Ibn Arabi and Divine Wisdom on the Word " Adam": A Study of a Comprehensive Image of Adam in Fusus al-Hikam

The most important point in the “Adam” chapter of Ibn Arabi’s book of Fusus al-hikam pertains to the whyness of the creation of Adam and the world. Within our religious and Islamic context, the first response to this question is based on the famous holy hadith that considers the Divine Knowledge as the basis and reason of creation. However, this knowledge-based response is too vague and insufficient to explain the whole story and needs to be expanded. One can view this problem from another perspective: there are, in fact, two different views; one is based on a general image of believers in Abrahamic religions, and the other rests upon the oneness of being. In the latter image, which is the most important image for epistemologists in the field of Divine Knowledge, God is both the outermost and the innermost; He is both the beginning and the end. Adam (human being) is both creation and truth; he is the gathering point of all divine names, and the world is a mirror in which God and Adam see themselves. The angels are also the powers of the world; glory and beauty are the two hands of God. Moreover, the perfect Man is the same single soul. Finally, it is noted that God’s vicegerent on Earth possesses both the image of God and the image of the world. In this paper, the writers have tried to explore this image from various angles and, ultimately, provide a comprehensive picture of the problem under debate.