The Al-Futuhrit al-Makkiyah the revision of which Ibn ‘Arabi completed two years before his death, represent the majestic synthesis of the secrets of the world above and the world below that he transcribed and commented on throughout his life. An Ocean Without Shore is a Study of Ibn ‘Arabi. In the introduction, Chodkiewicz provides a good deal of documentation for the often heard claim that Ibn ‘Arabi has been the most influential thinker in Islam over the past seven hundred years. He shows that this has been true, not only among the intellectual elite, but also among .the common believers. He explains why a few Muslims have considered Ibn ‘Arabi the greatest heretic of Islam, while for many others he is Islam’s greatest spiritual teacher. In the main body of the book, Chodkiewicz demonstrates that Ibn Arabi’s writings are firmly grounded in the Qur’an. In doing this he also shows that Ibn `Arabi’s Qur’anic roots run far deeper than has heretofore been imagined. He explains the principles of Ibn `Arabi’s Quednic hermeneutics with unprecedented clarity, and in bringing out the primary importance of the Shaykh’s magnum opus, Al-Futuhat al-Makkiyah, he solves a good number of riddles about the text that have puzzled modern readers. Chodkiewicz’s work shows how, for Ibn ‘Arabi, the initiatory voyage is a voyage in the divine word itself.

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Michel Chodkiewicz

(b. 1929)

Michel Chodkiewicz has been the Director of Studies at École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris. For many years he was Director of the well-known Paris publishing house, Editions de Seuil. He is the author of numerous books and articles on Islamic spirituality, including a translation of Awhad al-Dīn Balyānī’s Risālah al-Ahdiyyah as Epitre sur l’ Unicite Absolute (1982), Spiritual Teachings of Amir ‘Abdul Qadir (1993) and two books on Ibn ‘Arabi– An Ocean Without Shore (1993) and Seal of the Saints.