Praise be to Allaah.
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 theProphet (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.
(Aqeedah Ibn al arabi;Arabi wa Hayaatuhu by Taqiy al-Deen al-Faasi, p. 15, 16).
;
(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 bida,shirk 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.
The Messengerof Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) could never give permission in a dream for something which goes against and contradicts Islam; on the contrary, this is from the evil insinuations or
whispers of the Shaytaan and a trap whereby the Shaytaan is playing with him and tempting him.
His words about Adam, that he is the pupil of the eye, and his likening Allaah to His creation, and his remark that &l squo;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):
“ [The
Mushrikeen say] ‘We
worship them only that they may bring us near to Allaah’” [al-Zumar
39:3]
“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.
(Ibid.,
p. 25-28 – adapted and abbreviated)
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.
(Ibid.,
p. 39).
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.
(Ibid.,
p. 41).
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.
(Ibid.,
p. 55).
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.
(Ibid.,
p. 60).
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.
(Ibid.,
p. 75, 76).
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 to you the words of scholars other than Ibn Taymiyah, to point
out the kufr of Ibn ‘Arabi, so that you will not think that Ibn Taymiyah
was the only one who denounced him as a kaafir.