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Scholars specializing in the scientific heritage of Ibn Al-Arabi, the 13th century Arab thinker from Andalusia (Spain), met in Baku for an international workshop dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Prof. Aida Imanguliyeva, entitled "The East and the West: Common Moral Values. Scientific and Cultural Relations."
Meeting September 9 to 11, participants attempted to find answers to pressing global problems about interrelations between East and West. These are two different poles in the nature of thinking, but each aspiring in its own way to an acceptable convergence in all spheres - including economy, culture, politics as well as in methods of understanding the meaning of human existence in the 21st century, which has not changed much for two millennia.
The comprehensive workshop provided foreign attendees with an opportunity to become acquainted with Prof. Aida Imanguliyeva’s scientific heritage, as Azerbaijan honors her sacred memory. The guests were also able to witness the level of economic development and the entire infrastructure of Azerbaijan, to obtain information about our nation’s culture and origin and to become acquainted with the country’s historical monuments. The participants of the scientific and cultural event enriched their knowledge of the history and key problems of the present-day as well as Azerbaijani scholars’ views on the matter.
Naturally, the event is of great importance for the promotion of the Arabic thinker’s ideas and revealing Imanguliyeva’s role in the development of Arabic studies in Azerbaijan. Therefore, we addressed our questions to Professor Dr. Rafig Aliyev, who was one of the participants at the event.

Q. What is the relation between Aida Imanguliyeva’s creative work and approaches to the world and Ibn Al-Arabi, who lived 700 years ago?
A. There is a lot uniting them, much more than one can imagine. I can share my opinion on this, especially as guests invited from different scientific institutions of Azerbaijan asked me about this during breaks in the workshop. Both Ibn Al-Arabi and Aida Imanguliyeva strived for understanding and presenting the world as a whole entity, equally belonging to all people. You know, Prof. Imanguliyeva is the first Oriental woman to have received a degree of Doctor in Arabic Studies. Like Ibn Al-Arabi, she devoted her scientific and creative life to problems of the necessity of bringing the East and West together. With their numerous scientific research, the two personalities tried to prove to the world that East-West relationships should be established, first of all, based on a synthesis of western realism and eastern sensitiveness. In other words, they set forth the expression: "Through mind, not ignoring intuition."

Q. Well, what connects the two "heroes" of the scientific and public occasion?
A. Both Aida Imanguliyeva and Ibn Al-Arabi wanted to build a bridge between the East and the West: she attempted to do so through literature and he attempted to do so through the philosophy of Sufism, offering not to divide God but focus on faith, a united world-view system.

Q. What was the main idea of their approaches?
A. First of all, they suggested uniting the mind and feelings to make decisions through mind and consciousness, like it is in the West, and taking into consideration human feelings at the same time, as it is in the East. They thought this would help save the synchronization of the mind as an information receiver, consciousness as an information processor and the heart as an organ creating the system of unity of the internal and external, of an image and a specific object.

Q. Well, each of them lived in difficult times for making their ideas come true.
A. Thoughts that sounded in their creative works turned out to be new for their times, and to have them realized, one needed courage conditioned with belief in truth and confidence in personal intuition.

Q. It is surprising what common difficulties both of them had to overcome, taking into consideration the stretch of time.
A. I think the four motives I have mentioned are enough to commemorate with great respect and deference, simultaneously, Imanguliyeva and Ibn Al-Arabi. The necessity of keeping the heritage of each of them stems from the fact that, unfortunately, their wishes and good intentions have not yet been fully materialized. Though everyone needs them – especially all those who build their life hoping for the absence of events aggravating West-East inter-relations. We are striving for unity and the elimination of obstacles among nations, peoples and countries.

Q. Mr. Aliyev, you worked with Aida Imanguliyeva at the Institute of Oriental Studies for about 20 years. How did she display her qualities and leadership skills?
A. Aida Imanguliyeva achieved a special status among Orientalists and literary experts. She could subtly use her intelligence along with feelings and insight. Not everyone can do that, as we know. Such people are called master scholars. It is an open secret that not every scholar or scientist can be a teacher. She combined a lot of human merits: scholarship, humanity, tact and inner culture, erudition and attention, refinement in everything, high culture of communicating with people, being natural, uniqueness and a many-sided individuality.

Perhaps, she had a God-given talent.
I knew her well at work and in life, and still I have a hard time understanding how she could combine all that. I know no example to compare with her today. I think the notion of "incomparable originality" can be easily referred to Aida Imanguliyeva. Every person who knew her understands this and most people have already spoken about this. Personally, I do not know a person at the National Academy of Sciences, either here or in Moscow, who referred to her otherwise. The power of her attraction was so strong that one questioning her with an evil intention used to turn to be quite different for a while and resemble a kind person. I am sure she did nothing special to re-embody the questioner. Nature itself seemed to be in her favor and protected her with special affection and concern. A certain part of that passed on to people who knew her.

Q. Undoubtedly, she managed to achieve much over a short lifetime.
A. Personalities of the kind take the lead over their time, they tower above others and differ in novelties in their approach to problems of humanity as a whole and to insignificant details of any problem. The range of their perception of the universe system is so wide that it does not fit into one century. The more time passes, the greater the thirst for their heritage, ways of thinking and quick understanding of the essence of various things.

Mohammad Ibn Al-Arabi, an Arabic poet and philosopher, lived and worked in the 12th century in Andalusia, Spain. He was a believer in the unity of the West and the East without precedents, as one would say in our days, particularly on the basis of equal rights of all religions and nations. He is the author of more than 600 scientific and literary works. Only 250 titles have reached us and some of the manuscripts are kept in the Institute of Manuscripts at the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences in Baku.