The Tarjuman Al-Ashwaq - A Collection of Mystical Odes by Muhyiddin Ibn Al-Arabi
by Reynold A. Nicholson, M.A., Litt.D.
1911

The Tarjuman al-Ashwaq or Interpreter of Desires by Ibn Arabi is acknowledged as one of the major works in Sufi literature.

A Collection of Mystical poetry odes from the 10 and 11 century.

About the Author:
Ibn Arabi was born in Murcia, Spain on July 28, 1165 CE (560 in the Islamic calendar), and his family moved to Seville when he was seven years old. In 1200 CE, at the age of thirty-five, he left Iberia for good, intending to make the hajj to Mecca. He lived in Mecca for some three years, where he began writing his Meccan Illuminations (Al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya). In 1204, he left Mecca for Anatolia with Majd al-Dīn Isḥāq, whose son Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Qunawī (1210–1274) would be his most influential disciple.

In 1223, he settled in Damascus, where he lived the last seventeen years of his life. He died at the age of 76 on 22 Rabi' II 638 AH/November 10, 1240CE, and his tomb in Damascus is still an important place of pilgrimage.

Some 800 works are attributed to Ibn Arabi, although only some have been authenticated. Recent research suggests that over 100 of his works have survived in manuscript form, although most printed versions have not yet been critically edited and include many errors.

“ My heart has adopted every shape; it has become a pasture for a gazelles, and a convent for Christian monks."

"A temple for idols, and a pilgrim's Ka'ba, The tables of a Torah, and the pages of a Koran.
I follow the religion of Love; wherever Love's camels turn, there Love is my religion and faith. "- Ibn Alrabi