Course Themes

Preface: Introduction to Ibn Arabi and his perspective.
1. The unity of being
2. Creation, the coming into being and the love to be known
3. The human being
4 .The human being and the natural world
5. The spiritual path

Each theme is divided into one or more sessions (see full syllabus below) and supplemented with background reading/video/other formats that address the topic in a variety of ways – including the perspective of other traditions or modern thought.

Course Syllabus

Introductory residential weekend at The Abbey, Sutton Courtenay
(if unable to attend in-person, it will be possible to join the main sessions through Zoom)

• Introduction to the course
• Introduction to Ibn ‘Arabi’s life and thought by Cecilia Twinch
• Full reading and discussion of Know Yourself introduced by Cecilia Twinch (translator)
• Introduction to meditation and 2-3 daily group meditation sessions
• Work as service
• The role of devotion and devotional practices

Online Presentations and Seminars

Live seminars
(Thursday evenings 19:00–20:30 GMT)

1. Different Faces of Unity (Jane Clark) – 23rd October 2025
2. The One and the Many – a sacred discourse in geometry (Jane Carroll) – 6th November 2025
3. Creation and the Cosmos (Jane Clark) – 20th November 2025
4. Singleness, Oneness and Singularity: the metaphysics of unity. Part 1 (Avi Abadi) – 4th December 2025
5. Singleness, Oneness and Singularity: the metaphysics of unity. Part 2 (Avi Abadi) – 15th January 2026
6. The Truly Human Being (Part 1): Adamic images and principles (Stephen Hirtenstein) – 29th January 2026
7. The Truly Human Being (Part 2): Adam in the Fusus al-hikam (Stephen Hirtenstein) – 12th February 2026
8. The Human Being and the Natural World (Jane Clark) – 26th February 2026
9. The Spiritual Path (Part 1): remembrance, receptivity and the “private face”. (Jane Clark) – 12th March 2026
10. The Spiritual Path (Part 2): the road is long, the sea is deep. (Rim Feriani) – 26th March 2026

The Learning Environment

Our main focus will be on the writings of Ibn Arabi, as a sound foundation from which to appreciate the metaphysics not just of Islam, but of other spiritual traditions. This proposes a different approach from the usual idea of knowledge as something one might acquire. It can nonetheless be very helpful to have a clear intellectual grasp of Ibn Arabi’s metaphysics, which are in themselves intrinsically beautiful, and can bring us to a place that is beyond the grasp of the rational mind.

Ibn Arabi often expounds that the reality he is referring to can only be known through unveiling or experience. Terminology such as “re-realisation of Divine taste” is also used. This implies that there is a place in each one of us that can experience a kind of re-cognition of this knowledge of ourselves, although we are normally veiled by our creatural condition. “Knowing“ in this sense is experienced as a kind of remembrance or realisation, as it comes from  our essential interior reality, which is the same as the reality underlying everything.

We begin every session with an invocation or prayer for the meaning to be opened for us and ask to be brought to its level rather than be confined to our own understanding. This is followed by a short meditation. Equally we end with an acknowledgement and appreciation of the meaning we may have been given collectively and individually, whether it be an insight, image, feeling, greater clarity or movement of the heart. For all action, whatever it may be, is ultimately a matter of love.

Inner Experience and Practice

As indicated above, the approach to the material will be from the point of view of the spiritual seeker rather than it being a matter of purely academic knowledge. To reinforce this element of practice, aspects of the spiritual path (theme 5) will be woven into themes 1–4.

In order to bring the knowledge alive, students will be given something related to the topic to contemplate or practice during the interval between sessions and for them to journal how this has affected or changed their everyday way of seeing things. These insights can be shared at the beginning of each following session.

Depending on where in the world students are based, it might also be possible to meet for an informal session or meditation during the week we are not studying together.

Course Materials

Materials will include an introductory video presentation of each session’s subject matter (this will be recorded so can be viewed at any time), together with some reading material, as preparation for live online discussion meetings. A more extensive list of background reading will also be provided as a guide for anyone who wishes to go further.

Learning Platform

The materials will be available on Google Classroom, a learning platform used to store videos and files, keep in touch with the students, submit any assignments and provide the link to the live zoom sessions. It also offers a streaming facility for students to share questions and understandings linked to each theme.

Reflective assignment

At the end of the course, students will be invited to complete one piece of work (essay, reflective diary or video presentation) of approximately 1000 words/10 mins on a topic to be agreed.

Certificate

Students may, if they wish, request a Certificate of Attendance, listing all topics studied, hours spent and assignments.

The presenters will offer pre-recorded video introductions related to the different themes, created especially for this course. These are:

• Avi Abadi has been studying the teachings of Ibn ‘Arabi, and the Fusus al-Hikam (Ringstones of Wisdom) in particular, at the Beshara School for over forty years.
• Jane Carroll is an architect practising in Southern California. She studied under Keith Critchlow at the Architectural Association with an emphasis on geometric systems used in traditional and sacred architecture. She was a student at the Beshara School, a former trustee of the Beshara Trust and a founding member and former secretary of the Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi Society (MIAS) in America.
• Jane Clark MA is a Senior Research Fellow of the Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi Society (MIAS). She is a student of the Beshara School, has a Masters’ degree in Medieval Arabic Philosophy from the University of Oxford, and has been studying, teaching and lecturing on the ideas of Ibn Arabi for more than forty years. She is the Editor of the Beshara Magazine which aims to bring together traditional wisdom with contemporary thought.
• Dr Rim Feriani is a passionate education leader. She is currently serving as the Professional Learning Lead in a Swiss International Boarding School. With a rich background that includes roles as a University Lecturer at prestigious London institutions, Head of Arabic in Abu Dhabi, and Director of Languages in Essex, Rim brings diverse expertise to her work. Her 2016 doctoral thesis explored how internationally-acclaimed writers engage with Islamic heritage, combining Ibn Arabi’s Sufi thought with Paul Ricoeur’s philosophy. Rim previously served as education director at MIAS and developed an education programme inspired by her research on the journey and imagination, further demonstrating her commitment to innovative educational approaches to spiritual experiences.
• Stephen Hirtenstein is editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi Society (MIAS), a MIAS senior research fellow’ and director of Anqa Publishing. He is an editor for Encyclopaedia Islamica (Brill), and teaches Sufism and Sufi poetry at the University of Oxford. Since 2001 he has been working on the MIAS archiving project cataloguing the historic manuscripts of Ibn Arabi. He lectures internationally on Ibn ‘Arabi, and his publications include Patterns of Contemplation (2021) and Prayers for the Week (2021), both with Pablo Beneito, The Alchemy of Human Happiness (2018), and The Unlimited Mercifier (1999).
• Cecilia Twinch is a Senior Research Fellow of the Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi Society, Oxford. She studied Modern and Medieval Languages at Cambridge University and has also spent several periods of study at the Beshara Schools. Besides working as a teacher, translator and editor, she has lectured on Ibn ‘Arabi and mysticism worldwide since 1990. Her publications include an English translation, with Pablo Beneito, of Ibn ‘Arabi’s Contemplation of the Holy Mysteries and a translation of Know yourself: An explanation of the oneness of being (Ibn ‘Arabi/Balyani).

Three facilitators will support the students throughout the course, encouraging questioning of texts and correlating the group discussions.

John Brass studied Fine Art at Canterbury College of Art and then taught painting. In his early twenties he came upon Beshara where he began studying the works of Ibn ‘Arabi. He attended both the preliminary and the advanced six-month Residential Retreat Courses at the Beshara School of Intensive Esoteric Education, under the direction of Bülent Rauf, and has continued to facilitate students who are interested in the spiritual vision of Ibn ‘Arabi. John works as a conservator in gilding and carving for the colleges of Oxford University.

Martha Cass studied Music at Yale in the late 1970s, and later obtained a Masters degree in Education at the University of Birmingham UK. After moving to the UK in the 1980s, she studied at the Chisholme Institute from 1983-2000. She is a Trustee of the Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi Society and of The Abbey, Sutton Courtenay. She works in Development at University College, Oxford.

Kawther Luay is a chef and artist based in London. She has worked on socially engaged projects involving hospitality, foraging and craft. After undertaking long term immersive retreats at the Chisholme Institute, she has since been involved in facilitating introductory courses including the Foundations of Natural intelligence, the 40-day Retreat Course, and Discovering Unity.

The introductory weekend will be held in person at The Abbey, Sutton Courtenay, near Oxford. If you are unable to attend in person, it will be possible to join the study sessions via Zoom.

• Full Abbey weekend, accommodation and food + zoom course – £575 single room
• Full Abbey weekend, accommodation and food + zoom course – £515 shared room 
• Weekend attendance including food but no accommodation at Abbey + zoom course – £415
• Zoom attendance at Abbey + full zoom course – £245

A non-refundable deposit of £125 is required on acceptance onto the course in order to secure your place. Spaces on the course are limited so early booking is recommended.

Discretionary concessions for students are available on application to The Beshara Trust.

The course is open to students 16 years of age and over.

To request an application form please contact the Administrator. Email: besharacourses3@beshara.org

Shifting your view from centering the individual to seeing where we are all connected and how we all connect to something much bigger, something compassionate and complete, feels like a big burden off my shoulders. Doing that with a sense of community around even more so.

“In complete dependence there is nothing but gratitude.  As I am living in ignorance my Gratitude wavers, myself importance and low self-esteem, that imagines I am responsible for everything and does not ask for God’s help, this one is healed through the practice of gratitude.  For example: It is raining, I miss my bus, THANK YOU, I needed the time to wait for the next bus, in this time I collect my thoughts of God and BE in remembrance”

Being no other 

He is me
I am no other than Him
but I am not Him.

He is me.  I habitually think of myself as the subject, the ‘I’ of myself. Now this assumption has been swept away and replaced with – what? With a mystery. Who is this subject, this ‘I’ that clothes itself in flesh and bones and appears, objectified, as me, as (name)? Who is it?

He, the 3rd person singular, signifies the absent person. He is the simple and immediate reality sustaining my being, yet completely hidden within me. ‘The eyes do not perceive Him but He perceives the eyes’, forever out of reach of my sight, unseen, hidden, unknowable. And yet He is me, closer and more present than any idea of myself, any thought, any experience, closer to me than myself, because He is my very being without whom there would be no (name).
So how can I not know Him when He is me?
How to deal with this paradox, caught between knowing and not knowing?

I am no other than Him. Not the same but not entirely different either. That’s a way of putting it. Not very satisfactory. But maybe it contains a clue. Maybe the way to know Him is to know myself as ‘no other’. Maybe if I know myself truly it will be as ‘no other’.
But what does that mean?

Since I read Islamic mysticism and later Christian mysticism I am sure that love is the center of our being. And is it really about being or is it more about becoming? If He says “kun“ then it is, but Adam He made with His two hands and gave him all the names. That is beautiful. Sometimes alone with me outside in the forest or on some mountain I feel His new creation in every moment.

Good Will: During our first week, I eagerly anticipated how this practice would unfold within me. On a Monday at work, I served breakfast to a community of homeless individuals, providing a safe, non-judgmental space. Previously, a guest struggling with mental health challenges had tested my patience. Drawing on a recent training, I approached him silently with kindness and respect, all the while aware that he had nothing against me personally. That dispelled any ill-will between us. To my utter surprise and delight, he responded positively to this unspoken exchange of goodwill. It filled me with joy and immense gratitude.

If it wasn’t for the desire to search for the Real, life would be dull and monotonous. As Rumi said (I think): “It is the Fire of Love that Inspired me” and that is how it should be.

For what does a manifestation of the Divine, the Source, or the ultimate reality appear to be?
The truth of that ultimate Image emerges not just in reflections
But in the spaces between—where You, your mirror, and its reflection converge
In that subtle expanse, the sense of a separate “I” dissolves, perpetually awaiting and arriving in a simultaneous pulsation
Our reunion, time and again, within this sacred interlude

Reflecting on the metaphysical principles what comes up is the impossibility of the human mind to behold both the essence and its image, the source and its outpourings – and yet somehow we can when we allow the heart to see.

A short note to myself at the time ‘I do love’, with a note of surprise. I wouldn’t have realised so clearly that the love was there if I hadn’t been asked to look for it, so thanks for the exercise.

The work of the Perfect human being, therefore, is to keep practicing unconditional love and compassion. We don’t know the background of people and why they behave the way they do and there must be a reason for why they might do something. Therefore, I will do my part in showing more love to others so that I can have more love within me and be of a greater place of manifestation for God’s most beautiful Names. I don’t want to put a limit as to how much God’s love and compassion can be manifested within me. By doing this, it is possible for someone who has gone through a difficult time and is in need of our help to feel gratitude that somebody can be there for them unconditionally.