Introduction ix / Knowledge of the Cosmos xii / Ibn Arabi’s Basic Themes xvi / The Principles of Ibn Arabi’s Cosmology xxvii / The Breath of the All-Merciful xxviii / Cosmic Language xxxii / The Translator’s Dilemmas xxxv / A Note on Format xl
GOD AND THE COSMOS
1. Wujud and the Entities 3 / Signs, Marks, and Proofs 3 / Selves and Horizons 6 / Wujud 12 / From Chapter 73: The One Hundred and Third Question 16 / Causality 16 / God’s Knowledge 20 / Chapter 475: God’s Waymarks 22 / Chapter 411: The Precedent Book 25 / God’s Form 27 / The Nonexistent Entities 29 / From Chapter 463: The Third Pole 33 / Chapter 493: New Arrival 34 / From Chapter 369: The Storehouse of Lights 36 / The Entities and the Names 39 / Chapter 406: Nothing Has Become Manifest 40 / Chapter 451: The Stairs 41 / Thingness of Fixity 44
2. Perpetual Self-Disclosure 47 / Creation 47 / From Chapter 73: The Thirtieth Question 49 / From Chapter 558: The Presence of the Creation and the Command 50 / Self-Disclosure 52 / Unending Renewal 57 / From Chapter 558: The Presence of Bringing Back 65 / Infinity 66 / From Chapter 198: The All-Merciful Breath 69 / Chapter 524: God’s Infinite Words 70 / The One Entity 72 / From Chapter 360: The Ninth Deputyship 76 / From Chapter 198: The Twenty-First Tawhid 78 / Bewilderment in the Many and the One 79 / Chapter 507: Shame 79 / Chapter 542: Blindness 81 / Chapter 391: The Quick-Flowing Course 82 / Chapter 430: Bewilderment in Arrival 83 / From Chapter 369: Annihilation and Subsistence 84 / Chapter 473: Your God Is One God 86 / From Chapter 72: Trotting around the Kaabah 89
3. The Face of God 91 / The Face 91 / Perishment 92 / Chapter 165: Realization 96 / From Chapter 73: The Ninety-Seventh Question 98 / Discerning the Face 99 / From Chapter 351: Yielding 99 / Chapter 527: Desiring the Face 101 / The Veil 104 / Chapter 254: The Curtain 108 / Revelation 109 / Chapter 384: Mutual Way stations 112
4. Veils of Light 120 / The Veil of Self 120 / Occasions 123 / From Chapter 198: The Twenty-Fifth Tawhid 127 / From Chapter 198: The Thirty-Second Tawhid 127 / The Identity of the Veil and the Face 128 / From Chapter 370: The Path of Exaltation 132 / Chapter 514: Trust in God 134 / The Specific Face 135 / From Chapter 198: Depending on What Falls Short 139 / Witnessing the Specific Face 140 / From Chapter 379: The Servant of the Praiseworthy 146 / Chapter 265: The Arriver 148 / Chapter 396: The Veils of Knowledge 150 / From Chapter 369: The Storehouse of Teaching 152 / Glories 155 / Chapter 458: The Facial Glories 158 / From Chapter 558: The Presence of Light 159 / Chapter 100: The Station of Fear 161 / Chapter 101: The Station of Abandoning Fear 162
II THE ORDER OF THE WORLDS
5. The Roots of Order 167 / The Unity of Manyness 167 / Unity and Totality 170 / The Even and the Odd 173 / From Chapter 558: The Presence of Bringing Together 178 / Ranking in Excellence 181 / God’s Choices 186 / From Chapter 73: The Fifty-First Question 190 / From Chapter 72: Eating the Forbidden 191 / From Chapter 198: The Twenty-Third Tawhid 192 / Order 193 / From Chapter 360: The Sixth Deputyship 196 / From Chapter 369: The Storehouse of the Servant’s Posteriority 198
6. Divine and Cosmic Relations 201 / The First and the Last 202 / From Chapter 558: The Presence of Firstness 203 / From Chapter 558: The Presence of Lastness 203 / The Manifest and the Nonmanifest 205 / From Chapter 558: The Presence of Manifestation 208 / From Chapter 558: The Presence of Nonmanifestation 210 / Chapter 256: The Shining of the Full Moon 212 / Witnessing the Nonmanifest 214 / Chapter 472: Following the Most Beautiful 216 / Chapter 400: Manifest Mercy 219 / Chapter 394: Arrival through Courtesy 221 / The Center and the Circumference 223 / Chapter 410: The Circle of Mercy 225 / Circles of Wujud 227 / The Two Arcs 233 / Chapter 427: Two Bows’ Length 236 / Modalities of Wujud 237
7. The Worlds of the Cosmos 241 / Absent and Witnessed 243 / Chapter 492: Knowledge of the Absent 245 / From Chapter 369: The Storehouse of Nature 247 / Command and Creation 250 / Heaven and Earth 254 / From Chapter 73: The Forty-Third Question 255 / From Chapter 558: The Presence of the Food-Giver 256 / Two and Three Worlds 258 / From Chapter 69: On the Mysteries of the Night Salât 262
III THE STRUCTURE OF THE MICROCOSM
8. Spirits and Bodies 269 / Self and Soul 269 / Chapter 267: The Soul 270 / The Divine Spirit 271 / Governance 273 / Chapter 447: Essential Governance 274 / The Spirit from the Command 276 / Chapter 268: The Casting of Knowledge 277 / Bodies 279 / Corporeous Bodies 281 / The Rationally Speaking Soul 286 / Chapter 216: The Subtlety 291 / From Chapter 373: The Wisdom of the Inheritors 294 / Chapter 397: The Soul’s Ascent 301
9. The Natural Constitution 303 / Spirit and Nature 303 / Chapter 225: Increases 307 / The Light of Guidance 309 / From Chapter 71: Fasting on Sunday 314 / Chapter 418: Understanding 315 / From Chapter 73: The Twelfth Question 317 / Chapter 52: Weakness 318 / Constitution 322 / From Chapter 558: The Presence of All-Embracingness 329
10. The Imaginal Barzakh 331 / Imagination 332 / Appetite 339 / Imagination and Understanding 345 / Bodies Forever 349 / From Chapter 360: The Tenth Deputyship 355 / The Trumpet 357 / Chapter 302: The Spirit’s Subsistence 359 / From Chapter 369: The Storehouse of the Final Issue 364 / From Chapter 369: The Storehouse of Humanity 365 / From Chapter 198: The Real Situation 368
Appendix I: Ibn Arabi’s Views on Certain Sufis 371 / Appendix II: Translation of Technical Terms 387
Notes 389 Bibliography 409 Index of Sources 413 Index of Koranic Verses 421 Index of Hadiths and Sayings 433 Index of Proper Names 443 Index of Arabic Words 447 Index of Terms 455