The Senses and Imagination in Ibn al-Arabi’s Sufism

Abstract

This article addresses the following problematic: Was Ibn al-Arabi able to construct a coherent theoretical system through which the human being is apprehended in terms of both his inward reality and outward manifestation, by activating the epistemic possibilities of the senses and imagination?

           On the basis of this question, we hypothesize that a proper understanding of Ibn al-Arabi’s vision of the human being and the world can only be attained by invoking these two modalities as foundational principles of Sufi knowledge.

           In order to deconstruct this problematic and examine its hypothesis, we adopt an interpretive-analytical methodology grounded in an inductive reading of Ibn al-Arabi’s texts, with the aim of uncovering the conceptual structure that governs his conception of the senses and imagination.

           Our study concludes that, for Ibn al-Arabi, sensory perception cannot be understood within a purely naturalistic or empirical horizon; rather, it is determined within the framework of Sufi unveiling (al-kashf). Furthermore, imagination occupies a central ontological and epistemological position in this vision, functioning as (al-barzakh) an intermediate isthmus that unites the outward and inward dimensions of the human being, as well as the intelligible and the sensible realms. Imagination is not a fleeting illusion, but an ontological presence upon which the understanding of divine self-disclosures (al-tajalliyāt) is founded, and through which the dialectic of resemblance and transcendence is perceived.

           We further conclude that Ibn al-Arabi’s vision is grounded in an expansion and liberation of concepts from their purely theological or philosophical reduction. Through a method that reconciles opposites, he restores the epistemic dignity of the senses and imagination as horizons of human perfection. From this perspective , Ibn al-Arabi opens a vast cognitive horizon in which the human being is called to perpetual vigilance, continuous self-observation, and an ever-renewed ascent in the realization of the mysteries of existence.