Although the thought of the Andalusian Sufi Muhyi al-Din ibn ‘Arabi (d.
1240) has become increasingly popular in the West during the last century,
only very recently has there been any attempt to analyze his contemporary reception.
Isobel Jeffery-Street’s recent study on Ibn ‘Arabi in the West – with
its dual focus on the Beshara School “for the study of esoteric education” and
the Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi Society – offers a fecund starting place for such
analysis, since these interrelated institutions have been two of the most significant
sources for the growing Western recognition of Ibn ‘Arabi over the
last thirty years.
American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences