Skip to content

Bābī-Bahā’ī Studies, Islamo-Biblica and Beyond

 

SELECT BABI-BAHA'I RELATED, BIBLIOGRAPHIES, NOTES AND PAPERS
of
Dr. Stephen N. Lambden

Stephen N. Lambden, UCMerced.

In progress and being reorganized. Last updated 16-09-2025.

 Some Cosmological Aspects of Shi`i-Shaykhi and Babi-Baha'i Gnosis.

Stephen Lambden, UC Merced. In Progress 2025-6.  In Progress and Correction  2025-6.

  • The various "Worlds", "Universes or Supra-Terrestrial Realms  according to Qur'amic and Post-Quranic Abrahamic- Islamic cosmology. Part 1.
  • The various "Worlds", "Universes or Supra-Terrestrial Realms  according to Qur'amic and Post-Quranic Abrahamic- Islamic cosmology. Part 2.
  • The various "Worlds", "Universes or Supra-Terrestrial Realms  according to Qur'amic and Post-Quranic Abrahamic- Islamic cosmology. Part 1.
  • The various "Worlds", "Universes or Supra-Terrestrial Realms  according to  Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-Arabi. Part 3.
  • The various "Worlds", "Universes or Supra-Terrestrial Realms  according to the Writings  expressive of Early Shaykhism, Shaykh Ahmad ibn Zayn al-Din al-Ahsa'i and Sayyid Kazim al-Husayni al-Rashti, Part 4
  • The various "Worlds", "Universes or Supra-Terrestrial Realms  according to the Writings  expressive of the Religion of Sayyid `Ali Muhammad Shirazi, the Bab and Early Babism. Part 5
  • The various "Worlds", "Universes or Supra-Terrestrial Realms  according to  Writings  expressive of the Religion of the Mirza Husayn `Ali Nuri, Baha'-Allah. Part 6 
  • The various "Worlds", "Universes or Supra-Terrestrial Realms  according to  Writings  of `Abd al-Baha `Abbas (1844-1921). Part 7.  

Based on various writings of Ibn al-`Arabi (638/1240)

  • (1) `alam al-amr   "The world of the Command" :     (Rasa'il Ibn `Arabi. Beirut: Dar Sadir,  1997, Istilihat, p. 539)
  • (2) `alam al-khalq  "The world of the creation" :       (Rasa'il Ibn `Arabi. Beirut: Dar Sadir,  Istilihat, p. 539)

Worth noting here is the use of al-amr in connection with the definition of al-Kursi, the celestial "Pedestal" or "Footstall" of God :

al-kursi -i [ndicates] the foundation of the Divine Command (mawdi` al-amr) and of the Prohibition [Culmination] (al-nahy).

Some furthe cosmological definitions in the Istilihat al-Sufiyya of Ibn al-`Arabi: 

Under the letter "M" (mim), the Great Shaykh, Ibn al-`Arabi includes several realms associated with the  world of the dominion or kingdom [of God] , commencing with the word al-mulk which is defined as the `alam al-shahada, the world of the testimony. attestation etc.  They follow definitions of al-barzakh and al-jabarut (see below):

  • al-Malakut  [indicates] the World of the Unseen (`alam al-ghayb) - cf. Q. 
  • al-Malik al-Mulk [indicates that] "He is the Real One (huwa al-haqq) in the state expressing the metaphorical conditions (mujazat) of the servant (al-`abd) according to the nature of His Command (al-amr) relative to him. (Rasa'il, p.540).
  • al-Mulk = "The Dominion",, "The Kingdom of God" indicates the world-Universe which is Shahada
  • Mulk and Malakut
  • The world of the Kingdom or Kingdom of God = `ālam al-mulk wa'l-malakūt
  • Nasut
  • Jabarut
  • Jabarut :In the opinion of [`Ali ibn] `Abi Talib (d.40/661) it signifies the world of the Divine Grandeur (`alam al-`azimat) and in the opinon of many others it is indicative of the world of  the Intermediate [the intermediate world] (`alam al-wast)  
  • Lahut,  the Divine World
  • Hahut  the World of the Divine Ipseity, a transcendent realm which is the abode of the Deity or Godhead  cf. huwiyya = "He-ness"; the linking of H and W in Arabic.

On     Barzakh   and      Hūrqalyā (Arabic = هورقليا = h-w-r-q-l-y-a  

The term Barzakh and its Islamic and Babi-Baha'i Interpretations

Barzakh  in the Qur'an

  • Barzakh  in the Qur'an (1) 
  • Barzakh  in the Qur'an (2) 
  • Barzakh  in the Qur'an (3) 

Some Notes on al-Barzakh in Select Islamic Philosophers, Theologians and Mystics

  • Barzakh in the Rasa'il Ikhwan al-safa' (XX the cent CE).
  • Barzakh  in the writings of al-Ghazali (d. 505/1111). 
  • Barzakh  in the writings of Shihab al-Din Yahya Suhrawardi (d.    /   ). 
  • Barzakh  in the writings of  Muhyi al-Din ibn al-`Arabi (d. 638 /1240). 

al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya sect. 63 (as above) "On the Gnosis of the Eternity of the People  (fi'l-ma`rifat baqa' al-nas) in the Barzakh between the mortal world and [that of the Awakening on the Day of]  Resurrection (bayn al-dunya wa'l-ba`th)." Towards a Tentative Translation of section 63 by Stephen Lambden

  • Barzakh  in the writings of  Muhyi al-Din ibn al-`Arabi (d. 638 /1240). 

.  إصطلاحة الصوفية

Ibn al-`Arabi in his al-Istilahat al-sufiyya ("Sufi Lexicon") under the letter ` (`ayn) refers to two realms or "worlds" (`alam) commencing with the word "world" (first letter `) along with succinct definitions of these two realms, They are as printed within Rasa'il ibn al-`Arabi. ed. Muhammad Shihab al-Din `Arabi, Beirut: Dar Sadir, 1997. See Rasa'il Ibn `Arabi. Beirut: Dar Sadir,  Istilahat al-sufiyya, pp. 529-541). Other printings:

  • Kitāb Iṣṭilaḥāt al-Ṣūfiyya (“The Book of the Technical Terms of the Sufis”). Kamāl al-Dīn 'Abd al-Razzāq al- Kāshānī; ed. Aloys Sprenger. Calcutta, 1845. 167, IX pp.
  • Iṣṭilaḥāt al-Ṣūfiyya, ed. A. Sprenger, rep. in A Glossary of Sufi Technical Terms. London: The Octagon Press, 1991.
  • Iṣṭilaḥāt = [Kitāb] Iṣṭilaḥāt al-Ṣūfiyya. Muwaffaq Fawzī al-Jabr. Damascus: al-Ḥikmah, 1415/1995 and Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-`Ilmiyya, 2005.

  • The succinct definition of al-Barzakh in the Istilahat al-Sufiyya  (The Sufi Lexicon") attributed to Ibn al-`Arabi (d. 638/1240). 
  •  

`Abd al-Razzaq al-Kashani (d. c. 730/XXXX) and the Istilahat al-Sufiyya  attributed to him.

  • The succinct definition of al-Barzakh in the Istilahat al-Sufiyya  attributed to `Abd al-Razzaq al-Kashani (d. c. 730/XXXX). ed.  Muwaffaq Fawdi al-Jabr. [Beirut] Dar Sadir, 1416/1990. Bab al-ba', page 19,