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Sh. Muhyiddin Ibn al-ʿArabī

And the Unfolding of the Islamic Intellectual Tradition

As Interpreted By

Professor William C. Chittick

Edited and Slides by OmarKN



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Slides 01 - 31


10b Knowing - - Recognizing

The locus classicus for the intellectual tradition’s use of the word maʿrifa is the famous maxim, ‘Whoever recognizes himself recognizes his Lord.’ Most people, including myself, have translated this as ‘Whoever knows himself knows his Lord.’[9]

But when we use the word know in this saying and then bring up the topic of gnostics, we miss the connection – especially when the verb ‘recognize’ is used repeatedly in the discussion, as is so often the case.[10]

In terms of this saying, the ‘recognizers’ are those who have recognized themselves for who they truly are and, as a consequence, have recognized the Real for who He truly is.

Once they achieve this recognition, they have reached what Samʿān calls ‘the heart’s life with God,’ a point that can be inferred from a saying of Ab Yazd Bastm (d.ca.874) often cited by Ibn al-ʿArab: ‘You take your knowledge dead from the dead, but I take my knowledge from the Living who does not die.’


Original Title: The Doorway to an Intellectual Tradition, William C. Chittick, [pdf]


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Slides List

01 What Is the Intellectual Tradition?
02 The Final Goal of All Islamic Learning
03 Muhyil-Dīn ibn al-ʿArabī's Living Legacy
04 Statement of tawhīd - No True Reality but the Reality of the Real
05 Passing Beyond Illusory Life & Joining With Real Life
06 The Heart Is the Center of Human Life and Consciousness
07 Achieving The Hearts Life With God: maʿrifa
08 The Distinction Between ʿilm and maʿrifa
09 Knowledge That Comes Inside = maʿrifa = an Unmediated Knowing
10a Knowledge From the Outside: naqlī / ʿaqlī, Intellectual
10b Knowing - - Recognizing
10c Transmitted Knowledge / Intellectual Knowledge
11a Religion Is Based on Transmitted Knowledge
11b In Terms of Being Based on Transmitted Knowledge
12 Metaphysics - Its Subject Matter: The Real
13 Ibn al-ʿArabī's Overall Worldview Rooted in the Real Being
14 The Islamic Worldview: Descent Sustainance Reintegration
15 The Entire Cosmos: the Breath of the All-Merciful
16 The Ascent Back to the One - Human Beings
17a Any Worldview Depends on Transmitted Knowledge
17b Relative, Perspectival Truth in the Context of Absolute Reality
18 Taqlīd - Following the Authority of a Mujtahid
19 The Mindful Acknowledgement of tawhīd
20 Discover the Reality of Things Within Yourself!
21 Discovering the Truth in the Heart: tahqīq, realization
22 Sh. Muhyiddin Ibn al-ʿArabī: muhaqqiq, realizer Of the Truth
23 Translation of ʿaql – Intelligence or Intellect – as Reason - No!
24 Wujūd
25 Ibn al-ʿArabī's Critique of the Philosophers
26a Climbing the Ladder – the miʿrāj – of Inner Realization
26b The Multifarious Dimensions of the Muhammadan Station
27a The Importance of the Prophets as the Source of Guidance for Realization
27b The Ultimate Goal: The Perfect Human Being
28 Seeing the Real With Vision of Transcendence and Immanence
29a On Recognizing the Alchemy of Felicity
29b Seeing With Both Eyes – Intellect and Illumined Imagination
29c Encountering the Spiritual Realities of the Prophets
30 True Insight Into the World of Nondelimited Imagination
31 Perfection Demands Realizing the Real in the Full Expanse


Recognition is intelligence finding the truth and reality of things within itself.
…and it is also the very existence of the mind and heart.
A quote from the presentation

Related texts
link-inMuhyiddīn Ibn ʿArabi, Presentation of 30 Texts


[9] Ibn al-ʿArab (and many others) attributes this saying to the Prophet and quotes it repeatedly. Al-Ghazl says that the saying is by ʿAl, and scholars of the transmitted learning consider this more likely.

[10] Regarding recognition: slide 10b

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* Living Islam – Islamic Tradition *