historical and progressive development of the idea of annihilation in islamic mysticism

in islamic mysticism by annihilation it is meant the removal of any determination, tendency of delimitation to non-delimitation and transformation of multiplicity into unity. the study of historical development of the concept of annihilation can be helpful in understanding and analyzing this fundamental doctrine of mysticism. in early mystical works extant in world of islam, hardly can one find a full-fledged concept of annihilation. rather they contain a primary version with moral themes rather than ontological and philosophical ones. these simple concepts continued to develop well into the seventh century when it changed drastically with the rise of ibn arabi. thanks to the disciples of this mystical school a breakthrough was made in the domain of mysticism that led to dynamism of the annihilation doctrine. in this period it developed so much so that it found expression with rich terminology and dynamic concepts of annihilation. in addition to practical and theoretical progress of annihilation, no doubt, the impact of islamic teachings in enriching the nature of annihilation seems to be decisive. the present article is to analyze and explore the evolutionary course of the annihilation theories in islamic mysticism with a short glance at its historical developments which can yield the readers an account of the changes this concept underwent.