Ibn Arabi's Small Death

Ibn Arabi’s Small Death is a sweeping & inventive work of historical fiction that chronicles the life of the great Sufi master & philosopher Ibn Arabi. Known in the West as “Rumi’s teacher,” he was a poet & mystic who proclaimed that love was his religion. Born in twelfth-century Spain during the Golden Age of Islam, Ibn Arabi traveled thousands of miles from Andalusia to distant Azerbaijan, passing through Morocco, Egypt, the Hijaz, Syria, Iraq, & Turkey on a journey of discovery both physical & spiritual. Witness to the wonders & cruelties of his age, exposed to the political rule of four empires, Ibn Arabi wrote masterworks on mysticism that profoundly influenced the world. Alwan’s fictionalized first-person narrative, written from the perspective of Ibn Arabi himself, breathes vivid life into a celebrated & polarizing figure.