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The Journal, Volume 46

To see the list of contents of the current issue of the MIAS Journal, see the Journals page.


News articles

Young Writer of the Year Award 2010

The Muyhiddin Ibn 'Arabi Society is delighted to announce that it will again offer a prize of US$ 1,000 for for an unpublished essay concerning the teachings of Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi by an author under the age of 35. The deadline for entries is 1st July, 2010. The conditions for entry are listed in full on the application form.

The winner of the first Young Writer of the Year Award in 2009 was Jari Kaukua from Finland, for his essay "I in the Eye of God: Ibn 'Arabi on the Divine Human Self". Dr Kaukua delivered his paper at the Society's AGM on November 21.

The competition attracted seven previously unpublished essays from writers in Finland, Switzerland, Egypt, Kashmir, Pakistan and USA. The standard of the submissions was extremely high, and they covered a great diversity of subject matter – the poetry of the Diwan, Ibn 'Arabi's understanding of the mahdi and wilaya, the role of individuality in his thought, the universality of his remit, and a very interesting comparison between his exposition on real vision and that of Heidegger and Plato. All the essays showed an excellent grasp of the ideas, and the ability to really work with them in a contemporary context. However, a winner had to be found, and Dr Kaukua's was eventually chosen because of its originality and because it showed such deep engagement with an important aspect of Ibn 'Arabi's thought.

Short statements from all seven people whose essays were accepted for the Young writer of the Year Award appear in the Society Newsletter for Autumn 2009.

A comment on the Award

Speaking at the Society's Annual General Meeting in Oxford, before Dr Kaukua presented his paper, Peter Coates said:

The very idea of a Prize Essay has always intrigued me. The Society's Young Writer of the Year Award is, for me, a Prize Essay in contemporary dress, with a subject matter which is, by implication, both unique and universal: the writings of Ibn 'Arabi.

It was as a philosophy undergraduate I first came across the powerful potential of the idea of a Prize Essay when I heard of the famous Prize Essay written by Kant, who was till this point largely unknown and quite young. But, at 38 or so, not quite young enough to meet the 'under 35 condition' of the Society's award. However, Kant did not secure the Prize but came second. His essay, however, was so good that the Berlin Royal Academy of Sciences published his essay along with the winner's. And this is partly what intrigued me: that is the potential of a Prize Essay to search out and stimulate conceptual insight into some important intellectual and more than intellectual issue of the day. What prompted the Berlin Academy to offer such a Prize Essay in Kant's time (the 1760s) was the central debate about the relationships between science, mathematics and metaphysics and the related questions of certainty and methodology. There are counterparts to this debate still strongly around and topical in the 21st Century. There is no more globally important issue really than the vital necessity for self-awareness and self-knowledge and its ramifications for the future of the world in which we live. Neither could there be a more outstanding treatment of the potential and perfection of human consciousnesss and its inseparably conjoined metaphysics of unity than articulated in the writings of Ibn 'Arabi. I think our winner today is to be congratulated on his choice of this particular Akbarian topic.

It was very warming to receive entries from Syria, USA, Finland, Switzerland, Kashmir and Egypt. And the topics intriguingly ranging, amongst others, from Ibn 'Arabi's use of ultra-monorhyme to Seeing the Unseen: in Ibn 'Arabi, Plato and Heidegger.

I can only say that the Society's Young Writer of the Year Award has already unequivocally demonstrated its importance and value.

But what is it that can really be noticed here? It is, for me, the astounding way in which the study of Ibn 'Arabi can uniquely and richly touch peoples lives, hearts and minds in such diverse ways and in many cases with such transformative effects. If this is not evidence of the spiritual influence and contemporary relevance of Ibn 'Arabi I do not know what is. And I would particularly like to thank Grenville Collins for his inspiration in instigating this award. May it continue. Both his inspiration and the award. As my daughter remarked "It ís an award that is more than itself."

Majid Majidi, winner of the Ibn 'Arabi Award, Murcia 2010

Murcia, February. Ibn 'Arabi Award to film maker

In February 2010 Iranian film-maker Majid Majidi was presented with the Ibn 'Arabi Award in Murcia, by the mayor of the city in which Ibn 'Arabi was born. The Award acknowledging his contribution to the promotion of good morals and spiritual values. Many of Majidi’s films are scheduled to be screened in Murcia. In 1998, Majidi’s film 'Children of Heaven' was nominated in the Best Foreign Language film category at the Oscars.


New York, Baku, Kuala Lumpur, Oxford, Cairo, Istanbul, Damascus, Konya

Between May 2008 and November 2009 there were conferences devoted to Ibn 'Arabi (or in one case Sadruddin Qunawi) in four capital cities around the world, not to mention New York, Istanbul, Konya and Oxford.

There are brief reports of these events, with photographs, on the Reports page.