Ibn ʻArabi in the later Islamic tradition
Subtitle: the making of a polemical image in medieval Islam
By: Alexander D. Knysh.
Series: SUNY series in Islam
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 1999
Place of publication: Albany
Language: eng
Number of pages: 449
Subjects: Ibn al-ʻArabī, 1165-1240; Sufism
Description: This book examines the fierce theological controversy over the great Muslim mystical thinker Ibn 'Arabi (1165-1242). Even during his lifetime, Ibn 'Arabi's conformity with the letter of the Muslim dogma was called into doubt by many scholars who were suspicious of the monistic (unitive) tendencies of his metaphysical teaching, of his claims to be the Prophet's successor and restorer of the true meaning of the Islamic revelation, and of his allegorical interpretation of the Qur'an.

In thoroughly analyzing the heated debates around Ibn 'Arabi's ideas throughout the three centuries following his death, this study brings out discursive strategies and arguments employed by the polemicists, the hidden agendas they pursued, and the reasons for the striking longevity of the issue in Islamic literature up to the present day.

On the theoretical level, this book reassesses the validity of such common dichotomies as orthodoxy versus heresy, mainstream versus mystical interpretations of Islam, and communalism versus individualism as well as other issues related to the history of Islamic thought.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 347-424) and indexes.