3

Ibn 'ArabI and the Qur' an: A Series O'foems

1. IBN 'ARABI'S QUR'AN POElVIS: AN OV'ERVIE\!\T
AJ110ng the nlost ren1arkable contents of the BLllaq Dfwan is a set of poems,
each of which is dedicated to the spirit (rfi~) of a sura of the Qur'an. 1 Every
sura is given a poern) and some suras are given two or even three. The poems
range in length fron1 three to eighteen verses. Ibn 'Arabi tells us that the poems
were delivered by 'the inspiration of the InOlnent (warid al-vvaqt) , \,yithout
addition and \vithout the operation of th~ught or' deliberation'?
I anl not a\vare of any other work quite like this in Islan1ic literature. It \,yas
con11Don for poets to \tvork phrases froln the Qur'an into their poems, whether
in devotional \tvorks or indeed for an incongruous, jocular effect. 3 Poets also
freely referred back to stories from the Qur'an. The Persian poet Jalni took the
practice further by con1posing a full-blow'n rOlnantic nlath'nalvl around
the story of Joseph and Zulaykha. 4 But perhaps because of the doctrine of
the Qur)an)s inimitability, and the perceived dichoton1Y between the Qur'an
and poetry that ,vas discussed' in Chapter 2, a set of poems systematically
engaging ,vith the style and content of the Ql.lr'an is something far more
unusua1. 5 The only other exalnp1e I have CaIne across in pre-lllodern literature
is that of the thirteenth-century N u~ayrI ('AlawI) poet Makzlln al-Sinjati, who
\tvill also be discussed below.
Because of the unusual nature of the Qur'an poellls, they have been
n1entioned in several overviews of Ibn ~L\rabI's \-York and of the literature of
the period. 6 They have also been studied in a luore sustained way in three
BCllaq, pp. 136-79/Basaj, pp. 131-70.
Bl:llaq, p. 179/Basaj, p. 170.
3 For some examples see Claude France Audebert, <Emprunts faits au Coran pa~ quelques
poetes du lIe/VIlle siecle', Arabica 47 (2000), pp. 457-77.
-I De Bruijn, PersiCUI Sufi Poetl)!, p. 123.
:; There have been occasional pr9se unitatiol1s, ?-ltho~gh these were strongly disapproYed of
b) most ivluslilTIS. Ibn :-\rabI describes 111eeting one such iInitator of
Qlir'an, Thi:l.bif ibn
~-\ntar, \\-}:OlTI he describes as <unbalanced' (Addas, Quete, p. 280).
6 E.g. Lings, '~1ystica] Poetry', p. 250; Chodkiewicz, Ocean, pp. 78 and 84; Knysh, '$ufisn1 and.
the Qur'an', in iv1cAuliffe (ed.), Encyclopedia of the Qllr'C7J1 (hereafter EQ); BiJqa in1, al-Kitiibo,
1

the

60

Ibn 'ArabI's lVlystical Poetics

articles b} Bachmann, focusing on the poem on Sflrat aI-Shu' ara' and on a fe",r
other pieces?
Yet there iS111uch still to be discovered in these poen1s, especially in the
-'ligh r of the' questions that "vere raised in chapter' 2. First, does 'Ib11 Arabi'
treat the suras as unities, as literary vvorks that can be llnitated? The idea
that a sura as a ""hole has a 'spirit' seen1S unusual in a pre-modern context.
According to Goldziher, al-'GhazalI speaks of particular Qur'anic stories or
ilnages as having a 'spirit', meaning an inner sense;8 but the tenn apparently did not extent to \vhole sura-so It has often been noticed that traditional COlTIlnentary focused on groups of ayas rather than on SL~ras as a
"vhole, \vhereas 'artistic' unity has been more a concern of contemporary
Qur'anic studies. 9
Second, and lTIOre ilnportantly, how exactly do Ibn ArabI's pOelTIS relate to
the Qur'an as poen1s? And \vhat are the implications for his understanding of
the relation bet"veen sacred text and verse?, Bilqasim suggests in passing that
these poelllS are connected to ,vhat he describes as Ibn ArabI's project of
'rewriting the Qur'an' (i 'adat kita,bat al-Qur'an) transcending the distinction
bet\,veen prose and poetry. 10 But are these poems set up as alternative versions
of the Qur'an, or do they cOlnplement it in some sense?
As far as the first question is concerned-namely whether the poen1s
tre'at the s'uras as unities-different suras 'are approached 'in different ,"!ays.
This is especially' true of the shorter poems, vlhich often take one word or
aya, frOD1. the Qur'an and elaborate on it in the light of Ibn ArabI's Sufi
metaphysics.
For exaillple, the short poeln on Sura 86) aI-Tariq, comments on only t'wo
ayas: 'He [lnan] was created from flowing V\rater, which comes froln bet\veen
the backbone and the ribs' (Q52:7-8). The \vater'in the ayas gives rise to a
gloss on the imp~rtance of water in Ibn 'ArabI's thought:
1. My creation was TraIn vvatei', and the other elements
flo\v 1'0111 it, so seekn1e on the vvater.

p. 162; Th. Emil HOlnerin, (Arabic Religious Poetry', in Roger Allen and D. S. Richards (eds),
Arabic Literature in the Post-Classical Age (Calnbridge History of Arabic Literature, Cambridge:
Can1bridge University Press, 2006), p. 172.
Bachnlann, (Ein Gedicht zur ((Sure der Dichter" aus clem Dfwcm von Ibn 0.1- ArabI', Journal
Yets~Jl. Zu Einer Gruppe von
Gedichten inl (Diwan' Ibn .al- Arabls', DerjslqllL~51l~(J)j88), pp. 70-82; <Un cmnmentaire
mystique dLl Coran', Arabica 47 (2000), pp, 503-9.
8 Ignaz Goldziher, Die Richtungen der islamischen Koranauslegung: an del' Universitiit
Upsala gehalteneOlaus-Petri-\1orlesungen (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1920), p. 240.
9 lvlustansir 1vlir, (The sara as a Unity: A Developrnent in Twentieth-Century Qur'an
Exegesis', in G. R. Ha\vting and Abdul-Kader A. Shareef, Approaches to the Qur'tm (London
and Ne\v York: Routledge, 1993), pp. 211-24.
10 Bilqasin1) al-Kitiiba, p. 162. Bilqasin1 SeelTIS to knO\N the poelns through Chodkiewicz's
n1ention of them rather thQl1 directly.
7

de linguistiqiie arabe 25 (1993), pp. 25-90; (in Tafslr...jlTI

Ibn 'Arabr and the Qur'ah: .A. Series

oj~ Poen1s

61

2. 'Vater has no lilnit that surrounds it,

that is how I aln in being, 'with nlY nanles. ll

3. God has varied words to describe "water;
whoever has seen thenl can do 'without indications.
4. What He lnentions in his creation canle fro111 svveat,
and the allusion 111akes any open statenlent unnecessary.12

'In a,siluil'ar way, ';orrie of the poelns- pick IIp:Dn~a-'poin( ofterrhinology or of

etyn101ogy, drawing parallels between "words that appear to share the san1e
root (if notin ways that would convince a lexicographer), One example is the
poen1 on SLtra 106, Quraysh. 13 This short sara hinges on the 111ysterious yvord
[hif, which has given rise to a great variety of explanations. In the yvords of one
. - , exasperated sceptical-historian,
the sura refers to the fact that Quraysh used to trade in Syria, or in Syria and the
Yemen, or in Syria and Ethiopia, or in all three" and n1aybe also in Iraq, or else to
their habit of spending sumnler in Ta'if, or else to ritual- visits to Mecca, It
celebrates the fact that they began to trade, or that they continued to do so, or
that they stopped; or else it does not refer to trade at a11. 14

Ibn ~ArabI's short poem sidesteps the philological and historical issues
cOlTIpletely, focusing instead on a pun bet\veen Quraysh and, taqarrush (to
gather, to be pure, Of to make a profit), and between the tenn illl! and ta'lif and
u~la, lllean'ing 'familiarity' .15
In other cases, Ibn 'ArabI follows a \vhole sara through its progression,,,
quotingfr~m' it freq{;ently and' son1~tilnes adopting its fhyme~ Perhaps unSUfprisingly, this tends to happen lllore often \tVithMeccan saras, yvhose short,
clipped, anq. rhYlning phrases lend then1selves most easily to tHat approach.
These poen1s COlne across as lllore alnbitious stylistically, and also come
closest to 'ilnitating' the Qur'an. The poen1s discussed in this chapter fall
into both categories: S01l1e pick up on a phrase or part of a sara, and others
follo\v a sara 1110re closely.
As regards the second question-ho\v these pOelTIS relate to the Qur'anic
text-the first place to look is the poen1 on Surat aI-Shu 'ara', in which the
.supposed condelnnation of poets occurs. 16 Here, Ibn ArabI comlne.nts on the
Qur'an's perceived condelnnation ofpoets, \vhich \vas discussed in Chapter 2,

Cf. the poems discussed in Chapter 4 3 and Chapter 7 4a.

On \vater in Ibn ArabI's thought see FU~D~, pp. 170-3.
13 BCLlaq, p. 176/Basaj, p. 167.
14, Patricia Crone, l'vleccaJ1 Trade and the Rise of Islam (Oxford: Blackwell, 1987), p. 209.
15 On this association see further Chodkiewicz, Ocean, pp. 72-3,
16 This poem has been analysed in great detail by Bachlnann CGedicht', pp. 29-49), so there
is little point in discllssing fully here. 1\1y translation builds on Bachmann's German version
of the poenl,
'11

12

62

Ibn 'Arobts A-iystical Poetics

section 1. He begins by reaffinning the distinction bet\veen scripture and

poetl)T:
1. Poetry is sonletilnes to be praised) son1etilnes to be blan1ed;

that is ,vhy n1)' Lord nlade a distinction in it ...

2. If you praise ,vith it S0111eOne deserving, it is high;
if you praise \vith it S0111eOne ,,,,ho stands in the \vay of understanding,
3. it is ]ovv. That is vvhy I said about it \\That you heard:
that poetlY is son1etLInes to be praised, s0111etinles to be blamed.

Yet the concluding verse suggests a closer relation bet',veen the Qur'an and
poetry: .
If the people kJlel ,vhat the Qur'an has brought,
they would proclainl it in every verse.

\\Thile the Qur'an and poetry remain distinct) Ibn 'Arabi says that 'when the
content of the Qur'an has been correctly realized, it calls for poetry. This
insight is a good placeto start discussing Ibn 'Arabi's Qur'an poen1s.
It is also important to realize that 1110st of the poel11s are not pril11arily about
the relation bet\veen the Qur'an and poetry. To understand \Ivhat they have to
tell us about the topic, we l11ust pay attention not only to yvhat they say, but
also to how, they operate. To do so requires SOlne awareness of Ibn ,ArabI's
vie\vs qn the Qur'an, and of the Sufi interpretive, tradition more generally.17
Early Sufi con1111entary developed from meditations on the meanings of
specificc1yas, vvhich were read as referring to the human soul in its quest for
God. I8 Ja \far al-~adiq (d. 765) is said to have introduced the idea that the saine
aya could have different levels of meaning) depending on the listener's spiritual leveL 19 Ja \far represents an intersection bet\veen the SUfiSID and the
different strands of Shia Islan1. The development of sYlnbolic readings also
o\ves l11uch to thelatter, ,vhich took certain passages in the Qur'an as referring
to the Shia in1alTls. 20
In Sunni SUfiS111, Ablll-Qasi111 al-QushayrI (d. 1073) developed the idea that
a given aya of the Qur'an has' different levels of Ineaning acc.ording to the
reader's level of spiritual a,vareness. AI-Qushayrfs project .\vas to demonstrate

17 This is a vast topic that cannot be addressed in full here. A classic account of Sufi
C0111111entaries before Ibn ArabI's tilDe is:_ Paul N\,vyi!l, Exeg~secor(lniqtle et la71gage mystique
(Redferthes de l'Institut de Lettres Oriental-es de.. B.eyrouth 49, Beirut: -Dar .el-Masbreq, 1970).,
A succinct but perceptive i rervievv, extendi.ng to Ibn ArabI and beyond) is Knysh, '?lUlsm'.
]8 Ibid., pp. 135-7.
19 Ibid., pp. 139-40.
20 ,The attribution of Ja' far al-$adiq's \vorks is itself problen1atic; the Twelver Shia revere him
as their sixth lInaID, but later Sunni Sufi sources also clain1 him as one of their own. Nvv)Tia
contends that \vhetber or not his yvritings really go back to hilTI, there is a core of distinctive
ideas that can be found both in Sunni and in Sllia transmissions of those writing's (Exegesc)
pp. 159-60).

Ibn 'Arabi and the Qur)an: A Series ofPoerns

63

the essential con1patibility of SUfiSll1 vv-ith InainstreaID SunniSll1 and Ash' ari

kalcnn.21 His polyselTIOllS reading of scripture helped to aCCOlTIIl1odate different understanding of the text.
Given his ovvn self-confidence as Seal of the Saints, Ibn 'ArabI goes further
than lllany in elnphasizing his own inspiration as a source of authority. This is
the vie~N expressed in his poen1 on Sura 57, al-~adld?2 T'he po ill focuses on
the Qulanic aya'He is the first, t~te"las( the outvvard; thein\vard) (Q57:3~4).23
It is 'North pausing to loo~ ,at this poen1:
1. The la\v is tvvo la\""s, the lavv of the prophets and that of the \vise;
and each is taken care of,' for those who understand it,
2. by GOd)24 foi' God established it
as an upright law Jor the one 'who kno\vs, when he learns.
3. God is the one \'vho inspires it
to their hearts) while fhey do not perceive
4. the detern1ination and the \,yisdon1 25 that he has cast into the heart,
because they claim that they are scholars ('ulama').
5. But they do not realise that it is God who makes them knowthat is what the saying of the ancients has told us--:6. for they are 'ignorantof what \ve kno\v
of the God who detennined according to the Truth.
7. So \ve will be n10re blessed than them in our resurrection)
"vvhile they clain1 that ton10rrO\V; they \-vill be the leaders
8. in spirit; but their proce'ssions have betrayed then1)
so even if they are blessed) they "'rill not lose any [reason to) rel)ent.
9. For \/\le kno\v26 \vhat they profess 27 and believe,
and we cannot see that they have any precedence in our kno\vledge;
10. and \ve are the people of witnessing in our way (tariqa),
\vhile they, with their thoughts, are be\vildered and blind. 28

This poeln CaInes across as a blistering attack on exoteric religious scholars.

The t\yO [or111s of law (shar ') referred to in verse 1 are probably the outvvard
hnv, as put forward by the prophets, and its inner 111eaning, \vhich is given to

Knysh,'~ufiSIT1 p. 144:
-', Btdaq, pp. 158-9iBasaj, p. 151. NIetre: bnsJt23 The in1portance of this ciya for Sufi ,thought can hardly be overestin1ated;. see further
21

Chapter 8\:'6,
2-1 VvTa-kLdluhu fa-h~va rJwr'iyyun li-nwn fahimall 'inda l-ilnhi: the verb fa 'a can also mean
'to observe', suggesting the alternative translation 'each of these is observed by those who
understand'. Ho\vever, it is n10re difficult to connect this translation to the 'by God' in the
follo"wing verse.
'
25 These two words are identical in writing, but the 111etre suggests that the first is (lukm and
the second hikarn.26 Prefer~ing the reading na '[nmu (Ibn ArabI, Dfwan. Yusuf Aga 5463, f.377a).
27 1\1(1 q(ihihu: the verb qalC1 should probably be taken in its secondary n1eanL'1g oCto profe s',
but the prirnary sense 'to say' 'would not be out of place either.
28 On the connotations of the tenD nfkdr see Chapter 5 6.

Ibn 'Arabi's j\Jystical Poetics

64

the Sufis. The tenn ~uk(1nuf, \vise people', appears here to refer to Sufis,
presu111ably in contrast to the 'ula/no.', \vho are the conventional scholars.
True kno\yledge descends on the heart, \vhich is the organ of perception in the
Sufi tradition?9' Ibn ~t\rabl is probably not" trying to demonIze c6h\':e"iitio-nal"'
scholars as such. He himself \vrote prolifically on lllatters of.fzqh, and in other
contexts qualified his distaste for fuqaha':
God forbid) nlY brother, that you should think that I blame the jurists for being
jurists or for their practice of jurisprudence, for such an attitude is not pern1issible
for a Ivluslinl and the nobility of the La\v is beyond question. Ho'wever, I do
censure tho;;e jUl~ists \.-vho, harbouring merely worldly aims, cynically study the
La\v vyith the sale object of acquiring fan1e, of putting then1selves in the public
eye, and \\rho indulge in constant hair-splitting and useless controversy.30

The poem does, however, create a space for Sufi hermeneutics to exist alongside the lllore usual Qur'anic sciences. Ibn 'ArabI stresses the relevance, indeed
the prilnacy, of Sufi inspiration as -a-gtti-de-te-t-h-e-Hely---BBBk-. In the Qur'an
poelns, he takes this idea further still by clain1ing that the poenls were revealed
by 'nl01nentary inspiration' rather than as a result of his ovvn thinking.
In his own approach to the Qur'an, Ibn 'ArabI clii1gs to and develops the
belief that the Qur'an has infinite Ineanings that affect listeners in different
\vays at differen't'times; Ariy gloss he provides fbI' a given Qur~anic. tenn "does
not c.onstitute its definitive Ineaning: the meanings are shifting all the tilne. An
exan1ple is this vision:
[T]he Imarn was reciting the chapter of the Quean entitled (The Tiding'. When
he caIne to the place where God says, (Have vIe not made the earth a resting place
and the n10untains for supports', I becan1e abstracted [roln the Imarn and his
recitation and sa\vinwardly our Shaikh, Abu Ja \far, saying to n1e, (The resting
place is the world and the supports are the believers; the resting place is the
con1munity of the believers and the supports are the gnostics; the gnostics are
the resting places and the prophets are the supports; the prophets are the resting
place and the apostles are the support; the apostles are the resting place and
then \\That?'31

No less important than the -infinite possibilities of interpretation is a strong

con1111itn1ent to the letter. of the text. It is often thought that rnysticis1l1 is
antithetical to a literal reading of scripture. This is certainly not true of Ibn
'ArabI. Chodkiewicz points out that he approving~y.quotes a report froln the
early jurist Mali~ ibn Anas according to which'd-olphin meatnlay'not be eaten'
on the grounds that the Arabic word for a dolphin lite 'allyrneans \,rater-pig'.

29
30
31

See further Chapter 4 4.

Quot,ediri Aust.in, Sufis) p. 105 (~r. A-ustin).
Quoted in Austin) Sufis) p. 65 (tr. Austin).

Ibn 'Arabi and the Qur'an: A Series of Poen1S

65

It does not Inatter that dolphins are unrelated to pigs: the Qur'an prohj~its the
eating of anything called a pig. 32
This feature of Ibn 'Arabi's thought \vas noticed con1paratively early in
lllodern scholarship by one of the pioneers of Islan1ic studies, Ignaz Goldziher.
Goldziher chuckled at the later Sufi authors' propensity to read mystical
111eanings into anything and everything, do vn to nursery rhyl11es. 33 I-Ie char-'
acterized the Tajsfr,<w111ch he pelievedto be Ibn Arabfs~(is -'eine R-enl1bahn
allegorischer Interpretationskunf, 'an allegorical herlneneutics superhighvvay'.
Granted that this tone of voice contrasts sharply with the lnore reverential
idiol11 of recent writing, it SeelTIS to Ine that Goldziher picked up on an
in1portant feature of Ibn 'ArabI's approach: the notion of i'tibar. The verb
. i'tabara means 'to dra\,va les_son" but COlnes from the-root meaning 'to pass
through'.34 The idea is that esoteric interpretations are reached by (passing
through' the letter of the text, rather than sweeping it aside. Ibn 'Arabi can thus
cOlTIbine daring interpretive flights with a rigorous commitln~nt to the Qur'an
as God;s literal word.
More recently, Chodkiewicz has developed this idea in greater detail, in one
of the most in1portant studies of Ibn 'Arabi's Qur'anic hermeneutics to date?5
In asomewhat different vein, Nettler's study of the Fu~u~ has exaln.ined the
vvays in which Ibn ArabI builds on and subtly ITIodifies the Qur'anic passages
\"fhich he discusses. 36
In the Qur'an poelns, vve vvill see Ibn ArabI lnaking use of this approach.
.. . Hjs~poe.rns often_. begin vvith a fe,,,,: words of the .Qqr'~ni~original,.vvhich are
then exp'anded upon in the light of his Inetaphysical ideas. But at the same
time, the poems are more than explanatory glosses. For one thing, they are
anything but explanatory. They often "vork not by spelling things out but by
suggesting nevv levels of Ineaning. They are comments on the Qur'an) but
they are also poems, and only a close reading can identify the ways in which
they \york..
The remainder of this chapter therefore aims to discuss a small, but at least
to SOI11e extent, representative sample of the Qur'an poen1s. The poems 'have

Chodbewicz, Ocean, p. 19.

Goldziher, Richtungen, pp. 245-7.Goldziher's discussion of Ibn ArabI's Qur'anic hern1eneutics ren1ains useful, but needs correcting in one ilnportant respect: the cornnlentary that he
believed to be by Ibn ArabI \vas in fact the vvork of Abd a1- Razzaq a1- Kashanl, or al-QashanI (d.
1329), although the most recent edition ren1ain obli\'ious to the fact (see Knysh, '~Clfisn1', p. 156).
34 This notion is stated explicitly in the work of Ibn A.rabI's Andalusian predecessor Ibn
Barrajan, who appears to ha-ve been a strong int1uence (Denis Gril, 'La "Lecture superieure"du
Corarl:>-selo.Il- Ibn~Bay.ragan\ Arabica 47 [2000], -p.p. S10~22). The corresponding.notion in alKasha"ni's Tafslr is tatbiq) or 'parallel' (Goldziher, Rich tLl l1gen , pp. 243-5). \Vithout knowing that
the Taf'i]" was by a different autbor, Goldziher nevertheless noticed this difference in
terminology.
35 Chodkiewicz, Ocean.
36 i\ettler, Sl~fz lv1etaphysics.
32

33

66

Ibn 'Arnbts i\IIystieal Poetics

been chosen partly because they exen1plify son1e of the \vays in "vhich Ibn
~Arabi approaches the Qur'an, and partly because they cover son1e of the 111ajor
Qur'anic thelnes: la\\T and daily events in lvIuharnmad's tilDe, the distinction,
bet,,\! een believers and unbelievers; and the oaths of the-- s'libttei !vie'cearY sriffis ..,
The first t"vo poems are n1editations on sl11a11 segments of the Qur)anic
originals, in the light of Ibn ArabI's metaphysics. Both base themselves on an
incident fron1 the Prophet's life and go on froID there to explore his status and
the nature of the creative felninine.
The third and fourth poen1S are nlore daring and probably more all1bitious.
Here) the originals are Meccan suras \'\lith tighter phrases and a consistent
rhyme. In both ca'ses, Ibn Arabi adopts the rhyme of the ol~iginal and closely
fo11o\vs the plotline of the sura. While quoting frequently frolTl the Qur'anic
111aterial, he places it in a very different context. As Chapter 4 \vill sho\,v nlore
fully, the usual vvay to reply to another poet is to use the same metre and
rhyme. The fact that Ibn ArabI adopts the Qur'anic rhymes is therefore far
frOITI casual. It signals Ibn ArabI's intention to deliberately ilnitate the Qur'an
or at least to' complelnent it in some way.
The chapter concludes by ~omparing the last poenl "vith another audacious
Qur'an ilnitation by a contertlporary of Ibn 'Arabi, the Nu~ayri poet Makzl111
. al-SinjarI (c.118~-1240). ThecoDlparison sheds light 011 the different vvays in
'tV'hich the two poets use the Qur) a~1. vVhile IV{akzllll CGIneS closest tOvvrltin'g
a new version of the Qur'an) Ibn Arabi's poem can be seen 1110re as a parallel.
It runs alongside the sacred text) reinterpreting it in often daring "\Tays) but
ll1aintaining the distinction between the Qur'an and poetry.
j

2. 'IF YOU BEND IT, YOU BREAK IT): THE POEM

ON SURA TAL T AHRIM 37
Ibn ArabI's pOe1TI on Surat-al-Ta1:lrim is based on ayas' i~S~which_recount an
incident bet"veen the' Prophet Muhalnmad and his \Ivives. Ibn 'ArabI refers
back to this incident in the light of a prophetic hadith on W0111en. The parts of
the Qur'an that deal 'itV'ith daily occurrences in the life of MuhalTIll1ad and his
C0111ffiunity in Medina appear at' first sight to be least promising for Sufi
, ,~nlerpretatiol1. So. hOTN does Ibn ArabI dra\v a spiritual messag~.Qut of
Qur'anie passages regarding the Prophet's relations with'"hI; -,,,rives? Aild
hovv does he nlake it into the stuff of poetry?

37

BCllaq" p. 163/Basaj) p. 155. lY'Ietre: tm,vfl.

Ibn 'A.rabr and the Qur'an:' A Series of Poerns

67

As is often the case, the Qur'an's treatlnent of the incident betvveen

M uhaIiln1ad and his wives is in itself difficult to follow: it is less a narrative
than a reference to events that the original listeners \vould already have been
a\vare of. The style of this passage is typical of the Inore prolix lvledinan sflras.
1. Prophet, \vhy do you forbid what God allowed for you, seeking to make
~ontent,

v/henGod is forgiving and cOD1passiqnate?

you I' oaths. God is your Protector,
and I-Ie is the All-la10,ving, All- \Vise.
The Prophet confided sonIe talk to one of his \vives. "{When she divulged it,
and God disclosed that tohirTI, he TI1ade known part of it and turned aside
froln another part. \-"'Then he told her, she said, <Who told you about this?'
He sai.d, <The.j-\1l~K110.\'{ing.,AILA\varetoldlne.', ..
If you both repent to God, your hearts vvill indeed be inclined. If you support
one another against hin1, then God is his protector, and Gabriel, and
the righteous alnong the believers, and angels after that '.vill support you.
If he divorces you) his Lord may give him wives better than you, ,vho have
surrendered, believing, obedient, penitent, devout, given to fasting, ,,,,ho
ha\'e been Inarried and virgins too.

. youryviv(:j)

"2. God has ordained for you the absolutiori

3.
~

4.

5.

of

'I'he exegetical literature provides various explanations for this incident.

i\J- TabarI's cOlnnlentary gives several competing versions.3 8 Overall, the
consensus al110ng COlTIl!1entators seelns to be that the dispute was about
IVIuhamlnad's Coptic concubine NHiriya, and that the t\VO \vives \vere 'A'isha
,~n4 ,~~r~a. 39 )l~_aciq.itiqn tQ. ~eing ~mongM ~lhalnlnad' s 1110st proJ!linen t wivE:s)
they \'Vere also the daughters of two of his 11105t longstanding supporters)
AbLl Bakr and 'Ulllar respectively. According to one story, Haf~a found
1\:1uhan1mad \tvith Mariya in Ijat~a)s o\vn apartlnents on the day that he
v,,'as supposed to spend \'\'ithher. Muhalnmad promised not to approach
lv1ariya again and told Hat~a not tOlnention the incident, but I:Iaf~a did
so regardless.
In another version, I)af~a saw Muhaillmad \vith lvtiriya on 'A'isha's day.
The Prophet told ~af~a to keep this to herself, but she told 'A\sha anyway)
because 'A'isha and Hat~a supported one another (kanata muta~ahiratayn) a
phrase that echoes the Qur)anic passage). According to this ,account, it was to
placate' A'isha that Muhalnn1ad prolnised not to go near ivlariya.
In both versions of the story, it is at this point that the relevant ayas of the
Qur'an \vere revealed. In the ayas, the \vives are rebuked for \vishing that
the Prophet should forego sOlnething that God had entitled him to.

<

38 AI-Tabari,)ami' al-BayrU1) s.v. Q66:1-5. For yet aIlother account, which conflates this story
with another one, see Barbara Stowasser, '\Viyes of the Prophet', EQ.
39 ~ ot all versions given by al ~ Tabari naIne all of the protagonists: some of then} refer to 'one
of the Prophet's wives', and SODle to 'a concubine'.

68

Ibn 'Arabi's j\;lystical Poetics

Ibn 'ArabI s treatn1ent of the incident assurnes an understanding of the story

that goes broadly along such lines-. Ho~vever, he also Inakes a connection \vith
a Prophetic hadith that gives advice about \V0111en:
Vi oman is like a rib: if you straighten it, you break it; if you \'Vant to enjoy it, enjoy
it \,yhUe it is bent.
Or, in an alternative version:
Take good care of \von1an, for she "vas created from a rib. The ITIOst bent part of
the rib is the upper part, and if you try to straighten it, you break it vVolnan ",vas
created fron1 a bent rib. If you \vant to straighten it, you 'will break it, and breaking
it is divorce. If you seek to enjoy, yeu should do so 'when it is bent. 40

This hadith is a comment on the idea thatEve \vas created from Adaln's rib.
The Qur'an does not mention this idea as such. It does, hovvever, state that
God created inankind 'from a single self (nafs vva~ida), and created frOlTI it its
111ate' (za11/jaha;Q4: 1). The 'single self \vas often understood as referring to
Adam; and Ibn ArabI fo11ovvs that explanation. 41
To Ibn 'ArabI, the idea that man and woman ,vere created from a single self
is significant in metaphysical terlns. In the chapter on Muhamn1ad in the
Fu~u~, Ibn 'Arabi goeson todravv a le$son about the in1portance of \VOD1en in
MuhartlInad's life. As Nettler puts -it,
,
[A]s 'kno\vingoneself~i( possible~is' the path to k110\\;ing--Go'd, tl1-en n1an'-s
knowledge of God is a direct function of his relationship \,vith\voil1an. In n1,ln's
kno\ving hin1self through \VOlllan, he is then able to lU10\V God; and in knowing
G-od con1es the realisation and con1pletion of one's ontological standing. 42

Ibn ArabI uses this argun1ent to account for Muhan1mad's having had more
th~n the usual lilnit of four wives.. These ideas are jI~portant if \ve are to
understand the poeln at hand. Hovvever, his precise point elnerges only fron1 a
detailed reading..
The first three verses fornl a clearly defined segnlent, and are 1110re or less a
paraphrase of the Qur'anic incident:
1. 1 an1 anlazed-at a WOlnan \A!hos deceit stands

up-to

the best of God's servants, and his Supporter on High,43

40 Muhanlil1ad ibn Isnl~i'll al-Bukhari, Ie reeueil des traditions maltometanes (aI-}ami'

al-~al!il!),' ed. Ludolf Kreht 4 vols.(Leiden: E.]. Brill, 1862-'1908), in_-tl~e chap'terKitab a~;

Nikal), voL 3, p. 440.

41 Nettler,-Sufi Metaphysics, p. 181 n16.
42 Nettler, Sufi A1ettlphysics) p. 183.
43 Reading yuqc'hvimu as an active verb, makruhc1 as sLlbject, and bi-khayri 'ibadi Ilahi wa--'ml~
ihiri I-a 'l(1 as indirect object. The fonllulation is unusual, since we \,vould usually expect a direct
object rather tban the preposition bi. But the C0111pUer of the Inanuscript clearly thought that the
line should be read this way, since he gives the heading wa:-qiila ayqan fiman qawama l-iqtidar
at-flahI, and his notes are generally well-infonned.

Ibn 'Arabi and the Qur)an: A Series of Poems

69

2. "vhen Gabriel supports hinl too, ai1d after hiln,

successive angels 'with assistance froIn' hin1,
3.' and frol11 the righteous Muslin1s as a group:
. I heard it as Qur' an recited to n1Y ears,

The'picture that Ibn ~'\rabI conveys is of a \"'Olnan who is opposed not only by
God'sInessenger bu~.bY,G~:~hiIn~e.!f,an~ all of the ,angels and the lvluslirns. If
she is so clearly in the vvrong, and'if1111hainnladcouiddivorce heT'with the
blessing of all of these parties, then why does he not do so? .
The fourth verse turns the picture on its head:
4. This is only because of the being through 'which WOl11an

appears on earth, and an e~e_v,~~ed status.

In other words, the fact that a ''''Olnan can stand alone in s,uch a way has
something to do with the very nature of fenlininity. The vocabulary usedvvuji1d, talJaqqaqat, n1art~ba 'ulya-brings us out of the Q~lr'anic narrative
and into Ibn ArabI's Sufi lnetaphysics.
Ibn' 'ArabI supportshis statement by referring us to the Prophetic hadith,
which verses 5-7 paraphrase:
S. It is accepted a1110ng people that her being
comes from the self, in the Qur'an, and the bent rib.
6. If you vvish to straighten her, you break her,
and breaking her is divorce, vvhich is an at11iction for yoU. 44
7. And if you 'want to keep enJoying her;
her crookedness rernains, and your peace and quiet ends there.

The advice of the hadith, as Ibn ArabI presents it is that \VOlTIen should be
accepted the ,,,,ay they are, because that is how they vvere Inade. The dilemlTIa
between the 'affliction' (v. 6) of divorce and an end to 'peace and quiet (ra~a)
v. 7)') rings like a piece of Inan-to-Inan advice. But in accounting for the
situation, Ibn Arabi lTIOVeS us back into metaphysics in three very dense
verses:
8. Her Inother is none other than Nature alone,
so she is like Jesus, ,vhen' he gave" life to the dead through it. 45
9. The Merciful supported his spirit "vith the Spirit;46
God took her in his charge, but did not do that again.
10. If you kI10'V \vhat I have alluded to,
I have explained about her and about her hidden secret.

H Bihi tilbla: the verb could refer to a Inale addressee or to a \",Toman in the third person. So
one could just as \vell read, \Yhich is an affliction for her:. I. have. preferred ,to. translate .!for you' in
order to preserve a contrast with the following vei'se, but'the anlbiguity may well be deliberate.
-is <It' would appear to be Jesus' nature (tabl 'a). See the COIDlnents belo'N,
-16 Cf. Q2:87 and 2:253: (\Ve supported him [Jesus] with the Holy Spirit (nyyndnclhll bi-rDI.1i
l-qudus),. The same is said of Adam, in whom God al a bJe\\' His spirit (Q32:9),

70

Ibn 'Arabts f\1ystical Poetics

'l erses 8 to 9 are an extrell1ely succinct allusion to ideas that Ibn Arabi
develops 1110re fully in the chapter on Jesus in the Fu~ft~. Verse 1-0 acts as
a cap, ro~nding off the poe~ and calling on the listener to heed its n1essagt,
"Yet ""altl=rbugh- the" ide~rs--ser 6tLL' Ii1" the" Fu~u~ help" tinderstand \vhat sort of
argtlll1ent Ibn Arabi is n1aking, the precise nature of the analogy remains
elusi\re. In the chapter on Jesus in the Fu~u~, Ibn ArabI argues that Jesus \vas
unique in that he vvas conceived \vhen an angel, identified in the exegetical
tradition as Gabriel, visitedl'v'1ary and bIe"v his spirit into her (Q19:17-22).
This means that vvhereas other hUlnan beings are created by a 111aterial father
and lTIother, Jesus "vas the product of a hUl11an, material n10ther and a spiritual
father. 47 "Jesus" is therefore a" fitting SYIDbol for the combination of the D1ale
divine spirit \vith thelnaterial and feluale principle of Nature, an act that
underlies the creation of the heavenly spheres. 48
In one respect, Jesus' abilities reflect the action on hLtn of the spirit that ,vas
blovvn into lv1ary by Gabriel: 'Jesus caIne forth raising the dead because he "vas
a divine spirit.'49 So the quality for "vhich Jesus is relnelnbered vvas Inade
possible by his spiritual side: this is "vhat verse 9 refers to by saying, 'The
lv1erciful supported his spirit,vith the Spirit.'5o Ibn ArabI adds that Jesus ,vas
able to raise the dead only in hUlnan form, because Gabriel had appeared to
lYfaryin hUlnan [orn1:
,

.~

[h]adGabriel not conTe in hunlan ornl, but in son1e other, 'whether anin1aL plant
or mineral, Jesus \vould have been able to. quicken the dead only by taking that
form to hin1self and appearing in it.

In another respect, the. qualities of Mary influenced the type of person Jesus
turned out to be. He had a lneek disposition because his n10ther ,vas at
peace when Gabriel ble\v his spirit into her. Had she been "anxious at the
tilne, 'Jesus would have turned out too surly to bear, because of his lTIother's
"state of Inind at' that tilne~'51 l\10reover) Ibn ArabI appears to illlply that
Jesus' nleekness ,vas the result of a felninine side, which represents Mary's
influence:

47 Cf. Affifi} Tn 'liqat} p. 182. In the FutCd!at, Ibn ArabI likens Jesus to Eve and lvlary to Adanl.
In Corbin's words,

Just "as a Fenlinine "had bee.!. l existentiated by a Masculine without the rnediatioll of a
lllotller, n~l1l1ely;Eve created by Adan1 and standing in a passive relation to AcLinl, so it
was necessary that a Ivlasculine should be borne by a Feln"inine without the J11ediation of a
father; and so Jesus ,vas borne by lvlaryarn [lvlary] .. , Thus the relation of lvlaryanl to Jesus
is the antetype to the relation of Eve to Adanl. {Corbin> Alone, p. 163)
The ideas discllssed here resonate with Corbin's treatment of the (creative felninine' (ibid.)
pp. 157-75), wi~h the caveat that Corbin's analysis tends to roam over several authors and
periods.
'18 Cf. Cha"pter 1 2c.
49 FU~fl~, p. 139.
50 Fu?u~) p. 140.
5] Fu~n~} p. 139.

Ibn '.Arabi and the Qur'an: A Series ofPoen1s

71

Jesus

cam~ forth with hunlility such that his C0111nlunity \vas cOluluanded 'that
they should pay the poll-tax (kharaj) frorn their hand, hUInbling themselves',52
and that if any of them 'were struck on one cheek, he should offer also the. other,
and that he should 110t react against hiin or seek retribution. This comes froin his
mother's side, since WOD1an is Ibvvly and hUlubl~.53

In short, Jesus was a hybrid) part spiritual arid part 111ateriaL This 'idea appears
to Ine to underlie the cornparison of women \'\Iith' lesu.sin. verse B. W qn1en"
fulfil their role through the nature of their tabl'a, the passive and feminine
principle. Jesus \tvorked his miracles because G9d 'supported his spirit' (v. 9);
but according to verse 8, this happened through his nature, \rYhich "vas his
felDinine side. 54
'The'implication SeelTIS to be that any faults that appear in WOlllan' are. in fact
due to her nature) which is part and parcel of her Inetaphysical significance. So
if nlan is to enjoy WOll1an, he must accept her for what she is, including what
C0I11eS across as faults. 55
This leads us back to 1vluhammad'shousehold. Muhamlnad' would have
been justified in divorcing the troublesonle wives referred to in Q66:1-S. He
\rYould have had the support of God, the angels, and the believers. Indeed, God
had prolnisedhim better 'wives in return. But Muhamlnad understood
a deeper reality that led hin1 to do otherwise.
This poeln is a good example of the 'Nay Ibn i-\rabI 9perates in the Qur'an
series. It takes as its point of departure a day-ta-day incident in the life of
lvl uhanl1nad and his ,vives" and places.it into the, context of .his Sui} rn~ta~
physics. At the san1e tilDe, \rYe are not allowed to forget about the original
meaning. The do\vn-to-earth tone of verses 6 to 7 presupposes that 'rYe are
talking about ell1pirical, flesh-and-blood \rYOlnen, and not only about some
COS111ic principle of fenlininity.

52 Q9:29, a reference to a tax owed to the Muslims by Christians living in !vluslirD regions. Of
course, Ibn Arabi refers to \vhat he sees as the Qur'an's account of how Christians should behave,
rather than to anything ~n Christian teaching as such. .
.
53 Fz;/~ii;t;; p. 140.' Here;' the 'feminine side appears to be associated -with nleekness, whereas the
poem sees wonlen primarily as cOl11plaining. I an1 not sure ho\v Ibn ArabI \vould have explained
the contrast.
S4 Having said that, I an1 unsure \\hat to 111ake of the phrase 'he did not do that again' (wa-md
thmlnc?) at the end of v. 9, It ,,,,ould seenl to suggest a contrast between Jesus and WOlnan. God
upported Jesu~ v/ith His spirit. He took woman into his care, but-apparentLy-did not repeat
the action of supporting her with His spirit. The verb thannli l1:eans to do something again, or to
say something again, or to count s0l11ething as t"\yO, but it is unclear what it refers to in this
context.
55 Not that- fell1ales are .the only. hlUllans.) rho. hD\V signs.of.ilnperfec ion. It is 'NOrth noticing
that Ibn ArabI also uses a Sil11ilar image to talk about nlen. In the FU'tl~(u1t, he states that all of
creation is 'on a straight path', but adds that (the straightness of a bow is in its crookedness' -in
other words, even apparent unperfections, in men as well as in WOlnen, are a part of God's plan
(Chittick, SPOK, pp. 302-3).

Ibn 'ArabI's Alystical Poetics

72

In this sense) the poen1 reflects the point that \,vas I11ade first by Goldziher
and then 1110reJully by Chodkie\vicz. Ibn Arabi)s approach to the Qur)an does
not usually involve seeking out a spiritual sense,and then jettison~ng the literai
sense'that' gave rise fo'it. 'it -i~; because tne vlome'I1"inK1lih'aiiin1ad')s'life-'act"lik~\'"
real ,yomen on a day-to-day basis (in Ibn ArabI's understanding at least!) that
they are able to exelnplify a 1110re comprehensive point about feI11ininity.
FrOln a literary point of vie\v) Ibn Arabi rnaintains the connection
by shifting backvvards and forwards bet\Neen day- to-day language and Sufi
technical vocabulary. This jarring quality is ,,\That has put n1any readers off Ibn
ArabI's poetry) but it is also an integral part of the Inessage he is trying to
.
convey.
",..

."',..

3. 'THERE IS NO STATION): THE POEM ON SORA T

AL-AHZAB 56
Sllra 33, al~ A1).zab; is like,,yise concerned prilnarily vvith the status of the
Prophet's \vives. It also describes a battle that pitted the nascent Muslin1
coiTim\iriify of Mediiiaagaihst 'itsopponet1ts. IblY ~rabfs' pOelTIOl1 thestira'
\,yanders Inore than IliaDy of the other ones, following through a series of
associations tp.at begin from a phrase in the Qur)an. It is worth discussing here
because sorne of the ideas it raisesfollovv nicely froln the poeln onal-Ta1).rlll1:
Ibn 'Arabi touches on the nature of felnininity, while integrating it into his
understanding of sainthood. Once ag'ain) it is best to begin by taking a brief
look at the contents of the sura.
S1u-at al-A1}.zab begins by stating that adoptive sons should not be considered as blood reJ,ations (aya 4), and that they should be nalned after their
natural fathers where possible (aya 5). It then goes on to consider a battle
(ayas 9-27). The exegetical tradition has it that this was the Battle of the
'Trench, in \vhich the Meccans besieged the Mi.lslilTIS in Medina;57 ,The Qllr)an, ,
takes to task some hypocrites who sought an excuse to escape, and called out)
'0 people ofYathrib [Medina], you cannot 111ake a stand (lti muqama lakum)
so ,vithdravv!) (aya 13).

BC1.laq, pp.'149-50/Basaj, p. i43. lvIetre: kami/.

A]-Tabari) Jami' al-Bayan) vol. 10, pp. 262-4) S.v. Q33:9. The battle is said to have taken
place in 627. On the battle see \Vatt, lv1uha77lmad at Jvledina (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966),
pp. 34-9 for a narrative that blends several historical traditions, including S0111e references to
SCuat al-Al!zab, see. Martin Lings, 1\1uhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources (Cambridge: The Islamic Texts Society, 1991), pp. 215-28. l\1y concern,here is not to uncover the
actual historical events, but to see then-i tllrough the exegetical lrraterial that would have been
fanliliar to Ibn 'Arabi and to his readers.
56
57

Ibn 'Arabi and the Qur)an: A Series of Poems

73

The remainder of the sura addresses relations between the Prophet and his
wives. The latter are to set an exaluple) and areparticul'al~ly,,yarned against any
Inisconduct (aya 30). l hey are to stay in their houses, and not to display their
beauty (ayas 33, 59). The believers are not to enter the \vives> quarters vvithout
pennission, and should speak to them frOITI behind a veil (aya 53). There is
also a succinct 'efe 'ence to !v1 Uhanl111ad>s 'lnarriage to the forn1er ife of his
"adoptive sonZayd (aya 37).58 ThIS 'incident is often taken cas a reasoJ!: f6rthe " ,
injunction regarding adoptive sons at the beginning of the sara. l\1uhalnnlad
'is not the father of anyofyour men)) but is 'the Seal of the Prophets> (aya 40)
and is 'a beautiful exarnple> (aya 21).
Ibn 'ArabI's poem begins with a reference to a fe\v vvords from the account
of thel?attle of theTrer~~h. Hovvever, ,it-places~these\,vGrds in a,completely
different context:
i

1. People of Yathrib> there is no station (la rnaqd111a) for a knower

\'\Tho is the inheritor of the Prophet of Hashinl, Muhal11mad.

In the Qur>an, as we have seen) the phrase 'Ya ahla Ya.thriba la muqarna
lakuln> is uttered by the hypocrites seeking an opportunity to escape. It rneans
that the Muslilns do not stand a chance in battle. While the usual reading is hi
muqama, the alternative la rnaqama vvas also allovved. 59 As Sufism developed)
the word maqam had COlne to refer to a station on the Way, often as opposed
to the 1110re transient 'states' (a~vval).6o The techni~al sense was IllOst usually
",_.~~pt_ ~,~~tiIlc~J~9rp,it~, J!l~aD:ing~ in"~hisQu(~1.~,i~,,aya,-_/\l-Qush~yrIn1akes
SOIne fairly general_ comlnents about cowardice, but does not read any
esoteric meaning into these lines. 61 Even the cOlnmentary by 'Abd al-Razzaq
al- Kashani, '\-\Those fondness for allegorical interpretation was noted by Goldziher, completely passes over this passage. 62
Ibn 'ArabI, unlike these other Sufis, does take the phrase in a Sufi technical
sense. The phrase 'inheritor of the PfOp her' in verse 1 is a reference to the
saints. The phrase la rnaqama in this verse must then be taken in the same
context. In the Futuhat, Ibn ArabI uses the phrase in reference to the Perfect
Human (al-insan al-kamil), vvho has reached the 'station of no station>
'.' (.nlaqan1-.lit maqchn)"., According to Ibn ~rabI) if the Sufi is in one, station, he
is by definition not in another. The 'station of no station>, in contrast, is that of
58 For anaCCOllnt of this incident see Lings, i\tIuhamnwd, p. 213 and, in a distinctly less
reverent tone, 1CLXll1e Rodinson, lvlohammed (Harnl0nds\,,-orth: Penguin, 1973), pp.204-8.
59 Al- Tabari and al-Zarnakhshari both cite the variant vo,vellings nwqama and J71lAqama.
The former l11eans (place to stand'. The latter refers to the act of staying or remaining sOJllewhere.
Al- Tabari, Jami' nl-Bayan, vol. 10, p. 270; al-Zalnakhshari, Kashshal vol. 3, p. 528 .
.,. _ ,.??-,-, Seel,..fQr,~nstan,ce"","A..bLL l,..-Qasirn"Abd-.a.l-.Karinl aLQushayri> Risala> ed,.-lvla' ruf Zurayq and
, Ali Abd'al-Hcll11id' Ba.l~aji (Beirut: Dar al-Jllbayl, 1990), pp. 56-8.
61 AI-Qushayri, Lafd'if, vol. 5, p. 155.
62 Ibn Arabi (attr.), Tajsfr al-Qu/an ai-karim, ed. :"1u..tafa Ghalib (Beirut: Dill: al-Andalus,
1978), vol. 2, p. 284.

74

Ibn 'Arnbts ~.1ystical Poetics

perfection, \vhich is an equilibrium bet\veen all of the Divine Nanles. God acts
through the Sufi through His name Allah, \vhich cOlnprehends all of the other
names. 63 This level of pronlinence among the Sufis is seen as analogous
to that' of lviuhamrnad ani6hg' the 'ptb'phets.64'~Like-'the Perfect Human)'
lvluhamlnad encompasses all other levels. This happens by virtue of his
ascent to\vards GOd: 65
2. :His ascent enconlpassed all of the great stations,
which is how' he becalne Inaster at the resurrection.

The next three verses further describe the Prophet Muhalnn1ad in l11etaphysical ternlS:
3. l\'lay God bless Hinl out of His 111ercy:
for his sake) the purified spirit bo\ved
4. to his father, Adanl,66 \vhen the realities ,vere asleep
to our words; and he "vas a guide away from discord. 67
5. For the cOlnprehensive \vords \vhose nanles are
in Adam, belong to the one brought close, Al;nlad. 68

The call for God to bless the Prophet (v. 3) brings us back to Siuat al-Al;zab: it
is here that believers are told that 'G'od and his angels bless the Prophet' and
are instructed to 'bless the Prophet and greet hinl' (v" 56).
The interrelation bet\veen Muhan11nad and AdalTI is one that Ibn 'ArabI
pursues elsevvhere.Muhan1mad and Adam are respectively the last and first of
the prophets. Verse 5 strengthens the connection between the tvvo. God taught
Adaln the names of all created things (Q2:31); Muhan1n1ad points 1110St
perfectly to God) through the ''''ords (kalimat) to which Adal11's names refer.
As Nettler points out, each prophet in the Furu~ represents a particular .word
except for Muharrlmad) who has been given 'all of the ,~ords'.69 One 111ight see
an analogy here with the Sufi, whose station encon1passes all other stations.

63
64

65
66

Chittick, SPOK, pp.,37;;-6. See further Sells, 'Garden', pp. 301-6.

On the Perfect Hll1nan see Chapter 1 2d.
Q17:l-2, 50:1-18, see, iniTIOre detail, ChapterS S.
See e.g. Q2:34; 7: ll.

67 lVal-J:zaqa'iqu nuwwamunl'ar! qarvliru1 wa-min inshiqaqin qad hac::hl. This line is convoluted in syntactic tenns. I have read min inshiqaqi11, with IvlS. Yusuf Aga 5463 f.373, ratber than
'an inshiqaqin as in Bltlag. This reading helps prise away the second part of the hen1istich from
the fIrst, so that 'an qalvlina is 'a~tached to the sleeping truths in the first helTIistich whereas qad
hada C0111es to refer back to I\/luhanl111ad. The solution is inelegant, but seenlS to 111e to be the
best available. It is supported by the fact that the Qur'an often uses \vords with the root SH-Q-Q
in contrast with the guidance (hudii) provided by the Prophet (e.g. Q2:176; 4:115; 47:32).
68 Al:l1Dad is a synonYlD of Muhan11nad. The tenD 'brought close' (muqClrrab)seen1s to be
used generically in the Qur'an. It is applied alnong others to Jesus (Q3:45), to S0I11e of the angels
(4:172), to Moses (Q19:52), to those ,vho believe and do good works (Q:34:37), and to tbe blessed
hiln (Q7:114; 26:43).
(Q56:11), but also to Pharaoh's magicians \vho wish to draw dose
69 Nettler, Sufi i\1etaphysics, p. 180.

to

Ibn "Arabf and th e QurJan: _A Series of Poen1S

75

So far, then, the poem builds on a phrase from the Qur'an, but takes'it in an
unusual context. The link to the Qur'anicsura is suggested through. the'
blessing of the Prophet. But the poeln goes on from there to discuss
the significance of the Prophet's metaphysical status, in terms that must be
understood in the light of Ibn Arabi's other works. At the same tilne, a parallel
is esh b ished betvveen the status of the Proph t and that of his inheritor, the
Perfect Human. The exact nature of the parallel is not made .explicit: the'poeln
shifts deceptively betvveen the t\vo.
The next three ve'rses appear at first to mark a complete break:
6. His speech joined fen1alesto rnales,
with the most special attribute of praise, and linked them.
7. Fen1ininity is an accident that becomes' realised,
just like Inasculinity, do not hesitate,
8. Definition, OJ-add) joins us, if you are true to nle,
for they are like us 70 -do not ansvver the one who reb~ts this.

Hovv did the Prophet 'join females to lnales' (v. 6)? It seems to n1e'that the
phrase jama 'a l-inatha ild l-dhukuri kala,muhu has to be understood as
alllbiguous. The term jama 'a means to join, but the jam '. is also a granlmatical
tenn lueaning plural. So vve could also understand Ibn ArabI as saying, 'His
speech gave a ferninine plural to n1ales.'
If this reading is correct, then Ibn ArabI is referring to an argtllnent that he
Inade in the Fu~u~, again in the chapter on lvI~thanlmad. After elaborating on
the connection benveen '1vI:uhammad"arldAdain, Ibri' ~t\rabi gives a-lengthy,
\vord-by-v-lord interpretation of a hadith of the Prophet: u~bibtu min dunyakum thalath: al-niscf lval-tfb }val-~alat ('I have been made to love three things
froln this ,,,Todd of yours: "vomen, perflune and prayer')? 1 Ibn ArabI points out
that to say 'three things', lVIuhanllnad used the feminine fonn thalath, \ryhereas
the '\vords for wornen, perfume, and prayer taken together y\,ould usually require
the 111asculine form thalatha. Ibn ArabI sees a deeper reason for this gramlnatical oddity: just as the masculine \vord for perfume is situated benveen the
fenlinine '\vords for \vomen and prayer, 'lnan is situated betv\'een the [divine]
.essence froln \vhich he emerges, an~ worna I1 \\Tho enlerges from hiln'.7 2
Coming back to the poem, Ibn ArabI seems to lnean that since lnen and
,\vonlen elnerge from 'a single self, the rnaleness and femaleness of f1eshand-blood human beings can also be seen as sOlnething secondary, 'an accident
that becolnes realised' (v. 8). And because \V0I11en \\Jere derived (ishtaqqa) from

70 A hadith says that 'won1en are the like (or full sisters) of men' (innamii l-nisii' shaqii'iq aI
rijal). \Vensincl', Concordanceet i-ndice\, dglatrndi.fionmu ulnwne, (Leiden: E. J. ,Brill, 1992, 6

\'~ls), vol. 3, p. 162.

There is no space here for a detailed discu sian of the whole chapter. For a close textual
analysis see 'l.\fettler, Sufi l'rlctnphysics) ch. 10,
72 Quoted in Nettler, Sl~fi i\1etaphy5ic5, p. 191.
71

Ibn 'ArabI's J\1ystical Poetics

.76

Adam,73 the very act of division or definition (~add can Inean either) is \vhat
they have in C0111mon \\ ith 111en.
Tp _Su~D1~_~:i,?e"tq~ argument ?o far:lv1uhammad held the 'station of no
station', \vhich rep;ese~lt~ -the .~;ftiIYlate '~'Clliilil)dunl'~ above' arid beyoild' allY
other station. As part of this statioll, he understands the complexity of relations bet\veen Inale and female) but sees that at least as far as elnpirical hLllnan
beings are concerned, both of these qualities go back to one self.
,rrhe next three \ erses explore another tension similar to that betvveen 111ale
and felnale, t.he tension bet\veen active and passive principles:
9. Do not be 'veiled in passivity,(infi ,~alJ,
for Jesus \vas before, and \vhat I ~ay is true for all tin1e.J 4
10. And Jesus did not doubt that his being
was God's spirit, sanctified and supported.
11. God knows that ,'\'~hat I have said is true:
the perfume-seller cannot put right vvhat has gone bad?5

Here) Ibn ArabI rejoins the themes that we savv in the poem on Sluat alTa1).rIm. We have seen ho\v Ibil Arabi imputes a fen1inine side to Jesus, an~
also ho\v passivity is often portrayed as felninine, where activity is seen as
Inasculine?6
'
hi. tl1is COl1.text, it seenls tdrhe' thafyetanothet side of the question is hintedat. We saw bl~iefly in Chapter 2, section 1 how Ibn ArabI discusses the problen1
of whether Jesus' miracles were performed byhin1 or by God. The discussion
, takes place in the fonn of an excursus on the gralnlnar of a Qur'anic passage.
The Qur)an says, 'You create from the clay a forIn like that of a bird with 111y
pern1ission, and yOll blow into it and it beco111es a bird by my pennission.'77
Does the phrase 'with my pern1ission) refer to the blo\ving, or to the fact that
the clay becolnes. a' bird? One would aSSU111e) says Ibn ArabI, that it refers to
the blo\ving: it is Jesus that blows, but through God's permission. However,
one could also take it as referring to 'it becomes'. In that case, it is through
God's pennission that the bird becolnes alive) but the blowing is Jesus'
o\'vn act..78,
Most Qur'an COlnlnentators believe that the act of creation is exclusively
God's. Affifi con11nents that such a position is also consistent-\vith the Ash 'arl

Fu~~{?~p. 216.
Assurning that qawl! at the beginning of "I". 10 runs over frOITI Y. 9. Agail ) thi is not an
, elegant solution, but I cah.not see what else 'qawlT'could refer to. 'Is true for all tilne' is the best
I can 111ake of ta'abbada, which may be derived from abC/d) 'eternity)., The lnore usual 111eaning of
ta>ahbadn, 'to return to the "vild', cannot apply here.
75 This line looks
if it refers to a proverb, ,vbich I have not been able totra.ce.
76 On the active and passive principles i.n cosnlological tenDs} in the context of the hadith on
'the tl1ree,thii1gs, see Corbin) Alone, pp~ 166-8.
77 Q5: 110; cf. Q3:49.
78 FU~fl:-, p. 140.
73

74

as

Ibn 'Arabi and the Qur'an: A Series of Poelns

77 "

kaliirn vie\v that God creates all hUlnan acts?9 To Ibn 'ArabI, both vievls are
valid: the act belongs to the h un1an or to God depending on one)s perspective.
It seeIns to me that this 111ust be Ibn ArabI's point in Inentioning Jesus and
passivity (infi 'al). Not only is Jesus a cOlnbination of active (the spirit) and
passive (nature): he also illustrates through his Iniracles ho\-'\' one can be both
an agent and the Ineans through \vhich God works. This is another contrast
that dissolves'once one hasxeached the 'station": of no station':
The final four verses elnphasize the -sanle point, using a different example:
12. An exanlple has come to you~because of 'what 'was said

as SODlething well supported in the shart' a, I will not nalne it (outright),

13. out of courtesy for God, whose glory is great,

for tilDe is like' a doth" for

the pllreessence:

14. the leaf of comparison carries out its function (~ukrn),

and it is redunda11t when the command appears,

15. as in 'what was said-<Nothing is like his similar'-

in Surat al-Shura; and Inay \,yhoever forges fai1. 80

Verse 12 appears.to say that what follows is a secret~ which scripture has told'
the poet not to spell out. 'The reference in verse 15 is to the QUI" anic dictum
laysa ka-mithlihi shay'un, 'there is nothing like Hiln'.
Chodkiewicz explains that Ibn Arabi discusses this phrase in several
places. sl As \vith the example of Jesus and the clay birds, 1'\VO grammatical
readings are possible, each \vith far-reaching consequences. To 1nost C0111'llYennltdrs,"i11clllding-al-:Qushayrl, the patticle"ka-' is. "redl1ndant (zefida, the .
tern1 Ibn 'ArabI uses in v. 14). Ibn ArabI recognizes this as a possible reading.
But he also suggests a lnore surprising alternative, in which the particle kacarries its ,veight: that the aya 111eans 'There is nothing like His similar.' That
'si1nilar' is the Perfect HUlnan: n1an \vas l11ade in God's image, and the Perfect
HUlnan best reflects God's qualities. 82
In this 'Nay, we return to ''\There'the poel11 began: with the idea of a level on
which apparent opposites are united. Jesus can be seen as an agent or as the
passive n1eans through "vhich God \vorks, depending on ho\-v one parses the
relevant aya. In the saIne "vay, the ka in this other aya ca,n be taken as
redllndant, and heil:ce"lnvisibl"e;' or can "be'given' its full force. It \'\TolJld seem
that the union of the opposites in this ,yay is part of the secret of the 'station of
no station', \vith \-vhich the poem began.
So ho\v does this poem relate to the Qur'anic original? As \,ve have seen, the
point of departure is a single phrase) Iii n1uqatna lakunl. In this case, the
hen11eneutic principle appears to be different from that of the poem on SCuat

79

80
1

Affifi, Ta 'lfqat) p. 183.

Cf. Q20:61: wa-qad khnba man
Chodkiewicz, Ocean, p. 37.

iftara ('whoever forges has e\'er failed').

82 Ibid., p. 37.

Ibn 'Arabts Mystical Poetics

78

al- Talfriln. In the latter, the Prophefs vvives are exelnplars of a higher realit),
but they are nevertheless flesh-and-blood 'VOlnen. Indeed, it is because they are
ordinary \V0111en that they are best sqi.ted.toexernplify' a P9int that goes beyond
on sitra al- l~~zab; ho\vever:' the'Iiiik'js 'n10fF-elusiVe. ,themselves: 'In the
There is no obvious si111ilarity behveen the situation on the battlefield in Nlecca
and the station of no stations. The fact that the one can be eA1:rapolated froID the
other is a testament to the in1poliance of selnantic associations for Ibn ArabI.
But in another, ll10re general, sense, the p'oem does not stray too far fron1
th~ sura. After all, most of the reluainder of the sf/.ra discusses l\1 uhamIllad'
vvives. In verses 6 to 8, "vhen Ibn 'Arabi discusses Inale and female principles,
one is 'reminded of this theme' in the"st'ira. The sura' 8.150- c'alls 'Muh~nllnad
'a beautiful exalnple' and the 'Seal of the Prophets>. Given the analogy behveen
the Seal of the Prophets and the Seal of the Saints, ideas such as these have
in1plications for Ibn 'ArabI)s understanding of sainthood. The poeIn>s connection \vith the sura is therefore not as tenuous as it Inight appear at first.
So, on one level, the poeln is based on a far- fetched pun on the vvord muqarn.
On another l,evel, it plays on ideas that Ibn ArabI \'\TQuld have found scattered
throughout the sura. In that sense, it elnbodies vvhat he might have seen as the
sura> s' 'spirif.

11oem'

4. "AI ARNING IS OF NO USE': THE POEM

ON SORATAL-QAMAR 83
The poen1 on SClra 54> al-Qamar, is one of the Inost intricate in the Qur>an s.eries.
It casts the speaker in a dran1aticdialog~e with a sinner, "veaving together words
and phrases frOID the sura. The poeln's interaction with the Qur'anic text is
different from that of the t\VO poelns that have just been discussed. Surat alQalnar has the short, intense phrases typical of the Meccan period. Ibn ArabI's
poeln constantlyrefers'back-to the original, and keeps up its sustained-r rhYlne~
The sura is largely abortt those \!\Tho refuse to accept God>s \-\lords, and
a dOlninant theme is 'that of 'Rarning. The recurrent phrase dhuqu 'adhabr
wa-rzudhuri, ('Taste n1Y chastisement and warnings') encapsulates the overall tone.
The sura begins \vith a \t\Tarning of the Day of Judgement:
The hO~l[- dra'\vs close and 'th'e ]1100n IS spilt. \tVhen they see a'sign, they tlirn J\,vay
and say> (Continuous sorcery!' They cried lies and followed their ovvn vvhi 11S>, but
every Inatterhas been settled. Such tidings have COlne to then1 as contain a
deterrent> far-reaching \visdon1-but yvarning is of no use. 84

83
84

BLdaq) p. 157/Basaj, p, ISO, Metre: rajaz.

Q54:1-4.

Ibn 'Arabi and the Qur>an: A Series of Poems

79

There follo'ws a reference to the stories of previous prophets. and of the peoples
that refusedto heed their advice: the peoples of Noah (ayas 9-16), Ad (15-21)
Tharnlld (23-31), Lot (33-39), Pharaoh (41-2). All of these lead to a general
warning ofpunishrnent in the afterlife (43-53). 'The sura ends by contrasting the
situation~ of the hell-bound with that of the God-fearing, 'in gardens and a river,
in a safe ph c to sit, in the pres nee of an oIl1nipotent I(ing) (54-5).
The CO11t1"(:lst 'pet\veen cataclysD1 (and Hell) on the one hand and Paradise
(and safety) on the other hand also underlies Ibn ArabI's poen1..lifter a threeverse introduction that recalls the sura and addresses an l1nnalned interlocutor, there are two segments of six verses each. The first celebrates springtilne
and'lush gardens, ending on a call to give thanks to God and be\vare of his
"viles. 'fhe second turns abruptly to a,poignant dialogue yvith the interlocutor.
The final verse, which-as often, with Ibn 'ArabI~is an exhortative cap, ends
the poeln on a note of praise and gratitude,
The introductory seglnent uses terms that COlne respectively froln the
beginning and from the end of the sura (phrases that echo ti1e Qur).an have
been italicized):
1. The 111atter (amr) is brought close when the moon is split [aya 1],
Because it is in the Tablet, an inscription recorded [aya 53).
2. Good sir, do not say that
\-vhen the eye sees it, that is continuous 111agic [aya 2J.
3. Were it not for \vhat you have seen)
then nobody could have used itas'a source of orders or prohibitions.

By bringing together phrases froin either end ,of the sura, this first line
effectively encornpasses all that COlnes bet\een the two.\Vhere the Qur'ari
tells us that. great and small sins are all written dO\fvn, Ibn 'ArabI refers us to the
Tablet, in vvhich God's kno\ledge is preserved. 85 The listener is presumably
one of those 111entioned in the sura as denying God's sign3~'F-h-i-s-fel-lowi-flg--~-~---
seglnent appears to expand on those signs, and develops an ilnage of ease that
is redolent of garden poetry:
4. The earth smiles and shows its goodness)
v.'hen the clouds bestow pouring wnter (aya 11)
5. The Sun bestows its light on it
on the n10rning after the day \vhen it has rained.
6. The earth of the at1110sphere appears in greenery)
sho\\!ing to the gaze the unseen things that it had hidden.
7. The perfume of the air is pleasant froln its breezes,S6

:; Cf. Chapter 1 2'c.

I have translated a'rajas 'breezes'.l\:lore usually, a'raf(sil1g. 'urf) would Inean high places,
However, (/ 'r~1f can also refer to \\inds that blow froln high place: Alfred de Biberstein
Kazin1irski, Dictionnaire (/rabe-frarz~ais) 2 \'ols (Paris: 1\'1aisonneuve, 1860), S,\,. '-R-F. Ibn
,6

80

Ibn 'Arab(s A;fystical Poetics

so I said to the stars, 7 (\A/hat ne\\'s is this! ss
8. I sa,v Hin1 bright-faced and laughing,
vv'ho had be~n cailed angry _and stern.
"

Froln a literary point of vie\", this segment deftly evokes a rich tradition of
Arabo- Persian poetry, in \\ hich nature ilnagery can sYlnbolize the generosity
of a patron or the divinely ordered COSITIOS. 89 The recurrent personificationthe earth' and sun besto\ving kindness, the earth sIniling, the stars apostrophized-is characteristic of such poerrls. It also emphasizes that the natural
scene is not sOlnething de'scribed froID outside, but rather a symbol of ease and
generq~ity..
.In its Qur'anic context, the seg1nel1t is apparently, used to turn the s11ra on
its head. Verse 2 leads us to expect a' reference to God's cataclysn1ic signs; the
sura speaks Inostly of punishInent for unbelievers, and has much less to say
about God's n1ercy. Instead, \'\That \ve find are the 'signs' that the Qur'an often
evokes as evidence of God's Inercy.90 In the poem, 'pouring water' (v. 4) is
beneficial: it is given generously by the clouds and makes the earth sn1ile. In its
Qlu"anic context, however, the phrase has rr10re sinister connotations. vVhen,
Noah's' people reject hislnessage, God floods theIn:
So we opened the doors of the sky \vith pouring \vater, and we Inade the earth
burst op'eri irito sour-ces>so :the"'vva"telAs hiet f6r: -a nialter that had been decreed '...
vVe have left this as a sign, so is there any that \vil1ren1en1ber? (ayas 11-15)

The introduction of nature imagery at this. poeln appears to be a device

suggesting that the very same attributes that are a punishlnent to the

Arabi probably also' has in Inind the word 'arj, a sweet sl11ell, ,vhieh often occurs in lyric
<;-lescriptions of gardens or loved ones, but which appears not to have a plural.

87 Anwf (sing riCH-v'): the tenn Jneans either a star or the setting of a star afda,\Tn. Since preIslcunic tilnes, the anw1' were strongly associated with rain: rain ,"vas said to have been brol.ight
by the star that was setting (or, according to S0l11e lexicographers, rising) at the time in question.
See Mul?an1mad al-11urtada al-Zabidi, Taj al-Anls, 10 vois (Cairo: Tab'atal-Jan1aliyya, AH
1306), vol. 1, p.129, s,.v;N;~V-,';Edwa,:rdLane,Arabic-English Lexicon, 8 vols (London: WiJlialns
and Norgate"1863-93), vol. 8, p. 2861, S.v. N-1-'. On the association between rain and stars
see further v,3 of the poem discussed in Chapter 4 3, and verse 1 of the pOelTI discussed in
Chapter 5 1.
The (rain' in this context is usually taken as positive: thus nal'v' has the secondary Ineaning of
gift or favour (Kazinjirski) Dictionnaire, s.v. N- It\!- '). Hence the expression istarlfa bi-najmin, to
prognosticate rain by reason of the rising and setting of a star, where istana'a can also 111ean to
a's1< 'someone ,for 'a gift '(see.Yaj af:- )lri1s, Lane and Kazimirski as above). In the poem undei':
discussion, the stars are addressed as the bringers of the greenery that has been described.
88 The (news' n1irrors ayn 3,although Ibn ArabI uses the word khabar rather than the
Qur'anic anba',
'
89 Fo!' a' detailed discussion, including close readings of Arabic and Persian poen1s, see
l\1eisan1i, ,Structure and Meaning) pp, 344-88,
90 E.g. Q78:6-16. The association,ofnatureilnagerywith the Qur'anic signs was already ,vell
established ih Arabic poetry:by Ibn 'ArabI's til11e, and is far from being a specifically Sufi feature
(i.\1eisami, Structure and Meaning, p. 351).

Ibn 'ii.rabf and the Qur'an: A Series of PoenlS

81

unbelievers are also a sign of grace. The vengeful God is seen 'bare-faced and
la,ughing'.91 Ibn 'Arabi ends this seglnent by urging the \lnbehever to thank God:
9. So give thanks} and give n10re thanks, striving (rnujtahidan),
and be\vare of schen1ing, ,,,,hen God schemes. 92

Hovvever, the u lbeliever does not listen. His anS\J\fer introduc s the second
six-verse segment, \vhich cOl)sists.'ofa tersedialoglle:
10. I warned hiJn of the ruse and he' said, 'Do not say
What you have just said, for warning is ofno use' [aya 5].

Here, it is the unbeliever that quotes the Qur'an .against himself. ,His appropriation of the Qur'a,n's.vocabular.y- dra\<vs attentiol~ tc? a paradox in.. thesl1ra.
The listeners are called upon to hear God's words, and the fate of past peoples
is given as a warning. Yet we are also told that <warning is of no use' (aya 5)
and that the flood \vas destined to happen (aya 12). In a lTIOre general fonn,
the tension is between free "vill and predestination, a questioil that \vas hotly
debated in early Islamic thought. Here, the question is not resolved. Instead,
Ibn 'Arabi drags us into the heart of the paradox. The speaker replies to the
sinner:
11. I said, (I can see only a believer
in what is brought by (God's) detenninationand decree.'
12. l-Ie said, 'You are ,vrong in thinldng you kno\v 111e;
for since I .turned nlyback .[aya 45],
13. righteousness turned its back on IDe, and its den10n
frightened me, so that I said, "Is there any that will renlel11ber?" '93

In these verses) the poet counters (as I understand it) that if the sinner is
quoting the Qur'an on this point, he is effectively a believer in God's decree.
However, the sinner disagrees. In verse 13, he takes God's repeated question in
the sura and nlakes it his o,vn. 'rhe dialogue continues:
14. I said, 'Yes, Inyself.' He said, (I \von't listen
to w'hat you say, for I am in error and insanity.'

The sinner repeat's'wll'atthe 'people otThan1ud said to their Prophe't $aliD,

according to the Qur'an:
\Ve sent ~ali1; in warning. So they said, are "ve then to falla,,,, a hUlnan being just
like us? Then \,\Te \'vould indeed be error and insanity! (aya 24).

91. God's..laughter is ,tBent-i{)~~ . if~ s~ver-al.~, h;adiths: see \~ensinck, COllcordam:e et indices,
S.\"

D-H-K.
R~ading ini lla}nt makar, the only voweUing I can think of to fit the D1etre. On God's

92'

scherning s'ee Q3:54, 7:99, 8:30, 13:42, 27:50.

93

Ayas 1S, 17, 22, 32, 40, 51.

82

Ibn 'Arnbf's i'vlystical Poetics

In the Qur'an, the sinners speak in jest. Here, the same \\ ords are taken in
earnest, and the sinner seen1S to be the teacher. The spea).<er con.tinues to
plead) offering hin1self as 'one that \yilt r~n1eln1?<=T'~ ~u.!,_his_ple,as fall on deaf
ears. The sin~er appears to have'the tipper-'haha,"-and It "Is "he-\Vh6' quole"S God's-'" .
,vords to the believing poet. The latter e\ entually thrO\V5 up his arn1S:
15. Ho\v great the difference behveen a person in gardens and a river,
in the safe place to sit of (111 ornnipotent King, '
16. and a person 'who is lost, to \vhorn has been said
'You loser, taste the touch of Saqar.'

.He ends the poen1 with acap'v"hich recalls verse9..butgoes .further, thanking
God for his very ability to give thanks:
17. So praise be to God \Alho gave humanity

the praise of a thanking thankful one \",ho gives thanks for thankfulness.

The dilen1lnaexplored in this poeln is silnilar to that faced by the Prophet Lot
in the Fu~.u.~. We are told that Lot's particular \"lisdol'll is that of lnastery
(n1ulk). Yet Lot's calls to his people all go unheeded) and his \!\Tisdom is
precisely that of inability) that is of knowing \vhen nothing can be done. 94
Else\vhere in the Fu~u~) Ibn 'ArabI defends the notion that although God gives
existeI1ce to 'everyone) .the individualpetsbil':s "statU's a's'sa" believer' or" sinner
depei1ds on their pern1anent essence, ,vhich even God cannot change. 95 T'his
last idea. n1ight explain the reference in verse 1 to the Tablet) on \vhich the
permanent essences are preserved.
The poeln reads like George Herberes famous (Love bade me \VelColne) in
reverse. In Herberes poeIn, the speaker refuses Love's invitation and insists on
his own guilt:
Love bade Ine \lvelcoIne, but
Guilty of dust and sin. 96

111y

heart dre\v back,

Love pleads with the sinner, who eventually agrees to 'sit and eat'. In Ibn 'ArabI's
pOelTI) the speakercontin-ues to plead but ends. up being .convinced thatnothing
can be done. The sinner is his unexpected guide. The poet's use of literary,
devices underscores that point. By maintaining the rhyme of the Qur'anic '
original and constantly referring back to it, Ibn 'ArabI constructs his poeln as
a counterpoint to the divine text. He uses it to exploie a paradox in the Qur'an,
not to resolve it.but to bring.it to.Ji~e by}n-e3}1sDf ~<_surprising. dialogue ..

Fu~r{~, pp. 126-30; Nettler, St~fi l\;letaphysics, ch_ 11.

lzutsu) Sufis'rl1 and Taoism, p. 169.
96 George Herbert, The Complete EnglishvVorks, ed. Ann Pasternak Slater, Everyman's
Library (London: David Campbell, 1994) p, 184.
94

95

Ibn 'Arabi and the Qu/an: A Series of Poenl.S

83

5. 'vVHEN THE SUN OF SOULS SHOvVS ITS DAWN': THE

POEM ON SORAT AL-SHAMS 97
The features that we sa\'\' in the poen1 on Stu'at aI-Qalnar are also found in
a lTIOre concentrated foru1 in the next poem. Sura 9 L al-Shanls, is typical of the
shorter lvIeccan S(lras in its vivid in1agery and its use of short, tersephrasev.
Ibn ~A:rabi's poenl reflects. these features~ and his tightly packed verses vvith
anlbiguous pronouns defy interpretation.
The first part of the sura, ayas 1-10, consists of a series of oaths. The second
part, ayas 11-15, refers to the story of the Prophet" ~alil! and his she-can1el,
which ,vas halTIstrung by the unbelieving people of Thamlld.
Ibn Arabl's'po'elTI'-refersonly to-the first part, vvhich"rul1s,
1. By the sun and its forenoon;
2. by the Moon as it fo110'w5 it;
3. by the day, as it lights it up;
4. by the night, as it covers it;
5. by the sky and what built it;
6. by the earth and ,,,hat laid it out;
7. by a soul and v{hat gave it balance,
8~ and inspired its \vrongdoing and its piety;
9. he succeeds who purifies it,
10. and he is lost ,,,rho corrupts it.

NeLfvvirth COIDrnents that this "'passage cons-ists entirely' of coritrasting pairs. Ayas
1-4 evoke contrasts in the celestial bodies, and ayas 5-6 do the saIne for heaven
and earth. These exalnples lead naturally to the contrasts in the hLu11an soul (ayas
7 -8). The rhythm of the opening lines leads up to this point, maintaining the
listener's attention. The mention of those \'\'ho have corrupted their souls (aya 10)
introduces the exalnple of Thamlld, vvhich the remainder of the sura considers. 98
In its syntactic details, the sara gives rise to questions. Does 'By the day, as it
lights it up' (aya 3) imply that the day lights up the sun? Most COlnmentators
agree that the object of the verb is the darkness, or the \vorld, or the earth, even
though none of these had been Inentioned previously. Different explanations
ha\Te bee"ii advanced.''''The SaIne" is true 'ofayas 5-6: God built the sky and laid
out the earth, but ,\Thy is He called \vhat' rather than \vho'? There is no space
to go into these questions here: suffice it to say that the sura contains several
arnbiguities. 99 The same is true of Ibn Arabfs poeln.

97 Bulaq, p. 172/Basaj, pp. 163-4. ?vletre: wafir.

98. Angelika. N euwir.th,~ 'Jnlager.y and 11etaphors in the Introdu -tory Sections of the 1V1akkan
Oms', {n G. R. Ha\\1ing arid Abdul~Kader A. Shareef, Approaches to the Qur'an (London and
New York: Routledge, 1993), pp. 3-36, OD pp. 22-3.
99 For the debate, with various solutions, see e.g. al-ZamakhsharI, nl-Kashsh~f, vol. 4
pp. 7S8-60; Fakhr aI-Din al-Razl, lVlnjatfJ.l al-Ghnyb (Cairo, 1289/1872-3, 8 vols), voL 8,

Ibn 'Arabf's lvIysticnl Poetics

84

Ibn 'ArabI's poen1 falls into t\vo segn1ents of five lines each. The first verse
covers the saIne ground as ayas 1 and 2, but \vith interpolations that place us
in his Sufi conte>-.'t:

v\ hen

the sun of souls sho,vs its forenoon [aya 1],

the hearts gro'w in what follows it [aya 2].100
2. You can see it (the sun) in it (the n100n) in one state after another;
it (the sun) is n1~nifested in the crescent \vhen it (the crescent) is driven to distraction.
1.

Ibn 'Arabi follovvs the tilne-honoured habit of glossing particular ,yords in the
Qur'an as referring to higher realities, effectively building up an allegory
'around the sacred text. Yet this is not a conventionalcOffllnentat-y:itis also.
a poetic text in itself, allusive and elusive. As often with Ibn 'Arabi's poetry, a
difficulty is in knovving \\There the different pronouns belong. What follo\\Ts is
my own understanding of the poem, but another reader might quite legitiInately see things differently.
The (sun' is the sun that illu111inates souls. The 11:10011 represents the hearts
of the mystics. When that sun shines, the hearts grow in its wake (v. 1).101 In
verse 2, the lDoan is the place in v\Thich the sun's light is manifested: the light
of the moon reflects that of the sun, just as the heart reflects the light of God.
The word Ibn 'Arabluses is majla, the term h~u~es elsewhere for. a locus
of divine Inanifestation (or tajaIlt; somethnes -trarishited:cepiphai1Y~)102 'These .
Inanifestations are constantly changing, \vhich means that the state of the
heart is also in constant flux; the term ~iil in verse 2 is frequently used of Sufi
states (often in contrast with the 1110re pennanent lnaqiiJnat).103

pp. 580-1; Abll Ali al-Tabrisi, Mrljm.a \ al-bayiii1

If.

tafslr al-Qur'an (Beirut: Ivlanshllrat Dar

Maktabat al-f:1ayat, n.d, 6 vols), vol. 6, p. 152.

100 Bimii talL'lha~ lit. 'with what follows it', seen1S a\vkward. It is ten1pting to accept the reading
in MS. Yusuf Aga 5643 f.383: tara bad,- al~quhlbi biha taUihii i <You see through it the full 11100n of
the hearts, following it.' V. 2 has tanaha instead of talaha. As a result, v. 2 beCOITIes:
You can see it (the Sun) in it (the fu1l1TIoon) in one state after another;
It (the Sun) is Inanlfested' in the crescent when it re~l(hes its f-luhiess.-.
In vlfiting, tazayadat could easily becOll1e confused with tara badr, although the two' do not
sound alike.
As regards the pronouns, t.he sun is feminine and the 11100n 111asculine; so in ,,Tv. 2-4, the
distinctions are clear fron1 the context.
101 Ibn Arabi uses the san1e ayas to sin1ilar effect i.na short lyric poenl that is not in the Bl:l1aq
Df1van. Describing a b~autiful \.v~lnan he nlet in I?amasc.\Js, he"~:~ites:

hi)'a l-sha1T1s11 I-n1u<;il'atu fi <;lul)aha/hiya l-qamaru I-nlull1fu Idha talaha

'She is the radiant sun in. its forenoon; she is the illuminating n100n as it fol1ovvsit.'
(lvIS. Khalili 225, f.191'; 1\15. Veliyuddin 1648, .147r)
102

This tern1 is vitally ilnportant for Ibn Arabi and has been discussed extensively in the

literature, e.g. Chittick, SPOK, pp. 103-9.

103 Else,vhere, Ibn Arabi often plays all the fact that the root of the word for heart, Q-I-B, also
denotes change or inversion: Jan1es Morris, (Listening for God: Prayer and the Heart in the
Futuhltt', ]1\1IAS 13 (1993), pp. 19-53, on p. 30.

Ibn 'Arabi and the Qur'an.: A Series of POe71'lS

85

Ibn 'Arabi may also have a rnore intricate analogy in n1ind. \tVhen the sun
rises at daw~1, the moon disappears; but it is because of"the sun's light that the
n10011 is able to shine at night. 104 This is a Tnotif that occurs often in Ibn
'ArabI's \vritings: vvhen creation is visible, God is hidden and 'Nhen \ve look at
God, creation is hidden. los
The 1 .[-t Dw verses take that idea further:
3. Through my inner consci~nc~, I aIl1 to its (the moon)s) reality
as the sun> as it gives its light.
4. For in being> I an1 none other than it (the moon) in essence Caynan
in being through us, it (the moon) is none other than it (the sLln).

In vers~ 3, Ibn.AtabI ~olnp~reshis o\vnrole to that of.the sun, illuminating the

other he-arts. It" isperhaps worth bearing in mind that as Corbin ren1arks, Ibn
'ArabI often prefers the phrase ana slrr al-Ifaqq ('I alll the secret of the Truth')
to al-1j:allaj's anc( l-J-faqq, (I 31TI the Truth.' The reason is that just as
the creature needs God, God needs the creature as a place in which to be
manife.sted. 106 T'he relationship between the two is often expressed as one of
identity, but in mediate tenns: in the following verse, 'In being 1 alnnone
other', and (in being through us, it is none other'.
5. So that is our sky> when He built it [ilya 5]>
and this is our earth> ,,\Then He laid it out [aya 6].

'The earth and sky .ar~ put there by God, \,vho is described in the third person;

bllt'fhey itre also 'dUl:s,"'pllt there for the sake of the speaker and/ol: the other
hearts. Once again, there is a correspondence betvveen the iteITIS described in
the Qur'an-th~ sun, lTIOon> sky, and earth-and items in the spiritual world.
The second half of the poem turns the ernphasis from the meaning of the
celestial bodies to God>s constant activity for the sake of the perfect hun1ans:
6. For my sake, Iny Lord vvas [engaged] in sonIC business 107
and your fruits reached their ripeness.
7. 'IVe will finish 108 with you out of generosity to\Nards you,
to give 109 your souls vvhat they 'wish of thern [the fruits?].

10-1: The variant in 1'/15. Yusuf Aga 5643 would further en1phasize this point: the sun is
lnanifested in the crescent as it reaches its ji.illness.
10- Cf. Corbin) Alone) pp. 120-35, esp. p. 128.
106 Corbin, Alone, p. 129.
.1 07... Q5.5.~2

10

9~ ...',~.'

Q~~:3f.

.-

I ha \'e read li-tu '[n) as the only vowelling of the BCllaq text that lnakes sense.
Alternati\'esthat respect the lnetre could be li-tu \ta,.'~1ay (the souls) be given') or for that nlatter
li-) 1l 'ri, 'rnay He gi\re (the souls) ... ' ~lore extensive lnanuscript e\'idence might clarify tl1ings.
109

86

Ibn 'ArabI's Mystical Poetics

To a reader fan1iliar ,,,rith exoteric Qur'anic con1mentary, verse 7 represents yet

another inversion of recei, ed \visdoln. In the Qur'an, the phrase sa-nnfrughu
lakuln is said to t\\'o listeners, traditionally held to be Inankind and the jinl1)
and is usually taken to Inean \\Te'vvill turn to Y6Q\'ot:\ve~' " iIfde-~l~vith' oll.......".
The expression is usually understood by con1lnentators as a threat. IIO In the
poen1) the phrase (here sa-11Clfrughu n'zinkum rather than sa-nafrughu lakurn)
is used here to denote an act of generosity: 'to give your souls ,,\That they \vish'.
The follovling verse complenlents the fruit metaphor \vith a "\veaving n1etaphor) expressing the 'internvining) of God and Inan:
8.He 'weaves into them (the souls) an essence (dh~t)9f His.,~:~T~!
since 1 have learned that they ,vere its \varp.

A pun is apparently intended bet\veen sada.) the \varp, and sudd, alone: God
\veaves His essence into man because He knew lTIan \J\Tas alone. ll1 The fU1al
two verses appear to ll1e to continue the pun) although by this stage the poem
has become even lTIOre cryptic:
9. The daytin1e tortures us \vith loneliness (suda) and Vioes;
The night 1l2 tortures us ,vith its de'w (nada.).

Theword 5uda echoes the "vord sada, 'dew\ \,vhich is in turn echoes by nad(]) a
near-synonym. for sadd, in the second her'nistich. Yet sada is specificaUy- the' .
riight-dew that nourishes seedlings. Both nada. and sada. are associated \N'ith
generosity. 1 13 We would therefore expect to find it associated \vith good
things, and not \vith torture. I can only assume that this paradox continues
the inversions that ,vere hinted at earlier in the poem. Verses 6-7 take phrases,
which in the Qur) an \vere associated }vith threats, and apply them to generosity. Verse 9 takes sOluething that \vould normally look like generosity, but says
'we perceive it as a threat. Ibn Arabi luight be alluding to another sort of
intertwining that only the initiate can fatholTI.The contrast n1ay be intended
to Inirror the contrasting 'wrongdoing' and"piety) of aya 6) both of \A/hich are
stated to have been 'inspired'. by God.
The final verse takes us back to the Qur' anic con'text:
10. The darkness covered it ,vith the secret of 111y existence;

the daytin1e lit it

up, but did

not reveal it. 1l4

]10 E.g. al:...Tabar!, Jami \ al-Bayiin, vol. II, .p. 593.

.'
_.
_,
Cf. Q75:36: a-vahsabu l-instl71u an vutraka sud(? ('Does Dlan rhi.nk he "will be left alone?'),
In the Qur'al1, the in~pli'catiol1 is that nlan thiilks be will be left to sin with ilnpunity. If Ibn ArabI
had this "1y(1 in mind, then once again he redefines a threat as an act of generosity.
112 Literally 'hislits night'. This could "vell .mean the night pertaining to the day (usually the
night before, but in context perhaps the one after). I would not read too nluch into this pronoun,
]13 Lane, Lexicon, vol. 4, p, 1,336, s.v. S-D-iVand S-D-Y.
] 14 Reading 'wa-jalhlha I-naharu wa-mfi jalfihli, as required by the 1netre. Jolla" 'lit it up', is the
san1e verb llsed in aya 3. The second verb can only be jnla, ,,,,hich usually I1leanS to become
111

Ibn 'Arabf and the Qur'an: A Series of PoenlS

87

The felninine 'it' in the first hen1istich could refer back to the souls or to the
essence. Since the two' are intertvvined, perh'aps' either could' be intended.
The essence is probably preferable: the verse \vould- then mean that the divine
strand in creation is alternately hidden and lit up, but that even when it is lit up
it is not perceived.
vVhatthis _po 111 does 's part of a tradition of Sufi hern1ene1.. tics and of
Qur)an cornmentary- lTIDIe ge'nerally;The interpretive Inethod -is to take SOlne features of the original text-ttle sun, 11100n, sky, and earth-a.nd peg theln to
spiritual realities such as God's essence and the souls.
At the same tilne, the poem is very different froln a prose cOlnn1entary.
Having established the sort of analogues vve l11ight expect, it dr<:l\,ys the
" re~d~-r into a,c.onfu~ing. setofrelationsllips that is never -resolved, '\;vith
syntactic ambiguities that reflect those of the Qur'an. Ibn 'ArabI's poen1 is
a comment on the Qur' an, but also a piece that calls for interpretation in its
o\lvn right.
The poeln on Sltrat aLShalTIS is more than a gloss, and it il~1itates the style
of the original; but does that Ina~e it a full-blown in1itation of the Qur' an?
T'11is question is best answered through a cOlnparison with another poen1
that ambitiously takes on the style of the Meccan suras, the 'Ra'iyya Sham. siyya' of the thirteenth-century Nu~ayrI poet Makzlu1 aI-Sinjar!.
'

6. (BY THE SETTING OF THE SUN, BY THE RISING

OF THE MOON': T'HE 'RA'IYYA SHA1VISIYYA'
OF MAKZON AL-SINJARI
NU9ayrlsn1, novladays known as Alawisn1, is a heterodox sect that apparently
developed from an offshoot of tenth-century Shia Islam. Its theology, p~rts of
, which are traditionally revealed only to initiates, centres on the divinization of
All as the first element in a trinity consisting of~'\lI, lv1uhamlnad, and his
, cO~1}pal~QJ.:l,S.a?nal~ Far,isi. As ~ historical figure, 1-1akZLll1 seelns to have been
the leader of a Bedouin tribe that caine to the rescue of the N u~ayrls of Western
Syria in 1223, and several Nu~ayrI tribes trace their descent back to hiln. us

revealed) as

anintr~n.siti\~e

verb. Lane also allovl"s it in the sense o['to display, discover' (Lexicon)

. -' v~i."2) p>446: .: "~':rL-'{~~)'. i thG;k It nl~'s't be meant in contrast with jalln, even though Lane seenlS
to l11ake the two synonymous,
2
115 H. Hahn) (1\u?ayriyya') in E1 , vol. 8) p. 147. Halm also gives a basic overvie\\ of NU?J)'fl
religion and its adherents.

88

Ibn 'ArabI's }vlystical Poetics

He is also reInen1bered an10ng Nu~aYTls as the author of a higWy regarded

collection of poetry. 1 16
One of his best-kno\vn poelns is a 316-verse qa~lda kno\vn as the 'Ra'iy)la
Shalnsiyya;. Nvv,ia: reports that N~~ayrIs consider itai1'"'ificbYfip~rra'SIe"rri'iilel~'~-~"""::"
piece. 1l7 In the opening segment of this poen1, Ivlakzun appears to imitate the
style and cadence of son1e of the Meccan suras:
1. By the setting of the sun, by the rising of the n100n,
by the da\vn star as the night lea\res;
2. By chaos after order) by stillness,
by lTIotion, by \vhat is destined, by destiny;
3. By the planets advancing and retreating in th'eir orbits
by v{hat the da\-\7n hides of then1, and \vhat it unveils;1l8
4. By the seeing of essences of the shado\v
before which, despite seeing cleady, the intellect falls short;
5. By the secret of the proclamation of guidance in its concealment,
\,vhen it appears, and by its revelation when it conceals;
6. By the perfun1e of the feast of the covenant in its \veek,
\vhich revolves in its 1110nths that are lul0\Vn;
7. By the solar spherein its radiant 1l9 path,
by the one \'\Tho .calls for ,vhat was rejected;
.8. I have 1vitnessed the unseen, and the one
\vho took place in it, witnessing by eye ... 120

It ''\Till not be possible here to elucidate ali of these in1ages, \vhich belong in a
The intention is instead to see \'\That function the
iinages perfonn in the pOelTI, and hovv Makzlln's use of. Qur'anic tenns
COInpares \-vith that of Ibn 'ArabI.
One crucial difference between the two is that !vIakzun's piece is an- introduction to a lTIuch longer work. T'he opening seglTIent should not really be
taken on its own: it should be seen in relation to the poenl. as it develops.
Unfortunately, the poelTI cannot be considered here in full. Quite apart fron1
considerations of space, the 'Ra'iyya' abounds in references to secret N u~ayri
doctrines,and the secrecy extends even to thepublished text The edited:
'Ra'iyya Shalnsiyya' contains. 249 verses, vlhereas a manuscript consulted by
N\vyia has 316. N\vyia concludes that the editor, hilTIself a Nu~ayrl) has
Nu~ayrl coslTIological context.

J16 An excellent overview of his DZ1.van is given in Pa~11' Nwyia, 'l'v1akzClll al-Sir;jari, i10ete
ll1ystique alaouite', Studia lslamica 40 (1974), pp. 87-114.
117 Nv\ryia, '1Vlakzlln', pp. 93-4.
11 S For r'ny translation of Y",T. 1-3, I have referred back to Nwyia's French ttanslation (Nwyia, .
'Makzll11', p. 94 n 1).
119 Al-zahnj' can also 111ean Venus. I all1 not sure ho\v to interpret this reference.
120 In As'ad All, Me? 'nj(:It Allah l'va/'-1vlakzzJ.n al-Sinjtirl. (Beirut: Dar al-Ra'id aI-ArabI, 1972,
2. vals), vol. 2) pp. 114-15. The metre of the paein is rCljaz.

Ibn 'Arabi and the Qur'an: A Series of Poems

89

systematiquement pratique la taqiya en negligeant to~tS les poen1es au Ies vel'S

dans lesquels Makzlln pai-Ie en alaouite, soit pour attaquer les sunnites (surtout
.A.bu Bakr et (lTmar) soit pour exprin1er les articles du dQgme proprement
alaouite. ]21

The published text can therefore be taken as little ITIOre than a guide to the
poeJ!l'_~.C(~)l!tents. 1 everthe.less, I can see two elernents that might a.ccount ; Jr
1\1akzuri s in1itatio!1 of the Qur'an, both of \,yhich are helpful in understanding
Ibn Arabi's pOeln.
The first is the fact that the 'Ra'iyya ShaInsiyya'taken as a vvhole roains over
the entire range of N u~ayri coslTIology. The function of the opening passage
attempts to evoke all of this in one breath. In this regard, and despite obvious
differences; .the celestial bodies in the poelns by Ibn A~abI and MakzllU call
attention to siJnilar motifs.
The second is that the 'Ra'iyya Shamsiyya' ends ''''ith a passage that steps back
to sing the praises of the pOelTI itself. Takenin the light of this cOl~cluding section,
lVlakzlln's in1itation of the Qur'an appears Illore daring than that of Ibn 'ArabI.
1\1akzun's pOelTI follows the style of the Qur'an in order en1ulate it rhetorically,
enlphasizing his own poetic project. Ibn Arabi tinitates it in order to run
alongside it: he replicates its rhymes and patterns, but does not try to .Juake his
vvork sound like it and preserves the dichotolny between Qur'an and poetry.
As regards the first point) a cursory look at the poeln is. enough to give an
idea of the number of topics it covers:
.
.',. .""'Seven principles that are embodied in the pillars' of Islam, the signs of
nature, houses of worship, objects mentioned in the Qur'an) the seven
spheres (vv. 12-30);
T'ruth can be accessed through forms but is superior to all of then1
(vv. 31-6);
T'he creation through the Pen and Tablet {v. 38);
The sinner and his fate (vv. 50-70);
Interpretations of the five pillars of Islam (vv. 82-99);
, .References to Aristotle) Plato, Zoroastrians, and figures froin early Islamic history (vv. 106-19);
The secret truth, and its inaccessibility to the urivvorthy (141-50);
References to AbrahalTI, Joseph, l\1oses, David and Goliath, Job, Jonah,
John (the Baptist, apparently cOllflated \vith Zachariah, v. 176), Jesus, the
Seven Sleepers, and Dhu l-Qarnayn (vv. 154-82);
Fe~~,~T.~.~"a?~ c<?n~~~t.s of the Qllr'an and their significance (vv. 184 -204);
L

1~1 Nwyia, 'IvIakzun', p. 92. Fortunately, such omissions as are indicated in the text do not
seen1 to affect the passages directly quoted here.

90

Ibn 'Arabf's A1ystical Poetics

Exhortations to the reader to follo\v in the speaker's path (vv. 213 - 27);
The speaker's o,vn path and status (V\. 228-33).

In describing N u~ayri doctrines, lvlakzun- dra'\vs ~hisirria~es from the entirety

of sacred history.122 Nu~ayris hold that there have been seven cycles of history)
each nlarked by three figures, an isrn (nalne), a rna 'net (lTIeaning), and a bi1b
(gate). In the last cycle, these ,vere l\/luhalTIlnad, 'Ali, and Salman al-Farisi
respectively. Biblical and other pre-Islamic figures such as Plato and Aristotle
.have held sinlilar positions in other cycles.
The Inention of celestial bodies is especially significant in a N u~a) rI
context: Nu~ayris hold that hunlan heingsused to belights in the sky) before
being exiled into the material \vorld. 123 According to one source, different
124
categories of person are seen as eInbodied in different stars and planets.
In
a Nu~ayrI holy text, the Kita.b al-lvIajmu', 'Ali is addressed as 'creator of the
sun of the forenoon, creator of the shining IDoon' (ya mukhtari \ sharns alqu17ii , 1-va-khaliq al-badr al-nlunfr).125 So by evoking the celestial bodies,
lvlakzun ll1eant to open his poem by alluding to an overarching vision of
cosnlology and the fall.
N\V)ria cOInmeilts on another diInensibn of these lines. The tern1S 'davvn'
and 'dusk', \vhich open the 'Ra'iyya), often represent for Nlakzlln the ideas of
~Ljhur and butun) which are "equivalents .of the Sufi c6i1cepts of "~ahir and
bat in , exoteric" and esoteric. God shows Hinlself through a form, but that forn1
is also a veil. 126 Iuhis other poems, Makzun describes the idea of an essence
(dhat) that Inanifests itself (tajallI) in forITIs (~u1Ivar). As Nwyia relnarks, these
terlTIS are very close to those of Ibn Arabl. 127
To that extent, Makzun and Ibn 'Arabi use the iITIage of celestial bodies in
similar ''\Tays. The celestial bodies call attention both to the universe as

122 For an in-depth analysis of selected Nu?ayrI texts see 1Vleir Ivt Bar-Asher and Aryeh
Kofsky, The Nu~ayrf-l\lnwi Religion: An Enqr-Liry into its Theology and Literature (Leiden: Brill,
2002) .. A summary of this doctrine can
found in SulaynlanEfendl al-Adhanl, al-Bakura al-sul,aym{miyya fl kashf al-diya.na al-Nu;;ayriyya (Cairo: Dar al-$al)wa, 1990), cb. 4, and in
EdnlUI1q. E. Salisbury, 'Notice of the Book of Sulayman's First Ripe Fn~it) Disclosing the
Mysteries of the Nusairian religion', JAOS 8 (1866), pp. 227-308, on pp. 282-92. Tbe BflkfIra
is an overvievv of Nu?ayri beliefs vlritten in the Inid-nineteenth century by a Nu~ayri who
converted to Protestantis111. Salisbury's article is a detailed account of this work with translations
of substantial passages. Although a late work, it contains lTIUCh. infonnation that reflects earlier
~ doctrines: Bar-Asher and Kofsky, The l\fujaYl~l- Alirwf ReligioJ1, po 3~
.
.
..
.
.
123 BaIrn, <Nu?ayriyya', pp.147-8; al-AdhanI, al-Bakura) chs 4 and 6, and Salisbury, 'Notice', /
pp. 286-92 and 295~9; Bar-Asher and Kofsk)T> The Nusayri-AlaWi Religion) pp. 75-7.
124 Al-AdhanL Bnkiha, p. 33.
.
125 AI-AdhaI11, Bnki:;.ra, p. 31.
126 Nv"ryia, <lvfakzun', pp . ] 00-5.
127 l.Jvvyia., <Ivlakzun', p. 105. One could add, in passing, that MakzLll1's use of the terrES fik(11",
athat) '~uwar, and so on in the <Ra'iyya ShanTsiyya) is strongly ren1iniscent of Ibn Arabi's rli'iyyi1t,
which are discussed in Chapter 5.

be

Ibn 'Arabi and the Qur'an: A Series of Poen1s

91

understood by the poets, and to the paradox of revelation and' conceahnent

that is a motif central to both of them. 128 . ,
As regards the second point, Nvvyia hinted, that lVlakzLln's ilnitation of the
Qur'an in the opening segment 111ight bear some relation to the poen1's
triulnphal ending. 129 A lTIOre extensive quotation of the passage bears this out:
234, \'\Till anyone make their- \vay to Iny poem?

Its verses have been scattered with 'eve'ry n1eaning .. :

238. Canle to Illy hOines through their doors,13o

for they are open for any vvho pass through?31

239. \:Vith every verse I have built a palace filled

with short-gazed ones, before ,,\Thorn your gaze falls short.

240. In 111y Euphrat~s, every wellis kept sealed,,

and in' them are rubies and unique pearls,

241. the unique one of its age, whose guardian
is the companion (wall) of Dhu l-Kifl and Khiqr.
242. A virgin to passing tilne, touched only
by one who k1)0\VS, and has experienced what she has.
243. Its difficult Ineanings flow sn100thly
to the one who strives for then1, like a gushing strea1TI.
244. vVill another produce another one like it in Iny tin1e?
For it is alone in the time that has passed so far.
245. To one vvho understands it, its content n1akes a n10ckery
of those "vho Inake fun of it and n10ck.
246. Its out'~Nard fornl pleases ey~ry lisJ~ner;.
if he understood its inner 111eaning, he "would be even 1110re pleased.
247. Its seal is musk-will anyone c0111petevvith it?
Those \-vhose nose is blocked cannot know perfume. 132

This passage n1akes it clear that Makzlln had an elevated vie\v of his own craft
He \vas attempting not only to express deeper meanings, but also to conceal
then1 in an out\vard form that <pleases every listener' (v. 246). lYfakzLln clearly
12S The ain1 here is not to discuss whether or not Sufisrn influenced N u~ayrisn1, or vice versa.
For Nwyia's views on tJ-le topic see 'l\1akzun', p. 99fT.

F29

Nwyia, 'lvIakzl:m', p. 94 nL

Cf. Q2: 189: 'It is not piety to come to the houses froln the back; but piety is to be
godfearing; so COlne to the houses by their doors.' IvIakztln IDay have the hint of a pun in
lTIind: abwab can Inean doors or chapters} and the word for homes (bu) nt) recalls that for verses
of poetry (abyat). One is r-enlinded of the poem by Na?ir-i Khusraw referred to in Chapter 8 4
belO\v.
131 Li-man 'abar: cf. the dual nleaning of 'obara discussed above (l).
132 The editor indicates that son1e verses haye been Oll1itted at the end of the poen1, but as
u ual does not say how rnany. From Nwyia's comnlents, we can still infer that this passage comes
close to the end of the poem in its..tilll..versi.oll_".. .,
\/v. 248-9, with 'which the pubfished poerTI ends, talk about fighti'ng the unbelievers and
glori~'ing :-\11. So it Seell1S a fair guess that the final lines in the original pOell1 curse Abcl Bakr,
'Umar, and/or' Uthn1an. According to Nwyia, this is one topic that the editor has systematically
remo\'ed out of tnqiyya.
130

Ibn 'Arabts Mystical Poetics

92

felt that nothing like this had been achieved before (v. 244). B) challenging
other poets to produce son~ething like it, he calls to mind the Qur'anic
challenge to 'produce another aya Jike it' t11at upderpinned th~ "~octrine
6f i jai. 133 "This need not rndi'I1- that"
"lnt"e"11dea-to'p"rod'uce'-ano'fher" Q\ii-"an,
or to rival it: it is not unkno,vn for poets to praise their 0'" n 'York in hyperbolic
tern1S. But it is possible that his Nu~aYr1 beliefs made hiln less "vary of
in1itating the Qur'an than Lis Sunni counterparts. The Kitab al-J\tlnjnlu',
after alL is divided into chapters kno\vn as 5ilras. That \vould explain \r\Thy
Makzun's poem begins vvith a section that in1itates the Qur'an not only in its
content, but also in its rhetorical style.
This last point leads us to the big diffeience hef\veeri the""iY6eln by Makzlul
and the one by Ibn 'ArabI, \vhich is also the" main benefit of comparing the t\NO.
Ibn 'ArabI does in1itate the rhyn1es of the Qur'an, but there is no doubt that the
person talking to us is still Ibn 'ArabI. lvlakzlln's opening section is not a
comment on any particular sura: it replicates the style and cadence of all of
them, producing sOlnething that is recognizably Qur'anic but also entirely
ne\v. Ibn ArabI, on the other hand, stays within the confines of his sura, even if
his thinking leads hin1 in unexpected directions.
In ans\.ver to the second question that was asked at the outset of this chapter,
Ibn 'A~abl's Qur'an pOelTIS sho~l~,d_nqt.b~ _s~e,n "(ls a;n ,attelnpt_,to rival t~e "IIqly
Book stylistically) much less to replace"it. As a closereadilig of each of the four
poelllS has sho,,\7n," Ibn Arabi constantly interacts \'\7"ith the Qur'an, lTIoving
backwards and forwards bet\veen it and his own interpretations. Where he
imitates the Qur)an's rhynles, he does so in order to put his readers in the
context of the sura and to create sOlllething that runs in parallel \vith it.
What are the i111plications for the relation between the Qur)an and poetry?
This series of. poeills sho~vs Ibn 'Arabi putting poetry' to a" new use, and
emulating the C2ur'anin a \vay that would have shocked S01l1e of his conten1poraries. Ulti111ately) ho\.vever, the distinction bet\veen the Qur'an and
poetry is still there.

he

133

On the application of this Qur'anic challenge to poetry, see further

Cbapt~r 9 2c.