This podcast offers a sampling of talks given by researchers, teachers, translators, and lovers of Ibn Arabi, given at the annual symposia, and in online seminars.
Ibn 'Arabi Society
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179 episodes
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Podcast Overview
This podcast offers a sampling of talks given by researchers, teachers, translators, and lovers of Ibn Arabi, given at the annual symposia, and in online seminars.
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Publishing Since
9/24/2006
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Recent Episodes
February 21, 2026
Stefan Sperl: "Different Aesthetics" – A New Approach to Sufi Texts?
"Different Aesthetics" – A New Approach to Sufi Texts? The topic of the MIAS-Warburg Symposium was inspired by an interdisciplinary research project on Premodern Aesthetics spearheaded by the University of Tuebingen. It approaches aesthetic acts and artifacts not as objects sufficient unto themselves and hence to be viewed with 'disinterested pleasure' (Kant), but as agents endowed with an aesthetic energy in which their true purpose resides, and which explains the dynamic impact they can have on socio-cultural and psychological processes. The aesthetic acts and artifacts studied by the project also include Christian mystical texts whose aesthetic energy aims to engender in the recipient a state of consciousness akin to the beatific vision. A collection of papers produced by contributors to the Tuebingen project has just appeared in English translation (Different Aesthetics: Principles, Questions, Perspectives, edited by A. Gerock-Reiter et al., De Gruyter, 2025). The presentation will introduce the scope of the project, discuss recent examples of its application to Christian and Muslim texts, and conclude with remarks on its relevance for the study of the Akbarian tradition. Stefan Sperl graduated from Oxford (Arabic) and SOAS (PhD 1977), and spent ten years working for UNHCR in Egypt, Sudan and Geneva. He joined SOAS in 1988 and retired in 2018 as Emeritus Professor of Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies. His publications include articles on Arabic, Islamic and Refugee Studies, as well as Mannerism in Arabic Poetry: A Structural Analysis of Selected Texts (1989), Qasida Poetry in Islamic Africa and Asia (with C. Shackle, 1996) and The Cosmic Script: Sacred Geometry and the Science of Arabic Penmanship (with A. Moustafa, 2014) which won the Iran Book of the Year Award (2016). His recent publications are 'The Qur’an and Arabic Poetry' (The Oxford Handbook of Qur’anic Studies, 2020), the volume Faces of the Infinite, Neoplatonism and Poetry at the Confluence of Africa, Asia and Europe with the accompanying website lyrics-of-ascent.net (with Y. Dedes, 2022), and 'Islamic Spirituality and the Visual Arts' (The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Islamic Spirituality, 2023). He continues to be actively engaged in research and since 2023 has been teaching Arabic literature courses at the University of Cambridge. Recorded by Warburg Institute
January 19, 2026
Gregory Vandamme: The Body of the Caliph
The Body of the Caliph: Corporeal Governance of the Human Kingdom in Ibn 'Arabi's al-Tadbirat al-ilahiyya and its Commentaries In his Book of the Divine Governances for the Restoration of the Human Kingdom (K. al-Tadbirat al-ilahiyya fi islah al-mamlaka al-insaniyya), Ibn 'Arabi describes how the flourishing of the individual depends on a spiritual policy ensuring harmony in the human microcosm. This governance of the individual is centred on the caliphal authority of the spirit and its vizier, the intellect. But where does that leave the body? Is it merely reduced to passive obedience to this authority, or does it too play an active role in this internal politics? In this presentation, we shall revisit the Tadbirat from the vantage point of the body, while also examining two later commentaries by Husayn b. Tu'ma al-Baytimani (d. 1175/1761) and Muhammad al-Damuni (d. ca. 1208/1794). GREGORY VANDAMME is a scholar specialising in classical Sufi thought, particularly the works of Ibn 'Arabi and his commentators. He holds a PhD in Religious Studies from UCLouvain, where his dissertation focused on the concept of hayra (perplexity) in Ibn 'Arabi’s thought, exploring its implications in epistemology, metaphysics, and Qur'anic hermeneutics. Currently, Gregory is a post doctoral research associate at the University of Chester, following his roles as a research fellow at F.R.S.–FNRS and UCLouvain in Belgium, and as guest lecturer at SciencesPo Paris. His research primarily delves into the doctrines of speculative mysticism, Qur'anic hermeneutics, and spiritual education in Sufism. Recorded by Warburg Institute
January 1, 2026
Divine Necessity Of The Comprehensive Being: Unlocking Ibn al-'Arabi's Fusus al-Hikam through the Adamic Fass
This paper explores the pivotal role of the Adamic fass in unlocking the profound metaphysical framework of Ibn al-'Arabi's Fusus al-Hikam. Centering on the concept of the comprehensive Being (al-kawn al-jami'), a term mentioned in the opening paragraph of the Fusus, the Adamic fass emerges as the key to understanding the divine necessity of human existence as a mirror of God's names and attributes. By elucidating the unique ontological position of Adam as the khalifa (vicegerent) and the synthesis of all divine manifestations, this study demonstrates how the Adamic 'fass' provides the interpretive lens through which the overarching unity and wisdom of each fass of the Fusus al-Hikam can be accessed. Ultimately, the paper argues that Adam represents not only the archetype of perfected humanity but also the means through which the divine self-disclosure (tajalli) achieves its fullest realization, making the Adamic fass the cornerstone for comprehending Ibn al-Arabi's vision of existence. Mukhtar Ali is Professor of Islamic Studies, specializing in Sufsm, Islamic philosophy and ethics. His areas of interest include Arabic and Persian literature, Qur'anic studies, theology, traditional medicine and comparative religion. He is the author of Philosophical Sufsm: An Introduction to the School of Ibn al-'Arabi (Routledge, 2021) and The Horizons of Being: The Metaphysics of Ibn al-'Arabi in the Muqaddimat al-Qaysari (Brill, 2020) and his forthcoming work, Inscriptions of Wisdom: The Sufism of Ibn al-'Arabi in the Mirror of Jami, is a study on Ibn al-'Arabi's masterpiece, Fusus al-hikam through the lens of Jami's Naqd al-nusus fi sharh Naqsh al-Fusus. " Recorded by Warburg Institute
179 total episodes available
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