THE MYSTICAL INTELLECT

The Mystical Intellect: Ibn ʿArabī, Al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, and the Architecture of Islamic Epistemology
Discover the Intellectual Architecture Behind One of Islam's Greatest Minds

For centuries, Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī (1165-1240) has often been presented primarily as a mystic, visionary, or metaphysical philosopher. Yet beneath the vast spiritual landscape of Al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya lies a remarkably sophisticated theory of knowledge-one that integrates revelation, reason, intuition, imagination, ethics, and spiritual realization into a unified epistemological system.

The Mystical Intellect offers a comprehensive reconstruction of this intellectual architecture.

Rather than treating Ibn ʿArabī as merely a representative of Sufism, this book demonstrates how his writings constitute an original epistemological framework capable of addressing enduring questions concerning the nature of knowledge, consciousness, interpretation, authority, and the relationship between the Divine and human understanding.

Drawing extensively upon Al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, classical Islamic scholarship, and contemporary debates in philosophy, religious studies, and intellectual history, this work presents Ibn ʿArabī as one of the most sophisticated epistemological thinkers of the Islamic intellectual tradition.

The book explores:

• The foundations of knowledge in Ibn ʿArabī's cosmology
• The relationship between revelation, intellect, imagination, and intuition
• The epistemological significance of spiritual experience
• The architecture of Al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya as a knowledge system
• Hermeneutics, ontology, and metaphysics within Islamic intellectual history
• The continuing relevance of Ibn ʿArabī for contemporary philosophy of knowledge

Written in a rigorous yet accessible academic style, The Mystical Intellect is intended for scholars, graduate students, researchers, and readers interested in Islamic philosophy, Sufism, comparative epistemology, religious studies, and intellectual history.

Rather than offering another introduction to Ibn ʿArabī, this volume invites readers to enter the deeper architecture of knowledge that underlies one of the most influential intellectual traditions in world civilization.