Ibn Arabi's Influence on Islamic Mysticism

Muhyi al-Din Ibn-Abdullah Hatami Taei Andalusi (560-638 A.H./1165-1240 A.D.), known as Ibn ‘Arabi and with the honorific title recorded as Sheikh Akbar (the great master), is considered as one of the greatest speculative geniuses in Islamic mysticism under whose influence Islamic mysticism gradually acquired a new coloring and flavor, and was directed to a new path. The most important characteristic of Ibn ‘Arabi’s mysticism was that he expressed mystical facts and apprehensions in verse in a theoretical structure that nobody had done before. Sheikh Akbar showed such talent in this that nobody has been able to go beyond the borders of the theoretical structure of his mysticism and propose a new scheme. The Sufi mystics and scholars after him were mainly followers of his school. Even his ardent opponents could not resist his influence.