Ibn al-'Arabi's Barzakh: The Concept of the Limit and Relationship Between God and the World

This book explores how Ibn al Arabiμ (1165-1240) used the concept of barzakh (the Limit) to deal with the philosophical problem of the relationship between God and the world, a major concept disputed in ancient and medieval Islamic thought. The term "barzakh" indicates the activity or actor that differentiates between things and that, paradoxically, then provides the context of their unity. Author Salman H. Bashier looks at early thinkers and shows how the synthetic solutions they developed provided the groundwork for Ibn al Arabiμ's unique concept of barzakh. Bashier discusses Ibn al Arabiμ's development of the concept of barzakh ontologically through the notion of the Third Thing and epistemologically through the notion of the Perfect Man, and compares Ibn al Arabiμ's vision with Plato's.