october 2006
october 2006: a visit to the masjid of muhyi-l-din muhammad ibn-al-'arabi, al-shaykh al-akbar (d. 1240 m).
c.f. links with William Blake (see, for example, Harold Bloom's introduction to Henri Corbin's Creative Imagination in The Sufism of Ibn 'Arabi, or the fourth chapter in Norman O. Brown's Apocalypse and/or Mysticism). self-described as a disciple of Khidr, the unnamed spirit in the Sura of the Cave, which Corbin claims is associated with Elijah (and St. George).
Marshall Hodgson writes in _the venture of islam_ (238-244, vol 2): "[Ibn 'Arabi was] intensely concerned with the problems of unitive metaphysics on the level of cosmology; but he was at least as much concerned with the problems raised by the perception of cosmic unity for personal experience. The result was a rich and far-ranging synthesis of philosophical learning and mystical lore."
later, (243-244), "[B]y way of the myth of mirocosmic return and of the constitutive power of love, Ibn-al'Arabi concerned himself necessarily with all the problems that arise in the mystical relationship of the soul to the divine, and particularly with the relationships implied in the term 'love'. This notion was empirical as well as theoretical. As the inividual personality was laid bare and deepened in the mystical experience, it found itself responding ever more intensely to something that seemed at onced beyond itself and also the ery core to which its self-stripping was leading. The intensity of response, especially in ecstatic experiences, could be spoken of only in terms of love; but what could be the meaning of passionate love by a self which was losing more and more of its selfhood, for a beyond which seemed at the same time its truest inner self? Put in cosmological terms, what could be the meaning of a love between God and an experssion of His attributes? To such a question, Ibn-al-'Arabi wrote answers in terms of myths, of straight Qur'an commentary, of subtle metaphyscis, and, most favouredly, of love poetry each line of which carried metaphyscial implications -- explained in Ibn-'al-'Arabi's own commentary to the verses. Out of the cumulative mass of exposition, or perhaps out of a single line or a single image which met the conition of an individual reader at a given moment, answers emerged richly enough to enthrall generations of Sufis.
Ibn-al'Arabi's work did not merely settle questions that had arisen in Sufi experiece. It was also a starting point for further questioning. If the whole of life truly was so much of cosmic loving, everything in life could become quiveringly important -- and all received ways could be put in question; even Sufi ways. Ibn-al-'Arabi's sense of human destiny was thus hugely expansive. It could be used in relatively privately ways, to explain the tremendous impact of mystical experiece. It could also be used in more public ways, to justify what might otherwise seem utopian hopes for the human future."
the sufi shrine that includes his tomb is a mosque located north of Damascus' old city, in the disctrict named for him, muhyi-l-din ash-sheikh.
exterior of the building:
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interior of the building (including the tomb):
gebreel, ruth, joel
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some badly photographed writings on the wall about him:
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