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Ibn Arabi's Wahdat al-Wujud Ahmad Imran th 29 February, 2014 Ibn Arabi was given the name Abu

Bakr Mohammed ibn al-Arabi al-Hatimi al-Tai, but given the title of Muhy al-Din (the evivifier of eligion! and maybe deemed the ar"hety#i"al $ufi, and the e#hemeral %afir (non-believer! to his Muta&alite, 'eo-Muta&alite ortho#ra(i" )hawari*i detra"tors+ Ibn Arabi has been a""used of being a #antheist, #anentheist, e(istential monist, and a follower of natural mysti"ism+ In his book ,Three Muslim $ages- $eyyed Hossein 'asr defends Ibn Arabi from the above a""usations and e(#lains Ibn Arabi.s "on"e#t of ,/ahdat al-/u*ud-+ A""ording to 'asr then, Ibn Arabi "an withstand the a""usations rather easily, be"ause his detra"tors mistake the meta#hysi"al to #hiloso#hy and that ,gnosis- is not se#arate from gra"e and san"tity+ A""usations of #antheism, mostly originating from /ahhabi and $alafi ty#es, is the easiest to rebut in that #antheism is a #hiloso#hi"al system and Ibn Arabi was never a follower of a #arti"ular system nor did he "laim to "reate a system of his own+ 'asr further e(#lains that #antheist a""users obfus"ate the differen"e between (a! ,The essential identifi"ation of the manifested order with its ontologi"al 0rin"i#le and their (b! substantial identity and "ontinuity+ [1] These notions "ategori"ally "ontradi"t everything Ibn Arabi and other $ufis arti"ulate about the Divine 1ssen"e+ A""usations of #anentheism are to be re*e"ted sin"e 2od does dwell in things, however, those things do not "ontain nor are they in themselves 2od+ The "on"e#t of #anentheism would be erroneous of union3singularity of 2od "on"e#t of /ahdat al-/u*ud 456+ 'asr.s e(#lanation of the negation of Ibn Arabi.s being an 1(istential Monist utterly baffled this author, thus different sour"e was used to u#hold Ibn Arabi.s defense+ 1(istential monism is defined by Dean 7immerman as ,1very #ro#er #art of the universe is e(istentially de#endent u#on the one ob*e"t that has every other ob*e"t as a #art-, whi"h shows "lear de#enden"y while Islami" notions of 2od are those of $u#reme Trans"enden"y with no de#enden"y [3] 8urthermore, the label of natural mysti"ism is a 9atholi" "onstru"t to delineate from other 9hristian gnosti" notions of ,su#ernatural mysti"ism- and would sim#ly not a##ly to Ibn Arabi who sees no distin"tion between the two+ The arti"ulation of /ahdat al-/u*ud or ,unity of Being- or , uni"ity of eality- sim#ly "omes down to the notion that 2od is utterly trans"endent in relation to the :niverse, however, ,Universe is still mysteriously plunged in God-, meaning 2od trans"ends the mundane #hysi"al reality but that reality is #art of 2od and not se#arated+ 'asr #ara#hrases Ibn Arabi beautifully when he says, ,It signifies that to believe in any order of reality as autonomous apart from the Absolute Reality is to fall into the cardinal sin of Islam, namely, polytheism (shirk), and to deny the Shahadah (la ilaha ill ! allah)! there is no divinity but the "ivine # $hich means ultimately that there is no reality than Absolute Reality%& 'asr goes on to %uote from Risalat!al!ahadiyah ('reatise on Unity) [4] a #assage whi"h e(#lains the "on"e#t of /ahdat-al-/u*ud, in the most lu"id and #rofound terms, the ultimate defense of the Islami" monotheisti" tradition in the following terms;

, He is, and there is $ith Him no after nor before, nor above nor belo$, nor far nor near, nor union nor division, nor ho$ nor $here nor $hen, nor time nor moment nor age, nor being nor place& And He is no$ as He $as,& He is the One $ithout oneness and Single $ithout the singleness& He is not composed of name and named, for His name is He and His named is He&&& Understand therefore ( He is not in a thing nor a thing in Him, $hether entering in, or proceeding forth& It is necessary that thou kno$ Him after this fashion, not by kno$ledge, not by intellect, nor by understanding, nor by imagination, nor by sense, nor by perception& 'here does not see him Him, save Himself& )y Himself He sees Himself, and by Himself He kno$s Himself& *one sees Him other than He, and none perceives Him other than He& His veil is +only a ,conse-uence% and effect of. His oneness/ nothing veils other than He& His veil is +only. the concealment of His e0istence in His oneness, $ithout any -uality& *one sees Him other than He # no sent prophet, nor saint made perfect, nor angel brought nigh kno$ Him& His 1rophet is He, and His sending is He, and His $ord is He& He sent Himself $ith Himself to Himself+- [!] Ibn Arabi goes on further in his "ir"ling the s%uare by bringing u# seeming "ontradi"tions or o##ositions then annihilating them in the trans"endan"y of the Divine 1ssen"e meaning, for e(am#le< the 1(terior ( 2ahir ! and the Interior ( batin !, the 8irst ( awwal ! and the =ast ( akhir!, the Truth ( ha%% ! and the "reature ( khal% !, the =over ( ashi% ! and the Beloved ( mashu% !, the Intelle"t ( a%il ! and the intelligible ( ma%ul ! all fade away into the Divine 1ssen"e and the Divine 1ssen"e trans"ends these "onstru"ts ["]+ An individual who #uts forth su"h a fier"e defense of the Divine Trans"enden"e in his "on"e#t of /ahdat al-/u*ud "annot be labeled as an a#ostate, #olytheist, #antheist, #anentheist, e(istential monist and a natural mysti"+ This "o-o#tion is most "rystal "lear in the "on"e#t of /ahdat al-$huhud by the Maturidi $ufi Ahmad $irhindi who ,although , agreed with Ibn Arabi.s /ahdat al-/u*ud but elevated his own "on"e#t of /ahdat al-$huhud ( union of witness! over that of Ibn Arabi.s but ultimately lost the debate+ $irhindi.s followers do negate Ibn Arabi and in the #oliti"s of the Indian $ub-"ontinent may have had some role in the death of the intelle"tual and libertine $ufi mughal #rin"e Dara $hikoh+ This Maturidi ortho#ra(y may be res#onsible for the rise of the later Deobandi movement in India and 0akistan+ In fa"t we would "ontend that all these above a""usations have been made in an effort to "o-o#t Ibn Arabi to the "am#s of the a""using sides whi"h is to be deemed as an honor unto the thought of Ibn Arabi+ /e may even go further and a""use the modernist (3adidi! "am#s 4>6 of being do"trinal renegades thus )hwari*is+ #$ur%es [1] 'asr,$eyyed Hossein+ 9aravan 0ubli"ations, Delmar '? @AA>+ 0age @BC 456 Ibid 4D6 htt#;33fas-#hiloso#hy+rutgers+edu3&immerman3 e"ent+Defense+of+Monism+#df , 0age @B , #ulled B@35E35B@F Existential Monism =dfEvery proper part of the universe is existentially dependent upon the one object that has every other object as a part 4F6 htt#;33www+di"tionaryofs#iritualterms+"om3#ubli"32lossaries3terms+as#(GIDH@@E 4C6 'asr,$eyyed Hossein+ 9aravan 0ubli"ations, Delmar '? @AA>+ 0age @B>

4I6 Ibid, 0age @BE 4>6Modernists here to mean the /ahhabi, $alafis, Ikhwanists, Jamaat e Islami, Hi&bis et" deemed as either munafi%s, murtads, %afirs, but "ertainly )hwari*is (se""eeders! Further &eadin' htt#;33www+s"ribd+"om3do"3E@55E@AA3$eyyed-Hossein-'asr-Three-Muslim-$ages htt#;33www+ibnarabiso"iety+org3 htt#;33#lato+stanford+edu3entries3ibn-arabi3 htt#;33islam+uga+edu3ibnarab+html htt#;33www+un"+edu3de#ts3sufilit3A=-A ABI+htm ($$)s by Ibn Arabi htt*s+,,--- .$ns/itae %$m,0nline#t$re,tabid,!1,%id,11,Ibn-Arabi as*2 htt*+,,--- alibris %$m,b$$)sear%h3 #4&5-auth4Ibn6Arabi5ad*$s42t35%reati/e4222311740095net-$r)4'5mat%hty*e4e5de/i%e 4%5utm8term4Ibn8Arabi5utm8%am*ai'n4n$ne5'%lid49:;a1<3=*>-9FW-?7A$d@nIA4A htt*+,,--- amaA$n %$m,s,3ie4=;F15)ey-$rds4B22ibn6arabiB225ta'4'$$'hydr205inde24stri*b$$)s5h/adid43299211474!5h/*$s42t25h/e2id45h/net-4'5h/rand499!294 109"14!400145h/*$ne45h/*t-$45h/Cmt4e5h/de/4%5re.4*d8sl8"020rbe%CA8e

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