Ibrhm al-Krn (d.

1101/1690), an Apologist for "wadat al-wujd" Author(s): Alexander Knysh Source: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Apr., 1995), pp. 39-47 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25183729 . Accessed: 25/08/2013 12:43
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Ibrahim al-K?r?ni

(d. 1101/logo), al-wuj?d

an Apologist for

wahdat

ALEXANDER
can also if not

KNYSH
of

Few "unity

Islamic

teachings

boast known

the fame, as "unity

the notoriety, (wahdat

enjoyed al-wuj?d).

by This

the doctrine controversial

of existence",

of being"

philosophical doctrine became intimately associated with the towering figure of the Arab Ibn 'Arab?himself mystic of al-Andalus, Muhy? '1-D?n Ibn 'Arab? (d. 638/1240). Although
does not seem to have it gained applied wide this ambiguous among term his to his followers loosely structured from metaphysical the celebrated currency

speculations,

starting

Anatolian
have which of his argued the

thinker Sadr al-D?n al-Qunaw?

that latter's al-Q?naw?'s legacy was interpretation to be emphasis equally repeatedly 'Arab?'s

(d. 673/1274). Many

of Ibn 'Arab? Al-Q?naw?'s the ontological aspects

students of Islamic thought

determined on the way the works they legacy accent on in, of the and in commentaries issues.

largely

perceived. on

master some

placed other, mystic. elements

special admittedly It has of Ibn

Simultaneously, controversial

neglected

important, been mysticism

of that from

the

the Andalusian ontological

suggested sprang

al-Q?naw?'s his

proficiency

preoccupation
influence detain on us here.1

with,
the

the philosophy
generations

of

Ibn S?n? (d. 428/1037),

of Muslim thinkers

whose

commanding
a fact to

subsequent

is too well

known

In what
monistic devoid of

follows,
a number

I will
of

try to demonstrate
cosmology, inconsistencies. As

that the marriage

al-Q?naw? a result, it was

between
tried sometimes

Ibn 'Arab?'s
was not not rebuffed

outlook

and Avicennan logical

which

to achieve,

only by Muslim
'Arab?'s somewhat ambiguous much more adherents, arbitrary.

theologians
who It fell found

critical of monistic
al-Q?naw?'s followers

philosophy
synthesis to of seek

but also by some of Ibn

philosophy and mysticism and the the disparate works with

to al-Q?naw?'s statements

to reconcile Ibn 'Arab?'s

metaphysical disciplined In the long

scattered ontological that

throughout discourse al-Q?naw?'s

and run,

rationalist it appears

characteristic later followers

of Avicennan managed to

philosophy.

integrate the monistic Sufism of Ibn 'Arabian type into Avicennan Peripatetic philosophy, thinkers that it forging a synthetic vision that was to become so popular with Muslim thenceforth dominated Muslim intellectual life.

1 "Ibn 'Arab?and his interpreters", JAOS, CVI/3 See, e.g. J. Morris, (1986), pp. 539-64; CVI/4 (1986), pp. versus philosophy in earlier Islamic history: the 733?56; CVII/i (1987), pp. 101?20; W. Chittick, "Mysticism al-T?s? al-Q?naw? (1981), pp. 87?104. correspondence", Religious Studies (Cambridge), XVII

JRAS, Series3, 5, 1 (1995),PP- 39~47

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40

Alexander Knysh

Among the most successful advocates of this synthesis we find the noted Kurdish scholar Ibr?h?m al-Kur?n?. Born in Iranian Kurdistan, he spent most of his life inMedina, where he vigorously pursued the study of hadtth and other Islamic sciences, surrounded by
numerous students

' apologetic works inwhich he defended Ibn Arab? against his anti-monistic to highlight the world of ideas and curriculum of the scholarly community
the second city half was of a the seventeenth centre of century. Islamic This is all the more that attracted important students Arabian major learning

coming

to Medina

from

far

and wide.2

An

analysis

of

his

life

and

accusers helps in of Medina

insofar from as this far and

wide.
were parts started

Aside
places of

from being
where world

the symbolic heartland

intellectual took and place.3 it was It was there

of Islam, Medina
among in Medina that they

along with Mecca

scholars Muslim the ideas from reformers that were

all

significant

interchange

Muslim that many

the Muslim their scholarly

careers,

generated

to

inspire the movements

eighteenth In taking The period century.4 up this study,

of religio-social
I am has earlier

renewal which
a

shook the Islamic world

in the

entering

into been

regrettably

hazy of

and

little

known stagnation Those epoch

world. and

in question of

generally achievements it have often

regarded in poetry,

as one prose, and

creative theology. of that

fruitless scholars

rehashing who have

Western tended to

studied

stressed

that

the

'ulama

produce
discern ideology. scholars, at least ties their The similar In the that

a highly
any visible References which equally

traditional
linkage to

(and "epigonic")
between this interest

literature. Furthermore,
literature on the part and of in had?th ofthat Anxious

they have failed to

the nascent reformist

conventional

a renewed inWestern

seventeenth-century stand a network up, for it was

often strong

appear

studies centuries.

period,5

hardly

in the previous pre-reformist In this article as the Ibr?h?m

to discover Islamicists6

of personal neglected

connected legacy.

scholars, I will the

Western try to rectify

seem

to have

written older

this

omission. of Islamicists, had to who upheld case. their lands moot a

Orientalists attitude analysis

as well towards of

younger of

generation later Islamic

sceptical course of

corpus

literature, I have produced failed

a strong disprove

of my the

al-K?r?n?'s theological Whereas

writings, literature the

judgement in general

seventeenth-century Arabia in particular.

in the Muslim and

and

obscure

terminology

problematics

of the theological

discourses dating back to this age present serious difficulties

2 On his life and work see C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der Arabischen Litteratur (Leiden, 1938-9), ii, pp. 514-15 ; idem, Supplement, ii, 520?1; al-Mur?d?, Silk al-durar (Baghdad, a.h. 1301), i, pp. 5?6; al-Shawk?n?, Al-Badr al t?l?, i, pp. 11-12. 3 Renewal and Reform in Islam, ed. N. Levtzion N. Levtzion and J. Voll, "Introduction", Eighteenth-Century and J. Voll (Syracuse, 1987), pp. 7-8. 4 an analysis of an al-Sind? and Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Wahh?b: "Muhammad See, e.g. J. Voll, Hayyl in eighteenth intellectual idem, "Had?th BSOAS, century Medina", group (1975), pp. 32-9; XXXVIH/i and their impact in the Muslim scholars and tanqahs: an ulama group in the eighteenth century Haramayn of world", Journal of Asian and African Studies, XV (1980), pp. 264-73 ; idem, "Linking groups in the networks Renewal and Reform in Islam, pp. 69-92. revivalist scholars", in Eighteenth-Century eighteenth-century 5 ?d. S. M. Islam: Istoriograficheskiye Ocherki (Islam: Essays on Historiography), See A. Knysh, "Sufizm", Prozorov (Moscow," 1991), pp. 121, 156 and 176-8. 6 the author of this article was apparently unaware See e.g. Voll, Linking groups ", passim. Characteristically, of the history of the Mizj?j? century. That the scholarly family, which he examines, prior to the seventeenth at least two centuries earlier is evident from my "Ibn Mizj?j?s played an active role in the religious life of Yemen ' Ibn Arab? Society, XI (Oxford, 1992), his admirers and detractors", Journal of the 'Arab?in the Yemen: Muhyiddin pp. 38-63.

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Ibrahim

al-K?r?ni

41

for

the

contemporary

researcher,

his/her

catch,

once

they

have

been

overcome,

is likely

to be disappointingly unrewarding. Generally speaking, the bulk of literature produced that time largely consists of rather dull and repetitive treatises on had?th sciences aswell
thematic collections of had?th, which may discourage even the most dedicated Western

at as lists

researcher. Apart
diligently century ethics strike enumerating scholar and us had

from

had?th- ntred
the books and the

literature,
authorities There earlier a set we

one
from are also

is likely
which rather Such

to discover
this or humdrum mystical that tracts works devoted arguments do the little seminal

long
on

seventeenth Sufi

acquired that

his

erudition. rehash on

practices as monotonous subjects Generally, rehearse

slavishly variations

Sufi

classics. Even few,

usually to and such fresh than of

theme. find very

in the writings if any, new and back to

controversial insights. faithfully the Ibn

as wahdat these works

al-wuj?d are defensive

thoroughly arguments centuries. they are too

apologetic going

more figures

well-known from

'Arab? as all talented

school these writers

previous are, epoch,

True more Ibr?h?m

observations of Even that

general such a

to do profound written

justice and

to

the work

of author

the as

including glance at his

versatile

al-K?r?n?.

a cursory

treatises

in defence

of monistic

philosophy
obscure matter

will

reveal that scholar's deep understanding

texts to at his disposal. His intimate him reformulate the monistic discourse

of the extremely
of in such their a way as

involved
to

and

scholastic allows

knowledge

recondite

subject render it

intelligible and accessible to the lay reader with

Yet, at the same for his time, al-K?r?n? was not an admiration celebrated

little or no background
inferior disinclined imitator. to take

in Sufi philosophy.
his profound on trust; their words

Despite

predecessors,

he was

with
to

the unflagging
close scrutiny metaphysics study is based

persistence of a critically-minded
and laid of mostly bare Ibn and resolved school. of many 'Arab?'s on

scholar he subjected their statements

challenging problems attending the

monistic My

the manuscripts

al-K?r?n?'s

minor

works

and

epistles

contained
of by of al-K?r?n?'s Ibn

in the Garrett Collection

legacy,7 I have chosen legacy. controversial principal apology

of the Library of Princeton University.

only Though the writings I have al-wuj?d, which been Ith?f address unable al-dhak?,8 to consult a succinct

Of
a

the bulk
raised

the questions

'Arab?'s

manuscript description

al-K?r?n?'s

for wahdat

of this work
manuscripts the Ith?f "to plead and

provided
in Princeton our

by A. H. Johns9 leaves little doubt

Library only in size but the same not evince "supreme

that it differs from the shorter

From on all appearances, the part of their both author

in import. effort"

manuscripts of

the should

cause keep

the Unity that

of Being".10 the works here studied reflect only one, albeit a very

One

in mind

important,

aspect of the work

of a scholar whose

interests ranged from fiqh

to had?th, to

" than ioo books and treatises, see Alfred Guillaume, Al-Lum'at al-saniya VIII BSOAS, fi tahqxq al-ilq?' fi-l-umniya", (1957), p. 291. 8 to A. H. of text the Australian National of its manuscript Though Johns University promised publish the and to translate it (see A. H.Johns, EI, 2nd. ed., v, pp. 432?3 and idem, "Islam in Southeast Asia: "Al-K?r?n?", Southeast Asian History andHistoriography. problems and perspectives", Essays presented toD. G. E. Hall (Ithaca, 9 this has not yet been accomplished. Ibid. 1976), pp. 316-19), 10 in "Islam were Southeast Asia", short treatises after the p. 317. Al-K?r?nfs Johns, probably written see e.g. Maslak of the Ithaf since he often refers his reader to the text of this longer work, completion al-ta'r?f #3869, 65a. bi-tahq?q al-taklTf inMajm?'a, Yahuda Collection, 7 Al-K?r?n? was the author of more

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42
and

Alexander Knysh
theology tasawwuf. The defence of monistic theories was one of the

speculative

only

many
his

nonconforming
treatise,

theological
which came

positions

upheld by the Kurdish writer.

of Western scholars

Interestingly,
a superb

best-known

to the attention

through

edition by Alfred Guillaume,11 discusses the problem of the notorious "Satanic verses", (53:21). Since al-K?r?m allegedly interpolated in the original version of the Qur'?n
advocated the historicity of this controversial ?ya, he was strongly condemned by some

traditional theologians of Fez. His Moroccan opponents also accused him of holding a host of other heretical views, for instance, the widely disputed thesis stating that Pharaoh died
a believer.12 Al-KOr?n?, however, refrained from

? behaviour

taking

issue with

his Maghribi

detractors

theological problem of wahdat al-wuj?d. Yet retained an unswerving loyalty to the teachings of Ibn 'Arab? and his school. This
in fact, constitutes deserves to do the most special justice salient characteristic of his religious Weltanschauung, therefore In order his work scholars denounced consideration. to al-K?r?n?'s historical to exculpate great apology Our 'Arab? The for Ibn ' Arab?'s was the just teaching, one of we

that appears to be in line with questions, including the most

conciliatory approach to thorny controversial the perennial ones, notably for all his placableness, throughout his life al-K?r?n? his overall loyalty,
and

should

place

in the broader who him sought

context. Ibn heresiarch.

author from

the many attacks first

Muslim which

fierce of Ibn

theological 'Arab?,

as Islam's

criticisms

summarised

and formulated
a great number

by no less a person than Ibn Taymiyya

of'ulam?' ever since. From

(d. 728/1328),
century

were
on,

reiterated by
the monistic

the eighth/fourteenth

teaching of Ibn 'Arab?was in the focus of theological debates and developed into one of " themajor intellectual problems of Islam, along with the challenges to Islamic orthodoxy" presented by the ecstatic utterances attributed to al-Hall?j and the mystical poetry of Ibn
al-F?nd. than The debates between Ibn ' Arab?'s champions community late 1970s and into they antagonists two were hostile rekindled have camps. by raged They the for more have ban on not the six centuries, in our dividing day. Moreover, the Muslim in the

subsided

publication
Egypt.13 Although been the first

and distribution
Ibn Taymiyya to accuse was the

of Ibn 'Arab?'s works

not the first an

passed by the People's Assembly

critic erroneous of Ibn 'Arab?, he seems doctrine

of

certainly of

to have that

Sufi

espousing

metaphysical

identified divine

naturally flowed In attacking this doctrine, Ibn Taymiyya followers. argued (wrongly, it seems to me) the difference between that his opponent eliminated the effectively all-important
existence dogs, and of god swine". and The that of the creatures, polemicist including went on "the jinn, devils, Ibn unbelievers, 'Arab? of sinners, the Hanbal? to accuse stripping

that of the creatures. This, insisted the Hanbal? doctor, from the monistic vision of the world embraced by Ibn 'Arab? and his existence with

11 See note 7. 12 of its of the school of Ibn 'Arab?, and was shared by the majority This scandalous idea became emblematic It was, for the first time, stated in Ibn 'Arab?'s Fus?s al-hikam, see R. W. J. and sympathizers. representatives Austin, Ibn al- Arab?: The Bezels ofWisdom 1980), pp. 249-50 and 265?6, and (New York, Ramsey and Toronto, ever since. For the debate it aroused in Muslim has been reiterated by his opponents scholarly circles see my book, Ibn 'Arabt in the Later Islamic Tradition :History of a Polemic. forthcoming " 13 : religion, press, and politics in Sadat's Egypt ", See Th. Emil Homerin, Ibn Arabi in the People's Assembly The Middle East Journal, XL/3 (summer 1986), pp. 462-77.

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Ibrah?m

al-K?r?m

43

personal God
existence

of the Qur'?n
of any

of his attributes of Lordship

substance. Divine existence,

and reducing Him

continued

to pure

divested

positive

Ibn Taymiyya,

was viewed
material

by the monists
which, in

(al-ittih?diyya) as permeating
its turn, can be regarded

the things and creatures of the

as a totality of individualised

world,

manifestations the metaphysical

is that it does fraught,

of the all-embracing divine Absolute. Briefly put, the main problem with teaching introduced by the Andalusian mystic, as seen by Ibn Taymiyya,
not distinguish view, with between disastrous the Creator antinomian and His creature ? a theological in his

position

implications.

Another aspect of Ibn 'Arab?'s doctrine rejected by the Hanbal? author has to do with the Sufi's theory of the pre-existent immutable essences (oty?n th?bita)which, as objects of divine knowledge (mal?m?i), form a matrix after which God fashions the phenomenal
universe. as an Ibn Taymiyya attempt to eliminate vigorously the attacks all-important the concept of immutable beings, viewing (or actual) it difference between

phenomenal

(wuj?d) and what may be dubbed as noetic (or logical) existence the latter type of existence was 'Arab?'s teaching, argued Ibn Taymiyya, God's pre-eternal knowledge of the realities of the phenomenal world existence
created. Basing himself on the concept of thub?t, Ibn 'Arab? went on to

(thub?t). In Ibn identified with before

assert

it was
that the

aty?n th?bita, being part divine foreknowledge,

Creator. counterparts limit, Mu'tazil? Ibn Consequently, found 'Arab?, heretics these in the world so who runs Ibn non-existent of sense entities perceptions.

should be viewed
were, in a way, this

as co-eternal with
as real assumption with as their

the

existent

Pushing joined create

to its logical some having earlier a prior

Taymiyya's that God

argument, could not

hands without

asserted

things

knowledge
regarded 'Arab?'s of creatio as

of them. In keeping with

full-fledged "realism", which realities or,

such theory, the objects of God's knowledge

in other words, "things". Ibn concept had to mental the celebrated 'Arab?'s of to Anxious thesis with to rebuff countered with the

can be
Ibn

extreme ex by nihilo,

Ibn Taymiyya fitted In doing better so,

the principle God

personal, take a

"Qur'?nic", strictly "nominalist"

fostered position to Ibn

Hanbalism.

the Hanbal? any raised reality by

that denied 'Arab?'s

the view

according were later

constructs. exponent

Similar

objections kal?m

metaphysics

of Ash'ar?

Sa'd al-D?h al-Taftaz?n?

treatise against the erroneous and arguments, fact of that, despite Ibn Taymiyya polemical The heart

(d. 790/1389
assumptions had

or 792/1390),
peculiar followers of the

who
who

composed
reproduced

a lengthy polemical
al-wuj?d. and refined Both their

to the doctrine

of wahdat

al-Taftaz?n? creating all

numerous corpus

a vast these can

anti-Ibn above

'Arab? assumptions of

literature.14 still the remained at longevity the

criticisms, serve

al-K?r?n?'s

ontology

as the best

illustration

remarkable

of Ibn 'Arab?'s ideas and the failure of his influential opponents

believer Taymiyya primary and spirit in the and task of as validity those showing shan who of the monistic followed that a. To exegesis, Ibn this outlook, in his wake. 'Arab?'s end, he ideas were sets out al-K?r?n? Naturally in complete to prove Ash'ar?

to eradicate them. A great

takes enough, up arms our against sees the Ibn his author with

agreement that all Islamic

the

letter -

disciplines and rationalist

including

Qur'?nic

had?th,

grammar,

kal?m,

Sufism,

14 The main stages and figures of anti-Ibn 'Arab? polemic in the Later Islamic Tradition :History of a Polemic.

are discussed

in my

forthcoming

book,

Ibn 'Arab?

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44
philosophy none of Islam's bear witness to the

Alexander Knysh
fact that the doctrine of the of existence violates

unity

fundamentals.15

Al-K?r?n?
as perpetrators

knew all too well

of antinomianism

that the followers

who cared little

of Ibn 'Arab?were
for the requirements

routinely denounced
expressly stated in

the sharVa.16 This,

premises in that identified

it was
God the that

claimed,
with teaching His

logically
creatures. in question

flowed
in no

from

their mistaken
chief relieved concern, its

metaphysical
therefore, lies of the

Al-K?r?n?'s way

demonstrating

adherents

ethical and moral

equating inevitably thesis

precepts set down

of the creatures on God and man manner.

in the sharta. He vigorously

and an that of their Creator Al-K?r?n? equal

denied the claim that by

Ibn 'Arab? undertakes and his partisans his to prove

the existence placed

footing.

in the

following

By virtue of their being one with God both essentially

Ibn ' Arab?'s antagonists used to argue cannot be subject

and existentially,
to divine

the creatures
and the

ordinances

religious
standard (which, one).

obligations
accusation at some point he By

imposed
by in asserting

on them by the Divine

that the creatures them different distinction transferred are completely the and the crucial possible of

Law. Al-K?r?n?
partake a potential the Deity of

challenges
divine state as to an regards

this

indeed from

existence actual their

pre-eternity, they

Nevertheless, essences. pertains drew of the a

insists,

from

individual which K?r?n? the case

emphasising to God, between

between shared and the

necessary by the all divine

existence, creatures, essence. of creatures al In

exclusively sharp latter, on, and that line essence derived

existence,17 the creatures whilst

essences with divine are able

is identical from,

its existence, existence. to realise

existence

is contingent divine existence

It is only their

through qualities

"borrowing" in real life.

the potentialities

innate

If it had not been for this self-sufficient

in concreto. Therefore opposed the : the respective former

existence,
existential

they would
modes of and

never have become

God absolute, and His the creatures latter

things
are

irreconcilably

is necessary-in-itself

is possible

and limited
distinction, their their existence eternal

by

the features
holds they man

of

its individual
fully responsible act can be

entity.
for his

By
acts

driving
: even the good point,

home
though qualities or evil,

this critical
humans dictated i.e. owe by in full likens

al-K?r?n? to God, selves. with

nevertheless human of the acts

in accordance classified

with as either his

Hence, the letter

compliance

sharta.

In demonstrating

al-K?r?n?

mankind
preserve

to the sum total of celestial bodies all of which

intact their essential qualities. In a similar

receive and reflect sunlight, yet

vein, man can be treated as an

individually
manner man's judgement. innate

fashioned mirror
by nor its

receiving
surface. acts.

the same divine light, yet refracting it in a peculiar

the they "there "light" lend of existence to has changes a sharf neither a-based from his themselves that man

determined nature, "In sum",

Receiving Therefore

his

exclaims

al-K?r?n?,

is nothing

taken

15 Cf. Johns, "Islam in Southeast Asia", p. 317. 16 this idea is uncritically writers who claim that "for Ibn al-'Arab? Interestingly, adopted by some Western as was the distinction differences between the external forms of religion were of minor between significance, see Levtzion Islam and infidelity", and Voll, "Introduction", p. 9. 17 It should be noted that this distinction constitutes one of the hallmarks of Avicennan philosophy, which al and his disciples, adopts as a starting point for his speculations. As in the case of K?r?n?, following al-Q?naw? to the great Muslim Ibn 'Arab?, al-K?r?n? unequivocally thinker by quoting recognises his indebtedness of his writings, namely al-Shif? and al-Ish?r?t, Johns, "Islam in Southeast Asia", p. 317. the titles

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Ibrah?m

al-K?r?n?

45

Maker,

and

in no way

can He

dwell

in man.

Rather

man

in regard

to God

is a specific

locus

of manifestation."18 The directly Q?naw?, on arguments from adduced of by Ibn al-K?r?n? 'Arab? and, undeniable, or are from not new ;most of his A of principal strong be them are derived such either as al kal?m already In

the works

those

exponents impact

al-Fargh?n?, outlook of

al-Qash?n?, is also

possibly, although

al-J?l?.

of Ash'ar? that it was

al-K?r?n?'s

it can

argued his

palpable his

in the work

the founder al-K?r?n?

of monistic takes the

teaching path trodden

and

immediate his learned

successors. predecessors.

exonerative

polemic

by

Having
attest bigoted advocates

defended
Ibn and of 'Arab?'s

Ibn 'Arab? on metaphysical

status as a great The master, wal?, same e.g. whose

and theological
teaching was was

grounds, he then sets out to

grossly by the misinterpreted numerous who by earlier argued

ignorant

people.

strategy Jal?l

employed al-Suy?t?

the Andalusian

al-D?n

(d. 911/1505),

that Ibn 'Arab?'s daring

themselves By had experienced time al-K?r?n?'s

insights could be grasped only by those Muslim

them.19 metaphysics outlined above appear the monistic

gnostics who
a

to have

gained

firm foothold of life became rationalist

there master.

in the world exposed

what may

learning. As more and more Muslims from all walks to Ibn 'Arab?'smystical insights on the one hand, and their more of Muslim fostered by his philosophically-minded
be called of an "inner Ibn dissent" legacy among soon students 'Arab?'s

interpretations

exponents
the admirers discovered

on the other,
of that the his Sufi own

emerged Some

percipient

statements occasionally
al-Q?naw?, schism within the Sufi the ranks

contradicted
most Ibn

the interpretations
authoritative followers,

offered by his disciples,

In order who to was quell the

including
a possible

master's of

exponent. al-K?r?n?,

'Arab?'s

undisputed

leader of the Ibn 'Arab? school in his epoch, set out to dispel such inconsistencies. Of these, the philosophical problem, which found a succinct expression in the famous Neoplatonic
maxim de uno nihilfit nisi unum, was a matter of his " special concern. In dealing with it al

Q?naw?
teacher, former.

took a strictly Avicennan

usually distrustful of the

"

position which
ungodly fal?sifa,

ran counter
who were

to that adopted
known to cleave

by his
to the

The rift between

one this of al-K?r?n?'s

the founder of the school and his foremost disciple was discovered
inquisitive associates. to explain He why hastened to present had the Medinan departed master from the him al-Q?naw?

by
anti

with

dilemma,

asking

philosophical
skilfully as well avails as the

stance upheld by his venerated

himself deliberate of the terminological of

teacher. In dealing with

inexactness the latter's peculiar to

this issue, al-K?r?n?

Ibn 'Arab?'s discourse The statements.

open-endedness

metaphysical

conflict between

and his disciple, according to al-K?r?n?, can be explained by the fact that each of them referred to a different level of divine self-manifestation. Whereas

the master

Ibn 'Arab? had in mind the aspect of the divine Absolute which was oriented towards creation (and thus presupposed multiplicity), al-Q?naw? spoke of the Absolute's complete
transcendency and occultation prior to Its realisation in the phenomenal universe (i.e. an

18 Al-K?r?n? Maslak al-ta'r?f 62b. 19 See A. Knysh, "Ibn 'Arab?in the later Islamic tradition", the 750th Anniversary of Translations and Studies Commemorating Tiernan (Brisbane, 1993), pp. 307-27.

in Ibn 'Arab?(A.D. Muhyiddin 1165?1240) :Volume and M. ofHis Life and Work, ed. by S. Hirtenstein

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46 aspect inconsistent with multiplicity).

the two thinkers with both ardent do not contradict agreement Therefore, In his the multi-layered can be adopted to the

Alexander Knysh Hence,

each concept as a valid Ibn of basis

concluded
On the the

al-K?r?n?, the views expressed by

contrary, peculiar reasoning. was by no means alone. they are in complete al-wuj?d.20 to wahdat

other.

universe further

for school

adherence

'Arab?

al-K?r?n?

Similar propensities were harboured by his master Safif al-D?n al-Qush?sh? (d. 1071/1660), an influential Medinan scholar who was described by his biographer as "the leader among
those who taught wahdat al-wuj?d".21 Upon the teacher's death, al-K?r?n? succeeded him

as shaykh of the Shatt?riyya Sufi order and, simultaneously, as the chief exponent of Ibn ' Arab?'s legacy inMedina. Al-K?r?n? was not the last link in this chain of the transmitters of Ibn 'Arab?'s legacy: among his own disciples we find a number of those who
adhered to the monistic outlook which their Medinan tutor was so eager

vigorously

to propagate.

Some of these disciples spread Ibn 'Arab?'s teaching as far as Java ('Abd al-Ra'?f al-Sinkil?,
d. after 1693) had reformer and India,22 where it acquired his father's another in Mecca a large following. persuasion, commentator should Interestingly, was and be made a teacher critic of of an al-K?r?n?'s of Ibn the great 'Arab?. son, who Indian Among inherited Allah, monistic eminent mention

probably

Shah Wal?

al-K?r?n?'s

followers

influential

b. 'Abd al-Ras?l al-Barzanj? (d. background named Muhammad was for monistic latter's Sufism strongly condemned by a bitter empathy 1103/1691). scholar S?lih al-Maqbal? (d. adversary of Ibn 'Arab?'s doctrine, the maverick Yemeni theologian of Kurdish The 1109/1699).
resolving time, next school "heretical" Barzanj?, upheld seem Ibn one

Al-Maqbal?
controversy work, was thought.23 views may of

was primarily
among which on many tinged with

known

for his innovative

of different anticipates the Sunn?

legal theory aimed at

madhhabs. At the of and same the his the as al discourses Ibn 'Arab?

bitter

the followers points

his whole century, of

reformist of

strongly From

uncompromising eloquent and doctrine Mecca, and (d. the their and

rejection profuse

al-Maqbal?'s master 'Arab?'s in Medina,

diatribes admirers, philosophical This situation

against such

the Andalusian that Ibn

contemporary with

infer Arabian

resonated

positions does not

by many to have

scholars in the

and Yemen. thirteenth/nineteenth the with

changed (d.

twelfth/eighteenth and al-Shawk?n? against

centuries, famous

when

al-Am?r

1182/1768) Yemen, their

1250/1834), infatuation

reform-minded teachings they

scholars observed

of Zayd? among -

inveighed learned

monistic

colleagues.

This
centuries

concern was
a tendency

shared by
obviously

the Wahh?b?
originating

scholars of
thoroughly

the late twelfth/eighteenth

anti-Sufi attitude espoused

in the

by their intellectual paragon, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahh?b (d. 1206/1792), who fiercely attacked " " the "excesses" of Sufi unificationists legists went (al-ittih?diyya). One of theWahh?b?
20

to al-Qaysan", The Muslim World, from al-Q?naw? Presences: "The Five Divine See, e.g. W. Chittick, 21 Ahmad al-majtd (Haidarabad, a.h. 1327), p. 183. al-Qush?sh?, Al-Simt (1982), pp. 107-28. The Muslim World, LXXXII "Notes on Ibn al-'Arab?'s influence in the subcontinent", See W. Chittick, see P. to the Medinan of Ibn 'Arab?'s thought for al-Sinkil?'s indebtedness proponents (1992), pp. 218-41; en volkenkunde, LXXXV/i Voorhoeve, (Batavia, 1952), pp. "Baj?n Tadjall?", Tijdschrifl voor Indische taal-, land-, LXXH 22 87-117. 23 al-sh?mikh (Cairo, nd), passim. A detailed See S?lih b. al-Mahd? al-Maqbal?, Al-Alam can be found in my forthcoming on Ibn 'Arab?'s outlook book. treatment of his attack

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Ibr?h?m

al-K?r?n?

47

as far as to assert that "jih?d ismandatory

'Arab? and Ibn al-F?rid".24 our from scant knowledge why of It is, I believe, us that prevents ' Arab?'s teaching, it quite their germane own

against the followers

of the infidel mystics

Ibn

eighteenth-century some Muslim of were difficult scholars

Muslim reformists

theological

literature opposed Ibn

explaining

vehemently whereas incorporate the had others

viewing to their

it as a consummation goals and, moreover, It is also whose

Sufi

heresy, to see Ibn

considered into

eager to

its elements anti-Sufi so many

reformist triumphed

platforms. in Arabia,

why 'Arab?

tendency ardent and

eventually

among

consider the fact that Ibn supporters. This intriguing 'Arab?'s ideas (especially his theory of the "seal of universal sainthood") were readily adopted by some reformers in Africa and India (e.g. the founders of al-tij?niyya, al
mahdiyya, and similar of al-darqawa?alquestions this paper. one alawiyya, needs and more even than that we intellectual the the ahmadiyya bald of Qadian). To address at current these the in generalisations into was the world ? adopted mentioned of or, ideas

influential

is all the more

if we

beginning the epoch

It is essential why

penetrate Sufism

in order

to discover

discarded
world. reassess

- as a foundation
in the

alternatively,

of Islamic reform by thinkers in different parts of theMuslim

of a comparative Sufism case-to-case and the study ideology we of shall Islamic be able renewal. to between

Perhaps, the

process relationship

ambivalent

This work
one

task, I firmly believe, cannot be accomplished without a thorough analysis of the of the seminal figures of the eleventh/seventeenth century of whom al-K?r?n? is just
Once we have gained a deeper ? sympathetic of our learned understanding of their world of ideas (and

example.

not just a fleeting

probably was arrive described

impression

obtained

by skimming
if also a more

through
? complex si?cles

their writings)
vision of an obscurs".

we
epoch

shall
that

at a more by many

predecessors

as "les

24 Quoted

inMichael

Cook.

"On

the origins

of Wahhabism",

JRAS,

Third

Series,

II (1992), pp.

191-202.

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