The Foreign and Imaginal In Ibn ‘Arabī’s Turjuman al-Ashwaq

Abstract

Turjumān al-ashwāq is a mystical treatise that was penned by the great Sufi saint Ibn ‘Arabī. This work, which was rendered into English under various appellations, reflects his orthodoxy of love and serves as a plea for initiating friendly relations amidst cultures and world nations. The allegorical poems and annotations underscore that Ibn ‘Arabī possessed a third eye and clairvoyance when he approached specific truths around him. Building on Henry Corbin’s framework of “creative imagination” and Stuart Hall’s theoretical model of “preferred reading”, I showcase how Ibn ‘Arabī’s inner and insightful journey to the realm of the heart shaped his knowledge and simultaneously unleashed his cognition about dialogue and Otherness.

Keywords

• ibn ‘arabī
• kashf
• turjumān al-ashwāq
• the foreign
• preferred reading