On the Methodological Significance of a Less Known Treatise of Ibn Arabi on Irfan (Mysticism)

A Talk by Prof Ali Paya

The treatise, known as Resāleh Mā Lā Yo‘awwalu ‘Alaih (What Cannot be Trusted), is a practical guide for mystics and wayfarers in their mystical journey. In this talk, the content of this treatise will be critically assessed. The focus of the talk will be mostly on the methodological value of this work and whether or not it can be regarded as an example of what the advocates of the Islamisation of knowledge, dub ‘Islamic science’.

Ali Paya is Professor of Philosophy at the Islamic College in London and Adjunct Professor of the Philosophy of Science at the National Research Institute for Science Policy in Tehran. His most recent publications include Methods, Methodologies and Perspectives in the Humanities and Social Sciences (With Particular Reference to Islamic Studies): A Critical Rationalist Interpretation, London: ICAS Press, 2022; Religious Science, Indigenous Science, and Islamic Science: Thinking the Impossible or Thinking Ahead of Time: An Anthology of Ideological Projects of Knowledge Production, Plus Two Critical Assessment of the Views of Two Iranian Thinkers on Science, Tehran: University Press Centre, 2021.