Circle of Inclusion

7/30/2019 Circle of Inclusion

1/12

The Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi Society

Home

Ibn 'Arabi: Introduction

o Ibn 'Arabi's writings

o Themes in Ibn 'Arabi's writing

o After Ibn 'Arabi

o Index of articles on this site

The Society

o Membershipo The Society Library

o Archive Project

Books published by the Society

o The Society Journal

o Other books for sale

o Reviews and bibliographies

o Podcasts

o Links to other sites

Symposium & events worldwide

o Other news

Contact the Society

o Site map (index of all pages)


2/12

Road near Mardin


3/12

Search

by Cecilia Twinch

This paper was originally presented at the conference entitled Between East and West,the spiritual journey: the significance and implications of Ibn 'Arab's teaching in today's

world, held in Cordoba at the Biblioteca Viva Al-Andalus, Roger Garaudy Foundation,

2426 September 2004.

The Circle of Inclusion

Each person who has stood in an open space, or sailed on the sea, or stood on a high

mountain has experienced the circularity of the horizons, seen the direction of the sunrising in the east, reaching its zenith and then setting in the west, or felt the overarchingnight-sky studded with stars, and found themselves at the centre looking from a face they

cannot see. This experience applies equally to everybody who stands in such a space and

it is a wonderful example of how each person is right at the centre of what is happening.

Similarly each of us has a direct connection to what is real, like the path of the sun thatreaches us from across the waters. If the attention is then turned inwards towards the

invisible centre of one's being the heart and what is happening there is observed, it is

possible to establish a connection with the source of one's being, which is equally theever-present dimensionless point of return.

In his Theophany on Perfection Ibn 'Arab writes:

Listen, O my beloved!

I am the essence ('ayn) that is sought in creation,The centre of the circle and its circumference,

Its complexity and simplicity.

I am the order revealed between heaven and earth[2]

In Cordoba, 814 years ago in 1190, Ibn 'Arab had a vision where he met all the prophetsfrom Adam to Muhammad. It was only the prophet Hd, whose wisdom in theFuss al-

Hikam, is that of uniqueness (ahadiyya), who spoke to him on that occasion. Ibn Arab

tells us,

Know that when the Real revealed to me and made me witness the essential realities ofall His messengers and prophets, who are human beings, from Adam to Muhammad (may

God bless them all and give them peace) in a vision in which I was made present in

Cordoba in the year [AH] 586, the only one who spoke to me from that group was Hd(SA) who told me the reason for their gathering.[3] I saw him as a large man, a handsome

figure, pleasant and subtle in conversation, knowledgeable about things and having


4/12

insight into them. The proof I had of this insight were his words, There is no moving

creature whom He [God] does not take hold of by the forelock. Indeed, my Lord is on the

straight path.[4] And what greater good news (bishra) to creation is there than this?[5]

Ibn 'Arab's universality is immediately evident in the fact that all the prophets from

Adam to Muhammad appeared to him, here in Cordoba. The reason why it was that Hdspoke, the Ottoman commentator on theFuss al-Hikam informs us, was because the

ways and tastes of Hd were most suitable in the ways oftawhd, Unity in plurality;[6]and the great good news referred to is that Truth, God, is the Ipseity[7] of all things.[8]

God takes charge of all creatures, and whatever path they are moving along is in fact the

straight path of their Lord. Ultimately, God is the only one who moves in anything thatmoves; since He is the only one in existence, He is the only actor and all actions are His.

In this sense, nobody has gone astray, since everything is included in the boundless

Mercy of God[9] which overrides the divine anger.

In the poem at the beginning of the chapter on Hd in theFuss al-Hikam Ibn 'Arab

writes:

The Straight Path belongs to God (Allh).

It is manifest in all, not hidden.

He is present in the small and the great,In those who are ignorant of how things are and those who know.

Because of this His mercy encompasses everything,

No matter how base or magnificent.[10]

These lines emphasize the universality of the straight path of God upon which all things

walk and which leads them all back to God.[11]In this chapter, Ibn 'Arab emphasizes

God's closeness to us, closer than life itself, closer than the jugular vein.[12] Noparticular kind of person is specified for this closeness, the knowing or ignorant, theblessed or damned, except that the very blessing is in being aware of this closeness which

is sensed, and the sadness of distance is in being unaware of it. [13]Everything is

included in the divine grace and favour, but it is a question of whether we choose to beaware of this or not.

The path upon which all things walk is called straight even if it deviates for, as Ibn

'Arab says in theFutht al-Makkiyya,

curvature is straight in reality, like the curvature of a bow since the straightness which

is desired from it is curvature and all movement and rest in existence is divine becauseit is in the hand of the Real.[14]

Everything emerges from God and everything is returned to Him but things do not go

back by the path on which they emerged; rather, they return in a circular motion, for Ibn'Arab maintains that Every affair and every existent thing is a circle that returns to that

through which it had its beginning.[15]


5/12

If, therefore, every existent is on the straight path in any case, what was the point of

sending prophets and messengers to call people to God? The Ottoman commentator on

theFuss who posits this question, then answers it by adding,

This one cannot say, because this invitation is the invitation from the Name Misleader

(mudill) to the Name Guide (hd) to Truth, and the invitation from the Name Compeller(jabbr) to the Name Just ('adl).[16]

Our happiness lies in the path of guidance to blessing and grace, not in the path whichleads to misery, constriction and anger. Yet just as all actions belong to God, so do all

names and qualities. To recognize the Guide we need to see how guidance is manifested

in us and ask who it is that is guided? The same is true of the Name Just, and all othernames and qualities. This involves knowledge of the self in discovering who we are.[17]

In one sense we are all under the divine impulsion. Yet God is not unjust to his servants

by compelling them to behave in a certain way He simply allows them to be what they

are. Ibn 'Arab writes, 'God does not treat his servants unjustly',[18] for He only knows

what the objects of knowledge give to Him, since knowledge follows the object ofknowledge.[19]

There was an apparent conflict for the prophets between calling the people to God

according to the prescriptive command and the fact that everyone is in any case on thestraight path of God. Ibn 'Arab writes,

The Messenger of God said, Hd and its sisters have made my hair go white, that is

(the Quranic sura of) Hd and all the (Quranic) verses which mention going straight.[20]

However, God's eternal knowledge of us does not determine what we will do because

knowledge is dependent on the known and His knowledge of us is in accordance withwhat we show Him of ourselves, since knower, knowledge and the known are ultimately

one.

The invitation is therefore to knowledge and to removing the constriction which ourlimited beliefs impose on us and on Truth. It is an invitation to discriminate between a

lesser vision of reality and a greater one, to abandon a partial view for a more

comprehensive and complete one, to progress through our own personal Lord to the Lordof Lords, the all-inclusive God who encompasses all names and qualities and where all

opposites are united.

The whole of humanity is being invited to this universal perspective. If, from among theinfinite possibilities, we have selected a limited belief structure and decided to serve that,then we are in a prison of our own making and have excluded ourselves from the

boundless generosity of existence. Ibn 'Arab writes,

The people of God say There are as many ways to God as the breaths of the creatures

and every breath emanates from the heart according to the belief the heart has of God.[21]


6/12

However a person believes God to be, that is how God will appear to him.[22] By

limiting God in a particular way, the holder of a particular belief limits himself. In the

chapter on the prophet Hd, in theFuss al-Hikam, Ibn 'Arab writes,

Take care not to be tied by any particular belief ('aqd) while denying all others, for much

good would escape you in fact, knowledge of how things are would evade you. So be inyourself the substance of all forms of belief, for God the High is too vast and great to

be confined to one belief rather than another. He [God] has said, Wherever you turn,there is the face of God,[23] without mentioning any particular orientation.[24]

The complete Quranic verse referred to is as follows, To God belong the east and the

west. Wherever you turn, there is the face of God. God is all-encompassing, all-knowing.[25] Whether east and west are understood as different parts of the globe,

representing different cultural values, or whether they are understood as the place of the

rising sun and the place of the setting sun and therefore as the visible and invisible

worlds, God is in every direction that is turned to in both the exterior world and the

interior. While acknowledging that God is the one who is worshipped in everything thatis worshipped[26] and that He cannot be limited to any particular manifestation, we are

exhorted to know that it is the face of God which is in every direction and orientation,that is to say, His Essence. This is the central point which we need to be constantly aware

of in our heart, the sacred aspect to which we adhere and before which we bow in prayer.

[27]

Ibn 'Arab's emphasis on the inclusion of all beliefs is of particular relevance to us today.Since it is God who appears in every form, without being limited to any particular form,

He can be seen in all ways of worship and all forms of belief. However, the ability to

accept all beliefs without being tied to any one in particular requires giving up all of one's

preconceived notions about reality. When Ibn 'Arab exhorts us to be the substance ofall beliefs, this is not so that we just take on another belief which is more inclusive. It is a

matter of vision, of seeing that He, God, is the Essence of everything including ourselves,and that He is the One who appears in everything and takes on the forms of all beliefs,

and can be recognized there.

On the matter of inner vision, Ibn 'Arab follows the Prophet Muhammad, since he has

inherited Muhammad's all-inclusiveness and brings out the interior meaning ofMuhammad's prophecy. Muhammad called to God according to inner vision by which

Reality is witnessed not merely conjectured, when he said,

This is my Way. I invite to God according to clear insight (basra), I and whoever

follows me, and praise and glory to God, I am not of those who associate (anything elsewith God).[28]

It is an appeal to those with a receptive heart, because truth which is directly perceived by

inner vision constitutes direct knowledge which cannot be grasped by thought.


7/12

Just as the divine mercy encompasses everything, so does the divine knowledge.[29]For

Ibn 'Arab, the seat of this kind of direct knowledge is the heart, which alone is able to

perceive that the Divine Self is the identity both of everything that is revealed and ofeveryone who receives the revelation. In the chapter on Shu'ayb in theFuss al-Hikam,

Ibn 'Arab writes,

In that there is a reminder for the one who has a heart, [30]due to (the heart's) ability to

vary according to different kinds of images and qualities. He (God) does not say for theone who has an intellect because the intellect conditions and fixes the order to one

particular qualification and the Reality refuses such limitation. It is not a reminder to

those of the intellect who are people of formal beliefs, who accuse each other of unbeliefand condemn one another.[31]

Here, Ibn 'Arab is referring to those who interpret the news given of Reality according to

their own limited understanding rather than perceiving it directly and accepting it in their

heart.

Since God appears differently at each moment, the human being needs to be able to adapt

and respond appropriately, according to wisdom. This only comes about by serving as a

mirror to the Real. Such service cannot be conditioned by any personal goal, not even the

pursuit of happiness, even though our true happiness may be consequent to such service.

Ibn 'Arab calls those who mirror the Real most perfectly the Muhammadians. They have

nothing of their own and are not defined by any particular divine Name or attribute. They

bring together all the different standpoints or stations on the spiritual path and go beyondthem to no station.[32]

Ibn 'Arab writes,

The divine properties differ all the time and (the Muhammadian) varies with their

variation, for God is Every day busy with some affair and so is the Muhammadian.

God said, In this there is a reminder for the one who has a heart and He did not sayintellect because that would limit him. The heart (qalb which literally means turning

or changing) is only called that due to its variation in states and affairs continually with

each breath.[33]

The person whose heart is pure does not oblige Reality to conform to his own image of it,but his heart is able to receive and conform to Reality as it truly appears at that moment.

Ibn 'Arab writes,

The one who has a heart knows the variation of the Real in images, by virtue of (the

heart's) variability in modes. For he knows the (Real) Self from himself and his heart isno other than the Itselfness (huwiyya) of the Real. There is nothing existent in the world

which is other than the Identity (huwiyya) of the Real indeed it is the Identity itself.[34]


8/12

This is the greatest perplexity in the mystery of God, seeing that He possesses all forms

yet is confined to none. Ibn 'Arab writes,

The affair is a circle. It has no limit which can be seen and therefore stopped at. This iswhy the Muhammadians, who have an insight like this, are told You have no station,

since the affair is circular, so return![35]

Because this changeability pervades the whole world, every person undergoes variation

in their state with every breath. What distinguishes the knower of God is their knowledgeof this variation.[36]

As we have seen, everyone is already, by their very existence, complete, encompassed by

divine mercy and therefore on the straight path of their Lord, yet at the same time called

to a perfection which defies limitation. Ibn 'Arab writes,

God gives everything its creation, thereby completing it, then He guides to the

acquisition of perfection. So whoever is rightly guided becomes perfect but whoever hasstopped with his completion has been deprived.[37]

This call to perfection is a call to wholeness and peace where all qualities are integratedin total equilibrium.

All human beings are born with an unlimited potential for perfection where the entire

spiritual and cosmic realities may be clearly reflected in them so that they become the

place of manifestation for the totality of divine attributes. This possibility of furtherperfection for the sake of beauty heightens the value and meaning of human life. In

closely adhering to God, there is guidance in the right way.[38] God responds to request

and what more beautiful request is there than that He may bring about for us the aptitudefor perfection.

Once it is known that we have no existence of our own, that only the Real exists, the

intended revelation of beauty can take place. Ibn 'Arab writes,

God is beautiful and loves beauty. Certainly, God dresses the interior of (the) servant

with beauty insofar as He only reveals Himself to him out of love when He manifests inhim the special beauty which is bound to him and which can only appear in this particular

place. Every place (of manifestation) has a beauty which is special to it which belongs to

nothing else. God does not look at the world until after He has made it beautiful and

arranged it harmoniously so that it receives what He brings to it in His revelationaccording to the beauty of its aptitude. He dresses that revelation with beauty upon

beauty so it is always in a new beauty in every revelation, just as it is always in a new

creation in itself. (The revelation) undergoes perpetual transformation in the interior andexterior for the person from whom God has removed the covering of his blindness from

his inner vision (basra).[39]


9/12

For most people intense glimpses of beauty are rare, but we have numerous examples of

the ability of the human spirit to transcend the most abominable suffering and hardship to

keep faith with the witnessed reality of this vision. It is a vision based on an innercertainty of the essential oneness and generosity of being.

To summarize, the Muhammadian vision provided by Ibn 'Arab gives an overview

which is not tied to any particular belief, or property, or attribute. Essentially the self isunbounded. If we impose our own limitations and constraints on it, we are prevented

from fully receiving each new revelation. We need to empty ourselves of our own

limitation so we are ready to respond in accordance with the needs of the moment, freed

from the burden of fixed beliefs. For, as Ibn 'Arab says, The Essence is unknown andnot bound by any fixed qualification.[40]

The importance of Ibn 'Arab in our time is what is timeless in his writings. For the

current moment, now, is the gateway to what lies beyond temporal and spatial

considerations. It includes that which is timeless and universal as well as all the particularramifications which are configured according to time and place. In our present age,

spiritual knowledge is becoming more accessible as there is a greater urgency to

recognize the true value and potential of human beings. However many human beings areborn, humanity is never divided but remains a single reality, expressing itself in

numberless different ways, each as an individuation of the One Real Self. No one is

excluded from the possibility of coming to know themselves and therefore to know Godthe Real.

Ibn 'Arab's writings illuminate the various aspects of reconciling the inner reality and the

outer reality, God and creation, the invisible and visible worlds. He constantly refers back

to the source of the revealed words of the Quran rather than relying on subsequentinterpretations of Islam. In this way he brings out the true meaning of the religion,

emphasizing the universality of the Muhammadian Way which shows the uniqueness of

the single reality of Being and its infinite possibilities expressed in endlessly changingforms and images. The all-inclusive, absolute God appears in all things yet remains

unconfined by the limitations of anything. Ibn 'Arab frequently quotes the Quranic verse,

We shall show them Our signs on the horizons and in themselves until it is clear to them

that it is the Real.[41]

Throughout his work, Ibn 'Arab emphasizes the need to be aware of those aspects of

reality which transcend particular circumstances, as well as paying attention to how that

reality manifests in the world, for he maintains that the movement of the world from non-existence into existence is a movement of love.[42] The world is itself nothing other than

the One and Only Reality manifesting itself in infinitely varied forms and states, which

are already present within it in potential. From this point of view, the signs manifested in

the world should not be dismissed or ignored, especially for those who are embarked on aspiritual journey whose aim is union, integration and completeness.


10/12

What is it, then, that speaks in Ibn 'Arab's words with a voice that goes beyond the

confines of his particular context, evoking a response that can be universally recognized?

Whilst respecting the diversity of viewpoints, the purpose of our coming together for thisconference is not to dwell on the determining factors which set people apart, but to focus

on their underlying unity; not to dwell on what makes Ibn 'Arab's teachings distant from

us and inaccessible, but to focus on what makes them close to us in opening a door to anall-inclusive spiritual perspective. Such a universal perspective necessarily includes the

totality of perspectives, not by focusing on the detail of each, but by concentrating on the

point from which all perspectives arise and consequently encompasses them all. This isthe still point at the centre of the circle, the point about which the universes turn.

Notes

1. This paper was originally presented at the conference entitled Between East and

West, the spiritual journey: the significance and implications of Ibn 'Arab's teaching in

today's world, held in Cordoba at the Biblioteca Viva Al-Andalus, Roger Garaudy

Foundation, 2426 September 2004.

2. Ibn 'Arab, al-Tajalliyt al-ilhiyya, ed. O. Yahya (Tehran, 1988), Theophany 81, p.

460.

3. In hisRh al-quds, Ibn 'Arab gives one reason for the assembly: Hd informed himthat all the messengers and prophets had come to visit Abu Muhammad Makhlf al-

Qab'il in his sickness before he died. See Ibn 'Arab, Sufis of Andalusia, trans. R.W.J.

Austin (London, 1971), p. 124. However, another reason for the assembly is given byJand, a disciple of Ibn 'Arab's spiritual heir, Sadr al-Dn Qnaw: it was to congratulate

Ibn 'Arab on becoming the Seal of Saints, and heir to the Seal of the Prophets. On the

Great Vision at Cordoba and the Seal of Muhammadian Sainthood, see C. Addas, Questfor the Red Sulphur(Cambridge, 1993), pp. 7481; S. Hirtenstein, The UnlimitedMercifier(Oxford, 1999), pp. 856; C. Gilis,Le livre des chatons des sagesses (Beirut,

1997), vol. I, pp. 2823.

4. Q. 11: 56.

5. Ibn 'Arab,Fuss al-Hikam, ed. A. 'Aff (Beirut, 1946), p. 110. See also Ibn al-'Arab,The Bezels of Wisdom, trans. R.W.J. Austin (New York, 1980), pp. 1334.

6.IsmailHakki Bursevi's translation of and commentary on Fuss al-Hikam by

Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arab, rendered into English by B. Rauf, 4 vols. (Oxford, 198691), p.570. This Ottoman commentary on theFuss al-Hikam is usually attributed to AbdullahBosnevi. To avoid confusion, I refer to the Ottoman commentator.

7. Identity, itselfness huwiyya.

8. Ibid., p. 564.


11/12

9. Cf. Q. 7: 156, frequently quoted by Ibn 'Arab.

10.Fuss, 'Aff, p. 106. SeeBezels, pp. 12930.

11. See al-Futht al-makkiyya (Cairo, 1911; reprinted Beirut, n.d.), vol. III, p. 410,

beginning line 24 (III.410.24). See also W. Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge(Albany, NY, 1989), pp. 3013.

12. Cf.Fuss, 'Aff, p. 108; seeBezels, p. 132.

13. See Thursday Morning Prayer: In Your hand is the compulsive power holding sway

over hearts and forelocks. 'To You the whole affair is returned', irrespective of obedienceor disobedience. Ibn 'Arab, Wird(London, 1979), p. 39. See also, The Seven Days of

the Heart, trans. P. Beneito and S. Hirtenstein (Oxford, 2000), p. 104.

14.Fut. II.563.23.

15.Fut. I.255.18. See also W. Chittick, The Self-Disclosure of God(Albany, NY, 1998),

p. 224.

16.BurseviFuss, p. 564. See also Sufi Path, pp. 297, 300.

17. SeeFuss, 'Aff, p. 109;Bezels, p. 132.

18. Q.3: 182.

19.Fut. IV.182.12.

20.Fut. IV.182.11. Hd is the sura within which Go straight as you have been

commanded (Q. 11: 112) is revealed. See also Sufi Path, p. 300 and the end of thechapter on Jacob,Fuss, 'Aff, pp. 989;Bezels, pp. 11718. In the epilogue to his

Mashhid al-asrr, Ibn 'Arab affirms that The straight path is finer than a hair and

sharper than a sword; no one can adhere to it except the people under God's special care.See Ibn 'Arab, Contemplation of the Holy Mysteries, trans. C. Twinch and P. Beneito

(Oxford, 2001), p. 120.

21.Fut. III.411.22.

22. Whoever believes that (God) is like such and such, He appears to him in the form ofhis belief.Fut. III.411.26. Cf. alsoFuss, 'Aff, p. 124;Bezels, p. 152; Sufi Path pp.

3023.

23. Q. 2: 115.

24.Fuss, 'Aff, p. 113.


12/12

25. Q. 2: 115.

26.Fuss, 'Aff, p. 72. SeeBezels, p. 78.

27. SeeFuss, 'Aff, p. 114;Bezels, p. 138.

28. Q. 12: 108.

29. Cf.Q. 40: 7 often quoted by Ibn 'Arab. See, for example, Self-Disclosure, p. 329.

30. Q. 50: 37.

31.Fuss, 'Aff, p. 122. SeeBezels, p. 150;BurseviFuss, p. 607.

32. Cf.Fut. III.506.30. See Sufi Path, pp. 37581.

33.Fut. IV.76.35.

34.Fuss, 'Aff, p. 122. SeeBezels, p. 151.

35.Fut. IV.14.13. See also Self-Disclosure, p. 226.

36. Cf.Fut. IV.77.3.

37.Fut. III. 405.4. Cf. Q. 20: 50 and Sufi Path, p. 297.

38. Cf. Q. 3: 101; Saturday Morning Prayer, Wird, p. 52; Seven Days, p. 135.

39.Fut. IV.146.5. With reference to the ruling (hukm) which makes the hair of a youth

go white, in this context seealso Self-Disclosure, p. 80.

40.Fut. IV.40.1.

41. Q. 41: 53.

42.Fuss, 'Aff, p. 203. See also the Wisdom of Moses inBezels, p. 257.

Return to the top of the page

UK: [email protected] P.O. Box 892, Oxford, OX2 7XL, UK +44 1865

511963

USA: [email protected] P.O. Box 45, Berkeley, CA 94701-0045, USA
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

Documents

Circle of Inclusion