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The Multifold of Signs: Creative Imagination as Sufi Methodology of Self-Knowledge
Abstract
This paper is concerned with how Ibn ‘Arabi believes one can understanding the self through different ways of reading signs. The faculty that helps achieve this goal is imagination, khiyal. The term “divine Signs” has many meanings, depending on the particular level and perspective within which Ibn ‘Arabī is discussing it. From the metaphysical perspective that Ibn ‘Arabī often adopts, the sign is a kind of reflection reflecting its object more or less clearly. The Signs and verses of God (āyāt) are found in the Qur’an, but the Qur’an itself emphasizes that they are also found in the outside world (macrocosm) and within ourselves (microcosm). According to Qur’an, as we have seen, all things are “signs” of God. They refer to God and point to Him. Indeed, according to Ibn Arabī, the root of the word ‘alam (“world” or cosmos) is ‘alāma (a guidepost or sign for travelers). Thus he often interpreted the divine Signs as being of two kinds, namely the Signs on the “horizons” and Signs in the soul (al-āyāt al-anfusiyya). The meanings of the Signs shown “within their souls” are normally sought through those spiritual disciplines of contemplation, purification, service, and devotion that were emphasized by Sufis. These are increasingly subtle theophanies that eventually move beyond familiar forms of sensation, thought and imagination, to a pure, ineffable experience of the creative Presence of the Real, here and in higher domains of existence. Ibn ‘Arabī also employs the term dalīl as a synonym for the Qur’anic term āyāt (divine Signs), meaning that everything in the world and within us is a guide, directive, pointer, indication, signifier, evidence, proof, and denotation of God. Given these references to the three-fold dimension of these divine Signs, there is a fundamental human hermeneutical challenge to decipher these Signs across all these domains. There is a parallelism between these Signs (āyāt) or “Words” as the constituents of (a) revealed scripture; (b) all the levels of manifest creation (the Signs “on the horizons”); (3) the many inner dimensions of the human soul (the Signs “in their souls”); and (4) the realm of those timeless sacred divine-human “intermediaries”(the divine Friends/prophets/messengers (awliyā’, anbiyā’, and rusul). This essay will mainly focus to Ibn ‘ Arabi's prolific work, Fusus al-Hikam with some reference to Futuhat al-Makkiyya.
Discipline
Philosophy
Geographic Area
All Middle East
Sub Area
Islamic Thought