1.0 - THE DUSKING: Supporters and Opponents after Shaykh Muhyiddin Passed Away in 638/1240

Ibn al-Arabi (Al-Tanazzulat al-Mosuliyya, p. 323) ... See the comments on this poem in section 1.5 at the end of this chapter.

There is no doubt that the Greatest Master Shaykh Muhyiddin Ibn al-Arabi was a great mystic intellectual of Islam. Despite the serious attack by a few religious authorities for his ideas, teachings and books, he is still praised everywhere by the people of all ranks, in all Islamic regions, such as the Middle East, Turkey, North Africa, Persia, Pakistan, India, and Indonesia, in addition to the West, both amongst Muslims and non-Muslims. There is no doubt that he has become one of the most prominent international figures whose works continue to influence intellectuals from virtually every culture and religion in the world, and a wide range of subjects in all fields of sciences, arts and humanities.

Within decades of his death, and even during his lifetime, the lasting influence of his teachings and his unfathomably mysterious views have spread in every part of the Muslim world, particularly among the Sufi circles. He was the foremost pioneer for all subsequent Sufis, who were directly or indirectly influenced by the divine wisdom dispersed in his multitudes of multi-volume books and other shorter treatises.

In the following centuries after his death, may Allah's mercy be upon him, many of his students and followers became famous scholars, prolific authors and Sufi masters, such as Sadruddin al-Qunawi, Abd-ul-Razzaq al-Qashani, Abd-ul-Karim al-Jili, Abd-ul-Ghani al-Nabulsi and Abd-ul-Wahhab al-Shaarani, and many other scholars and intellectuals, as we shall mention many of them in chapter II of this volume.

1.1- The Historical Dispute About His Legacy

1.2- Some Scholars Detracting the Greatest Master

1.3- The Main Disputed Theological Issues

1.4- Scholars Admiring and Supporting Him

1.5- Comments on the Opening Poem