Theology and Sufism

Dead Men Talking: Ibn ‘Arabī’s Interactions with Messengers and Saints

“…While he never neglected the manifest, formal dimension and went to extremes in assiduously maintaining it (Chittick 1992, pp. xii-xiii;De Cillis 2014, p. 189;Ghurāb 1981;Mayer 2008), he nevertheless emphasised that this formal dimension was merely an exteriorisation of spirituality (Lala 2022a;Winkel 1996). In an apparent reference to the Qur'an in which God describes Himself as 'the Manifest' (al-Ẓāhir) and 'the Hidden' (al-Bāṭin) (Qur'an 57:1), Ibn 'Arabī writes, 'God is manifested (ẓāhir) in every comprehensible thing while He is hidden (bāṭin) from all understanding' (Ibn 'Arabī 2002, p. 68)…”

“…While he never neglected the manifest, formal dimension and went to extremes in assiduously maintaining it (Chittick 1992, pp. xii-xiii;De Cillis 2014, p. 189;Ghurāb 1981;Mayer 2008), he nevertheless emphasised that this formal dimension was merely an exteriorisation of spirituality (Lala 2022a;Winkel 1996). In an apparent reference to the Qur'an in which God describes Himself as 'the Manifest' (al-Z .…”

Muslim Intellectual History

“…A student of the famous Shafiʿi and Ashʿari scholar al-Juwayni (d. 478), al-Ghazali was recruited by Nizam al-Mulk (d. 485), the grand vizier of the Seljuk empire, to teach in the newly introduced chain of Islamic colleges, al-Nizamiyya, which subscribed to the Shafiʿi Ashʿari orientation and, hence, aided in its spread. 185 The first one was established in Baghdad in 457 AH, and al-Ghazali began teaching there in 484 AH. Just as other eminent scholars had done before him, al-Ghazali sought to protect the purity of the din (religion, i.e., Islam) from any corrupting forces.…”

“…Preoccupied with salvation in the afterlife, al-Ghazali criticized the worldly environment of 'ulama who are beholden to the court and sought to ground Islamic practice, both scholarly as well as individual, in the "living presence of God. " 198 In order to do so, he integrated the otherwise parallel world of Sufism into Islamic orthodoxy by emphasizing that "a life according to the Shari'a was the necessary basis of the sufistic life, " 199 thereby arguing that it was at the heart of religious sciences, not external to them. As such, he declared that tasawwuf was a necessary component to be internalized by every Muslim individual, not something to be undertaken by a select few.…”

“…As such, he declared that tasawwuf was a necessary component to be internalized by every Muslim individual, not something to be undertaken by a select few. 200 He was finally persuaded to return to academia and spent his last years teaching at al-Nizamiyya in Nishapur, which incidentally was where he had received his initial education.…”