Abstract

The ontology of Ibn al-Arabi is extensive and incredibly dense. This study uses previous works
on Arabi to provide an introduction to his ontology that is more comprehensible than the
primary sources and other works that are currently available. Existence, entities, Being,
imagination and manifestation of God are all covered here, as they are key concepts in Arabis
ontology. While this will in no way give a complete understanding, it is a good stepping stone to
the thoughts and philosophies of Arabi.

Existence and Entities:

An Introduction
To
Ibn al-Arabis Ontology
Cory Fitch
Muhyi al-Din Muhammad ibn Ali ibn al-Arabi (1165-1240 AD) is one of the most
famous Muslim spiritual authorities throughout history. He was called al-Shaykh al-Akbar, the
Greatest Master, by his followers and is commonly referred to as The Shaykh. It has been
estimated that Ibn al-Arabi wrote over seven hundred books, treatises and collections of poetry.
Arabis work covers hundreds of topics. Some of the major subjects include the Koran, Hadith,
the divine names and attributes, ontology, epistemology, and the Sharia .
In this paper, I will attempt to give an introduction to Arabis work concerning ontology.
Due to the shear amount of ideas and writings on the subject, this work will be an elucidation of
some of the key terms involved. It is my hope that this paper will help to give a basic
understanding of some of the most important issues in Arabis ontology. Specifically, it will
cover Existence, existents, possible things, entities, Manifestation and the loci of manifestation,
and the Self-disclosure and receptivity of Being. This can only scratch the surface of Arabis

thoughts on ontology, but it will function as a stepping stone into not only the rest of his
ontology, but also his work in nearly every other topic. One of the main sources of power and
authority of Arabis writings comes from the way each of his theories is so perfectly meshed
and coinciding with the next .
The majority of the clarification of terms will come from William C. Chitticks
definitions and clarifications in his book, The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn al-Arabis
Metaphysics of Imagination. Chittick bases the majority of his work on a reading of Arabis alFutuhat al-makkiyya, or The Meccan Openings. The Futuhat contains over five hundred and
sixty chapters and is an estimated seventeen thousand pages long . Chittick describes it as, a
vast encyclopedia of the Islamic sciences within the context of tawhid, the profession of Gods
Unity that forms the core of Islam. (xi) Considering the size of the text, the small scope of this
work is certainly insufficient for a complete understanding, but it will provide a way to ease into
the study of Arabis philosophy.
Ibn al-Arabis ontology begins with his belief in wahdat al-wujud, or the Oneness of
Being. Many people consider this a sort of pantheism. However, Arabi was devoted to
following the Islamic tradition of tawhid, or profession of Gods Unity. Oneness of Being is not
a simple pantheism that says God is everywhere. When the Shaykh himself explains what he
means by the statement that Being is one, he provides one of the most sophisticated and nuanced
expressions of the profession of Gods Unity to be found in Islamic thought. (79)
Before any understanding of Arabis Oneness of Being is possible, a defining of some
key terms and ideas is necessary. I will proceed by attempting to discuss Being and Existence in

general. Then possible things will be touched on before moving into a more detailed
clarification of entities. Following this will be loci of manifestation and manifestation. A
brief discussion of Self-disclosure and receptivity will precede a final overview of Being and
Existence that will be more easily understood after a basic understanding of the terms has been
acquired.
Arabis Oneness of Being centers on the word wujud. This, in the case of ontology, is
translated as Being and existence. Being is used to refer to Gods Reality and Essence, while
existence is used to signify everything that exists in the cosmos (Arabi uses the term
cosmos to refer to everything in the world that is not God, i.e. plants, animals, people, the
Earth, the galaxy, etc.). The thing that is said to exist in the cosmos can be distinguished from
the essence of that thing. Bob and Jim are separate things, but both are man, or have the essence
of man. This is true of everything that can be discussed except for God . According to Arabi,
Gods existence is the exact same thing as his essence . We can distinguish between a man and
his existence; but we cannot distinguish between God and His Being, since He is Being as such.
(80)
One of Ibn al-Arabis main tasks in his ontology is to explain the relationship between
the existent things and Being . The main question here is something like, If God is Being, are
all the things Being as well? (Chittick 81) Arabi answers this question with what appears to be
an ambiguous Yes and no . One of the ways he often describes this is by saying that the things
are He and not He.

Before moving on, an important term should be understood . This is mawjud. It is

translated as existent or existent thing. Chittick defines it clearly by saying An existent thing is
an entity which exists on any level or in any world which is envisaged The objects that we find
in the world around us are all existents in the corporeal world, while our ideas are existents
within our minds. (81) When Arabi uses the word nonexistent, he is referring to anything
known by God that is not in the cosmos. It is not absolutely nonexistent, but is simply
nonexistent relative to what exists in creation.
The next step is to understand the concept of possible things. The possible thing can
either exist in the sense that it is in the cosmos, or not exist in the sense that it is only relatively
existent in the mind of God. It does not matter whether or not it exists, only that it has the
possibility of being brought into existence. God, when discussed with possible things, is
considered the Necessary Being, or Preponderator . Something is given existence when God
gives preponderance to that possible things existence over its nonexistence . Arabi writes,
God gave preponderance to the existence of the possible things over their nonexistence because
they sought this preponderance by their very essences. (82) This returns us to the cosmos,
which Arabi here defines as all the possible things, regardless of whether or not they exist (83) .
To continue on the path of understanding Arabi, we will move to entities . The term
ayn is translated as entity, but has many meanings and different ways to discuss it . The term is
often used to describe specificity, particularization, and designation. Ayn also leads us to
entified existence and mental existence . Entified is anything that exists in the cosmos while
mental existence is the existence of a thing as a concept in the mind, whether or not it is found

in the cosmos. (83) Entity of God is another term used by Arabi that usually means the
Essence of God.
So Entities, according to Chittick, are, on the one hand, the possible things as they
exist in the cosmos, and on the other hand, the possible things nonexistent in the cosmos but
existent in Gods knowledge. (84) This entity that is existent in Gods knowledge is known as
an immutable entity. Chittick points out that these are not to be confused with the Platonic
eternal forms. Instead, they are the entities that exist in Gods knowledge and are fixed there for
eternity. The immutable entity is exactly the same as the existent entity; it has simply not yet
been given existence. There is no difference between the entity known in Gods knowledge
and the entity in the cosmos except that in the first case it is nonexistent while in the second it
is existent. The immutable entity and the existent entity are the same reality, but one exists in
the cosmos and the other does not . (84)
It is important to note that when an immutable entity is given existence, it does not leave
Gods knowledge. What God knows, He knows eternally and immutably. (85) Arabi makes
a point to say that an entity which is immutable and existent must be finite, but what is only
immutable is infinite. Nothing immutable can leave Gods knowledge because something that is
infinite cannot be diminished. Arabi writes, The reason for this is that the thing in its
immutability is identical to the thing in the state of its existence, except that God has clothed it in
the robe of existence through Himself. (85) The immutable object receives entification from
God to become existent in the cosmos, but does not lose its immutable quality.

The topic of existence and nonexistence is returned to with the existent and immutable
entities. It is said that the immutable entities are nonexistent, but this is the relative nonexistence
that was referred to before. Arabi says, The apparent situation is that their nonexistence is a
relative nonexistence. For in the state of their nonexistence, the things are witnessed by God .
(87)
With the subject of entities rehearsed, our discussion can move on to things . Chittick
says that Arabi uses the term thing as an equivalent of the philosophical term possible thing
and theological term entity. (88) The term indefinite, and Arabi points out that it is applicable
to anything but God Himself. In the Koran, God says, Everything is annihilated. Since Ibn alArabi has shown that God is the Being as such, it is impossible for God to not Be. Therefore,
the Koran tells us that the word thing cannot be applied to God because He is not capable of
being annihilated. God is Being and Being cannot possibly take on the characteristic of
annihilated without losing its Being. This is impossibility, so it once again gives us a new way to
view the relationship between God and existence.
Arabi goes back to entities and refers to their situation as their shayiyya, or thingness.
(88) He distinguishes between the two types of entities by referring to their thingness of
immutability and their thingness of existence . Arabi says:
The Prophet said, God is, and no thing is with Him. The meaning is as follows:
He is not accompanied by thingness, nor do we ascribe it to Him. Such is He, and
there is no thing with Him. The negation of thingness from Him is one of His
essential attributes He is with the things, but the things are not with Him (88)
The separation of thingness from God is important to understand so that we can see more proof
of God as Being or Existence.

The next step in Arabis teaching is manifestation and the loci of manifestation.
Before going directly into this subject, we must remember that, as Chittick puts it, Few
teachings are as basic to Sufismor to Islam, for that matteras the idea that something more
real stands beyond the realm of appearances. In Koranic terms, all creatures are signs of God .
(89) The truth of what appears to exist actually lies in Being Itself. What appears to us is the
Reality of Being that is only characterized by the nonexistent possible things .
Ibn al-Arabi uses the term mazhar, or locus of manifestation. This is beginning to show
how the Yes and no answer to whether or not the things are also Being along with God fits into
his ontology. Arabi uses the Koranic verse, He is the First and the Last, the Manifest and the
Nonmanifest. When something comes into existence, it really only becomes, as Arabi puts it,
a locus of manifestation for the Real. (90) Every thing that is said to be existent does not exist
in itself, but only exists through God. Arabi goes on to show how there is Unity in God and that
plurality only comes from the entities:
So He is Manifest in respect of the loci of manifestation, while He is Nonmanifest
in respect of His He-ness. Hence the loci of manifestation are plural in respect of
their entities, but not in respect of the Manifest within them. Therefore Unity lies
in their manifestation while plurality lies in their entities. (90)
The Oneness of Being is seen in that everything that exists, whether it is called an existent entity,
existent possible thing, or an existent thing, does not truly exist, but is the way God manifests
himself in the perceivable world. Being is manifest only through the entities, but the entities are
not the Being that is manifest .

The term tajalli, or self-disclosure is used to mean nearly the same thing as selfmanifestation. God discloses Himself to everything, but something will only receive as much
disclosure as it is prepared to receive . Chittick writes:
Each receives Beings self-disclosure to the measure of its own capacity. The
receptiveness of things are given broad outlines by their situation in the
ontological hierarchy. Inanimate objects demonstrate one level of capacity, plants
a higher level, animals a still higher level and human beings the highest level
among all created things. Perfect man alone has the receptivity to display Being
Iin Its fullness. (91)
Existence here is marked by how prepared something is to receive and manifest Being Itself.
There is no way to clarify this better than to allow Ibn al-Arabi to use his own words: The
existence attributed to each created thing is the Being of the Real, since the possible thing has no
existence. However, the entities of the possible things are receptacles for the manifestation of
this Being. (92) Remember that God is Being and the Essence of existence . The entities do not
actually exist in the sense that God is Existence. These entities are merely the way in which God
manifests himself into the cosmos.
Self-disclosure is compared to illumination. It is never-ending because light cannot hide
itself. It may be that darkness fails to comprehend the shinging sun, but the sun never ceases to
shine. (Chittick 93) Even if He is not seen or perceived by that which is not Him (such as any
existent entity in the cosmos), He still discloses Himself to all.
With many of Ibn al-Arabis main tenets on existence and nonexistence now rehearsed,
the Oneness of Being idea is hopefully more illuminated . The importance of the Divine Names
has been left out until this point . This is mainly because, in order to have a true understanding
about the power of the divine names and how they work in Arabis ontology, someone would

comprehend a great deal more if the basic premises are understood and agreed with. The name
Allah is the all-encompassing name for Muslims that works to explain all the traits. Each of
the divine names is an attribute that becomes manifest in an entity. Arabi sums up the
significance of the divine names that shortly describes how their effects relate to their existence:
Since the effects belong to the divine names, and the name is the Named, there is nothing in
Being/existence except God. (96)
Oneness of Being is not your everyday pantheism. It is an extensively thought out system
upon which everything stands. In a sense, God is this system. As the most capable existent
entities on Earth, it is humans job to find God and see him in all things. Immutable entities stay
forever in Gods knowledge and have a sort of relative nonexistence . The cosmos has been
filled with God giving preponderance to the existence of a possible thing over its nonexistence.
In order to become fully aware of who and what we are, we must realize that our existence is
Being and simultaneously not Being. We are He and not He. In the sense that we exist through
God, we are Him. However, when we consider that we are actually only possible objects that
God has given existence to, we should recognize that we are not Him because we are not Being
Itself. All things in the cosmos reflect different levels of existence based upon how prepared
they are to receive Gods self-disclosure.
Chitticks summation of the Oneness of Being is concise but effective once the general
ideas of Ibn al-Arabi are comprehended:
Simply stated, there is only one Being, and all existence is nothing but the
manifestation or outward radiance of that One Being. Hence everything other
than the One Beingthat is, the whole cosmos in all its spatial and temporal

extensionis nonexistent in itself, though it may be considered to exist through

Being. (79)
The complex ontology set down by Ibn al-Arabi is based on brilliant logic, reasoning, and
careful interpretation of the Koran, Hadith, and Sufi traditions . Even though this paper has
failed to due justice to the depth of Arabis philosophy, I hope that it provides an introduction
that is more easily understood than both Ibn al-Arabis full corpus and William C. Chitticks
comprehensive interpretation of Arabis works in The Sufi Path of Knowledge.

Bibliography
Akkach, Samer. The World of Imagination in Ibn Arabis Ontology. British Journal of
Middle Eastern Studies. Vol. 24, No. 1. May 1997. Pp. 97-113. JSTOR
Chittick, William C. The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn al-Arabis Metaphysics of Imagination.
Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1989.
Ernst, Carl W. The Shambhala Guide to Sufism. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications, Inc.,
1997.

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