Investigating the Effect of Ibn Arabi's School on Shiite Understanding of the Imam's Knowledge: Comparing the Views of Seyyed Morteza and Ibn Abi al-Jomhur

The mystical views of Ibn Arabi and his students in dealing with the subjects of perfect man, guardianship and knowledge entered a different field from the perspective of earlier Shiite theologians through the reflections of Shiite scholars considering the relationship between Imam and knowledge. Apart from a group of Shiite scholars who have remained silent about the Imam's knowledge, the early Shiite scholars, accepted this view on the Imam's knowledge and believed that although the his knowledge is complete, the scope of the Imam's necessary knowledge is only in matters of religion and rules, and the knowledge of other issues, techniques and news is not related to his Imamate. Later, under the influence of the spread of the thoughts of mystics, particularly Ibn Arabi, a group of Shiite thinkers believed that the Imam's knowledge is absolute. Some Shiite theologians, especially Seyyed Heydar Amoli, by inserting the teachings of Ibn Arabi and his school of thought in explaining the structure of Shiite belief, provided the basis for the emergence of an intellectual combination of theology, philosophy and mysticism in Hekmat Motealiyeh (transcendent wisdom). By explaining the teachings of Ibn Arabi and introducing the Shiite guardianship and clarifying it by his Shiite commentators, theologians such as Ibn Abi al-Jomhur, basing the issue of Imam's knowledge on these teachings and expressing ladunni knowledge (God-given knowledge) and generalizing it in all levels, have considered the Imam's knowledge absolute. In this paper, using descriptive-analytical method, we have tried to explain the scope of the Imam's knowledge by focusing on the views of Sayyid Morteza in the Baghdad school and the influence of Ibn Arabi school on the deep understanding of knowledge in Shiite theologians, and also by concentrating on the views of Ibn Abi al-Jomhur with emphasis on the book of Mojalli Mirat al-Monji.