Hadith in the work of Ibn Arabī The uninterrupted chain of prophecy by Denis GrilWithin the corpus of Ibn ʿArabī's work hadith take on an importance second only to the Qurʾān, in keepinwith a eneral mo!ement of spirituality in Islam, in which the person of the "rophet becomes more and more prominent# $his study will show the usae our Andalusian %aster makes of these prophetic traditions& transmission, uotation and e(eesis# Abo!e all, it will hihliht some of his !iews reardinthe )unna, which are partly e(plained by the status of the re!ealed word which he attributes to hadith# *ne of the parado(es of Islam lies in the radical distinction made on the one hand between the Qurʾān, the +i!ine word, and hadith, causinthe "rophet to speak or speakinthrouh him, and on the other hand in the almost identical authority accorded to each of these two sources# ertainly in matters of -urisprudence the te(t of a hadith does not carry e(actly the same weiht of obliation or prohibition as the Qurʾān, and a prophetic tradition, unlike the latter, can be sub-ected to critical analysis in terms of its te(t and especially its chain of transmission# .owe!er, if one seeks to weih up the respecti!e importance of the Qurʾān and the )unna in the establishment of %uslim norm and practices, the balance leans rather in fa!our of the )unna# *ne of the interestinaspects in Ibn ʿArabī's work is the uestioninof the relationship between the two scriptural sources of Islam# /01)e!eral recent studies ha!e shown how much his work takes its inspiration and structure from the Qurʾānic te(t# $he hadith, a !ast body of independent and di!erse te(ts, could not e(ercise the same structural function# $hey nonetheless occupy a sini2cant position, whether uoted in support of the Qurʾānic commentary or as ob-ects of interpretation in their own riht# $his fact has in itself no speci2c importance, no more than the attention paid to the chain of transmitters 3isnād4 and the transmission# As we will see, this latter is both mani2ed and relati!ised# )ub-ect to the ha5ards of human weakness, it ne!ertheless ser!es as a !ehicle for the inspired word and a presence per cei!ed by un!eilin3kashf4, which is the f oundation of esoteric knowlede# $he personal -our ney of the )haykh al6 Akbar eually contrib uted to his rowininterest in hadith# After his 2rst spiritual e(periences he followed the traditional way of acuirinknowlede and became the disciple of many shaykhs, se!eral of whom were traditionists# After his arri!al in the %ashri, his interest in hadith did not diminish 7 indeed, rather the re!erse# Ibn ʿArabī and the study of hadithominfrom an aristocratic family in the ser!ice of the rulers in Andalusia, Ibn ʿArabī recei!ed in his youth a literary rather than spiritual education# 8r om his twentieth year, when he was fa!oured with numerous !isions and spiritual openins, he recei!ed a !ast amount of inspired knowlede on the meta9physics of :ein, cosmoloy and haioraphy, e!en thouh he had not as yet studied the traditional sciences or e!en taṣawwuf# It was only later, for e(ample, that he studied Qushayrī's Risālaunder one of his masters# It was due to many masters in Andalusia, the %ahrib and in the %ashrithat
Within the corpus of Ibn ʿArabī's work hadith take on an importance secondonly to the Qurʾān, in keepin with a eneral mo!ement of spirituality in Islam,in which the person of the "rophet becomes more and more prominent# $hisstudy will show the usae our Andalusian %aster makes of these prophetictraditions& transmission, uotation and e(eesis# Abo!e all, it will hihlihtsome of his !iews reardin the )unna, which are partly e(plained by thestatus of the re!ealed word which he attributes to hadith# *ne of the parado(esof Islam lies in the radical distinction made on the one hand between theQurʾān, the +i!ine word, and hadith, causin the "rophet to speak or speakinthrouh him, and on the other hand in the almost identical authority accorded
to each of these two sources# ertainly in matters of -urisprudence the te(t of ahadith does not carry e(actly the same weiht of obliation or prohibition asthe Qurʾān, and a prophetic tradition, unlike the latter, can be sub-ected tocritical analysis in terms of its te(t and especially its chain of transmission#.owe!er, if one seeks to weih up the respecti!e importance of the Qurʾān andthe )unna in the establishment of %uslim norm and practices, the balanceleans rather in fa!our of the )unna#
*ne of the interestin aspects in Ibn ʿArabī's work is the uestionin of therelationship between the two scriptural sources of Islam#/01 )e!eral recentstudies ha!e shown how much his work takes its inspiration and structure from
the Qurʾānic te(t# $he hadith, a !ast body of independent and di!erse te(ts,could not e(ercise the same structural function# $hey nonetheless occupy asini2cant position, whether uoted in support of the Qurʾānic commentary oras ob-ects of interpretation in their own riht# $his fact has in itself no speci2cimportance, no more than the attention paid to the chain of transmitters3isnād4 and the transmission# As we will see, this latter is both mani2ed andrelati!ised# )ub-ect to the ha5ards of human weakness, it ne!ertheless ser!esas a !ehicle for the inspired word and a presence percei!ed by un!eilin3kashf 4, which is the foundation of esoteric knowlede#
$he personal -ourney of the )haykh al6Akbar eually contributed to his rowininterest in hadith# After his 2rst spiritual e(periences he followed the traditionalway of acuirin knowlede and became the disciple of many shaykhs, se!eralof whom were traditionists# After his arri!al in the %ashri, his interest in hadithdid not diminish 7 indeed, rather the re!erse#
Ibn ʿArabī and the study of hadith
omin from an aristocratic family in the ser!ice of the rulers in Andalusia, IbnʿArabī recei!ed in his youth a literary rather than spiritual education# 8rom histwentieth year, when he was fa!oured with numerous !isions and spiritualopenins, he recei!ed a !ast amount of inspired knowlede on themeta9physics of :ein, cosmoloy and haioraphy, e!en thouh he had not
as yet studied the traditional sciences or e!en taṣawwuf # It was only later, fore(ample, that he studied Qushayrī's Risāla under one of his masters#
It was due to many masters in Andalusia, the %ahrib and in the %ashri that
he 2rst disco!ered the science of hadith and also to a certain deree kalām#/;1 It was really a matter of redisco!ery, since for him these acuired knowledesonly con2rm the knowin recei!ed by illumination in the course of retreat3khalwa4# 8or Ibn ʿArabī, as for other %asters of taṣawwuf , kashf confers aknowin that embraces the whole 2eld of knowlede and i!es certainty in alldomains, and in particular in that of hadith#
In all sciences thus studied, it was to hadith that he de!oted most time and onwhich he wrote the most, re<ectin the cultural and reliious conte(t pre!ailinin the %ahrib of the Almohads and the %ashri of the Ayyubids and )el-uks,which especially encouraed the study of this tradition# 8rom Ibn ʿArabī'sautobioraphy, the al-Ijāza li-l-Malik al-Muẓaar , and drawin also on thenumerous isnāds cited in the Muḥāarāt al-abrar , laude Addas draws up a listof Ibn ʿArabī's masters, and shows that a lare number transmitted prophetictraditions to him#
In both the Ijāza and the!ihris al-mu"allafāt ,/=1 where the shaykh recordedfrom memory a lare part of his works, we can see that he compiled collections
of hadith# %ost r>sum>s of the best6known collections of the #aḥ$ḥ of :ukhārīand %uslim or the %āmi& of $irmidhī ha!e disappeared#/?1 .isMishkāt al-anwārf$mā ruwiya &an 'llāh min al-akhbār /@1 is a collection ofḥad$th (uds$ , of whichthe 2rst forty are preceded by an isnād, while for the others the reference isenerally indicated# Another work should also be noted, al-Maḥajjat al-bayā" f$ al-aḥkām al-shar&iyya, written in the style of aḥād$th al-aḥkām# Accordin to the!ihris, the work was composed of two !olumes with a third un2nished# $he
usuf ABa library in Conya/D1 until recently had an autoraphed e(ample of thesecond !olume, beinnin with a eneral chapter on prayer, more precisely onthe respecti!e merits of the diEerin ranks for men and women 3abwāb ṣifāt al-
ṣalāt) bāb tafāul al-ṣuf*f f$ al-ṣalāt li-l-rijāl wa al-nisā"4, and endin with achapter on the military display on the feast6day in the "rophet's %osue 3bābal-la&ib f$ yawm al-&$d bi al-ṣilāh f$ masjid al-nab$ 4# $hus we can assume that theauthor, who was in %ecca in ah DFF, intended to compose for himself a !astcollection of hadith, ser!in as a reference in matters of -urisprudence# $he<yleaf bears, in Ibn ʿArabī's own handwritin, 2!e isnād endin with the famoustraditionalist al6)ilafī, who was born near )hira5 and died in Ale(andria in @GF3ḥaddathanā AbH al6āhir al6)ilafīJ4 and oin back to :ukhārī, AbH +āʾHd,%uslim, Kasāʾī and $irmidhī# $his isnād poses an e!ident problem, i!en thedate of )ilafī's death# )ilafī is known, howe!er, to ha!e i!en an ijāza &amma 3full licence4 to se!eral scholars, authorisin them to disseminate the hadith
under his authority#/G1 It is !ery possible that Ibn ʿArabī himself recei!ed thisauthorisation throuh the intermediary of a disciple he does not name# 8romthis work let us consider on the one hand the importance accorded to thetransmission as the preliminary isnād demonstrate, and on the other, thecomposition of a work of +(h based solely on the hadith# $his choice places theauthor in a certain stream of -uridical thouht& as we will see later, he accordedreat respect to Ibn La5m as a traditionist#
We may mention here the ,itāb al-Mubashshirāt min al-aḥlām f$mā ruwiya &anal-nab$ min al-akhbār f$ al-manām, which, as the title indicates, includestraditions heard directly from the "rophet in dreams# As we shall see later, Ibn
ʿArabī considers this mode of reception of hadith, whether in dream or in awakin state, as the most certain for one who is so fa!oured# .e mentions thiswork in the !ihris as bein one of those that he had been ordered to compose
but not disseminate#/M1 In ma-or works, the!ut*ḥāt in particular, hadith ha!e auite prominent place, althouh uantitati!ely less important than the Qurʾān#It emeres from a more or less systematic list that the ma-ority of hadith comefrom the 'si( books', to which must be added the unan of :ayhaī and thecollection of $abarānī# We also 2nd traditions not e(istin in the canonicalcollections but freuently uoted in taṣawwuf , such as the famous sentence
'Whoso knows his self, knows his Nord', reardin which the shaykh states thatit is authenticated by meanin 3ma&nā4, not by transmission 3riwāya4#/O1 .e!ery often i!es as a hadith of the "rophet 'Keither %y hea!en nor %y earthcontain %e, but the heart of %y belie!in ser!ant contains %e', whereas thistradition is mentioned elsewhere as bein a tradition of the '"eople of the:ook'#/0F1 .e also uses a less precise formula& 'In the tradition of makin Podspeak thus 3wa f$ al-khabar al-mutarjim &anhu4, I am with those whose heart isbroken because of %eR'#/001 $hus Ibn ʿArabī takes a middle way with reard totraditions, respectful of authenticity and yet open to traditions of a moreuncertain oriin when they con!ey an indisputable spiritual teachin# 8or thebody of hadith uoted in the !ut*ḥāt , we suest the followin thematicclassi2cation, in order of freuency&
0# Attributes and descriptions of Pod 3particularly anthropomorphice(pressions4
;#$he relationship of man to Pod 3often e(pressed in the form of a ḥad$th(uds$ 4
=# $he prophet and his supra6temporal reality
?# 8oundin traditions of Islam in eneral
@# Suridical traditions 3especially in the chapters on ritual4
8inally, we should remember that the !ut*ḥāt ends with a chapter of ad!ice,al-waṣāya, principally inspired by hadith uoted as such, or commented on in a!ery accessible style, which contrasts stronly with the rest of the book anduite particularly with the penultimate chapter# $his chapter is followed by aseuence of in!ocations taken from the )unna and the Qurʾān# $he messae isclear& this !ast amount of esoteric knowlede leads towards the source, i#e#prophetic inspiration recei!ed by +i!ine re!elation#
The weakness and grandeur of the isnād
After the openin words 3khu.ba4 the !ut*ḥāt beins with an introduction
3mu(addimat al-kitāb4 !indicatin esoteric knowlede and inspired learnin# Insupport the author cites two well6known hadith#/0;1 In the 2rst, reported by:ukhārī, AbH .urayra declares& 'I retained from the Tn!oy two sorts 3literallycontainers4 of knowlede# I e(posed one, but if I had e(posed the other, theywould ha!e cut my throat#'/0=1 It is remarkable that Ibn ʿArabī insists onreportin this tradition by three diEerent paths, all leadin back to :ukhārī# .eot it from his hadith master al6.a-arī in euta in ah @MO, from the nephew ofthe QāUī, AbH :akr Ibn al ʿArabī, in )e!ille in ah @O;, and from Hnus b# aVyāal6.āshimī in %ecca in ah @OO# $he importance of this tradition in theapoloetics of )u2sm does not really account for the abundance of isnād, sinceits authenti2cation by :ukhārī is sucient uaranty# $he second tradition in the
word of Ibn ʿAbbās concernin Q# D@&0;, 'Pod is .e who eually created theearth and the se!en hea!ens, the +i!ine *rder descends amon them', 'If Ia!e the interpretation you would stone me' and in another !ersion 'you would
say I am an in2del'# .ere Ibn ʿArabī merely states that he ot this sayin fromAbH ʿAbd Allāh %uVammad Ibn ʿAysun, who had it from the (ā$ AbH :akr Ibn alʿArabī, who had it from AbH Lāmid al6Pha5ālī# )cattered throuhout the!ut*ḥāt there are hadith preceded by such isnād, a sin that the )haykhaccords them particular importance#
$he importance of the chain of transmission is not only limited to its role inauthenti2cation# It leads towards the source of authority and in!okes thepresence of a sacred bein, whether it be the "rophet, a ompanion or anotherpersonae connected to the prophecy# $he followin rather strane story,reported as an isolated hadith 3/har$b4, particularly illustrates this# Ibn ʿArabīsaid that he heard in his house in Aleppo a story told by a blind man, Ibrāhīm b#)ulaymān, who heard it himself from a woodcutter, 'a man of con2dence'3th$ka4# $his latter recounted that one day, ha!in killed a snake, he wascarried oE by some Sinn, taken to their chief and accused of killin one of theirrelations# $he )haykh of the Sinn told them& '8ree him and take him home, sinceI heard the Tn!oy of Pod 7 peace and blessins be upon him 7 tell us
XWhosoe!er amonst you takes on another form and is killed, for him neither!eneance nor blood money can be demanded#X Kow your relation took on theform of a serpent, who is man's enemy#' .e then e(plained to the astonishedwoodcutter that he was one of the last sur!i!ors of the Sinn of KiYībīn,/0?1 andthat he pur!eyed -ustice to his people accordin to what he heard from the"rophet# Ibn ʿArabī clearly considers this mar!ellous anecdote as a hadith# Kotonly does he relate it to two of his companions but, on his return with them toAleppo, he sends them to the man so they can hear it directly from his mouth#.e concludes thus& 'And he related it to them in the same way he related it tome' 3fa-ḥaddatha-humā kamā ḥaddatha-n$ 4#/0@1 $he unusual character of thisstory thus emphasises the !alue i!en to hearin and direct transmission,
which brins the recei!er as close as possible to the source#Ibn ʿArabī's likin for reception and transmission is not limited to hadith# .ealso recei!ed, as was normal, all sorts of works of which he drew up a lon listat the beinnin of the Muḥāarāt al-abrār # .e e(plains that he mentions them'by readin and audition, or recei!in a copy or by letter' 3rawaytu-hā samā&anwa (irā"atan aw mudāwalatan aw kitābatan4# $he use of these technical termsshows a certain familiarity with the rules of transmission found concernin ahadith unusual enouh to need authenticatin with an isnād# $his traditionrecounts how )aʿd b# Abī WaāY, on ʿZmar's orders, sent KaUla b# %uʾāwiya al6AnYārī to 2ht in Ira# *n his way back this companion did the call to prayer
facin a mountain, and heard a !oice in reply# *ut of the mountain came ane(traordinarily lon6li!ed disciple of Sesus who li!ed in hidin there# .etransmitted to KaUla a teachin on the end of time#/0D1 $he shaykh points outthat accordin to al6Lākim 3al6KīsābHrī4 the weakness of the isnād is due to oneof its transmitters# .e adds, '$his hadith, e!en if its way of transmission iscriticised, is authenticated for us and for our fellows by un!eilin 3kashf 4#' $hisposition, which occurs often in Ibn ʿArabī's works, i!es a 2rst idea of thediEerence in !iewpoint which distinuishes him and his 'fellows' from normaltraditionists#
In the hadith related by :ukhārī, 'Pod has created Adam in his[.is imae' 3or,
accordin to his form4,/0G1 which is often uoted by the )haykh, the pronouncan refer to Pod or to Adam# A !ariant resol!es the diculty, althouh itsauthenticity is doubted by specialists# Ibn ʿArabī e(plains it thus& 'In a !ersion
authenticated by un!eilin 3f$ riwāya yuṣaḥḥiḥu-hā l-kashf 4, e!en if it is not2rmly established by the masters of transmission 3aṣḥāb al-na(l4, it is said& inthe imae of the All6%erciful 3al-Raḥmān4R, which remo!es the ambiuity# $histeaches us that each !ariant that remo!es ambiuity is authentic, e!en if it isweak from the point of !iew of transmission#'/0M1 A certain concurrence is thusnoted, not between two forms of knowlede, but between two ways of
recei!in and transmittin the same knowlede# +espite the importance thathe i!es to the isnād, Ibn ʿArabī is aware of the uncertainty which may arisefrom a mode of authenti2cation sub-ect to the ha5ards of human transmission#.ere he notes&
%any a 'weak' 3a&$f 4 hadith is re-ected due to the weakness of its transmission,because a traditionist is alleed to ha!e fored the hadith, whereas in realitythe hadith is authentic, and in this case the 'fabricator' 3wāi&4 was correct andin!ented nothin# )uch a hadith is re-ected by traditionists because of doubtsabout its transmission, particularly when this 'fabricator' is the only one toreport it or when it occupies a central place in his transmissions#/0O1
*n the other hand, as we shall see, a saint endowed with un!eilin and incontact with the prophetic "resence, will be able to know the non6authenticcharacter of a hadith pre!iously held to be impeccable from the point of !iew of the isnād# $hus it is that kashf may -ust as well in!alidate as authenticate atradition, 2nally castin doubt on all the eEorts deployed by traditionists toestablish a body of certain and reliable references# *n this sub-ect Ibn ʿArabīspeaks not only of un!eilin but of the authenti2cation of hadith by the men ofPod&
We ha!e not, nor will we, mention anythin of the diEerent elements in theuni!erse without referrin to a prophetic tradition authenticated by un!eilin,
e!en if this tradition has been criticised for its line of transmission# We onlybase this on that which the hidden saints teach us 3rijāl al-/hayb4#/;F1
In the case of a fabricated 3maw*&4 hadith, Ibn ʿArabī proposes an e(planationwhich allows one to understand, to a certain e(tent, a surprisin phenomenonwhen one considers the prophetic warnins aainst such a practice# In achapter of the !ut*ḥāt on thekhawā.ir , thouhts inspired by Pod, by theanels, by the self or by )atan, he reminds us that in the last cateory one of)atan's ruses is to suest a false idea from a true premise# As an e(ample hecites masters or ascetics who, ha!in heard the "rophet's word '.e whoestablishes a ood way will ha!e its reward and that of those who follow it',/;01
wish to bene2t from this reward# Afraid of not bein followed in the way orpractice they ha!e established, they attribute their inno!ation to the "rophet#When the anels remind them of the word of the Tn!oy, '.e who intentionallyattributes to me lyin words, may he seek his place in the 2re',/;;1 theyinterpret this as applyin to words which lead into error# $he condemnationapplies eually to those belonin to sects of all sorts 3ahl al-ahwā" wa al-bida&4, the )hiʿis in particular\ or aain those who, ha!in recei!ed an imperfectspiritual openin, attribute to Pod the words they belie!e they ha!e heard from.im, when what they ha!e heard in fact comes from their own souls#/;=1 If thehistorical critiue 2nds other reasons for the fabrication of hadith, thise(planation, which takes into account the phenomenon of the interior, allows
us to see how such a practice was able to spread in the ascetic or sectariancircles at the beinnin of Islam#
Ke!ertheless, Ibn ʿArabī does not display an o!erly critical tendency withreard to his treatment of hadith# As we ha!e seen, he accepts traditions fromdi!erse sources as lon as they e(press an indisputable truth# Kor does heuestion the normal way of acuirin knowlede in Islam, based ontransmission or reason, or both at the same time, but he i!es reaterimportance to the direct knowin of the heart 7 which alone leads to certainty#
In his own way he reiterates, not the opposition of e(oteric and esotericknowlede, but their hierarchisation, -ust as AbH a5īd al6:is]āmī had e(pressedit in his own time& 'ou ha!e recei!ed your knowlede dead, from a deadperson, while we ha!e recei!ed our knowlede from the Ni!in *ne who ne!erdies# *ne of us says& my heart reported to me from my Nord,R and you say,
such6and6such a person told meR 7 where is he^R /we ask1, dead,R is the reply#'T!en more e!ocati!e is the sayin of Abu %adyan, whom Ibn ʿArabī rearded ashis master& 'When someone said to him such6and6such a person said accordinto that person,R he would reply, we do not wish to eat cold 3(ad$d4 meat\ obrin me fresh meat_R'/;?1
)uch downplayin of the isnād is nonetheless compensated for by its mainfunction 7 transmission# Is it not, abo!e all, a matter of communicatin amessae 3balā/h or tabl$/h4, which is one of the essential aspects of theprophetic mission^ .ere aain we 2nd Ibn ʿArabī's doctrine of sainthood and itsrelationship to prophethood# 8or Ibn ʿArabī, Pod has sub-ected the saint to aterrifyin ordeal by callin him by a +i!ine Kame, wal$ 3close friend, ally butalso chief4, while a prophet is primarily uali2ed as ser!ant 3&abd4 andmessener 3ras*l4, terms that can only apply to man and conseuently denotehis true perfection# Indeed the perfection of man lies in his ser!anthood3&ub*diyya4, in other words his non6resemblance to Pod# .e 3Pod4 has left thesaint, howe!er, with the possibility of realisin an aspect of prophetic
perfection by causin .is "rophet to say& '%ay the present transmit to theabsent' 3li-yuballi/h al-shāhid al-/hā"ib4#/;@1 With this word he entrusted to hisompanions, and their successors, a part of this human function oftransmission# $he sayin of the "rophet, '%ay Pod ha!e mercy on him who hasheard my word, remembered it and re6transmitted it as he heard it',/;D1 makesit clear that the hadith must be reported literally 3ḥarfan ḥarfan4 and not only inmeanin 3ma&nan4# Pi!en that the sayin of the "rophet is inspired, Ibn ʿArabīplaces 'transmitters of the `e!elation' 3na(alat al-waḥy 4 on the same le!el asreciters of the Qurʾān or traditionists, on condition howe!er that these latterrespect the literal transmission# *nly these two cateories of scholars will be
resurrected with the Tn!oy, since they will ha!e fully transmitted the te(t ofthe re!elation from the time of the "rophet to the end of time# .e aaine(plains why the transmission and reception of hadith assumes suchimportance for him or his masters&
As lon as a man does not transmit the hadith with its continuous,uninterrupted chain of transmission, he will not ha!e attained this spiritualstation and will not ha!e breathed the slihtest perfume of it# .e will only beone of those saints in competition with Pod o!er the name wal$ # Inasmuch ashe takes on this name, he loses his uality of ser!ant, and this is why the namemuḥaddath/;G1 is preferable towal$ #/;M1
8rom this point of !iew, it makes complete sense to ha!e the least number ofintermediaries between the last transmitter and the source 3al-(urb f$ al-isnād or al-ḥad$th al-&āl$ 4#/;O1
$he haioloical sini2cance of the isnād brins up another uestion& thesimilarity, in terms of re!elation 3waḥy 4, between the Qurʾān and the propheticword# In commentin on the !erse in which it is said to the "rophet& ')ay& Iimpose on you only one thin, that you act for Pod doubly or sinly' 3Q# =?&?D4,Ibn ʿArabī states that 'doubly' means by Pod and by .is Tn!oy, for he whoobeys the Tn!oy, obeys Pod, whether in applyin the Qurʾān or the )unna\'sinly' means by Pod or by the Tn!oy, to the e(tent that each has an eualauthority# In support of this !iew, he uotes the followin hadith& 'Net me notsee one of you leanin on your bench, sayin, when one of my words comes tohim& XI'd rather you spoke to me from the QurʾānX# :y Pod, these words are asthe Qurʾān or e!en more_'/=F1
$his last statement, 'as the Qurʾān or e!en more', is e(plained by the innerisnād of the hadith& the word of the "rophet is directly inspired within him,without Pabriel as an intermediary\ bein closer to Pod, it is therefore worthierof bein taken into consideration immediately# $he )haykh al6Akbar 2nds the
idea of double re!elation !alidated aain in this other !erse& '+o not hasten thecomin of the Qurʾān until its re!elation to you is decreed and say& Nord,increase me in knowlede' 3Q# ;F&00?4# *n the one hand, the "rophet mustawait the `e!elation, while on the other he must demand an increase inknowlede that Pod may inspire in him without intermediary 3bi-raf& al-wāsi.a4&'the hadith which is not called (ur"ān'# It is not a uestion of a ḥad$th (uds$ inspired by the .oly )pirit, but of a direct inspiration, which is euallyapplicable to the muḥaddath*n, 'those to whom Pod speaks'#/=01
Tlsewhere, in a passae on the !arious modes of re!elation and the anels whotransmit it, Ibn ʿArabī de!elops a principle of distinction between the Qurʾān
and the hadith, diEerent but eually endin up at the same di!ine oriin# 'Ifthat which is shown is attributed to Pod as attribute 3bi-ḥukm al-ṣifa4, it iscalled Qurʾān, 8urān, $orah, "salms, Pospel and )cripture 3ṣuḥuf 4# If it isattributed to Pod as act 3bi-ḥukm al-+&l4, it is called ḥad$th, khabar , ra"y orsunna#'/=;1
Whether it be a word of uality or a word of action, the diEerence isfundamental from a te(tual or e(istential point of !iew, but from the standpointof those whose knowlede is a prophetic heritae, it e(presses the double faceof reality which is borne by the "rophet and by his heirs# Accordin to a hadith,that '$he people of the Qurʾān are the men of Pod and .is elite', the hadith is
as the Qurʾān, since as the latter says of the "rophet, '.e does not speak frompassion, it is only inspired inspiration' 3Q# @=&=6?4# 8or Ibn ʿArabī these !ersesare not to do with the Qurʾān, but with the directly inspired word, as issuested by the passi!e !oice 3waḥyun y*ḥā4, which is transmitted to men#/==1
$o become the transmitter of the +i!ine or prophetic word is to be the en!oy ofthe Tn!oy, a perfect transmitter and ser!ant\ it is an escape from theimpossible resemblance to Pod, and hence the human imperfection of walāya,in order to realise the perfection of ser!anthood# $he isnād, despite all itsimperfections, bears this secret within it& the presence of the 2rst speaker in
the word of his transmitter# $he fer!our for recitin and transmittin can bee(plained in no other way#
.adith, or the inspired word, concerns prophecy 3nubuwwa4 and itstransmission of the prophetic mission 3risāla4# If the cycle of prophecy wascompleted at the death of the )eal of the prophets, the inspired knowledewhich characterises it, has been recei!ed as inheritance by theknowers[scholars 3&ulamā"4# $he tradition that 'the knowers are the heirs of theprophets' constitutes one of the principal foundations of akbarian haioloy#
$he reception of this knowlede comes in the same way as that of the hadith,althouh there is a diEerence of deree between the transmission by men andthat which is recei!ed or con2rmed by un!eilin# )uch a !ision places therecei!er in a position analoous to that of the "rophet's ompanions#
$here are saints who e(chane words 3ḥad$th4 with the "rophet in the course of an un!eilin, stand with him in the world of un!eilin and contemplation andrecei!e from him his words# $hey will be athered with him like theompanions, in the most noble of places and the most sublime of states# )ucha !ision must take place in a state of wakefulness 3 ya(aẓa4# $his saint recei!esdirectly from the "rophet, who con2rms for him the authenticity of certain
hadith whose transmission has been criticised#/=?1 $his brinin toether, !irtual in the case of the ordinary man and real in thecase of the saint, confers on the hadith or khabar 3which are eui!alent terms4an epistemoloical status and a coniti!e eEecti!eness accordin to therecepti!ity of the one who hears it# $here is in this case a certain analoybetween this reception and that of re!elation# 8urthermore, listenin to thekhabar temporarily replaces direct !ision 3&iyān4, until it accompanies it, doinaway with the adae 'hearin is not like seein' 3laysa al-khabar ka-l-&iyān4#
$his is what emeres from the introduction to the !ut*ḥāt , where the authorclassi2es the ways of knowlede as&
3a4 `ational 3or intellectual4 knowlede 3&ilm al-&a(l4#3b4 Cnowlede of spiritual states 3&ilm al-aḥwāl4& this is the knowlede oftaṣawwuf or of the Way, which can only be rasped by direct e(perience ortaste 3dhaw(4#
3c4 Cnowlede of secrets 3&ilm al-asrār 4& a supra6rational kind of knowin 3faw(.awr al-&a(l4, it is inspired by the .oly )pirit 3nafath r*ḥ al-(uds f$ al-r*&4/=@1 and reser!ed for prophets and saints# $his superior knowin is found accordinto three ways# $he 2rst is like the knowlede of reason, althouh it is notacuired by speculation\ the second is like the knowlede of states, but at ahiher le!el\ the third, which is termed 'knowlede of information' 3&ul*m al-
akhbār0 concerns the inspired information or traditions in which one canbelie!e or not belie!e, -ust like any transmitted information 3khabar 4 7 fore(ample, all that is tauht by the prophets reardin the .ereafter and whichone belie!es because the transmitter is a sure witness 3&adl4#
Tach prophet's messae is fundamentally a khabar authenticated by theirimpeccability, -ust as the hadith is !eri2ed by the interity of its transmitters#As for the saints, they teach 'hidden knowlede and words of wisdom'#)temmin from the secrets of the .oly Naw and oin beyond the capacity ofre<ecti!e thouht and indi!idual acuisition, they can only be recei!ed throuhcontemplation and inspiration 3al-mushāhada wa al-ilhām4 or somethin
similar# $his is what the "rophet meant by sayin 'If there are in my communityinspired men 3muḥaddath*n4, ʿZmar is one of them#'/=D1
$he khabar or the hadith con!ey an inspired and esoteric knowin, but one that
can be recei!ed and transmitted in the most e(oteric manner# Nike the Qurʾān,they are in their most literal meanin the e(pression of a truth to whiche!eryone has access, but which is only fully understood by those who,followin the prophets, ha!e had direct e(perience of them throuh hearinand !ision#
The Prophet-aints
$he Qurʾān and the )unna are the two principal sources of Naw, and the saints,drawin directly from them, ha!e certain knowlede of its statutes# $heconiti!e !irtue of the khabar continues in its leislati!e function# .owe!er,accordin to Ibn ʿArabī, the saints do not all percei!e the essential identity ofthe Naw and the )upreme `eality 3&ayn al-shar$&a &ayn al-ḥa($(a4 in the sameway#/=G1 In his typoloy of sainthood, he distinuishes those whom he callsprophet6saints 3anbiyā" al-awliyā"4, because they recei!e the Naw in a mannerwhich is analoous, thouh not identical, to the prophets#
/$he prophets amon the saints in this community1 are those indi!iduals whom
Pod has established in one of .is theophanies# .e then makes the manifestform 3maẓhar 4 of %uhammad or Pabriel stand before him, and this anelic formallows him to hear as he addresses %uhammad, peace and race be upon him,with the rulins of the Naw 3khi.āb al-aḥkām al-mashr*&a4# *nce the address iscompleted, and the heart of the saint who has been witness of that reco!ers/from friht1, he understands all the leal rulins concernin the %uhammadiancommunity which this discourse contains# $he saint recei!es them in the sameway as this %uhammadian form 3al-maẓhar al-Muḥammad$ 4, due to thee(treme concentration produced by such a presence and because of the orderto transmit 3tabl$/h4 to the community, which is i!en by this form# .e returnsto himself, fully conscious of the discourse addressed by the )pirit to the form
of %uhammad, race and peace be upon him# .e knows its authenticity by!irtue of the knowlede of certainty, or rather by the eye of certainty#/=M1 .etakes for himself the leal rulin recei!ed by this prophet and puts it intopractice#/=O1
$his passae/?F1 refers indisputably to a personal e(perience and emphasisesmost particularly the analoy between this mode of the reception of the Nawand the state of the "rophet at the time of the re!elation, described in se!eraltraditions#/?01 $he shaykh describes later the attitude these saints shouldmaintain with reard to other learned men& they must in no way seek to refutethe doctors of the Naw, e!en if due to certain knowlede they are con!inced
they are wron# $hey 2nd themsel!es in the same position as the mujtahid whomust practise what his proof 3dal$l4 indicates, without e!er criticisin someonewho holds another opinion# 8urthermore, they e(ercise a function of preser!inthe Naw, analoous to that which the prophets of the )ons of Israel assured forthe Naw of %oses, hence the prophetic word, '$he knowers of this communityare the prophets of the )ons of Israel',/?;1 which -usti2es the desination ofthese saints# In this cateory Ibn ʿArabī places the scholars amon theompanions and those who succeeded them, 8ollowers and 8ollowers of8ollowers, such as al6Lasan al6:aYrī, Ibn )īrīn, )ufyān al6$hawrī, Ibn ʿZyayna,%ālik, Ibn Abī `abāV, AbH Lanīfa and their successors, such as )hā2ʿī and IbnLanbal, as well as all those who worked for the preser!ation of the leal
statutes 3ḥifẓ al-aḥkām4# .e distinuishes them from those who, from theompanions up to the masters of taṣawwuf , inherited 'the knowlede of thespiritual states of the Tn!oy and of the secrets of his sciences' 3aḥwāl al-ras*l
wa asrār &ul*mi-hi4# )uch a distinction, !ery speci2c to akbarian haioloy,allows us to understand to what e(tent the uestion of hadith is linked to thatof -urisprudence#/?=1 $he authenti2cation of hadith by un!eilin has, as weha!e seen, an immediate eEect on its -uridical position# `eardin thepossibility of accomplishin the circumambulation of the Caʿba at any time ofday, he cites the dream6!ision of his own hadith, which he says con2rmed the
report of Kasāʾī, of which he had not been certain#/??1 $he parallel that heestablishes between !ision and transmission is not e(clusi!e to him, but he isthe only one to ha!e arued it with such clarity and force# .is fa!ouredreference to hadith in its -uridical conte(t and his re-ection of all automaticimitation of %alikism or other schools led him, as well as some of hiscontemporaries, to be accused of āhirism# If this term is meant as a -uridicalschool, this would contradict this tendency in eneral and the position of IbnʿArabī in particular#/?@1 *n the other hand, it is true to say that the personalityand work of Ibn La5m did e(ert an in<uence on him and others of hiscontemporaries, such as the Almohad caliph AbH Hsuf aʿHb, who was a reatadmirer of the Andalusian scholar#
Ibn ʿArabī followed the teachins of se!eral masters who had studied with)hurayV al6`uʿaynī, one of the main disciples and transmitters of Ibn La5m#/?D1Kot only did he study the latter's Muḥallā bi1l-āthār ,/?G1 but he e!en did ar>sum>& al-Mu&allā f$ mukhtaṣar al-Muḥallā#/?M1 .e also composed a r>sum> ofthe Ib.āl al-(iyās wa al-ra"y wa al-istiḥsān wa al-ta(l$d wa al-ta&l$l#/?O1 .owe!er,it was at least as much throuh direct !ision in the imainal world as throuhbooks that Ibn ʿArabī most often entered into relationship with hispredecessors# $he respect he i!es to the memory of Ibn La5m is e(plained inpart by a !ision in which he saw his bein dissol!in into that of the "rophet,because he was one of the ahl al-ḥad$th#/@F1 As polemic he sometimes i!es a
harsh indictment of the -urists 3fu(ahāʾ4 of his time and reproaches them for,amon other thins, preferrin the opinion of their -uridical school to the)unna#/@01 $his e(plains why he miht ha!e been rearded as one of theapoloists of the āhirism of Ibn La5m in the Tast#/@;1
Indeed, in matters of -urisprudence, the )haykh al6Akbar i!es absolutepreference to hadith, considerin that e!en a weak tradition is alwayspreferable to the words of an imam#/@=1 In eneral he allows !ery di!ersecateories of hadith, such as the mursal, if the 8ollower who reports ittransmits the hadith accordin to a ompanion# 8or him, the authority oftraditions transmitted in a sinle way 3āḥād4 does not fundamentally diEer from
those transmitted by numerous ways 3mutawātir 4, as lon as there is nocontradiction between the two# %ore enerally, from the point of !iew of theleal uali2cation of acts 3ḥukm4, the authority of the Qurʾān and that of the)unna are eual#
.e shares these !iews with a number of the practitioners of the science of uṣ*lal-+(h# Nike many, he allows weak traditions that encourae the practice ofpious works# .e e!en considers that one of the speci2c traits of an heir of the"rophet is to apply hadith, in as broad a way as possible, whether they beauthentic or weak, by reularly practisin the former and, e!en if only once,the latter, takin into account all the nuances brouht out by the diEerent
!ersions, without attachin himself solely to the e(terior criteria of the !alidityof the hadith, e(cept ob!iously when it is a matter of licit or illicit# .e counselsthe mufti to always ad!ise the easiest way, while choosin for himself the most
riorous# $he imitation of the prophet in conformity to the )unna leads ineEect, accordin to the Qurʾān, to +i!ine No!e& ')ay& if truly you lo!e Pod, thenfollow me, Pod will lo!e you' 3Q# =&=04#
The hermeneutic of hadith
Its status as re!ealed word confers on hadith not only an authority almost
identical to that of the Qurʾān as reards leal matters, but eually a treatmentcomparable to that of the :ook as reards e(eesis# 8or either of thesescriptural references, the Arabic lanuae, as understood by its 2rst speakers,remains the 2rst criterion for comprehension# .owe!er, the polysemous natureof the lanuae reuires a further criterion& conformity to the fundamentalprinciples of Islam, which must reulate any interpretation# $heodicy must inparticular answer to this double reuirement& full attention to the literale(pression of the di!ine realities as well as absolute respect for transcendence3tanz$h4# It is on this double principle that Ibn ʿArabī bases his interpretation ofthe mutashābihāt , those Qurʾānic or prophetic e(pressions where Pod appearsto resemble creatures# $he title of hapter = of the !ut*ḥāt , '$he
transcendence of the `eal from all similitude or anthropomorphism which mihtbe implied by the words with which .e desinates .imself in .is :ook, or thosespoken by .is Tn!oy, on him race and peace', shows once aain that the)unna has the same !alue as the Qurʾān, here in the domain of belief# In fact,e(cept for the uestion of the 'foretfulness' of Pod, all the e(amples uotedare taken from hadith# After mentionin the capacities and limits of humanintellience, Ibn ʿArabī establishes the rules of interpretation&
$he en!oy of Pod, on him be race and peace, said& 'Pod is !eiled from theintelliences -ust as .e is !eiled from !ision, and the .ihest Assembly/@?1 seeks .im -ust as you all seek .im#'/@@1 $hus he informed /us1 that the intellect
does not percei!e .im by thouht or by the eye of inner !ision 3&ayn al-baṣ$ra4, -ust as the e(ternal eye does not percei!e .imJ )o must it be fortranscendence and neatin resemblance and similarity# $heanthropomorphists lost their way because of interpretation 3ta"w$l4 and theimmediate meanin i!en to !erses and traditions without takin into accountthe transcendence reuired by Pod# $hat has led them to pure inorance andpatent unbelief# If only they had souht sal!ation by lea!in such traditions and!erses as they were, without takin a position on what they mean, and byrestorin knowlede of these e(pressions to Pod and .is Tn!oy and sayin, 'wedo not know'# $he word of Pod, 'Kothin is like .im', should ha!e beensucient for them# When a hadith e(presses the similarity or resemblance ofPod to somethin, e!en thouh .e has denied all resemblance, then such atradition must comprise an element of transcendence known to Pod ande(pressed in these terms because of an understandin of the Arabic lanuaein which the Qurʾān was re!ealed# $here will ne!er be found any term, whetherin a tradition or !erse, which could be a scriptural arument 3naṣṣ4 in fa!our ofsimilarity# $he term as used by Arabs may con!ey se!eral meanins, someleadin to similarity, some to transcendence# *ne who interprets it /only1 in thesense of similarity, commits an in-ustice towards this term by not i!in it theriht conferred on it by the way it is used in the lanuae 3wa&uhu f$ al-lisān4,as well as transressin with reard to Pod by imputin to .im what is not
proper for .im#/@D1 $he 2rst e(ample i!en by the author i!es some idea of his riorousattachment to the letter of re!elation as well as to di!ine transcendence&
*ne of these e(pressions is that 'the heart 3(alb4 is between two of the 2nersof Pod'#/@G1 `eason arms that, in the real sense of the term, it is impossibleto attribute a limb to Pod# .owe!er, '2ner' is a polysemous word desinatinthe limb, on the one hand, and bene2t 3ni&ma4 on the other### $he Arabs say&'how e(cellent is so6and6so's 2ner on his oods', meanin how well hemanaes his aEairs# 8urthermore, the uickest turnin 3ta(l$b4 is done by the
2ners, due to their small si5e and perfect de(terity# $heir mo!ement is uickerthan that of the hand or any other member# )ince Pod's turnin of the hearts isthe uickest thin imainable, the "rophet, on him be race and peace,elouently e(pressed it in his in!ocation in a manner well6understood by Arabs#.e described the turnin as bein done by the 2ners, since turnin is alwayscarried out by the hand, of which the 2ners are a part, and the speed of it ismost clearly marked in the 2ners# $he "rophet would also pray to Pod, sayin&'* ou who are the turner of hearts, strenthen my heart in our reliion' 3 yāmu(allib al-(ul*b thabbit (alb$ &alā d$nik 4#/@M1 Pod's turnin of the hearts iswhat .e creates in them as intention to do ood or e!il# %an is aware of thesuccession of contradictory thouhts in his heart, that is to say Pod's turnin of the hearts, and he cannot escape from this knowlede# .ence the "rophet usedto say& '* ou who are the turner of hearts, strenthen my heart in ourreliion'J/@O1 Pod the T(alted said& '.e inspired in it /the soul1 its disobedienceand its pious fear' 3Q# O0& M4# $his inspiration is the turnin of the hearts\ the2ners show how fast, and the twoness shows the thouhts, ood and bad# Ifwe understand the meanin of '2ner' as sinifyin at the same time themember, bene2t and bene2cial eEects, how then can it be taken solely as thelimb of a physical body^ $he other meanins, which are compatible withtranscendence, are what we seek# We should either remain silent and lea!e thedeterminin of the meanin of this to Pod and to those to whom Pod has i!en
knowlede of it, whether sent en!oy or inspired saint, i!en that we deny theliteral meanin of 'limb', or we should percei!e its blessinsJ/DF1
In addition to this theoloical commentary Ibn ʿArabī oEers a metaphysicaldescription, statin that in the two 2ners lies 'the secret of essentialperfection, which when re!ealed on the day of `esurrection, causes man totake hold of his father, if he is an unbelie!er, and throw him into the 2re,without feelin either distress or compassion, by the secret of these two 2nerswhose meanin is sinle and e(pression is double#' $he duality of these two2ners thus symbolises the oriinal duality of manifestation, as hea!en andhell, which comes from the +i!ine Kames bein in opposition to one another,
whilst non6dual in a numerical sense# $he secret of the two 2ners lies in theletter of the khabar as in true belief\ it may only be unco!ered by un!eilin orin the hereafter# $he interpretation is really a ta"w$l, in the Qurʾānic sense of theword, i#e# the ad!ent of the 2nal meanin, which is foreseen by inspiration, andnot the illeitimate ta"w$l of indi!idual opinion#
Ibn ʿArabī reads and understands hadith in the same way as the Qurʾān, by2ndin within the letter of the te(t the meanin which the metaphysicalorientation of his hermeneutics allows him to disco!er# $he philoloical processconstitutes the 2rst step in an e(eesis that proceeds by symbolic transpositionto arri!e at a doctrinal e(planation# In the chapter in the !ut*ḥāt on fastin,reardin the prayer preparin for the 'Kiht of +estiny', he cites a traditionreported by $irmidhī,/D01 accordin to AbH +harr al6Phifārī# $his recounts thatthe "rophet prayed with his ompanions on the twenty6third niht of `amadanuntil the end of the 2rst third of the niht, then on the twenty62fth for half the
niht# *n the twenty6se!enth niht, he called all his people and prayed so lonthat, accordin to AbH +harr, 'we were afraid we would miss al-falāḥ'# Whenasked about the meanin of al-falāḥ 3which enerally means happiness4, theompanion stated that he understood by this e(pression al-saḥ*r , the mealtaken at the end of the niht, -ust before dawn, before beinnin the fast# $he)haykh wonders at the e(pression chosen by AbH +harr to desinate al-saḥ*r #
!alāḥ, he points out, means permanence 3ba(ā"4#/D;1 $he return to one of theancient, pre6Qurʾānic, meanins of falāḥ is a way of plumbin theeschatoloical and metaphysical depths of the e(pression# 8or Ibn ʿArabī, AbH+harr wished to draw the attention of his hearers to the fact that man is onlyfound in a state of fastin in an accidental way 3bi1l-&ara4, since fastin in itsessence belons only to Pod and is halted for man with death# In the hereafter,the domain of permanence 3ba(ā"4, man eats and drinks accordin to theQurʾān# $he one who is fastin remembers this paradisial permanence at themoment of saḥ*r , a word from the same root as saḥar , the last part of theniht, -ust before dawn# $his time has a face turned towards the niht andanother towards the day, symbolisin the e(istential condition of man betweenthe Kecessary :ein in Itself and not6bein, in other words his condition ofbein possible 3mumkin4# T!en if man becomes endowed with di!ine ualities,as represented by the fast, he must for e!er remember that he is 'permanently'a possible bein\ as he is reminded by saḥar bein called falāḥ# $echnically IbnʿArabī carries on no diEerently to most of the Qurʾānic commentators& by 2rstresortin to a meanin established by the lanuae 3f$ al-lu/ha4 and then bythe symbolic drawin toether of terms from the same root# :ut only theacuteness of his metaphysical !ision and his doctrine of absolute ser!anthoodallow such a readin of hadith#/D=1
$he transposition of meanin from an immediate understandin towards a
spiritual interpretation is accomplished in many ways, with the aid of thelanuae itself, but also by deduction or by considerin the theoloical orspiritual order# $his is the case in the hadith attributed to ʿZkāsha# When the"rophet spoke of the GF,FFF who will enter paradise 'without reckonin',ʿZkāsha asked him to pray that he be one of them, which he did# $hese GF,FFFwere de2ned by the "rophet as 'those who neither seek formulas of healin norpractise cauterisation nor read omens, but i!e themsel!es up entirely to theirNord'#/D?1 `eardin those who do not seek formulas of healin 3lā yastar(*n4,Ibn ʿArabī points out that the "rophet himself practised this type of care, for heis a model for the stron and the weak and a mercy to the world# $he fact that
the "rophet had recourse to formulas of healin 3ru(ya4 in no way undermineshis station, which in itself is unknown to the rest of mankind# '$hose who readnot omens' 3lā yata.ayyar*n4 is e(plained thus& the bird 3.ā"ir , from which onereads an omen4 represents the lot 3ḥaẓẓ 4 which has fallen to each 3.ayyara meanin to di!ide into lots4# $hese beins ha!e renounced the 'lot' of theirsouls and occupy themsel!es solely with the works that Pod has chared themto do, for .im and not for any reward# $hey 'do not practise cauterisin' 3lā yaktaw*n4 on themsel!es, for that necessitates 2re, and Pod has protectedthem, without their knowlede, aainst the 2re# $hey 'i!e themsel!es up totheir Nord' 3 yatawakkal*n4, takin Pod as their attorney 3wak$l4, 'a medianknowlede proceedin from the second aim' 3ma&rifa wus.ā jā"athum min al-
(aṣd al-thān$ 4# .e comments on this e(pression& $hese men see that Pod has created thins for them, and that .e has createdthemsel!es for .im# )o they take .im as attorney o!er that which .e has
created for them, and they de!ote themsel!es to that for which Pod hascreated them# $his attitude constitutes an intermediary rank, abo!e whichthere is a superior rank which corresponds to the 2rst aim# Accordin to thisPod created nothin in the whole world e(cept for .imself, that it miht lorify.im with .is praise, from which we bene2t pro!identially and conseuently#
$he second aim is that of which we ha!e -ust been speakin& when Pod created
us and sub-ected to us all that is in the hea!ens and the earth, .e wished thatin the human and non6human worlds, there be beins who would sub-uatethemsel!es totally to .im and belie!e that Pod has a face in e!erythin, whichonly a true belie!er may professJ/D@1
$he shaykh then e(plains the relationship between faith and relyin upon Pod3tawakkul4# $he knowlede of the real bein in thins reuires that we take Podas attorney, without concernin oursel!es that we entrust to .im what belonsto us as property 3milk 4# Poods are only attributed to man by Pod as adependency 3istiḥ(ā(4, like a saddle belons to a mount or the door to a house#
$he men described in this hadith are not necessarily aware of all the depth
implied by their facin, but enter into paradise 'without reckonin', that iswithout ha!in realised the full coniti!e scope of their position as belie!ers,but rather by +i!ine pro!idence# '$hey are not blessed with inner !ision, buttheir acts are comparable to those who do bene2t from such a !ision#'
.a!in connected two words from the same root 3 yata.ayyar*n-tā"ir 4 or a wordand a connected meanin 3 yaktaw*n-tair 4, Ibn ʿArabī continues withde!elopments of a metaphysical order which lead him to unco!erunaccustomed but linuistically acceptable meanins# $his is the case of thee(pression bi-/hayri ḥisāb, occurrin often in the Qurʾān and enerallyunderstood as 'without any reckonin bein demanded of them'# Ibn ʿArabī,
faithful to its literal meanin, understands 'without reckonin' as 'without theme(pectin it', as a pure race\ an interpretation based on kashf , a sure science,not for others but for oneself# Ibn ʿArabī does not write for the community ineneral but for himself and 'our fellows', accordin to his own e(pression, thosefor whom knowlede arises from within, and who percei!e the meanin andmetaphysical import of what others only realise throuh /written1 works#
*ne of the best e(amples of hadith commentary that Ibn ʿArabī has left us issurely in the ;Gth and concludin chapter of the !uṣ*ṣ al-ḥikam on the%uhammadian word# It consists of a commentary on the hadith, '$hree thinsof your world ha!e been made worthy to me of lo!e& women, perfume and theXfreshness of my eyeX i!en in prayer#'/DD1 $he analysis of this te(t would merita study in itself, so we will content oursel!es by simply recommendin it to thereader#/DG1 We may note simply that the choice of the hadith to illustrate a'%uhammadian word' shows that this one has for Ibn ʿArabī the status of are!elation and that like the Qurʾān but as a human word, it synthesises thetotality of re!elations and the pre!ious prophetic words# $he study of hadith inthe works of Ibn ʿArabī cannot but lead us to the doctrine of Zni!ersal %an 3al-insān al-kāmil4, the intermediary between the created and the uncreated, sincehadith is both from the side of the continent bein 3ḥādith4 and the inspiredword, re!ealed by Pod, for the Qurʾān names itself ḥad$th# $he e(ceptionalimportance i!en to the )unna, in Islam and by Ibn ʿArabī in particular, as the
necessary accomplishment of the +i!ine Word, resides thus in its unifyin andseparatin function of the Word with two faces, di!ine and human#
8inally, we miht ask oursel!es in what way Ibn ʿArabī's !iews on hadith, theirtransmission and interpretation, are oriinal to him# *n the le!el of Naw heshares with a number of his contemporaries, as well as many others before andsince, the idea that a -urist's opinion, howe!er prestiious he may be, canne!er pre!ail o!er the prophetic tradition# :y repeatedly armin thesuperiority of inspired awareness o!er that of ordinary scholars, he only
e(presses the con!iction of all masters of taṣawwuf # $he importance heaccords to the isnād, less as a means of authenti2cation than as a transmissionof presence, is certainly not -ust applicable to him, as is amply demonstratedby the fact that many spiritual masters were eually muḥaddith*n, both in theearly days of )u2sm as well as in his own#
$he role of Ibn ʿArabī, in the domain of hadith as in others, was not to putforward new ideas, but to -u(tapose domains which had ne!er pre!iously beenconsidered toether, at least not e(plicitly# .e brins toether respect for theformal rules of transmission with reuirements of seeminly another order, bye(tollin absolute respect for the literal meanin whilst holdin the direct !ision
of the "rophet as the ideal of perfect transmission, or by underlinin the !irtueof ser!anthood which is linked to the !ery act of transmittin, makin the ahlal-ḥad$th, whoe!er they may be, the true heirs of prophecy#
.as the relationship between the Qurʾān and the )unna been set out andresol!ed clearly enouh^ ertainly theoloians and -urists ha!e often placedthe authority of both on the same le!el, there bein se!eral Qurʾānic passaeswhich point to this meanin# :ut ha!e we returned, as does Ibn ʿArabī, to the!ery source of the inspiration^ As we ha!e already said, the status of hadith lieswithin the scope of his prophetoloy and thus his haioraphy, and raises theuestion of the comple( relationship between prophecy and sainthood#
It is not his way of dealin with any particular point which is his biestcontribution to %uslim thouht, but the con!erence of his diEerentorientations towards a sinle a(is# Poin beyond the opposition betweenma&rifa and &ilm, between inspired knowlede and the knowin of scholars, helinks the one to the other, makin literal transmission the support of thehihest spiritual realisation and khabar the most perfect form of knowlede#)ome people, fearin a confusion of le!els, ha!e re-ected such an undertakin,while others on the contrary ha!e found therein a most fruitful inspiration# $oseek the word of Pod in hadith, which is the word of men, is this not the rais2nd13tre of e!ery reliion and e!ery spiritual way^
4ranslated by 'lan 522rman
"otes
/01# William Praham brins up the uestion in relation to ḥad$th (uds$ in hisDi6ine 72rd and 8r29heti: 72rd in ;arly Islam 3n#p#, 0OGG4# .e uotes theMishkāt al-anwār of Ibn ʿArabī, which, howe!er, has little or nothin to say onthis particular form of hadith#
/;1# *n his masters, especially in hadith, see Kyber, ,leinere :hriften des Ibnal-'rabi 3Neiden 0O0O4, pp#;?6D, as well as the list drawn up by laude Addas in<uest f2r the Red ul9hur 3ambride, 0OO=4, pp#OG60FF and =0;60?#
/=1# It is strikin that Ibn ʿArabī beins the two parts of this work, the books inhis library and those circulatin in his time, with his r>sum>s or antholoies of
hadith# )ee Curkīs ʿAwwād, '8ihrist muʾallafāt %uVyīddīn Ibn ʿArabī' in Majallatal-Majma& al-&ilm$ al-&'rab$ 3+amascus, 0O@?6@@4, !ols# ;O6=F, pp#=@D and @;G6M#
/?1# 8or Ibn ʿArabī's particular interest in the %āmi& of $irmidhī, see +ominiueZr!oy, =e m2nde des >l?mas andal2us du @IABIe au @CC ABCCCe, p#0=O, uotedby Perald Tlmore, Islami: ainth22d in the !ullness 2f 4ime 3Neiden, 0OOO4, p#0;F, n#@O#
/@1# Td# AbH :akr %ahyHn 3airo, ah 0=DO4# $his collection has been criticallyedited and translated by )tephen .irtenstein and %artin Kotcutt as Di6ineayin/s 3*(ford, ;FF?4, in which he lists Ibn ʿArabi's works relatin to hadith3pp#0F6004, as well as those who transmitted to him, amonst whom we 2ndAbH al6āhir al6)ilafī 3p#0FM4#
/D1# *ld classi2cation @;0D and new ?OMD, =;@ fols# $he <yleaf bears the isnād pre!iously mentioned# $he title pae bears the followin& al-sifr al-thān$ minkitāb al-Maḥajjat al-bayā" f$ al-aḥkām al-shar&iyya wa al-adab al-rabbāniyya al-
thābita &an al-nab$ &alayhi al-salām al-man(*la &an al-a"immat al-a&lam ahl al-&adāla wa al-riā min al-sunan wa al-āthār wa madhāhib &ulamā" al-amṣārmimmā &uniya bi-takhr$ji-hā wa taṣn$+-hā al-&abd al-fa($r ilā 1llāh ta&ālāMuḥammad b &'l$ b M Ibn al-&'rab$ al-Eā"$ al-Fātim$ al-'ndalus$ bi-ḥaramMakka zāda-hu 1llāh tashr$fan kharraja-hā li-waliyyi-hi al-mas&*d &'bd 'llāh5adr b &'bd 'llāh al-Fabash$ mu&ta( 'b$ al-Ghanā"im b 'b$ al-!ut*ḥ al-Farrān$raiya 1llāh &an-hum wa &an al-muslim$n ajma&$n# 8urther down adr al6+īn al6QHnawī notes that the work became his property# A note written upwards onthe riht of the pae attests that the work was i!en as wa(f by al6QHnawī forthe library attached to his tomb# We i!e all this information because the workhas since been stolen, alon with a hundred or so other manuscripts, includin
autoraphed works of Ibn ʿArabī and QHnawī as well as chancellery letters ofthe )el-uk period# An incalculable loss#
/G1# )ee ;I;, ')ilafī', O[D=F6; 3laude Pilliot4#
/M1# )ee !ihris no#0G=, *# ahya,ist2ire et :lassi+:ati2n, II#=O?, `P ?MD# $hiswork should not be confused with the Risālat al-Mubashshirāt 3`P ?M@4# $hereare se!eral manuscripts of the te(t, which has been edited by Hsuf al6Kabhānī in his a&ādat al-dārayn f$ al-ṣalāt &alā sayyid al-kawnayn 3:eirut, n#d#4, pp#?G;6M# $he contents of these !isions most often concern the practice of the )unna#
/O1# *n this hadith and its commentary by Ibn ʿArabī, see %ichel hodkiewic5's
introduction to AwVad al6+īn :alyānī, ?9itre sur l1>nit? abs2lue 3"aris, 0OM;4,pp#;G6=0#
/0F1# )akhāwī, al-Ma(āṣid al-ḥasana, p#@MO, no# OOF, and ʿA-lHnī, ,ashf al-khafā", II#0O@, no# ;;@D# $his tradition is uoted by AbH ālib al6%akkī, <*. al-(ul*b, I#;?F, and by Pha5ālī in al-Iḥyā", followin )akhāwī, in the form lam yasa&-n$ , whereas Ibn ʿArabī always uses the accompanyin mā wasi&a-n$ #
/0=1# :ukhārī, #aḥ$ḥ, &ilm ?;, I#?F#/0?1# Accordin to tradition, the "rophet on his return from āʾif, before the.i-ra, recei!ed a !isit from se!en Sinn who came from KiYībīn or KaYībīn
3Kisibe4, a %esopotamian town now in $urkey# )ee Ibn .isham, $ra 3airo,0=G@[0O@@4, I#?;;\ and abarī, %āmi& al-bayān 3:Hlā, n#d#4, I#;F3commentary on Q# ?D&;O4#
/0@1# !ut # III#?O, hapter =0;#
/0D1# !ut # I#;;=, hapter =D#
/0G1# :ukhārī, isti"dhān 0, III D;\ %uslimbirr wa ṣila 00@, commentary byKawawī, I 0D@\ Ibn Lanbal, Musnad II ;??, =0@ etc# Kawawī challenes theauthenticity of this !ariant 'accordin to the form of the All6%erciful', but IbnLa-ar al6ʿAsalānī seems to allow it 3see !atḥ al-bār$ , I#;4# *n the !arious!ersions and resultant contro!ersies, see +aniel Pimaret, Dieu H l1ima/e del1h2mme 3"aris, 0OOG4, pp#0;=6=D#
/;;1# Ibn Lanbal, Musnad, III =O 3slihtly diEerent !ersion4#
/;=1# )ee !ut # I#;M;, hapter @@#
/;?1# !ut # I#;MF, hapter @?#
/;@1# At the time of the farewell "ilrimae, :ukhārī, &ilm O, I#;G, and2n:2rdan:e, I#;0D#
/;D1# )ee 2n:2rdan:e, II#;D0#
/;G1# *ne to whom Pod speaks, or one to whom a hadith is reported#
/;M1# !ut # I#;;O, hapter =M\ see also III#@F, hapter =0=#
/;O1# )ee !ut # III#@D0, hapter =OM#
/=F1# We 2nd in the unan three !ersions uite diEerent to this, but with thesame meanin# )ee Ibn %ā-a, mu(addima ;, hadith 0;, I#D\ AbH +āwHd,sunna @, I#;FF\ $irmidhī, &ilm 0F in4uḥfat al-aḥwad$ , III#=G?\ see also Ibn Lanbal,Musnad I 0=0, and2n:2rdan:e, I#@G 3ar$ka4# In his commentary on $irmidhī,4uḥfat al-aḥwad$ , %uVammad ʿAbd al6`aVmān al6%ubārakpHrī adds& '+ārimīreports accordin to aVyā b# Cathīr& Pabriel caused the )unna to descend -ust
as he caused the Qurʾān to descendR# $his is also uoted in the Durr /al-manth*r of )uyH]ī1 as well as by al6Qārī in the Mir(āt #' $he commentator isreferrin to +ārimī, unan, mu(addima ?O 3I#0??6@4,bāb al-sunna (āiya &alākitāb 'llāh 3'the authority of the )unna pre!ails o!er the book of Pod'4, whobeins by uotin this hadith 3the same !ersion as Ibn %ā-a, who reports itfrom al6%idām b# %aʿdīkarib al6Cindī4# .e adds these words attributed to aVyāb# Abī Cathīr by al6Aw5aʿī& '$he )unna pre!ails o!er the Qurʾān and not there!erse', and the words of Lassān, also accordin to al6Aw5aʿī& 'Pabriel causedthe )unna to descend -ust as he caused the Qurʾān to descend#' $his tradition isreported by +ārimī, unan, mu(addima ?O 3I#0?@4 as a hadith from Lassān 3b#ʿAtiyya al6%uVāribī4, a 8ollower of the 8ollowers from )yria 3d# between ah ;F6=F4, accordin to Ibn La-ar al6ʿAsalānī, 4ahdh$b al-tahdh$b 3.yderabad, ah0=;@, repr# :eirut4, II#;@0# In support he also uotes )aʿīd b# Subayr who, ha!inreported a hadith, was ob-ected to by a companion& 'In the :ook of Pod there is
somethin which contradicts that#' )aʿīd replied& 'I brin you a sayin of the"rophet and you oppose it with the book of Pod^ $he Tn!oy of Pod, peace andrace be upon him, knows Pod's book better than you_' $hese three traditionsfrom the eneration followin the ompanions show that the status of theprophetic word was already a preoccupation of the 2rst scholars of Islam# $heposition they demonstrate is clearly not limited to matters of -urisprudence#
/=01# )ee !ut # III#@D0, hapter =OM#
/=;1# !ut # III#@D0, hapter =OM# We may compare Ibn ʿArabī's point of !iew onthe relati!e diEerence between the Qurʾān and the hadith with that of Imām al6.aramayn al6Suwaynī, uoted by )uyH]ī in al-It(ān f$ &ul*m al-<ur"ān 3airo,0=GF[0O@04, I#??& '$he re!ealed word of Pod 3kalām 'llāh al-munzal oral-munazzal4 is of two kinds# Accordin to the 2rst, Pod says to Pabriel& $ell theprophet to whom you are sent& 'Pod says to you& do such and such a thin,order such a thin'#R .a!in understood what his Nord said to him, Pabrieldescends to brin it to the "rophet and repeats to him what his Nord has said#
$he way of e(pression is not necessarily the same, like a kin miht say to his
con2dant& )ay to so6and6so& 'dedicate yourself to my ser!ice and ather yourarmy for combat'#R If the messener says $he kin says& 'do not nelect myser!ice, do not let your army be dispersed and ure it to 2ht',R this cannot bedescribed as a lie or as a lack in the transmission of the messae# Accordin tothe second, Pod says to Pabriel& recite 3i(ra"4 this written word 3kitāb4 to the"rophetR# Pabriel then descends to brin a word from Pod without chaninanythin, -ust as a kin writes a letter 3kitāb4, i!es it to a trustworthy man andtells him& read this to so6and6soR, which he does without chanin a word ore!en a letter#'
In contrast to Ibn ʿArabī, )uyH]ī draws from this distinction an arument in
fa!our of the transmission of hadith accordin to meanin and not word# .eadds that certain early scholars, such as al6guhrī, are of the same opinion# $helatter, when uestioned on re!elation 3waḥy 4, de2ned it as 'Jthat which Podre!eals to one of .is prophets and which he con2rms in his heart# $he latterthen transmits it orally and in writin\ it is the word of Pod# $here is also are!elation that the prophet does not transmit in writin, which he writes for noone and which he orders not to be written, but which he relates to men3 yuḥaddithu bi-hi al-nās ḥad$than4, at the same time makin them know that itis Pod who has ordered him to e(plain it to men and to transmit it to them#'
/==1# !ut # I#;=F, hapter =M#
/=?1# Ibid#/=@1# $his is the same e(pression as is used for ḥad$th (uds$ #
/=D1# !ut # I#=0#
/=G1# )ee !ut # II#@D=, hapter ;D=, trans# by %ichel lsan in ?tudes4raditi2nelles 30OOD4, !ols# =OD6G, pp#;FD60;#
/=M1# $hese Qurʾānic e(pressions 3see Q# 0F;&@6G4 were used as technical termsin taṣawwuf # 8or their meanin in Ibn ʿArabī, see the references uoted by)uʿād Lakīm, al-Mu&jam al-ṣ*f$ 3:eirut, 0OM04, pp#0;@F6;#
/=O1# !ut # I#0@F, hapter0?# $his passae precedes the one uoted pre!iously,where doubt is thrown on -udements of non6authenticity or authenticity in thecase of a reat many hadith#
/?F1# Quoted by William # hittick, 4he u+ 8ath 2f ,n2wled/e) Ibn &'rab$1sMeta9hysi:s 2f Ima/inati2n 3Albany, K, 0OMO4, pp#;@06;#
/?01# )ee particularly :ukhārī, bad" al-waḥy ;& '* Tn!oy of Pod, how does there!elation come to you^' ')ometimes it comes to me as the rinin of a bell,and this is the most tryin for me# When it breaks oE, I ha!e retained what wassaid# )ometimes the anel takes the form of a man& he speaks to me and Iretain what he told me#'
/?;1# Accordin to )akhāwī, followin his master Ibn .a-ar, this hadith has nobasis 3lā aṣla lahu4 3see al-Ma(āṣid al-ḥasana 3:eirut, 0OM@4, p#?@O, no#GF;4#Accordin to al6ʿA-lHnī, howe!er, se!eral later authors, such as 8akhr al6+īn al6`ā5ī or Ibn Qudāma al6%adisī, reard it as a word of the "rophet 3ḥad$thmarf*&4\ see ,ashf al-khafā", II#D?, no#0G??#
/?=1# *n the madhhab of Ibn ʿArabī, see %ichel hodkiewic5,>n J:?an sansri6a/e 3"aris, 0OO;4, pp#GD6MF#
/?@1# Ibn ʿArabī completely re-ects any idea that he belons to a particularmadhhab# .e states this forcefully in se!eral places, in particular in his poetry&
'$hey link me to Ibn La5m, but I am not one of those who say Ibn La5m saidR#
Ko, neither him nor any other# I profess the te(t of the :ook 7 such is myscience#
*r else& the Tn!oy says, or yet aain, all -oin me in sayin 7 such is my -udement#' 3D$wān, :Hlā, p#?G4# )ee %# hodkiewic5, J:?an, p#GM#
/?D1# )ee !ut # II#=F;, hapter 0GG, where he mentions Ibn La5m's detailed
account of the di!ine Kames, based on authentic hadith, accordin to the)haykh# .e reports this information from ʿAlī b# ʿAbd Allāh b# ʿAbd al6`aVmān al68iryābī, from ʿAbd al6La b# ʿAbd Allāh al6Ishbīlī, from )hurayV al6`uʿaynī, fromIbn La5m#
/?G1# A hadith on the pilrimae reported by Ibn La5m in the Muḥallā, with anisnād, is uoted in !ut # I#G?G# We know from elsewhere that, when in+amascus, Ibn ʿArabī lent his own copy of the Muḥallā to ʿI55 al6+īn Ibn ʿAbd al6)alām 3see Perald Tlmore, 4he !abul2us Gry9h2n Neiden, 0OOM, p#?@, n#0GF4#
/?M1# Quoted by P# Tlmore, Ibid# p#?;, n#0@D\ see *# ahya, ist2ire, p#=FG,n#;G@#
/?O1# Ibn ʿArabī recei!ed this polemical work from a $unisian, who had it from)hurayV al6`uʿaynī 3Tlmore, p#?G, n#0GM4# I# Pold5iher notes a manuscript of IbnʿArabī's summary in Potha no# D?F 34he Kahiris) 4heir d2:trine and theirist2ry , Neiden, 0OG0, pp#0GF604#
/@F1# !ut # II#@0O, hapter ;;=\ see also , al-Mubashshirāt , pp#?G=6?& 'I saw in adream the Tn!oy of Pod 7 on him be race and peace 7 embrace the imam, thetraditionist AbH %uVammad ʿAlī b# AVmad b# )aʿīd Ibn La5m, the author of theMuḥallā, who was an imam in the 2eld of hadith, knowledeable and puttin itinto practice# Niht en!eloped the person of the Tn!oy of Pod and that of IbnLa5m, so that they became one, as one body# $his was throuh the blessin of
hadith#'/@01# )ee for e(ample !ut # III#DM6GF, hapter =0M, elouently entitled '*n thestation of the abroation of the %uhammadian and non6%uhammadian law by
indi!idual self6interest' 3f$ manzil naskh al-shar$&a al-Muḥammadiyya wa /hayral-Muḥammadiyya bi-l-a/hrād al-nafsiyya4# $his chapter has been translated byyrille hodkiewic5 in Ibn ʿArabī, Me::an Re6elati2ns, !ol# ; 3Kew ork, ;FF?4,pp#GG6M@# $wo !isions reported in the Mubashshirāt also show this attitudetowards the fu(ahā"#
/@;1# )ee Ibn Challikān, 7afayāt al-a&yān, II#0, uoted by Tlmore, Gry9h2n, p#?@#
/@=1# !ut # II#0D;, hapter MM, on 'the basis of leal rulins' 3uṣ*l aḥkām al-shar&4, trans# # hodkiewic5, Me::an Re6elati2ns, !ol# ;, pp#D;6GD# $hesepassaes are also uoted, but without references, by %aVmHd %# Phurāb, al-!i(h &inda al-haykh al-'kbar Muḥy$ al-D$n Ibn al-&'rab$ 3+amascus,0?F0[0OM04, pp#@D6DF#
/@?1# *f anels, al-mala" al-a&lā#
/@@1# We ha!e not manaed to 2nd the oriin of this tradition#
/@D1# !ut # I#O@#
/@G1# In the :Hlā edn, I#0;; 3;nd edn in M !olumes4& ':etween two of the2ners of the All6%erciful 3Raḥmān4\ .e turns it as .e wills'\ see %uslim, aḥ$ḥ,(adar G 3Istanbul, 0=;O ah4, III#@0& 'All the hearts of the sons of Adam arefound between two of the 2ners of the All6%erciful, as a sinle heart\ .e turnsit where!er .e wishes'\ or Ibn %ā-a, unan, mu(adimma 0=, I#G;, hadith no#0OO& '$here is no heart that is not found between two of the 2ners of the All6%erciful\ if .e wishes, .e sets it ariht\ if .e wishes, .e leads it astray#'
/@M1# )ee $irmidhī, %āmi& da&awāt , MO with the commentary 4uḥfat al-aḥwad$ ,I#;DD& 'J I would ask Zmm )alama& * mother of the belie!ers, what was the
most freuent in!ocation of the Tn!oy of Pod when he was with you^R .is mostfreuent in!ocation,R she replied, was& * ou who are the turner of hearts,strenthen my heart in our reliion#R )he added& I asked him& how is it thatyour most freuent in!ocation is '* ou'^ '*, Zmm )alama,' he replied, 'there isno man whose heart is not to be found between two of the 2ners of Pod# .ewhom .e wishes, .e sets ariht, he whom .e wishes .e misleads#'R' 8or otherreferences to the hadith, see 2n:2rdan:e, #?@O#
/@O1# Ibn ʿArabī then mentions !ariants of this hadith#
/D;1# $his is one of the meanins i!en by the =isān al-&'rab 3repr# :Hlā4,III#=MF60, which cites in support an e(pression such as falāḥ al-dahr 3'for e!erand e!er'4, two lines of pre6Islamic poetry and the hadith of AbH +harr#
pp#0M06;FD, or =e li6re des :hat2ns des sa/esses by harles6Andr> Pilis3:eirut, 0?0M6O[0OOG6M4, II#DMG6G0=\ and Tnlish trans# as 4he 5ezels 2f 7isd2mby `#W#S# Austin 3Nondon, 0OMF4, pp#;G;6M?#
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