The Universe as Mirror: Ecstatic Knowledge in the Thought of Ibn al-Arabī

His full name is Muhyiddin Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Ali Ibn Muhammad Ibn Ahmed Ibn Ali al-Arabi. Known as Ibn Arabi or “al-Shaykh al-Akbar” (the Greatest Sheikh), he was born in 1165 in Murcia, Al-Andalus (modern-day Spain). His family held a significant social status, with his father serving in government. From childhood, he had a strong spiritual sensitivity which deepened over time. It is said that he often visited cemeteries, communicating with spirits and experiencing certain visions.

Upon reaching a certain age, he traveled through Al-Andalus and North Africa to study within Sufi orders. He received spiritual guidance from 71 Sufi masters, four of whom were women. During these journeys, he claimed to have made profound metaphysical discoveries. Ibn Arabi described being overwhelmed by a kind of divine attraction or ecstatic trance (wajd or jazbah). He recounted that his spiritual episodes began at a celebration when, as he was about to sip from a wine cup, a divine voice said, “Muhammad (his name), you were not created for this.”

He stated that Jesus was his first spiritual guide and teacher. While in seclusion at a cemetery, the Prophet Muhammad spoke to him from the top of a mountain saying, “Hold on to Me and you will be safe.” From that moment, Ibn Arabi took Muhammad as his ultimate role model and became a devoted student of his hadiths.

Undoubtedly, his greatest spiritual vision was his experience of the Mi’raj (ascension). He described it as a spiritual journey akin to the Prophet’s bodily ascension through the seven heavens to the Divine Presence. Riding on his spiritual “Buraq,” he traveled through seven celestial spheres, each governed by a prophet. Beyond the seventh heaven lies the ultimate goal of every ascension, the “Sidrat al-Muntaha” (The Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary), as mentioned in the Qur’an. Here, he realized, in his own words, “there is nothing except light.” Despite the multiplicity of God’s names, attributes, and actions, he understood that all point to a single Being. He grasped that “The journey I made was actually inward, and the path shown to me was also toward myself.”

Ibn Arabi extensively wrote on the reality that God’s existence cannot be confined to human intellect. He stated that the cosmos is the Word of God, reflecting God’s names or His self-manifestation through those names. God’s Essence (Dhāt), attributes, and names, together with the universe and all beings within it, are actually one existence. However, Ibn Arabi distinguishes between God’s unknowable Essence (Dhāt) and His knowable names. Explaining their relationship, he uses a phrase from the kalām tradition: The names are neither identical with God Himself nor completely separate from Him.

In his explanation, the universe, simplified, consists of the words whispered by God. Based on Qur’an 16:40 (“When We will a thing, We only say to it ‘Be,’ and it is”), Ibn Arabi speaks of three divine elements: 1. God’s Essence (the “We” pronoun), from the perspective of His self-manifestation; 2. God’s Will; and 3. God’s command “Be.” Opposite these divine elements are three corresponding elements of fixed entities: 1. their “thingness” or potential existence as entities; 2. their hearing ability; and 3. their obedience to God’s command “Be.” God breathed His names into existence in His first breath, thus creating the fixed entities, and His second breath turned them into actual things. According to Ibn Arabi, fixed entities create themselves because they obey God’s command. In other words, their potential to exist becomes actualized through the divine command.

He elaborates on this extensively in his magnum opus, Al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya (The Meccan Revelations). In this work, he discusses the sanctity of letters and their divine representations, including the Abjad numerological system. Ibn Arabi’s profound knowledge of the science of words was preserved and developed by his disciples after his passing.

Among them was Imam Ahmad ibn al-Buni, who wrote the famous esoteric text Shams al-Ma‘ārif al-Kubrā (The Great Sun of Knowledge), which caused significant controversy in the Islamic world. The book, commonly known today as Shams al-Ma‘ārif, was written by Ibn al-Buni as an esoteric work based on Ibn Arabi’s studies of letters and words. However, later misuse of the text by ill-intentioned people led it to be labeled as a book of magic and considered dangerous. At the very beginning of his book, al-Buni clearly states that the knowledge it contains is meant for positive, protective, and spiritual uplifting purposes—not for harm or malicious sorcery. In the Islamic esoteric tradition, such texts are generally seen not as tools of black magic or evil intent, but as means to deepen connection with the Divine and understand unseen realities.

Ibn Arabi traveled to Mecca to visit the Kaaba, which he called the “heart of existence” (Qalb al-Wujud). There, he fell in love with a woman and composed Tarjumān al-Ashwāq (The Interpreter of Desires), a collection of love poems. In his poetry, he portrays human desires as not random, but as manifestations of the soul’s longing to reunite with the Divine Reality. He reflects the divine feelings of love he experiences toward God as the source of all love.

According to Ibn Arabi, the limited concept of God imagined by human intellect, and worshipped as such, is a form of shirk (associating partners with God). This limited conception represents only one aspect of the true God. People worship this imagined God and oppose other conceptions beyond their own. Ibn Arabi teaches that when a person discovers their true self and attains true knowledge of existence, they transcend such limited notions and grasp the real knowledge of God. At that point, they realize that every conception of God and every form of religious belief is an expression or reflection of the Absolute Divine. For God is everything, but He is not limited or confined by His creation.

Another consequence of Ibn Arabi’s understanding of the unity of existence is the metaphysical view that all religions are equal, as they are all manifestations of God’s self-disclosure. For those who know how to see, God is everywhere, and for those who seek to worship Him, all religions are expressions of His self-manifestation.

In his writings, the loving words he uses about himself are, in truth, words attributed to God, as the source and essence of his being. In Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam (The Bezels of Wisdom), he writes:

“I am both Majnun and Layla; both lover and beloved.I am both the disciple and my own sheikh;both the traveler and the destination.”

He also explains that between the mystic and union with God there is nothing but non-existence—i.e., nothingness itself. Existence is nothing other than God. God is the very Essence that contemplates Himself in every eye that sees Him. The only veil between the lover and the Beloved is creation, and the lover cannot remove this veil because it is his own essence. The universe is both a veil and a mirror reflecting God. States of ecstatic rapture are moments when this veil is lifted.

Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam contains the metaphor of the “Universal Tree,” representing both the Perfect Man and the earthly reflection of Divine Reality.

In Mecca, Ibn Arabi wrote the monumental Al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya (The Meccan Revelations), which explains the secrets of the universe and humanity, elaborates on the doctrine of Wahdat al-Wujūd (Unity of Existence), and comprehensively explores the journey of the soul’s reunion with God, the metaphysical structure of the cosmos, and the profound truths of Sufism.

I have tried to convey Ibn Arabi’s journey and his understanding of God and the cosmos as best as I could. But you will appreciate that he is such a profound scholar that it is difficult to fully grasp him even with tens of thousands of pages of his writings, let alone a single article. While writing this piece, I consulted dozens of his works and often felt lost in an ocean of knowledge and interest, fearing I might have forgotten to include important details—which is only natural, for is not forgetfulness (nisyan) itself a human trait?

This article is for anyone interested. May we one day fully understand Ibn Arabi and thousands of other Sufi masters like him.

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References

• Ibn Arabi. Al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya.

• Ibn Arabi. Fusus Al-Hikam.

• Abrahamov, Binyamin. Ibn al-'Arabī's Fuşüş al-Hikam: An Annotated Translation of "The Bezels of Wisdom". 2015.

• Bursevi, İsmail Hakkı. Lübb'ül Lüb. 1912.

• Jaffray, Angela, translator. The Universal Tree and the Four Birds. 2006.

• Let's Talk Religion. (2022, March 15). Shams al-Ma'arif [Video]. YouTube.

• İbnü’l-Arabî, Muhyiddin. El-Fütûhâtü’l-Mekkiyye. TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, 1996.