Ibn Arabi Quotes
Muhyi al-Din Ibn Arabi was an Andalusian Sufi philosopher, mystic, and poet, often called the Greatest Master. Born in Murcia, he traveled extensively through North Africa and the Near East, settling at last in Damascus. The quotes below are attributed to Ibn Arabi, organized by topic.
Browse Ibn Arabi by topic
Ibn Arabi on God
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Attributed to Ibn Arabi:
“When my Beloved appears, with what eye do I see Him? With His eye, not with mine, for none sees Him except Himself.”
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Attributed to Ibn Arabi:
“There is no being but God.”
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Attributed to Ibn Arabi:
“The Real is the inward of every outward and the outward of every inward.”
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“I take love as my religion wherever its caravans lead, for love is my religion and my faith.”
أدين بدين الحب أنَّى توجهتْ ركائبه، فالحب ديني وإيماني,
Ibn Arabi on Knowledge
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“Every self-manifestation bestows a new creation and removes a pre-ceding creation. Its removal is the essence of annihilation (fanaa) in the passing self-manifestation and subsistence (baqaa) in the bestowal of the following self-manifestation.”
Binyamin Abrahamov.Ibn Al-Arabi's Fusus Al-Hikam: An Annotated Translation of "The Bezels of Wisdom" p. 92, كلَّ تجلٍّ يعطي خلقًا جديدًا ويذهب بخلق: فذهابه هو الفناء عند التجلِّي والبقاء لما يعطيه التجلِّي الآخر Bezels of Wisdom (فصوص الحكم) -
“Binyamin Abrahamov.Ibn Al-Arabi's Fusus Al-Hikam: An Annotated Translation of "The Bezels of Wisdom" p. 92, كلَّ تجلٍّ يعطي خلقًا جديدًا ويذهب بخلق: فذهابه هو الفناء عند التجلِّي والبقاء لما يعطيه التجلِّي الآخر Bezels of Wisdom (فصوص الحكم)”
Every self-manifestation bestows a new creation and removes a pre-ceding creation. Its removal is the essence of annihilation (fanaa) in the passing self-manifestation and subsistence (baqaa) in the bestowal of the following self-manifestation. -
“أدين بدين الحب أنَّى توجهتْ ركائبه، فالحب ديني وإيماني,”
I take love as my religion wherever its caravans lead, for love is my religion and my faith. -
“His is the wisdom of singularity because he is the most perfect existent in the human species. That is why the whole affair began with him and is sealed with him. For he was a prophet while Adam was between water and clay. Then, in his elemental configuration, he was the Seal of the Prophets. And three is the first of the singulars. Every singular beyond one derives from it.”
About Muhammad , Fușūş al-ḥikam , as quoted by Sachiko Murata , The Tao of Islam: A Sourcebook on Gender Relationships in Islamic Thought (1992), p. 188.
Ibn Arabi on Love
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Attributed to Ibn Arabi:
“My heart can take on any form: a meadow for gazelles, a cloister for monks, a temple for idols, the Kaaba of the pilgrim, the tablets of the Torah, the scrolls of the Quran. My creed is Love; wherever its caravan turns along the way, that is my belief.”
Ibn Arabi on Mind
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Attributed to Ibn Arabi:
“He who knows himself knows his Lord.”
Ibn Arabi on Truth
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Attributed to Ibn Arabi:
“Beware of confining yourself to a particular belief and denying all else, for much good would elude you.”