Abstract

Muḥyī al-Dīn ibn ‘Arabī (d. 638/1240) bifurcates mercy (_raḥma_) into two distinct categories: “the mercy that is freely given by God” (_raḥmat al-imtinān_), which he also calls “the mercy of existence” (_raḥmat al-wujūd_), and “the mercy that is obligated” by human actions (_raḥmat al-wujūb_). While all things are beneficiaries of the first type of mercy by virtue of the fact that they exist, only humans who conform to God’s laws receive the latter. Ibn ‘Arabī then proves that the ontological reality of the feminine is such that it exhibits this duality of divine mercy most perspicuously. He adduces examples of women, as physical instantiations of spiritual symbols that reveal the connection between humanity and the divine truth, which must be divorced from their material and social lives. Whether it is through their ability to give birth that is emblematised by Ḥawwā’ (Eve) and Maryam (Mary)—the former being the first one to give birth, the latter giving birth without masculine intervention—or their life-giving sweet smell of purity that ‘Ā’isha, the wife of Prophet Muḥammad, had; or their divinely inspired speech that gives life, like that of Āsiya, the wife of Pharoah; or their mercy-based leadership that is both life-giving and rewarding, which is exhibited by Bilqīs, the Queen of Sheba. These are the five symbols of the mercy that is freely given and/or the mercy that is obligated through actions, but in very different ways. Through these five women, Ibn ‘Arabī exalts the metaphysical essence of women as emblematic of God’s most powerful attribute: mercy. This article makes an original contribution by presenting the ways in which Ibn ‘Arabī explores the ontological reality of the feminine principle through these exceptional women.