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In 1202 a 37-year-old scholar from Muslim Spain arrived in Mecca for the pilgrimage, stayed three years, and began a book that would grow to 560 chapters: al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya, The Meccan Illuminations. Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi was born in Murcia in 1165, grew up in Seville, left al-Andalus for the last time in 1200 and settled in Damascus in 1223, where he died in 1240. Around 850 works have been attributed to him. Later generations called him al-Shaykh al-Akbar, “the Greatest Master”, and some of his critics called him far worse. This guide covers his 8 key works and translations, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 8 key works and translations · 1202–2021 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Ibn Arabi wrote in Arabic. His three best-known works are The Meccan Illuminations (al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya, begun in 1202), the love poems of The Interpreter of Desires (Tarjuman al-Ashwaq, reissued with his commentary in 1215) and The Bezels of Wisdom (Fusus al-Hikam, 1229). In English, start with R. W. J. Austin’s The Bezels of Wisdom (1980), the first complete translation of the Fusus; for the poems, Michael Sells’s The Translator of Desires (2021), and for his ideas, William Chittick’s studies (1989, 1998).
Where to Start with Ibn Arabi
If you want his most famous book
→ The Bezels of Wisdom (1980) — the first complete English Fusus al-Hikam.
If you want the love poems
→ The Translator of Desires (2021) — all 61 poems, with commentary and the Arabic text.
If you want a guide to his ideas
→ The Sufi Path of Knowledge (1989) — a scholar’s guide to his metaphysics.
If you want the oldest English translation
→ The Tarjuman al-Ashwaq (1911) — the 1911 version, still freely available.
8 Ibn Arabi Works and Translations, in Order
The Meccan Illuminations
His largest work, begun after he arrived in Mecca in 1202. He finished a first draft in December 1231 and a second in 1238, which runs to 560 chapters. The original filled 37 volumes; modern editions print it in four or eight, about 15,000 pages. Only parts have been translated into English.
The Interpreter of Desires
Sixty-one love poems in the classical Arabic form of the nasib, the lament for an absent beloved, inspired by a young woman called Nizam. When critics read them as ordinary love poetry, Ibn Arabi reissued the collection in 1215 with his own commentary, Dhakha’ir al-A’laq, which reads each image as a statement about God and the soul.
The Bezels of Wisdom
Composed in Damascus in 1229, a short, dense book in which each chapter takes a prophet as the setting, or bezel, for one aspect of divine wisdom. It became the subject of a long tradition of commentaries, including Ismail Hakki Bursevi’s, translated into English by Bülent Rauf in four volumes (1985–1991). Some modern scholars have questioned whether all of it is his.
R. A. Nicholson: The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq
The Cambridge orientalist Reynold A. Nicholson published the Arabic text with an English translation for the Royal Asiatic Society in London in 1911. It was the first English translation of the collection and is freely available online.
R. W. J. Austin: The Bezels of Wisdom
The first complete English translation of the Fusus al-Hikam, by Ralph Austin, published in 1980 by Paulist Press in its Classics of Western Spirituality series. Before it, English readers had only a partial version, The Wisdom of the Prophets (1975), translated from Titus Burckhardt’s French.
The Sufi Path of Knowledge
William Chittick’s book on Ibn Arabi’s ideas, published by State University of New York Press in 1989., a study of the place of knowledge and imagination in his metaphysics, as the subtitle says.
The Self-Disclosure of God
Chittick’s sequel, published by State University of New York Press in 1998, on how Ibn Arabi saw the world as God disclosing himself in endless forms.
Michael Sells: The Translator of Desires
Michael Sells’s translation of all 61 poems, published by Princeton University Press in 2021 in the Lockert Library of Poetry in Translation, with a commentary on each poem, Ibn Arabi’s prefaces and a facing Arabic text. The publisher calls it the first complete English translation in more than a century. Sells had earlier translated 24 of the poems in Stations of Desire (Ibis Editions, Jerusalem).
In What Order to Read Ibn Arabi
Ibn Arabi did not write his books to be read in sequence, and the dates are those of composition, not publication. The Meccan Illuminations was written alongside everything else for more than three decades. The order on this page follows when each work was begun or finished, then the English translations and studies by date.
There are two ways in: the poems or the Fusus. The poems ask less background. The Fusus is short but compressed, so it helps to keep Chittick’s The Sufi Path of Knowledge beside it for the vocabulary.
A reading path
1. The Translator of Desires (Sells, 2021)
2. The Bezels of Wisdom (Austin, 1980)
3. The Sufi Path of Knowledge (Chittick, 1989)
4. The Self-Disclosure of God (Chittick, 1998)
More English Translations
Beyond the 8 key works and translations: 1 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Earlier and partial translations
1
1 book · 1975
- 1975The Wisdom of the Prophetsa partial Fusus al-Hikam, translated by Angela Culme-Seymour from Titus Burckhardt’s French
The years · 1165–1240
Quick facts about Ibn Arabi
- Known for
- Ibn Arabi is known as the Andalusian Sufi philosopher whose teaching that all things exist only through God’s being was later called wahdat al-wujud, “the unity of being”.
- 1165
- Born in Murcia, al-Andalus
- 1193
- First journey out of al-Andalus, to Tunis
- 1202
- Arrives in Mecca; begins The Meccan Illuminations
- 1215
- Reissues his love poems with a commentary
- 1240
- Dies in Damascus
- Born
- 28 July 1165, Murcia, al-Andalus (some sources give 6 August)
- Died
- 16 November 1240, Damascus; buried on Mount Qasiyun
- Full name
- Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Arabi al-Ta’i al-Hatimi; known as Muhyiddin
- Title
- al-Shaykh al-Akbar, “the Greatest Master”
- Travels
- Seville, Tunis, Fez, Mecca, Baghdad, Jerusalem; settled in Damascus in 1223
- Output
- About 850 works attributed to him, around 700 judged authentic (Osman Yahya’s count)
The red mark is 1229: Ibn Arabi composes The Bezels of Wisdom in Damascus.
How Ibn Arabi Writes: Vision, Scripture and Paradox
Ibn Arabi presents much of his writing as received rather than invented. The title Futuhat means “openings”, and he describes his journey east as following a vision. His books move without warning between Qur’an commentary, law, cosmology, autobiography and poetry, and he coins or bends technical terms as he goes, which is why even short works like the Fusus are hard to read without help.
His central idea is easier to state than to read. Only God truly exists; everything else, from stars to people, has being only as God’s self-disclosure, the way a reflection exists only through what it reflects. Later writers called this wahdat al-wujud, “the unity of being”. The phrase itself is not found in his works: Ibn Sab’in is credited with first using it, and Ibn Arabi’s stepson and disciple Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi developed it in philosophical terms.
He wrote poetry that reads as worldly love and then glossed it as mystical, as in his 1215 commentary on The Interpreter of Desires. For the Persian Sufi poet who wrote of longing for God a generation later, see the guide to Rumi.
Frequently asked questions about Ibn Arabi’s books
How many books has Ibn Arabi written?
Around 850 works have been attributed to him, of which about 700 are considered authentic and over 400 survive, according to the count by Osman Yahya. This page lists 8 key books: three of his own works and five English translations and studies.
What are Ibn Arabi’s books in order?
The Meccan Illuminations (begun 1202, finished 1238), The Interpreter of Desires (reissued with his commentary in 1215) and The Bezels of Wisdom (1229). Key English versions: Nicholson’s Tarjuman al-Ashwaq (1911), Austin’s The Bezels of Wisdom (1980), Chittick’s The Sufi Path of Knowledge (1989) and The Self-Disclosure of God (1998), and Sells’s The Translator of Desires (2021).
Where should I start with Ibn Arabi?
With R. W. J. Austin’s The Bezels of Wisdom (1980), the first complete English translation of his most famous book. If you prefer poetry, start with Michael Sells’s The Translator of Desires (2021).
What is Ibn Arabi’s most famous book?
Fusus al-Hikam, The Bezels of Wisdom, composed in Damascus in 1229. His largest work is The Meccan Illuminations, which runs to 560 chapters.
What is wahdat al-wujud?
“The unity of being”: the idea that only God truly exists and that everything else exists only as a disclosure of God. It is the doctrine most associated with Ibn Arabi, but the term does not appear in his works. It was applied to his teaching later; Ibn Sab’in is credited with first using it, and his disciple al-Qunawi developed it.
Why was Ibn Arabi controversial?
Some Sunni scholars judged his teaching incompatible with orthodox Islam. Ibn Taymiyya wrote a sustained critique of his mystical philosophy and passed on a report that the jurist Ibn Abd al-Salam had called him “a master of evil”; al-Dhahabi was another critic. Others defended him, among them al-Safadi, al-Suyuti and al-Firuzabadi, and the historian al-Fasi rejected the Ibn Abd al-Salam story as a fabrication.
Who was Nizam, and are the poems about her?
Nizam was the young woman who inspired The Interpreter of Desires. The 61 poems use the conventions of Arabic love poetry. When critics read them as ordinary love poems, Ibn Arabi added a commentary in 1215 explaining their images as spiritual.
Which English translation of the Fusus al-Hikam should I read?
R. W. J. Austin’s The Bezels of Wisdom (Paulist Press, 1980) was the first complete one. An earlier partial version, The Wisdom of the Prophets (1975), was translated by Angela Culme-Seymour from Titus Burckhardt’s French.
Is The Meccan Illuminations available in English?
Only in part. Eric Winkel has published a partial translation. For its ideas in English, William Chittick’s The Sufi Path of Knowledge (1989) and The Self-Disclosure of God (1998) are the standard studies.
When and where did Ibn Arabi live?
He was born in Murcia, in Muslim Spain, on 28 July 1165, grew up in Seville, and left al-Andalus for good in 1200. After years in Mecca and travels through the Middle East, he settled in Damascus in 1223 and died there on 16 November 1240. His tomb is on Mount Qasiyun.
Footnotes
- Ibn Arabi — Wikipedia
- Tarjuman al-Ashwaq — Wikipedia
- Akbarism — Wikipedia
- The Translator of Desires — Princeton University Press
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“My heart has become capable of every form.”
— Ibn Arabi, Tarjuman al-Ashwaq, poem XI, in Reynold A. Nicholson’s translation (1911)
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