Ibn Arabi Quotes

“سبحان الله! محيط يمشي خلف بحيرة"
قول ابن عربي حول جلال الدين الرومي حين رآه في طفولته ماشياً خلف والده”
― ابن عربي

“دخلتُ يوماً بقرطبةَ على قاضيها أبى الوليد بن رشد ، وكان يرغب فى لقائى لما سمع وبلغه ما فتح الله به علىَّ فى خلوتى ، فكان يُظهر التعجُّبَ مما سمع . فبعثنى والدى إليه فى حاجةٍ ، قصداً منه حتى يجتمع بى ، فإنَّه كان من أصدقائه ، وأنا (آنذاك) صبىٌّ ما بقل وجهى ولا طرَّ شاربى . فعندما دخلت عليه ، قام من مكانه إلىَّ محبَّةً وإعظاماً ، فعانقنى وقال لى : نعم ! قلت له : نعم ! فزاد فرحه بى لفهمى عنه ، ثم استشعرتُ بما أفرحه ، فقلت : لا ! فانقبض وتغير لونه وشك فيما عنده . وقال لى : كيف وجدتم الأمرَ فى الكشف والفيض الإلهى ، هل هو ما أعطاه لنا النظر ؟ قلت : نعم ولا ، وبين نعم ولا تطيرُ الأرواحُ من موادِّها والأعناق من أجسادها ! فاصفرَّ لونُه وأخذه الأفكل وقعد يحوقل وقال: هذه حالة أثبتناها وما رأينا لها أربابا.”
― ابن عربي, الفتوحات المكية

“The sight of God in woman is the most perfect of all." Ibn Arabi.”
― Idries Shah, The Sufis

“شوق بتحصيل الوصال يزول والاشتياق مع الوصال يكون *** إن التخيل للفراق يديمه عند اللقاء فربه مغبون *** من قال هون صعبة قلنا له ما كل صعب في الوجود يهون *** هو من صفات العشق لا من غيره والعشق داء في القلوب دفين”
― ابن عربي

“Angels are the powers hidden in the faculties and organs of man”
― Idries Shah

“La raison qui m’a conduit à proférer de la poésie (shi‘r) est que j’ai vu en songe un ange qui m’apportait un morceau de lumière blanche ; on eût dit qu’il provenait du soleil. « Qu’est-ce que cela ? », Demandai-je. « C’est la sourate al-shu‘arâ (Les Poètes) » me fut-il répondu. Je l’avalai et je sentis un cheveu (sha‘ra) qui remontait de ma poitrine à ma gorge, puis à ma bouche. C’était un animal avec une tête, une langue, des yeux et des lèvres. Il s’étendit jusqu’à ce que sa tête atteigne les deux horizons, celui d’Orient et celui d’Occident. Puis il se contracta et revint dans ma poitrine ; je sus alors que ma parole atteindrait l’Orient et l’Occident. Quand je revins à moi, je déclamai des vers qui ne procédaient d’aucune réflexion ni d’aucune intellection. Depuis lors cette inspiration n’a jamais cessé.”
― Ibn Arabi

“Los ángeles son los poderes ocultos en las facultades y órganos del hombre”
― Idries Shah

“As Ibn Arabi says: ‘Absolute existence is the source of all existence’.”
― Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

“« De son regard dolent, mon mal d’amour procède.
À mon cœur, l’évoquant, portez un doux remède !
Ce ramier ânonnant sa plaintive élégie
Depuis l’ouche, ravive en moi la nostalgie !
Je donnerais mon sang pour cette jouvencelle,
Qui fuyant des douars la jalouse tutelle,
Et qui se soustrayant aux courtisanes prudes,
Paradait, adoptant une snobe attitude !
De son astre, le fard comblait l’azur une heure,
Embrasant, au déclin, l’horizon de mon cœur. »”
― Muhyiddîn Ibn 'Arabî ''Tarjumân al-Ashwâq''

“La visión de Dios en la mujer es la más perfecta de todas.” Ibn el Arabi”
― Idries Shah, The Sufis

“Tal como dice Ibn Arabi:
La absoluta existencia es la fuente de toda existencia.”
― Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

“Ibn El-Arabi escribió: “El Maestro es quien te escucha, luego te desvela frente a ti mismo”.”
― Idries Shah, The World Of The Sufi

“Ibn Arabi is suggesting that the contemplation of God is possible, indeed enhanced, through the human form: when man contemplates the Reality in woman he beholds God. The Epiphany that Ibn Arabi found in the contemplation of the feminine need not be exclusive to the feminine. Indeed, as the Qur‘an says in Surah Tin, the human being is created in the most beautiful proportions, created on an archetype of beauty. What Ibn Arabi found in his contemplation of Woman is a profound recognition of the Divine in the „other“. Since God has breathed His Spirit into human beings, the outward form is creaturely, while the inner nature is Divine. Therefore, God is loving Himself in us, and we are loving God in each other. In the same way, man is loving himself in woman, and she is loving herself in him. But the finding of wholeness within oneself doesn‘t necessarily cancel out the beautiful polarity between lovers. Ibn Arabi is describing sexual union as a mirroring of God within God, as a Divine Union of deep awareness, and this is the appropriate human state for sexual relations. Sexuality is sacred because it is a form of relationship within this great electromagnetic field of Love. To disparage this polarity is a denial of the Divine origins of our very humanity. To ignore its spiritual potential is to deny the Spirit that has been breathed into us. (p. 107)”
― Kabir Edmund Helminski, Holistic Islam: Sufism, Transformation, and the Needs of Our Time

“Die klassische Sufi Tradition betont sehr stark die göttliche Einheit allen Lebens (tawhid genannt). In dieser Sichtweise, die von Rumi, Ibn Arabi und vielen anderen geteilt - und durch eine Interpretation des Korans selbst gerechtfertigt wird-, kam die ganze Schöpfung ins Sein, um die grenzenlosen, heiligen Eigenschaften durch alle Wesen zum Ausdruck zu bringen. Insbesondere erschuf Gott den Menschen als einen Spiegel, der die Gesamtheit des Göttlichen enthalten und spiegeln könne, einschließlich des ganzen Bewusstseins der Natur und des Universums. Das bedeutet nach Ansicht der Sufis, ein ganzer Mensch zu sein. (S. 20)”
― Neil Douglas-Klotz, Sufibuch des Lebens • 99 Meditationen der Liebe

“The greatest of the lovers, however, are those who constantly seek to augment their knowledge, in keeping with the Quranic command: „Say: „My Lord, increase me in knowledge“ (20:114). They increase their knowledge by never denying God‘s presence in any phenomenon and by never affirming his presence in anything whatsoever. Seeing with both eyes, they constantly recognize that all is „He/not He.“ They never let themselves fall into stasis and fixity, but flow with the constant unfolding of the universe. They recognize themselves and all things for what they are. (p.34)”
― William C. Chittick, Ibn 'Arabi: Heir to the Prophets

“When Ibn al-Arabi and his followers speak of „Being,“ they do not mean the Being of God as opposed to that of the creatures, or vice versa. They mean Being as such, in all the forms it may take, without exception. For them the „science of Being“ is the science of all sciences, since nothing but Being is. If someone can understand this science, he has understood the principle of everything. To grasp the nature of Being Itself is to grasp the nature of all that exists. „Love“ is one of the primary attributes of Being, which means that whatever exists must participate in it, just as it must participate in Being. To understand the nature of Love and its myriad self-manifestations is to grasp the nature of Being Itself, for the two are in fact one. (p. 27)”
― Fakhruddin Iraqi, Fakhruddin Iraqi: Divine Flashes

“For the Sufi Traveler, every journey is the haji, every tajalli is the Kaaba. Every path, if it be properly understood, is the Path; every way, however fraught with difficulty, can be experienced as a "straight" path to realization.”
― Peter Lamborn Wilson, Sacred Drift: Essays on the Margins of Islam