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DREAM, IMAGINATION AND 'ĀLAM AL-MIṮH̱ĀL
DREAM, IMAGINATION AND 'ĀLAM AL-MIṮH̱ĀL
DREAM, IMAGINATION AND 'ĀLAM AL-MIṮH̱ĀL
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frightand pain but whereas in the case of such dreams the fright
and the pain are real only for the experient, the serpents that assail
a wicked person in his grave are objectively existent though
perceptible through another sense.6
Al-Gbaz?lfs assertion about the objective existence of the
physical objects of dogmatic theology is very different from the
usual orthodox formula "we know they do exist
do not but we
know how". Hegives them a clear ontological
status but also
affirms the possibility of perceiving them "through another sense".
And although he does not say that these objects exist in a world
of their own?the Universe of Images or symbols,?perceived
through a spiritual imagination?that step, in view of the philos
ophical development portrayed above, was a perfectly logical one
to take by his successors. This step was actually taken by Shih?b
al-Din al-Suhraward? (d. 1191) who, so far as we know, was the
first to announce formally the existence of a new Realm between
the spiritual and the physical.7
The motivation behind al-Suhrawardfs affirmation of this
Realm, which he calls the Realm of "Suspended Images" (al-muthul
al-mu'allaqah) or of "Pure Figures" (al-ashh?b is
al-mujarradaK),
undoubtedly the validation of dogmatic beliefs and he also claims
esoteric experiences of thisRealm. The fully developed spiritual
souls, according to al-Suhrawardl, will become pure "lights", i.e.
spirits in the hereafter. But those who have not thus fully
The pure individual souls can also create new furniture in the
*?lam al-Mith?l and even project these figures into the realm of
physical reality. This is supposed to guarantee the miracles worked
by prophets and saints.10 This doctrine is affirmed both by al
Suhrawardi and Ibn al-1
Arabi (1165-1240), the famous??f? theosoph
whose fecundity of imagination created an unprecedentedly rich
content for the World of Figures. Since, as we learnt before,
imagination takes the place of, and becomes sense-perception in, the
World of Figures and since, according to the holders of this
doctrine, physical resurrection is a phenomenon of that world, it
follows that in the hereafter physical or quasi-physical reality will
follow the creative activity of imagination. "The (contents of the)
hereafter," says Ibn ah4Arabi, "will be eternally created on the
pattern of this world. For the people of Paradise shall say to the
objects they desire "Be" andthey shall be. Thus, they shall not
imagine anything nor shall the thought of a new state of affairs
occur to them but that it shall come into existence before their
very eyes. Similarly, the people of Hell shall not entertain any fear
of a greater torture than they are in but that it shall be realized in
them or for them. This is exactly the realization of the idea. The
hereafter requires the creation of a world from this world but it
will be sensible (not merelymental). By the mere existence of an
idea, of an imaginative impulse (hamm), of a volition, desire or
appetite, all this shall become sensible. In thisworld (of Physical
extraordinary resilience for the very moment you pick a fruit from
a tree another one grows or rather appears in a ripe state instanta
neously. Their boats are made of stones which attract one another
by a natural force until they join together and form themselves
into a boat which runs, without any resistance, inwhatever direction
they want to go?and races on a sea of dust ! They have multi
storied cities and towns just as we have multi-storied houses ; only
they can build not only by tools and external physical application
but also by mere imagination and intention.14
I have this description
quoted at some length not merely to
acquaint ourselves with the richness of this visionary Realm but,
having done so, to point out that there is nothing in these contents
which could not just as well be contained in the Paradise-concept
of dogmatic theology. For the possibilities of Paradise are, bydefi
nition, absolutely limitless. But Ibn al-'Arabi has expressly said that
this is something over and above Paradise. It is also to be noted that,
although Ibn al-'Arabi insists that only gnostics can have access to
this Realm, there is nothing spiritual or religious about it except Ibn
al-'Arabf s statement that this Realm contains
which, a Ka'bah
like
everything else, converses and argues nationally. The Paradise of
dogmatic theology is undoubtedly a place of physical comfort and
enjoyment but it is also the home of spiritual bliss. It would, I
think, be too much to say that the theosoph is indirectly caricatur
ing the theological concept of Paradise, which he himselfnot only
accepts but elaborates in great detail. Again, the Realm has little
metaphysical significance^ for Ibn al-'Arabi not only does not discuss
its relationship, say, with the spiritual world, but does not place it
at all anywhere in his ontological scheme. It is obviously an out
working of the '?lam al-Mith?l but
it is also obvious, I think, that
it represents an attempt to "secularize" the '?lam al-Mith?l and to
use it primarily for artistic purposes of
literary creation. But this
purely artistic use of the doctrine, if we are right in assessing its
nature, does not seem to have found any significant following,
Arabi
Although Ibn al-1 affirmsthat the %Alamal-Mith?l is
intermediate between the physical
the spiritual realms?since
and
this is of the nature of imagination?this doctrine is fully developed
only by subsequent thinkers and the ontological position of the
l?lam al-Mith?l is really clearly defined in theworks of ?adr al-Din
al-Shir?zi, known as Mulla ?adr? (d. 1640). Although there has
certainly been a development of the doctrine before Mulla Sadr?,
it is he who has formulated the organic relationship between
the three realms. He develops a prirfciple enunciated by al
Suhraward?, viz. the "principle of higher possibility" and gives it a
new interpretation. this principle means that the
In al-Suhrawardi
multiplicity that exists in the temporal realm must first exist in the
higher realm of the Intellect and he accuses the philosophers of
NOTES
1. F. Rahman, Prophecy in Islamt London, 1958, p. 72, . 27.
2. Al-FSr?b?, al-Madtnah chapter on Prophethood ;Avicenna, Kitab
aUF?Qilah,
al-Shif?', Psychology, IV, 3 ; also F. Rahman, ibid., Chapter II, Section II
and notes.
3. Avicenna, al-Ris?lah aUA^haw?yah, pp. 124-25.
4. Al-Fsrsbi. al-Madinah aUF?dilah, chapter on the Bliss.
5. F. Rahman, op. cit., p. 81.
6. Ihya T//Sm al-D'tn, vol. IV, the Book of Eschatology, the chapter on "The
JlxJI ?Ui
IfJA^tu pL**>b (Sj*^ ^^IJ ?l . ##pl*t
but more fully in Sata'?t, Karachi (n.d.), p. 5: