IBN 'ARABI'S OWN SUMMARY OF THE FUSÛS
"THE IMPRINT OF THE BEZELS OF THE WISDOM" WILLIAM C. CHITTICK © William C. Chittick, 1975 and 1976. This translation first appeared in Sophia Perennis (Tehran) Vol. 1, No. 2 (Autumn 1975) and Vol. 2, No. 1 (Spring 1976). It was reprinted in the Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi Society Vol. 1, 1982. It may not be reproduced without the permission of the Ibn 'Arabi Society. Introduction
THE importance of Ibn 'Arabî for Islamic intellectual history is well-known. His school determines the course of most metaphysical speculation within Sufism from the 7th/13th century onward, and in addition it profoundly influences later Islamic philosophy, especially in Iran.1 The importance of Ibn 'Arabî's Fusûs al-hikam (usually translated as the "Bezels of Wisdom") as the quintessence of his writings and thought and a major source of his influence is also well-known,2 and is attested to by the more than one hundred commentaries written upon it.3 Ibn 'Arabî is also the author of a work called Naqsh al-fusûs (the "Imprint" or "Pattern of the Fusûs" ), in which he summarizes briefly the main discussions of the Fusûs itself. Because of the importance of the Fusûs the Naqsh al-fusûs also takes upon a special importance, and for this reason it has been commented by a number of well-known figures of the school of Ibn 'Arabî, including Sadr al-Dîn Qunyawî and 'Abd al-Rahman Jâmî.4 Jâmî 's work, Naqd al-nusûs fi sharh naqsh al-fusûs, written in the year 863/1459 is particularly famous in the East. This is indicated by a number of facts, 1
On the influence of lbn 'Arabî in Sufism, philosophy and elsewhere, see S.H. Nasr, "Seventh-Century Sufism and the School of Ibn 'Arabî", Sufi Essays, London, 1972, pp.97-103. 2
See S.H. Nasr, Three Muslim Sages, Cambridge (Mass.), 1964, pp.98-99.
3
See O. Yahya. Histoire et classification de I'oeuvre d'lbn 'Arabi, Damas, 1964 pp. 241-255; also the same author's Arabic introduction to S.H. Amoli, Le texte des textes, Tehran-Paris 1975, pp 16-33. 4
Yahya lists ten commentaries on this work in Le texte des textes, pp.35-6. See also Histoire et classification, pp.256-6. Yahya mentions in the latter work, p.407, that Naqsh al-fusûs has also been attributed to Isma'îl ibn Sawdakîn al-Nûrî, a disciple of lbn 'Arabî. But the fact that Qunyawî, Ibn 'Arabî's foremost disciple and according to most accounts his stepson, wrote a commentary upon it as a work of his own master would seem to be sufficient proof of its authenticity. This commentary, one manuscript of which is mentioned by Yahya as existing in Damascus, also exists according to Sayyid Jalâl al-Dîn Âshtiyânî, in a private collection in Mashhad. Page 1