Ibn Masarrah

Ibn Masarrah (died 931) was an Andalusian mystic whose philosophy is reported to have championed pseudo-Empedoclean doctrines. His teachings are mentioned in the context of the development of Islamic mysticism, or Sufism, which is a mystical Islamic belief and practice focused on direct personal experience of God. Sufism emerged from early Islamic asceticism as a counterweight to worldliness within the expanding Muslim community.12

Theosophical Sufism, which developed later, incorporated traditions from Neoplatonism, Gnosticism, and other spiritual currents. A key figure in this development was Ibn al-ʿArabī, who studied under followers of Ibn Masarrah and expounded on the doctrine of the "unity of being". This concept describes the absolute One (God) and its self-manifestation in creation, a dynamic process where nature is the ultimate principle of things.32