The Criteria of Mystical Experience from the V iewpint of Ibn 'Arabi and William James

In a comparative study, this paper seeks to analyze the views of Ibn 'Arabi and William James on mystical experience. Ibn Arabi and James consider mystical experience indescribable and transient in which man acquires a transcendental and private epistemic knowledge through a transcendental force; in this experience one acquires a knowledge that never achieves through rational efforts. Whatever one gains in one's own experience cannot be transmitted empirically to others, and thus, those who seek such experiences should strive to gain those mystical experiences with spiritual struggle and self-discipline. In spite of the similarities, Ibn al-'Arabi believed that mystical experience can be acquired in the light of the Shari'a, which strengthens faith, but James considers the feeling as the source of religion and mystical experience, and regards theology as a secondary matter.