The Andalusian Sufi Muḥyī al-Dīn ibn al-ʿArabī (d. 638/1240), known to his admirers as al-Shaykh al-Akbar (The Greatest Master), began his magnum opus al-Futūḥāt al-makkiyya (The Meccan Revelations) by describing a vision he saw. This vision defined his entire teaching and purpose, as he saw it, and subsequently led to the composition of the Futūḥāt. The vision culminated in a pulpit being erected for him to ascend in front of an assembly of all of God’s Prophets and Messengers, led by Muḥammad and his four Caliphs, surrounded by the rest of Muḥammad’s followers. On this pulpit the following words were inscribed with radiant light: ‘This is the pure Muḥammadan Station. Whoever ascends to it is an heir (of Muḥammad) and has been sent by God to preserve the sanctity of the Sharīʿa’. Ibn ʿArabī, whose honorific title Muḥyī al-Dīn means Reviver of the Religion, clearly saw the service of the sharīʿa as central to his mission. Yet his writings on Islamic law have not received much attention, since most studies focus on his metaphysical views as well as his writings on prophecy and sainthood, love and mercy, and other themes.

That the jurisprudential thought of one of the most influential Muslim thinkers of the past eight centuries has not been adequately studied is not the only problem. Without a full understanding of his thought, one cannot fully assess its influence on later figures. It would be hard to imagine that over centuries countless Sufis and scholars who believed that Ibn ʿArabī was the ‘Greatest Master’ benefitted only from his writings on Sufism an ignored what he wrote on the law. Ibn ʿArabī was a controversial figure who had many detractors; therefore, many Sufis who were highly influenced by his teachings did not mention him at all, although the mark of the influence and borrowings is clear. Was this also the case regarding his jurisprudential thought? To establish this, we must arrive at a comprehensive and clear understanding of his legal theory.

In order to understand Ibn ʿArabī’s legal views fully, one must investigate the origins of his ideas in earlier sources.