The Twenty-Nine Pages

8th September, 2021 – 24th November, 2021

A 12-week online course by the Beshara Trust studying ‘The Twenty-Nine Pages’, which serves as an excellent introduction to Ibn ‘Arabi’s metaphysics of unity.

Course Description

This is a course studying The Twenty-Nine Pages, which serves as an introduction to Ibn ‘Arabi’s metaphysics of Unity

Drawn from The Mystical Philosophy of Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi by A.E. Affifi, originally published by the Cambridge University Press in 1938, the extracts presented in this short book as a continuous text were arranged many years ago by Bulent Rauf, consultant to the Beshara Trust until his death in 1987.

His intention was to provide a complete introductory guide to the language and thought of Ibn ‘Arabi, particularly those aspects of his doctrine which refer to the unity of being and the perfectibility of man.

The rich content, inclusiveness and extraordinary scope of the passages from Ibn ‘Arabi make it an invaluable reference for students of mysticism and the spiritual life, whatever their background. Themes include the one and the many, immanence and transcendence, sainthood, knowledge, the heart, the soul, good and evil, and love and beauty.

Peter Coates, author of Ibn ‘Arabi and Modern Thought (2002), states: ‘This is no dry theoretical piece of metaphysicalising but rather an invitation to each reader to benefit from an acquaintance with one of the most complete and universal mystical visions of reality we have at our disposal.’

The course will be held over 12 sessions with a weekly Zoom seminar on Wednesdays at 19:30 – 20:30 BST/GMT. All Zoom seminars will be recorded should you miss one.

The course will be guided by facilitators who are long-term students of the work of Ibn ‘Arabi.

Students will be expected to have a copy of the book which is available from Beshara Publications.

Booking & Fees

Fees: The course is free but participants will be expected to have purchased a copy of The Twenty-Nine Pages – available from
Beshara Publications

Please contact besharacourses@beshara.org to apply for a place on the course.

Cordoba mosque interior

An Introduction to Ibn ‘Arabi Study

Mondays 19:00–21:00 GMT
Fortnightly Zoom sessions

This study series is an introduction to Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi’s story and perspective studying The Unlimited Mercifier by Stephen Hirtenstein. The scope of this illuminating book embraces both the inner and outer aspects of Ibn ‘Arabi’s life as each mirrors the other.

The group is underway but is open to anyone interested in joining as each session is fresh and unique in itself.

Berwick Meditation Group (UK)

Weekly on Fridays, 22nd April – 17th June, 2022
16:30 – 17:30 BST

A series of sessions exploring the practice of meditation from different traditions.

www.berwickmeditation.co.uk

The Kernel 246

Kernel of the Kernel

Weekly from 24th February 2022
Sundays
13:00–14:30 PST

Online study of The Kernel of the Kernel, a selection of key passages from Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi’s Futūḥāt al-Makkiyyah, translated into Turkish with commentary by Ismail Hakki Bursevi (1652-1728AD). Translated into English by Bulent Rauf.

‘How One Becomes What One Is’

Saturday March 25th, 2023
14:00-17:00 GMT
The October Gallery, London, UK

“Man is a rope, fastened between animal and superman – a rope over an abyss. A dangerous going-across, a dangerous wayfaring, a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous shuddering and staying-still. What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal; what can be loved in man is that he is a going-across and down-going” (Nietzsche, Friedrich. Thus Spoke Zarathustra)

Angel of Revelation, William Blake

William Blake and the Rediscovery of the Imagination

Saturday 25th October 2025
14:00–17:00 GMT
The October Gallery, London

“Nature is imagination itself!” declared Blake – also realising that imagination is divine.

Contact: Michael Cohen  london@beshara.org

“Staff in hand”: selected poems of ‘Attar

Saturday 4th June, 2022
19:00 – 20:30 AEST / 10:00 – 11:30 BST

An exploration of a selection of poems by Farid al-Din ‘Attar translated by Ken Avery from the Farsi (Persian).

Contact: markvtemple@gmail.com

The Alchemy of Human Happiness

December 7th, 2019 (2–5pm)
Rudolf Steiner House, London UK

An introduction to a new translation of a core chapter from Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi’s Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya with the translator, Stephen Hirtenstein.

Ibn ‘Arabi Study Retreat: The Secrets of Voyaging

July 8 – 15, 2017
Chisholme Institute, Scottish Borders, UK

‘In reality, we never cease from journeying from the moment we and our origins are constituted, ad infinitum.’

Kernel of the Kernel

Thursdays from 24th February 2022
16:00 – 17:30 Pacific Standard Time

Fridays from 25th February 2022
10:00 – 11:30 Australian Eastern Standard Time

 

A study of Ismail Hakki Bursevi’s translation of Ibn ‘Arabi’s exceptional treatise for those who undertake the journey with the aim of Union. All are welcome.

Contact: Mark Danley at markdanleyb@gmail.com

Robert Louis Stevenson’s Fables as Contemplative Wisdom

“How if this be the truth – that all are a little true?”

Sunday, 30th October 2022
15:00–16:30 GMT (online via Zoom)

Robert Louis Stevenson’s fables are little-known masterpieces by this supreme story-teller.

This online seminar is the latest in a series under the general title Unity in Diversity.

Led by Robert-Louis Abrahamson

The Reflective Heart

Weekly on Tuesdays
21:00–22:00 BST/GMT

Online study of chapters from James Morris’s, The Reflective Heart: Discovering Spiritual Intelligence in Ibn ‘Arabi’s Meccan Illuminations.

Jesus Across Space and Time

An interactive seminar

Saturday 30th November 2024
14:00–17:00 BST
The October Gallery, London

An afternoon devoted to discussion of the question: what is the knowledge we can attain if we contemplate the person of Jesus and his function and role in the world of humanity?