787/1385) who brought about a synthesis of these two...

787/1385) who brought about a synthesis of these two branches of the tree of gnosis, although he also did make certain criticisms of Ibn ‘Arabī, especially concerning the question of walāyah/wilāyah. Many others walked later in his footsteps. Āmulī was at once a major Twelve-Imam Shi‘ite theologian and a Sufi devoted to the School of Ibn ‘Arabī.

His Jāmi‘ al-asrār is a pivotal text for the gnosis of Ibn ‘Arabī in a Shi‘ite context.37 He was also the author of a major commentary upon the Fusūs as well as independent metaphysical treatises. The later development of theoretical gnosis in Persia, as well as the School of Transcendent Theosophy of Mullā Sadrā cannot be fully understood without consideration of Āmulī’s works.

The 8th/14th to the 10th/15th century marks a period of intense activity in the field of theoretical gnosis and the School of Ibn ‘Arabī in Persia. Commentaries upon the Fusūs continued to appear. The first in Persian was most likely that of Rukn al-Dīn Mas‘ūd Shīrāzī, known as Bāhā Ruknā (d. 769/1367).38 But there were many others by such figures as Tāj al-Dīn Khwārazmī (d. circa 838/1435),39 Shāh Ni‘mat Allāh Walī, Ibn Turkah (d. 830/1437) and Jāmī, who in a sense brings this period to an end.

This extensive activity in the domain of gnosis associated specifically with the School of Ibn ‘Arabī was in addition to the flowering of the Sufism of the School of Khurasan and Central Asia and profound gnostic teachings, mostly in poetic form, of figures such as ‘Attār and Rūmī on the one hand and the Kubrawiyyah School founded by Najm al-Dīn Kubrā on the other.

We can hardly overemphasize the importance of the Khurasānī and Central Asian Schools and their profound metaphysical teachings, but in this essay we shall not deal with them, being only concerned with ‘irfān-i nazarī in its association with the School of Ibn ‘Arabī. Among the gnostic figures of this period, Sā’in al-Dīn ibn Turkah Isfahānī stands out as far as his later influence is concerned.