Journal of Islamic Studies (2018) pp.

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BOOK REVIEW

Ibn al-6Arab; and Islamic Intellectual Culture: From Mysticism to

Philosophy
By Caner K. Dagli (London and New York: Routledge, 2016.
Routledge Sufi Series, 18), x þ 158 pp. Price HB £90.00. EAN
978–1138780019.

One of the most informative studies to appear on Ibn al-6Arab; (d. 638/1240) and
the earliest architects of his ‘school’ is Caner Dagli’s Ibn al-6Arab; and Islamic
Intellectual Culture. A work that compares the foremost commentators of Ibn
al-6Arab;’s oeuvre is long overdue and Dagli’s presentation is a brilliant
contribution to the genre. His work, firstly, highlights the interaction between
Sufism, philosophy and theology by juxtaposing Ibn al-6Arab;’s ideas with those
of Ibn S;n: (d. 428/1037), Ghaz:l; (d. 505/1111) and Suhraward; (d. 587/1191),
the towering intellectual figures of Islam. He then traces the development
of the first four generations of students, beginning with 4adr al-D;n al-Q<naw;
(d. 673/1274) and ending with D:w<d al-QayBar; (d. 751/1350). Thus, there are
two themes interwoven in this study, one which looks at Ibn al-6Arab;’s mystical
doctrine outwardly vis-à-vis the key philosophical positions of the time, and
another which tracks the internal development of his school.
Another facet of the study, implicit in the choice of authors and the structure of
the book, is the importance of the master–disciple relationship, which is the
touchstone of Sufism. In other words, Q<naw;, Jand; (d. 691/1292), K:sh:n;
(d. 730/1330), and QayBar; are not simply scholars, more or less, contempor-
aneous with the Greatest Master (al-shaykh al-akbar), but also represent a
spiritual lineage that transmits sacred knowledge from one heart to another.
Once received by the heart’s transmission, it is written down and produced as
scholarly output, coloured by the vessel of its author. While Dagli presents the
material more as intellectual history, one may also read into the text a spiritual
history, a proverbial descent from the pen of gnosis to the tablets (hearts) of the
disciples.
We find in the Ibn al-6Arab; commentarial tradition, more so than any other
branch of Sufism, an obvious philosophical tenor that intimates the mutually
providential relationship between mysticism and philosophy. However, the
approach of mysticism is fundamentally different from philosophy, given that it
is not the rational mind that discloses reality but mystical intuition and spiritual
‘unveilings’, and at the highest level, divine self-disclosure. Even though his
disciples were practising Sufis, immersed in personal piety and spirituality, they
wished to engage with the larger scholarly community and therefore expounded
Ibn al-6Arab;’s mystical doctrines in philosophical terminology. That the earliest

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 2 of 3 book review
proponents of the ‘Akbarian’ school developed his ideas while engaging with
current philosophical and theological discourse and incorporating them into their
writings is the key point of the philosophy–mysticism convergence.
Describing the crucial role of Ibn S;n: and Ghaz:l;, the preeminent
representatives of philosophy and theology, respectively, Dagli sets the stage
(in ch. 2) for the reception of Ibn al-6Arab;’s doctrines in mainstream Islamic
thought. He also cites passages that shows their mystical proclivities and the
cross-fertilization between Sufism and philosophy. In the next chapter, he begins
to discuss some metaphysical preliminaries, namely the ideas of ta6ayyun
(‘identification’) and tashk;k (gradation). These are important concepts to define,
especially in the context of a mysticism–philosophy dialogue, although perhaps
not the first choice for grasping Ibn al-6Arab;’s metaphysics as a whole. In any
case, the following chapter develops Q<naw;’s philosophical treatment of Being
and its related concepts such as reality (Aaq;qa), self-disclosure (tajall;),
emanation (fay@), manifestation (Cuh<r), essence (dh:t), and the difference
between the spreading (inbiB:3) and flowing (saray:n) of Being.
Dagli’s vast scope in this study investigates eight towering figures of Islamic
civilization. However, starting from ch. 4 to the end of book, he restricts himself
to the first four generations in Ibn al-6Arab;’s school. The brief intellectual
biographies are captivating and bring new insights into the lives of these great
masters. For example, Q<naw;, Ibn al-6Arab;’s son-in-law, was in philosophical
correspondence with NaB;r al-D;n F<s; (d. 672/1274) and also good friends with
Jal:l al-D;n R<m; (d. 672/1273). F<s; was an important reviver of Peripatetic
philosophy and R<m; was the pinnacle of the Persian Sufi tradition. This sort of
historical context sheds light on Q<naw;’s critical role in the dissemination of Ibn
al-6Arab;’s teachings beyond regional and linguistic boundaries.
In ch. 5, Dagli turns our attention to Jand;, Q<naw;’s disciple of ten years and
the first commentator on the FuB<B al-Aikam. The absence of studies on Jand;’s
thought in English, is made up for in this chapter by linking the FuB<B
commentary tradition to its prototype. Dagli argues that Jand; continued to
develop Akbarian metaphysics in the same manner as Q<naw;, appealing to
scholars and philosophers from the outside.
In the next chapter, Dagli highlights K:sh:n;’s place both as second-generation
disciple of Ibn al-6Arab; and preeminent scholar of Islam. K:sh:n;’s commentary
on 6Abdull:h al-AnB:r;’s (d. 481/1089) Man:zil al-s:8ir;n is the archetypical
manual of wayfaring. He also wrote a brief but important Sufi commentary on
the Qur8:n known as Tafs;r Ibn al-6Arab; and wrote the most comprehensive
lexicon of Sufi terminology titled IB3ilaA:t al-B<fiyya. As a lexicographer, one
might expect K:sh:n; to be meticulous in the systemization of Ibn al-6Arab;’s
thought; this is indeed the case. Dagli also spends considerable time exploring the
way in which K:sh:n;’s understanding of ‘entification’ (ta6ayyun), discussed in
his chapter on ‘Metaphysical Preliminaries’, differs from the levels of Being in
Mull: 4adr: and his interpreters. K:sh:n;’s approach is more sophisticated than
his predecessors, and ‘a real advance in the understanding between philosophy
and mysticism’ (p. 117).

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 book review 3 of 3
The culmination of Dagli’s study concerns K:sh:n;’s student QayBar;, who
wrote one of the most influential and accessible commentaries on the FuB<B. His
influence spread beyond Anatolia and was key to the reception of Ibn al-6Arab;’s
ideas in the Persianate world. Given that there are over 120 commentaries on Ibn
al-6Arab;’s FuB<B al-Aikam alone, it is worthwhile to ask why this work has
received the attention that it has. The answer lies in QayBar;’s Prolegomena
(al-Muqaddima) to his full-length commentary on the FuB<B, titled Ma3la6 khuB<B
al-kalim f; sharA FuB<B al-Aikam, which crystallized Ibn al-6Arab;’s metaphysics
in twelve masterfully written, all-inclusive chapters. Dagli notes that QayBar;’s
Prolegomena is a primer for serious students of mysticism and bridges the
‘conceptual space between falsafah and taBawwuf to an extent no one had done
before.’ He says, ‘QayBar; represents the outcome of a trajectory begun by
Q<naw;. . .[using] the prevailing metaphysical language of Islamic culture.’ With
the passage of time, the distinction between mystic, philosopher and theologian
becomes increasingly unclear, and as Chittick notes, ‘impossible to classify a
particular thinker as only a philosopher, or a theologian, or a Sufi’ (p. 144).
Dagli’s well-founded thesis is that it was Ibn al-6Arab;’s strand of Sufism that
‘added a discourse that was ‘‘analytical’’ to a literature that was predominantly
‘‘poetic’’ or didactic’. Alternatively, it can be said that it was the very nature of
Ibn al-6Arab;’s ideas that lent themselves to philosophical exposition, in addition
to the fact that his students were trained in Islamic and scholastic disciplines and
ready to engage with the current discourse of their time. Ibn al-6Arab;’s teachings
appealed to the analytically minded seekers of spirituality. His was a type of
knowledge-based Sufism rather than exclusively a devotional one, as evidenced
in the writings of Mull: 4adr:, who—relying heavily on Ibn al-6Arab;’s
ideas—merged the three epistemic modalities of revelation (Qur8:n), reason
(burh:n) and mysticism (6irf:n).
Overall, Dagli’s study is a superb introduction to the first and major exponents
of the Ibn al-6Arab; tradition. He also underscores the attitude and receptivity of
Ibn S;n: and al-Ghaz:l; towards mysticism, insofar as we find in their later
works, a yen for the spiritual life and a high regard for Sufi masters. While not
specifically addressed in this review, Dagli engages with many philosophical and
mystical ideas in each chapter. In this regard, his thoughts are clear, carefully
written and excellently argued.
Mukhtar Ali
E-mail: mukhtarhali@gmail.com
doi:10.1093/jis/ety023

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