Al Akbariyya (Sufi school)

A branch of Sufi metaphysics based on Andalusian Sufi gnostic and philosopher Ibn Arabi's teaching. Al Akbariyya is a word derived from nickname of Ibn Arabi (1165–1240) who was known as Shaykh al-Akbar which meaning is the greatest Shaykh. As a definitive term Al Akbariyya it has never been used to indicate a Sufi group or society in history but especially in nowadays it is used for all historical or contemporary Sufi metaphysicians and Sufis influenced by Ibn Arabi's Sufi doctrine Wahdat al-Wujud. In this regard it is different from Al Akbariyya, a secret Sufi society founded by a Swedish Sufi 'Abdu l-Hadi Aguéli.

Wahdat al-Wajud (Arabic: وحدة الوجود Persian: وحدت وجود) the "Unity of Being" is a Sufi philosophy emphasizing that 'there is no true existence except the Ultimate Truth (God)'. Or in other phrasing that the only truth within the universe is God, and that all things exist within God only.

Ibn Arabi is most often characterized in Islamic texts as the originator of the doctrine of wahdat al-wujud, however, this expression is not found in his works and the first who employed this term was perhaps, in fact, the Andalusian mystical thinker Ibn Sabin. Actually Ibn Arabi's disciple and step son Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi was clearly expressed that term in his works and explained it by using philosophical terms.

See Sufi metaphysics

In the 20th century there has been focused on Akbariyya School in academic circles and universities. Viewed in a historical context, increased government support for the study of the Muslim world and Islamic languages emerged in the United States after the Second World War. Many of the students attracted to Islam and religious studies during the 1970s in U.S.

The greatest growth in American scholarship on Sufism, then, has arisen from the work done by scholars trained during the 1970s. Alexander Knysh notes that “in the decades after World War Two the majority of Western experts in Sufism were no longer based in Europe, but in North America.” Henri Corbin (d.1978) and Fritz Meier (d. 1998) who were prominent among these experts, made important contributions to the study of Islamic mysticism. Another important names were Miguel Asin Palacios (d. 1944), Louis Massignon (d. 1962) made contributions to Ibn Arabi studies. While Palacios discovered some Akbarian elements in Dante's famous work Divine Comedy Louis Massignon studied on famous Sufi Al-Hallaj saying "Anal Hak" (I am the Truth) and because of that expression he was executed.

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