While Ibn al-Arabi achieved fame through his Sufi thought, he also placed great emphasis on topics such as the existence of God, divine unity, revelation, prophethood, spiritual guardianship, the afterlife, humanity, and the quest for truth. For this reason, it is evident that he possessed a profound depth of reflection, shaped by his language, style, and the intellectual milieu in which he was raised. Upon examining his works, while a Sufi discipline stands out first and foremost, between the lines one also finds elements of kalam, fiqh, tafsir, hadith, philosophy, metaphysics, and the characteristics of human existence. In this context, the symposium’s title, “Humanity’s Quest for Truth and Ibn al-Arabi,” is particularly apt.

From a young age, Ibn al-Arabi traveled across three continents and visited the centers of learning there in pursuit of knowledge and research. After leaving al-Andalus, he visited places such as Morocco, Tunisia, Jerusalem, Hebron, Medina, Mecca, Baghdad, Mosul, Urfa, Sivas, Malatya, Konya, and Damascus. Shaykh al-Akbar resided in Malatya, which he had visited, for a long period of about 10 years. The traces he left behind and his scholarly legacy in Malatya and its surroundings, where he spent the most fruitful years of his life, constitute a subject worthy of research in conjunction with the social and cultural structure of the era. Ibn al-Arabi passed away on 22 Rabi’ al-Awwal 638 AH, corresponding to November 10, 1240 CE. The commemoration of the late scholar on November 15, 2018—778 years after his passing on November 10, 1240—in Malatya, alongside scholars from three continents, and the discussion of his ideas, is a commendable initiative.