CLAUDE ADDAS Quest for the Red Sulphur The Life of Ibn Arabi(©The tan Yet Say to tng rani the sn Tex Scety 193 "ait tom he eh by Po ay repay ht a i rary Catan in Puts Ota ‘Ste ott bel vn em Ares Nf i eet may eee sini pa ir ‘Sha te ee esa eae Paty he Ain Pr nd"ell me, end, which place you want me to take you to ~ 1 wnt fo go tthe city ofthe Messenge. ia sec ofthe Station of Radiance an the Red Saiph "bn Arabi. The Bok ofthe our by Night TRANSLATOR'S NOTE ‘hiss not sta translation ofthe bok which appeared in French in 1989 lnder the ie Iba La que du Sour Rouge. but ect second fit, The euthor hes modied» number of pesge: somes new frieral hasbeen ade: and what was orignal just an index of select. “Arbi tems as ben expanded into afl loesary forthe convenience of Tenders wih no knowlegefthe language. Asarle the author's prctce af fmting the a- rein proper names fs been adhered Towea speci debt of gratitude notonly to Claude Adda but lsoto Michel (odiewie for their constant lp,Contents Syste of tostraton or Arai characters 38 Lis abbreviations x Forsworo si Iernonverion 1 1, Howe Laxo 1 “Andalvsia belongs to Go 1 ‘The descendants of Hat al-T3'L 17 inthe ume af my sinful yout” 37 2 Voearion 33 ‘When Got called met Hn 33 Intering the Wey 4 Western Sos in thn Ares time 52 ‘The maser of Sevile 61 2. ugcriow 74 CCordob the Grest Vision 74 Sil: retreats and revelations 81 4S. a Anant ano Tie Savants oF Aspauesta 93 1h rab’ trsning in the taditonal lps dates. according to hs ita 97 ‘raning im Beratuce acorn othe Kiab mahideatababr 100 ‘Theological and philosophical waining. 102 5. Gov’s Vast Bann x1x ‘am the Quran and the Seven Substtates! 111 Heir to Abraham 1301. Fer 132 Make me ito ight" 132 ‘Atace without 8 nape’ 142 ‘ascension 253 Panrweurs 169 ‘Tue Guear Preciack 18 The last under the Ayyabids 18 Voge tothe centre of the earth 193 Inthe shadow ofthe Kaba 211 ‘Covnset My Senvants’ 218 Damascts. ‘Revucr ov re PRoPwers’ 235 Io Arabi and the Syrian fu" 245 The meeting of the two Seals 259 Coxcuuston 290 Aprenorces 295 1. Coronlogel table of fbn Arab’ Ie 296 2. tha Arab ad bis ks with he arous Sul current in the ‘stim West 311 4 Mh teachers in retinal religous dsplins frequented by Tb Arab inthe Main West 312 44 The men of ltrs freqaeted by Ibn Arabi the slim, West rg 5: The ours of the Khir atbrigyo 315, Breutocnaeny 322 4. Maruserpt sources 322 2 Published sources 122 Inpex oF NaMes 330 CAL TERMS 342 . a> as ve ae es to vd ne te ot it ae oa) ec ts he wt re wo as t vs ahs mt ‘The atl; al atd - (even i ont of su eters) Short ang vowels oo Dihthons ae sha aww . a ae 1 es edwil awit 0 miaa gy, by o, ‘ayaa a- mug abr mah by Ton Ide Bide Buy we aga, by Ton Kath BEO: Buln des tats eis, ‘Dut: i arama ll mal ii: alia ama y on Fash Durr arr esata, by tn Arab EL Enola of sla ft elton, second ein). 1: Fes radon Pass: Fuss oko by tb ‘Arai ots eu a-matigys, by Ton Ara Gt: Geschichte der araischen Lert by; Brockmann, Histo lasication: street clasifenton de Fue ‘Ara by 0. Yahi, LEA; Instat francais €echeolgie orn LEED: Instat rants de Duras ‘ia sa mal Maar by th Arabi ‘Mist: Ashtt a aro, by “A, Muhidara: taba aba, by Tb Arab Sa ab tar ages by Ab Waid ab Maras afl Nah ab. by Moga. al Nayl td by Abad Ab, Pasion: The Psion ofall, by Massgnon RE: Rese des eae res Ge Repertoire général des ervtes dT Arabi nO, Vabia's Hise elsif, ude Rub abut by lon Arab Sc ofthe Sans: Seal of he Sits, by M. Chodhiewix ‘Sadar: Shahar al-ada tna Tuk: Toko, by Ta Abba TW Tal way agin, by To ab Sug Trim: Fri Magar a sd n HF, by Abd Shama Tush al Tasha aril atest, by Abad Ta, “Ura “Una alia, by ube, Wal a-Si. Wahid: Wah suka oth, by ‘Ab Ghai e-Qs Foreword ‘rte several years go deed to seen the tack fin Arabi. was wate that the journey would belong snd adventurous, nd {wold not Ihave set ot at all unless had been cera tthe time that woud nd help and comer inthe company of eer pilgrims. Of tose waving coms ‘ions of whom thee hve been so many thet it would not be pose to ‘mention them all—there ae five tn patcalar to whom Towe a spc debt: Profesor Pere Tilt, who agreed to supervise my thes oy father Michel CChkewicr. through whom I discovered the universe ofthe Shih a Akbar whi till acid through whom came to love him while a teenager fd understand tin as an adult my husband, wo during dese yeas of ‘search shared daly in ny venture and aceptedall thesscce tinal ty daughter Waly who joined up wth 9 mi jouraey to Bring it ‘resins and peace Domingue de Ménl, who through her generous support and fienly enthusiasm made my work so much eaier st pacticl level would have them all know ow gratefl to them Tam, Folly my ster Agnts devoted wecks tothe dificult und trexome task of typing Up & ‘manuscript whieh was often veal legible. Sb hows how dears to Ime but T wish also to express asst’ gate, “Above and beyond these direct sources of assistance Iam inbred to the Ineage sil very mach lve—ol Ton Arabi dail fr helping me being {his work to completion. Whether famous or unknown they have ensured the wansmision and preservation ofthe lena fn Arabi oer a period of feat centres. rt Iam not unworthy to insibe myname intr ‘etl, Pars Octobe 1987Introduction ‘oven the pst fe years the space sven by publishers o works on Sfism in general and on Tn Arab n pardcular has grown conseraly. This bas trem the casein Arab counties os well asin the West, and has ellen Involve the publication of works outside of the more sity spins sexes. The numberof ental edilons. tansatons and monographs has ‘mulpied""A numberof diereat aspects ofthe teaching of fon Arabs filed the ‘Shaikh al Atbar, ‘Greatest of the Master~have certainly tenet fom his attention: however, any search in recent Bbllographles for a work on bis ie which meets the basic requirements of histone research will bein vain. The only work of any extent which tall ‘secessible today remains the tay by Asin Palacios ahs sa cristionzao: tthe beglnningo this book. plished in Madi in 1931 he etterpted in tess than hundred pages to reconstruct the principal stages in the teresa jourey and sprit path ofthe suthor othe Fatt mai. But although Asin was ving end wating wer oth Nicholson and Nyberg he was much more of plonee in ba Arab tae then ether of them and unfortunately, at the time when he povce his VidedeAbearal, esearch ‘on the subject ofthe Shah aLAkbar was virtually nomenistent Ths ‘ean that he didnot have acess ol he reat yaaa reer epetly GEMB nes GP esac ot «vg aod paentvento ed te ‘anuserps. Ase, many of the monographs that have bee devoted othe ‘mystical path (tana daring the sinh and seventh centres of the Feira fr evample the works of Frits Meer and Henry Cobia not et been writen, and inevitably this made it nore diel than i owadeys to sltute fbn ‘Arab his enveonment, ‘Asaresut even though the bographil sketch which weowetothe gest Spanish slamogist has down to the present te remained the rinasource usd by most writers when refering to Ibn Arabs ie, largely ‘utdated should beaded that. nado these shoxtcomingstor which Istory alone responsible. there are ls serious daicences his work ‘which ae due toi unfamiliarity with aconsderable umber of bn Arab's ‘own wrttngs and also withthe hstorograhic and hagographicHeratare ‘composed inthe Shah a-Alber's tine or shortly aerwards. in act Asn ‘only se the information preserved in just a ew of Tb Arabs works — Ialnly the Futdhie and the Rul alguls—and in two complations of Considerably later date: the ah at by Magar 1041/1694) and the ‘Shara dha by Ibo amid (6. 8089/2678). other words on the ‘ne hand he fale to utile a large number of internal sources especie the st oc tending ceria included in he “Arbts works which, #9 ‘wewill eter. make ossbleto rece and date with eetson his eaves tn the Eas. This not evento mention the any unpulhed treatises by In “Arabi which sometimes contain invaluble information about it encounters his Journeys and hs spital experiences On the other hand he fied to explo external source which, nt wll ax beng of ndamental importance. are alo ready svailabe for example the Takia of Tn al ABR d 658/1259), published in Madi as fr back a5 1888, the ‘Unvun tia by Ghubent (2. 705/130) published in Algers in 1910. oF the Tashan rl altar Va tn Vay al Tail 27/1230). ‘These and othe similar documents suply various pecs of formation thout thn Arabi a well a about the men and women who—decly or Indirect played a ole im his development Sim es cear that Asin never consulted the Wal by Said. 754/1363)the Day alt taba ravnayn by Aba Shama (665/268) oe tbe Dhayl mur tain by ‘Yoni 726/126) And yet these documents. long with a considerable numberof eters which T wil tlt here. provide dtd information shout the reception Iba ‘Arabi was given Ia the Bast and about his companions Sra For these reasons is nt supesing that even the mst supercalexam- nation ofthe Vie de Abeara reveals inaccuracies instances of contusion tnd numerous errs For example, Stn Palacios states that Aral ws Im Mosul in 6020, and in Clr in 60 In fact we cen now be much more ‘sin at, yh Tot ra shed fab 9h acio Intrtction recs ita be established hat in Gori Arabi als went to esa {hatin 602 he wen fo Kony" and then back to Jerse” before gotng on to Hebron sn 60" and nly t Cag n 603. Esewhere Palacios makes & tstakepertentl peste by Inter writers wh a a eule merely copy fisconclasios--regarding the date of bn “Arabs meeting in Konya with the Sel sult Key tbn ‘Arab he weites,artved in Kony capital ‘that part ofthe Byzantine Empire which had submited o lm: was there that the king Kay sad ascended tothe thtoncin 607/110. Word fbn Arai’ fae had reached the court shead of bn and te King went ‘out to meet hin peso and weleme him with every posible honour. ‘This prod of relative calm allowed Tb ‘Arabt to resume his writing anit twas there during that year that he produce woo his works he Rist a rand the Kitab ar’ ®Corn fo spat ely refers tthe tmetig Bette the king an the Su inthe lowing terms "Te ears Tate, in 6071240, thn Arabi wasn the heart of Anatoli, tn Konya where the Slug sovereign Kapha ¥acordd him a magnient reception! in fects however, the Rs al-awaraas ten in Konya 603.000 607: this is stated explicit thn ‘Arby himself tthe end the text." AS forthe ‘Kitab aso a aa was compos in Seven 5 otis stated by the author, nthe very ft liner of the work” Fal. the ™magniient ‘eccpion by Kaya cannot pil have taken place tn 6071 forthe Simple reason thatthe king onl ascended to the one 608/121 1. Its Ivor noting that nether Palin so Corbin gives the spe releence Jwhich woul lp to substantiate the clin that his particular meting took lace at hat partcalar date. ‘ne othe facto Beam in mind isthat arte Asin simply repestethe Indoreation contained tn the short biography which the Egyptian editor ‘pended to te text of the Fut, and wehich be esata resume of Mager’ Naf slik! Hence for example his account ofthe famous Inckeatin Bougiin 597/¢200, when bn ‘Araisuwhinsef uated withthe Stars and eth the ketrs ofthe aipbet. fact. however, this even Fepored in dtl ot ony by Guba soon wo separate cceasions 5.660. Yaa sae oti epee mea #8 9. ina he ak on he 7 Id. 88297 sta fina Syste ss 4, fn nit. {ot Ct Cc ance Si Wo tenant 6bon Arai himself isthe same in the cas of he meting betwen fon ‘Arab and Suheawardi at Baghdad: according Asin" [bra eve In 608 at Baghdad. his al destination: fs la was fo moot in peson 8 teeta reat Sef who fd opened © school for hometes und mystical ‘exereise nthe cy. This man was the Iams Shia al-Din Sawa, author of the Awa lr... The bngophers relat al the deals of this inal meeting Between the two master: “The looked at each oie silence fo a long while. then they parted without saying word! Uinortunatly Ast i ote ws who these tographer wer, For his own fart O. Yahi cites Ibn acim a authority for loceting the pede tn aphGad in 608." However the relevant passage in dhe Shadars™ gies nether a place nor # date forthe event. which rates the question a fo whether tok place at al. ‘On the other hand Asin Palacos makes no mention whatever ofthe marrage Setween thm Arabi ond the mtr of Sade a Din unas even though tis referred on several Aric and Persian sources Asa mate of lac this event i the petvate eof the Shah al- Akbar was to have tery lmportnt consequences for the etsion of his thought nthe samc word On the other hand. Asin concocedwithout any supporting idence Uwhatever—a meeting between Ibn Araby and Abu Madyat Bogie in 590." Infact fbn “Araby states exphitly tn the Rule that he never {encounter “physically” che man whom he consdersd ht mister cece inal ts important to emphasise he extent to which he reiityof ‘he Vid de Abarat ke compromised ty the fat that It profoundly ‘marke sometimes even dtiguralby its authors religous preface This isaready evident i the very theo the work am ersten, There 's no point in dweling on the ofensive expessons mental imbalc ‘pathological ese) which often accompany fbn Arab’ nie." However Intatingtey ar. he ca at east be pore. To acertin exten thiskingo Prejudices understandable nthe ese of churchman living atthe neo ‘Bsn Palacio tt whe ead 2, Ma mec go, $4 3: Kg wean Wy RACE Ai, Si of 4 Inaructon nt-Christion pole’ of Kapha his bis something mach more serous, Interpreting ier states ofthe soul's one thing rewriting history i another. IAs had gone o even the slghtstouble to cequant himself with Neat Eastern chronicies fr the period of Ibn ‘Arai ietime. he would have tincovered thatthe policy of Kays Was soar om beng ant-Cheistan thot Mosk weters accused hi of calling withthe Frans 1 Asin can to Some extent be excused forthe shortcomings of his work. the sme connote sid for thane more ecent waiters who have tackled the alet of ba“Arab' I, The fact that hey tr fae to eons the treks mentioned above even though they had become easly aces Foe Instance. Arab’ Rand were ated in yderabdin 1948, asta tion of T's Tasha was produced in 1953, the majority of the Toast have appeared in print satng from 1950, Instead of taking the ttouble to check Palacio assertions, these late wetter have Sly tependuced the erorscontnned in nm ristiansady oven worse added totem InthisrespetRuspostnroduction to chapet 167 ofthe Futaba ietypea fa the four unfortunate pages which he devotes othe ite of bn ‘Ara he menage to invent for hi a marelage with Nizam. dhe spre of the Turin assign to ave ie return wo the West ale Dis etn departre forthe Eastin 598." ‘There te no denying that O.Yahia has made serous lr o achieve precision in te shronoloical table of hn “Arb ie which he presents at {he star of his General index. However ere to one notes a considerable ‘mer of emisons and inaccuracies, Fr example forthe year 386/190 1eliitshimslfto reporting the rimade bb "Arai tone ofthe women wo were his sprtual masters in Marcbena: but strangely he alto point ‘ut hat twas during the same year that In ‘Arai went Lo Cordoba, Where 2. Onis mbes em dn he Ml, ew ik 1977 tn ea 1 lr pecs te rc Rp ee 6 ot a teardrop neers he "Annet fe a am he et nn aden 98) esteem nae ana he Be EArt sate ma ‘Aton cnn or eon Nose, eee and Ta 5a deiive event In hls spetual destiny occured Tact this piece of Information sgivenn famous passage ofthe Fuss am,” Sar he Sis to mention that a 396/1198 the Shakh al Akbar etuned to Corot, where tended the feral of Avertocsehich he desribesin the ‘Fao haton the rath fJumade 594/202) went o Taf whereas heels us at the start ofthe Hijet abl” he mediated at Abbas trate, Andone leans with astonishment tatin 598 hn Arab stopped fin {Cesolanco-even though the city whic bears ths name wes unl bat the eighteenth century. ‘This all goes to show that atthe presen ime no dependable and dated stady on Arabs Mes avaiable in Wester language. Those who are Forrnate enough tebe able to cope withthe sublets of Arabic are with theopton ofeleng othe Arabsoures, cer ancient or modern they te then faced with choice Between two erent kind of docament of more precisely teteen two diferent types of information. On te one hand there fave the deals provide by the enres—oen bre lays lesa the abt, hose vist iorephiclctlonares in thc the author comfy ‘Sums up a whale Meae ma ew ines Boring and dull these curl te teal ery much thesame and ate repeated rom writer io wie, cents to entry: names rt names surnames, master, tates writings To spare ‘onesetfthe labour one could simpy rele, tke Asstt Naa a work tn which is author meticulously noted down and assembled most ofthe ‘eniestereing bn Arai whichenisedin istime. "Bat Maggi wasne Aiferen rom many other Arabi compilers in his dstegud for histone truth: what more he was a ervent supporter of ha Arab Asa rl he _eprodced a numberof fry iereible anecdotal stores which awe wll, Se when we come to examin them very probably derive ows Fayrazsbad id 817/rat4 “The seco typeof document const of haglgraphial wetings. For vamp thereare afew rather ne pagesat the tert of a-Qar a Baha’ Manigih ibn Ara= which present asa oon ‘Aras en the sare Kind of anecdotal style which Farid l bin “Air wed his Tair stay But the author does nt stp thee. Keen 10 ell his reader to 39. i wn pa "EArt ty er andre us 6 Intotuction the crv ofthe Shath sbAkbac—fr whom he exesies a pound soe ct che pws topeniengtisto demonstrate thee were and wean ery be fepuatone ana Meyorae any ‘SMSom ast the onhodery, who cknowcdgd in Arabs santo Teachtee hisesmpy psn the noudsstatenets which they never Pegs fr neon, Oahu sob ser that Ton Ar wae ice thse mo teach the Oneness Beng Wansaed in the ‘Rona nt the tal, te st the nam. the a the ocean af Meth Kado gllen pend was thon perpetuate iter ‘Cotrcsby Shan an to ese deze Mago Whatstruofsaneol bn Ararssspprtesbatrveo italy ais is They ton were not hatte wih eupesahieh ere ‘Shang af mae Det gona post eet eral tath freer ace Frame haa dost hin te bout rept that Torah bd arian who kt best hin lk an We" Oe Tota prone to sar igh nto. arte that Be had perverse ‘Shaina ren acest bar aly holt aryone sper tos of hey nthe eyes othe Dts he La. During the xt cde Shah Malad Ghar Daman hs gon C0 comets ne omake fn Ars eter naw othe Avab wore {ts used eno so dient works which nemble artus text af. ‘Arb accoring tothe: agin! Word te Pert Man. and One hese monogrphs publ a Dunas in, eed The ‘acer tot coi Tra Fal othe metho e asad down forms the mor simpy eis one ter another Yaris teas enaced el fom pont works fia AroE he makes no ea tance in which te sh sab spa nthe Wt peso. This nlogy aul been sl but forest Mamod Crab inn ve te eerence orth patchwork qutatns nthe eae ofa rary cup ses as hy Arbrs adding upto thousand fps ‘hss esy thee, consent $3, pf Thee te eh Del ot ee te se Ronan att arhiehe Cart ates pa Petra Sabatini tate mpcAllin al, any contemporary reader ofTbn ‘Aral who would keto const bhograpy of him even fe happens to know Arabic—foced with ony two options. Ether theres the study by Asin Places. which apart tm ts nar defences is also extremely prejudice, or there are the eequentiy fantastic stories tld by the Arab biographers which, depending on the author's is. provide vast wealth of ether fabricated anccotes oF pious ‘efaration, Tis tosay the very est. highly prado station when ‘oneconsderson the one hand the immensesiieanceacknowledgedeven by his detractors) of bn Arabi ands school nthe history of Sufi, and ‘when om the other hand one nots hove the mumber of studies and translatonsin these areaskeeps increasing om ea year was no doubt esumptuous tty toset matters ght but that sthetask haveset mel ths book Tost the Greats of the Masters avi he wa jas bint ‘metaphysican, without any roots. withou a story of is ow, witout a omeland je to risk Ceranly he was om eminent Rncton inthe subeoqvet history of Sulla, ‘oth as 4 moor plnt of reerence ln matters of doctrine and. ls vert source os spinal ines which eve today is not exh. Bot thi function whieh slustrated and encapsulated in hse Self Muara dan Stnthod is not something which can be undestod ia seme nebulous jr mor than the ple ever nt ramtic plo. In ths respect al the ographes of Ibn ‘Arab which were metone eater share one major shortcoming, Not once do they try to delineate the cultural, sci and poltial landscape in which his destiny unfolded. and never do they attmpe focvoke the epoch, so rich and sumptuous but abo so rave nto which he wie which he a ra rl soon aerward ofthe Mongol invasons inthe East is ule tre that works writen about this period ee extremely inadequate, ven tay ther stil no sty ssl sta ofa “Arabs tme—that I ‘means that anyone interested in discovering ill {o shed light on Andalusian sotety during that period i obliged o consult the histonogrophicl works writen st the time. However, lstory a wat omeivd then something vers diferent fro the discipline which bers the name today. Any atempetofind detalls about the living conditions ofthe emer! population i, oy hn al-ABB' Tomi orf Tahar Bayi a Inratucton mrt vai. Ter concern was no wh writing sory the ‘man nero today alone wih say. The iy es Ty aos eo fran earang he key ares andthe se anary eves whieh mone way of ante character pe ast une the Abia beter documented The stay taken E Sram and 8 Hunphres carly dcanet the Ayybid Sac of goverment as itractons wil the Chan wor The inns deeded yt. Post in 1981 embed ‘eetrming eto elnDamaar ring the seven herent. ine vecetyD. Gas dfn and tansaion of sventh-enry Me sone tet proves invaluable nema sh the Su ees iktronsed in fay x tne Bt rest dell remaisto be done. TT venture tex the Hope that const omar ides el ‘he amie worl ly biographical In thefrsnetance cons ofretracing yams essen Tho ‘Arbre spntual and intelectual Joumey wile, whereer pose. Stunting tis urney flyin the relpous and historical contest of the te. With this framework there cool be no question of undertaking 3 Besides, the principal thnse fis thought have already been the sabe of ‘meticulous examination fora numberof decades. There no need to go back ter as Nyberg or Asa one Rasen think ofthe work doneby Corbin and [aus and more recent by anothe Japanese scholar, Masataka Takeshi or ofthe penetrating commentaries by Michal Valsan which acompny his ‘eenlations, to gin an ea ofthe numberof publications whic have been ‘devoted to deciphering the corpus of Ton ‘Arabs witngs—although of ‘ourethiss not ts that the deciphering seven nearly complete. And yet Torabwious reasons has proved impossble to confine mseltosimply ting these stds frequently | fund Wt eset o rele sn posing wo the main leas which run through tb Arabs work, although Ima no claim have done so exhasels: 1 etn Str edema ch 9