Samer Akkach

The world of imagination in Ibn ‘Arabi's ontology

Abstract In Ibn ‘Arabis ontology imagination plays an essential role: it is seen as the creative source of manifestation, the very cause of our existence, and the powerful intermediary that enables us to remain in constant contact with the Infinite and the Absolute. Through the concept of imagination Ibn ‘Arabi managed to differentiate between the human and Divine mechanism of creativity, a differentiation which he then used to resolve the paradox of the eternity (qidam) and newness (hudūth) of the world. This study aims to examine these aspects of Ibn ‘Arabis complex concept of imagination and to illustrate its transcendental and ontological dimensions. The study adopts a hermeneutical approach to the original texts, by placing more emphasis on the interpretive conditions—which is influenced by a preoccupation with artistic creativity and a desire to understand the creative mechanism of imagination, both at the human and Divine level in the wider ontological framework—than the historical and contextual...

The Eye of Reflection: Al-Nabulusi’s Spatial Interpretation of Ibn ʿArabi’s Tomb

Upon his takeover of Damascus in 1516, Sultan Salim hurriedly commissioned the building of a religious complex over the grave of the celebrated thirteenth-century Andalusian Sufi master Ibn ʿArabi, an act that was and still is shrouded with mystery and intrigue. The complex was constructed on a steep site at three levels, comprising a mosque, a tomb chamber, and an external garden. For 160 years following its construction, the building itself played no role in the intensifying debates over Ibn ʿArabi’s controversial, yet influential, teachings. In 1678, however, ʿAbd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi, a passionate follower and defender of Ibn ʿArabi, incorporated for the first time the architecture of the tomb in his multifaceted polemics. In a treatise titled Al-Sirr al-mukhtabī fī ḍarīḥ ibn al-ʿArabī , al-Nabulusi presented a sophisticated spatial interpretation of this rather humble building—its setting, design, and spatial layout—based on complex visual hermeneutics, according to which visible and invisible reality interplayed to construct a unique understanding of the tomb’s spatiality. This essay examines the sophisticated visual strategy with which al-Nabulusi interpreted the building to reveal its concealed mystery.