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Introduction 9 to God, repentance is only a means in relation to the ultimate aim . Thus, it is not an absolute but a relative value . Consequently, there is sometimes a direct connection between using the system of aspects and relativity . 8 Additionally, our author likes to employ relationships between two sets of entities and to compare them to each other in order to explain a phenomenon or idea . The cosmos, says Ibn al - ‘Arabī, consists of body and spirit, and the relationship of the cosmos to God is the same as the person’s body to his spirit . Just as the spirit is not known except through the body, God is not known except through the cosmos . 9 Ibn al - ‘Arabī’s texts are replete with such comparisons . A reference to this way of teaching appears in the chapter on almsgiving ( zakāt ) wherein our author states that “there is absolutely no entity except that it has a perspective or relationship to God and a perspective and relationship to the creation ( mā min shay’in ’illā wa - lahu wajh wa - nisba ’ilā al - ḥaqq wa - wajh wa - nisba ’ilā al - khalq ) . 10 Actually, this reference is to a legal point but it is applicable to many other issues which have various aspects and relationships except for the two mentioned here . Even in the sphere of logic he does not employ, for example, the term maqūlāt, which denotes the Aristotelian categories, but rather calls “how,” “when” etc . relationships . 11 Our aim in the present book is to show that the truth in Ibn al - ‘Arabī’s view consists of the combination of aspects which characterize a certain entity, idea or a phenomenon . We shall Abrahamov, Abandoning, pp . 23 f . 8 Chittick, SPK, p . 359 . 9 Ibn al - ‘Arabī, Futūḥāt, II, p . 308 . 10 Ibid . , V, p . 16 . In contrast to other Sufis, he regards movements as relationships, 11 and not as concrete substances . Ibid . , IV, p . 386 . The use of perspective in discussion is a logical tool, and it is one of the signs of Ibn al - ‘Arabī’s rationality . Abrahamov, Rationality, p . 270 .
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