Observations placeholder
Ibn El-Arabi - Contemplation of the Holy Mysteries - Ascent
Identifier
000704
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
In his book, Journey to the Lord of Power, Muhiyid-Did ibn Arabi (1165-1240 A.D.) discussed the stages through which the Sufi passes in his khalwa. Arabi suggested:
A description of the experience
"The Sufi should shut his door against the world for forty days and occupy himself with remembrance of Allah, that is to keep repeating,
"Allah, Allah..."
Then, Almighty God will spread before him the degrees of the kingdom as a test.
First, He will discover the secrets of the mineral world. If he occupies himself with dthikr, He (God) will unveil the secrets of the vegetable world, then the secrets of the animal world, then the infusion of the world of life-force into lives, then the "surface sign" (the light of the Divine Names, according to Abdul-Karim al-Jeeli, the book's translator), then the degrees of speculative sciences, then the world of formation and adornment and beauty, then the degrees of the qut.
Then he will be given the divine wisdom and the power of symbols and authority over the veil and the unveiling. The degree of the Divine Presence is made clear to him, the garden (of Eden) and Hell are revealed to him, then the original forms of the son of Adam, the Throne of Mercy. If it is appropriate, he will know his destination.
Then he will reveal to him the Pen, the First Intellect (as it is called by Sufi philosophers), then the Mover of the Pen, the right hand of the Truth”