Muhammed Ibn 'Ali Ibn 'Arabi (1165 - 1240 ce) Known as Muhyiddin (the Revivifier of Religion) and the Shaykh al-Akbar (the Greatest Master), he was born into the Moorish culture of Andalusian Spain and traveled widely throughout the Islamic countries.
O Marvel! a garden amidst the flames.
My heart has become capable of every form:
it is a pasture for gazelles and a convent for Christian monks,
and a temple for idols and the pilgrim's Kaa'ba,
and the tables of the Torah and the book of the Quran.
I follow the religion of Love: whatever way Love's camels take,
that is my religion and my faith.
~~
All that is left
to us by tradition
is mere words.
It is up to us
to find out what they mean.
~~
Were it not for
the excess of your talking
and the turmoil in your hearts,
you would see what I see
and hear what I hear!
~~
When my Beloved appears, With what eye do I see Him? With His eye, not with mine, For none sees Him except Himself.
ibn al-`Arabi, Tarjuman al-Ashwaq, in The Mystics of Islam, translated by Reynold A Nicholson
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