Sufi Narratives of Intimacy: Ibn 'Arabī, Gender, and Sexuality

Chapter 6. Witnessing God in Women: A Different Story of Creation

ChapterSix Witnessing God in Women A Different Story of Creation This chapter explores the ways in which Ibn ʿArabī propels the reader into a different realm of imagining gender by presenting powerful antinomian images of the feminine, sexuality, and women. I begin by examining his depictions of the divine feminine and his related claim that God is most perfectly witnessed in women. His argument is peppered by constant invocations and references to the deep existential intimacy between man and woman as reflected in the primordial myth of Adam and Eve’s creation. This leads us to examine Ibn ʿArabī’s ideas on sex and sexual intimacy between men and women and how such experiences are also linked to knowledge of the divine. A heterosexual conception of sexuality frames Ibn ʿArabī’s works, so I focus on heterosexual relations and identity. Finally, I examine Ibn ʿArabī’s alternative narratives of creation that offer different and novel models for understanding gender. Here his innovative introduction of the creation stories involving Jesus’ birth from the Virgin Mary serves as a foil against which to interpret the gender dynamics characterizing the dominant myth of Adam and Eve. Creation and the Preeminence of the Divine Feminine In the bezel of Muḥammad, Ibn ʿArabī amplifies, expands, and transforms his discussion on triplicity, gender, and creation by introducing his readers to yet another enormously significant creation story. Powerfully, he invokes God’s mysterious essence (al-­dhāt) as the source of all creation. More particularly, he invokes gender in a very deliberate manner, explicitly and distinctively describing this ultimate source as feminine and then drawing parallels to women. He introduces these dimensions of the debate by 174 Witnessing God in Women commenting on the symbolism carried by the grammatical gender of the words “women,” “perfume,” and “prayer” in the ḥadīth with the Prophet’s announcement that “three things of this world of yours have been made lovable to me: women, perfume—while the coolness of my eye was placed in ritual prayer.” According to Ibn ʿArabī, The Prophet gives precedence to the feminine over the masculine to give great importance to women. Thus he said “three things” in the feminine plural form and not in the masculine form. This is noteworthy since he also mentions “perfume,” which is a masculine noun, and the Arabs usually make the masculine gender prevail [grammatically] over the feminine. Thus, one would say “Fāṭima and Zayd came” using a masculine plural verb, not the feminine plural. So the Arabs make the masculine gender prevail grammatically over the feminine even though there is only one masculine noun and women constitute the majority of the group. And the Prophet was an Arab. Hence he deliberately observed the specific meaning that he wanted to convey . . . and the prophet made the feminine gender prevail over the masculine gender by saying three things [in a way that indicates the feminine quality of the objects]. How insightful he is about the reality of things! How careful he is to protect the observance of rights! . . . Furthermore, he made the final term [prayer] correspond to the first term [women] in its femininity, and he placed the masculine term [perfume] between them. . . . Perfume stands between the two [feminine terms], just as the masculine stands between the two feminines in existence. Thus, the man is placed between the divine essence, from which he is manifested, and a woman, who is manifested from him. As such, he stands between two feminine entities: the substantive feminine of the divine essence and the other feminine in reality. . . . Between the two, perfume is like Adam between the divine essence from which he comes into existence and Eve, who comes into existence from him. If you want to say [that he does not come into being from the divine essence, but] from a divine attribute, “attribute” [ṣifa] is also feminine, if you want to say from the divine power, “power” [qudra] is also feminine. Indeed, whatever position you take, you will find that the feminine takes priority, even for those who claim that God is the cause of the cosmos, for “cause” [ʿilla] is also feminine.1 Witnessing God in Women 175 Given that Arabic is a gendered language, Ibn ʿArabī suggests that gendered grammar signifies aspects of ontology. Accordingly, he notes that not only is the Arabic term for the divine essence, al-­ dhāt, feminine, but so too are other...