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prayer. He says: “There are people who permit women to lead the prayer unconditionally, for both
men and women, and I agree with that.”
And this is very much a contemporary issue, which no Islamic scholar in the twenty-first century
would dare to agree with. I suppose the reason is that many legal authorities are trapped into
passing judgments by linking scriptural passages with other passages, rather than by intermingling
passages and life as it is lived.
Woman’s spiritual aptitude
In addition to what has been referred to regarding woman’s spiritual aptitude in discussing the
Sevillean gnostic Fatima bint al-Muthanna, one of Ibn ‘Arabî’s shaykhs, we may pose a question:
what spiritual ranks are open to a woman, and what ceiling is there which she cannot pierce?
To begin with, Ibn ‘Arabî affirms woman’s attainment of human perfection, in other words
becoming “Perfect Man” as in his ontological definition. He says: “Perfection is not barred to
women. If woman is indeed one degree lower than man, this is a degree of coming into being
(ijad) since she was created from him, and this does not detract from [her attainment of]
perfection.” In addition, when Ibn ‘Arabî defined “Perfect Manhood” in the Futuhat al-Makkiyya,
he pointed out that this is for both males and females. Likewise, when he detailed in the Futuhat
“the Country of the Interior” (dawlat al-batin) and the number of universal ranks and activities in
the interior, he mentioned that they were open to both men and women.
To counteract the historical stereotypical image of woman’s natural weakness, Ibn ‘Arabî writes
about her power: “And there is no more powerful creature in the universe than woman - for each
angel that God has created from the breaths (anfas) of women is the most powerful of angels.”
Ibn ‘Arabî goes so far as to say that men and women share all the ranks of sainthood, even that of
the Pole (qutb). But what is this superior rank which is open to women? And what does it mean for
a woman to be a “Pole” in the eyes of al-shaykh al-akbar?
In answer to the above, we can say that once a Pole, woman becomes possessor of the moment
(waqt), master of the time, God’s vicegerent on His earth, representative of the Envoy in his
community, heir to being chosen, cloaked and to acquiring Adamic distinction. Around her the
world turns: she arranges its governance and the needs of the entire world rest upon her. God is in
solitude with her without the rest of His creation, and He beholds none but her during her time.
She is the highest veil. In the Presence of mithal, God erects for her a throne upon which He seats
her, and then He bestows upon her all the Divine Names that the universe asks of her and she asks
of Him/it. When she is seated upon the throne in the Divine Image, God orders the universe to
pledge allegiance and to pay homage to her. Among her subjects are every being, high and low,
except the highest of the angels, who are those lost in love (muhayyamun), and the singulars
(afrad) of mankind, over whom she has no authority because they are like her, perfect, with the
aptitude for what she has received of Polehood.
Ibn ‘Arabî is opposed to those who refuse to acknowledge the sainthood (wilaya) of women as
well as men. He says in an unambiguous passage after stating that women can indeed reach the
station of Polehood:
And do not be veiled by the saying of the Prophet, peace be upon him, “Prosper not those who
give sovereignty to woman,” since we are discussing God giving sovereignty, not people giving
sovereignty, and the saying was about those to whom people give sovereignty. Had there been
nothing else in this matter but what the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, “Women and men are
siblings (shaqaîiq)”, it would have been sufficient; that is to say, all that is rightfully a man’s, in
terms of stations, degrees and qualities, is also possible for whichever woman God wills.
Therefore, men and women being “siblings” was the basis for Ibn ‘Arabî to denote that a sibling is
similar, equal and of the same level. As a result, woman is equal to man in aptitude for all the
stations of sainthood.
As for the ceiling that limits woman and that she cannot pierce, it is that of envoyship and
prophetic mission (risala wa-ba’tha). Ibn ‘Arabî says that a woman shares the degree of perfection