Akbari Sufism or Akbarism (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

: أكبرية: ''Akbariyya'') is a branch of

Sufi metaphysics In Islamic philosophy, Sufi metaphysics is centered on the concept of ar, وحدة, waḥdah, unity, label=none or ar, توحيد, tawhid, label=none. Two main Sufi philosophies prevail on this topic. literally means "the Unity of Existence ...

based on the teachings of

Ibn Arabi Ibn ʿArabī ( ar, ابن عربي, ; full name: , ; 1165–1240), nicknamed al-Qushayrī (, ) and Sulṭān al-ʿĀrifīn (, , 'Sultan of the Knowers'), was an Arab Andalusian Muslim scholar, mystic, poet, and philosopher, extremely influenti ...

, an

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

who was a

gnostic Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized pe ...

and philosopher. The word is derived from

's nickname, "

Shaykh Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliteration of Arabic, transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonl ...

al-Akbar," meaning "the greatest master." 'Akbariyya' or 'Akbaris' have never been used to indicate a specific Sufi group or society. It is now used to refer to all historical or contemporary Sufi

metaphysicians Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

and Sufis influenced by Ibn Arabi's doctrine of ''

Wahdat al-Wujud In Islamic philosophy, Sufi metaphysics is centered on the concept of ar, وحدة, waḥdah, unity, label=none or ar, توحيد, tawhid, label=none. Two main Sufi philosophies prevail on this topic. literally means "the Unity of Existence ...

''. It is not to be confused with Al Akbariyya, a secret Sufi society founded by

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Sufi 'Abdu l-Hadi Aguéli.

Wahdat al-Wujud

Wahdat al-Wajud Tawhid ( ar, , ', meaning "unification of God in Islam (Allāh)"; also romanization of Arabic, romanized as ''Tawheed'', ''Tawhid'', ''Tauheed'' or ''Tevhid'') is the indivisible oneness concept of monotheism in Islam. Tawhid is the religion ...

(Arabic: وحدة الوجود Persian: وحدت وجود) meaning the "unity of being" is a

philosophy emphasizing that "there is no true existence except the Ultimate Truth (God)", that is, that the only

truth Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth 2005 In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as beliefs ...

within the

universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. Acc ...

is God, and that all things exist within God only.

is most often characterized in Islamic texts as the originator of this doctrine. However, it is not found in his works. The first to employ this term was

Ibn Sabin Ibn Sab'īn ( ar, محمدبن عبدالحق بن سبعين ') was an Arab Sufi philosopher, the last philosopher of the Andalus in the west land of Islamic world. He was born in 1217 in Spain and lived in Ceuta. He was known for his replies ...

. Ibn Arabi's disciple and stepson

Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi Ṣadr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Muḥammad ibn Yūnus Qūnawī lternatively, Qūnavī, Qūnyawī ( fa, صدر الدین قونوی; 1207–1274), was a PersianF. E. Peters, "The Monotheists", Published by Princeton University Press ...

used this term in his own works and explained it using philosophical terms.

Academic study

Europe and United States

In the 20th century there has been a focus on the Akbari School in academic circles and universities. Viewed in a historical context, increased government support for the study of the Muslim world and Islamic languages emerged in the United States after the Second World War where many students were attracted to Islam and religious studies during the 1970s. The greatest growth in American scholarship on Sufism took place during the 1970s. Alexander Knysh notes that, "In the decades after World War Two the majority of Western experts in Sufism were no longer based in Europe, but in North America." Henri Corbin (d. 1978) and

Fritz Meier Fritz Meier (1912-1998) was a Swiss Orientalist with a focus on Sufism. Life Fritz Meier was born on 10 June 1912 in Basel. He grew up in the Canton of Basel-Landschaft and attended the Humanistisches Gymnasium. Beginning in 1932 he studied G ...

(d. 1998), who were prominent among these experts, made important contributions to the study of Islamic mysticism. Other important names were

Miguel Asín Palacios Miguel Asín Palacios (5 July 1871 – 12 August 1944) was a Spanish scholar of Islamic studies and the Arabic language, and a Roman Catholic priest. He is primarily known for suggesting Muslim sources for ideas and motifs present in Dante's Divin ...

(d. 1944) and

Louis Massignon Louis Massignon (25 July 1883 – 31 October 1962) was a Catholic scholar of Islam and a pioneer of Catholic-Muslim mutual understanding. He was an influential figure in the twentieth century with regard to the Catholic church's relationship w ...

(d. 1962), who made contributions to Ibn Arabi studies. Palacios discovered some Akbarian elements in

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

's ''

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...

''. Massignon studied the famous Sufi

Al-Hallaj Al-Hallaj ( ar, ابو المغيث الحسين بن منصور الحلاج, Abū 'l-Muġīth Al-Ḥusayn bin Manṣūr al-Ḥallāj) or Mansour Hallaj ( fa, منصور حلاج, Mansūr-e Hallāj) ( 26 March 922) ( Hijri 309 AH) was a Per ...

saying "Ana l-Haq" (I am the Truth).

Seyyed Hossein Nasr Seyyed Hossein Nasr (; fa, سید حسین نصر, born April 7, 1933) is an Iranian philosopher and University Professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University. Born in Tehran, Nasr completed his education in Iran and the United St ...

and his students and academic disciples have come to play an important role in certain subfields of Sufi studies. The influence of Nasr and other Traditionalist writers like Rene Guenon and

Frithjof Schuon Frithjof Schuon (, , ; 18 June 1907 – 5 May 1998) was a Swiss metaphysician of German descent, belonging to the Perennialist or Traditionalist School of thought. He was the author of more than twenty works in French on metaphysics, spiritual ...

on Sufi studies can be seen in the interpretation of the works of Ibn Arabi and the Akbari school by such scholars as

Titus Burckhardt Titus Burckhardt (24 October 1908 – 15 January 1984) was a Swiss writer and a leading member of the Perennialist or Traditionalist School. He was the author of numerous works on metaphysics, cosmology, anthropology, esoterism, alchemy, Sufism ...

Martin Lings Martin Lings (24 January 1909 – 12 May 2005), also known as Abū Bakr Sirāj ad-Dīn, was an English writer, Islamic scholar, and philosopher. A student of the Swiss metaphysician Frithjof Schuon and an authority on the work of William Shake ...

, James Morris,

William Chittick William C. Chittick (born 29 June 1943) is an American philosopher, writer, translator and interpreter of classical Islamic philosophical and mystical texts. He is best known for his work on Rumi and Ibn 'Arabi, and has written extensively on th ...

Sachiko Murata Sachiko Murata (村田幸子, born 1943) is Japanese scholar of comparative philosophy and mysticism and a professor of religion and Asian studies at Stony Brook University. She is a 2011 Guggenheim Fellow. Life She received her B.A. in family la ...

, and others. These names are both mostly practitioners of Sufism and scholars studying Sufism.

Turkey

Turkey is situated where Ibn Arabi's most prominent disciple, successor and stepson

, and other important commentators on Arabi's works lived in the past.

Dawūd al-Qayṣarī Dawūd al-Qayṣarī (c.1260-c.1350) was an early Ottoman Sufi scholar, philosopher and mystic. He was born in Kayseri, in central Anatolia and was the student of the Iranian scholar, Abd al-Razzaq Kāshānī (d. 1329). He was the author of over ...

, who was invited to Iznik by Orhan Ghazi to be the director and teacher for the first Ottoman university (madrasa), was the disciple of Kamāl al-Dīn al-Qāshānī, himself a disciple of Sadr al-Dīn al-Qūnawī. This means that the official teaching itself was set in motion by a great master of the Akbari school. Not only Sufis but also Ottoman sultans, politicians and intellectuals had been deeply impressed by Ibn Arabi and his disciples and interpreters. Seyyed Muhammad Nur al-Arabi was also impressed by Ibn Arabi's doctrine, though that continued to decrease until the Modern Era. In the 20th century the last important commentator of Fusûs was Ahmed Avni Konuk (d. 1938). He was a mawlawî and composer of Turkish music. Studies on Sufism, especially Akbari works, were not very common until the first Ph.D. thesis was written by Mahmud Erol Kılıc in

Marmara University Marmara University ( Turkish: ''Marmara Üniversitesi'') is a public university in Istanbul, Turkey. The university is named after the Sea of Marmara and was founded as a university in 1982. However, it was created in 1883 under the name of ''H ...

's Faculty of

Theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

titled "Ibn 'Arabi's Ontology" (in Turkish, "Muhyiddin İbn Arabi'de Varlık ve Varlık Mertebeleri") in 1995. Academic studies on Akbari metaphysics and philosophy began to rise after studies on this topic were conducted by Turkish scholars such as Mustafa Tahralı and Mahmud Erol Kılıc. In terms of Akbari studies, the most important event to take place was the translation of Ibn Arabi's

magnum opus A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...

,"Futuhat-ı Makkiyya", to Turkish. Turkish scholar Ekrem Demirli translated the work in 18 volumes between 2006 and 2012. This particular translation was the first complete translation to another language. Demirli's work also includes translating

's corpus to Turkish and writing a PhD thesis on him in 2004, writing a commentary on Fusus al-Hikam by Ibn Arabi, and writing a book titled ''İslam Metafiziğinde Tanrı ve İnsan'' (God and Human in Islamic Metaphysics), stanbul: Kabalcı, 2009 () There are many Akbari works in Ottoman Turkish that are yet to be studied by scholars.

List of some Akbaris

There have been many Akbari Sufis, metaphysicians and philosophers. While Ibn Arabi never founded a Tarikah himself,
ichel Chodkiewicz, The Diffusion of Ibn 'Arabi's Doctrine. he created a majority of the philosophy around it with his ''Wahdat al-Wujud''. The Sufis listed below were members of different orders, but following the concept of Wahdat al-Wujud. #

(d. 1274) - student and stepson of Ibn ‘Arabī. Lived in Konya the same time as Mawlānā Jalāl-ad-Dīn Rumi # Fakhr al-Din Iraqi (1213–1289) #

Sa'id al-Din Farghani Sa'id al-Din Farghani ( fa, سعیدالدین فرقانی; 1231 – 1300) was a Persian Sufi mystic and scholar, who is known to have composed three works. Farghani was born in 1231 in Kashan, a town located in the Farghana Valley. Although the ...

(d. 1300) #

Mahmud Shabistari Mahmoud Shabestari or Mahmūd Shabestarī ( fa, محمود شبستری‎; 1288–1340) is one of the most celebrated Persian Sufi poets of the 14th century. Life and work Shabistari was born in the town of Shabestar near Tabriz in 1288 (6 ...

(1288–1340) #

(d. 1351) # Ḥaydar Āmūlī (d. 1385) #

Abd-al-karim Jili Abd al-Karīm al-Jīlī, or Abdul Karim Jili (Arabic:عبدالكريم جيلى) was a Muslim Sufi saint and mystic who was born in 1365, in what is modern day Iraq, possibly in the neighborhood of Jil in Baghdad. He is known in Muslim mysticism ...

(d. 1428) # Mulla Shams ad-Din al-Fanari (1350–1431) #

Shah Ni'matullah Wali Shāh Nimatullāh or Shāh Ni'matullāh Wali, ( fa, شاه نعمت‌الله ولی ''Shāh Ne'matullāh-i Valī''), also spelled as ''Ne'matollah'' and ''Ni'matallah'' was the spiritual leader or Qutb of the Ni'matullah Order in Iran from th ...

(1330–1431) # Abdurrahman Jami (1414–1492) #

Idris Bitlisi Idris Bitlisi ( 18 January 1457 – 15 November 1520), sometimes spelled Idris Bidlisi, Idris-i Bitlisi, or Idris-i Bidlisi ("Idris of Bitlis"), and fully ''Mevlana Hakimeddin İdris Mevlana Hüsameddin Ali-ül Bitlisi'', was an Ottoman Kurdish ...

(d. 1520) # ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn Aḥmad al-Shaʿrānī(1493–1565) #

Mulla Sadra Ṣadr ad-Dīn Muḥammad Shīrāzī, more commonly known as Mullā Ṣadrā ( fa, ملا صدرا; ar, صدر المتألهین) (c. 1571/2 – c. 1635/40 CE / 980 – 1050 AH), was a Persian Twelver Shi'i Islamic mystic, philosopher, the ...

(1571–1641) #

Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi Shaykh 'Abd al-Ghani ibn Isma′il al-Nabulsi (an-Nabalusi) (19 March 1641 – 5 March 1731), was an eminent Sunni Muslim scholar, poet, and author on works about Sufism, ethnography and agriculture. Family origins Abd al-Ghani's family descen ...

(1641–1731) #

Ismail Hakki Bursevi İsmail Hakkı Bursevî ( Turkish: Bursalı İsmail Hakkı, ar, إسماعيل حقي البروسوي, Persian: Esmā’īl Ḥaqqī Borsavī) was a 17th-century Ottoman Turkish Muslim scholar, a Jelveti Sufi author on mystical experience ...

(1652–1725) #

Ahmad ibn Ajiba Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAjība al-Ḥasanī (; 1747–1809) was an influential 18th-century Moroccan scholar and poet in the Darqawa Sufi Sunni Islamic lineage. Biography He was born of a sharif family in the Anjra tribe that ranges from Ta ...

(1747–1809) #

Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza'iri Abdelkader ibn Muhieddine (6 September 1808 – 26 May 1883; ar, عبد القادر ابن محي الدين '), known as the Emir Abdelkader or Abdelkader El Hassani El Djazairi, was an Algerian religious and military leader who led a struggl ...

(1808–1883) #

Ahmad al-Alawi Ahmad al-Alawi (1869–14 July 1934), (in full, Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Muṣṭafā ibn ʿAlīwa, known as al-ʿAlāwī al-Mustaghānimī ar, أبو العباس أحمد بن مصطفى بن عليوة المعروف بالعلاوي � ...

(1869–1934) # Abd al-Wahid Yahya (René Guénon) (1886–1951) # Mustafa 'Abd al-'Aziz (1911–1974) #

Abdel-Halim Mahmoud Abdel-Halim Mahmoud ( ar, الإمام الأكبر عبدالحليم محمود) (12 May 1910 – 17 October 1978; 2 Jumaada al-awal 1328 A.H. - 14 The al-Qi`dah 1398 A.H.) served as Grand Imam of al-Azhar from 1973 until his death in 1978. C ...

(1910–1978) #

Javad Nurbakhsh Javad Nurbakhsh (10 December 1926 – 10 October 2008) was the Master ('' pir'') of the Nimatullahi Sufi Order from 1953 until his death. He was also a psychiatrist and a successful writer in the fields of both psychiatry and Sufi mysticism. Li ...

(1926–2008)

References

External links

Articles

The Academic Study of Sufism at American Universities

* ttp://www.ibnarabisociety.org/articlespdf/bestsellers.pdf Early Bestsellers in Akbarian Tradition
A French Sufi-Akbarian Order

* ttp://www.tasavvufdergisi.net/Makaleler/838677537_23.8.pdf The Self and Other
The Reflection of the Wahdat al Wujud

Akbarian Turn

Videos

James Morris - Whosoever knows himself (Youtube video)

William Chittick (Symposium-Youtube video)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Al Akbariyya (Sufi School) Sufism Akbarian Sufis