Divine "imagination" and the intermediate world: Ibn 'Arabī on the 'Barzakh'

Author: James Winston Morris

Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/2208

This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries.

Published in Postdata, vol. 2. época:15, pp. 104-109, Verano 1995

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. DIVINE "IMAGINATION" dens of paradise (chapters 65-65) (3). The Resurrection, Ibn 'Arabi begins to deve- AND THE INTERMEDIATE chapter translated here (4) is therefore the lop [III] the mysterious correspondences centerpiece of this broader eschatologi- between the universal, ontological dimen- WORLD: IBN 'ARABI ON cal section and focuses relatively more sions of this plane of Imagination and the THE BARZAKH on the "theoretical" dimension of the Ima- manifestations of its "Light" in the expe- gination, on the ontological and episte- riences of each individual. And finally, For centuries after the time of the An- mological underpinnings of the spiritual the Shaykh returns [IV] to the more ex- dalusian mystic Ibn 'Arabi, his remarka- experiences and phenomena discussed in plicitly eschatological implications of his ble discussions and conceptions of the greater detail in many other sections of earlier discussions, developing the para- "Imagination" (al-khayal) were elabora- the Futuhat. llels between this universal reality of the ted by Islamic philosophers, poets, artists It is always a challenge, and often a Imagination and our more familiar expe- and critics in order to explain, interpret near-impossibility, to attempt to outline rience of sleep and dreams -an approach and justify the full range of artistic and the structure of any of Ibn 'Arabi wri- to which he later returned in a number of creative activities carried on within later tings in a linear and straightforward fa- famous passages in his Fusus al-Hikam Islamicate cultures, as far away as India shion. (And serious attempts to convey However, even the most cursory and and Indonesia (1). Modern western stu- something of their deeper inner structure uninformed reading of this chapter would dents of Ibn 'Arabi writing on such the- inevitably require an involved commen- make quickly make it evident that Ibn mes have tended to focus on the deve- tary much longer than the mystic's own 'Arabi's intention was not to "clarify" in lopment of those ideas in his celebrated original text). However, a few such indi- any sort of rational, conceptual and logi- Fusus al-Hikam ("The Bezels of Wis- cations have been added here for the be- cal form the different ways in which we dom") and its long line of traditional phi- nefit of those who may be encountering can speak of and understand the Imagi- losophic commentaries (2). But another his distinctive style of writing for the nation -however broadly or narrowly one major source of those classical Islamic first time. Like almost all chapters of the might define that term- and all its mani- understandings of the Imagination was in Futuhat, chapter 63 opens with a short festations. In this respect, chapter 63 is the Shaykh's many discussions of the es- and highly allusive metaphysical-didac- an excellent, highly typical introduction chatological "Barzakh" or "intermediate tic poem summarizing virtually all the to Ibn 'Arabi's unique rhetoric and style, world" of the divine Imagination -as well themes treated in the rest of the chapter; an inimitable form of writing which is as his accounts of his own striking expe- the remainder of this eschatological chap- always intimately linked to his larger spi- riences and decisive spiritual encounters ter, quite typically, is an extended and (at ritual and didactic intentions. As readers there- which are scattered throughout his first glance) apparently somewhat disor- familiar with other texts of his may more magnum opus, al-Futuhat al-Makkiya dered commentary on the topics sugges- quickly recognize, the recurrent mixture ("The Meccan Illuminations"). ted by those opening verses. In this case, of -and sudden shifts between- a whole One of his most extensive and widely Ibn 'Arabi begins his exposition with [I] spectrum of contrasting approaches, ima- influential discussions of the Imagina- an explanation -at once linguistic, sym- ges, perspectives and technical vocabula- tion/Barzakh, in all its humanly relevant bolic and philosophic- of the basic notion ries is not accidental or the result of "bad dimensions, was in the set of five escha- of a barzakh, or "limit" between two me- writing" (or fuzzy thinking), but instead tological chapters (61-65) within the long taphysical realms: here, the domains of forms a complex, highly self-conscious opening section of the Futuhat-chapters purely physical and purely intelligible/ rhetorical technique. The Shaykh's ulti- first brought to the attention of a wider noetic being, and the mysterious eschato- mate aim here, as so often throughout his Western audience in the famous studies logical realm of Imagintion that lies bet- writings, is not simply heightened in- by Asm Palacios of Islamic themes in ween them. The exposition then moves tellectual understanding nor a more dee- Dante's Divine Comedy. Those chapters from the ontological-theological mode of ply grounded religious faith and practice whose arrangement follows the traditio- discourse to [II] an openly epistemologi- -although both of those outcomes may nal popular ordering of the symbolic cal and experiential evocation of the kinds also result from serious study of his wri- "events" and "places" of the Resurrection of experience (and scriptural allusions) ting. Rather, as one can see most clearly mentioned in Islamic scriptures, begin which begin to reveal more clearly the at those moments where he suddenly with descriptions of Gehenna and the central existencial importance of this shifts to the singular imperative ("Know!", "Fires" and other torments of its resi- realm of being. Next, working through "Realize!", etc.) it is to bring about in the dents (chapters 61-62) and conclude with the rich symbolism of a famous Prophe- properly prepared and attentive reader a the stages of redemption and eventual tic statement comparing this reality to the suddenly transformed state of immediate bliss of souls who have reached the Gar- "Horn" that is blown to announce the realization and awareness, in which each of the implicit dualities (or paradoxes) of deeper appreciation of Ibn 'Arabi's me- translated works as our The Wisdom our usual perception of things -the re- aning and intentions here often requires a of the Throne: An Introduction to current categorical suppositions of sub- degree of acquaintance with Islamic scrip- the Philosophy of Mulla Sadra (Prin- ject and object, divine and human, spiri- tures and classical forms of religious lear- ceton, 1981) and Shah Waliullah's tual and material, earthly and heavenly- ning that can rarely be assumed among Lamahat, tr. G.N. Jalbani (Hydera- is directly transcended in an enlightened, modern readers. Thus any effort to com- bad, 1970). revelatory moment of unitive vision. His municate fully that web of allusions and (2) The classic study from this perspec- ultimate aim in this chapter, as throu- assumptions to a modern audience natu- tive (including as well many impor- ghout his writings, is to bring his readers rally requires a body of notes and com- tant sections of the Futuhat) remains Henryto see -not just to acknowledge intellecCorbin's- mentar y several times longer thaL'Imaginationn Ibn crea - tually or theologically- everything as on- 'Arabi's text itself. In this case, given the trice dans le Soufisme d'Ibn 'Arabi (Paris,going theophany (tajalliyat)1958), an translatedd "ever- (byconstraint R. Man-s of article length, we have cho- renewed" divine creation. sen to translate as much of the chapter heim) as Creative Imagination in the In the case of this chapter, Ibn 'Arabi's itself as possible (omitting only a few Sufism of Ibn 'Arabi (Princeton, efforts to break through his readers' ordi- repetitive or highly technical sections), at 1969). narily unquestioned separations between the price of eliminating all such explana- (3) See our forthcoming study (with what is "divine" and "human", or "objec- tory notes (6) -apart from the basic iden- complete, fully annotated transla- tive" and "subjective", or "this-worldly" tification of Qur'anic quotations and allu- tions and annotations of these and and "other-worldly", are repeatedly sus- sions, which are so often indispensable other eschatological chapters), Ibn tained by certain basic features of the for understanding the Shaykh's inten- Arabi's Divine Comedy: an Intro- Arabic language that cannot easily be tions. duction to Islamic Eschatology and reproduced in a western tongue. For Cosmology. A considerable range of example, his most basic term and under- James W. Morris representative translations on this lying subject here, the Arabic expression Oberlin College (USA) subject are already included in our al-khayal, refers most often, in ordinary contributions to Ibn 'Arabi: Les Illu- contexts, to what we would ordinarily minations de la Mecque/The Mec- call an "image" or "object of imagina- can Illuminations, ed. M. Chod- tion", and ultimately to the actual under- NOTAS kiewicz (Paris, 1989) and in the arti- lying reality of all the "imaginal" (not cle "Seeing Past the Shadows: Ibn "imaginary") objects of our perception in (1) Thus the incomparable architectural 'Arabi's Divine Comedy", JOURNAL virtually all forms and domains. Given accomplishments of the Taj Mahal OF THE MUHYIDD1N IBN 'ARABI this primacy of the ontic, "objective" di- turn out to have been inspired, from SOCIETY, XII (1992), pp. 50-69. mension of the term al-khayal -whether the overall plan down to sometimes (4) Vol. IV, pp. 406-425 in the new cri- that is expressed in theological or cosmo- minute details, by the elaborate es- tical edition of al-Futuhat al-Makkiya, by Dr. O. Yahya (Cairo, 1975/ logical terms- any translation referring to chatological discussions and dia- 1395); this corresponds to vol. I, pp. "imagination" (5) inevitably risks falling grams of the Futuhat: see the detai- 304-307 of the lithographed (Cairo/ into the psychologizing or individualis- led explanations in W. Begley, The Beirut) edition cited in most earlier tic, subjectivist assumptions that are em- Myth and Meaning of the Taj Mahal. studies of the Futuhat. bedded in the usual usages of that con- Two of the most elaborate and in- cept in western languages, whether the fluential later Islamic philosophic de- (5) Such as our frequent use in this case term is being employed positively or pe- velopments of Ibn 'Arabi's eschato- of capitalization ("Imagination") or joratively. In fact, precisely at those po- logical conceptions -including many a parenthetic qualification ("divine", ints where Ibn 'Arabi wants to refer ex- of the key images mentioned here in etc.). plicitly to something like a psychological chapter 63 of the Futuhat- are the (6) Which will be found in great detail "faculty" or individual activity of "ima- theories of imagination of the Ira- in our forthcoming book-length trans- gination" -or to the individual psychic nian Shiite thinker Mulla Sadra (d. lation of these and other eschatolo- "objects" of such an activity- he invaria- 1640) and the South Asian author, gical chapters and sections from the bly uses separate and quite distinct Ara- Shah Waliullah of Delhi (d. 1762). Futuhat (n. 3 above). Omitted sec- bic terms to emphasize that partial, sub- The literal inspiration of Ibn 'Arabi's tions are indicated in the translated jective aspect. thought (and indeed of this particu- section below, by points of suspen- Finally, and again quite typically, a lar chapter) is clearly visible in such sion [...]. CHAPTER 63: Concerning Inner expression for what separates two things smallness of the image they see in the Understanding of (How) People without ever becoming either of them, mirror, assuming the body of the mirror Remain in the Barzakh Between such as the line separating a shadow from is small -since they know that their own This World and the Resurrection the sunlight, or as in His Saying -may He form is a great deal larger than the one (at the Last Day) be exalted!: "He has loosened the two they saw... So what is that reflected form? Seas. They meet:/between them a bar- And where is it actually located? And Between this world and the Resurrec- zakh, they do not go beyond" (55: 19-20) what is its (ontological) status? For it is tion, for whoever reflects, / there are in- -meaning that neither of them becomes both affirmed and denied, both existent termediate (barzakhiya) levels, each with mixed with the other. But even if our and nonexistent, both known and unk- their limits: senses are unable to perceive what sepa- nown. What they hold is according to the in- rates those two things, the intellect jud- Now God -may He be praised!- has fluence of how their possessor is / right ges that there is indeed a divider separa- made this reality appear to His servants, now, before dying -so consider deeply ting them -and that divider grasped by by way of making a fitting image, so that [O people of vision] (59:2)! the intellect is precisely the barzakh. Be- they might know and come to realize that They have influences and authority over cause if something is perceived by the if they are bewildered and incapable of everything, making the wonders / appear; senses, it must be one of those two things, grasping the reality of this phenomenon, they do not spare (anyone), nor leave rather than the barzakh. So each of those which is (only) part of this world, and (anyone) alone (74:28). two things, when they are adjacent to cannot attain full knowledge of its reality They have wide-open manifestations each other, have need of a barzakh which -then how much more incapable and ig- in being, without restriction, / yet they is not the same as each of them, but whi- norant and bewildered they must be re- are neither essential-realities, nor (mere) ch has in itself the power of earch of garding the Creator of that reality! In effects. them. this way God has pointed out to (His They (have only to) say to God (al- Now since the Barzakh (of the creative servants) that the divine Self-manifesta- Haqq) "Be!", and God is (already) crea- divine Imagination) is something separa- tions (tajalliyat al-Haqq) to them are even ting them -so how can a mortal-human ting what is knowable and unknowable, more subtle and delicate than this case in (bashar) escape from their influence?! existent and non-existent, intelligible and which their intellects are already so bewil- Through them are the (forms of) unintelligible, affirmed and negated, it dered and incapable of perceiving the knowing and every chastisement; / has been given the name "Barzakh" as a reality of things... through them are the signs (of God) and technical term. It is intelligible in itself, It is to something like this reality that miracles and exemplary lessons. yet it is nothing but the imagined-image each human being goes in their sleep and Were it not for this (divine) Imagina- (al-khayal)l For when you perceive it after their death (cf. 39:42). So that per- tion, today we would be in nothingness: / -assuming you are in a rational state- you son sees (moral and spiritual) qualities no goal or purpose would have been ac- know that you have perceived something and characteristics as self-subsistent complished through us! existent on which your gaze has fallen; forms that speak to him and with which "As though (you saw God)" is Its realm indeed you most definitely know that the- he converses, as being (human) bodies of authority, if you've understood It: / re is absolutely something there. But what without any doubt. And the person of revelation has come through/with It, as is this about which you affirm that it is an spiritual unveiling (al-mukashif) already have intellect and reflection. existent thing, while at the same time you sees (here), while they are awake, what Among the expressions alluding to It is are also denying that?! For this Imagina- the sleeper sees in their dream state or the the "like..." of the (divine) Attributes: / so tion-Image (al-khayal) is neither (entire- dead person sees after they have died. you are only detached from forms by your ly) existent nor nonexistent, neither (en- Likewise they will see the forms of their bringing (other) forms! tirely) known nor unknowable, neither actions being weighed in the other world [I] Our saying "As though is Its realm (entirely) affirmed nor denied. (according to the Qur'anic symbolism of of authority" refers to the authority of the This is like a human being perceiving the "Scales") -despite their being (appa- (divine) Imagination (khaydl), which is their (reflected) form in the mirror. The rently non-substantial) qualities and cha- the essential reality of (this) "as though" person definitely knows that they have racteristics (in this world)- and they will and the inner meaning of (the Prophet's) perceived their (own) form in a certain see death (according to the description in saying "Worship God as though you see respect, while they know just as absolu- a famous hadith) as "a spotted ram being Him...". tely that they have not perceived their sacrificed", even though death is (really ... Know that the word "barzakh" is an form in another respect, because of the only) a relation (between two states of being)... So praise to the One Who re- distinction between the two "eyes", and ceives the gazes]" (6:103), and He did mains unknowable, so He is not known beween the sensing activity of the eye not specify any particular Abode (of this -and Who is known, so that He is not and the eye of (physical) sensation. One world or the next), but sent it as an Verse unknown! [He is the One Who gives form can know that (what one perceives) is unrestricted (in its applicability) and as a to you-all in the Wombs, however He indeed sensible, not imaginal, and that definite, confirmed matter. For none other wishes:] There is no god but Him, the one has perceived it with the eye of sen- than Him perceives Him, so it is with His Unapproachable, the All-Wise (3:6)! sation, not the eye of imagination (by the eye -may He be praised!- that I see Him, [II] Now there are some people who following conditions): [a] when the eye as in (the famous divine saying in) the perceive this imaged-object (al-mutakha- perceives the imaged-object and, without sound hadith-report: "... I (God) was his yyal) with the eye of the (physical) sen- being distracted, sees that its shape and gaze through which he sees". sation, and there are others who perceive characteristics don't change; [b] when it So wake up, you who are asleep and it with the eye of imagination. Of course doesn't see that imaged-object in diffe- heedless of all this, and pay attention! I I'm referring here to (our perceptions) in rent places at the same time, assumming have opened up for you a door to forms the waking state, since during sleep (ever- it is definitely a single reality; and [c] of awareness and inner knowing that yone) definitely perceives with the eye of that imaged-object doesn't become chan- thoughts can never reach, though in- imagination. So if a person wishes to dis- ged or transformed into different states. tellects can come to accept them, either tinguish between (those two modes of This is how you should understand how through special divine Providence or by perception) in their waking state, whe- a human being can perceive their Lord "polishing hearts with dhikr and recita- ther in this world or at the Day of Resu- -may He be exalted!- in a dream, even tion (of the Qur'an)". Then the intellect rrection, they can determine (which sort though He transcends any form or image, accepts what the divine Self-manifesta- of perception it is) by looking at the ima- as well as how that perception of Him tion (tajalli) gives it and knows that that ged-object. Thus if [a] the states of what takes place and its limitations. And (imaginal revelation) is beyond its own one is looking at continue to change as it through this you may understand what power with respect to its thinking, indeed changes its shape and characteristics, even has come down in the sound report (of that its thinking could never give it that. though you can't deny that it is still the the famous hadith) concerning the Therefore (that person) gives thanks to same thing, and [b] the fact of observing Creator's "manifesting Himself (to souls God -may He be exalted!- Who created it does not stop it from changing its shape at the Resurrection) in the most unlikely their constitution (nash'a) so that it could and formation -as when a chameleon, of forms among those in which they saw receive things like that: this being the when you observe it, stops changing its Him", and concerning His "transforma- constitution of the (divine) Messengers colors- then that is undoubtedly (being tion into a form which they knew (before and prophets and those among the saints seen) with the eye of imagination, not then)", after they had been denying Him who are the recipients of special divine with the eye of the senses. For you per- and taking refuge from Him (in more Providence. This is so that (such a per- ceive what-is-imagined (al-khayal) with agreeable forms of His manifestation). son) may know that their receptivity (to the eye of imagination, not with the eye So you should know with which eye what is bestowed by God) is higher and of (physical) sensation. you are seeing Him! For I have already more noble than their own thinking. So Indeed few of those who lay claim to let you know that (the divine) Imagina- realize, o muy brother, from now on Who the unveiled vision of spirits, whether of tion is perceived either through itself -I it is that is manifesting Himself to you fire (i.e., jinn) or of light (angels), really mean through the eye of imagination- or from behind this door (of the imagina- understand how this is. When (those spi- through the (physical) vision. And which tion)! For this is a prodigious matter, rits) take on the image of perceptible of those two is the sound one on which where even the innermost hearts become forms, (most people) don't know whether we should rely?! Regarding that we (wrote bewildered. they are perceiving them with the eye of these verses): [III] Then the prescriber (of Revela- the imagination or with the eye of (physi- When my Beloved appears to me, with tion), who is the truthful speaker, called cal) sensation -since both sorts of percep- which eye do I see Him? this thing -which is the (divine) Presence tion involve the sensing activity of the With His eye, not with mine: for none of the Barzakh to which we are brought eye. That (inner sensing activity) is what sees Him but Him! after death and in which we directly wit- presents the perception through both the (This is only) in accordance with the ness our souls- a "Horn" (al-sur) and eye of imagintion and the eye of (physi- transcendence of His Station and confir- "Trumpet" (al-naqur). Here the word al- cal) sensation. So this is a subtle form of ming His Words, since He says: "The sur is (also) the plural of the word sura, knowledge: I mean the knowledge of the gazes do not perceive Him, [but He per- "form". So (according to the Qur'anic accounts of the Resurrection) "it is brea- wall (in front of the person praying)! Yet which could be perceived the Bringing- thed into the Horn/forms" (6:73, etc.) and we have also learned that the prescriber into-form (taswir) of every thing, whate- "it is blown upon the Trumpet" (74:8). (of Revelation) called upon you to imagi- ver that might be, as we've already men- And the two of them (the "Horn" and ne that you are facing God (al-Haqq) in tioned. His Light passes through the ab- "Trumpet") are exactly the same thing, your direction of prayer; indeed it has solute nothingness so that He might sha- differing only in the names because of been prescribed for you to accept that. pe it into the forms of being. Hence the the various states and attributes (of the And God says: "So wherever you may Imagination is more deserving of the (di- underlying reality)... turn, then there is the Face of God!" vine) Name "the Light" (al-Nur) than all Know that the Messenger of God, when (2:115) -and the "face" (wajh) of some- the created things ordinarily described as he was asked what this "Horn" (al-sur) thing is its reality and its individual es- "luminous", since Its Light does not re- was, replied: "It is a horn (qarn: an ani- sence. So the Imagination has given form semble the (created) lights and through It mal horn) of Light upon which (the an- to the One Who, according to the argu- the divine Self-manifestations are percei- gel) Isrifil blows". So he reported that its ments of the intellect, cannot possibly be ved. shape was the shape of (an animal's) horn, conceived or given any form. That is why And It (or 'He') is the Light of the eye described as being broad (at the base) (the Imagination) is so all-encompassing. of imagination, not the light of the eye of and narrow (at the tip)... Know, then, that But as for the "narrowness" and res- sensation. So understand this! For if you the breadth of this "Horn" (of the Bar- trictiveness of the imagination, that is understand how (the divine) Imagination zakh-Imagination) is as broad as possi- because it does not extend to receiving is Light, and you know in what way it is ble, since none of the generated things anything -whether sensible things, or spi- (always) correct, then you will have an are broader than it. That is because ritual ones, or relations and connections, advantage over those who don't know through Its reality It has sway over every or God's Majesty and His Essence- ex- that-the sort of person who says: "that is thing, and (even) over what is not a thing. cept through some form. If it were to try only a false imagination!" That is becau- It gives form (alike) to absolute nothing- to perceive something without using a se such people have failed to understand ness and to what is (ontologically) im- form, its reality would not allow it to do the perception of the light of imagination possible, necessary and contingent, tur- that, since it is precisely the (faculty of) which has been given them by God. This ning what is existent into nothingness imaginal representation (wahm), and no- is just like their saying that our senses are and what is non-existent into being. Re- thing else... So the imagination is the most also "mistaken" in some of their percep- garding this divine Presence (i.e., ontolo- extensive of all the objects of knowledge tions, when in fact their sense-percep- gical realm of being) the Prophet says: -yet despite the immense breadth of its tions are sound, while the judgment (re- "Worship God as though you see Him..." sway, which extends to every thing, it is garding the meaning of those perceptio- and "God is in the qibla of the person also incapable of receiving the purely ns) belongs to something else, not to the who is praying" -i.e., imagine Him in immaterial (noetic) realities (without senses themselves. It is the judgment that your direction of prayer and be attentive using some image or likeness). Hence is false, not the sensation. Likewise the to Him, so that you are fully mindful of the imagination (as indicated in many imagination perceives with its light wha- Him and humble before him. And always familiar hadith) sees knowledge in the tever it perceives, without passing judg- observe the appropriate courtesy (adab) form of milk, or honey and wine and ment. The judgment only belongs to so- with Him while you are praying, since if pearls; and it sees Islam in the form of a mething else, which is the intellect, so you don't do that you are being discour- dome and pillars; and it sees the Qur'an the error can't be attributed to the imagi- teous and inconsiderate. in the form of butter and honey; and it nation. Thus there never is any "false Now had the prescriber (of Revelation) sees Religion in the form of a bond; and imagination" at all -indeed all of it is not known that there is within you a rea- it sees God (al-Haqq) in the form of a correct! lity called "imagination" that has this (im- human being and in the form of light... Now as for our companions, they were mense) sway, he would not have said to As for this "horn" (of the Barzkh/Ima- mistaken in their thinking about this you "(Worship God) as though you see gination) being made of "light" (accor- "Horn" (of the Barzakh/Imagination), in Him" with your (physical) vision. For the ding to the hadith mentioned above), that that most of the intellectual thinkers re- indications of the intellect rule out this is because light is the immediate cause presented its narrowest point as the cen- "as though", and the intellect holds, with for (things) becoming unveiled and clearly ter (of the earthly sphere) and its widest its arguments, that any "likeness" (bet- appearing, since without light, vision point as the highest, outermost celestial ween God and created things) is impossi- would perceive nothing at all. So God sphere, so that the "forms" which it con- ble: vision can perceive nothing but the made this Imagination as a "light" through tains would be the forms of the (physi- cal) world. They considered the wide seg- 6:98), and the world became fully expan- formed him about the real meaning of ment of this Horn its highest part and its ded. This is just like the procession of what he had seen while dreaming. narrow section the lowest part of the world numbers from the initial "one"... Likewise the supporters of Pharaoh -but things are not at all as they claimed! [IV] Next, now that we have establi- (against Moses) "are exposed to the Fire" Instead, since the Imagination (even) gi- shed this, you should know that God in those forms "morning and night" ves form to God (al-Haqq), as well as -may He be praised!- when He takes the (40:46), without entering Hell, because everything in the world below Him, in- spirits from these physical, material bo- they are captive within that Horn (of the cluding even nothingness, its highest sec- dies, wherever they may be (at death), Barzakh) and in that (imaginal) form. But tion is the narrow one and its lowest sec- deposits those spirits in imaginal-bodily on the Day of the Rising they enter "the tion is the wide one. That is just how God forms within this Horn of Light (of the most intense torment" (40:46), which is created It: for the first thing He created Barzakh). So all of those things that the the sensible torment -not the imaginal from It was "narrow", while what He human being perceives after death in the one- which was theirs in the state of their created from It later widened out, like the Barzakh are only perceived through the dying on earth. part of a horn adjoining the animal's head. eye and with the light of the form in Now (sometimes) the eye of imagina- which that person exists in that Horn - For there is no doubt that the Presence tion perceives both imaginal forms and and that is a true perception. Among the (i.e., ontological domain) of the divine sensible forms together. And sometimes forms there are [a] some who are restric- Actions and States is more extensive (than the source of imagination, who is the the higher divine "Presences"). That is ted in their freedom of activity, and [b] human being, perceives the object of ima- why the true Knowers (of God) only find others who are unrestricted, such as the gination with the eye of imagination, as comprehensiveness of knowledge to the spirits of all the prophets and the spirits in (the Prophet's) saying "The Garden (of extent of what they come to know from of the martyrs; among them are [c] those Paradise) was portrayed for me on the the world. Then when they want to pro- who are able to look at (what goes on in) side of this wall". But he (also) perceived ceed to knowing the Unicity of God this world here-below, even while they that with the eye of (bodily) sensation. -may He be exalted!- they keep on ascen- are in that Abode (of the Barzakh), and And we only referred to the eye of (bodi- ding gradually from that breadth (of worl- [d] those who manifest themselves to the ly) sensation because (according to the dly objects of knowing) toward what is sleeper in that Presence of the Imagina- hadith report) "he came forward when he narrower (in extent). So their forms of tion which is in the person dreaming. saw the Garden, to take a fruit form it", knowing (lit.: "knowledges") keep on This is why one's dreams are always and because (according to another becoming less numerous while they as- "true", because every dream in itself is hadith) "he backed up when he saw the cend in their knowledge of God's Essen- true and not in error. Because if (we say) Fire (of Hell)" once while he was pra- ce, through spiritual unveiling, until they a dream was "mistaken", it isn't really the ying. For we know that (the Prophet) had reach the point where they have no ob- dream itself that was mistaken, but rather such power that if he had perceived those ject of knowledge but God (al-Haqq) alo- the person who interpreted it incorrectly, visions (only) with the eye of his imagi- ne -which is the narrowest point in that in that they didn't recognize the intended nation, and not (also) with the eye of his "Horn". For in reality its narrowest part meaning of the image in question. Don't is its highest, which has the most perfect you notice what (the Prophet) said to Ab- bodily senses, that would not have in- greatness and majesty. u Bakr, when he had interpreted the dream fluenced his body to move forward and to back up (in those two cases). Indeed (The reality of this universal creative of the person mentioned (in the hadith): we have also experienced (that bodily process of divine "Imagination" resem- "You were right about some of it, and influence of imaginal forms and percep- bles) the first part of (an animal's) horn mistaken about some of it". And likewise that appears when God has planted it in with what (Muhammad) said to the man tions), and we have neither his power nor the animal's head: it continues to grow who had a dream in which he saw his his rank. upward, beginning with that narrow po- head cut off and fall to the ground, and Therefore every human being in the int, as its lower part widens out. So (this then begin to roll around and speak to Barzakh is "hostage to what they have narrowest initial "Point") is the first thing him. The Messenger of God mentioned acquired" (52:21; 74:38), imprisoned in created. Don't you see how (likewise) the to him that Satan was playing with him. the forms of their deeds, until they are first thing God -may He be praised! - crea- He knew the form of what the man had raised up from those forms, on the Day ted was the "Pen" (68:1; 96:4) or the seen, so he didn't say to him "your imagi- of the Rising, in "the state of being of the (universal) "Intellect", as he said. So He nation is false" -because what the man other world" (29:20, etc.). And God says only created one (reality). Then He broug- saw was real, only he had been mistaken the Truth and He shows the right Way ht forth the creatures from that one (cf. in his interpretation of it. Instead he in- (33:4).