The Unlimited Mercifier presents a comprehensive portrait of Ibn 'Arabi's life and thought, highlighting his special place in history and his particular relevance in the modern world. The book is a unique arrangement of biographical chapters alternating with chapters on major themes in his work. Divided into five sections, it includes:

• a full and up-to-date biography, drawn from Ibn 'Arabi's writings
• a historical overview of the times in which he lived
• an exploration of key themes in his teachings
• many new translations, with samples of his handwriting
• detailed maps and photographs of the places he visited
• appendices on his major works and contemporaries
• suggestions for further reading
• full notes, bibliography and index

This highly readable and lucid book will appeal to anyone interested in the real heart of Sufism or the mystical path.

The author
Stephen Hirtenstein has been editor of the Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi Society since its inception in 1982, and is a co-founder of Anqa Publishing.

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The Unlimited Mercifier - Table of contents

Contents

Acknowledgements
Preamble

Introduction
1 In search of new perspectives
2 Of Oneness and Singleness

Life in the West
3 Early life (1165–1181)
4 Of Adam and Eve
5 Return to God (1182–1184)
6 Of Prophethood and Sainthood
7 Under instruction (1184–1194)
8 Of Intermediaries and their removal 

The road to the centre
9 Light beyond the shore (1194–1200)
10 Of the Heirs and the Seals
11 Pilgrim at Mecca (1201–1204)
12 Of Descent and Return

From the centre to the circumference
13 Travelling and advising (1202–1222)
14 Of Love and Beauty

Established at the crossroads
15 In Damascus (1223–1240)
16 Of Book and Speech
17 Of East and West

Abbreviations
Notes
Appendix 1: Selected major works of Ibn 'Arabi
Appendix 2: Some of Ibn 'Arabi's contemporaries
Further reading
Bibliography
Index

Reviews

For Ibn 'Arabi, words have a sacred function. They link what cannot be expressed with what mankind is craving to hear. Stephen Hirtenstein serves Ibn 'Arabi with a joyful vitality that mirrors the richness of his life and his meaning. Across a near-millennium, a new link is made.
Peter Brook, film and theatre director, Paris

Quantum physics tells us that consciousness, not matter, is the ground of all being and this is now becoming the basis for a paradigm shift from a matter-based science to a consciousness-based science. But the idea of the primacy of consciousness is not new; this truth about reality has been creatively intuited by many in the past, among them the sheik of all sheiks Ibn 'Arabi. 'Arabi is one of my favorites, for the simple reason that he followed the wisdom tradition of exploring reality through our intellect. Stephen Hirtenstein has made a wonderful contribution to the integration of spirituality in our modern scientific thinking by making 'Arabi accessible to the popular mind. It is by far the simplest and most heart-warming rendition of Ibn 'Arabi and his teachings that I have come across. Read it, and you will be able to explore the spiritual journey of a giant intellect.
Prof. Amit Goswami, Dept. of Physics, University of Oregon

Stephen Hirtenstein's new book is the first study of the great Sufi mystic's life and teachings designed directly for the English-speaking audience: the result is an immensely readable, absorbing, and impressively comprehensive overview which is accessible to the first-time reader while offering rewards and surprises at each re-reading. It is certainly the best general "introduction" to Ibn 'Arabi's complex and fascinating life and teachings for anyone still unfamiliar with this mystical genius. At the same time, its biographical (and often dramatically autobiographical) focus throws new light on the interplay of history, spiritual experience, and literary expression in Ibn 'Arabi's writing, even for those at home with his work.
Prof. James Morris, Dept. of Islamic Studies, University of Exeter

The title The Unlimited Mercifier is taken from a line in Ibn 'Arabi's monumental Futuhat al-Makkiya and signifies the metaphysical vastness of his vision and the universal significance of his teachings. From the outset it is made clear that Ibn 'Arabi's is an extraordinarily elevated, comprehensive, all-inclusive universal perspective on human reality, possibility and potential. Ibn 'Arabi's metaphysics of unity embraces both the ancient and the modern and "gives credence", says the author, "to all the divergent possibilities of human kind and the natural world, a new integration of reason and revelation". It affords an invaluable opportunity to understand Ibn 'Arabi's thought on an "intimate and personal level" as being inextricably connected with our own life and existence in the "here and now" of modernity. I'm sure it deserves (and will appeal to) a wide audience – certainly anybody at all interested in the Unity of Existence, knowingly or unknowingly, from whatever tradition or intellectual background or no tradition at all. It is a fine and welcome study.
Peter Coates, Dept. of Psychology, Univ. of Lincoln

Extract from Chapter 14: Of Love and Beauty

It is a commonplace that the most essential instinct to be found in the animal and plant kingdom is the preservation of life. All the functions of living seem to be geared to the continuation of the species, with the strongest surviving and the weakest being left behind. All the efforts, all the comings and goings, are expended in order to "keep going", but to what end, for what purpose? When humans have contemplated this, some have concluded that life is futile and pointless, but carry on living anyway. Some make their creed "eat, drink and be merry", enjoying the pleasures of life as much as possible and putting out of their minds any question of why or to what end. But those who question existence come to a much deeper understanding of motive forces. For Ibn 'Arabi the preservation of life is only the most immediate level of understanding, since it emphasises the motive of fear: he gives as example the way in which Moses left Egypt after killing the Egyptian. Aware that such a crime merited capital punishment:

Moses fled, apparently out of fear [for his life], but really [according to the spiritual meaning] out of love, love of his salvation. For movement is always a matter of love, but the observer may be veiled in it by other causes that are not this.

Thus for Ibn 'Arabi love is the central feature of all existence, and the task of the real human being is to see beyond the veils of apparent motivation to the love which underlies all. The concern of the human being is the preservation of love, not just life. He relates this directly to the creation of the universe as described in the hadith: "I was a Hidden [Unknown] Treasure and I loved to be known, so I created the world that I might be known". Without love, the universe would not have come into being. Without love, everything would remain in a state of non-motion, pure possibility buried in non-existence. Without love, the Divine treasury would not be known. And love permeates every movement, every action, every level, whether we are aware of it or not.

It has often been said that Ibn 'Arabi is a great mystical philosopher whose writings are a tour de force of intellectual insight – the implication being that others have described the feelings of the heart more beautifully and eloquently. Such a person has never read Ibn 'Arabi's poetry or his descriptions of love, especially the vast Chapter 178 in the Futuhat, which is devoted to the knowledge of the Station of Love. It is impossible not to be struck by his extraordinary passion, by the absolutely central role that love plays in his writing, and above all by the fact that his writing itself is nothing but an outpouring of love. It is equally impossible not to notice the precision with which he portrays the arena of love, and the depth of his insight into its true nature.

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