History of Sufi Metaphysics
Below is a comprehensive narrative overview of The History of Sufi Metaphysics, written to fit within the broader exploration of Non-Dual Thought Across Cultures.
Sufi metaphysics emerged within the spiritual and intellectual life of Islam as an inward exploration of divine reality, seeking to understand the relationship between God, the cosmos, and the human soul. While rooted firmly in the Qur’an and the prophetic tradition, Sufi metaphysical thought developed over centuries through lived spiritual practice, philosophical reflection, and dialogue with earlier intellectual traditions. Its central concern has always been the nature of divine unity and how that unity is experienced, expressed, and realized within the multiplicity of the world.
In the earliest centuries of Islam, Sufism was primarily an ascetic and devotional movement rather than a systematic metaphysical one. Early figures such as Hasan al Basri and Rabi‘a al Adawiyya emphasized repentance, moral purification, and intense love of God. Their teachings were not framed in philosophical language, yet they already contained the seeds of later metaphysical reflection. The focus on inner transformation implied that the self was not an independent reality but something that could be reshaped, diminished, or even dissolved in relation to God. Early Sufis spoke of states and stations on the spiritual path, suggesting that reality is encountered progressively as the heart is refined.
By the ninth and tenth centuries, Sufi experience began to be articulated in more explicitly metaphysical terms. Concepts such as fana, the annihilation of the self in God, and baqa, subsistence in God, became central. Figures like Junayd of Baghdad emphasized sobriety and balance, insisting that mystical union did not abolish the distinction between Creator and creation at the level of law and communal life. At the same time, more ecstatic Sufis such as al Hallaj gave voice to radical expressions of divine intimacy, most famously in statements identifying the self with divine truth. These expressions forced Muslim thinkers to confront the metaphysical implications of mystical experience and to define its limits and meanings.
The classical period of Sufi metaphysics matured between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries, when Sufism entered into sustained dialogue with Islamic theology and philosophy. Al Ghazali played a decisive role in this synthesis. Trained in law, theology, and philosophy, he argued that true knowledge of God comes not only through rational demonstration but through direct experiential unveiling. While rejecting certain philosophical claims, he preserved a hierarchical vision of reality in which all levels of existence depend upon God as their source. For al Ghazali, metaphysics was inseparable from spiritual practice, and knowledge without transformation was incomplete.
The most influential and controversial development in Sufi metaphysics came with Ibn ‘Arabi in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. His thought introduced a comprehensive vision of reality often summarized as the unity of being. According to this view, existence itself is one, and all multiplicity is the self disclosure of divine being through forms and relationships. God alone truly is, while the world exists as a manifestation of divine names and attributes. Human beings occupy a unique position in this unfolding reality because they can consciously reflect all divine names and thus become a mirror of the divine. Ibn ‘Arabi did not deny the transcendence of God, but he reinterpreted it in a way that allowed for immanence without collapse. His metaphysics offered a profoundly non dual vision in which unity and multiplicity are not opposed but mutually intelligible.
Following Ibn ‘Arabi, Sufi metaphysics continued to develop through commentaries, adaptations, and regional schools. Thinkers such as Sadr al Din al Qunawi, ‘Abd al Karim al Jili, and later Persian and Ottoman scholars refined the language of divine self manifestation, imagination, and the perfect human. These ideas spread widely through Sufi orders, poetry, and teaching manuals, shaping Islamic spirituality across the Middle East, South Asia, and beyond. Persian poets like Rumi and Hafez expressed metaphysical insights through symbolic and lyrical language, making complex ideas accessible to broader audiences while preserving their depth.
In later centuries, Sufi metaphysics encountered both critique and renewal. Some legal and reform movements challenged metaphysical speculation as excessive or dangerous, while others sought to reinterpret Sufi concepts within stricter theological frameworks. In South Asia, figures such as Shah Wali Allah attempted to harmonize Ibn ‘Arabi’s vision with scriptural theology. In modern times, Sufi metaphysical thought has been revisited in dialogue with Western philosophy, psychology, and comparative mysticism, often highlighting its non dual dimensions alongside similar insights in Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian traditions.
Across its long history, Sufi metaphysics has remained grounded in the conviction that ultimate reality is divine unity and that this unity is not merely an abstract principle but a lived and transformative truth. Its concepts arose not from detached speculation but from the attempt to articulate experiences of divine presence, absence, and return. As a strand of non dual thought, Sufi metaphysics offers a vision in which the many are understood as signs of the One, and the journey of the self is a movement from apparent separation toward conscious participation in divine reality.