an Ibn al-Arabī Defender in Yemen: al-Fīrūzābādī

The sufis that spread ideas of Ibn al-Arabī known one of the greatest scholars of theoretical wisdom as al-S？h？ayk？h？ al-Akbar in Yemen are mostly migrated to Yemen from foreign countries. In other words it is understood that these ideas were transferred from foreign countries rather than from the internal dynamics of Yemen. Although the number of incoming dervishes was low, the level of influencing the region was high and the ideas of these mystics have been widely accepted in this region, especially in the eighth and ninth Hijri centuries. However, the unexpected expansion thoughts of Ibn al-Arabī disturbed the madrasa scholars in Yemen. Especially Islamic law scholars have criticized the followers of Ibn al-Arabī in Yemen from time to time. These scholars wrote reviews on the Ibn al-Arabī school and against the dervishes who defended this school. Another ？ūfī scholar coming from Yemen to another country, made great contributions in defending the idea of Ibn al-Arabī against the criticism of law scholars in Yemen. This person is none other than Mad？j？d al-Din al-Fīrūzābādī (d. 817/1415), who is known for his superb lexicological accumulation. During this period Ismā？īl b. Ibrāhīm al-Jabartī was the leader of the ？ūfīs. There is a close connection between al-Fīrūzābādī and al-Jabartī. The Jabartī madrasa spread works of Ibn al-Arabī and al-Fīrūzābādī. This situation had a big impact in Yemen. When these books spread through the Jabartī madrasa, madrasa scholars began to criticize ？ūfīs especially about the wahdat al-wujud that adopting the school of Ibn al-Arabī. So sometimes in order to stop this conflict, the sultan of that period had to take action. In order to deny the thought of Ibn al-Arabī and refute his opinions, many madrasa scholars wrote books. This article examines another unknown aspect of an Islamic jurist al-Fīrūzābādī as defender of Ibn al-Arabī who came to Yemen from abroad. His articles, especially Risāle fi’r-Red ？alā al-Mu？terizīn ？alā Ibn al-Arabī: Reddü’l-Mu？tezirīn ？alā al-S？h？ayk？h？ Muhiddīn, which he wrote as criticize in jürist Ibn al-Hayyāt’s Nazīru’s-Suāl ve al-Cevāb article, and later el-？gtibāt bi Mu？āleceti ？bn al-Hayyāt fī Ecvibeti Mesā’ile Sü’ile ？anhā bi-Hakk？ Muhyiddīn Ibn al-Arabī: el-？gtibāt bi Mu‘āleceti ？bnü'l al-Hayyāt are very important for our topic