1. Tawheed from the pen of Ibn Arabi.
A. Ibn Arabi (d 638 h) the sufi said:
ومن أضلّ ممن يَدْعو من دُون الله } أي شيء كدعاء الموالي للسادة مثلاً إذ لا يستجيب له أحد إلا الله.
“And who is more astray than one who calls upon something besides Allah?” For example, like a servant calling upon his master, as no one responds to him except Allah.
Tafsir Ibn Arabi under 46 : 5
B. He propogated tawheed in Futuhaat al Makkiyah.
وحى الله تعالى إلى موسى يا موسى لا تجعل غيري موضع حاجتك وسلني حتى الملح تلقيه في عجينك
هذا تعليم الله نبيه موسى عليه السلام ولقد رأيته سبحانه وتعالى في النوم فقال لي وكلني في أمورك فوكلته فما رأيت إلا عصمة محضة لله الحمد على ذلك
Allah revealed to Musa aleh salam: “O Musa, Do not ask someone else in your need. Ask me, even the salt for your flour”
This is what Allah taught Musa Aleh salam, I saw Allah in my dream. HE said to me: “make ME your guardian in all of your affairs”. So I made him my guardian, I saw a pure way (against satan) in it. [Futuhaat al Makkiyah 2/264]
C. Shaykh Nabeel Nisar Sheikh said:
I was searching for something in “Al-Futoohat Al-Makkiyyah” when I stumbled upon something related to the Istiqlali understanding of what counts as ‘worship’.
Ibn al-Arabi (d. 638 AH) mentions that he went to visit a Greek sage among the sun-worshipers. He asked him, why do you worship the Sun? He replied, we don’t take it as God. Our elders took into consideration all the benefits God has placed in the Sun for life on earth, so we realized that it there is a special favor of God upon it. That is why we revere it, so that it might intercede for us before God. We realize that the Sun is a servant of God, ever needful before Him; but it has been bestowed with special grace by Him.
[Al-Futoohat vol. 7, p. 426](end quote by Shaykh Nabeel Nisar Sheikh)2. Two dreams of Ibn Arabi.
A. Raising hands before and after ruku.
Ibn Arabi the Sufi said after quoting ikhtilaf on raising hands before going to ruku and after that:
و أما أنا فرأيت رسول الله صلی الله علیه وسلم في رؤيا مبشرة فأمرني أن أرفع یدي في الصلاة عند تکبیرة الإحرام وعند الرکوع و عند الرفع من الرکوع
My opinion is that, I saw Prophet peace be upon him in a true dream and he ORDERED me to raise my hands in takbeerat of ihraam and before going to ruku and after ruku.
فتوحات المکیة ۲/241)
Note: This a fiqhi issue.
B. [Ibn ‘Arabi narrates his dream about Ibn Hazm]
“I saw myself in the village of Sharaf near Siville; there I saw a plain on which rose an elevation.
On this elevation the Prophet stood, and a man ,whom I did not know, approached him; they embraced each other so violently that they seemed to interpenetrate and become one person.
Great brightness concealed them from the eyes of the people. ‘I would like to know,’ I thought, ‘who is this strange man.’
Then I heard some one say: ‘This is the traditionalist ʿAlī Ibn Ḥazm.’ I had never heard Ibn Ḥazm’s name before. One of my shaykhs, whom I questioned, informed me that this man is an authority in the field of science of Hadeeth.” (this passage is Copied from Ishmayl Dafanti)
3. Ibn Arabi on taqleed e Shakhsi.
A. He Said:
والذي أوصيك به إن كنت عالما فحرام عليك إن تعمل بخلاف ما أعطاك دليلك ويحرم عليك تقليد غيرك مع تمكنك من حصول الدليل وإن لم تكن لك هذه الدرجة وكنت مقلدا فإياك إن تلتزم مذهبا بعينه بل اعمل كما أمرك الله فإن الله أمرك أن تسأل أهل الذكر إن كنت لا تعلم وأهل الذكر هم العلماء بالكتاب والسنة فإن الذكر القرآن بالنص واطلب رفع الحرج في نازلتك ما استطعت فإن الله يقول ما جَعَلَ عَلَيْكُمْ في الدِّينِ من حَرَجٍ وقال صَلَّى اللهُ عَليهِ وسَلَّم دين الله يسر
فاسأل عن الرخصة في المسألة حتى تجدها فإذا وجدتها اعمل بها وإن قال لك المفتي هذا حكم الله أو حكم رسوله في مسألتك فخذ به وإن قال لك هذا رأيي فلا تأخذ به وسل غيره
My advice for you is, If you are a scholar then it is prohibited for you to practice against the evidence which Allah has given you. And it is Prohibited for you to make taqleed of others if you have ability to find the evidence. And if you are Muqallid then avoid following specific madhab, rather follow which Allah ordered you. And that is if you don’t know then ask People of knowledge, and they are scholars of Quran and hadeeth… Because Allah says “He has not placed upon you in the religion any difficulty” and The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “The religion (of Islam) is easy.. and If the Mufti says This is the order of Allah and his Rasool in your so and so mas`ala then take it and if he says this is my opinion then leave and ask another mufti.
[al Futuhaat al Makkiyah 8/299]B. He also said:
والتقليد في دين اللّه لا يجوز عندنا، لا تقليد حيّ ولا ميّت
“Taqleed in the religion of Allah is not allowed according to me, neither the taqleed of alive nor the dead”[Al Futuhaat al Makyyata 3/248]
C. Ibn Arabi the Sufi was not follower of any Madhab, neither Zaahiri Ibn Hazm nor followed 4 Imams.
Ibn al Imad said:
قال في رائيته:
لقد حرّم الرّحمن تقليد مالك … وأحمد والنّعمان والكلّ فاعذروا
وقال أيضا في نونيته:
لست ممن يقول قال ابن حزم … لا ولا أحمد ولا النّعمان
He (Ibn Arabi) said in al Ra’iyya:
The Most Merciful forbade to do taqleed of Maalik… And Ahmad and an-Numan and all (other Imams) therefore pardon me.
He also said in “Nuniya”:
I am not of those who say, Ibn Hazm said.. No, Neither I say, Ahmad said or Numan said.
(Shadharatul Dhuhab by Ibn al Imad 7/347)
4. The aqaid of Ibn Arabi when he died.
Satan trapped him and he wrote the book of Kufr “Fusoos al hikam” as Hafidh ad-Dahabi said.
وعلق شيئا كثيرا في تصوف أهل الوحدة . ومن أردأ تواليفه كتاب ” الفصوص ” فإن كان لا كفر فيه ، فما في الدنيا كفر
“He commented many things for Tasawwuf of Ahlul wahdah (wahdatul wajood) and The worst of his books is Kitaab al-Fusoos, if this book does not contain Kufr, then Kufr does not exist in the world.”
Then he said
قلت: إن كان محيي الدين رجع عن مقالاته تلك قبل الموت، فقد فاز،
I say : if Muhiyudeein (Ibn Arabi) had returned from his sayings before his death, then he is successful. [Seyar Ailam an-Nubala under the biography of Ibn Arabi]
Almost same is said by Ibn Taymiyyah, as he wrote a letter to Nasr al Manjabi who was follower of Ibn Arabi.
Allama Ataullah Hanif Bhojiani as-Salafee said that Ibn Taymiyyah said:
“I had good opinion regarding Ibn Arabi and i used to respect him because his book Futuhaat al Makkiyah has good things in it. But I had not seen Fusus al Hikam at that time, after reading this i came to know about his reality. [Majmoo Rasaail wal Masaail 1/171] after that he refuted the quotes in Fusus al Hikam and said:
والله تعالى أعلم بما مات الرجل عليه
Allah Tala knows on what he died.(Majmoo Rasail wal Masaail page 174) [taken from Hiyat Shaykh al Islam by Abu Zahrah, footnote by Ata ullah Hanif Bhojiyani page 516]