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Who was Ibn Arabi?
He was a prominent Sufi; in fact he was an extreme Sufi. His name
was Muhammad ibn ‘Ali ibn Muhammad al-Taa’i al-Andalusi. The scholars have
told us about him in response to a question which was put to them. The
question was as follows:
What do the imaams of the religion and the guides of the Muslims say
about a book which has been circulating among the people, the author of
which claims that he wrote it and distributed it to people by permission
of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) which was given to him in a dream which he claims to have seen? Most
of this book contradicts what Allaah revealed in His Books and is opposed
to what His Prophets said.
Among the things that he says in this book are: Adam was called
insaan because in relation to the truth (Al-Haqq), he was like
the pupil [insaan] of the eye, the part that can see.
Elsewhere he said: Al-Haqq which is transcendent is the
physical creation which you can see.
Concerning the people of Nooh he said: if they had turned away from
their worship of [their idols] Wudd, Siwaa’, Yaghooth and Ya’ooq, they
would have lost more of Al-Haqq.
Then he said: Every object of worship is a manifestation of Al-Haqq.
Those who know it, know it, and those who do not know it, do not know it.
The one who has knowledge knows what he is worshipping and in what image
the object of his worship is manifested. These many and varied
manifestations are like the limbs of a physical image.
Then he said concerning the people of Hood: They reached a true state
of closeness (to Allaah) and were no longer remote. The heat of Hell no
longer affected them and they gained the blessing of closeness to Allaah
because they deserved it. They were not given this delicious experience as
a favour, but because they deserved it as a result of the essence of their
deeds, for they were on a straight path.
Then he denied the idea of the warning against those of mankind
against whom the word of punishment is justified.
Should the one who believes in what he says be denounced as a kaafir,
or should we accept what he says, or what? If the person who listens to
him is an adult of sound mind, and does not denounce him by speaking or in
his heart, is he a sinner, or what?
Please explain to us clearly and with proof, as Allaah has taken the
covenant from the scholars on that basis, for negligence [on the part of
the scholars] causes a great deal of confusion to the ignorant.
(The author) mentioned the response of some of the
scholars:
Al-Qaadi Badr al-Deen ibn Jamaa’ah said:
The passages quoted, and other similar parts of this book, are bid’ah
and misguidance, evil and ignorance. The religiously-committed Muslim
would not pay any heed to them or bother to read the book to find out
more.
Then he said:
His words about Adam, that he is the pupil of the eye, and his
likening Allaah to His creation, and his remark that ‘Al-Haqq which
is transcendent is the physical creation which you can see’ – if by ‘Al-Haqq’
he is referring to the Lord of the Worlds – is a clear statement of
anthropomorphism [likening Allaah to His creation] and he has taken this
notion to extremes.
With regard to his denial of what has been narrated in the Qur’aan
and Sunnah concerning the warning: this makes him a kaafir in the view of
the scholars of the followers of Tawheed.
His comments about the people of Nooh and of Hood is vain and false
talk which deserves to be rejected. The best way of dealing with that is
to destroy this and all other similar passages of his book, for it is no
more than fancy words, an expression of baseless ideas and an attempt to
introduce into the religion ideas that do not belong to it. The ruling on
this is that it should be rejected and ignored. (Ibid., p. 29, 30).
Khateeb al-Qal’ah Shaykh Shams al-Deen Muhammad ibn Yoosuf al-Jazari
al-Shaafa’i said:
Praise be to Allaah. His comment about Adam being called insaan
is anthropomorphism [likening Allaah to His creation] and is a lie and
falsehood. His belief that the idol-worship of the people of Nooh was
valid is kufr. Anyone who says such a thing cannot be approved of. His
comment that ‘Al-Haqq which is transcendent is the physical
creation which you can see’ is false and contradictory, and it is also
kufr. His comment that the people of Hood had reached a true state of
closeness (to Allaah) is a lie against Allaah, and by saying this, he has
rejected what Allaah said about them. His remark that they were no longer
remote and that Hell became a blessing and a joy for them is a lie and a
rejection of everything that was revealed to the Prophets; the truth of
the matter is what Allaah said about that, that they (the people of Hood)
will abide in the torment forever.
Concerning those who believe what he says – and he knows what he
said – the same ruling applies to them as to him: that they are misguided kaafirs, if they have knowledge. If they do not have knowledge, then the
person who says that out of ignorance should be told the truth and taught
about it, and should be stopped if possible.
His denial of the warning to all people is a lie and a rejection of
the consensus (ijmaa’) of the Muslims. No doubt Allaah will bring about
the punishment. Islam offers definitive evidence that a group of sinners
from among the believers will be punished, and the one who denies that is
regarded as a kaafir. May Allaah protect us from wrong belief and denying
the Resurrection. (Ibid., p. 31, 32).
Ibn Taymiyah said:
The Muslims, Christians and Jews all know something which is a basic
principle of the Muslims’ religion: that whoever says of any human being
that he is a part of God is a kaafir, he is regarded as a disbeliever by
all these religions. Even the Christians do not say this, although their
belief is a major form of kufr; no one says that the essence of creation
is part of the Creator, or that the Creator is the creation, or that
Al-Haqq which is transcendent is the physical creation which you can
see.
Similarly, his remark that if the Mushrikeen turn away from
idol-worship, they will have turned away from Al-Haqq to the extent
that they have abandoned idol-worship, is obviously kufr according to the
basic principle that is common to all the religions. For the religions are
agreed that all the Prophets forbade idol-worship and regarded as
disbelievers those who did that; the believer cannot be a believer unless
he disavows himself of worshipping idols and of everything that is
worshipped instead of Allaah. As Allaah says (interpretation of the
meaning);
“Indeed there has been an excellent example for you in Ibraaheem
(Abraham) and those with him, when they said to their people: ‘Verily, we
are free from you and whatever you worship besides Allaah, we have
rejected you, and there has started between us and you, hostility and
hatred for ever until you believe in Allaah Alone’” [al-Mumtahanah 60:4]
-- and he quoted other aayaat as proof -- then he said:
Whoever says that if the idol-worshippers give up their idols, they
will have turned away from Al-Haqq to the extent that they have
abandoned idol-worship, is an even worse kaafir than the Jews and
Christians, and the one who does not regard them as kaafirs is an even
worse kaafir than the Jews and Christians, for the Jews and Christians
regard idol-worshippers as disbelievers, so how about one who says that
the one who gives up idol-worship has turned away from Al-Haqq to
the extent that he has abandoned idol-worship?! Let alone the fact that
he says, The one who has knowledge knows what he is worshipping and in
what image the object of his worship is manifested. These many and varied
forms are like the limbs of a physical image and the energy in a spiritual
image; nothing but Allaah is being worshipped in everything that is
worshipped. He is an even greater kaafir than the worshippers of idols,
for they only take them as intercessors and mediators, as Allaah says
(interpretation of the meaning): “Have they taken (others) as intercessors besides Allaah? Say: “Even if they have power over nothing whatever and have no intelligence?” [al-Zumar 39:43]
They acknowledged that Allaah is the Creator of the heavens and the
earth, and the Creator of the idols, as Allaah says (interpretation of the
meaning):
“And verily, if you
ask them: ‘Who created the heavens and the earth?’ Surely, they will say:
‘Allaah (has created them)’” [al-Zumar 39:38] (Ibid., 21-23)
Shaykh al-Islam also said:
When the faqeeh Abu Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Salaam came to Cairo and
they asked him about Ibn ‘Arabi, he said:
He is a vile and evil shaykh who says that the world is eternal and
does not see anything haraam in any sexual relationship.
He mentioned the belief that the world is eternal because this is
what [Ibn ‘Arabi] believed, but this is well-known form of kufr and the
faqeeh Abu Muhammad denounced him as a kaafir because of this. At that
time Ibn ‘Arabi had not yet said that the universe was God or the universe
was the image and essence of God. This is a greater form of kufr because
those who say that the universe is eternal still believe that there had to
be Someone Who brought it into existence, that from the One Who must exist
comes that which may exist. Those shaykhs who met him [Ibn ‘Arabi] said
that he was a liar and a fabricator, and that in his books such as al-Futoohaat
al-Makkiyyah etc. there were lies which could not be concealed from
any intelligent person.
Then he said:
I have not even mentioned one-tenth of what they mentioned about kufr,
but people who do not know about them have been deceived by these ideas,
just as they were deceived by the Baatini Qaraamitah when they claimed to
be descendents of Faatimah and said that they belonged to the Shee’ah, so
the Shee’ah began to like them without knowing of their hidden kufr. So
the person who is attracted to them is one of two things: either he is a
heretic and hypocrite, or he is misguided and ignorant. With regard to
these pantheists (ittihaadiyoon), their leaders are the leaders of kufr
and must be executed, and their repentance cannot be accepted if they are
seized before they repent, for they are among the greatest heretics, those
who make an outward display of being Muslim whilst concealing kufr in
their hearts, those who conceal their beliefs and their opposition to
Islam. Everyone who follows them, who defends them, who praises them, who
admires their books, who is known to help them, who does not like to speak
against them or who makes excuses for them by saying that we do not know
exactly what these statements mean, who says ‘How can we be sure that he
wrote this book?’ and other excuses which no one but an ignorant person or
a hypocrite would come up with, must be punished.
Indeed, it is obligatory to punish everyone who knows about them but
does not help to resist them, because campaigning against these people is
one of the most serious duties, for they have corrupted the minds and
religious belief of many shaykhs, scholars, kings and princes, and they
are spreading corruption throughout the world, preventing people from
following the path of Allaah. The harm that they cause to the religion is
greater than that done by those who damage the worldly interests of the
Muslims but leave their religion alone, such as bandits on the highways
and the Tatars (Mongols) who took their wealth but left their religion
alone. Those who do not know them should not underestimate the danger they
pose. Their own misguidance and the extent to which they misguide others
defies description.
Then he said:
Whoever thinks well of them and claims not to know how they really
are should be informed about them. If he does not then turn his back on
them and denounce them, then he should be classed as one of them.
Whoever says that their words could be interpreted in such a way
that it does not contradict sharee’ah is one of their leaders and imaams.
If he is intelligent, he should know what they really are. But if he
believes in it and behaves like this openly and in secret, then he is a
worse kaafir than the Christians.
Ibn Hajar said:
Some confusing words of Ibn ‘Arabi were mentioned to our master
Shaykh al-Islam Siraaj al-Deen al-Balqeeni, and he was asked about Ibn
‘Arabi. Our Shaykh al-Balqeeni said: he is a kaafir.
Ibn Khaldoon said:
Among these Sufis are: Ibn ‘Arabi, Ibn Saba’een, Ibn Barrajaan and
their followers who follow their path and their religion. They have many
books in circulation that are filled with blatant kufr and repugnant
bid’ahs, trying to interpret clear texts in very far-fetched and repugnant
ways, such that the reader is astounded that anyone could attribute such
things to Islam.
Al-Subki said:
These later Sufis, such as Ibn ‘Arabi and his
followers, are misguided and ignorant and beyond the pale of Islam; those
among them who have knowledge are even worse.
Abu Zar’ah ibn al-Haafiz al-‘Iraaqi said:
Undoubtedly the famous book Al-Fusoos contains blatant kufr,
as does al-Futoohaat al-Makkiyyah. If it is true that he wrote this
and continued to believe in it until he died, then he is a kaafir who is
doomed to eternity in Hell, no doubt about it.
So how can any sane person say that these brilliant scholars did not
understand Ibn ‘Arabi? If they did not understand him, who can?
An incident from which we learn a lesson:
Al-Faasi said:
I heard our companion al-Haafiz al-Hujjah al-Qaadi Shihaab al-Deen
Ahmad ibn ‘Ali ibn Hajar al-Shaafa’i say: there were many disputes about
Ibn ‘Arabi between me and one of those who like Ibn ‘Arabi, until I
insulted him because of the bad things that he had said, but that did not
make the man change his mind. He threatened to complain about me to the Sultaan in Egypt with regard to a matter that was different from that
which we were arguing about, just to cause trouble for me. I said to him:
the Sultaan has nothing to do with this! Come, let us make Mubaahalah
[call our sons, our wives and ourselves and pray and invoke the Curse of
Allaah upon those who lie – cf. Aal ‘Imraan 3:61]. It is very rare, when
people make Mubaahalah and one of them is lying, for that one to go
unpunished. So he said to me, ‘Bismillaah’ [i.e, he agreed]. And I said to
him: ‘Say: O Allaah, if Ibn ‘Arabi is misguided, then curse me with Your
Curse’ – so he said that. Then I said, O Allaah, if Ibn ‘Arabi is
rightly-guided, then curse me with Your Curse. Then we parted. Then we met
in a park in Egypt on a moonlit night, and he said to us, Something soft
touched my leg, look! So we looked but we did not see anything. Then he
checked his eyes and he could not see anything (i.e., Allaah had afflicted
him with blindness).
This is the meaning of what Al-Haafiz Shihaab al-Deen ibn Hajar al-‘Asqallaani
told me.
This is how this man has misguided and deceived those who are
seeking the truth and who want to follow the path of right guidance. He is
a heretic who was not ahead of his time in any way except in misguidance
and kufr. He does not possess any light or wisdom; on the contrary he is
in the depths of darkness and ignorance.
We have quoted the words of scholars other than Ibn Taymiyah,
to point out the kufr of Ibn ‘Arabi, so that people should not think that Ibn Taymiyah was the only one who denounced him as a kaafir. |
