| The World of Images: �Alam al- Mithal� |
| Hazrat Shah Wali Allah (ra) has written in Hujjat Allah al-Baligha that there are many traditions quoted from Hazrat Muhammad (saw) that indicate that a non-elemental world exists in which abstract meanings are represented by quasi-bodily forms corresponding to them in quality. There, things take on their materialization in some form before they are materialized on earth. Thus when they come into existence they are the same in a certain sense of sameness. Many things, which do not have typical bodily form or shape descend from there, though people can�t see them. Hazrat Muhammad (saw) has said, |
| � When God created ties of relationship they stood up and said, �This is the place of taking refuge with you from being cut off�. (Mishkat: p.1024)
�Acts will come forward on the Day of Judgment. First prayer will come, then alms giving (zakat) will come, then fasting will come.� (Ibn Hanbal II:362) |
| Hazrat Shah Wali Allah (ra) further writes that it is frequently mentioned in the Hadiths that on Day of Judgment Allah The Almighty shall manifest Himself in many forms for the people who are awaiting their judgment and that Hazrat Muhammad (saw) shall go into his Lord while He is on His Throne and God shall speak to the sons of Adams orally. (Ibn Hanbal: 1, 296) |
| � One way is that of Al-Suyuti that one may confirm their literal meaning, and thus affirm the existence of the Imaginal World.
� The other is that of Abdallah b. Masud, that one may regard these events are perceived by sense perception of the viewer to whom they are manifested, though they do not exist in phenomenal world. � One may regard them as symbolizations for conveying other meanings. |
| There are three ways of interpreting such Ahadith: |
| Hazrat Shah Wali Allah (ra) himself supports the first meaning and quotes Imam Ghazali: � The symbols of these reports have correct literal meanings and concealed inner meaning but these are clear to those who possess spiritual insight. The man to whom their inner meaning do not reveal themselves must not deny their literal truth��
In explanation of the Ahadith Hazrat Shah Wali Allah (ra) has related Ibn al-Majishun that all of Ahadith concerning the movement and vision of God on the Day of Assembly meant that the perceptual ability of His creatures would change And they would see Him descending, manifesting Himself, conversing with His creatures, and addressing them without it affecting His greatness�) |
| Adapted from Chapter 2: The World of Images (pages 37-42) from Hujjat Allah al-Baligha by Hazrat Shah Wali Allah (ra) (1703-62). The Conclusive Argument From God: trans. Marcia K. Hermansen. Islamic Research Institute: International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan. (2003). |
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| This is to say that human feelings and emotions like pain, love, and jealousy, etc. and human actions like praying, lying and fasting also have some kind of formal existence, which is coded in Loh-e-Mahfuz: �The Preserved Tablet� that lies with Allah The Almighty. |
| The same is referred about other created things, like days of week, and Surahs of Qur'an.
�The Chapters of Qur'an �The Cow� and �The Family of Imran� will come on the Day of Resurrection as if they were two clouds or two canopies or two flocks of birds in rows disputing on behalf of their people (those who recited them)�. (Mishkat: p. 449) or �Allah The Almighty will resurrect the days on the Day of Judgment just as they are, but He will resurrect Friday radiant and luminous.� (kanz al-ummal III:284) The Prophet further said: �The world shall be brought forth on the Day of Judgment in the form of an old woman with gray-streaked hair, bluish teeth, and an ugly face.� (A Sufi Hadith) |
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| Suhrawardi & Imaginal World |
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