Ibn 'Arabi has long been known as a great spiritual master, but the prayers which are attributed to him remain little-known. They provide a most precious glimpse into the real practice of the mystical life within the Sufi tradition. This is the first time that any of Ibn 'Arabi's prayers have been published in another language.

This particular collection is one of the most beautiful, having been revered in the Islamic world for centuries. There are fourteen prayers, one for each day and night of the week. They include not only the most astounding expressions of contemplation and devotion to God, but also an unparalleled depth of knowledge of Union (tawhid). 

As the translators Pablo Beneito and Stephen Hirtenstein show in their introduction, the very structure of the prayers is a mode of contemplation, since for Ibn 'Arabi the weekly cycle itself is sacred. 

These prayers are presented with full notes and appendices. This is a unique spiritual masterpiece, available for the first time in English.

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The Seven Days of the Heart - Table of contents

Contents

Introduction
1 The Awrad of Ibn 'Arabi 
2 The Divine Work: request and response 
3 The three worlds and the three persons 
4 The structure of the Awrad 
5 The 7 days and 7 nights 
6 The day of Muhammad 
7 The Awrad: manuscripts and translation 

The prayers: translation and notes
The opening prayer 
Sunday: eve & morning 
Monday: eve & morning 
Tuesday: eve & morning 
Wednesday: eve & morning 
Thursday: eve & morning 
Friday: eve & morning 
Saturday: eve & morning 

Appendices
A Time according to Ibn 'Arabi’s Ayyam al-sha'n 
B The creative week of the Soul 
C The Abjad system 
D On the meaning of the letters Alif and Waw 
E Manuscripts of the Awrad 

Bibliography

Also available
Wird (Arabic text and transliteration of the prayers, published by the Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi Society, Oxford 1979.)

A Review

This book has brought enormous pleasure. More than that, it has been a revelation. Beneito and Hirtenstein's intelligent renderings and commentaries have opened up new dimensions to what had hitherto been seen primarily as a devotional practice. For as Hirtenstein says in his introduction, "these prayers are as much educational as devotional." The possibility that the educational aspect can be realised through recitation, even when there is no distinctive understanding, should not be dismissed. 

There is no doubt that this book, which gives a clear English translation, plus well-researched footnotes and introduction/appendices which connect the text to the whole corpus of Ibn 'Arabi's work – and beyond, to its Quranic source – provides new opportunities to imbibe full benefit from these extraordinary invocations.

The translation makes it clear that this is a unique work. These are prayers unlike anything found in the Christian tradition, which tends to see prayer as a devotional and emotional activity, and even in Islamic culture, where there was a long tradition of long, metaphysical prayers, they stand out. This is not only because of their form, which combines beauty of expression with heart-felt sentiment and a high degree of intellectual insight, but because of their perspective, which is certainly Akbarian. This is wahdat al-wujud in practice.

Jane Clark, from a review in the Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi Society, Vol. XXX, 2001.


Extract from the Sunday eve prayer

In the Name of God, the All-Compassionate and Most Merciful:

O my God, You are the One who encompasses what is unseen by every seer, and the One who occupies and holds sway over the interior of every exterior.

I ask of You by the light of Your Face, before which all foreheads prostrate, to which all faces submit, and by Your Light at which all eyes gaze, that You guide me on Your private path, turning my face to You away from whatever is other than You.

O You who is the Unlimited "He", while I am the limited "He"!

O "He", apart from whom there is no other!

O my God, You are the Existent, standing over every soul, and the Self-Standing, subsisting in every meaning and every perception. You possess all Power, so You subjugate, and You possess all Knowledge, so You foreordain. To You belongs Ordaining Power and Subjugating Might, and in Your Hands are the creation and the command.

You are with each thing, in the closest proximity, and you are its Master; by encompassing it You are its Director and its Guide.

O my Lord, bring me close to You with the closeness of those who truly know You.

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