1.1.10 The Fruits of Patience
One of the distinguishing features that can be clearly noticed amongst all serious readers of Ibn al-Arabi, and perhaps other Sufis, is that they feel the meanings slowly growing in their own hearts much earlier before they actually understand what they are reading. Only after dwelling on the subject for some long time, and with more frequent readings from various sources, the meanings start to accumulate and make the whole picture clearer to the extent that they feel now they understand everything, but it is still difficult for them to explain it to others. As Zeynep Inan wrote in her review of “Ibnu’l-Arabi Zaman ve Kozmoloji”, the Turkish translation of “Ibn Arabi - Time and Cosmology”: “This book shows that not understanding what one is reading does not prevent him from deeply admiring the subject. Usually when people do not understand what they are reading, they get bored quickly, but this book is one exception.” [1].
As I mentioned above, my work on this subject started in 1990, and after several years of intermittent reading in Ibn al-Arabi’s literature, I realized that, along his unique cryptic portrayal of his extensive mystical experience, the fantastic description of his cosmic vision included some accurate details far beyond the reach of the sophisticated tools of physicists and astronomers, and their subsequent advanced computer analysis.
In some occasions, these two contrasting views coincided, which made me wonder how could Ibn al-Arabi speak of such detailed scientific issues several centuries before they have been actually discovered by telescopes. However, although this gave me good reasons to maintain my faith, it was extremely difficult to reconcile most other particular details with established scientific facts, and even simple common human logic. Nevertheless, I continued the research with the least objective that I might understand this archaic view of the cosmos, with the hope that it may open new windows towards understanding the reality, especially that cosmology is only one minor subject in Ibn al-Arabi’s comprehensive knowledge that he recognizably managed to beautifully layer down horizontally and vertically in the Meccan Revelations and his other shorter books and treatises.