Philosophical Sufism

Analyzing the intersection between Sufism and philosophy, this volume is a sweeping examination of the mystical philosophy of Mu?yi-l-Din Ibn al-?Arabi (d. 637/1240), one of the most influential and original thinkers of the Islamic world. This book systematically covers Ibn al-?Arabi¿s ontology, theology, epistemology, teleology, spiritual anthropology and eschatology.

While philosophy uses deductive reasoning to discover the fundamental nature of existence and Sufism relies on spiritual experience, it was not until the school of Ibn al-?Arabi that philosophy and Sufism converged into a single framework by elaborating spiritual doctrines in precise philosophical language. Contextualizing the historical development of Ibn al-?Arabi¿s school, the work draws from the earliest commentators of Ibn al-?Arabi¿s oeuvre, ?adr al-Din al-Qunawi (d. 673/1274), ?Abd al-Razzaq al-Kashani (d. ca. 730/1330) and Dawud al-Qay?ari (d. 751/1350), but also draws from the medieval heirs of his doct