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From Nāsūt to Hāhūt and Beyond - Some Introductory Notes to Lawh-i kull al-Ta`am IXf.

ناسوت

ملکوت - جبروت

  لاهوت - هاهوت

Nāsūt

Jabarūt - Malakūt

Lāhūt (The Divine Realm) and Hāhūt (the Apophatic Beyond).

From Nāsūt to Hāhūt and Beyond - Some Introductory Notes to Lawh-i kull al-Ta`am IXf - On the Five or more meta- "worlds" in Islamic Cosmology, Philosophy and Mysticism.

Stephen Lambden, UC Merced, 2020.

In Progress - last updated 08-09-2020.

Basic cosmological theories and Some key thinkers, theologians, mystics and philosophers.

The `awālim or "worlds" (sing. عالم, `ālam) in Qur'anic and Islamic Cosmology have a long period of development coming to be accepted or championed by diverse thinkers over an extended period spanning a millennium or more up to the Persian Safavid and Qajar periods and beyond. Neither today not in the past centuries of Islamic thought and cosmology, have all Muslims accepted accepted a two, three, four or five `worlds' universe or cosmological schemata. A few of these originally ultimately sometimes five Aramaic - Syriac loanwords have an Abrahamic religious and linguistic history going back many centuries before the time of the Prophet Muhammad (d. 632 CE). The apparently self-generated Islamic use of the word Hāhūt perhaps came came latest. It seems not to appear in the major works of Ibn al-`Arabi but within the writings of certain of his later devotees and commentators, most notably the Shi`ite Sufi and mystical philosopher Sayyid Haydar al-Amuli (d. Najaf, 787/1385).

The two (see below), three, four or five worlds of Islamic philosophy, metaphysics and mysticism were variously defined and arranged relative to each other and to many further levels of metaphysical reality and mystical states of being. As shall be demonstrated several "worlds", meta-worlds, universes, or dimentions of psychological and quasi-ontological being, have multiple allegedly synonymous names and a host of diverse inhabitants such as human, angelic, mythological and supre-terrestrial.beings. Some "worlds" are correlated with various elevated Names of God or guarded by celestial "veils" sometimes also defined relative to divine Names and/or Attributes (al-asma' wa'l-sifat). A "Name" of God should not be thought of a simply a written word composed on letters indicating something about the Divinity, but rather, for mystical thinkers, as a cosmic force or potency reverberating throughout worlds unseen with real cosmic effect.

The five "worlds" of developed Islamic mystical Cosmology

  • [1] ناسوت عالم Nāsūt,  the world  which is this "mortal world".
  • [2] عالم ملکوت Malakūt, the world the angels, “the Kingdom of God”.
  • [3] عالم جبروت Jabarūt,  the sphere of the Divine Omnipotence or celestial Powers.
  • [4] عالم لاهوت   Lāhūt, "the Realm of the Divine Theophany".
  • [5] عالم هاهوت   Hāhūt , “the Apophatic realm of the Unknowable Godhead” or of the Essence of Divinity (dhāt Allāh).

Some intoductory Notes on the first three worlds mentioned above Nāsūt and Malakūt,

  • [1] ناسوت عالم Nāsūt,  the world  which is this "mortal world".

 

  • [2] عالم ملکوت Malakūt, the world the angels, “the Kingdom of God”.

The elevated world of  عالم جبروت Jabarūt [3],

  • [3] عالم جبروت Jabarūt,  the sphere of the Divine Omnipotence or celestial

Lāhūt and Hāhūt in select Islamic Sufis, Poets. Philosopers and Mystics. 

The Arabic loanwords Nāsūt and Lāhūt are basically  Syriac (Aramaic) Christological loan words:  nāsūt = Syr. `nāšūthā  and lāhūt =  Syr .`alāhūthā. Hāhūt  generally expressive of the Apophatic Beyondness of the Unknowability of the Godhead or Divine Essence (al-dhat) is modelled in Arabic on these earlier and more common Christological loanwords. It is generally thought that the opening Hā of Hāhūt is expressive of the Arabic letter "H" (ه =   al-ha', abjad 5)  also being suggestive of the masculine pronoun هو Huwa  ("He is" [God]) and the Huwiyya or the "He-ness" of the Divine Self-Identity or Ipseity.

A Chronological Survey, From the Qur'an and Hadith to Select Early Sufi Writers and others throughout pre-Qajar Islamic thought.

Qur'an and Hadith.

The Qur'an mentions the world

Some Muslim thinkers occasionally delineated two worlds on the basis of such Qur'anic phrases and related  texts Qur'an 7:54

In his massive al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya, The Great Shaykh, Muhyi al-Din  Ibn al-`Arabi (see below) pondering the implications of Q. 7:54b, spoke of the `alam al-khalq wa'l-amr, "The world of creation and of the command" (see Ibn al-`Arabi, Futuhat II: 129 and cf., for example, Shahbistari, Gulshan, opening section).

See further the very useful entry in the fourth volume of the Encyclopedia of the Qur'an (ed.  entitlrf

Select Early Sufi Writers and others  within pre-Qajar Islamic thought.

Ibn Mansur al-Hallaj (d. 309/922)

  • Kitab Ta’ wa Sin , [The Letters] "T" (ta') and the "S" (sin) of the Lamp.
  • Diwan

Abū Ṭālib al-Makkī (d. 386/996). was an important early generator of certain of the five Aramaic Syriac-rooted “worlds” as drawn of by Baha’-Allah. This in his Arabic works

  • Qūt al-Qulūb  = “The Nourishment of the Hearts” .

In the lengthy Sufi manual we do not find the terms Malakut, Lahut or Hahut. Jabarut  is there though, as we shall see, this realm was sometimes reinterpreted by Ibn al-`Arabi and others.

  • `Ilm al- Qulūb = “The Knowledge of the Hearts”.  Authenticity doubted.  A few of the five cosmological terms but not all five ??

The Rasā'il Ikhwān al-safā' wa khillian al-wafa (`The Treatises  or "Epistles" of the Brethren of Purity").

`The identity of the probably 4th/10th cent. Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’ (Brethren of Purity) is not known with any certainty. The fifty-two Rasā’il ascribed to them evidence a close relationship to Ismā’īlī doctrines, they "rewrote Neoplatonic and Pythagorean natural philosophy and metaphysics in Islamic terms" (Murata,1992:329). Their exposition of semi-esoteric "realities" sometimes goes beyond Islamic doctrinal norms. The authors of the Rasā’il were influenced by numerous streams of thought including Hermetic "wisdom" and the syncretistic "gnosis" of the Sabaeans of Ḥarrān. Yet these rasā’il "occupy a place in the first  rank of Arabic literature" having had an influence within both Sufism and Shī`īsm (Marquest EI2). The missionary Wolff, it is relevant to note here, reported that the Rasā’il were studied by the learned in the 1820s, in early 19th century Shīrāz (Missionary Journal III: 53-4).
This was doubtless also the case in other Iranian locations. The vocabulary of the Bāb at times appears to reflect that of certain of the Rasā’il. Some of the Rasā’il are indebted to the Bible, Greek philosophy and aspects of Jewish and Christian doctrine (Netton, 1982: 53ff;  Marquet, EI2). The Ikhwān cited the Hebrew Bible and Rabbinictradition and had some knowledge of the New Testament in several textual traditions. Moses and aspects of pentateuchal history and Islamo-biblical prophetology are occasionally present in the Rasā’il (R1:156-7; 186; 2:279ff; 4:16, 32). The reading of Abrahamic scripture and the Injīl (Gospel[s]) is recommended for these scriptures are said to result from angelic [divine] inspiration (bi’l-waḥy min al-malā’ika; cf. 4:42, 245; 1:363; 3:246; Netton 1983:54).

Aspects of the cosmology of the Rasa'il and related writings have a bearing upon the subject under consideration here, the various `awalim or worlds.

    Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali al-Tusi (b. 451/1058- d. 515/1111).

     

    Abu `Abd-Allah Muhammad ibn `Ali ibn Muhammad, Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-`Arabi al-Ta'i al-Hatim'i (b. Murcia, Spain, 560/1165 - d. Damascus, 638/1240)

     

    al-Fuṭūḥāt II: 139.

    هنالك يعلم ما هو ملك الملك فإن قلت وما هو ملك الملك قلنا هو الحق في مجازاة العبد على ما كان منه مما أمر به وما لم يؤمر به ويختص بهذا الأمر عالم الملكوت فإن قلت وما عالم الملكوت قلنا عالم المعاني والغيب والارتقاء إليه من عالم الملك فإن قلت وما عالم الملك قلنا عالم الشهادة والحرف وبينهما عالم البرزخ فإن قلت وما عالم البرزخ قلنا عالم الخيال ويسميه بعض أهل الطريق عالم الجبروت وهكذا هو عندي ويقول فيه أبو طالب صاحب القوت عالم الجبروت هو العالم الذي أشهد العظمة وهم خواص عالم الملكوت ولهم الكمال فإن قلت وما الكمال قلنا التنزه عن الصفات وآثارها ولا يعرفها إلا الساكن بأرين فإن قلتوما أرين قلنا عبارة عن الاعتدال في قوله أعطى كل شئ خلقه ثم هدى فإن أرين موضع خط اعتدال الليل والنهارفاستعاروه وقد ذكره منهم عبد المنعم بن حسان الجلباني في مختصره غاية النجاة له ولقيته وسألته عن ذلك فقال فيه ما شرحناه به وصاحب هذا المقام هو صاحب الرداء فإن قلت وما الرداء قلنا الظهوربصفات الحق في الكون فإن قلت وما الكون قلنا كل أمر وجودي وهو خلاف الباطل فإن قلت وما يريد أهل الله بالباطل قلنا العدم ويقابل الباطل الحق فإن قلت وما الحق عندهم قلنا ما وجب على العبد القيام به من جانب الله وما أوجبه الرب للعباد على نفسه إذ كان هو العالم والعلم فإن قلت وما العالم والعلم قلنا العالم من أشهده الله ألوهته وذاته ولم

    Wherefore does he know that He/ he is the  mulk al-mulk (the dominion of the dominion) though  if you say, `And what is the  mulk al-mulk (the dominion of the dominion)?' We say that it is the al-Haqq (the Divine Reality) as befits the metaphorical proclivities of the servant in view of what came from him and was commanded of him and what he failed to accomplish. Specific to this circumstance (al-amr) is the world of the kingdom (`alam al-malakut) ..

    al-Fuṭūḥāt al-Makkiyya. 4 Vols. Beirut: Dār Ṣadir n.d. [1968 = Cairo ed.1911].

     

    `Abd al-Razzaq Kamal al-Din al-Kashani (d.c. 730/1330).

    • Iṣṭilāḥāt al-Ṣūfīyah (Sufi Technical Terminology)
    • Iṣṭilāḥāt al-Ṣūfīyah Ed. ʻAbd al-Laṭīf, Muḥammad al-ʻAbd.  Cairo: Dār al-Nahḍah al-ʻArabiyya, 1977. 152pp.
    • Iṣṭilāḥāt al-Ṣūfīyah  by  ʻAbd al-Razzāq al-Kāshānī ; ed. ʻAbd al-Laṭīf Muḥammad al-ʻAbd. Cairo : Dār al-Nahḍah al-ʻArabiyya, 1977

    Maḥmūd Ibn-ʻAbd-al-Karīm  ibn Yaḥyā Shabistarī (b. near Tabriz,     - d. after 1340 CE}.

    • Gulshan-i Raz (Rose Garden of Mystery), a Sufi poem written in c. 1317 CE in responce to questions posed by Rukn al-Din Husayni Harawi (d. 718/1318) and was frequently commented upon. 

    ed and trans Edward H Whinfield

    • The mystic rose garden : the Persian text, with an Engl. transl. and notes, chiefly from the commentary of Muhammad Bin Yahya Lahiji'. London : Trübner, 1880.
    • Gulshan-i raz, ed. S. Muwahhid, Majmu’a-i athar-i Shaykh Mahmud Shabistari, Tehran: Kitabkhana-i tahuri, 1986.

    Sayyid Haydar al-Amuli (b. Amul, 719/1319- d. Najaf, 787/1385)

    • Tafsir al-Muḥīṭ al-aʿẓam wa'l-bahr al-makhdam ... (The All-Encompassing, Supreme [Qur'an Commentary] Mighty Supreme  ...
    • Jāmiʿ al-asrār wa manbaʿ al-anwār  ( The Compendium of Secrets and the Dource of the Lights)
    • Naṣṣ al-nuṣūṣ (The Text of Texts), a commentary on the Fusus al-Hikam (The Bezels of Wisdom) of Muhyi al-Din Ibn al- 'Arabi
    • Risalat al-wujud fi ma`rifat al-Ma`bud (Treatise on Existences pertaining to the Knowledge of the One Worshipped)
    • Risalat al-ma`ad fi ruju` al-`Ibad (Treatise of the End-Time touching upon the Return of the One Worshipped).
    • Majma' al-asrar wa Manba' al-anwar (Compendium of Secrets and the Source of the Lights).
    • Risalat al-wujud fi ma`rifat al-ma`bud (Treatise on Existence relating to the Gnosis of the One Worshipped).

    Āmulī, Sayyid Ḥaydar ibn ʻAlī al-Ḥusaynī al-Āmulī (d. Najaf, 1385/      / 14th cent.)

    • al-Muqaddimāt min Kitāb Naṣṣ al-nuṣụ̄ṣ. 2 vols. 1975.
    • Asrār al-sharīʻah va atvar al-tarīqah, 1983.
    • al-Muqaddamāt min kitāb Naṣṣ al-nuṣūṣ fī sharḥ Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam li-Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn al-ʻArabī, az taṣnīfāt-i Ḥaydar Āmulī ; bā taṣḥīḥāt va dū muqaddamah va fihristhā Hinrī Kurbīn va ʻUthmān Ismāʻīl Yaḥyá. Tehrān : Intishr̄āt-i Tūs, 1988.
    • al-Muqaddamāt min kitāb Naṣṣ al-nuṣūṣ fī sharḥ Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam li-Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn al-ʻArabī, Tehrān : Intishr̄āt-i Tūs, 1988. Yaḥyá, ʻUthmān. , Corbin, Henry.
    • Risalah-'i naqd al-nuqud fi màrifat al-wujud. 1364
    • al-Kashkūl fīmā jará ʻalá āl al-Rasūl. Najaf : Manshūrāt al-Maṭbaʻah al-Ḥaydarīyah, [1953],

    Raḍī al-Dīn Rajab ibn Muhammad, Rajab al-Hafiz al-Bursī  (b. near Hilla - d.Ṭūs c. 814/1411), 

    Among his best known works is the Imam `Ali ibn Abi Talib (d. 40/661) centered  Mashāriq anwār al-yaqīn fī asrār Amīr al-Mu'minīn (The Dawning-Places of the Lights of Certitude expressing the mysteries of the Commander of the Faithful'. Publications include, 

    • Mashāriq anwār al-yaqīn fī kashf asrār Amīr al-Muʼminīn. Bombay : Maṭbaʻat al-Ḥusnī al-Kāʼīn, 1303/ 1886. 305 pages. Microfilm copy in Princeton Univ. Library Arabic Collection - So World Cat. 
    • Mashāriq anwār al-yaqīn fī asrār Amīr al-Mu'minīn. Beirut: Dār al-Andalus, 1978.
    • Mashāriq al-Anwār ... Beirut: Mu’assasah al-`Alamī lil-Maṭbū`āt. 197X?.
    • Les Orients des lumières : de la certitude concernant les secrets des princes des croyants, Ragab Muhammad ibn Ragab al-Hillî Borsî; Henry Corbin; Pierre Lory / Rajab Borsî ; trad. de l'arabe par Henry Corbin ; éd. établie et introd. par Pierre Lory. Lagrasse : Verdier ; [Paris] : Institut français de recherche en Iran, 1995. 120 pp.
    • Les Orients des Lumires. (Henri Corbin), Lagrasse : Verdier, 1996.

    Nine  French editions of Rajab al-Bursi, Mashaeiq ... trans. Corbin, Les Orients des Lumires, were published between 1995 and 1996.

    The Mashāriq  anwār  al‑yaqīn  of Rajab al‑Bursī (d. c. 814 /1411).

              Among the numerous often `irfānī  (esoteric‑gnostic) collections of tradition significant in esoteric Shiism and the Bābī‑Bahā’ī religions is that revolving around traditions ascribed to Imām `Alī in the Mashāriq  anwār al‑yaqīn fī asrār Amīr al‑mu’minīn (The Dawning‑Places of the Lights of Certitude in the mysteries of the Commander of the Faithful’) of Rajab al‑Bursī (d. c. 814 /1411;  Lawson, 1992:261‑276; Borsi [Lorey+ Corbin],1996).  A number of arcane Shī`ī traditions cited by the Bāb and Baha'-Allah originate with this compilation. In his Kitāb‑I  īqān,  for example, Baha'-Allah cites a tradition about Imām `Alī having been with one thousand Adams, each  50, 000 years apart, and having repeatedly declared his walāya   ("successorship") before them (KI:130/tr. [SE*]107‑8).

                Bursī’s Mashāriq contains important sermons and traditions which were very highly regarded by the first two Shaykhī leaders as well as by the Bāb and Baha'-Allah. A considerable number of important Imamī traditions about walāya, the `ilm al‑ḥurūf  (the science of letters) the ism Allāh al‑a`ẓam   and other esoteric matters are scattered throughout the Mashāriq. The influence of the Bible and Isrā’īliyyāt is evident throughout this seminal esoteric tract.

                Among the influential discourses ascribed to Imam `Alī contained in the Mashāriq of Bursī is the arcane Khuṭba al‑ṭutunjiyya [ taṭanjiyya]  (Sermon of the Gulf) allegedly delivered by the first Imam between Kūfa and Medina (Mashāriq: 166‑170). This oration is a quasi‑extremist (ghuluww) sermon which was partially commented upon by Sayyid Kāẓim Rashtī who regarded it very highly. So too the Bāb and Baha'-Allah who quote and selectively comment upon it quite  frequently. They were markedly influenced by its at times  high imamology and abstruse yet suggestive apocalyptic.

    The meta-worlds `awalim ("worlds") in the Mashāriq  anwār  al‑yaqīn 

    The first mention of the meta-worlds ( `awalim ) in the Mashāriq  anwār  al‑yaqīn  of al-Bursi is towards its beginning where its author in his highly-theological opening paragraphs refers to the singularity (ahadi) of the dhat, the "Divine Essence" and of the sifat, the "Divine Attributes" and continues to make reference to the all but incomprehensible four or five realms of  azali al-lahut (The Eternality of the Divine Being"), the abadi al-Malakut ("Everlasingness of the Kingdom of God"), the sarmadi al-`Azimat ("the Perpetuity of the Divine Grandeur") as well as the jalal al-Jabarut ("The Glory of the Omnipotent Realm") (Mashariq, 7). 

     

    Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā al-Lāhījī (d. 918/1507).

    • مفاتیح الاعجاز فى شرح گلشن راز  = Mafātih al-`Ijāz fi Sharh-i Gulshan-i Rāz (The Keys for the Inimitability of the Rose-Garden of Mystery) is a lengthy Persian commentary upon the well-known Gulshan-i Rāz  of Sa`id al-Din Maḥmūd Ibn ʻAbd-al-Karīm  ibn Yaḥyā Shabistarī (d. after 1240).

    "Know that the `awālim-i kulliyya, the Universal Worlds are five :

    • 1. Firstly the `ālam-i dhāt. the world of the Divine Essence which is the sphere of Lāhūt ("the Realm of the Divine") and the Hiddenness of [His] Divine Ipseity (huwiyya al-ghaybiyya-ihi) as well as the  Unseen Realm of the Unknowable One (ghayb-i majhul), the Hiddenness of the Realms Unseen (ghayb-i ghuyub), the Essence of the Unitative Connection (`ayn al-jam`), the Reality of Realities (haqiqat al-haqā'iq), the maqām-i aw adna, "station of "Or even Nearer " (Q. 53:9b), and they further say, the "The ghāya al-ghāyāt, "the Uttermost Limit of things Outmost) and nihāya al-nihāyāt, "the Ultimate End of all Extremities".
    • 2. Secondly, the `alam-i sifāt. the world of the Divine Attributes which is the sphere of Jabarūt ("the Realm of the Omnipotent"); the Barzakh of Barzakhs (barzakh al-barāzikh) and (Per.) Barzakhiyya-i `ula,  the Foremost / Uppermost level of Barzakhness;  the Majma` al-Bahrayn, "the Confluence of the Two Seas" (Q. 18:60) and Qaba Qawsayn, "two bow-lengths away (Q. 53:9a); the Muhit al-A`yān, The All-Encompassing of the Essences"  as well as the Wāhidiyya  (Inclusive Oneness) beyond whatsoever they might have intended.
    • 3. Thirdly, the `ālam-i Malakūt. the world of the Kingdom which is the world of the Spirits-Souls (`ālam-i arwāh) and the  `ālam-i af``āl, the world of the Divine Actions ; the  `ālam-i amr, the world of the Logos-Command;  the `ālam-i rububiyya, the world of the Divine Lordship as well as "the Unseen" (ghayb) and "the Inmost" (batin) as has also been supposed.
    • 4. Fourthly, the `ālam-i Mulk. the world of the Dominion; the ālam-i shahāda; the world of appearances; the ālam-i zāhir, the visible world;  the `ālam-i āthār, the world of trace images and creation (khalq), the sensate world (mahsus) as they have stated.
    • 5. Fifthly, the `ālam-i Nāsūt, which is the [world expressive of the realm of] kawn-i jāmi`, "the All-attracting realm of being"; the  `Illat-i ghā'iyya, "the outermost cause of enticement"; the ākhir al-tanzillāt. the "extremity of the realms sent down"; the mujalla al-kull, "the [sphere of the] Self-disclosure before the Pleroma, which is the All".

    And these five worlds (panj-i `awālim) are essentially three; the first that [by means of which] persons exit ... then two other worlds,                   (Mafātih al-`Ijāz, 114).

    Dāmād, Mīr Muhammad Astarabādī (d. 1041/1641)

    • Jadhawat = Jadhawāt. Repr. Bombay lith. 1302/1884. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Bihnām. n.d.
    • Qabasat = K. al-Qabasāt. Ed. Mahdī Muḥaqqiq. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Dānishgāh-i Tihrān. 1362/1983

    Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm, Ṣadr al-Dīn Shīrāzī = Mullā Ṣadrā (d. 1050/1641).

    The Safavid thinkers and Shi`i philosophers Sadr al-Din Shirāzi (d.1050/1640) known as Mullā Sadra, and his pupil and son-in law Mullā Muhsin Fayd al-Kāshāni (d.1090/1679) both have a good deal to say about Islamic cosmology and the various `awalim or worlds. In his (among other places) bulky Mafātih al-ghayb  (The Keys of the Unseen)   :

    The third Mashhad

    On the "worlds" (al-`awālim) which is the world of the Command (`alam al-amr) and the world of the intellects and the pure (`alam al-uqul wa'l-sirf). .

    The first category [of "worlds", al-`awālim] is the world of the Intellect (al-`aql). Its primary entrance is through the opening up of the Extremity of the Divine Grandeur (ghayat al-`azimat), the Divine Majesty (al-jalal) and the Divine Illumination (al-ishraq). It is impossible thatbthere be within all the realms of existence (al-mumkinat) anything more Noble (ashraf) or more Sublime (a`zam) than this [level of existence]! Nay rather! Such is not at all credible as a matter of course (nafs al-amr)! 

     

    (Mulla Sadra,  Mafātih al-ghayb, ed. Khājavi, 1424/2003, 532-535)

    The second category [of "worlds", al-`awālim] is the world of the [Universal] Soul (`alam al-nafs). Its primary entrance is through the opening up of the ocean (bahr) of [the world of] Jabarut (Omnipotence) [leading] unto this "world" (al-`alam). It is that realm which is designated the "Universal Soul" (nafs al-kull) and the "Faithful Spirit" (al-ruh al-amin) as well as the "Preserved Tablet" (al-lawh al-mahfuz) and the "Perspicuous Book" (al-kitab al-mubin). And it is the "Water" (al-mā') upon which [rests] the [heavenly] Throne of the All-Merciful (`arsh al-rahman) and which has been previously mentioned in His statement, "We made from Water (al-mā') everything' (kull shay') living (hayy)" (Q. 21:30). It is this  which is the essence of the Water of Life (`ayn mā'  al-hayat), a fountain (al-fawwāra) flowing forth in the world of corporealities (`ālam al-ajsām)... it is mentioned in His  statement, "We created you from a single Soul (nafs wāhida)"... as well as in His statement, "He sendeth down water (al-mā') from heaven which flows in channels according to their capacity" (Q. 13:17)  (Mulla Sadra,  Mafātih al-ghayb, ed. Khājavi, 1424/2003, 535-6).

    The third category [of "worlds", al-`awālim] is the world of the [Supernal] "Body" (`alam al-jism). Its primary entrance is through the opening up of the ocean (bahr) of [the world of] the Most Great Light (al-nur al-a`zam). This is the  Furthermost Celestial Sphere [Firmament] (falak al-aqsa), the Most Transcendent  Body Mass (al-jirm al-a`la). It is designated a "Boundary Determinator" (muhaddad an), since by virtue of it boundaries (al-hudud) and  spatial directionalities (al-jihat al-makaniyya) are determined [particularized] (ta`ayyin) such as the "beyond" (al-fawq} and the "beneath" (al-takht)

    (Mulla Sadra,  Mafātih al-ghayb, ed. Khājavi, 1424/2003, 536-538).

     Sadr al-Din Shirazi, Muqaddamah wa Ta`liqāt Mafātih al-ghayb, ed. Muhammad Khājavi, Mu`assat al-Tārikh al-`Arabi, Beirut : Lebanon, 1424 / 2003.

    Mullā Muhsin Fayd al-Kāshāni (d.1090/1679),

    al-Fayḍ al-Kashānī, Mullā Muḥsin (d.1091/1680-81)

    In his massive `Ilm al-Yaqin fi Usul al-Din (The Knowledge of Certainty regarding the Bases of Religion) Fayd al-Kāshāni 

    • Mahajja = al-Maḥajja al-bayḍā' fī tahdhīb al-iḥyā’. ed. 'Alī Akbar al-Ghaffarī, 8
    • vols. Beirut: Mu`assat al-A`lamī. 1403/1984
    • `Ilm = `Ilm al-yaqīn fī Uṣūl al-dīn. 2 vols. Dār al-balāgha. 1410/1990.
    • Nawadir = Nawādir al-akhbār fīmā yata`allaq bi-uṣūl al-dīn. Ed. Mahdi Ansārī. Tehran: Institute for Cultural Studies, 1375/1996.
    • Kalimat = Kalimāt-i Maknūna ("The Hidden Words"),Tehran: Mu`assat-i Maṭbū`āt-i Farāhānī, 1342 Sh. or 1383/1963.
    • al-Safi = al-Ṣafī fī tafsīr kalām Allāh al-wafī, ed. Husayn al-A'lamī, 5 vols. Beirut 1399/1979.

    `Abd al-Razzāq ibn `Alī ibn Ḥusayn, al-Sharīf (d. 1072/1662) was another important pupil  of  Mullā Ṣadrā (above).

    • Tafsīr-i sharīf-i Lāhijī. ed. Mīr Jalāl al-Din Ḥusaynī Armavī. Vols. 3-4 ed. Muḥammad Ibrāhīm Āyatī. 4 Vols. Tehran: Mu’assasih-yi Maṭbū`āt al-`Ilmī, 1340/1961.
    • Tafsīr-i Sharīf Lāhījī, taṣnīf Bahāʼ al-Dīn Muhammad Ibn Shaykh ʻAlī al-Sharīf al-Lāhījī.ed.Jalāl al-Dīn Ḥusaynī Muḥaddiṣ; Ibrahim Ayati. [Tehran] : Muʼassasah-i Maṭbūʻātī ʻIlmī, 1340/ 1961 or 1962.

    Mullā Na'imā al-Tāliqānī (d. after 1151/1738).

    In  several hundred page Arabic Asl al-Usul (The Source of Sources) edited by Jalāl al-Dīn Āshtiyānī, contains several clear, rich and very detailed pages about the various "worlds" as they are spoken about and interrelated within aspects of Islamic theology and cosmology. This in a section headed (by the editor) `How it is that the [Perfect] Human, "Man" (al-insān) can be a Manifestation (mazhar) of the His Names (asmā') and His Attributes (sifāt), may He [God] be elevated' (pp. 436-443). It begins,

    "Inasmuch as such [theological ideas] are understood then know that al-`ālam (the World) in its totality and with respect to the relations of its various components, constitutes the al-insān al-kabir, the "Macrocosmic Human", a Mighty Mirror (mirāt kabira) who is the Manifestation of all of His Most Beautiful Names (asmā'ihi al-husna) and His Most Elevated Attributes (sifāt); such, that is, as are Glorious (jalāliyya) or Beautiful (jamāliyya) as characterized by them both in their interelatioships. They express the Self-Revelation [glorious "Transfiguration"] (al-mujalla) of the name Allāh (God) which is the Name of the Sanctified, Wholly-Collected Divine Essence (al-dhāt al-muqaddasa al-mustajami`a) expressive of the conflation of all Perfections (li-jami`at al-kamālāt)!..

    Thus the All ["Pleroma", everything] (al-kull) is existent within al-insān [the`Perfect Man' / "Macrocosmic Human"]...

    The foregoing explanation may ultimately be summed up as follows. The confluence of all Existence (majma` al-mawjudat) may be regarded as the confluence (majmu`) as it pertains to a Single Individual (shaks wahid), who is the al-insān al-kabir  [the`Mighty Cosmic Man' or  "Macrocosmic Human"]. Fo him there is an outward aspect (zāhir) which is the world of the senses (`ālam al-mahsusat), the [worldly] dominion (al-mulk) and that which is observable (al-shahāda) as something absolute [concrete] (al-mutlaqa), [namely] the outward world (`ālam al-zahir).

    Yet for this [existence] there is also a deep level (bātin) dimension. It is the `ālam al-barzakh (the world of the Ithmus) and the `ālam al-mithāl (the world of similitudes), the one observable and [also] co-generated [subsiduary, annexed] (mudafa) as well as the lowest level of al-malakut (the kingdom [of God]).  Relative to this  deep level (batin) dimension there is the deep level (batin) dimension which is the world of spirits (`ālam al-arwāh) and the intellects (al-`uqul). It is the `ālam al-malakut (the world of the kingdom [of God]), Supremely Transcendent (al-a`la), Hidden (al-ghayb) yet Interconnected (al-mudafa). This deep level (batin) dimension is furthermore, expressive of Absolute Hiddenness (al-ghayb al-mutlaq), the `alam al-jabarut (the world of the Divine Omnipotence) as well as the Presence of the Divine Names and Attributes (hadrat al-asmā' wa'l-sifāt al-ilāhiyya). Wherefore also does this  deep level (batin) dimension have another  deep level (batin) dimension expressive of the Unseen of the Unseen (ghayb al-ghayb), the merest Glimpse of the Allusive Reality ( maqta` al-ishāra) ... 

    "Dost thou consider thyself a puny form (jirm saghir) when within thee is the Macrocosmic Universe (al-`ālam al-akbar)!

    Such is expressed as four meta- worlds (`awālim) namely,

    • [1] The `ālam al-`uqul (the world of intellects) which is named the `ālam al-malakut al-a`la (the Most Transcendent world of thr Kingdom [of God]) and the al-malā' al-a`lā (the Supreme Concourse).
    • [2] The `ālam al-nufus (the world of Souls) which is named the `alam al-malakut al-adnā (the world of the Kingdom [of God]) which is "even Nearer" (Q. 53:8b).
    • [3] The `ālam al-mithal (the world of Similitues). 
    • [4] The `ālam al-mulk (the world of the Dominion). 

     Now as for the `ālam al-mulk (the world of the Dominion), it is the world of things observable  (`lam al-shahada) and the world of the bodies (`ālam al-ajsm) and what is therein of the powerful forces (al-quwa) and products of nature (al-tabāi`)

     

    As for the `ālam al-mithāl (the world of similitudes) ...

    As for the `ālam al-`uqul (the world of intellects) ...

    Thus the `awlim (meta-worlds) are four

    Now as for the `ayan al-thabita (the world of fixed archetypes or = "immutable entities", "fixed prototypes" ... 

    • Asl al-Usul (The Source of Sources) in Jalāl al-Dīn Āshtiyānī (ed.), Muntakhabātī az āthār-i ḥukamā-yi ilāhī-i Īrān Paris, 1976 [+1984], pp. 365-542.

     

    Twelver Shi`ism-Shaykhism and the multiplicity of `awālim "worlds".

    It will be appropriate to mention here that both twelver Shi`ism throughout its more than a millennium of history, as well as its Qajar era spiritual renewal known as Kashfiyya or al-Shaykhiyya (Shaykhism) initiated by Ahmad ibn Zayn al-Din al-Ahsa'i (d. 1241/1826), speculated about a multiplicity of wordls, meta-worlds of universes. Such eras are replete with a multiplivity of Adams or "first humans" and allegedly span countless generations. In his Mashariq anwar al-yaqin, Rajab al-Bursi records several arcane traditions about pre-Adamic worlds and cycles.

    The polymathic al-Ahsa'i at one point responded to a question about a tradition ascribed to Abi `Abd-Alah, Ja`far al-Sadiq (d. c. 148/765) which referred to Adam being created by God when Jibril (Gabriel) was raised up at the first hour (sa`at al-awwal)  of the primordial yawm al-jum`ah, Day of Gathering, the first Friday. He commented as follows:

    "He [the Imam] intended by "the first hour (sa`at al-awwal)  of the yawm al-jum`ah, Day of Gathering, the first Friday." the beginning of the culmination of the multiplicity of worlds (awwal akhir maratib al-awlim). It was thus that God, glorified be He, created a thousand, thousand worlds (`lam) and a thousand thousand Adams  (adam). We thus exist at the [time of the] culmination of the worlds (akhir `awalim) and the termination of the Adams (akhir adamiyyin). So the yawm al-jum`ah, Day of Gathering is the Day of the termination thereon of the levels of Universal Existence (maratib al-wujud al-kulliyya). The genesis of the very first Day (ibtida' yawm al-ahad) is on account of the Snow-White Light (al-nur al-bayd') while the second Day is by virtue of the Verdent [Green] Light (al-nur al-akhdar). Now as for the Yellow Light (al-nur al-asfar), it comes and goes between the two [aforementioned] Days (al-yawmayn). The third Day is the Crimson Light (al-nur al-ahmar). Now the fourth Day is that of the essence [substance] of Baha' (Glory-Beauty, jawhar al-baha') in the Greatest Depth (al-amq al-akbar). The fifth Day is that of the Similitudes (al-mithal) and the [sixth] yawm al-jum`ah, Day of Gathering, Friday is the Day of the Body (al-jism).

     

    The "worlds" of Islamic gnosis in the writings of the Bab.
    Hāhūt the relam of the `Apophatic Beyond' is not mentioned in the 1260 /mid.1844 Qayyum al-asma' of th Bab; neither are the realms of Nāsūt and  Malakūt. Jabarūt (Divine Omnipotence Powers) is found once in the following pericope of the Surat al-Kalimat (Surah of the Word):

     يا قرّة العين

    قل و ما تشاؤن فی شیء الّا ان يشاء اللّه فی كلّ شیء فانّه قد كان بالحقّ عزيزاً و حكيماً ه انّ هذا لهو الخطّ القائم بين الملكين الّذی قد كان فوق العرش ممدوداً ه انّ احدهما فی سبحات الجبروت حول السّرّ المسطّر فی ذكر النّار قد كان محدوداً ه انّ الاخر فی ارض من الفرات علی سبل الاشارات يتعلّم النّاس سرّ الاحجاب هو فی السّطر المربّع حول الماء قد كان محجوباً ه

    O Qurrat al-`Ayn [the Bab]!

    Say: Thou shalt not will anything at all other than that which God wills respecting everything (kull shay'). He hath ever been, in very Truth, One Mighty and All-Wise (`aziz an wa hakim an). This is inded the Upright Script (al-khatt al-qā'im) betwixt the two dominions (al-mulkayn) which were extended (mamdūd an) indeed above the Divine Throne (al-`arsh). One of the two was in the subuhāt al-jabarūt, the Glorificatory Doxophanies of the realm of the Divine Omnipotence, nigh the Mystery scribed out (al-sirr al-mastūr) regarding the Dhikr (Remembrance) of the Theophanic Fire (fi dhikr al-nār) for such was proscribed (mahdūd an). The other one was in the land of the Euphrates according to the Pathway of Allusion (sabil al-ishāra) for He instructs the people regarding the Mystery of the Veils (sirr al-ahjab). He is indeed in the Fourfold Script [Line = "A" as `Ali Muhammad = the Bab] (al-satr al-marba`) nigh the Water of the celestial Expanse (al-ma') for He was indeed one veiled away (mahjub an) (QA III:158)

    The word lāhūt  also seems to occur only once in the 1260/ mid. 1844 Qayyum al-asma' of the Bab, in its 54th Surat al-Ghulm (The Surah of the Youth) which contains a lengthy address to the ahl al-firdaws, the denizens of paradise:

    يا اهل لجّة الفردوس

    قولوا علی اسمی للحوريّة  الحجرات قد اخرجن من مساكن القدس عرياناً ه و انصتن علی لحن الكليم الحبيب فانّ الذّكر قد شاء كما شاء و لامرّد لامر اللّه الحقّ و قد كان الحكم فی امّ الكتاب مقضيّا ه قل استمعواندائی اهل الحجرات من وراء النّار انّ اللّه قد اوحی الیّ علی لسانی انّی انا اللّه الّذی لا اله الّا انا حبّك حبّی للكلّ علی الفرض كفرض الاحديّة لدی قد كان مكتوباً ه و قد انّی انا النّورين فی السّرّين و انّی انا الشّكلين فی الهيكلين و انّی انا الرّاجين فی الزّجاجين و لقد نطقت بالحرفين و لا انطق حرفا من النّفسين الاوّليين و لايوجد حرفا من سرّ الطنتجين الّا بنفسی الحقّ حاملا لاسمين قد اسبّح مولائی فی اجمة اللّاهوت باذن ربّی فسبّحت المتسبّحون للّه الحقّ و احمدت اللّه فی ارض العماء فحمدت المتحمّدون فی ارض ذلك الباب بالحقّ الاكبر و هلّلت الرّحمن فی ذروة العرش فهلّلت المتهلّلون علی سطح ؟ العرش حول الحقّ و كبّرت بالحقّ علی نفسی باذن اللّه فكبّرت المتكبّرون لله فی الحقّ من ذلك الباب الباب الاكبر هذ الغلام العربیّ الفصيح الّذی تجدونه فی التّورية و الانجيل و الزّبور و الفرقان هذا لهو الحقّ صراط اللّه العلیّ قد كان فی امّ الكتاب مكتوباً

    O People Abysmal Depth of Paradise!

    Speak ye forth in My Name unto the Houri, the Maiden within the inner chambers [of Paradise] (huriyya al-hujurāt) [saying] "Step forth unadorned (`uryān an) from the Dwelling Places of Holiness (masākin al-quds)! And sound ye out in the accent of the Beloved Speaker (lahn al-kalim al-habib), [saying] `The Dhikr (Remembrance) hath willed the like of what He hath Willed and hath not been obstinate about the Cause of God, the True One. The Divine decreee (al-hukm) was indeed ordained in the Archetypal [Mother] Book.

    Say: Hearken ye unto My Call! O ye inhabitants of the celestial chambers (ahl al-hujurat) beyond the Theophanic Fire (al-nar). God hath indeed divinely inspired Me in my language (lisani) [to proclaim],`I am indeed God, no other God is there besides Me, Thy Beloved One! May My Love be for all upon the earth be even as the alotted ordinance of the Divine Oneness (fard al-ahadiyya) for such was assuredly written down on My part. I, I am indeed the Twin Lights (al-nurayn) in the Twin Mysteries (al-sirrayn)! I am indeed the Twin forms (al-shaklayn) in Twin Temples (al-haykalayn). And I am indeed the Twin returns (al-rāji`ayn) in the Twin "Glasses" (al-zujajayn). I indeed cried out through the Twin Letters (al-harfayn) yet I did not articulate even a single letter (harf an) pertaining to these two Primordial Logos-Souls (al-nafsayn al-awwalayn) for not even a letter (harf an) was discovered of the Mystery of the Twin Gulfs (sirr al-tutunjayn) save, that is, Mine own Logos Self (nafsi), the True One (al-haqq), the bearer of the twin names (hamil an li-ismayn) [= `Ali+ Muhammad = the Bab]. I indeed glorified My Master (mawla) in the اجمة اللّاهوت thicket(s) of the Divine Realm (ajmat al-lahut), with the permission of My Lord.

    (QA54 INMBC III:106-7)

    Various further `alam "worlds" are about twelve times mentioned in the Qayyum al-asma'. In QA XX [20] the Surat al-Nur (Surah of Light), we find reference to the `alam al-`amā', the word of the Theophanic Cloud". This world is also mentioned in the 51st Surat al-Majd (the Surah of the Glory, LI; INBMC III:99) :

    و انّا نحن لمّاعرضنا كلمة اللّه الاكبر هذا علی اجمعهم قد سبق الاجابة عالم العماء و لذا قدزيّنه الرّبّ بالمحو عمّا سواه و هو اللّه كان عليّاً قديماً ثمّ سبق علی الامراهل الفردوس و لذا قد زيّنهم اللّه بالعرش الاطلس و انّ امر اللّه قد كان فی امّ الكتاب مقضيّاً ه ثمّ سبق الاجابة اهل جنّة العدن و لذلك قد زيّنهم اللّه علی قطب الجنان و انّ وعد اللّه فی امّ الكتاب قد كان من حول النّار مفعولاً ه ثمّ من الارض الحابر ثمّ من الشّهر الشّهر المحرّم شهر الحرام فی كتاب اللّه الّذی قد كان من حول الماء مكتوباً ه ثمّ من الماء ماء الفرات من عين الكافور و من الجبال جبل البرد علی ارض الظّهور علی حكم الكتاب بحكم الباب قد كان حول النّار مستوراً
     

    INBMC III:99-100

    XXX QA

    هو اللّه الّذی لا اله الّا هو عالم الغيب والشّهادة و هو اللّه كان عليّاً كبيراً ه

     

     

    Worlds and universes in the writings of Baha'-Allah.

    Lawh-i kull al-ta`am IX.1 The Throne of  Hāhūt ("He-ness") and its subsiduary worlds or meta-universes,

    [IX]

    هاهوت

    [Hāhūt, The Apophatic Beyond]

    [1]

    Then bear thou witness that for "food" (li'l-ta`ām) are diverse levels of meaning;  it must suffice thee, however, that We expound four of them.

    [2] It signifieth the realm of the Throne of He-ness [Ipseity] (hāhūt), the Paradise of the Exclusive Divine Oneness (jannat al-aḥadiyya).

    [3] None is capable of expounding even a letter of that verse relative to that Paradise. [4] This inasmuch as that realm is that of the  Mystery of Endless Duration (sirr al-ṣamadāniyya), the "I-ness ["I am"] of Exclusive Divine Singularity" (aniyya [ibniyya] al-aḥadāniyya),  the Incomparable Israelicity  (isrā'iliyya al-firdāniyya) and the Resplendent Selfhood (nafsāniyya al-lama`āniyya).  [5]  Its exoteric aspect (ẓāhir) is the  essence of its esoteric aspect (bāṭin) and its esoteric (bāṭin) aspect the essence of its exoteric (ẓāhir) aspect. [6] It is inappropriate that anyone should attempt to elucidate a single letter of it.  [7] God, however, will disclose its mysteries when He willeth unto whomsoever He willeth. [8] And I, verily, in view of My injury and My misery am not informed of even a letter thereof. [8] This inasmuch as the matter cannot be related except on the part of God, its Fashioner and its Originator.

     Hāhūt هاهوت in select early poetical writings of Baha'-Allah

    In the fourteenth couplet of the early, c.1852 CE Rashh-i `ama' (The Sprinkling of the Theophanic Cloud), we read of a relationship between Baha'u'llah and the elevated Divine  realms of Lahut and Hahut as well as Nasut and  the transcendent sphere of `ama', the theophanic cloud of unknowing in which God is hidden pending glorious  tajalli or Self-revelation:

    [14]

    طلعت لاهوتی بين حوری هاهوتی بين

     جلوه ناسوتی بين كز سّر عما ميريزد   

    Observe the Deified-Hāhūt related Countenance!

    Behold the God-like / Lāhūt related Maiden, Houri (huri)!

    See thou that the terrestrial Effulgence  rains down from the mysterious depth of the Theophanic Cloud!

    The Persian Poem of Baha'-Allah, Ishq az sidra-yi a`la amad ba shu`la-i farani amad.

    با شعله فارانی عشق از سدره اعلی آمد

    "Rapture came forth from the Most Transcendent Lote-Tree with the firebrand from Mount Paran! It came also with the Cup of Calamity (jām-i balā) from the Court of Glorification (sāḥat-i subḥānī)”.

    A few couplets later God addresses Baha’u’llah in the following manner :

    Loosely translated we read,

    “… O Messianic Spirit (ruh-i masiha’i),

    Nāsūt (this world) is for Thy “Day” (bi-ruz-i tu)!

    Lāhūt (the Divine world) is for Thy Theophany (zuhūr-i tu)! 

    Hāhūt (the Apophatic Beyond) is for Thy Presence (hudūr-i tu)!

    O Jewell of the All-Merciful (gawhar-i rahmani) …

    Translation Stephen N. Lambden 2014.  From the text printed in Ma’ida-yi Asmanī, vol 4. pp. 179-184.

    The five "worlds" of developed Islamic mystical Cosmology

    • [1] ناسوت عالم Nāsūt.  The world  which is this "mortal world".
    • [2]عالم ملکوت    The world of Malakūt, "the world of the angels, “the Kingdom of God”.
    • [3] عالم جبروت  The world of Jabarūt, `the sphere of the Divine Omnipotence or celestial Powers". 
    • [4] عالم لاهوت    The world of Lāhūt. "the Realm of the Divine Theophany".
    • [5] عالم هاهوت   Hāhūt , “the Apophatic realm of the Unknowable Godhead” or of the Essence of Divinity (dhāt Allāh).

     

    The "I-ness ["I am"] of Exclusive Divine Singularity" (aniyya al-aḥadāniyya), 

     

     

    [X]

    اللاهوت

    [Lāhūt, The sphere of the Divine]

    [1] It ["food" al-ta`ām] signifieth the realm of the Paradise of Endless Duration (jannat al-ṣamadiyya), the Throne of the Divine Realm (`arsh al-lāhūt),  the Snow-White Light (nūr al-baydā'). [2] It is the station (maqām) of "He is He Himself" (huwa huwa) and there is none other save Him (huwa). [3] This Paradise is allotted unto those servants who are established upon the Seat of Glory (kursi al-jalāl), who quaff liquid camphor (mā' al-kāfur) nigh unto the All-Beauteous One (tilqā' al-jamāl), and who recite the verses of Light (āyāt al-nūr) in the Heaven of Manifest Justice (samā' al-`adāl). [4] Thereby are they enraptured and from that "food" (al-ta`ām) derive comfort.

    Commentary on X

    In the eighth couplet of the probably c. 1862-3 Persian poem of Baha'-Allah entitled, Halih, Halih, halih yā Bishārat (Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, O Glad-Tidings) we read:

    This sweet Davidic voice (naghmih-yi dāwūdī) came from the Divine Lote-Tree (sidrah-yi lāhūtī), with the messianic Spirit (rūḥ-i masīḥhā) ... (Per. text in Ganj, 34).

     

    Here Baha'u'llah represents himself as coming from the sidrah-yi lāhūtī, the Divine Lote-Tree, the Lotus-Tree of the highest heaven with "the Messianic Spirit" the rūḥ-i masīḥhā, the Jesus-like Spirit, an early claim to be the "return" or second coming of Jesus. He comes as a Divine figure from the realm of the Divine, that of Lāhūt.

    [XI]

    [Jabarūt, the Omnipotent Realm]

    [1]

     It signifieth the Paradise of the Inclusive Divine Unicity (jannat al-wāḥidiyya), the Golden [Yellow] Land (ard al-sufra'), the surging Depths of realm of the Divine Omnipotence (tamātam al-Jabarūt). [2] It is the realm of "Thou art He [God] ( anta huwa) and He [God] is Thou" (wa huwa anta) allotted unto those servants who do not cried out except with the  permission of God; who act according to His command and ever restrain themselves in accordance with His Wisdom (hikmat) [3] -- just as God hath described them [in the Qur'an] for they are the honoured servants of whom it is written: "They speak not till He hath spoken; and they do His bidding" (Q. 21:27).

    [XII]

    [Malakūt, the Kingdom of God]

    [1]

    It ["food" al-ta`ām] signifieth the Paradise of Justice (jannat al-`adl),  the Verdent [Green] Land (ard al-khudra'), the Fathomless Deep of Kingdom of God (qamaqam al-malakūt) [2] allotted to those servants whom "neither traffic nor merchandise beguile from the remembrance of God" (Q. 24:27) since they are the companions of the Light (ashab al-nur). [3] They enter therein with the permission of God and find rest upon the Carpet [Expanse] of the Almighty (bisat al-`izz).

    [XIII]

    [Nasūt, the Human-Mortal Realm]

    [1]

    It ["food" al-ta`ām] signifieth the realm of the Paradise of the Divine Bounty (jannat al-fadl), the Crimson Land (ard al-hamrā'),  the Yellow Secret (sirr al-sufrā'),  the Snow-White Mystery (mustansirr al-baydā') and [2] the Point of human realm  (nuqtat al-nasūt). In it are the proofs of the Remembrance (adila' al-dhikr) supreme (akbar),  if you are of those who are informed.

     

     

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