The Wisdom of the Prophets
An extract from Chapter 1 of the book by Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi; transl. from Arabic to French by Titus Burckhardt. English transl. by Angela Culme-Seymour. Beshara Publications; ISBN 0904975010
In 'The Wisdom of the Prophets', written when he was in his sixties, Ibn 'Arabi describes the meaning of universal human spirituality through the medium of 27 prophetic figures through their actions and words. Ibn 'Arabi's aim is to show how these luminary figures exemplify the various wisdoms available to mankind, a harmonious vision of Reality which integrates differences without destroying them. To read this book is to encounter the full scope of what it means to be truly human.
'The particular gift that comes from Ibn 'Arabi… is the all-inclusive point of view.
This is a perspective that leaves nothing out. It is not a Judeo-Christian or Islamic perspective, but it is this which has informed and given rise to the Abrahamic line and to all spirituality everywhere' (Ibn 'Arabi: towards a universal point of view).
Of the Divine Wisdom in the Word of Adam
God wanted to see the essences of His most perfect Names whose number is infinite - and if you like you can equally well say: God wanted to see His own Essence in one global object which having been blessed with existence summarized the Divine Order so that there He could manifest His mystery to Himself.
For the vision that a being has of himself in himself is not the same as that which another reality procures for him, and which he uses for himself as a mirror: in this he manifests himself to his self in the form which results from the 'place' of the vision; this would not exist without the 'plane of reflection' and the ray which is reflected therein.
God first created the entire world as something amorphous and without grace, comparable to a mirror not yet polished; but it is a rule in the Divine activity to prepare no 'place' without it receiving a Divine spirit as is explained (in the Quran) by the blowing of the Divine spirit into Adam and this is none other (from a complementary point of view to the former), than the actualization of the aptitude which such a form possesses, having already the predisposition for it, to receive the inexhaustible effusion of the essential revelation.
Short biography of the author: Ibn ‘Arabi
More information: www.ibnarabisociety.org
