Abstract
Muslims have always viewed themselves as subscribing to a fundamentally tolerant religion, one in which all human beings are regarded as equal and “there is no compulsion in religion” as the Quran explicitly states. This is founded on a view of the inherent dignity of the human being as the khalifa of God, which has been most comprehensively expressed by the great Andalusian master Ibn ‘Arabi (d. 1240). This chapter explores the way in which Ibn ‘Arabi depicts the true place of the human being as created in the image of God, and the consequences this has for our understanding of rights and toleration: in particular, the meaning of chivalry toward all others, including the natural world, which is ultimately based on divine chivalrous generosity.
The Prophet, may God bless him and give him peace, was asked: “Which religion does God love the most?” He replied: “The faith that is primordially pure and generously tolerant (al-ḥanı̣fiyya al-samḥa).”
—Al-Bukhārī, Al-Adab al-mufrad, 1/287
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Notes
- 1.
Lewis , The Multiple Identities of the Middle East, 120.
- 2.
This sacred formula not only heads every sura in the Quran bar one, but was the initial phrase used by Muhammad in his famous letters to other leaders of his time. The two Names of Mercy, al-Raḥmān and al-Raḥīm, have been variously translated, but broadly speaking, they are understood to point to two different aspects of Mercy: one absolute and all-embracing (“All-Compassionate”), and one specific to kindness and forgiveness and the grace that leads to eternal happiness (“Most Merciful”). The linking of al-Raḥmān with the Divine seems to have been perplexing to many at the time of the revelation (see Q 25:60).
- 3.
Al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ, 1250; Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ, 961.
- 4.
Shah-Kazemi, The Spirit of Tolerance in Islam, 4.
- 5.
Ibn ʿArabi, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, 4/60. The word ʿaẓīm, translated here as “mighty” following Alan Jones’ translation of the Quran, can also be rendered as “tremendous,” “highly esteemed” and “grand.”
- 6.
Al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ, 6719; Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ, 1829.
- 7.
Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam, 25–26.
- 8.
This expression (al-dīn ʿinda Allāh) is described in the Quran (3:19) as “submission” (islām), not in the sense of an outward religious form, but in its original meaning as “allowing oneself to be led” (inqiyād). As Ibn ʿArabi makes clear in the chapter of Jacob in the Fuṣūṣ, “religion is an expression denoting your acceptance of being led” (Fuṣūṣ, p. 78).
- 9.
“The divine relationship between Allāh and the whole of creation is one relationship, within which there is no hierarchy, since ranking in degrees requires multiplicity” (Fut.II.580). See also William Chittick, Sufi Path, 36–37 et passim.
- 10.
The Tarjumān al-ashwāq, 67, poem XI, vv. 13–15. The six “forms” found in this poem are not simply random allusions to a pluralistic perspective, but are related to the “cubic” nature of the heart and its variability according to Ibn ʿArabi—see Hirtenstein, “The Mystic’s Kaʿba,” 41–42.
- 11.
For example, God’s manifestation as fire to Moses in the episode of the Burning Bush (Q 20.10–14) is qualitatively different to His manifestation to the mountain which crumbled into dust (Q 7.143). For a fuller discussion of the way in which religions were viewed by followers of Ibn ʿArabi as well as debates on Sufism as the tolerant face of Islam, see Morrissey, “ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Jīlī’s Sufi View of Other Religions,” 175–197.
- 12.
Ar: tashbīh, the counterpart to tanzīh. While the latter indicates God’s farness and incomparability (through apophatic Names such as the One or the Independent) and is established by the intellect, tashbīh indicates God’s closeness and comparability to the world (through kataphatic Names such as the All-Compassionate or Forgiving), and is established by the imagination. For a fuller discussion, see Izutsu, Sufism and Taoism, 48–65.
- 13.
Fuṣūṣ, p. 46.
- 14.
These Arabic terms describing the two states of humanity are primarily understood through their linguistic roots: insān suggests “intimacy” and “familiarity” with God and the cosmos (uns), while bashar is related to “skin” or “surface” (bashara).
- 15.
Fut.I.163. See also Fut.III.266, and Chittick, Sufi Path, 276–277.
- 16.
Murata and Chittick, The Vision of Islam, 126.
- 17.
Fuṣūṣ, p. 156.
- 18.
See Q. 25:68–70. These verses are reported to have been revealed in response to disbelievers who wished to accept Islam but were worried that God would find their previous behavior (killing, adultery, etc.) too unforgivable. Emphasis is placed on sincere repentance and God’s infinite forgiveness and mercy.
- 19.
Fut.III.398, a typical play on the apparent opposition of ḥaqq (truth, God, right) and khalq (created being, created nature).
- 20.
Manṭiq al-ṭayr, l. 4718. The following verse emphasizes that this is how God behaves toward human beings, so this behavior is viewed as an imitation of the divine. For more on the concept of jawānmardī in Sufi thought, see Ridgeon, Jawanmardi: a Sufi Code of Honour.
- 21.
According to a modern Sufi explanation, adab “is a station that transforms an ordinary human being into a Perfected Human […], it means to attribute no being whatsoever to yourself and to see no existence in yourself” (Sargut , Beauty and Light, 32, 64 et passim).
- 22.
This well-known story is popularly believed to be about Jalaluddin Rumi and one of his disciples, but I have not been able to find any textual evidence for this. In addition, what appear to be the oldest versions speak only of three students (leaving out the level of maʿrifa, which some see as a later addition). In some versions, the episode takes place in a mosque and affects people praying, and it is a slap on the face, something which is universally condemned in Islamic culture, since the person’s “face” is equated with their “reality.”
- 23.
These correspond to four types of “good behavior” which Ibn ʿArabi calls: (1) the adab of the Law (sharīʿa); (2) the adab of Service (khidma); (3) the adab of Right (ḥaqq); and (4) the adab of Essential Reality (ḥaqīqa). See Fut.II.274–275, and the analysis by Gril, “Adab and Revelation,” 228–263. It is likely that this fourfold division has influenced the later renditions of the story.
- 24.
For more on the four stages of spiritual realization, see the introduction by Ballanfat to his translation of Üftade’s Divan, The Nightingale in the Garden of Love.
- 25.
Izutsu, God and Man, 207.
- 26.
Ibid., 208.
- 27.
Kashf al-maʿnā, no: 33 (al-ḥalīm).
- 28.
Kashf al-maʿnā, no: 30 (al-ʿadl).
- 29.
It is interesting to compare this description of “self” with the definition given in a modern scientific textbook: “[…] the immediate, pervasive, automatic feeling of being a whole person, different from others, constant over time, with a physical boundary, the centre of all our experience.” See Kircher and David, The Self in Neuroscience and Psychiatry, 2.
- 30.
Fut.II.78.
- 31.
Ibn ʿArabi, Rūḥ al-quds, 170–176. See Elmore, “The Uwaysi Spirit,” 35–56.
- 32.
This word has many associated meanings: it indicates a knowing that is uniquely personal, a recognizing of what already is the case. This is derived from the famous prophetic saying: “whoever knows their self, knows their Lord” (man ʿarafa nafsahu ʿarafa rabbahu).
- 33.
Fut.II.297–298, from chapter 177 on knowing the station of self-knowledge (maʿrifa maqām al-maʿrifa).
- 34.
Fut.II.314.
- 35.
Fut.II.315.
- 36.
Fut.II. 316–318.
- 37.
Fut.II.232.
- 38.
This is the form of the hadith as Ibn ʿArabi gives it, rather than the more commonly known “I was a hidden treasure…” See Fut.II.112, 232, 310, 331, 399 etc.
- 39.
Fut.II.232.
- 40.
Fut.I.244.
- 41.
Q 14:37.
- 42.
See Izutsu, God and Man, 21–23; idem, Sufism and Taoism, 73.
- 43.
Q 27:18–19.
- 44.
Manṭiq al-ṭayr, ll. 4706–4714.
- 45.
Tadhkirat al-awliyāʾ, 164.
- 46.
Mathnawī, 2/2313; see also 4/3721 ff.
- 47.
The story is told by al-Qushayri in the section on futuwwa in his famous Epistle on Sufism, 240–241.
- 48.
Ar: daqqaqta, a word which could also be translated as: “You have investigated the problem properly and found a most subtle solution.”
- 49.
Fut.II.235.
- 50.
Fut.I.244.
- 51.
Fut.II.233. My italics.
- 52.
Fut.I.147.
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Hirtenstein, S. (2020). Human Dignity and Divine Chivalry: Rights, Respect, and Toleration According to Ibn ‘Arabi. In: Karpov, V., Svensson, M. (eds) Secularization, Desecularization, and Toleration. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54046-3_3
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