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

  1. Date, Object, and General Contents
  2. Mysteries left Veiled in this Treatise
  3. A Ghazzâlian Philosophy of Religion
  4. Ghazzâlî Problems Raised by the Foregoing
  5. The Problem of the Vicegerent in Ibn Rushed and Ibn Tufail
  6. One Solution of the Problem of the Vicegerent
  7. Another Solution
  8. Al-Ghazzâlî and the Seven Spheres
  9. Anthropomorphism and Theomorphism in al-Mishkât
  10. 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.

  1. "Light" as Physical Light; as the Eye; as the Intelligence
  2. The Koran 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: Simple Illustrations and Explanations

PART II.   THE SCIENCE OF SYMBOLISM.

(i) 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 Koran
  3. Fundamental Examples of Symbolism: especially from the Story of Moses in the Koran
  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

(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

  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

(ii) The Exposition of the Symbolism of the Seventy Thousand Veils

  1. Those veiled by Pure Darkness
  2. 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
  3. Those veiled by Pure Light
  4. The Goal of the Quest


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