Self Manifestation of Divine Names

Tbn al-‘Arabi treated the key cosmogonic subject of the hierarchy of God’s *Most- beautiful Names’ (a/-asma’ al-husna) in at least four non-discrete texts, or extracts, produced at different times beginning relatively early in his career. The first of these, composed around 596/1200 in Eastern Andalusia, was incorporated as a chapter in the systematic-cosmological section of the K. ‘Anga’ mughrib (The Book of the Fabulous Gryphon) and may be examined in my translation and study of that work.! The other three tracts, from the Shaykh’s K. Insha@’ al-jadawil wa-l-daw@’ ir (The Composition of the Columns and Circles)’ and two chapters (4 and 66) of the Furithar al-makkiyah, will be translated in the present article. The redaction of the Insha’ was drawn out over a long period of time. but the particular passage that concerns us here (our Text I, below) was probably first drafted in Tunis in 598/1202 at the home of Ibn al-‘Arabi’s teacher and friend, Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Aziz al-Mahdawi.’