is a frequent theme in Ibn Arabi’s writings.
He takes the frequent Quranic references to the speech of things quite literally. In contrast to Muslim philosophers, theologians, and scientists, he makes no attempt to make a ta’wil of these verses – that is, an interpretation, or an explaining away – by having recourse to notions of metaphor or symbolism...
For example, in Chapter 378 he writes:
'Each created thing has a specific speech taught to it by God. It is heard by those whose hearing God has opened up to its perception'...
'All movement and craftsmanship that become manifest from animals and do not become manifest save from a possessor of reason, reflection, and deliberation, along with all the measures that are seen therein, signify that they have a knowledge of this in themselves.'
[Fut¬håt 3:488.4]
Ibn Arabi goes on to explain that animals perform many skillful deeds and construct marvelous things in a manner that suggests that they must be intelligent and rational.
Yet observers cannot perceive any sort of rational faculty within them, so they remain puzzled as to how animals can do such things. This puzzlement, of course, has not been diminished by modern science, which still struggles to explain the multifarious skills of animals.
So, Ibn Arabi writes,
'This may be why they are called 'dumb beasts'. That is, because of the 'obscurity' of the affair – except for us, because it is as clear as it can be...
'The obscurity that has overcome some people is because of theír lack of unveiling in this, so they know the created things only in the measure of what they witness from them.'
~bron~
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