibn al-'Arabi's mystical worldview. Chittick has done this with admirable clarity, and his book will always remain a most important milestone in the study of Islamic mystical theology." -- Annemarie Schimmel, Harvard University