Satu di antara pertanyaan besar yang selalu menggoda banyak kalangan dari abad ke abad, adalah dari mana manusia dan semesta alam ini berasal? Dalam buku ini, Ibnu ‘Arabi menggabungkan elemen-elemen pemikiran mistis, agamis dan filosofis secara simultan untuk menjawab pertanyaan misterius itu dalam jalinan yang komprehensif. Syajaratul Kaun, buku tipis di tangan pembaca ini berisi doktrin tentang pribadi manusia sempurna (Muhammad SAW) dalam hal hubungannya dengan Allah SWT, manusia dan alam secara keseluruhan. Disimbolkan semuanya itu dengan ‘pohon’ yang muncul dari sebutir benih Kun. Suatu penuturan simbolik yang acapkali ditemukan dalam karya-karya Ibnu ‘Arabi. Buku ini cukup unik, karena keseluruhan bahasan menggambarkan signifikansi dari kehadiran Nabi Muhammad SAW dalam kehidupan yang jarang sekali disentuh oleh pengarang-pengarang lain. Hal ini bisa dimaklumi, karena untuk mengungkap keagungan aspek spiritual Muhammad SAW, apalagi bagi tatanan kosmos secara keseluruhan memang membutuhkan penghayatan mendalam dan kaya terhadap wacana-wacana esoteris Islam seperti yang dimiliki ‘Syekh Al-Akbar’ Ibnu ‘Arabi. Mungkin buku inilah satu-satunya wacana kosmologi yang patut dipertimbangkan –dalam literatur Islam berbahasa Indonesia– tentang Nabi Muhammad SAW dalam tradisi Islam sebagai cara penceritaan yang membangkitkan kegairahan spiritual akan Kemahabesaran Allah dan kemuliaan Nabi terakhir-Nya tersebut.
Author
Note to arabic readers : For the original arabic version of the books, check "other editions" in the book that interests you) Universally known by the title of "Muhyi al-Din" (The Reviver of the Religion) and "al-Shaykh al-Akbar" (The Greatest Shaykh) Ibn 'Arabī (Arabic: ابن عربي) (July 28, 1165 - November 10, 1240) was an Arab Sufi Muslim mystic and philosopher. His full name was Abū 'Abdullāh Muḥammad ibn 'Alī ibn Muḥammad ibn al-`Arabī al-Hāṭimī al-Ṭā'ī (أبو عبد الله محمد بن علي بن محمد بن العربي الحاتمي الطائي). Muhammad ibn al-Arabi and his family moved to Seville when he was eight years old. In 1200 CE, at the age of thirty-five, he left Iberia for good, intending to make the hajj to Mecca. He lived in Mecca for some three years, where he began writing his Al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya (The Meccan Illuminations). In 1204, he left Mecca for Anatolia with Majd al-Dīn Isḥāq, whose son Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Qunawī (1210-1274) would be his most influential disciple. In 1223, he settled in Damascus, where he lived the last seventeen years of his life. He died at the age of 76 on 22 Rabi' II 638 AH/November 10, 1240CE, and his tomb in Damascus is still an important place of pilgrimage. A vastly prolific writer, Ibn 'Arabī is generally known as the prime exponent of the idea later known as Waḥdat al-Wujūd (literally Unity of Being), though he did not use this term in his writings. His emphasis was on the true potential of the human being and the path to realising that potential and becoming the perfect or complete man (al-insān al-kāmil). Some 800 works are attributed to Ibn 'Arabā, although only some have been authenticated. Recent research suggests that over 100 of his works have survived in manuscript form, although most printed versions have not yet been critically edited and include many errors.
