An Ocean Without Shore is a study of Ibn Arabi, known in Islam as al-Shaykh al-Akbar, the Greatest Spiritual Master. In the introduction, Chodkiewicz provides a good deal of documentation for the often heard claim that Ibn Arabi has been the most influential thinker in Islam over the past seven hundred years. He shows that this has been true, not only among the intellectual elite, but also among the common believers. He explains why a few Muslims have considered Ibn al-Arabi the greatest heretic of Islam, while for many others he is Islam's greatest spiritual teacher.

In the main body of...

Behind 'Abd al-Kader's role of brilliant warrior lay another, that of spiritual master in the direct lineage of Ibn 'Arabi, the Shaikh al-Akbar (the greatest shaikh). The thirty-nine texts translated here were chosen because they represent the major themes of the teaching of 'Abd al-Kader. Many are commentaries on passages from the writings of Ibn 'Arabi. They offer a rare opportunity to share the illumination of a master writing from his own direct experience.