Mysticism (Sufism)

Mysticism is of enormous significance in Islamic philosophy. Few Islamic philosophers were not committed to some form or another of mysticism. Ibn Sabʿīn (1217–1270) led an important school of thought that argued that Aristotelian philosophy and logic were of no use in understanding the way things really are. Logical thought is analytical, a process of dividing a concept into its parts. This method fails to represent the basic unity and wholeness that exists in reality, a unity that reflects the unity of God and everything as part of God, and any system of thought that is accurate is one that is based on unity, not division. The most influential mystical thinker Ibn al-ʿArabī (1165–1240) established this line of thought and represented himself as burying the old Peripatetic form of thought when he transported the bones of Ibn Rushd (Averroes) back to al-Andalus...