Sh. Muhyiddin Ibn al-ʿArabī

02 The Final Goal of All Islamic Learning

The philosophers or Sufis held that the final goal of all Islamic learning – and, indeed, of all religion – is to awaken people to their own intellectual and spiritual nature, which is the divine image found in the heart. One of the most famous members of this tradition – al-Ghazālī – sums up its role in the title of his magnum opus, Ihyā Ulūmu-ddīn: ‘Giving Life to Religious Knowledge.’ It is certainly not without relevance that Ibn al-ʿArabī came to be called Muhyi’d-Dīn (‘He who gives life to the religion’).^[2]