Masters of Dark Arts—Ibn ʿArabī’s Records on African Sorcery, Qaḍīb al-Bān and the Power Known as Himma

Abstract

In 1195 AD, a celebrated Sufi scholar, poet and philosopher Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī quit Muslim Spain for Africa. There, he first became acquainted with ʿuzābīyyah, which he described as the dark arts rooted in the soul’s power over mind and matter. Ibn ʿArabī referred to this power as himma. The Sufi shaykh Qaḍīb al-Bān, as well as the North African sorcerers Ibn ʿArabī encountered, could use this power to maim and kill humans. They were also said to be capable of creating new life forms with himma. The present study examines the specific types of himma they used and determines the supposed loci of this power in the body and soul. It also describes the standard methods used in Akbarian circles and North Africa to make oneself worthy of himma and identifies advantages and disadvantages of using this power to turn dreams into reality.

1. Introduction

Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī (d. 1240) taught that every spiritual endeavour would be unsuccessful without himma.1 Contemporary interpreters and translators of Ibn ʿArabī’s works rendered this term as “spiritual energy”,2 “empowered imagination”,3 “concentration”,4 “aspiration”,5 and/or “resolve” (Ibid.) into English. These disparate translations could be taken as an indicator of minor gaps in knowledge with regard to Ibn ʿArabī’s notions of himma, which the present study will seek to address.

In essence, Ibn ʿArabī thought that himma is the soul’s power (quwwa nafsiyya) over mind and matter. Resolve, concentration, vivid imagination and a year-long training are some of the prerequisites for humans to gain control of himma. Egyptian sorcerers who stood up to Moses used this power to make the audience believe they could turn their sticks into snakes. However, this was but an illusion created by himma. Ibn ʿArabī cautioned his readers against evil spirits and sorcerers. Both were thought to be prone to tricks and illusions, which Ibn ʿArabī compared to the moment before sunrise. Then, a person can witness the admixture of light and darkness, which is, strictly speaking, neither night nor day. Likewise, the inferior sorcery targeting the mind is “neither true nor false. The eye does not doubt what it sees, although the perceived thing or object is not completely true. This is akin to guessing whether is it day or night”.6 Ibn ʿArabī’s concept of himma should not be viewed as a synonym for magic tricks and phantasms, however. Powerful sorcerers, as well as God’s messengers and prophets, could bend and break mind and matter alike with himma. It is not impossible for them to suspend the laws of nature. For instance, Ibn ʿArabī claimed to have seen advanced spiritual practitioners exposing themselves to fire without suffering damage to their skin and clothes. His works contain records of people who could make trees bear fruit in winter, walk on water and fly on their praying carpets, among other things. Jesus the Prophet could also cure blindness and lameness and bring the dead back to life. This is not unlike the power of God, the Creator, Ibn ʿArabī said, and he believed that the prophet Muhammad possessed such power as well. Namely, the Qur’an attests that the universe and all in it were created when God uttered the word ‘be!’ (Q 2:117). The everyday speech of the prophet Muhammad was imbued with himma to the point it was enough for him to say: “May it be Abū Dharr!”, so that the person to whom he was referring would appear, seemingly out of nowhere.7 As the present study will shortly demonstrate, Ibn ʿArabī did not differentiate between the himma wielded by God and humans. Power is power, despite the fact that it comes in different forms, and from many different sources. Himma can be divided into ranks, however, depending on the strength and skill of a wielder.

Ismail Lala’s pioneering work on himma in Akbarian Sufism focused on the power the Perfect Humans and sages obtained through virtuous conduct, remembrance of God and piety, suggesting that himma is the force of good and a prerogative of God’s messengers, friends (awliyāʾ) and prophets (Lala 2023). The present study will put this theory to the test, for the surviving works of Ibn ʿArabī indicate that, just like fire, himma can be used for good and evil. Divine messengers and monsters have been wielding it over the course of centuries to spin horrors or turn worthy dreams into reality.

Whereas Lala’s work on himma explored the conduct of pious Muslims, the present study pivots on the dark arts Ibn ʿArabī first became aware of in North Africa, while mingling with local sorcerers. These people cared little for the inferior types of sorcery targeting the human eyes and mind and we likewise opted out of analysing them within the scope of the present study. Emphasis will be placed on the advanced spiritual practices Ibn ʿArabī referred to as ʿuzābīyyah8, which were used in Africa to maim and kill humans. Ibn ʿArabī’s magnum opus al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya refers to ʿuzābīyyah as the dark arts rooted in himma. Masters of these arts were also known to have used their power to create new life forms and objects and bend the world to their will. ʿUzābīyyah could be defined as a type of African high sorcery, provided that the term sorcery (siḥr) is used strictly in an Akbarian context to denote any thaumaturgical operation leading to the breaking of the conventional order of things (kharq al-ʿāda). Ibn ʿArabī did not always make a distinction between sorcery and the miracles (karāmāt) performed by God’s friends—though the latter were generally thought to require a higher amount of power.9 There are exceptions to the general rule, however, with Ibn ʿArabī claiming that few living humans had the strength to practice ʿuzābīyyah and the like. The text of al-Futūḥāt identified but one such person by name: the Sufi shaykh Qaḍīb al-Bān (d. 1174).

Also known as Qaḍīb al-Bārr or Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥusayn al-Ḥasanī, the shaykh was a Hanbali scholar and a student of ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī (d. 1166) of the Qadiri order. What little is known about him could be written on a postcard with room to spare. Ibn ʿArabī traced his spiritual lineage to Qaḍīb via Ibn Jāmīʿ, with whom he studied in Maqla, near Mosul. He furthermore claimed that Qaḍīb kept company with Khidr the Immortal. The present study is less concerned with the scant surviving biographical information on Qaḍīb al-Bān in early modern and medieval literature, which had been painstakingly collected, edited and published by Suleyman Muhammad Idris,10 than with Ibn ʿArabī’s records on his talent for himma. Although there is nothing in al-Futūḥāt to suggest that Qaḍīb used himma to end human lives, what Ibn ʿArabī wrote of his talent can be used as a supplementary source of information to help us gauge the comparable strength and abilities of the North African masters of the dark arts. However, since Qaḍīb was not explicitly identified in Akbarian literature as a practitioner of ʿuzābīyyah, Ibn ʿArabī’s writings on him cannot be relied upon to gain further insight into the practice itself.

The bulk of Ibn ʿArabī’s writings on ʿuzābīyyah have been preserved in Chapter 47 and Chapter 229 of al-Futūḥāt, which form the foundation of the present study. In the first section we will enumerate the different types of himma Ibn ʿArabī recognized, pinpoint the loci of this power within the human body and soul and identify the four roots of ʿuzābīyya in Akbarian Sufism (§ 1). The second section of the present study pivots on the different ranks of himma. We will determine which of these ranks were linked with ʿuzābīyyah in Akbarian circles and describe the standard training procedures which were used by African sorcerers and Akbarians to rise in power (§ 2). The conclusion of the paper gives an overview of Ibn ʿArabī’s arguments on whether grasping for himma and using it to attain personal objectives, whether spiritual or secular, is advisable and/or allowed (§ 3).

2. The Roots of Power

Qaḍīb al-Bān may have lived on the outskirts of Mosul. Ibn ʿArabī claimed that Qaḍīb frequented the orchards of Maqla, where he witnessed the bestowal of the initiation robe (khirqa) on Ibn Jāmīʿ in the presence of Khidr the Immortal.11 Yet, the extant records of ʿuzābīyyah in Akbarian Sufism describe it as a practice endemic to Africa. The names of the very first masters of the dark arts are lost to history. On the authority of Ibn Khaldūn (d. 1406), Eric Winkel surmised they may have been of Arab background: a splinter group of the Kharijite faction who turned their back on ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib (d. 661) and fought against the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs in the seventh and eighth century AD. The group settled in North Africa following the series of unsuccessful revolts against the Abbasid Empire and Ibn ʿArabī likely met them on his way to Eastern Arabia, c. 1195 AD.12 Although Ibn ʿArabī left no information on the cultural and ethnic origin of this group, the text of al-Futūḥāt suggests at least some of them followed confessions other than Islam; or rather, Ibn ʿArabī noted that being a polytheist (mushriq) is non-detrimental for African sorcerers to bend the world to their will. He was less than impressed by the morals and piety of the masters of ʿuzābīyyah he encountered, claiming there is not an ounce of strength of faith (quwwa imān) in them.13 It was their power Ibn ʿArabī feared and awed.

Whereas some people are born into power, others have to work long and hard to bend the world to their will. In his book Mawāqiʿ al-nujūm, Ibn ʿArabī argued that the ability to wield himma can be inherent to humans—a part of their natural disposition (khilqa) and constitution (jibilla)—or acquired.14 Elsewhere, he explained that every soul possesses a certain amount of himma. This is especially the case with souls of the dead, which make use of himma to modify the heavenly gardens. In heaven, everyone can turn their dreams into reality by uttering the word “be” (ar. kun!). The landscapes of hell are likewise shaped by fears and revulsion of sinners. The ability to create new things and influence the visible world with the words imbued with himma is exceedingly rare among the living. What occasionally happens is that a person taps into himma unconsciously and harms others by the means of it. Ibn ʿArabī noted this is the source of belief in the evil eye (ʿayn ḥuṣūl). He did not identify the evil eye with ʿuzābīyyah, however. A major difference between the two is that the evil eye constitutes, for the most part, the unconscious use of himma. In contrast, ʿuzābīyyah is a rare ability to control a tremendous amount of himma, which can destroy even the most accomplished Sufi shaykhs (al-shuyūkh al-kamal).15 And whereas even a layman could cast the evil eye on someone when agitated, there are statements in al-Futūḥāt suggesting that ʿuzābīyyah is a product of arduous training.

Solitary retreats (khalwāt), invocations of the most beautiful names of God (asmāʾ allāh al-ḥusnā), veracity (ṣidq) and inspiration (waḥy) are the roots of this practice; with the word ʿu[z]zāb still being used today to denote a celibate, lonely and remote person in Arabic. Ibn ʿArabī said:

As of those who meddle with ʿuzābīyyah, observe how they lack divine accord, although they can kill with himma by isolating themselves and taking over control through the power of himma. They also rely on special properties of the divine names existing in this world. These names can be used by those who have knowledge of such things to cause certain effects in the world of creation, and it would not matter if that person were a polytheist (mushriq), [for as long as they have the proper knowledge].16

Altering the world He created and bringing new things into existence with himma was deemed unbecoming of a Muslim in Akbarian circles.17 Although dark sorcerers care little for propriety in general, Ibn ʿArabī suggested that all those who practice ʿuzābīyyah were pure of heart at one point. That is to say, he believed that the veracity of character (ṣidq) is a prerequisite for acquiring himma, which is the power behind ʿuzābīyyah. The second prerequisite is pleasing God with virtuous conduct. For instance, Ibn ʿArabī’s students were advised to adhere to Sharia, be mindful of God and refrain from small talk, gossiping and using ugly words in their everyday speech so that their thoughts, ears and tongues would always remain pure. Students were also forbidden from raising their hands (and knives) against themselves and others. They were to refrain from looking at things that are forbidden to Muslims – and if any such thing were to be seen by accident, Ibn ʿArabī advised them to lower their heads at once and lock their eyes on the ground. Ibn ʿArabī claimed this is the only way a person could gain the ability to perform miracles and break the conventional order of things. For instance, they might be able to see things that are many miles away, as well as angels and jinn. The ear of an advanced spiritual practitioner can hear minerals, plants and animals praising God ceaselessly. Traversing great distances in a matter of moments was not impossible for some people either. Moses the Prophet was able to make the skin on his hand turn milky-white before the Pharaoh (Q 27:12). Jesus relied on the power of the tongue to cure illnesses and bring the dead back to life.18 Practitioners of ʿuzābīyyah in particular trained their tongues and practised invocations of the divine names ceaselessly to bend the world to their will.

The Sufi shaykhs Ibn ʿArabī encountered were said to be able to use the himma of their disciples. However, a sorcerer in the making was more likely to do away with their shaykh with ʿuzābīyyah than to share power with him.19 Although God’s friends and sorcerers are equally fond of solitary retreats and invocations, Ibn ʿArabī maintained a true friend of God (wālī) does not turn to anyone other than Him when faced with the challenges of everyday life. God’s friends are content with whatever fate God has decreed for them, their conduct being a great source of comfort and inspiration for the common folk. In contrast, dark sorcerers tend to rise up to challenge. An outburst of power and aggression was their standard response to provocation. Practitioners of ʿuzābīyyah have no qualms about using himma against their enemies. This is what makes them different to His docile, meek friends.20 Another point of difference between God’s friends and sorcerers is that the former owe their knowledge and power to the unveilings (kashf) they received from Him.

Divine unveilings were valued in Sufi circles as a source of illumination to the point that Ibn ʿArabī claimed that the one without an unveiling has no knowledge whatsoever (man lā kashf lah lā ʿilm lah).21 This blessing was denied to the North African sorcerers he encountered, possibly on the account of their dark arts or polytheism. The best they could hope for was to benefit from a waḥy, which is the term used in the Qur’an for inspiration in general. As such, waḥy can come from any source. It can be both a blessing—as is the case with God inspiring His prophets—and a curse, especially when it comes from evil spirits (Q 6:112, 121; 42:51). Although the inspiration whose source is the Divine can be seen as a synonym for divine unveilings and revelations, Ibn ʿArabī made some differences between waḥy and kashf. For instance, whereas unveilings bring certainty of knowledge to their recipient, inspiration is open to interpretation no matter its source. Another point of difference between kashf and waḥy is that unveilings appear as visions, for the most part. Inspiration can take many different forms, however. Ibn ʿArabī described some forms of inspiration in his writings on Qaḍīb al-Bān and his equals:

Inspiration can take on various forms, and this station includes them. One type is received through imagination. For instance, such is the case with good tidings (mubashirāt) in the world of imagination, which is the inspiration associated with sleeping. The recipient of inspiration, as well as the descent of inspiration and the inspiration itself are all imaginal (khayālan) in this case in particular. Another form of inspiration manifests itself as an image perceived by senses to someone who is endowed with sensory perception. There is also a certain form of inspiration, which is but a meaning disclosing itself within a recipient, without active participation of sensory perception and imagination of the recipient of inspiration. Inspiration may also appear in the form of writing and this occurs frequently to God’s friends. Among the people to receive this form of inspiration were Abū ʿAbd Allāh Qaḍīb al-Bān, Abū Zakariyā al-Bajāʾi and Taqī b. Mukhlid who was a student of Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, complier of al-Musnad.22

Once they have gained a semblance of power by the means of veracity, inspiration, solitary retreats and invocations, a spiritual practitioner can begin working on strengthening their himma so as to be able to use it to their advantage. The following section examines Ibn ʿArabī’s writings concerning the power level and training of dark sorcerers.

3. The Growth of Power

A distinct lifestyle, as well as training with emphasis on willpower and concentration are essential for a neophyte seeking to gain mastery of ʿuzābīyyah. Engaging in dark arts also requires a significant amount of power. Ibn ʿArabī differentiated between three ranks of himma (marātib) in his works, based on the individual strength of a person. These are:

• True himma (himma ḥaqīqa)
• Awakening himma (himma tanabbuh)
• Voluntary himma (himma ʾirāda)

The highest in rank is the true himma, which can be obtained through pure divine effusion (bi-ṣafāʾ al-ʾilhām). The true himma is available only to the greatest spiritual teachers since the individual himma of a spiritual practitioner is merged with the himma of God when a person reaches this rank. Ibn ʿArabī saw this as an expression of divine oneness (tawḥīd). In these circumstances, a person receives the opportunity to channel the immense power of God himself. The awakening himma can be obtained by cultivating the truthfulness of the heart.23 It owes its name to the fact it awakens the human heart to the truth of what is possible and what should be desired. ʿUzābīyyah was linked with the voluntary himma in Ibn ʿArabī’s works.

The very name ‘the voluntary himma’ alludes to the indomitable willpower of spiritual seekers. Although it is inferior to the true himma, the voluntary himma is higher in rank than the awakening himma. That being said, Ibn ʿArabī was personally convinced that the spiritual ranks and stations build on one another. In other words, an aspiring practitioner of ʿuzābīyyah must make sure to cleanse their heart and gain access to the awakening himma before seeking to benefit from the voluntary himma. Ibn ʿArabī noted this is the standard approach to learning how to use himma among people (qawm). In Chapter 229 of al-Futūḥāt he explained the importance of the awakening himma for African sorcerers. This chapter attests that even though sorcerers rely on the voluntary himma when engaging in dark arts, the awakening himma makes it possible for them to determine whether they will be successful in their endeavours. Were a sorcerer to aim for the impossible, the voluntary himma they sought to use to their advantage would destroy them instead of their victim. Ibn ʿArabī said:

God said the following [in the Qur’an] about the ignorant users of ʿuzābīyyah, who do not know what is impossible: the false assumptions you entertained about your Lord will bring about your doom. Now you are lost utterly (Q 41:23) since you presumed that God is unaware of your deeds.24

ʿUzābīyyah was chiefly associated with altering the world He created and killing humans with himma in Akbarian circles. Both these operations require an excessive amount of power. Ibn ʿArabī explained that Qaḍīb al-Bān owed his power to his unassuming lifestyle and prayers in particular. The voluntary himma is the power that grows in loneliness, and the North African sorcerers Ibn ʿArabī encountered would seclude themselves from the world on a regular basis when undergoing spiritual retreats. Taking things one step further, Qaḍīb al-Bān ceaselessly strived to remain inconspicuous in public. Ibn ʿArabī noted he took care to dress himself in local fashion every time he moved to another city—and he moved often, to minimize the risk of being recognized for what he was. Although he was sometimes seen sitting with his neighbours and playing with local children, Qaḍīb felt no need for friends and acquaintances. He suffered the company of his neighbours just so that they would not become suspicious of him, and if it looked like some of them may have taken a liking to him, he would move away immediately. Mighty sorcerers who had no love for travelling sometimes relied on changing their appearance with himma to hide from well-meaning neighbours and relatives, trading interpersonal relations for power.25 Although some sorcerers rely on celestial spheres, stars and planets to do their bidding, there is nothing in Ibn ʿArabī’s works to suggest that the North Africans he encountered were well-versed in the science of the stars (ʿilm al-nujūm).26 They were as knowledgeable as God’s friends with regard to the nature and aspirations of the human soul, however. Ibn ʿArabī identified this knowledge as another major source of their power. “When the soul gathers itself, it affects the bodies and states of the world, and nothing can resist it”, he said.27 Elsewhere, he explained that the soul of an advanced spiritual practitioner has an above-average impact radius. That is to say, whereas the soul of an average person can only do as much as to control their own body, a sorcerer can take over multiple bodies at once. This makes it possible for them to perform miracles and break the conventional order of things. Apart from Qaḍīb al-Bān, the Sufi shaykh Dhūl-Nūn al-Miṣrī (d. 862), who was himself a North African from Akhmim, is said to have had such a soul in al-Futūḥāt.28

Comparable reports on human souls breaking the conventional order of things can also be found in the works of Avicenna (d. 1037). The soul of a layman, Avicenna said, can cause their body to move. Every soul is endowed with imagination and sages and sorcerers, whose souls are stronger than average, could use this power to obliterate their enemies. Avicenna thought that sorcerers, unlike sages, would break their souls and cause them to lose their power gradually through repeated use.29 There are no records of sorcerers being drained of power in Ibn ʿArabī’s works. That being said, Ibn ʿArabī shared Avicenna’s belief that imagination can be used to set himma into motion. He furthermore taught that imagination can help humans gain access to the knowledge of the Unseen (al-ghayb) when trained, and Qaḍīb al-Bān made use of it to change his appearance and/or turn himself into a plant, stone or animal to escape the prying eyes of his neighbours.30 Yet, there is nothing in Ibn ʿArabī’s works to support Hollenbeck’s hypothesis that he identified imagination with himma.31 Quite the opposite, Ibn ʿArabī argued that imagination is a common faculty of the human soul. Most people thus have no trouble visualizing different things and objects. However, this is not the same as bringing new things into existence with himma.

Every man creates by his fancy in the Imaginative faculty that which has existence nowhere else, this being a common faculty. The gnostic, however, by his Concentration [ar. himma], creates that which has an existence beyond the origin of the Concentration, indeed the Concentration continues to maintain its existence, which depletes it in no way at all. Should the attention of the gnostic be deflected from the maintenance of what he has created, it will cease to exist, unless the gnostic commands all planes [of existence], in which case such deflection does not arise, since [at all times] he is present on some plane or another. When the gnostic who has such a command creates something by his concentration, it is manifest in his form on every plane. In this case, the forms [each on a different plane] maintain each other, so that if the gnostic is absent on a certain plane or planes, while present on another or others, all the forms [on all the planes] are maintained by the form on the plane to which his attention is given; lack of attention is never total, either with the generality of men or the elite.32

The quoted paragraph indicates that the ability to create new life forms and objects with himma is inherent to both God and humans. The word of the Perfect Human in particular is “like the word of God concerning something he wants to come into existence. When he says ‘Be!’, at that very instant that thing comes into existence”.33 But whereas God preserves the existence of all created beings simultaneously and with ease, even the Perfect Human can sustain only one object at a time. These man-made forms and objects are bound to perish as soon as the human who created them loses their focus. Ibn ʿArabī once referred to ʿuzābīyyah as the directed thought “stripped bare and abstract and imbued with himma, wanting, wish and desire” to create the physical effect. Not a few people with access to himma have no power to affect the world of nature owing to the fact that they lack willpower and focus.34 That is to say, Ibn ʿArabī identified willpower, himma and concentration, rather than imagination, as the three pillars of ʿuzābīyyah.

God’s messengers and prophets also performed miracles with the strength of their willpower, concentration and himma. For instance, in his summary of Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam, Ibn ʿArabī described how Moses had fire show him a vision from God. Ibn ʿArabī claimed to have learned about this occurrence by the means of a divine unveiling. He was thus informed that Moses was successful in his endeavor since he was able to concentrate with all his might on fire for an extended period of time.35 Divine unveilings and piety are not necessary to perform a miracle—it is quite enough for a sorcerer to believe in themselves and focus.

Although the surviving works of Ibn ʿArabī contain no records of the personal names and gender of the African sorcerers he encountered, he thought that women are more gifted in sorcery in general. This is due to the fact that women tend to approach their rites and practices sincerely, with superior decisiveness and unshakable fate that success is the only outcome possible.36 Men have to work longer to raise their himma in rank and develop the comparable willpower and concentration.

4. (Dis)advantages of Power

The surviving works of Ibn ʿArabī discuss the roots of himma in detail, as well as the methods used to increase the amount of power within the human body and soul. Following his instructions appears to be a relatively straightforward procedure, yet this does not necessarily mean Ibn ʿArabī condoned humans using himma. The following paragraphs seek to examine his nuanced view on the topic.

The first thing to be considered is that Ibn ʿArabī believed himma can destroy its wielder. This is evident from his writings on ʿuzābīyyah in Chapter 229 of al-Futūḥāt, as we discussed in § 3. Another thing to be considered is that the decision to dabble in himma can have long-lasting implications for posteriority. The himma of advanced spiritual seekers lingers behind after their death, reverberating around their graves.37 It will not necessarily have a negative impact, however. Nine years after the death of Qaḍīb al-Bān, the Seljuks built him a mausoleum and constructed a mosque in the vicinity of his grave, which continued to be regarded as a blessed place until DAESH had it detonated in 2014.

Ibn ʿArabī did not have a decidedly negative opinion of sorcery and sorcerers; suggesting that his spiritual mother and teacher Fāṭima bt. al-Muthannā (d. before 1201) engaged in sorcery as well. Nowhere in his works did he condemn her and Qaḍīb al-Bān as infidels, even though he noted that both of them have used himma to perform miracles.38 The same goes for God’s messengers and prophets. Yet, Ibn ʿArabī concurrently maintained that God gives humans access to himma to test them. Whereas some scholars (ʿulamāʾ) give in to temptation and use this power to try to get closer to Him, a true sage (ʿārif) would find this beneath them. Lala suggested their reluctance is rooted in the fear of abusing the power of the divine names of Lordship by using himma to exercise control over phenomenal reality.39 We, however, believe that Ibn ʿArabī and the sages he was referring to refrained from using himma because they thought there is little or nothing to be gained from it. In Chapter 229 of al-Futūḥāt Ibn ʿArabī noted that sages know the secret of bāṭin al-muʿtaqid, which basically means that God is the only active agent (fāʿil) in existence. It was not you who killed the enemy, said God to Muhammad in the Qur’an, but it was God who killed them. And it was not you who threw a handful of sand at disbelievers but it was God who did so (Q 8:17). Sages know that the created beings cannot change the world He created with himma (for the better). All things in existence follow His pre-determined script (un)consciously, and humans are incapable of interfering with His plans in the slightest. Sages are well-aware that God gives humans access to himma to see whether their knowledge of predetermination is sound. Hence, a sage would never use himma without a direct order from Him. They have no desire to gain access to power and their spiritual training and strivings do not revolve around himma.40 And here we return once again to a major difference between God’s friends and sorcerers. The latter indulge themselves in power and think it a gift from God; blindly unaware that He is distracting them with trinkets while making them blind to the real treasure that is the knowledge of Him. Ibn ʿArabī taught his students better: “You will not attach your himma and the power of your heart’s intention to anything other than Him. And if everything in the universe should be spread out before you, receive it graciously—but do not stop there. Persist in your quest, for He is testing you. If you stay with what is offered, He will escape you”.41 The quoted piece of advice from Ibn ʿArabī’s book Risāla al-anwār should not be read as an instruction to reject some of His gifts and offerings. Ibn ʿArabī rather taught a person must be able to tell diamonds from glass and know their respective value and use. That is to say, himma should only be used to execute His direct commands and orders: a neophyte should not give in to the temptation to suspend the laws of nature, nor should they try to ascend towards Him with himma. Ibn ʿArabī’s ultimate stand on himma is best expressed in the poem he wrote as an introduction to Chapter 229 of al-Futūḥāt:

Proceed with caution when immersed in himma;

The world of creation braces itself for what is to come already!

Refrain from using himma to force open what was bolted shut before,

And never allow this power to rule over you.

Don’t be among those who depend on power!

Remain rather as you ever were,

True to your inner faith.42