Ibn ?Arab??s Religious Pluralism

This book marks a significant contribution to the debate around Ibn ?Arab??s religious pluralism, focusing on his multifaceted approach to non-Abrahamic religions.

For nearly eight hundred years, the writings and ideas of the great Spanish Sufi master Ibn ?Arab? have shaped Islamic intellectual and spiritual culture, from North and West Africa and France on the one hand, to Iran, the Levant, Central Asia, and the Far East on the other. Modern scholarship on the ?Greatest Master? is consequently at an all-time high. This book weighs in on a well-known aspect of his religious worldview, namely his perspective on religious pluralism, but does so from an entirely different angle. Offering a very close reading of his major works, newly translated by the author, and paying particular attention to a highly developed celestial metaphor prompted by his encounter with a group of pagan sun-worshippers, the book offers new insights into the nature and scope of Ibn ?Arab??s understanding of Islamic inclusivism. Ultimately, the book contributes to our understanding of both interfaith dialogue and the history of world religions through the prism of Ibn ?Arab??s work.

The book will be of particular interest to students and scholars working in a range of fields, including Islamic philosophy, Sufism, and intellectual history.

"Developed to answer an inquiry on the exact scope of the religious pluralism of 13^th century Muslim Polymath and Sufi, Ibn ?Arab?, this valuable study unravels the strata of complexity in the trends of pluralism one finds in Ibn ?Arab??s writings on religions. Acknowledging the taken-for-granted belief in his pluralism, the author invites us to reconsider the nature and extent of this pluralism from the perspective of the theology of religions? tripod of ?exclusivism-inclusivism-pluralism?, and he argues that this religious plurality can be better interpreted from the perspective of the notion of inclusivism: Ibn ?Arab? was, rather, inclusivist in his approach to other religions, as he believed that the Muhammadan Law includes all of them under its jurisdiction. Eventually, we are offered a fresh, inviting and far from simplistically reductionist examination of Ibn ?Arab??s legacy into ?pluralist-or-not-pluralist? conundrum. The book will be quite useful to scholars and students, and will ably invite deeper explorations and greater intertextuality of the heritage of this very important Muslim scholar."

Najib George Awad, International Center for Comparative Theology and Social Issues (CTSI), Bonn University, Germany 

"This book makes a significant contribution to the ongoing interpretative debate surrounding Ibn ?Arab?'s stance on religious pluralism, a key issue in the emerging field of Islamic Theology of Religions. It skillfully avoids simplistic, partial, or ideological interpretations, offering instead a more complex and nuanced perspective."

Adnane Mokrani, Pontificia Universit? Gregoriana, Italy

"A thought-provoking contribution to Akbarian studies that will generate much debate and discussion."

Mohammed Rustom, author of Inrushes of the Heart: The Sufi Philosophy of ?Ayn al-Qu??t, Carleton University, Canada

"Ibn 'Arab? is considered a proponent of the doctrine of the unity of religions (wahdat al-adyân) but the Shaykh al-Akbar is first and foremost a Muhammadan, one who places the Reality of the Prophet at the summit of every spiritual hierarchy. He cannot be enclosed in any ?perennialism? that flattens the exclusivity of this rank. Nonetheless, it is precisely the all-inclusiveness of this function that brings all other religions under the authority of the Prophet and justifies them as a corollary of the doctrine of the Oneness of Being (wahdat al-wuj?d). Dr. Abdel-hadi?s book enters into the dynamics of this perspective with an unprecedented depth, and his book poses a challenge in understanding the universal dimension of Akbarian thought."

Paolo Urizzi, Faculty of Oriental and Comparative Philosophy, Istituto di Scienze Umane, Italy