More than a Letter: Ibn al-ʿArabī’s Risāla ilà aṣḥāb al-Šayḫ ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Mahdawī
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/alqantara.2023.008Keywords:
Ibn al-ʿArabī, Risāla fī l- walāya, Risāla ilà Aṣḥāb al-Šayḫ ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Mahdawī, Mašāhid al-asrār, ʿilm, nubuwwa (prophethood), walāya (sainthood), wirāṯa (inheritance)Abstract
In both his Iǧāza and Fihrist, Ibn al-ʿArabī referred to Risāla ilà aṣḥāb al-Šayḫ ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Mahdawī as a separate work. This document is a letter written to the disciples of Šayḫ ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Mahdawī of Tunisia by Ibn al-ʿArabī himself, and it has recently been determined that it also serves as a kind of prolog to Mašāhid al-asrār. This prolog covers such subjects as how the Mašāhid should be studied and by whom, explanations of difficult words found in it, and defenses of possible criticisms of it. Ibn al-ʿArabī’s letter is important in its own right: it develops the concepts of ḫatmiyya, walāya, nubuwwa, and wirāṯa in their original forms and references discussions in the scholarly circles of al-Andalus and North Africa. This paper will show how the Risāla must be understood with the Mašāhid and explore its contents in the light of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s works and his social and intellectual milieu.
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