The Faith of Pharaoh: Controversies over Ibn Arabi Fusus Al-Hikam
By Professor Carl W. Ernst
"He (Pharaoh) said: I believe that there is no God but Him in Whom the children of Israel believe, and I am among those who submit to God"
"قال آمنت انَّه لا اله الَّا الذي آمنت به بنو إسرآئيل و اناْ من المسلمين"
These words of the Pharaoh of Egypt, spoken while the waters of the Red Sea were about to close over his head, appear in the Quranic account of the story of Moses, and they show the defiant opponent of the prophet making one last effort to escape the doom that has befallen him. God's words don't seem encouraging: "Now ? When before you rebelled, and were of the evildoers ? But today, We will save you and in body, so you maybe a sign for those who come after ...".
"ألآن وقد عصيت قبل و كنت من المفسدين؟ فاليوم ننجيك ببدنك لتكون لمن خلفك آية"
Commentators and story-tellers have generally assumed that Pharaoh, though was preserved in body, was condemned to hell. As in Jewish legend, so in Muslims tales of the Prophets, the angel Gabriel made Pharaoh wait until it was too late to make a valid confession of faith, by "cramming his mouth with slime".
Yet in mystical circles, this common-sense interpretation has not always been upheld. A characteristic sufistic interpretation of the Quran revolves around the case of the faith of Pharaoh, according to the analysis of Muhyiddin ibn Arabi, known as the Grand Master (الشيخ الاكبر), and probably the most influential and prolific of the Sufi theorists. He himself was no stranger to controversy during his lifetime. His highly original views were provocative enough to arouse intense criticism also for many centuries after his death. Ibn Arabi's thesis of the validity of Pharaoh's confession faith, which occupies only couple of pages in Fusus al-Hikam, has attracted a remarkable amount of comments from both supporters and detractors. What were the issues at stake in this controversy, and what does it reveal of the method of Scriptural exegesis of ibn Arabi and his school ?