Monism

=====Sufism=====
{{See also|Sufism}}
Some Sufi mystics advocate monism. One of the most notable being the 13th-century Persian poet [[Rumi]] (1207–73) in his didactic poem ''[[Masnavi]]'' espoused monism.<ref name="nicholson">[http://www.globalwebpost.com/farooqm/study_res/rumi/intro_nicholson.html Reynold Nicholson ''Rumi''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061017141204/http://www.globalwebpost.com/farooqm/study_res/rumi/intro_nicholson.html |date=2006-10-17 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.rumi.org.uk/sufism/persian_sufism.htm |title=Cyprian Rice (1964) ''The Persian Sufism'' George Allen, London |access-date=2008-07-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516025909/http://www.rumi.org.uk/sufism/persian_sufism.htm |archive-date=2008-05-16 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Rumi says in the [[Masnavi]],
{{blockquote|In the shop for Unity (wahdat); anything that you see there except the One is an idol.<ref name="nicholson" />}}

Other Sufi mystics however, such as [[Ahmad Sirhindi]], upheld dualistic Monotheism (the separation of God and the Universe).<ref>Saleem, Abdul Qadeer. A CRITICAL STUDY OF MUJADDID ALF-E THANI'S PHILOSOPHY. Diss. University of Karachi, 1998. pp.59-60</ref>

The most influential of the [[Islam]]ic monists was the Sufi philosopher [[Ibn Arabi]] (1165–1240). He developed the concept of 'unity of being' (Arabic: ''[[Sufi metaphysics|waḥdat al-wujūd]]''), which some argue is a monistic philosophy.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}} Born in [[al-Andalus]], he made an enormous impact on the Muslim world, where he was crowned "the great Master". In the centuries following his death, his ideas became increasingly controversial. [[Ahmad Sirhindi]] criticised monistic understanding of 'unity of being', advocating the dualistic-compatible 'unity of witness' (Arabic: ''[[Sufi metaphysics#Waḥdat asḥ-Shuhūd|wahdat ash-shuhud]]''), maintaining separation of creator and creation.<ref>Siddiqui, B. H. "Islam: Synthesis of Tradition and Change."</ref><ref>Ansari, Abdul Haq. "SHAYKH AḤMAD SIRHINDĪ'S DOCTRINE OF" WAḤDAT AL-SHUHŪD"." Islamic Studies 37.3 (1998): 281-313.</ref><ref>Knysh, Alexander D. Ibn'Arabi in the later Islamic tradition: The making of a polemical image in medieval Islam. Suny Press, 1999.</ref><ref>Nizami, F. A. "23 Islam in the Indian Sub-Continent." The World's Religions (2004): 368.</ref> Later, [[Shah Waliullah Dehlawi]] reconciled the two ideas maintaining that their differences are semantic differences, arguing that the universal existence (which is different in creation to creator) and the divine essence are different and that the universal existence emanates (in a non-platonic sense) from the divine essence and that the relationship between them is similar to the relationship between the number four and a number being even.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|first=Hafiz|last=Khan|year=1998|contribution=Shah Wali Allah (Qutb al-Din Ahmad al-Rahim) (1703-62)|encyclopedia=[[Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy|Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]|publisher=[[Routledge]]}}</ref><ref>Ansari, Abdul Haq. "Shah waliy Allah Attempts to Revise wahdat al-wujud." Arabica 35.2 (1988): 197-213.</ref>