“It is He who is revealed in every face, sought in every sign, gazed upon by every eye, worshipped in every object of worship, and pursued in the unseen and the visible. Not a single one of His creatures can fail to find Him in its primordial and original nature.”

Ibn ‘Arabi: al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, Ch. 372

Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi

Mystic, philosopher, poet, sage, Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi (1165–1240) was one of the world’s great spiritual teachers.

Ibn Arabi was born in Murcia in Arab al-Andalus, and his writings had an immense impact throughout the Islamic world and beyond. The universal ideas underlying his thought are of immediate relevance today.

The Society

The Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi Society (MIAS) was founded in 1977 to promote a greater understanding of the work of Ibn Arabi and his followers.

It is represented by non-profit organisations in Oxford, England and in Berkeley, California. The Society is funded by the annual subscriptions of its members. It collaborates with affiliated societies in Spain and Australia.

Activities

» Publications: The Society has published a Journal since 1982, which is now peer-reviewed and appears twice a year. It has published books, particularly a translation into English of the Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam. Its website provides over 200 articles, mainly from the Journal.

» Events: The Society has organised conferences in the UK and the USA since 1984. Podcasts and videos of more than 100 talks from Society events are available on this website.

» Historic manuscript project: Since 2002 the Society has been engaged in collecting copies of historic manuscripts of the works of Ibn Arabi. A version of the catalogue is available on this website.

Society Membership

If you are interested in Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi, his work and his teachings, you are welcome to join the Society. Among other benefits, Members receive the Society Journal, have discounted entry to Society events, and free admission to live online talks.

Supporting the Society

For information about some of the Society’s planned developments over the next three years, and how it makes use of regular donations, one-off gifts and bequests, please see the page on supporting the Society.

Recently Added Quotation

Futūḥāt Translation Project

21 June 2024

The enabled beings are endless emptiness; they are in a darkness based on their dhát* and their ʿayn,* not knowing anything as long as they are not (i.e. until they are) a site of visible emergence of His Being. And His Being is what benefits the enabled being. It is His word, having light from his Lord (al-zumar 39:22).

* dhát: essence, core; essential identity
* ʿayn: eye, point, dot, source, well, entity

Book 12, Chapter 73

20 June 2024

God brought you out from the wombs of your mothers when you knew nothing, and He made for you hearing and sight and hearts (al-naḥl 16:78). These are lights in you by which you see the things. You do not perceive except by means of what was placed in you, and nothing was placed in you except you. To Him belongs the being that is you; and you, based on that being, perceive – you who are devoid of being.

Book 12, Chapter 73

Go to the Quotations page

Featured Article

William C Chittick

The Religion of Love Revisited”

“Ibn al-ʿArabī and Rūmī – not to mention countless other teachers, Muslim and non-Muslim – looked at human beings as works in progress. Many of them would have been happy to call the path of becoming fully human ‘the religion of love.’” This article reviews ‘the religion of love’ in Ibn ʿArabī and three other authors, and relates it finally to what Ibn ‘Arabi says about the “Station of No Station”.

List of all articles

Featured Podcast

Éric Geoffroy

Spiritual Realization (al-tahqiq) through Daily Awakening

This is a meditation on the meaning of al-tahqiq (verification or realisation) which is central to the writing of Ibn ‘Arabi, and drawing on the writings of Sufis before Ibn ‘Arabi, such as Junayd (d. 911 AD, the “Leader of the Sufis”, sayyid al-ta’ifa), and others after him, such as Shaykh al-‘Alawi. Junayd said, “I have achieved al-tahqiq by staying in the presence of God for thirty years under these stairs”, by which he meant the stairs of his house. The paper later published in the Journal of the Society can be found here.

List of all podcasts

Latest News

Online talk July 20

Monthly lecture for Arabic speakers

Dr Elhoussein Loukili will speak on “Mystical Journey and Its Manifestations in the Thought of Ibn Al-Arabi” at 12 midday Morocco local time.

More information

Online talk October 26

The Heart of Azrael

Dunja Rašić will speak on, ‘The Heart of Azrael: Angelification and Angelomorphism in Akbarian Sufism’. Presented by MIAS USA

More information to come

April 2024

Young Writer Award

The judges have announced the results of Young Writer competition for 2023

About the young writers

January 2024

Society Journal, Volume 74

Volume 74 of the Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi Society is expected out in January. It includes articles by Pablo Beneito and Stephen Hirtenstein, Mukhtar H. Ali, Faris Abdel-hadi, Tareq Moqbel.

See the list of contents

December 2023

The Futuhat Foundation

Dr Eric Winkel is engaged in a translation into English of Ibn al-‘Arabi’s Futūḥāt al-Makkīyah, from beginning to end. It is being published progressively by the Pir Press, and Volume 4 was published in 2022 and further volumes are expected in 2023.
More information