Al-Ghazali's : Mishkat al-Anwar

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Al-Ghazali's, Mishkat al-Anwar :
The Niche for Lights,
*[A5] Hardback - 106 pages,
Translated by W.H.T. Gairdner.
Published in India.

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Description :

This is the English translation of Imam al-Ghazali's, may Allah be pleased with him, mystical treatise on the verse of The Light from the Holy Qur'an : 'Allah is the Light of the Heavens and the Earth. The parable of His Light is as if there was a Niche and within it a Lamp : the Lamp enclosed In Glass : The Glass as it were a brilliant star : lit from a blessed Tree, an olive, neither of the East nor of the West..." (xxiv. 35).

A brief but crucial contribution to understanding Imam al-Ghazali's mystical insight.

First Published 1923.

Contents :

---Translator's Introduction,

---[1]. Date, Object, and General Contents,
---[2]. Mysteries left Veiled in this Treatise,
---[3]. A Ghazzalian Philosophy of Religion,
---[4]. Ghazzali Problems Raised by the foregoing,
---[5]. The Problem of the Vicegerent in ibn Rushd and ibn Tufail,
---[6]. One Solution of the Problem of the Vicegerent,
---[7]. Another Solution,
---[8]. Al-Ghazali and the Seven Spheres,
---[9]. Anthropomorphism and Theomorphism in al-Mishkat,
---[10]. Pantheism and al-Ghazzali, in al-Mishkat,

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 :

---[1]. Light as Physical Light; as the Eye; as the Intelligence
---[2]. The Qur'an as the Sun of the Intelligence
---[3]. The Worlds Visible and Invisible; with their Lights
---[4]. These Lights as Lamps Terrestrial and Celestial; with their Order and Grades
---[5]. The Source of all these Grades of Light, ALLAH
---[6]. The Mystic Verity of Verities,
---[7]. The "God-Aspect" : An "Advanced" Explanation of the Relation of these Lights to ALLAH,
---[8]. The Relation of these Lights to ALLAH : Simpler Illustrations and Explanations.

Part II. The Science of Symbolism :

(a). The outward and the inward in symbolism : Type and Antitype :
---[1]. The Two Worlds : Their Types and Antitypes,
---[2]. An Example of symbolism, from the Story of Abraham in the Qur'an :
---[3]. Fundamental examples of symbolism, especially from the story of Moses in the Qur'an,
---[4]. The permanent validity of the outward and visible sign : an example,
---[5]. Another example of this two-sided and equal validity of outward and inward,
(b). The psychology of the Human Soul : it's five faculties or spirits.

Part III. The Application of all the Foregoing to the Light-Verse and the Veils Tradition :

(a). The Exposition of the Symbolism of the Light-Verse :
---[1]. The Sensory Spirit,
---[2]. The Imaginative Spirit,
---[3]. The Intelligential Spirit,
---[4]. The Ratiocinative Spirit,
---[5]. The Transcendental Prophetic Spirit,
    Epilogue : The "Darkness"-Verse

(b). The Exposition of the Symbolism of the Seventy Thousand Veils :
---[1]. Those Veiled by Pure Darkness,
---[2]. Those veiled by Mixed Light and Darkness :
   -i. The Darkness of the Senses,
      -ii. The Darkness of the Imagination,
   -iii. The Darkness of the (ratiocinative) Intelligence,
---[3]. Those Veiled by Pure Light,
---[4]. The Goal of the Quest.