Cosmos as Revelation’: Reason, Imagination and the Foundations of Ibn ʿArabī’s Scriptural Hermeneutics

Ibn ʿArabī’s metaphysical framework demonstrates that his hermeneutical approach to the Qurʾan represents a vision of what constitutes objective reality. Such a vision, though rooted in traditional sources, is explicated in a highly theoretical language, and is ultimately predicated on the epistemic modes of unveiling (kashf) and witnessing (mushāhada) as the most certain forms of existential or divine knowledge. This study seeks to characterize Ibn ʿArabī’s hermeneutics in light of his teachings on the intellect (ʿaql) and the faculty of imagination (khayāl). The paper examines the implications of Ibn ʿArabī’s method by employing a comparative reading of verse 44 from Surah al-Isrāʾ in the Futūḥāt al-Makkīyya with the interpretation by the notable Ashʿarite theologian and contemporary of Ibn ʿArabī, Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d.606/1210). By situating the discussion within themes of the mainstream exegetical tradition (tafsīr), the assessment further highlights Ibn ʿArabī’s unique and radical contribution to the field of Qurʾanic hermeneutic.