Ibn Al-Arabi

     Although Wujud can also be interpreted as being/existence, the Sufis use the term wujud to stand for the opening up to the inrushes of knowledge and awareness. Thus, wujud means an ecstatic discovering of the truth. Ibn al-Arabi sees the two senses of wujud (being/existence and “listening”) as essentially identical; in short, we find the existence of God through listening to the divine speech. Gods reveals himself as light, to which he assigns whomsoever he wills. Like wujud, light is both ontological and epistemological. the receiving of light by the individual is called by many names, self-disclosure being the most common one. Since knowledge is intrinsic to light, God gives knowledge through light. Self-disclosure is of many types such as that from light with rays and light without rays. Ibn al-Arabi uses a number of terms to refer to perception of gods self-disclosure, the most general being “unveiling” (kashf). One of the words that is used as a virtual synonym for unveiling is “tasting” (dhawq). Unveiling usually means something that one sees outside of himself, while tasting usually means something one sees inside oneself. That which comes from God is always colored by the receptacle that receives it which is important from ibn al-Arabi’s perspective since this explains the diversity of views found within Islam and religions in general. This explains why every gnostic has a different description of Islam- i.e. each person that has travelled the path to God speaks from his own viewpoint and recalls his own experience. The forms in which the Real shows Himself are not the real Himself but the veils that hide the essence.

     The ideal rational faculty is used to accept unveiling and not to try to go beyond its limitations by reflection. Hence the virtue of reason is to accept unveiling and revelation. The only goal of rational reflection is to recognize the existence and unity of God. This is important because if one fails to use reason, he can risk associating other gods with God. The Arabic word qur’an means to gather together everything in an all comprehensive way. The Qur’an thus gathers together all other scriptures that were sent down before it and therefore all knowledge of God. Muhammad is seen as the perfect and all comprehensive prophet. Ibn al-Arabi gives long and frequent commentaries to show his superiority over all other messengers, prophets, and friends of God. Muhammad was a prophet even when Adam had not yet been created.  the law of the qur’an has been set down through him. Many commentators will describes ibn al-Arabi’s interpretation of the Qur’an as out of context given that modern scholars interpret the Qur’an through historical and literary contexts and traditional Muslims interpret it as the speech of God, escaping all attempts to delimit and define it. However contemporary rational faculties cannot be described as sound since they are the products of a materialistic age. A sound rational faculty would at least have faith in the divine origin of the Qur’an. Once the divine origin is accepted, there it is a question of debate what god meant by certain passages. 

    Ibn al-Arabi sees major differences between the tasfir performed by the folk of Allah and the ta’wil of the men of reason.  Since the philosophers and theologians do not have unveiling, they try to pass from the inward esoteric sense to the outward exoteric sense. But in this crossover, they let go of the inward sense. God created no one more troublesome for the folk of Allah than the exoteric scholar. Yet the folk of Allah are the gnostics.  Every verse has a sense from within and a sense from without. The sense from within is called an “allusion,” by which they can defend themselves against the jurists and exoteric scholars with their unbelief. The exoteric scholars should take things into account when they interpret a verse with an outward sense. Some of these interpretations are better than others yet all of them walk the same path. Although the denounce the folk of Allah, the folk of Allah are the inheritors of the truth. The exoteric scholar believes he is one of the folk of Allah because of that which they know that surpasses the common people. However what god intends in his book is a type of mystical understanding. He is ignorant of those who say “god has given for me to understand.” Thus, a special place is reserved for the exoteric scholar along side the community where they can perform their calculations. He does not disrupt the folk of Allah but he can inform them from time to time.