“This translation by ‘Aisha at-Tarjumana of the Shaykh al-Akbar’s masterwork is an event of supreme significance for what is, at present, the dominant culture.”
Ibn al-‘Arabi, the Shaykh al-Akbar, the Sultan of the gnostics Muhyiddin Muhammad b. ‘Ali al-Hatimi at-Ta’i al-Andalusi, was born in Murcia on 17 Ramadan, 560 Hijra, and died in Damascus on 22 Rabi’ al-Akhar, 638 Hijra. Shaykh Sayyidi ‘Abd al-Wahhab ash-Sha’rani wrote a biography of him in his Tabaqat and said, “Among them was the Shaykh, the perfect gnostic, the realised, one of the great gnostics of Allah, Sayyidi Muhyiddin ibn al-‘Arabi, may Allah be pleased with him. The realised among the people of Allah — may He be magnified and exalted! — joined in respecting him in all the knowledges, as his books bear witness to that. None reject him except because of the fineness of his words.”
In the introduction to the book, The Rubies and Jewels in the Clarification of the Beliefs of the Great, by Sayyidi ‘Abd al-Wahhab ash-Sha’rani, it says:
“He, Ibn al-‘Arabi, may Allah be pleased with him, followed the Book and the Sunna. He said, ‘Whoever casts the balance of the Shari’a from his hand for an instant is destroyed.’ He said, ‘All that occurs to your mind, Allah ta‘ala is different from that.’ This is the creed of the muslim community until the Hour comes.”
Ash-Sha’rani also said:
“Imam Muhyiddin an-Nawawi was asked about Muhyiddin ibn al-‘Arabi. He said ‘He is from a community which has passed. Our judgement is that it is haram for any man of intellect to think evil of any of the awliya’ of Allah, may He be magnified and exalted! He must interpret their words and deeds until he has reached their degree, unfortunately the one lacking in success is not capable of that.’”
This work was considered by its author to be the summing up of his teaching on Tawhid, the unity of Allah.
No great writer in Islam has been so honoured by those who have read him or so slandered by those who have not.
