Ibn `Arabi's Mystical Poetics (Oxford Oriental Monographs)

Muhyi l-Din Ibn `Arabi (1165-1240) was a hugely influential figure in the development of Sufism, yet although interest in his work continues to grow, his poetry has received very little attention. This book is the first full-length monograph devoted to his Diwan (collected poems). It begins by attempting to define Ibn `Arabi's poetic style and his understanding of poetics, which is closely intertwined with his metaphysics: the rhythms of poetry echo those of creation, and meaning combines with form just as the spirit descends on matter. Drawing on a pre-Islamic theme, he insists that his poetry was revealed to him word for word by a spirit. At the same time, however, his attitude to the function of poetry and its relation to scripture is closer to mainstream medieval Islamic, Jewish and Christian theology than has usually been thought. Denis E. McAuley focuses on close readings of books in unusual verse forms, including poetic responses to chapters of the Qur'an; imitations of earlier poets; poems that use only one rhyme word; and a cycle of poems modelled on the letters of the alphabet. In so doing, he makes frequent comparisons with other Islamic and European poets from the sixth century to the dawn of the twentieth, many of them virtually unstudied. Ibn `Arabi emerges as a highly original poet whose work casts a fresh light on the period and on classical Arabic literature as a whole. 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Poetry as alchemy: Futū(omitted)āt chapter 167 47 2. Poetry as a hair in the throat: the introduction to the Dīwān al-Ma`ārif 57 3. Poetry as dietary law: Futū(omitted)āhat chapter 398 63 4. Religion and poetry: the historical background 68 3. Ibn `Arabī and the Qur’an: A Series of Poems 72 1. Ibn `Arabī’s Qur’an poems: an overview 72 2. ‘If you bend it, you break it’: the poem on Sūrat al-Ta(omitted)rīm 79 3. ‘There is no station’: the poem on Sūrat al-A(omitted)z257;b 85 4. ‘Warning is of no use’: the poem on Sūrat al-Qamar 91 5. ‘When the sun of souls shows its dawn’: the poem on Sūrat al-Shams 96 6. ‘By the setting of the sun, by the rising of the moon’: the ‘Rā’iyya Shamsiyya’ of Makzūn al-Sinjārā 100 4. Ibn `Arabī and the Poets: Imitations and Replies 106 1. Ibn `Arabī and imitation 106 2. ‘The one I do not name . . . ’ 110 3. ‘You are not Noah . . . ’ 113 4. ‘I am not one of those whose heart limits love . . . ’ 119 5. Rhyme and Reason: Five Rā’iyyāt 128 1. ‘I saw a flash . . . ’ 130 2. ‘I saw a girl . . . ’ 134 3. ‘Pleasure spread over my limbs . . . ’ 137 4. ‘What Labīd said, in his ignorance . . . ’ 139 5. ‘On a Burāq which I created from my thought . . . ’ 143 6. Some key terms 149 6. ‘Ultra-Monorhyme’: A Stylistic Eccentricity in Comparative Perspective 154 1. ‘So see Him in a tree and see Him in a stone . . . ’ 155 2. Ultra-monorhyme as a form 160 (a) Ascetic ultra-monorhyme 161 (b) Sufi litany ultra-monorhyme 165 (c) The Sufi riddling ultra-monorhyme 166 3. The sestina 168 4. Ultra-monorhyme: conclusions and perspectives for further research 171 7. Ibn `Arabī’s Mu`ashsharāt: A Comparative Approach 173 1. A brief survey of the form 174 2. The mu`ashsharāt format: general characteristics 179 3. Beginnings and endings: al-Fazāzī 182 (a) Alif 182 (b) Lām-alif 183 (c) Yā’ 184 4. Beginnings and endings: Ibn `Arabī 185 (a) Alif 186 (b) Lām-alif 190 (c) Yā’ 191 8. Speech and Cosmology in Ibn `Arabī’s Mu`ashsharāt 194 1. Ibn `Arabī’s cosmology in the mu`ashsharāt 194 2. Thā’—‘I turned the reins of my thought . . . ’ 196 3. Climbing onto the Throne: poems dhāl to (omitted)ād 198 4. Kāf: ‘Speech like a meadow . . . ’ 202 5. Lām: ‘I play with fate . . . ’ 205 6. Cap-poems: Ibn `Arabī and `Abd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī 207 9. Conclusion 213 1. ‘I saw males in females . . . ’ 213 2. Epilogue: Ibn `Arabī’s poetic legacy 222 (a) Building on Ibn `Arabī’s poetry: `Abd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī 223 (b) The limits of Ibn `Arabī’s poetic legacy 225 (c) Speaking on behalf of God: an idea that caught on 228 Appendix: The Poems 236 Bibliography 250 Index 264 A 264 B 264 C 264 D 264 E 264 F 264 G 265 H 265 I 265 J 265 K 265 L 266 M 266 N 266 O 266 P 266 Q 267 R 267 S 267 T 267 V 268 W 268 X 268 Z 268 Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn 'Arabī (1165-1240) was a hugely influential figure in the development of Sufism, yet although interest in his work continues to grow, his poetry has received very little attention. This book is the first full-length monograph devoted to his Dīwān (collected poems). It begins by attempting to define Ibn 'Arabī's poetic style and his understanding of poetics, which is closely intertwined with his metaphysics: the rhythms of poetry echo those of creation, and meaning combines with form just as the spirit descends on matter. Drawing on a pre-Islamic theme, he insists that his poetry was revealed to him word for word by a spirit. At the same time, however, his attitude to the function of poetry and its relation to scripture is closer to mainstream medieval Islamic, Jewish and Christian theology than has usually been thought. Denis E. McAuley focuses on close readings of books in unusual verse forms, including poetic responses to chapters of the Qur'an; imitations of earlier poets; poems that use only one rhyme word; and a cycle of poems modelled on the letters of the alphabet. In so doing, he makes frequent comparisons with other Islamic and European poets from the sixth century to the dawn of the twentieth, many of them virtually unstudied. Ibn 'Arabī emerges as a highly original poet whose work casts afresh light on the period and on classical Arabic literature as a whole Muhyī l-Dīn Ibn `Arabī (1165-1240) was a hugely influential figure in the development of Sufism, yet although interest in his work continues to grow, his poetry has received very little attention. This book is the first full-length monograph devoted to his Dīwān (collected poems). It begins by attempting to define Ibn `Arabī's poetic style and his understanding of poetics, which is closely intertwined with his metaphysics: the rhythms of poetry echo those of creation, and meaning combines with form just as the spirit descends on matter. Drawing on a pre-Islamic theme, he insists that his poetry was revealed to him word for word by a spirit. At the same time, however, his attitude to the function of poetry and its relation to scripture is closer to mainstream medieval Islamic, Jewish and Christian theology than has usually been thought. Denis E. McAuley focuses on close readings of books in unusual verse forms, including poetic responses to chapters of the Qur'an; imitations of earlier poets; poems that use only one rhyme word; and a cycle of poems modelled on the letters of the alphabet. In so doing, he makes frequent comparisons with other Islamic and European poets from the sixth century to the dawn of the twentieth, many of them virtually unstudied. Ibn `Arabī emerges as a highly original poet whose work casts a fresh light on the period and on classical Arabic literature as a whole. Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī (1165-1240) was a hugely influential figure in the development of Sufism, yet although interest in his work continues to grow, his poetry has received very little attention. This book is the first full-length monograph devoted to his Dīwān (collected poems). It begins by attempting to define Ibn ʿArabī's poetic style and his understanding of poetics, which is closely intertwined with his metaphysics: the rhythms of poetry echo those of creation, and meaning combines with form just as the spirit descends on matter. Drawing on a pre-Islamic theme, he insists that his poetry was revealed to him word for word by a spirit. At the same time, however, his attitude to the function of poetry and its relation to scripture is closer to mainstream medieval Islamic, Jewish and Christian theology than has usually been thought. Denis E. McAuley focuses on close readings of books in unusual verse forms, including poetic responses to chapters of the Qurʾan; imitations of earlier poets; poems that use only one rhyme word; and a cycle of poems modelled on the letters of the alphabet. In so doing, he makes frequent comparisons with other Islamic and European poets from the sixth century to the dawn of the twentieth, many of them virtually unstudied. Ibn ʿArabī emerges as a highly original poet whose work casts afresh light on the period and on classical Arabic literature as a whole The first full-length monograph devoted to the Diwan (collected poems) of Muhyi I-Din Ibn `Arabi (1165-1240), a hugely influential figure in the development of Sufism.