Muhyiddin  Ibn ‘Arabî (1165–1240) is considered as the greatest of all Muslim philosophers. Ibn ‘Arabî referred to himself with fuller versions of his name, such as Abû ‘Abdallâh Muhammad ibn ‘Alî ibn al-‘Arabî al-Tâ’î al-Hâtimî. He was born in Murcia, Spain on 1165 to a family of the minor official. He received the standard education of a literatus, without much exposure to religious topics. Ibn ‘Arabî studied the Islamic sciences with numerous teachers in Andalus and North Africa. In 1201 he left the Muslim West to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca and did not return. He travelled extensively in Iraq and Anatolia, finally settling down in Damascus in 1223, where he trained disciples and wrote prolifically till his death in November 1240.

He wrote over 350 works including the Exegesis of Quran, Fusus al-hikam, an exposition of the inner meaning of the wisdom of the prophets, and the Futuhat al-Makkiyya, a vast encyclopaedia of spiritual knowledge which unites and distinguishes the three strands of tradition, reason and mystical insight. In his Dīwān and his Tarjuman al-ashwaq he also wrote some of the finest poetry in the Arabic language.