MIAS education: programme overview

MIAS online courses

Our MIAS programme of courses is composed of four journeys. As the diagram below shows, there is “a journey across the ocean”, “a journey across the desert”, “a journey to heaven” and “a journey into language”.

We are currently offering the following courses: “In each thing He has a sign”, “With which eye do I see Him” and “Embark therein: from Noah’s ark to Adam’s fall”. These courses form part of the “journey across the ocean” and study Ibn Arabi’s Futuhat al-Makkiyya (The Meccan Openings) and The Secrets of Voyaging.

The journey in Ibn Arabi’s teachings

The generic title of our courses is inspired by the concept of the journey which occupies a central position in Ibn Arabi’s teachings. The multifaceted meanings of the journey in Ibn Arabi’s works can be found in his Kitab al-Isra (The Night Journey), Futuhat al-Makkiyya (The Meccan Openings) and Kitab al-Isfar (The Secrets of Voyaging).

According to Ibn Arabi, the spiritual journey towards the Divine is a continuous process that reveals a path through several spiritual openings:

In reality we never cease voyaging from the moment we and our roots are originated, ad infinitum. Whenever a waystation appears to you, and you say that is the goal, another road opens up before you. You supply yourself with provisions for the road and take off. Whatever waystation you come upon, you may say: ‘This is my goal.’ But when you reach it, it is not long before you set out once more travelling (The Secrets of Voyaging 2015: 43).

In the same way that Ibn Arabi speaks about the endless voyage in the Divine Ocean, our students are encouraged to embark on a personal journey that can allow them to gain a taste of Ibn Arabi’s teachings while sharing their knowledge with others.