Mishkât Al-Anwar
("THE NICHE FOR LIGHTS")
by AL-GHAZZALI
[1058-1111 C.E.]
A TRANSLATION WITH INTRODUCTION
BY
W. H. T. [William Henry Temple] GAIRDNER
B.A. OXON; C.M.S. MISSIONARY IN CAIRO; DIRECTOR OF THE SCHOOL FOR ORIENTAL STUDIES, CAIRO
Monograph Vol. XIX by the Royal Asiatic Society, London 1924.
CONTENTS
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION
- Date, Object, and General Contents
- Mysteries left Veiled in this Treatise
- A Ghazzâlian Philosophy of Religion
- Ghazzâlî Problems Raised by the Foregoing
- The Problem of the Vicegerent in Ibn Rushed and Ibn Tufail
- One Solution of the Problem of the Vicegerent
- Another Solution
- Al-Ghazzâlî and the Seven Spheres
- Anthropomorphism and Theomorphism in al-Mishkât
- Pantheism and al-Ghazzâlî, in al-Mishkât
TRANSLATION OF MISHKAT AL-ANWAR "THE NICHE FOR LIGHTS"
Exordium and Introduction. The "Light" Verse and the "Veils"-Tradition
PART I. LIGHT, AND LIGHTS Preliminary Studies.
- "Light" as Physical Light; as the Eye; as the Intelligence
- The Koran as the Sun of the Intelligence
- The Worlds Visible and Invisible; with their Lights
- These Lights as Lamps Terrestrial and Celestial: with their Order and Grades
- The Source of all these Grades of Light: ALLAH
- The Mystic Verity of Verities
- The "God-Aspect": an "advanced" explanation of the Relation of these Lights to ALLAH
- The Relation of these Lights to ALLAH: Simple Illustrations and Explanations
PART II. THE SCIENCE OF SYMBOLISM.
(i) The Outward and the Inward in Symbolism Type and Antitype
- The Two Worlds: their Types and Antitypes
- An Example of Symbolism, from the Story of Abraham in the Koran
- Fundamental Examples of Symbolism: especially from the Story of Moses in the Koran
- The Permanent Validity of the Outward and Visible Sign: an Example
- Another Example of this Two-sided and Equal Validity of Outward and Inward
(ii) The Psychology of the Human Soul: its Five Faculties or Spirits
PART III. THE APPLICATION OF ALL THE FOREGOING TO THE LIGHT-VERSES AND THE VEILS-TRADITION
(i) The exposition of the Symbolism of the Light-Verse
- The Sensory Spirit
- The Imaginative Spirit
- The Intelligential Spirit
- The Ratiocinative Spirit
- The Transcendental Prophetic Spirit
Epilogue: the "Darkness"-Verse
(ii) The Exposition of the Symbolism of the Seventy Thousand Veils
- Those veiled by Pure Darkness
- Those veiled by mixed Light and Darkness
(a) The darkness of the Senses
(b) The darkness of the Imagination
(c) The darkness of the (ratiocinative) Intelligence
- Those veiled by Pure Light
- The Goal of the Quest
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