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Mashrabaمشربة

Ibn ʿArabī: his life, teachers and first readers

Where he travelled, the people he met, and who read the Fuṣūṣ, each point with its source.
About this page

Four layers on one map: his journey from Murcia to Damascus, the teachers and companions he portrays in the Rūḥ al-quds, the places where the Fuṣūṣ was read and commented, and the reading certificates of the manuscript read before the author. Every point shows its source; where sources differ, both readings are shown. For the chains of transmission from the Prophet, see the atlas.

His journey, the people he met, and the readers of the Fuṣūṣ. Every point carries its source.

Ibn ʿArabī's journeys, west to east

Related: the manuscript and the text · read Faṣṣ Ādam

MurciaSevilleCórdobaMorón de la FronteraCeutaTlemcenTunisFezAlmeríaCairoMeccaṬāʾifBaghdadMosulMalatyaKonyaDamascusJerusalemHebronAleppoKayseriHarranSivas
1240 CE
The life as a list
  1. 1165 · Murcia: Born in Murcia.
  2. c. 1173 · Seville: Family moves to Seville when he is eight; his home for the next 27 years.
  3. c. 1180 · Córdoba: Meets Averroes (Ibn Rushd) in Cordoba, sent by his father.
  4. 1190 · Córdoba: Vision of all the prophets from Adam to Muhammad, the theme later given form in the Fuṣūṣ.
  5. c. ? · Morón de la Frontera: Stays with Shaykh al-Mawrūrī at Morón and writes al-Tadbīrāt al-ilāhiyya (date not given; probably before the Mashāhid).
  6. 1193 · Ceuta: Sails from al-Andalus and lands at Ceuta on the way to Tunis.
  7. c. 1194 · Tlemcen: Stops at Tlemcen, on the way to or from Tunis.
  8. 1194 · Tunis: First visit to Tunis, to meet ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Mahdawī, a pupil of Abū Madyan.
  9. 1194 · Seville: Back in al-Andalus; writes Mashāhid al-asrār, one of his first books.
  10. 1198 · Fez: Visionary ascension in Fez, recounted in Kitāb al-Isrāʾ.
  11. 1199 · Almería: Writes Mawāqiʿ al-nujūm in eleven days during Ramaḍān 595, for Badr al-Ḥabashī.
  12. 1201 · Tunis: In Tunis again; writes Inshāʾ al-dawāʾir just before leaving the West for Mecca.
  13. c. 1201 · Cairo: Passes through Cairo on the way to Mecca.
  14. 1202 · Mecca: In Mecca; begins al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya; meets Makīn al-Dīn and his daughter Niẓām, who inspired the Tarjumān al-ashwāq.
  15. 1203 · Ṭāʾif: Visit to Ṭāʾif; writes Ḥilyat al-abdāl in an hour.
  16. 1204 · Baghdad: Leaves Mecca with Majd al-Dīn Isḥāq (father of al-Qūnawī) for Anatolia; Rūḥ al-quds read in Baghdad in Ṣafar 601.
  17. 1205 · Mosul: In Mosul; writes al-Tanazzulāt al-Mawṣiliyya and other short works.
  18. 1205 · Malatya: First stay in Malatya, from Ramaḍān to Dhū l-Qaʿda 601, probably as guest of Majd al-Dīn.
  19. 1205 · Konya: In Konya; meets Awḥad al-Dīn Kirmānī; Risālat al-anwār written in Konya (Hirtenstein) or 'in Rūm' (manuscript note).
  20. 1206 · Damascus: First visit to Damascus; several short treatises composed there in Jumādā I 602.
  21. c. 1204 · Jerusalem: In Jerusalem: begins the series Kitāb al-Alif, Kitāb al-Bāʾ, etc. (601); Ishārāt al-Qurʾān written there (602) per Hirtenstein.
  22. 1206 · Hebron: In Hebron; Rūḥ al-quds read there and Kitāb al-Yaqīn composed.
  23. 1207 · Cairo: In Cairo; Rūḥ al-quds read there in Shaʿbān 603.
  24. c. 1207 · Aleppo: Leaves Cairo for Aleppo; Kitāb al-Tajalliyāt written in Aleppo sometime before 606.
  25. 1210 · Konya: In Konya again; probably marries the widowed mother of Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Qūnawī.
  26. c. ? · Kayseri: Visits Kayseri during his Anatolian travels (no date given).
  27. c. ? · Harran: Visits Harran during his Anatolian travels (no date given).
  28. 1211 · Baghdad: Second stay in Baghdad; meets Shihāb al-Dīn ʿUmar al-Suhrawardī; writes Kitāb al-Fanāʾ fī l-mushāhada.
  29. 1213 · Aleppo: In Aleppo.
  30. 1215 · Mecca: Back in Mecca; compiles the Tarjumān al-ashwāq.
  31. 1215 · Aleppo: Writes the commentary on the Tarjumān in Aleppo later the same year.
  32. 1215 · Sivas: In Sivas (attested in manuscripts).
  33. 1215 · Malatya: Main residence in Malatya, where he kept a house and raised a family; writes Iṣṭilāḥāt al-ṣūfiyya (615).
  34. 1223 · Damascus: Settles in Damascus under the Ayyubids; teaches and writes until his death.
  35. 1229 · Damascus: Vision of the Prophet handing him the Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam; the book is written after it. Also writes his catalogue of works (Fihrist) for al-Qūnawī.
  36. 1231 · Damascus: Completes the first version of al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya.
  37. 1234 · Damascus: Writes the Ijāza for the Ayyubid ruler al-Malik al-Muẓaffar, listing some 290 works.
  38. 1238 · Damascus: Completes the second version of the Futūḥāt in 37 volumes.
  39. 1240 · Damascus: Dies in Damascus.
  40. 1518 · Damascus: Posthumous: his tomb at al-Ṣāliḥiyya is (re)built under the Ottoman sultan Selim I.

Basemap: Natural Earth 1:50m land (public domain) via world-atlas; conic conformal projection. Coordinates from Wikidata (CC0).

Where the sources disagree (18)
  • Birth day: 28 July 1165 (Iranica) · 27 July 1165 (Anqa) (Both give 17 Ramaḍān 560.)
  • Death day: 10 November 1240 (Iranica) · 9 November 1240 (Anqa) (Both give 22 Rabīʿ II 638.)
  • Final departure from the West: 597/1200 left Spain (Iranica, Anqa) · 1201 left the Muslim West (SEP) · 598/1201 still in Tunis (Hirtenstein) (Compatible if 1200 = leaving al-Andalus and 1201 = leaving Tunis.)
  • Fez ascension (Kitāb al-Isrāʾ): 1198/594 (Hirtenstein) · 1197 (Anqa)
  • ʿAnqāʾ mughrib: c. 595/1199, last year in Spain (Hirtenstein) · Almería 596 (Elmore, cited by Gril)
  • Ishārāt al-Qurʾān: Jerusalem 602/1206 (Hirtenstein) · Malatya, 13 Ramaḍān 601 (Veliyuddin 51 note, Clark and McAuley)
  • Order of the 601–603 eastern journey: Baghdad–Mosul (601) then Anatolia; Konya 602; Cairo 603 (Tahrali, Veliyuddin table) · Kitāb al-Alif begun in Jerusalem 601 (Hirtenstein)
  • Second Baghdad stay: 608/1211 (Tahrali) · 608/1212 (Hirtenstein)
  • Return to Mecca: 611/1214 (Tahrali) · Ramaḍān 611/1215 (Hirtenstein, Tarjumān)
  • Malatya period: 612–618/1215–1221, at least six years (Hirtenstein; MIAS 'After Ibn Arabi') · four years, 1216–20 (Tahrali)
  • Second version of the Futūḥāt: completed 636/1238 (Hirtenstein) · finished within four years of December 1231 (Anqa)
  • al-Qūnawī's birth: 606/1210 (Iranica; SEP 1210) · 605/1209, subject to debate (Clark)
  • al-Qūnawī's relation to Ibn ʿArabī: stepson (Iranica, SEP) · son-in-law (MIAS writings page, Chittick) (Clark: marriage to al-Qūnawī's mother is reported by some biographers such as Jāmī.)
  • al-Jandī's death: ca. 700/1300 (Iranica); 700/1300 (Clark) · c. 691/1291 (repo lineage.json, unsourced)
  • al-Qāshānī's death: 730/1330 (Iranica) · 730/1329 (Clark) · 730/1329 or 736/1335–6 (MIAS writings page)
  • al-Farghānī's death: 695/1296 (Iranica) · 699/1300 (MIAS 'After Ibn Arabi')
  • Üftāde's death: Tahrali prints 968/1580; 968 AH = 1560–61 CE (Internal inconsistency in the source.)
  • Ibn Turka's textual link: paraphrases al-Jandī (Iranica) · linked to al-Qayṣarī, low confidence (repo lineage.json)
Not on the map, for want of a source (7)
  • Marrakesh, Bijāya (Bougie) and other named Moroccan/Algerian stops of 595–597: Gril says only 'several cities of Morocco'; not mapped.
  • Medina visit: not found in the fetched open sources.
  • Muṣṭafā Bālī Zāde (d. 1073/1663, in lineage.json): no open source found; not included in 'transmission'.
  • Al-Qayṣarī's origin in Kayseri and al-Qāshānī's association with Kashan: implied by nisba only; not asserted.
  • Home places of Bābā Rukn al-Dīn Shīrāzī and Molla Fanārī: not stated in the fetched sources (entries kept with place null).
  • A single open page stating that Evkaf 1933 is held in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul: Brill's full introduction is not openly accessible; the location rests on the shelfmark plus the museum's own history page.
  • Wikipedia was used only to resolve place names to Wikidata items, not as a citation.