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Qodirova Yu. master's degree student National University of Uzbekistan Uzbekistan, Tashkent
RELIGIOUS PLURALISM IN THE WORKS OF IBN AL-ARABI
Annotation: The article discusses the views of Ibn Arabi, the largest Sufi thinker, the Creator of the monistic system "unity of being" (Vahdat al-vujud), on the problem of religious pluralism and salvation.
Key words: Ibn Arabi, religious pluralism, hermeneutics.
Ibn Arabi, born in Murcia in 1165. At a young age, he experienced a vision that changed his entire life and led him to receive knowledge-gnosis (ma'rifa). Later, he went to Mecca, where he was impressed by the experience of meeting the Kaaba. It was there in 1202 that he began writing his main work, al-Futuhat al-Makkiya ("Meccan revelations"), containing an extensive exposition of sufi metaphysics. After a period of wandering, he finally settled in Damascus, where he completed and corrected al-Futuhat, and wrote in 1233. A small, but most influential work by Fusus al-hikam ("Gems of wisdom"). This work became very popular with subsequent Islamic thinkers, since it is much simpler both in content and stylistically than the multi-volume al-Futuhat al-makkiya.
The ontological theory of Ibn Arabi received in the history of Islamicthis is the designation of the theory of "unity of being" (vahdat al-vujud), although this term itself is absent from the works of the philosopher. In General terms it can be described as monistic and panentheistic. The assessment of it as pantheistic seems to be erroneous, since Ibn Arabi does not speak of equating God and the created world. The theory of Ibn Arabi is the most complete and all-encompassing conceptualization of the Sufi mystical experience. In addition, it grows organically from the philosophical and theological problems of early Islam.
Ibn Arabi epistemological theory is based on the recognition of three sources of knowledge: reason, religious law given in revelation, and mystical intuition, which presupposes direct access to the Divine realm. Each of them has its own reasons. According to Ibn Arabi, reason and religious law are characterized by limitations and deny what is beyond their boundaries (including each other), while mystical intuition does not deny anything and allows you to see the true boundaries of any knowledge. The Andalusian thinker himself, like other Sufis, claimed to have mystical intuition.
Ibn Arabi is also a representative of the centuries-old tradition of Sufi hermeneutics. This tradition is focused on revealing the implicit and deep meanings of the Quranic text, which occurs in an act of mystical insight, or, better, in the process sinking into the bottomless ocean of the Divine Word. Common approach Ibn Arabi's commentary on the Qur'an is as follows. First, he believes that
divine knowledge is represented in the Qur'an in a synthetic form and refers to the two main categories of human knowledge - mind and imagination. Second, according to Ibn Arabi, the main the principle of hermeneutics is the need to contextualize Quranic meanings in Divine Knowledge; Ibn Arabi recognizes the importance of the literal meaning of the Qur'an, the connection of the Qur'an with specific historical events. However, the literal meaning serves for the philosopher only as a place to plunge into the abyss of the eternal Word. The true Quranic context is totality divine knowledge. Third, Ibn Arabi defends the idea that any understanding of the Qur'an is permissible if it takes into account the external meaning. This means that all direct and portable values that allows Arabic, implicitly integrated into the text, and they are put there by God himself, who, in view of the totality of his Knowledge, implies them all at the same time. Explication of these values possible using grammatical and etymological procedures, resembling what is known in Soviet semiotics as "mythopoetic etymology". Ibn 'Arabi's philosophical monism assumes that every thing it is a manifestation of the grace of the most high, which means that it is good by nature. In such a system, evil is neontological, but acts only as a lack of good. From this idea follows a logical conclusion related to with the philosophy of religion: a person can only worship God, regardless of religion; even if a person thinks that he is worshipping something else (a stone, a tree, a person, etc.), in fact, he worships - in the case of sincere, "heartfelt" worship-it is God, because every object is a manifestation of the divine Mercy. Ibn Arabi writes:"The perfect one among the knowers is the one who sees in any worshipper some manifestation of God in which he is worshipped; therefore they are all (worshippers of God in a separate one) and they call it (their object of worship. - Ed.) God, though it also has its own special name, such as: stone, tree, animal, man, star, or king. These are their individual names. Divinity, on the other hand, is a stage which the worshipper believes to be the stage of his object of worship.
This is actually the manifestation of God before the eyes of the worshipper, who has given himself entirely to the object of worship in this world special manifestation". Ibn Arabi's reasoning on this point is ambiguous: on the one hand, man truly always worships only God, on the other hand, every person is an "idolater" in the sense that that he is always dealing with his own idea of God.
This is a very important issue. As you know, the main critical argument of the majority of Islamic jurists (faqihs) and theologians (mutakallim) against representatives of other religions is that only Islam teaches pure Monotheism (Tawhid), which is nothing else other than a transcendent understanding of God.
However, in Kalama quite early was put the problem of the relationship between God and his Attributes, or Names ("Merciful", "Knowing", etc.). How should Names be thought of, so that God does not become like the creation, and what is the status of the Names themselves?
Ibn Arabi develops his theory Divine Names, which we will not dwell on
now.
And in this regard, the most common versions of the Islamic faith do not differ significantly from the creeds of other religions. According to Ibn Arabi, all
paths lead to God, including any both revealed religion and the products of human conscious.
This, the Islamic thinker believes, is consistent with the Quranic statement that "[truly] we belong to Allah, and to him our return is coming!" (2: 156), along with many other Quranic and prophetic references to God as the Creator of everything and The one to whom all created realities will return. Nevertheless, Ibn 'Arabi does not consider all paths equally virtuous and good; by in his opinion, there is a hierarchy of paths to God.
Complete perfection can be achieved only through the ideal "path of Muhammad", granted directly to the Prophet and his followers. One step below is the "straight path" taught by all the prophets. Of course, this does not include those followers of a particular faith (Jewish, Christian and others) who deviated from the "original " prophetic message.
Even lower are the other way round. Although all the ways and teachings lead to God, only That way, Ibn 'Arabi believes, can be called successful, which is defined by one of the forms of Revelation. Thus, Ibn Arabi is convinced that Islam does not cancel the truth former messengers and revealed religions, but comes to the world as a perfect faith, thus becoming the path to salvation and perfection for those who recognize it for what Islam is an integral religion, since it includes all previous creeds, just as the way of Muhammad includes the ways of all other prophets. Only within the framework of Islam is it possible to achieve an inclusive pluralistic vision! Therefore, a true Sufi does not limit himself to one belief (including one of the forms of Islamic faiths), but sees God in every object that is worshipped; differences in religions for him are differences in the manifestations of God.
Ibn Arabi gives as an example the following images: the Supreme appears in various forms, like a chameleon that changes its color depending on the place, or like water that takes the color of a dish. Ibn Arabi finds confirmation of his pluralistic position in the Qur'an, which he interprets in accordance with the principles of Sufi hermeneutics. Very often esoteric interpretation andalusian mysticism is fundamentally at odds with the Sunni interpretation of a particular story, known from classical Tafsir (at-Tabari, Ibn qasir, etc.). Evaluating his interpretations, we should also once again the basic principle of its hermeneutics: in addition to its external meaning, the Qur'an has a potentially infinite number of secret meaning, since the Word, being an attribute of God, is inexhaustible. In other words, Ibn Arabi expresses only one of the many possible esoteric interpretations that were revealed to him in the process of sinking into the abyss of the eternal Word.
Sources used:
1. Chittick W. The Sufi Path of Knowledge. P. 34-59.
2. Ибн 'Араби. Фусус ал-хикам. С. 121.
3. Farhodjonovna F. N. Spiritual education of young in the context of globalization //Мир науки и образования. - 2017. - №. 1 (9).
4. Ergashev I., Farxodj onova N. INTEGRATION OF NATIONAL CULTURE IN THE PROCESS OF GLOBALIZATION //Journal of Critical Reviews. - 2020. - T. 7. - №. 2. - C. 477-479.
