The Spiritual Garment in Medieval Islamic Mysticism and Kabbalah

This article seeks to compare two of the most significant mystical corpora of Judaism and Islam, Zoharic literature and the oeuvre of Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn al-ʿArabī (1165–1240) respectively. Following a few pioneering studies on relations between Jewish and Islamic mysticism in the medieval Iberian Peninsula from recent years, this article intends to contribute further to the understanding of such relations. It compares one motif or concept shared by both corpora, that of the spiritual garment, according to which the different realms of creation are divine “garments” that cover the Godhead or veil the primordial divine light. It suggests that the similarities between Zoharic literature and Ibn al-ʿArabī’s writings can be explained by their shared roots, which can be traced to the tradition of Arabic Neoplatonism. Some possible Neoplatonic sources for the similarity between the two corpora are also discussed.