Visiting Ibn Arabi in Syria (Photo: Emily O'Dell)
Tomb of Ibn Arabi (Photo: Emily O'Dell)
He saw the lightning in the east and he longed for the east;
but if it had flashed in the west,
he would have longed for the west.
My desire is for the lightning and its gleam,
not for the places and the earth…
— Ibn Arabi (d. 1240)
I took these photos in Damascus, while visiting the Sufi shrine and mosque of revered medieval mystic Ibn Arabi — just a few weeks before the war in Syria began. My memories of Damascus are peaceful ones, in sharp contrast to the reality of life in Damascus today…
Though Ibn Arabi was one of the most celebrated Muslim philosophers of his time, he chose to describe himself with humility as “the lowliest Sufi of the Maghrib, the least of them in terms of following [the Way], the most incomplete in terms of spiritual opening, the most covered in terms of veils.”
