The Creed of Ibn ʿArabī (Known as “Shaykh al-Akbar”) — Its Sharʿī Status
Source: Fatāwā Amun Pūrī by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amun Pūrī
The Question
What is the ruling regarding Ibn ʿArabī, also known as “Shaykh al-Akbar”?
The Answer
Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad Ibn ʿArabī (560–638 AH / 1165–1240 CE), famously titled Muḥyī al-Dīn and al-Shaykh al-Akbar, was—by scholarly consensus—an atheist, Bāṭinī, heretic (zindīq), and kāfir. His beliefs were based on philosophy and the pantheistic doctrine of Wahdat al-Wujūd.
Scholars’ Criticism of Ibn ʿArabī and His Works
❀ Imām al-Dhahabī (748H):
His most infamous book is al-Fuṣūṣ. Al-Dhahabī said:
“If there is no kufr in this book, then there is no kufr anywhere in the world. We ask Allah for protection and safety.”
(Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ: 23/48)
❀ ʿAllāmah Ismāʿīl ibn Muḥammad al-Kūrānī (665H):
Called Ibn ʿArabī a Shayṭān.
(Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā Ibn Taymiyyah: 2/247)
❀ ʿAllāmah Ibrāhīm ibn Muḍād al-Jaʿbarī (687H):
“This filthy man disbelieved in every book revealed by Allah and in every Prophet.”
(Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā Ibn Taymiyyah: 2/246)
❀ ʿAllāmah Abū al-Maḥāsin al-Turkumānī al-Ḥanafī (823H):
He would burn Ibn ʿArabī’s books whenever he found them.
(al-Ḍawʾ al-Lāmiʿ: 3/31)
❀ Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar (852H):
Quoting his teacher Sirāj al-Dīn al-Balqīnī (805H):
“I asked him about Ibn ʿArabī, and he immediately replied: ‘He is a kāfir.’”
(Lisān al-Mīzān: 4/318)
❀ Ḥāfiẓ al-Sakhāwī (902H):
Stated that Imām al-Balqīnī would warn against Ibn ʿArabī and his works.
(al-Ḍawʾ al-Lāmiʿ: 6/89)
❀ ʿIzz al-Dīn Ibn ʿAbd al-Salām (660H):
Declared Ibn ʿArabī a wicked liar and a Shiʿī.
(Lisān al-Mīzān: 5/311, Fatāwā al-Shāmī: 4/239)
❀ ʿAllāmah al-Simnānī (726H):
Criticized Ibn ʿArabī and declared him a disbeliever.
(al-Wāfī bi al-Wafayāt: 7/233)
❀ Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr (774H):
Regarding Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam:
“It contains many statements whose apparent meaning is explicit kufr.”
(al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah: 17/353)
❀ ʿAllāmah Ibn Abī al-ʿIzz al-Ḥanafī (792H):
“Ibn ʿArabī and those like him are hypocrites and heretical zindīqs.”
(Sharḥ al-Ṭaḥāwiyyah: p. 494)
❀ ʿAllāmah al-Biqāʿī (885H):
“The likes of Ibn ʿArabī, Ibn Sabʿīn, and Ibn al-Fāriḍ equated the existence of the Creator with the existence of the creation.”
(Tanbīh al-Ghabī: p. 162)
❀ Qāḍī Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Bakr (837H):
“Whoever doubts the disbelief of the Jews, Christians, or the followers of Ibn ʿArabī is himself a disbeliever.”
(Tanbīh al-Ghabī: p. 253; Fatāwā al-Ḥadīthiyyah: p. 38)
❀ Mullā ʿAlī al-Qārī al-Ḥanafī (1014H):
Wrote a refutation al-Radd ʿalā al-Qāʾilīn bi Waḥdat al-Wujūd, declaring:
“Know that whoever truly adopts Ibn ʿArabī’s creed is a disbeliever by consensus, without dispute.”
(p. 154)
Scholars Who Declared Him a Disbeliever or Heretic
Among the many scholars (around 50 in total) are:
- Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī
- Sirāj al-Dīn al-Balqīnī
- Zayn al-Dīn al-ʿIrāqī
- Shams al-Dīn al-Dhahabī
- Ibn Khaldūn
- Badr al-Dīn ibn Jamāʿah
- Ibn Hishām (author of Mughnī al-Labīb)
- al-Taftāzānī
- al-Sakhāwī
… and many others.
Final Word
The creed of Ibn ʿArabī, especially his doctrine of Wahdat al-Wujūd, is heretical and contradictory to Islam. Scholars across centuries have unanimously declared him and his followers as zindīq, heretic, and kāfir.
Their firm stance shows that the Sufi philosophy introduced by him was a distortion of Islam, parallel to the innovations of the Christians’ Trinity, and thus rejected by the scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah.
