Ibn al-'Arabi's Barzakh: The Concept of the Limit and the Relationship between God and the World

Conclusions

I have presented what I think is an essential concept in Ibn al->Arab•’s mystical philosophy, namely, the concept of the Limit (barzakh). I have conducted this presentation as systematically as possible and within the limitations of the subject matter of the study. The task was not an easy one, as readers of Ibn al->Arab• can imagine. This is not, however, to rid myself of the full responsibility for mistakes that have been committed in the work or for the criticism that it might invoke. This must be the case not only regarding Ibn al->Arab•, but also in relation to other thinkers that I have dealt with in this work such as Ghazål•, Ibn S•nå and Ibn Rushd. The discussion of these thinkers, conducted in chapters 2 and 3, covered a somewhat familiar material that has received extensive treatment , not to mention that the very attempt to link Ibn al->Arab•’s concept of the Limit to philosophical disputations might raise some reservations partly because of his critical stand from philosophical thought. Such reservations are based, in my view, on methodological worries rather than on matters of essence. Concerning the first point, it should be emphasized that although the material presented in chapters 2 and 3 is somewhat familiar, the special manner of presenting this material, which aims to relate central themes in Islamic philosophy and theology to Ibn al->Arab•’s thought and, in particular, to his concept of the Limit, adds to the study of Ibn al->Arab• something that is, in my opinion, terribly missing and that is also at the heart of his mystical philosophy, namely, relationality. Of course Ibn al->Arab•’s critical stand and even proclaimed distance from the rational philosophers is something that the researcher must be aware of. However, it is totally unclear, at least to the author of this work, why a certain scholar should establish his view concerning Ibn al->Arab•’s stand from philosophical thought on the basis of some anecdote Conclusions that depicts him tossing away a philosophy book,1 for instance, and not on the basis of his words in defense of philosophical activity.2 In a sense, this selective reading of Ibn al->Arab• seems as rather taking him out of context?3 Still there seems to be another sense in which scholars’ reluctance to linking Ibn al->Arab• to the philosophical tradition, which seems like taking him out of the general context of the Islamic medieval intellectual tradition, might enjoy some sort of methodological justification. For scholars of Ibn al->Arab• know well how difficult and, in some places, impossible his writing style renders the mission of reconstructing his arguments in the context of a philosophical discussion.4 The reader must be aware how in several places of this work, where I endeavored to make the comparisons more direct, I had to bring one statement from a certain chapter of Ibn al->Arab•’s voluminous Fut¥˙åt, and then another statement from another chapter of the same work or even from a different work. Hence, I must express my full understanding of views critical of relating Ibn al->Arab• to the Islamic or Greek philosophical thought. At the same time, I must express also my full confidence that this is something that should be attempted even if some sacrifice in terms of clarity of exposition is called for. One possible criticism is that the work seems to be highly sympathetic with and not nearly sufficiently critical of Ibn al->Arab•’s thought. One reason for this highly sympathetic stand is my conviction that involving a heavy criticism of Ibn al->Arab• at a stage when his mystical thought has not been properly or systematically exposed and analyzed might only add to the confusion of readers who must be having difficulties understanding his complex thought in the first place. Every reader of Ibn al->Arab• knows how unsystematic and convoluted his writing style is.5 Hence, I think that at the present stage it is important to bring some order into his work rather than bombard it with heavy and immature criticism, thus causing it to appear even more obscure. My general aim in the work has been to explore a unique concept (the concept of the Limit) in Ibn al->Arab•’s thought rather than merely provide a summary of the main themes of his mystical philosophy. Although I have presented Ibn al->Arab• in the context of Islamic philosophical...