Abu Fauzi
Junior Member
As-Salaam alaikum,
As observed by Sayyadi Muhyi al-Din Muhammad ibn Arabi (A. H 560-638/AD. 1165-1240), in his famous Futuhat al-Mkkiyya, when Allah created "your body, He placed within it a Ka'aba, which is your heart. He made this temple of the heart the noblest of houses in the person of faith (mu'min).
He informed us that the Heavens, in which there is the Frequented House (al-bayt al-ma'amur), and the earth, in which there is the (physical) Ka'aba, do not encompass Him and are too confined for Him, but He is encompassed by this heart in the constitution of the believing human. What is meant here by 'encompassing' is Knowledge of Allah".
Here, Ibn Arabi is of course referring to the famous hadith qudsi, the words odf Allah upon the tongue of the Prophet Muhammad, which he often quotes :- 'Neither My heavens nor My earth encompass Me, but the heart of My believing Servant does encompass Me.'
This indicates some of the most essential teachings on the nature of the heart: that nothing in the external world - high or low - can contain True Divinity, that is to say, nothing which we can experience through our senses (which is the earth), and nothing which we can imagine in our minds, however lofty, elevated and glorious (which is heaven), can begin to measure up that which is unlimited Reality, Being itself. Allah is only known (and loved) within, in the heart of the one who has faith (imaan).
As observed by Sayyadi Muhyi al-Din Muhammad ibn Arabi (A. H 560-638/AD. 1165-1240), in his famous Futuhat al-Mkkiyya, when Allah created "your body, He placed within it a Ka'aba, which is your heart. He made this temple of the heart the noblest of houses in the person of faith (mu'min).
He informed us that the Heavens, in which there is the Frequented House (al-bayt al-ma'amur), and the earth, in which there is the (physical) Ka'aba, do not encompass Him and are too confined for Him, but He is encompassed by this heart in the constitution of the believing human. What is meant here by 'encompassing' is Knowledge of Allah".
Here, Ibn Arabi is of course referring to the famous hadith qudsi, the words odf Allah upon the tongue of the Prophet Muhammad, which he often quotes :- 'Neither My heavens nor My earth encompass Me, but the heart of My believing Servant does encompass Me.'
This indicates some of the most essential teachings on the nature of the heart: that nothing in the external world - high or low - can contain True Divinity, that is to say, nothing which we can experience through our senses (which is the earth), and nothing which we can imagine in our minds, however lofty, elevated and glorious (which is heaven), can begin to measure up that which is unlimited Reality, Being itself. Allah is only known (and loved) within, in the heart of the one who has faith (imaan).