| Suhrawardi, Illumination and Mundus Imaginalis |
| Whereas it has been initiated by Ibn-Sina�s 'Al-Isharat wal Tanbihat' and 'Hayy Ibn Yazqan' and had been nurtured by Suhrawardi got accomplished and matured in Shahzuri�s Metaphysical Tree. Its Last portion especially deals with for the first time �primacy of qiddity� (aslat al-mahiyyah). Briefly stated, this position holds �existence� wujud to be a derived mental concept while �essence� (mahiyyah) is considered to be primary and real.
Previously in Islamic Peripatetic Scheme only three realms have been recognized: Intellect, Soul and matter. The Illuminationist Philosophy of Suhrawardi has added a fourth realm to it, generally called �the world of forms�. Shahzuri has called it �the intermediary realm� (al-alam al awsat). It is not confined to empirical appearance; time is different from Aristotelian, and space is different from Euclidean measure. The only way to this purely sensorily intelligible domain is �Active Imagination.� The intermediary realm is considered a �real� place where all manner of extraordinary phenomena, both good and evil, are said to occur, as Shahzuri writes: |
| This realm is called realm of ideas and the Mundus Imaginalis. It is beyond the world of sense perception and beyond extended space (makan) but below the realm of intellect (alam al aql). It is an intermediary realm between the two. Everything imagined by Mathematicians, such as shapes (round, oblong, square, etc) quantities (large, small, one two, etc.), and bodies (cubes, tetrahedrons, speres etc.) and whatever relates to them such as rest, position, idea shape (hay`ah), surface, line, point and other conditions all exist in this intermediary realm. That is why philosophers refer to the study of it as �intermediate science� or �intermediate Philosophy��.. |
| Everything seen (and heard) in dreams such as oceans, lands, loud noises and persons of stature, all of them are suspended forms not in space nor situated�. meaning they all appear to merge into one another and do not follow logical series of consequence.
Archetypes of all known things on Earth exist as luminous Forms in this realm�.There are numerous multiple levels in this realm, and only God knows their number. But two bordering levels are known: |
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| The Development of Islamic Metaphysics |
| The virtuous luminous level, which lies at the horizon bordering on the realms of intellect; and
The lowly dark level, which borders the realm of sense perception. |
| The numerous other levels are in between the two, and in each level dwell angels, jinn and Satans whose numbers are uncountable. Souls, when separated from the body will come to live in this realm�.In this realm are rivers wider wider than Tigris and Euphrates and mountains taller than any on earth. �Souls of evil doers will encounter scorpions and serpents larger than largest mountains in this realm�.
Things that exist in this realm have �formal� bodies and imaginary hapes�Extraordinary events, miracles, sorcery and all manner of strange manifestations occur because of this realm�Sages on spiritual journeys, who learn how to unravel the signs have all attested to the powers that are manifest there. |
| It would be inaccurate to identify the Mundus Imaginalis totally with Plato�s Realm of Ideas in the Dialogues. The Illuminationist philosophers are quite specific on this point and distinguish between the suspended forms, which are the real being of the eighth clime, and the Platonic forms. Platonic forms are considered to be discrete, distinct entities, or �things� in realm of intelligible lights, while the beings of the intermediary realm, though considered to be real, are part of the continuum of the Imaginal, whether light or dark. |
| Mundus Imaginalis is not Plato�s Realm of Ideas |
| The creatures of this realm, be they luminous or dark, are �proven�, according to Shahzuri, by the visions and intuition of the Divine philosopher-sages who have strengthened their intuitions and purified their imaginations by ascetic by ascetic practices, not by mere recourse to natural demonstration. |
| Adapted from chapters 28 and 29 about Illuminationist Tradition by Hossein Ziai in History of Islamic Philosophy. Seyyed Hossein Nasr & Leaman.O. (Eds). (2001). NY: Routledge. |
| Other Sources on Mundus Imaginalis |
| Shah Wali Allah's World of Images |
| Henry Corbin |
| Suhrawardi's Cosmology |
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