Certainty Identification in Ibn Arabi’s Mysticism

The concept of certainty is a concept that is discussed in numerous fields such as philosophy and mysticism. In Islamic mysticism, too, Muslim mystics have noticed the concept of certainty in terms of its use in holy Koran and relations. The purpose of the writer in the paper is to study the concept of certainty in the works of Ibn Arabi. Referring to the works of Ibn Arabi, while the writer endeavors to explain the meaning of certainty from Ibn Arabi’s standpoint, he points to its stages as well. The conclusion made by the writer based on Ibn Arabi’s point of view about the concept of certainty is the distinction he makes between psychological certainty and logical certainty. As for the stages of certainty, also, along with the three fold types of that, he introduces a new type called Haghighatul Yaghin, i.e. reality of certainty. Of course, the purpose of Ibn Arabi by the word certainty is not something absolute, rather, a specific certainty that has a religious and mystical value and is obtained through praying. Another innovation found through Ibn Arabi’s perspective is his belief in place free certainty for which he has revealed an evidence with reference to one of the verses in the Koran and based on his own inference. However, it appears that the issue of place free certainty contradicts with the general perspective of Ibn Arabi about the location, which is, necessitating it with the subject and place. In addition, as admitted by Ibn Arabi, certainty is not something developed independent and self-reliable externally, rather, it relies on certain man, just like the reliance of knowledge on scholar. Nevertheless, if we consider an action a place for certainty, one can say that such an attitude is beyond the conventional rationality.