The Divinity of Jesus and Ibn ʿArabī: A Study Based on Jesus’s Chapter in Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam

Abstract

The most impressive Muslim mystic, Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī (d. 638/1240), devotes a chapter in his book Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam to Jesus. He emphasizes the divinity of Jesus and offers a distinctive viewpoint. In addition to two different expressions regarding Jesus’s divinity, by which some deny this divinity and some affirm it, similar to the Bible’s differences, he specifically focuses on the duality of reality (taḥqīq) and illusion (tawahhum) in relation to Jesus. Accordingly, Ibn ʿArabī views the divinity of Jesus as related to his aspect of reality (the identity that emerged in his human form) and regards the denial of his divinity as related to his aspect of illusion (his human form). This research investigates Ibn ʿArabī’s views on the divinity of Jesus. It adds that the evidence confirming Jesus’s divinity is not based on the general theory of the unity of being but instead points directly to Jesus’s divinity. The epistemological position of Ibn ʿArabī toward the theory of the “indwelling (ḥulūl) of God in Jesus” is discussed in light of his significant phrases.