Images of Muhammad by Tarif Khalidi

Author:Tarif Khalidi [Khalidi, Tarif]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-385-53054-5
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2009-07-18T16:00:00+00:00

Of significance in this passage is the reference to the “two origins” (nash’atayn) of Muhammad, which is an important clue to Ibn al-‘Arabi’s conception of Muhammad as a figure both above history and within it, a supernatural being divinely and uniquely endowed with endless knowledge.

As Perfect Man is an emanation of Muhammad, so also are all prophets, whom he likewise “sustains, nurtures and inspires.”41 He is described as “the first and the last,” as “God’s clearest proof,” as “preserver of the world,” and as one “in whom are gathered the truths of the world.”42 Muhammad is reported to have said that the world came into existence because “I was an unknown treasure, and I wanted to be known;” he enshrined love as the movement that created the world and incidentally explained Muhammad’s partiality for women as a “longing of the all for its parts.”43 At least as startling in this galaxy of epithets is the view that, proceeding from ‘A’isha’s famous definition of Muhammad’s character as the Qur’an, goes beyond this to assert the identification of the one with the other:

He who wishes to see Muhammad from among those in his community who did not live in his time should regard the Qur’an. If he does so, no difference will be found between regarding it and regarding Muhammad. It is as if the Qur’an has assumed (intasha’a) a bodily form called Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib. The Qur’an is the speech of God and His epithet (sifa) while Muhammad is the epithet of God Almighty in his totality. So Muhammad cannot be considered as absent from this present world for he is the form (sura) of the Qur’an.44

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