IBN ’ARABI AND GOVERNING THROUGH SPIRIT IN

DANGEROUS TIMES

Joe Daoud Martin

Muhyiddin Ibn‘Arabi, perhaps the greatest philosopher of Sufism and the

greatest Sufi Master of his time (d. 1240/) is read more by intellectuals, and
scholars of religion and mysticism than is Rumi, who has a broader
following. Yet the Moroccan memoirist and feminist Fatima Mernissi once
told me that Ibn al’Arabi is her “darling,” among the Sufi writers. Two
garrulous aging journalists in Orhan Pamuk’s enigmatic novel The Black
Book insist that the Existentialists were way behind their time, as Ibn
al’Arabi had transmitted their message eight hundred years earlier.“It’s all
there,” one of them snorts, in condescension toward the European
intelligentsia.

I am going to suggest that the so called “greatest master” also had a thing or
two to teach us about the most dangerous obsessions haunting us today.
And that is whether we belong to the anti-humanism of so-called jihadist
political Islam, or the anti-intellectuals of the War-on-Terror fanatics. Both
groups have symptoms of both diseases.) Tolerance and good governance,
in the human spirit and in the human realm were outlined in one of the
early works Ibn al’Arabi al-Andalusi was commissioned to write: Divine
Governance of the Human Kingdom (At-Tadbirat al -ilahiyyah fi islah al
mamlakat al-insaniyyah)

The emergence of Sufism’s greatest spiritual philosopher

The great Andalusian shaikh began his prodigious career of writing and
teaching in his native Spain. As a young man he had two elderly female
Sufi guides, to whom he was very dedicated. In his twenties his abilities to
communicate the teachings of Sufism and Islam (especially through the
study of the traditions or “hadiths”) and his high level of illumination had
won him recognition. It was only in the latter half of his career, that he
journeyed through the Middle East, wrote his Meccan Revelations and the
cryptic Bezels of Wisdom–finding different keys to Wisdom in all the
Biblical and Koranic prophets. (In Mecca he had also become infatuated
with the daughter of a Shaikh, who was herself a fine teacher of sufistic
interpretations of the Qur’an and hadith (traditions of the Prophet) The
impossible match led to an outpouring of writing, including the long poem
The Interpreter of Desire (Tarjuman al-Ashwaq).

The key idea found in his philosophy–or theosophy—in the estimation

of almost every authoritative commentator, is termed the “Unity-of-Being”
(wahdat al-wujud). This is all the more striking because– perhaps because
his works numbered in the hundreds, and not all have been discovered, let
alone translated– no one has found the term in any of his works. The term
seems to have been applied by his disciples in Baghdad, Konya and Mecca.
Nevertheless, strangely, it is agreed: the Unity-of-Being, as a philosophy,
comes to fruition in the Ibn al’Arabi’s work. Its implications are immense.
But in this mode of thinking, the idea of a quest for realizing divine
illumination is a paradox – as the divine Essence flows through all things
at all times. God is never gone, in other words. “There is no wayfarer, and
no way upon which to fare,” wrote the master, in his Meccan Revelations.
(I 183) Though I must reach out to embrace it, it is already within me. And
I am within it.

The reasoning goes something like this: I cannot seek God, as God is
something which exists eternally, and I have no real existence at all
compared to that.. How can something like me, who has no lasting
existence – a passing form which transforms and dies, and is never the
same one day after another as it moves as a flux of molecules toward final
dissolution – possibly go out and grasp the foundation of existence? That is,
the One that has Real existence. Instead, I should look to see where that
spiritual essence lies within myself, as I continue my growth and
transformation in this life. And what is in me is in all other “engendered
things” – temporal things which arise due to cause and effect from the
Ground of Being. Sentient beings, and for the Sufis (perhaps a bit unlike
other wisdom traditions such as Buddhism that see life only in “beings”)
even rocks, sand, and (these days) subatomic particles are all imbued with
that Essence.

The delusion of the self

Ibn ’Arabi sometimes criticized the mystics who thought that the ego must
be annihilated, as well as the concept of annihilation, as all concepts must
be annihilated, to allow God – the Light – to illumine the emptied self, soul
or mind. For, like the Mahayana Buddhists and unlike some other Sufi
writers and Pirs, he believed there was no ego to annihilate. The extinction
of the ego (nafs) was, in his teaching, an absurd concept. For there is no ego
to extinguish. It is a delusion, with no inherent existence – however
delicious it is to us to worship it, in our foolishness. Yet he agreed, it was
so powerful within human beings it could cause, through the greed, habits,
and lusts it generated, damage, destruction and suffering.

Indeed, it is the most concretely dangerous illusion to ever “exist!”

And this is where Ibn ’Arabi, through his often complex and esoteric style,
has much to tell us today, if we are patient and take his writings to heart.
He wrote in a time when Sufism was an ascendant tradition throughout the
Islamic world, after the great theologian and philosopher Abu Hamid
Mohammad al ’Ghazali (d. 1111 CE/505 AH) succeeded, with the support
of many scholars, in binding Sufism inextricably with Islam (a famous
moment in Islamic scholarship. conveniently ignored by the self-
aggrandizers leading political Islam today, who abhor nuanced readings of
the Qur’an, the resonance and flexibility of any “revealed” text).

Ibn ‘Arabi returns over and over to an Islamic oral tradition or hadith: “To
know thy Lord is to know Thyself.” Our search, absurdly, leads us far
afield into groves of illusion and more illusion, creations of the
imagination. He quotes the Qur’an: “What you seek is in your own selves.
Will you not then see?” (Zariyat, 21.)

The Intellect, self-governance and freedom

Let’s examine some of the wisdom Ibn ’Arabi has to offer us in the grim
times we are currently confronting. Rendered into pristine English by
Shaykh Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi al-Halveti (Fons Vitae 1997) Divine
Governance gives advice in which the human spirit is viewed as a kingdom
which must be governed. It is of course a spiritual metaphor. For Intellect
given to us from the Source must be in “our” service, not that of our ego.
He writes of the “good Prime Minister,” who must constantly call upon
intellect, and keep it from being seduced by the cravings of the nafs-al
ammara, the commanding self (in common parlance of today, the ego.)

Opt for freedom, and with this new freedom, fight the tyranny of
your ego. Sit on the throne of intellect. Put the crown of service on
 your head. Judge, not with preconceptions, but by the reality of the
Now. The truth is in the present.” (21)

Nine times out of ten, conflicts are the result of preconceptions, due to
ignorance of realities, and by locking the mind in anger about the past or
anxieties about the future. One chapter Ibn ’Arabi entitles: “On the
Qualities to be Sought in the Prime Minister and the Definition of his
Deputies.” As a metaphor, we are speaking of a Self higher than the ego.
That which can impose order and productivity on the recklessness
engendered by greed, lusts and habits in the human self as it rises above
itself, shapes itself, and tries to create a realm of increasing growth and
productivity. If you are to rule your land with such results, you must have
the right people about you. Incorruptible ones:

O one whom God has chosen as His Deputy, realize that it is an

obligation for you to cooperate with your minister,“Intellect,” to
support him and protect him, as you have to co-exist. Your peace
and order and prosperity in fact, the existence of your kingdom–
depends upon his ability to serve you.

If the mind attaches itself to anyone but you, then it can only work
against you, which will cause incalculable disasters. Haven’t you
seen the destruction of men who have lost their minds, and the
inability of the spirit to cure this ill? Thus, as long as the Intellect is
safe, you are safe. He is the hand with which you hold and the eye
with which you see. (92)

It would be clear to most Sufis that here the writer is finding parallels: that
the Prime Minister is the higher Self which must rely on his/her minister
and key advisor, the higher Intellect, to organize that lower “self” or ego
productively.

Worldly governance and freedom

However, putting his metaphor back on its head – there is plenty of

evidence that those in charge of earthly governance in our time, in East
and West, have also “lost their minds” to the afflictive emotions of greed,
desire, the habit of wanting power, of wanting to destroy their enemies, of
compulsive economic competition—for oil, delivering war contracts or
seeking financial support from donors who seek more control through
their allies. This applies as much to recent American political leaders and
corporations as it does to wealthy Wahhabi Saudi donors nurturing fanatic
religious armies. We say it is “all too human,” this desire desire to gain
more power and creating oppressive new institutions. But is it really our
most truly human impulse? For the ego, the “commanding self,” many
Sufi teachers agree, is not just a phenomenon within this or that
individual. It can be kindled through individuals into a wild fire, moving
from one mind to another. It has nothing to do with our essence, our real
humanity, the qalb or heart-wisdom with which we are endowed but
which we are tempted to keep hidden under veils of delusion.

Although the ego’s existence as a static entity may be a deception, this

creation of our mind can have a great impact on all we do. The same can be
said of a sort of “universal ego”—the antithesis of universal Intelligence—
which sucks in all those who are living unmindful of who they are at the
deepest level: living in ignorance. Unchecked, this ignorance has led to
countless cycles of widespread violence and retaliation in our age of
weapons of terrible destructive capacity. This immature ego, always
wanting more and more, leads us to oppress one another as well: through
acts of intoleracne, violence against women and minorities and terrorism.
Even people who place car bombs in a market-place full of innocents
delude themselves to into thinking they are serving God, who they believe
to be commander-in-chief of their army. What sort of God can this possibly
be? It is the ego dressed in the costume of “God.”

Rumi tells a parable of Jesus’ time in the desert, when Iblis appears to him
and cries out fervently: “In the name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful,” to which Jesus replies, “I will not accept that from you.” We
obviously would be better off if more of us could follow the example of
the parable. Sometimes something that calls itself “religion” may be a ploy,
and may have no spiritual content, despite its empty rituals and phrases.
This is in no way means that people of good will gathered in any sort of
religion are the enemy. The sort we must be on the watch for are described
in Ibn’Arabi’s Governance.

“Haven’t you seen the destruction of men who have lost their minds?” Ibn
al’Aabi’s question refers to the self-righteous religious leader as well as
society’s power-brokers. An understanding of this is vital in our time: being
self-righteous about one’s religion (or one’s humanist atheism for that
matter!) can in no way be equated with living sincerely, living with
compassion and loving-kindness, which is produced by our insight that we
are interconnected with all beings and all that is. This is the “Unity-of-
Being” of Ibn al’Arabi’s path of knowledge.

The Importance of Imagination

Though the “greatest Shaikh” will go on to work with the imaginal realm
(Malakut) as a resource for spiritual growth. It is part of a specific phase of
contemplative practice in which dream images full of resonance and
meaning come to the practitioner. As in the Eastern mystic practice of
tantra, imagery and vision may be employed to guide us in our sense of
connectedness and our path to the One. In the work we are focusing upon
here, however, he cautions us that the imagination can be abused. Intellect
can serve compassionate life by discriminating between delusion and real
imagination.

Hold on to reality, and protect yourself from distortions in

imagination’s sight. Otherwise you will be tyrannizing yourself– for
there is no God in a realm where rationality does not rule.” (93)

Worldly and political leaders, in this sense, often tyrannize or delude

themselves before they do it to others. Both paranoia and a sense of
grandiosity are signs of the imagination run amok into veils of darkness.
For example: One might say that, due to the climate of the time prior to the
last invasion of Iraq, the CIA in America became the Central Imagination
Agency, a place of inflamed imagination, which in fact obscured everything
for them. There was no real “intelligence” present!

Again, this is not to say all imagination inflates the ego. As has been said,
Ibn al-Arabi himself explores the “imaginal realm” in great detail, and is
appreciates works of literary, artistic or musical imagination that have
sometimes been condemned by alleged Muslim “scholars” nourished by an
egoistic variety of religion (“My religion is the answer, yours is the devil”).
But that is a subject for another essay. Here we speak of the form of
imagination which is dark, not the interconnected imagery that comes to the
artist or a contemplative. In many traditions this obscuring imagination is
called delusion. In real terms, in the social and political world, it can bring
about great suffering.

Self governance and political governance are undertakings which employ

the tools of the school of “sobriety” as the Sufis describe it—ecstatic
approaches for generating love have their time and place. In acting and
living in the world, mindful and enlightened action render the most service.
The rational spirit seeks balance.

In this regard, in discussing leadership and scholarship in the area of Law,

Ibn ’Arabi suggests to the ruler that he/she seek an “Imam” that is justice
incarnate. He defines justice as a middle path: one in which there are never
extremes, neither cruelty and the iron fist, nor chaos in which criminals are
allowed to run free, leaving people to be victims of crime.

The wise of olden times said, “Don’t be too sweet, you will make
people’s mouths water. Don’t be too sharp, you will turn people’s
stomachs.” The principle of justice is balance, equality, the middle
course. It must be applied to all things. Let justice rule in the inner
meaning of what you say and what you do. Apply it first to yourself,
then to those who are closest to you – your ministers and the
officials governing the realm of your being – and then to all those
over whom you have authority. (85)

Taming afflictive emotions

In What the Seeker Needs, an essay from the same period, Ibn ’Arabi
writes: “Anger is a result and sign of the ego not being under control, like a
mean wild animal untied and uncaged.” Here the Sufi’s interest in the
dynamics within the individual, once again speaks to the world of many
individuals – the polis or state.

As you hold your temper, it is as if you put a bridle on its [the ego’s]
head and barriers around it. You begin to tame it, teach it how to
behave, to obey, so that it cannot hurt others or itself, because it is
part of you. (214)

As for advocates of “outer” jihad (an external fight instead of the inner
struggle)—often an obsession of those who are suffering in the hell of their
delusions—Ibn ’Arabi had much to say. He was appalled by reports that the
followers of the two legal schools of Islam were fighting bloody battles
with each other in Iran and trans-Oxiania, present-day Afghanistan; a battle,
all to see who would have the right to have control over people’s lives! He
writes in The Meccan Revelations, that the true seeker “doesn’t depend on
any [legal] school,” and those who try to impose the “external forms” of
religion through the state

do not have [a high spiritual level], because of having devoted

themselves to their love for prominent social position, the
domination of others, furthering their precedence over God’s
servants .... “Hence they do not prosper” (Qur’an 16:16) with
regard to their souls, nor shall one prosper through [following]
them. This is the inner position of the jurists (fuquhâ’) of [our] time.
As for those of them who cunningly hide themselves in [the guise of]
religion – those who hunch their shoulders and look at people
furtively, with a pretense of humility ... they are dominated by the
weaknesses of the carnal self and “their hearts are the hearts of
wolves,” so that “God does not speak to them nor look at them.”
(Meccan Revelations 183-84)

The final quote, of course, comes from the Qur’an, which relentlessly
admonishes those who serve the ego and seek power and call it religion. In
another chapter on the “collecting of taxes” and the business of
“governing,” (we are still in the realm of metaphor, and yet it works for the
social and political realm as well) the sage once again makes use of a
hadith of Islam: “Whoever makes a tyranny of my religion, and whoever in
the future will do the same, will be defeated by that religion.”

Ibn ’Arabi raised the stakes on the matter eight hundred years ago. He
speaks to Muslims – and he speaks to people of all faiths who would
govern themselves inwardly and outwardly with wisdom, and govern others
with justice, humility and the sacred refinement of the middle path.

Works Cited Above

Ibn al’Arabi. Divine Governance of The Human Kingdom (At-Tadbirat al-ilahiyyah fi

islah al mamlakat al-insaniyyah) Louisville: Fons Vitae, 1997.

_________. The Meccan Revelations. Michael Chodkiewicz, Ed. Vol 1. New York: Pir
Press, 2005.