2.3.6 - His Asceticism and Abandoning His Belongings

As anyone who wants to enter the Way of mysticism and asceticism, Ibn al-Arabi had to give up his money and property in order to devote himself to worshiping his Lord and freeing himself from the bonds of worldly attachments. Ibn al-Arabi traces the origin of this behavior to the famous hadith about Omar Ibn al-Khattab and Abu Bakr al-Siddqi, may Allah be pleased with them [Kanz: 35611].

But since Shaykh Muhyiddin had not yet committed himself to a shaykh whom he could trust, he consulted his father and gave him all what he owned, voluntarily:

Thus, we gave out everything in our hands, and since we did not have a Shaykh to ask him in this or give him what we have, we resorted to our father, may God’s mercy be upon him, and after consultation we left to him what we own, not to anyone else because we did not return at the hands of a Shaykh, nor I had seen yet a Shaykh in the Way; thus I gave up everything just as the deceased leaves behind his family and his money. When we consulted the father and he asked us to do so, we did and never asked him after that what he had done with it, up to this day. This is the correct reasoning of the soul, and it is a must for every seeker.

[Futuhat: II.548].

Then he explains that the origin of this behavior is the story of Abu Bakr when he gave all his possessions to the Prophet, peace be upon him, when he asked them to collect charity, while Omar brought half his money, sine the Prophet did not specify to them, otherwise they will obey his terms, but he wanted to distinguish their ranks, thus when he asked Omar: What did you leave to your family? He said: The half. But when he asked Abu Bakr, he said: “I left for them Allah and His Messenger”. At that, Omar said: I can never compete with Abu Bakr!

So Shaykh Muhyiddin explained that one should always strive for the best to achieve the high ranks [Futuhat: II.549].