منهجية الشيخ ابن عجيبة في التوازن بين الشريعة والحقيقة في ضوء مؤلفاته

The Methodology of Sheikh Ibn Ujaibah in Balancing between Shariah and Haqiqah in the Light of his Compilations

Abstract

Some people regard reality (ḥaqīqah) and Sufism as opposed to, and in conflict with, the Sharīʿah. A great number of Muslim and Sufi scholars reject this view; they hold, rather, that the Sharīʿah and reality are inseparable — neither opposed nor rivals, but interwoven with one another. In this view, religion and the Sharīʿah are the complete foundation, while reality and Sufism are an integral part of it; the part therefore derives its soundness and its practical character from the whole, and so cannot be called its rival or its opposite. In every age, scholars and Sufis have guided the Ummah on this question, each in his own way.

This paper sheds light on the topic through the works of Shaykh Ibn ʿAjībah (may Allah have mercy on him), as follows: it begins with an introduction, then the literal and technical definitions of the Sharīʿah and reality, then the statements of the jurists and Sufi scholars, then selected passages from the books of Ibn ʿAjībah, and it closes with a conclusion drawn from his thought.