ABSTRACT
The idea of the ‘Perfect Human’ (al-insān al-kāmil) is a very important one in the history of Sufism and of Islam as a whole. Yet, beyond an awareness that it is an idea associated with Ibn ‘Arabī and his follower al-Jīlī, there is little appreciation of the history of the idea. The introduction sets out how this book seeks to rectify this shortcoming. It explains the ‘history of ideas’ approach that the book will follow, the texts from the Ibn ‘Arabian tradition that it will focus on, and the key themes to which each of the book’s six chapters and conclusion will be devoted. Finally, it summarises the book’s argument that, far from merely recapitulating Ibn ‘Arabī’s treatment of the idea, al-Jīlī took the idea of the Perfect Human in several new directions.
