Although Ibn Arabi never used the expression Wahdat al-Wujud ("Unity of Being"), it later became associated with the Akbarian tradition, the school of thought named after his honorific al-Shaykh al-Akbar (the Greatest Master). Since the phrase has often been misunderstood, especially in modern discussions, what follows is my own attempt to summarise Ibn Arabi's metaphysics as clearly and faithfully as possible. It is ultimately my own interpretation and synthesis of his thought, so it may well contain errors or oversimplifications.
A note on terminology: In what follows, Being (al-Wujud) refers to the "is-ness" by which anything exists, not God conceived as an entity or object. Essence (al-Dhat) refers to what God is in Himself, His innermost reality, forever beyond all created knowledge and comprehension. Not in the loose English use of "essence of the poem" for example.
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The ocean is not God in His Essence, for God's Essence (al-Dhat) is utterly hidden, incomparable, and transcendent. Rather, the ocean, like all creation, is a locus (mazhar) through which God's one Being (al-Wujud) is disclosed by the theophanies (tajalliyat) of His infinite Divine Names, each appearing in a delimited form. A calm sea, for example, may disclose Names of Beauty (Jamal), such as al-Wasi' (the All-Encompassing) and al-Jamil (the Beautiful). Its vastness may also disclose al-Jalil (the Majestic). By contrast, a violent, stormy sea may disclose other Names of Majesty (Jalal), such as al-Qahhar (the Subduer) and al-Qawi (the All-Strong). So too with all creation: every created thing discloses multiple Divine Names simultaneously, though some Names are more evident than others in a given theophany.
Before their outward existence, all created things are eternally known by God as the immutable entities (a'yan al-thabita): the uncreated fixed possibilities of all that is to be created. They possess no independent existence, nor do they occupy a place "within" God, for God's knowledge is neither spatial nor temporal. Rather, they are the fixed possibilities according to which creation receives existence through the continual Divine theophanies (tajalliyat) of the Divine Names. According to Ibn Arabi, creation is continuously renewed (tajdid al-khalq), each instant receiving existence anew through a fresh Divine theophany (tajalli).
The universe must be viewed from two complementary, not contradictory, vantage points. From the eye of al-Haqq, or al-Haqiqa, creation possesses no independent existence ('adam in itself). The universe is like a mirror through which God's one Being is disclosed by the theophanies of His Divine Names; in this sense, its existence is entirely borrowed from the Real. Like a reflection in a mirror, it has no independent reality apart from the one reflected, yet the reflection is never identical with the one before the mirror. Likewise, God neither indwells creation (hulul), as grapes rest in a bowl or water fills a vessel, nor becomes united with it (ittihad), as wine mixes with water. Such notions wrongly assume two independently existing realities, whereas creation possesses no independent being apart from the Real. Multiplicity belongs to the loci (mazahir), whereas unity belongs to the one Divine Being (al-Wujud).
From the eye of the Sharia, however, there remains a real distinction between Creator and creation. We are contingent, created beings with moral responsibility, limitations, and accountability, whose existence remains wholly dependent upon the Real. Here too, there is neither indwelling nor union: God is never contained by creation, nor does creation become God.
Every created thing is huwa la huwa (He/Not He)It is "He" insofar as God's one Being alone is disclosed through it, just as a reflection truly discloses the one standing before a mirror. Yet a reflection is never the very thing standing before it, nor is it identical with the one reflected. Likewise, every created thing remains "not He" because it's a finite, contingent locus (mazhar), never God's Essence.
Even what appears ugly or evil is a locus (mazhar) through which God's one Being is disclosed by the Divine Names of Majesty (Jalal) such as al-Mumit (The Giver of Death). The realised gnostic ('arif) recognises these, too, as Divine theophanies of those Names, while still judging evil as evil and acting according to the Sharia. Thus, metaphysical realisation never abolishes moral responsibility.
Where, then, is creation in relation to God? According to Ibn Arabi, the question itself is misleading. God is not a body, nor is He subject to space, direction, or location. Therefore, creation is neither "inside" God, as though He were a container, nor "outside" Him, as though something could exist independently beyond the One Reality. Such spatial categories belong only to the created order. Creation exists only through God's perpetual self-disclosure (tajalli), by which each instant of existence is continually bestowed anew, while God forever transcends every locus, direction, and limitation.
Thus, Ibn Arabi's doctrine is neither pantheism, which identifies creation with God, nor deism, which separates creation from God's continuous self-disclosure. It also transcends the ordinary sense of panentheism, for creation is neither "within" nor "outside" God, since such spatial categories cannot be applied to the Divine. Rather, it is a metaphysics of perpetual Divine self-disclosure (tajalli), in which God's one Being is disclosed through His Divine Names while His Essence remains forever hidden and transcendent. Thus, the realised gnostic beholds both tanzih (transcendence) and tashbih (immanence) together without sacrificing one for the other.
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What do you think? 🌷
