Question:
Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem
As-Salaamu ‘Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh
I have heard that the current editions of Sayyidina Muhyideen Ibn ‘Arabi’s Fusus al Hikam contains many additions to the original text which are in contradiction to the Quran and also to the other works of Sayyidina Ibn ‘Arabi. Apparently there are about 77 identified additions; is this correct? If it is correct, could you please let me know which verses are incorrect additions, and if it isn’t correct may you please provide explanations for those verses which seem contradictory to the Shaykh’s other works and the Quran?
I have the Aisha Bewley translation and would like to also know if this is a good translation or not.
Jazakallah
May Allah bless you
Answer:
wa `alaykum salam,
The classical view is indeed that interpolations abound in the works of Shaykh Muhyidin Ibn `Arabi, particularly the Fusus. That is the view of Imam al-Sha`arani and, in our time the Syrian Akbari specialist Mahmud Ghurab who authored a commentary on the Fusus available here:
http://www.archive.org/download/Arabic_books_about_Ibn_Arabi/Sharh_Fusus_Hikam.pdf
As for its translation, you can use the one you mentioned together with the Ralph Austin translation, but you will still need to go back to a teacher to avoid the pitfalls of the text as warned by the author himself, Allah have mercy on him.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
