A Comparison of the Nature of Divine Word in Mutikallimun and Ibn Arabi

The question of whether the Divine Word is originated or pre-eternal has always challenged the minds of both the Mu‘tazilites and Ash‘arites. Gnostics refer to it as the Merciful Divine Breath, which is neither pre-eternal nor originated. The present paper discusses the quality of the Prophet’s receiving revelation, and how the Divine Word, irrespective of its originated or pre-eternal nature, is manifested in the mould of words. Some of the Mu‘tazilites believe that it is of the type of sounds and words, while a group of the Ash‘arites conceive of it as a soulish truth transferred through sounds and words. Ibn Arabi distinguishes between God’s Book and God’s Word and attributes the difference between its being Arabic or non-Arabic to the Book and not to God’s Words. He believes that the words of the Holy Qur’an belong to God and not the Prophet (s) and argues that their descent to his heart were in the verbal from; in other words, the Prophet (s) received the Qur’an in its present Arabic version and did not change any part of it. In his commentary on this holy Book, Qunawi also writes that the concrete existential form of the Qur’an is similar to its perceptive form, thus, the Qur’an is light (nur) by essence.