101 Hadith Qudsi by pImam ibn Arabi

hadith and ibn ¡arabi
this meeting came the inspiration for the vast Fut¬¢åt al-Makkiyya (Meccan
Illuminations), a 37-volume résumé and exposition of spiritual knowledge,
encompassing all the dimensions of Islam, arranged in 560 chapters. The
setting-down of the Fut¬¢åt took place over a period of nearly thirty years,
during which time Ibn ¡Arab¨ travelled over much of the Middle East, ¥nally
settling in Damascus. For the last eighteen years of his life, from 1223 to
1240 (AH 620–38), Ibn ¡Arab¨ wrote and taught proli¥cally. He had hundreds
of students drawn from all walks of religious and spiritual life. During this
time in Damascus he completed his famous Fuß¬ß al-¢ikam (Settings of
Wisdom), a book presented to him in a dream by the Prophet himself. In it
he summarised his teaching through an exposition of the spiritual message
of each prophet, from Adam to Muhammad. He died at the age of seventyfive,
and was buried in the Íåli¢iyya area of Damascus, just north of the city
walls, and his shrine is still much-visited and revered today. 8
Most modern scholars have written little about the place of ¢ad¨th in Ibn
¡Arab¨’s life and writings. They have preferred instead to concentrate on the
profundity of his thought, and show its connections to the Qur¤an. 9 Yet it is
quite clear from any investigation of his works that he cultivated the most
thorough knowledge of the whole Islamic tradition, and he was known during
his lifetime as a reliable transmitter of ¢ad¨th. 10
Acknowledged as a profound writer on spiritual matters, and a teaching
master in his own right, Ibn ¡Arab¨ continued to study ¢ad¨th whenever he
could throughout his life, eager to gain knowledge wherever it presented
itself. It was during the middle part of his life, the two and a half years spent
in Mecca, that he composed the Mishkåt al-anwår, and at least four other
major works. 11 When he arrived in Mecca, he found himself amidst an
extraordinary group of people:
When I began my stay in Mecca in the year 598, I met there a group
of most eminent men and women, the élite of good behaviour and
8. For full details of Ibn ¡Arab¨’s life and thought, see Hirtenstein, Unlimited Merci¥er,
and Claude Addas, Quest for the Red Sulphur.
9. See, for example, the work of William Chittick, whose indexes also include Hadith,
and Michel Chodkiewicz, in particular the latter’s An Ocean Without Shore. James Morris
has indicated the importance of ¢ad¨th in his article “Seeking God’s Face”.
10. For example, one of his disciples, Ayy¬b b. Badr al-Muqri¤, normally refers to Ibn
¡Arab¨ as “the master, imam, man of knowledge, transmitter of ¢ad¨th” (al-shaykh al-imåm
al-¡ålim al-mu¢addith). Details can be found in an unedited manuscript in the Süleymaniye
library in Istanbul (Shehit Ali 2813).
11. The four books are al-Mahajjat al-bay‰å¤ (also dedicated to ¢ad¨th), ±ilyat al-Abdål
(on the path to sainthood), Tåj al-raså¤il (a collection of love-letters addressed to the Ka¡ba)
and the R¢ al-quds (which includes stories of his masters in Andalusia).
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