Ibn Arabi

Ibn 'Arabi
Ibn 'Arabī
Born	26 July 1165 Murcia, Taifa of Murcia (now Murcia, Region of Murcia, Spain)
Died	16 November 1240 (aged 78) District of Ṣāliḥiyya at Jabal Qāsiyūn, Damascus-Ayyubid dynasty
Era	Islamic golden age
School	Sufism
Main interests	Mysticism, Sufi metaphysics, Poetry
Influences Mohammed ibn Qasim al-Tamimi
Influenced Ashraf Ali Thanwi, Mulla Sadra, Khwaja Baqi Billah, Bulleh Shah, Ahmad Sirhindi, Shah Waliullah Dehlawi, Shah Abdul Aziz, Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi, Nasr Abu Zayd, Nazim Al-Haqqani, Nizamuddin Auliya, Osman Fazli, Ismail Hakki Bursevi, Dawūd al-Qayṣarī, Fakhr-al-Din Iraqi, Mahmud Shabistari, Shah Nimatullah Wali, Abdul Karim Jili, Jami, Ahmad al-Alawi

Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibnʿArabī al-Ḥātimī aṭ-Ṭāʾī (Arabic: أبو عبد الله محمد بن علي بن محمد بن عربي الحاتمي الطائي‎‎) ‎(26 July 1165 – 16 November 1240), also known simply as Shaykh Al-Akbar, "the great master", was an ArabAndalusian Sunni Scholar of Islam, Sufi mystic, poet, and philosopher. He is renowned by practitioners of Sufism as "the greatest master" and also as a genuine saint.

'Abū 'Abdullāh Muḥammad ibn 'Alī ibn Muḥammad ibn `Arabī (أبو عبد الله محمد ابن علي ابن محمد ابن عربي ) was born in Murcia, Taifa of Murcia on Monday, 17th of Ramaḍān 560 AH (26 July 1165 AD) at night. He went by the names al-Shaykh al-Akbar (i.e., "the Great Shaykh") and Muḥyiddin ibn Arabi. He was also known as Shaikh-e-Akbar Mohi-ud-Din Ibn-e-Arabi in the Subcontinent.

His father, ‘Ali ibn Muḥammad, served in the Army of Abu ʿAbd Allah. When Abu ʿAbd Allah died in 1172 AD, ‘Ali ibn Muḥammad swiftly shifted his allegiance to the Almohad Sultan, Abū Ya’qūb Yūsuf I, and became one of his military advisers. His family then relocated from Murcia to Seville.

His father's family claimed descent from the legendary Arabian poet Hatim al-Tai.

His mother came from a noble Berber family with strong ties to northern Africa. Al-Arabi mentions his maternal uncle, Yahya ibn Yughman, who was at one point a wealthy prince of the city of Tlemcen, but had left that position to lead a life of spirituality after encountering a Sufi mystic.