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Akbari Sufism orAkbarism (Arabic: أكبرية:Akbariyya) is a branch ofSufi metaphysics based on the teachings ofIbn Arabi, anAndalusianSufi who was agnostic and philosopher. The word is derived fromIbn Arabi's nickname, "Shaykh al-Akbar," meaning "the greatest master." 'Akbariyya' or 'Akbaris' have never been used to indicate a specific Sufi group or society. It is now used to refer to all historical or contemporary Sufimetaphysicians and Sufis influenced by Ibn Arabi's doctrine ofWahdat al-Wujud. It is not to be confused withAl Akbariyya, a secret Sufi society founded bySwedish Sufi'Abdu l-Hadi Aguéli.
Wahdat al-Wajud (Arabic: وحدة الوجود Persian: وحدت وجود) meaning the "unity of being" is aSufi philosophy emphasizing that "there is no true existence except the Ultimate Truth (God)", that is, that the onlytruth within theuniverse is God, and that all things exist within God only.
Ibn Arabi is most often characterized in Islamic texts as the originator of this doctrine. However, it is not found in his works. The first to employ this term wasIbn Sabin.
Ibn Arabi's disciple and stepsonSadr al-Din al-Qunawi used this term in his own works and explained it using philosophical terms.
In the 20th century there has been a focus on the Akbari 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 where many students were attracted to Islam and religious studies during the 1970s.
The greatest growth in American scholarship on Sufism took place 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."[citation needed]Henri Corbin (d. 1978) andFritz Meier (d. 1998), who were prominent among these experts, made important contributions to the study of Islamic mysticism. Other important names wereMiguel Asín Palacios (d. 1944) andLouis Massignon (d. 1962), who made contributions to Ibn Arabi studies. Palacios discovered some Akbarian elements inDante'sDivine Comedy. Massignon studied the famous SufiAl-Hallaj saying "Ana l-Haq" (I am the Truth).
Seyyed Hossein Nasr and his students and academic disciples have come to play an important role in certain subfields of Sufi studies. The influence of Nasr and other Traditionalist writers likeRene Guenon andFrithjof Schuon on Sufi studies can be seen in the interpretation of the works of Ibn Arabi and the Akbari school by such scholars asTitus Burckhardt,Martin Lings,James Morris,William Chittick,Sachiko Murata, and others. These names are both mostly practitioners of Sufism and scholars studying Sufism.[1]
Turkey is situated where Ibn Arabi's most prominent disciple, successor and stepsonSadr al-Din al-Qunawi, and other important commentators on Arabi's works lived in the past.Dawūd al-Qayṣarī, who was invited toIznik byOrhan Ghazi to be the director and teacher for the first Ottoman university (madrasa), was the disciple of Kamāl al-Dīn al-Qāshānī, himself a disciple of Sadr al-Dīn al-Qūnawī. This means that the official teaching itself was set in motion by a great master of the Akbari school. Not only Sufis but also Ottoman sultans, politicians and intellectuals had been deeply impressed by Ibn Arabi and his disciples and interpreters.[2]Seyyed Muhammad Nur al-Arabi was also impressed by Ibn Arabi's doctrine, though that continued to decrease until the Modern Era. In the 20th century the last important commentator of Fusûs was Ahmed Avni Konuk (d. 1938). He was a mawlawî and composer of Turkish music.
Studies on Sufism, especially Akbari works, were not very common until the first Ph.D. thesis was written by Mahmud Erol Kılıc inMarmara University's Faculty ofTheology titled "Ibn 'Arabi's Ontology" (in Turkish, "Muhyiddin İbn Arabi'de Varlık ve Varlık Mertebeleri") in 1995. Academic studies on Akbari metaphysics and philosophy began to rise after studies on this topic were conducted by Turkish scholars such as Mustafa Tahralı and Mahmud Erol Kılıc.
In terms of Akbari studies, the most important event to take place was the translation of Ibn Arabi'smagnum opus,"Futuhat-ı Makkiyya", to Turkish. Turkish scholar Ekrem Demirli translated the work in 18 volumes between 2006 and 2012. This particular translation was the first complete translation to another language. Demirli's work also includes translatingSadr al-Din al-Qunawi's corpus to Turkish and writing a PhD thesis on him in 2004, writing a commentary on Fusus al-Hikam by Ibn Arabi, and writing a book titledİslam Metafiziğinde Tanrı ve İnsan (God and Human in Islamic Metaphysics), [Istanbul: Kabalcı, 2009 (ISBN 9759971623)].
There are many Akbari works in Ottoman Turkish that are yet to be studied by scholars.
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There have been many Akbari Sufis, metaphysicians and philosophers. While Ibn Arabi never founded aTarikah himself,[3] he created a majority of the philosophy around it with hisWahdat al-Wujud. The Sufis listed below were members of different orders, but following the concept of Wahdat al-Wujud.
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