Ibn 'Arabī's Metaphysics of the Human Body

Abstract

In his important study Religion and the Order of Nature Seyyed Hossein Nasr has pointed out that it is in Ibn 'Arabī that one finds the most elaborate picture of the sacredness of body in the Islamic tradition. The present article relates doubly to Nasr's work. Inasmuch as it discusses Ibn 'Arabī's views on human body, it aims to carry forward Nasr's discussion. It differs, however, from the latter in taking into account the variety of approaches to human body in the traditional doctrines by concentrating on the views that are disparaging to human body. What emerges from such contrast is the existence of considerable variety among the traditional mystico-religious views on human body. We try to show that Ibn 'Arabī's views on human body, which are extraordinarily positive, are immersed in his unique understanding of the Qur'ān. In the conclusion an explanation of the difference in attitudes to body in Christianity and Judaism-Islam is offered in the light of Frithjof Schuon's work.