Upcoming Worldwide Events and Symposiums

21 June 2025 | Online event

Dr Wafa al-Sawaftah

The Theory of Receptivity (al-qabil) and Preparedness (al-istiʿdad) According to Ibn al-Arabi

The series of lectures in Arabic which began in November 2022 continues with a talk by Dr Wafa al-Sawaftah, at 11am Morocco local time, on Saturday the 21st of June 2025. The title of his lecture is, “The Theory of Receptivity (al-qabil) and Preparedness (al-istiʿdad) According to Ibn al-Arabi”

Dr Wafa al-Sawaftah is a Jordanian poet, short story writer and scholar in Islamic Sufism who pursued a Master’s degree in Philosophy with his thesis focusing on “The Theory of Divine Love in the Thought of Lisan al-Din Ibn al-Khatib,” a figure in whom he saw a reflection of his own intellectual and spiritual struggles. In a footnote to the introduction of his book on Ibn al-Khatib, al-Sawaftah writes:

“What drew me to the personality of Lisan al-Din Ibn al-Khatib was a resemblance I found between myself and him. He was a man who combined a love for literature and poetry with a love for Sufism and philosophy. Due to his strong inclination toward Sufism, he withdrew from society and politics, despite all the power, influence, and authority they had offered him.”

He continued his research in Islamic Sufism, gradually shifting his focus from philosophical Sufism to path-based (ṭariqa) Sufism. This path led him to pursue a PhD in Philosophy from the Lebanese University in Beirut, where his dissertation explored “The Shadhili-Yashrutiyya School and Its Master, Shaykh Ali Nur al-Din al-Yashruti.”

For several years, Dr al-Sawaftah worked in journalism, serving as an editor for both local and international affairs for the Jordanian daily (The People’s Voice). During that time, he held roles such as editorial secretary of the weekly Cultural Supplement and assistant head of the Research and Studies Department. He also contributed daily columns, including: State of Affairs, Reflections, In Pencil, Frankly Speaking, and The People’s Eyes.

Dr al-Sawaftah is a member of the Jordanian Press Association, the Federation of Arab Journalists, the Arab Philosophical Society, and the Jordanian Writers Association.

A writer of free verse poetry, short stories, and philosophical essays, Dr al-Sawaftah published widely in Jordanian and Arab newspapers and journals. His career in journalism enabled him to publish many of his literary and philosophical writings which found their way into the public spheres.

About the lecture

Dr Sawaftah’s lecture delves into Ibn al-Arabi’s theory on “receptivity” (al-qabil) and “preparedness” (al-istiʿdad), beginning with a clarification of these two foundational terms. It will then explore how this theory is woven into two principal dimensions:

– The ontological dimension, in which receptivity and preparedness are linked to Ibn al-Arabī’s theory of al-aʿyan al-thabita, those archetypal realities known only to the Divine.
– The second dimension relates to Ibn al-Arabī’s stance on “Divine decree and predestination” (al-qaḍaʾ wa’l-qadar), and addresses the frequent critiques leveled against Ibn al-Arabi namely, that he endorsed determinism, fatalism, and a negation of causality.

In Ibn al-Arabi visions the notions of receptivity and preparedness are two aspects of a single Divine act: “For the affair is entirely from Him, its beginning and its end.” The receptive locus is the effusion (fayd) of the Most Holy Reality (al-Haqq al-Aqdas), while preparedness is the capacity of forms to receive their realities in accordance with their essential archetypes and predispositions.

Thus, Divine decree (al-qada), in Ibn al-Arabī’s teaching, is the judgment that proceeds from the Real (al-Ḥaqq) upon all contingent things (mumkinat), in harmony with the nature of their own inner realities. The multiplicity of forms, then, arises from the diversity of their existential conditions. In this light, the servant is both the one who blesses his own self and the one who afflicts it. As for Divine destiny (al-qadar), Ibn al-Arabi describes it as the precise appointment of the time at which a thing appears in the world of manifestation, in accordance with the reality it possesses in its immutable essence.

Publications

Dr Wafa al-Sawaftah has published numerous prominent literary, Sufi and philosophical works, and articles.

People who would like to attend the lecture can use this link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83484657052?pwd=M3NSTFhINVl2c1k2ME1JVzRnd092QT09 [/]
Meeting ID: 834 8465 7052 | Passcode: 000000 | Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kb23I9qIRQ [/]

For more details of the series of lectures, please see the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/arabicibnarabi

For further information please e-mail mias-as@nokshee.com.

July 25 – 26, 2025   London

Mirrors of the Transcendent in the Cosmos of Ibn Arabi: The Body as Metaphor of Divine Self-Revelation

Speakers

Speakers over the two day event include:

• Faris Abdel-hadi, whose recently published book is titled Ibn ‘Arabī’s Religious Pluralism – Levels of Inclusivity.
• Nur Ahmad, a PhD student of Islam in Java at the University of Leiden and winner of the Society’s Young Writer Award 2023 for his essay ‘Akbarian Hermeneutics in pre-Modern Javanese Literature’ will present a paper on The Muḥammadan Circumference – The Reality of Human in the Letters of Muḥammad.
• Mukhtar Ali, author of Philosophical Sufism: An Introduction to the School of Ibn al-‘Arabi and whose new book, Inscriptions of Wisdom: The Sufism of Ibn al-ʿArabī in the Mirror of Jāmī, will shortly be published.
• Gracia López Anguita, Lecturer in the Dept. of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Seville and currently part of the team of the research project funded by the Spanish Government and European funds: “Cultural and Religious Identity in Sufism in Morocco and Senegal: Hagiographies, Gender and Symbology”. Her presentation is titled: Human and Divine Breaths: Mirrors of Creation, Language and Love
• Stefan Sperl, Emeritus Professor of Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies at SOAS. The title of his presentation is “Different Aesthetics” – A New Approach to Sufi Texts?
• Dunja Rašić, who will present her paper titled: Conquest of the Great City – a Metaphorical Story of a Wicked Queen, Her Subjects, and a Talisman by Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī.
• Makoto Sawai, Associate Professor of Tenri University, Japan: Self-disclosure of the Existence and the Divine Names.
• Gregory Vandamme, whose presentation will be titled, The Body of the Caliph: Corporeal Governance of the Human Kingdom in Ibn ʿArabi’s al-Tadbīrāt al-ilāhiyya.

The Warburg Institute is a research institution associated with the University of London. A member of the School of Advanced Study, the Warburg Institute is one of the world’s leading centres for the study of global cultural history and the role of images in society, exploring how memories of the past shape the present. Its building in Woburn Square, London has recently reopened having been extensively refurbished and extended to create a welcoming space for visitors.

Programme

Download the Symposium programme here: https://ibnarabisociety.org/wp-content/uploads/PDFs/Mirrors%20of%20the%20Transcendent_brochure_2025.pdf

Booking QR Code

Booking

Booking for the event is now open at https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/events/cosmos-of-ibn-arabi-2025

Accomodation

The recommended hotel to stay in, which is very close to the Warburg, is Tavistock Hotel at 48-55 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9EU. The Tavistock is part of  the Imperial Hotels individual membership scheme that offers discounted rates and is free for anyone to join: https://www.imperialhotels.co.uk/membership The Imperial Hotels also offer short notice cancellation with full refund.

4-25 July 2025 | Online course in Arabic

Divine Governance in the Cultivation of the Human Kingdom

Study Circle in Arabic, Supervised by Dr Mounir Achki

Between 4 and 25 July 2025, Dr Mounir Achki (Kingdom of Morocco) will lead a series of four weekly Zoom sessions, each lasting 1.5 hours. They will be held on Fridays at 8pm (Morrocco time). The study circle will focus on Ibn ‘Arabi’s text: Divine Governance in the Cultivation of the Human Kingdom.

About Dr. Mounir Achki

Dr. Mounir Achki is a professor of Philosophy at Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech, Morocco. He specializes in Islamic mysticism. His focus lies in exploring the luminous depths of Ibn al-Arabi’s teachings. Among his publications is The Humanist Perspective in Ibn al-Arabi’s Thought: Between the Particular and the Universal, (Philosophy and Heritage in the Knowledge Society Lab, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Marrakech/National Printing and Publishing House, Marrakech, Morocco).

He has participated in numerous conferences and symposia and published several articles, including “Sufism and the Governance of Creation: Universal Human Values in Ibn al-Arabi’s Vision and Their Relevance in Today’s World”, (Al-Manahil Moroccan Journal, Issue 108).

Who is This Study Course For/Objectives

• To understand the sacred essence of Sufism as a transformative journey toward the realization of the Perfect Human.
• To unveil the secrets embedded in Ibn al-Arabi’s text: Divine Governance in the Cultivation of the Human Kingdom, through a contemplative and contemporary lens.
• To taste the profound wisdom of Akbarian teachings and uncover its universal dimensions and their role in the elevation of humanity.

Registration

Participation in this study circle does not require any fees.
Final date for registration: 27 June 2025
Link to register via Eventbrite: Join Study Circle
If you have any questions or wish to inquire further, please contact us via email: arabic.mias@gmail.com

March 2024

Young Writer Award 2023 – Prize winner

We are pleased to announce that the winner of the 2023 MIAS Young Writers Award is Nur Ahmad, currently a PhD candidate at the University of Leiden. This is the fifth time that the Society has run this competition, which gives an award (this year $1500) for the best essay written by a young scholar under the age of 35 on a theme related to Ibn ‘Arabi or his legacy.

The award was judged by three prominent Ibn ‘Arabi scholars – Professor Michael Sells of the University of Chicago; Dr Aydogan Kars of Monash University, Australia; and Dr Angela Jaffray, who will be best-known to members of the Society for her translations of Ibn ‘Arabi’s works, The Universal Tree and the Four Birds (Anqa Publishing, 2007) and The Secrets of Voyaging (Anqa Publishing, 2015). Many thanks to them for the time and attention they devoted to task of choosing a winner out the eight excellent entries that we received.

The winning essay is entitled ‘Akbarian Hermeneutics in pre-Modern Javanese Literature’. As the title suggests, this is an exploration of Sufi Quranic exegesis in Javanese culture for which, as Ahmad explains, Ibn ‘Arabi’s ideas formed the predominant framework. The judges felt that this is a ground-breaking piece of work, exploring a previously little-known area of study and exhibiting excellent scholarship based on hitherto unstudied sources.

Other entries are also thought worthy of mention. ‘Highly Commended’ are Elif Emirahmetoglu for her essay: ‘The Human Self and Personhood in Akbarīan Sufism and Chinese Buddhism’, which again, breaks new ground in its detailed comparison between these two highly sophisticated traditions; and Sophie Tyser for her essay ‘The World, Man and Ritual Prayer according to Ibn al-ʿArabī’ for its thorough and comprehensive exposition on Ibn ‘Arabi’s understanding of prayer. ‘Commended’ is Farah Akhtar for ‘Cosmos as Revelation: Reason, Imagination, and the Foundations of Ibn ‘Arabī’s Scriptural Hermeneutics’. All four of these essays will be submitted to the Society journal for consideration for publication.

Many thanks to all those who sent in submissions to the award. The hard work and thought that went into all the essays is much appreciated, and it is great to know that there are such excellent young scholars working on Ibn ‘Arabi’s heritage. It bodes very well for the future of Akbarian studies.

Jane Clark

About the young writers

Nur Ahmad is currently a PhD student of Islamic philosophy at Leiden University. His PhD research is a study of Fayḍ al-Raḥmān fī Tarjama Tafsīr Kalām Mālik al-Dayyān (“The Grace of the Merciful in the Interpretative Translation of the Words of the King and the Judge”), a Javanese Ṣūfī tafsīr by Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ al-Samārānī (c. 1820-1903). He argues that this tafsīr points to the shift in the intellectual world of Java at the end of the nineteenth century. He has had a lifelong interest in Ṣūfi thought in Javanese traditional literature and its popular expressions in lived traditions of Sufism in Java. Ahmad’s academic pursuits in the field of Sufism in Java are also motivated by the teaching position he has at Walisongo’s State Islamic University (UIN Walisongo), Semarang, Indonesia. As the chairman (2024-2026) of the Netherlands Branch Nahdlatul Ulama, an Islamic traditional organization, he makes an effort to manifest his interest in Javanese thought and poetry in popular forms, such as working together with Javanese traditional artists in the adaptation of Javanese Ṣūfī poetry into sacred dances and songs.

Elif Emirahmetoğlu is a research assistant at the Berlin Institute of Islamic Theology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Recently, she submitted her PhD thesis, which compared the concept of human beings in Ibn al-‘Arabī (d. 1240) and Shinran Shōnin (d. 1263). Her research interests include Sufism, Islamic philosophy, Buddhism, comparative philosophy, and comparative mysticism. She is currently preparing for her postdoctoral project to explore various dimensions of human subjectivity in classical and post-classical Islamic anthropologies, and aims to reinterpret these perspectives with philosophical discussions on human subjectivity in the 20th and 21st centuries which have taken recourse to German idealism.

Sophie Tyser obtained her doctorate in Islamic studies in 2022 from the École Pratique des Hautes Études (Paris) in France. Her doctoral thesis, entitled ‘In The Horizons and Within Themselves’ : Man, The World and The Revelation in The Teaching of Ibn al-ʿArabī, focuses on the micro-macrocosmic imbrications in the work of the shaykh al-akbar. Since 2022 she has taught Arabic language and literature at the University of Turin in Italy.

Farah Akhtar is a graduate of the M.Div program at the University of Chicago’s Divinity School where she focused on Qur’anic hermeneutics and constructive Islamic theology. Her research interests include examining the literary form and exegetical function of metaphysical literature in the post-classical period and their significance to understanding the life of the Qur’an in Muslim societies. She is also interested in conceptions and interpretations of scripture in Indo-Persian mystical and philosophical poetry, with specific reference to the cosmos and existence. Prior to graduate study, Farah lived in Amman, New York and Lahore, studying Arabic, Persian and various Islamic texts in informal settings, including writings of Said Nursi. She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Islamic Studies at the University of Chicago.