The Horizons of Being

The Horizons of Being explores the teachings of Ibn al-'Arabi by examining Dawud al-Qaysari’s (d. 751/1350) Prolegomena to his commentary on the Fusus al-hikam, popularly known as the Muqaddimat al-Qaysari. A masterpiece of Sufism, the Muqaddima is both a distillation of the Fusus and a summary of Ibn al-'Arabi’s entire metaphysical worldview. As such, it is a foundational text that delves into the most important subjects characterizing the philosophical Sufi tradition: Being, God’s attributes, divine knowledge, the universal worlds, unveiling, creation and the microcosm, the perfect human, the origin and return of the spirit, prophethood and sainthood. The present work is a complete translation of the Muqaddima and a commentary that incorporates the ideas of the main exponents of this tradition.