Dr Muhammad Maroof Shah

The deeper or comprehensive meaning of Quranic descriptions about hell as mawla – friend (Q. 57:15) – and umm – mother (Q. 101:9), as something for which we ought to be thankful in the chapter Rehman , and use of such words as azab derived from the root word azb meaning sweet thing haven’t been given due attention by mainstream Muslim scholarship. The distinction of Ibn Arabi lies in providing an alternative understanding of hell that finds deep resonance in our hearts and minds besides opening up new vistas on various verses of the Quran. Ibn Arabi declared that his life-long mission is to broadcast the Mercy centric message of Islam – he deciphered the universe’s relationship to the Breath of the All-Merciful  and need to appreciate the dimension of beauty or aesthetic point of view – so that no servant ever despairs. Let us read how he applies his ontology of mercy to non-believers and hell in light of a few statements and works of William Chittick and Muhammad Khalil. ...

Understanding the meaning of Ibn Arabi’s universalism for contemporary world and its exclusivist ideologies We are living, from centuries in the Muslim world and from around a century in the West, in the times of Ibn Arabi and Rumi as it is they who are at vital for both academic and popular intellectual, spiritual and literary landscapes today. Let us  explore something about Ibn Arabi, the most influential Sufi-metaphysician and the greatest exponent of Divine Love in the history of Islam. About him it has rightly been remarked that the subsequent Muslim thought is largely a footnote on him. And he interests almost everyone who cares to think or practise spirituality as he has ample room for all kinds of outsiders – atheists, sinners etc. His dialogues with previous prophets and saints constitute one of the most profound encounters with transcendence and proof of intimations of the higher life of Spirit. His notion of man is most comprehensive in world history.    ...

In continuation with previous column “Why Read Ibn Arabi?” a few more points to consider for those who have problems with life/religion/Sufism or with advocacy of Ibn Arabi. Besides/instead of looking at the world from God the King and man the subject angle as has been the case with major Muslim revivalists, (and the anxiety of this world and otherworld as has been the case with exoteric theologians and those who haven’t heard of postmodern thinkers) one may consider appreciating that God alone is there playing a game, projecting Himself in the mirror called the world/man. God is more than a King, a Lover and the Beloved playing hide and seek that constitutes the drama we call life. How thankful we should be of those who play the other – our  enemies, critics or opposite team in a contest – as they make life interesting or at least eventful. Just be a spectator (actualize the name Shahid) deep inside though outwardly one might adopt a role given situation requires, say try hitt...

Ibn Arabi matters because he is amongst the thinkers or sages whose meditations on key questions, we all face, are arguably amongst the most comprehensive and profound. In physical, moral, spiritual and intellectual distress one seeks relevant healers and one doesn’t ask about the colour or race of the doctor. I find everyone, regardless of creed or IQ in some distress crying for help that Ibn Arabi can offer. The distress over any issue – personal, familial, religious, metaphysical – is overcome by turning to understanding/meaning of the issues in terms that one can’t but testify. If one is in distress over some family issue or has been hurt from someone’s bad words or divorce or is suffering an existential crisis or regretting the course of events on which one had no control or asks why people go astray or why good people suffer or why people die in religions they were born into and arguably earn damnation for choices they hardly make, consider what Ibn Arabi has to say. Ibn Arab...

We need to read these thinkers first in historical context and proper perspective, and then judge. The question of our attitude to Sufism has divided modern Muslims. ISIS, and even some revivalists who don't share ISIS politics, share significant part of their theology, premised on certain negative reading of Sufism. Should we side with Ibn Taymiyyah perceived as staunch opponent of Unitarian Sufism or Ibn Arabi who is perceived to be its greatest exponent? For some analysts Salafis are playing into hands of Imperialists and dividing Ummah.       So how do we tackle these accusations and counter-accusations? I propose to say a few words on Ibn Arabi to clarify the issue and ask if Ibn Taymiyyah can be considered his real opponent notwithstanding his takfeer of him. (Against Ibn Taymiyyah, some great Ahle-Hadees scholars, from the Indian subcontinent especially,  have been highly praising Ibn Arabi.) I don’t claim to understand Ibn Arabi better than his...

Wisdom of Prophet Muhammad, Peace be Upon Him, according to Ibn Arabi Is it possible to discover a point of view that comprehends the truth in all points of view? Is it possible to state one’s “worldview” or vision that could resist any conceivable criticism or deconstruction? To these questions there is a positive answer. And that is a vision that unconditionally submits to Truth or totality of all truths, a vision of radical innocence that is open to all experience, a humility to qualify all one’s assertions or claims of access regarding anything including such ideals as Beauty, Truth, Justice and Goodness or revelations of Being or pursuit of Perfection and thus not claim absoluteness for any immanent thing or idea. And one who embodies the great Station that is not a particular station or ideological viewpoint and thus embraces the reality or truth of all stations,  is Muhammad (SAW). This is how “the Greatest Master” – as he is called by a vast majority of Ulama and Sai...

Consciously or unconsciously we keep adoring beauty It is told that  once Ananda, the beloved disciple of the Buddha, saluted his master and said: “Half of the holy life, O master, is friendship with the beautiful, association with the beautiful, communion with the beautiful”.“Say not so, Ananda, say not so!” the master replied.“It is not half the holy life; it is the whole of the holy life.” (SAMYUTTA NIKAYA) Why is there a universal “weakness” for the most useless thing called beauty? ( Laotze had spoken of beauty as “the usefulness of the useless,”  and Kant as “Purposiveness without purpose.” ) Because beauty is from the otherworld. Plato meant the same when he said “beauty is the splendour of the Truth.” When women saw beautiful Joseph they exclaimed he is an angel. See beautiful girl and one exclaims a houri from heaven. Indeed beauty is from the otherworld and its existence is one of the most powerful proofs for the existence of God. Ghalib’s answer to his ow...

Nietzsche can’t be wished away and there is no escaping the task of engaging with him. Would you believe that there are people who don’t know that there are social sciences,  computers, airplanes and countless technological gadgets around us? Those who believe we can have, or we can use modern technology without engaging with background science or secular reason that brings it are such people. Divided personalities, divided loyalties, clouded vision, cursing imagination and insensitivity to finer culture are what distinguishes them. They constitute the majority in the Third World. They have not heard of Nietzsch. They haven’t read any of his books and haven’t heard even his most (in)famous statement “God is dead.” Yes, they haven’t heard of the bull in the China house of conventional religion. They still talk of God in terms of substance, in terms of force, in terms of cosmic being or policeman, in terms of ground of ordinary morality. They still talk as if the other world is ...

Ibn Arabi and Iqbal are the two Masters that fashioned Prof. Amin Andrabi In Kashmir we have today very few intellectuals and scholars who have enviable record on spiritual, intellectual and ethical terms, very few whom we can’t accuse of being vain or pretentious, very few who were loved by almost all their distinguished contemporaries in the State if not many outside the state as well. But we had at least one in recent past – Prof. M Amin Andrabi whom it would have been a pleasure and treat to meet. A distinguished Iqbal scholar “completely decolonized mind”  widely read in disciplines that interested Iqbal including perennialist school, an activist, “cynosure of desire” and “a great human being” is how he has been described by some contributors to volume of selected writings and tributes pertaining to Prof. Andrabi compiled by Dr Taskina and Mir Zaman. He authored little, edited much and one can’t but admire his scholarly editorial prefaces and comments on various publicatio...

Dedicated to those who struggle to believe and silently face the trial of doubt and disbelief. “Faith is not a question of the existence or non-existence of God. It is believing that love without reward is valuable.”(Levinas) “Conscience is God. He is even the atheism of the atheist.” (Gandhi) There is a problem of declining faith all over the world that has of late increasingly made itself felt in our State as well. I know many young students struggling to believe but fail to find satisfactory solution to the moral and intellectual questions that popular view of belief in God received from culture seems to raise.  I know anxious parents watching their children slip into disbelief and losing respect for what they have considered holy or sacred. I know of silent atheism of many bright people who chose not to talk about it. There are a large number of thinking people including apparently very religious ones suffering from certain doubt regarding some or the other vital issue conn...