Classifications of Knowledge in Classical Islamic Mysticism: from Eastern Sufi Sources to the Writings of Muḥyī l-Dīn Ibn al-ʿArabī

The following article aims at analyzing various classifications of knowledge that are found in the literature of classical Islamic mysticism. The discussion focuses on two main corpora: Sufi writings, composed in the central and eastern parts of the Islamic world, and works by the Andalusī mystics or theosophists Ibn Masarra (d. 319/931), Ibn Barraǧān (d. 536/1141), Ibn Qasī (d. 546/1151), and Muḥyī l-Dīn Ibn al-ʿArabī (d. 638/1240). The article examines the discrepancies between the Eastern-Sufi and Andalusī taxonomies of knowledge, in an attempt to highlight the typological differences between these two mystical traditions of classical Sunnī Islam.