An Ocean Without A Shore

Ibn Arabi

Iban Arabi was a Muslim scholar, mystic, poet, and philosopher, extremely influential within Islamic thought.

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I marvelled at an Ocean without shore,
and at a Shore that did not have an ocean;

And at a Morning Light without darkness,
and at a Night that was without daybreak;

And then a Sphere with no locality
known to either fool or learned scholar;

And at an azure Dome raised over the earth,
circulating ’round its center – Compulsion;

And at a rich Earth without o’er-arching vault
and no specific location, the Secret concealed…

-Ibn Arabi (from the Kitāb ‘Anqā’ mughrib)