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The Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi Library Collection

at the Woolf Institute, Cambridge

The Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi Library Collection moved to the Woolf Institute, Cambridge in November 2023, after being assembled over many years in a private house in Oxford. It consists of over 1,200 books and journals.

Introduction to the Collection

The library was founded in 1977 at a time when there were very few English-language translations of Ibn Arabi’s work in print.

The Collection has benefitted from the close relationship the Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi Society enjoys with scholars world-wide who have produced important critical editions. The Society’s digital archive project has made a significant contribution, providing scholars with copies of quality manuscripts on which to base their research. In this way, the Collection also represents a community of scholars who have worked together, under the auspices of the Society, for many years.

Ibn Arabi studies are now established internationally and translations of his work appear in many languages. Young scholars are now exploring exciting comparative and interdisciplinary approaches to his ideas. It is therefore especially appropriate that the Collection is now housed within the Woolf Institute which is dedicated to interfaith relationships.

The Woolf Institute, Cambridge, UK

The Woolf Institute was founded by Dr Edward Kessler and Revd Professor Martin Forward in 1998. Their aim was to provide an academic framework and space in which people could tackle issues of religious difference constructively.

Beginning as the Centre for Jewish-Christian Relations, the Institute later expanded to include the Centre for the Study of Muslim-Jewish Relations and the Centre for Policy and Public Education. In 2010, these centres were amalgamated under the designation ‘Woolf Institute’, in honour of Harry, Lord Woolf, former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales.

The Woolf Institute has recently completed a permanent new home in the grounds of Westminster College in the heart of Cambridge. “In a world marked by increasing division and instability, our new building is a much-needed space to foster understanding and positive relations between communities in the UK and abroad.”

Accessing the MIAS Collection at the Woolf

The Collection can be searched using either of these links:

The special MIAS Collection area: https://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/primo-explore/collectionDiscovery?vid=44CAM_PROD&inst=44CAM&collectionId=81740697330003606 [/]

And by title in the main Cambridge libraries search portal: https://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/primo-explore/search?vid=44CAM_PROD&lang=en_US [/]

Guests are welcome to visit the library and use the Collection. However, only University of Cambridge and Cambridge Theological Federation staff and students are able to borrow books from the Collection.

Guests are requested to email library@woolf.cam.ac.uk in advance to make arrangements for your visit.

For any further enquiries about the Collection, please contact the Society’s librarian: librarian@ibnarabisociety.org