(En Islam Iranien) Henry Corbin - in Iranian Islam, Spiritual and Philosophical Aspects. Volume I, Twelver Shi'ism.

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This edition of this work is published with the assistance of the Iranian
Imperial Academy of Philosophy.
Prologue
This work does not pretend to give a general history of the

philosophical and spiritual thought of Iran. It would have been
necessary, to this end, not only to amplify its already heavy
dimensions, but to aim at a completeness that the state of
research is still far from allowing.
Consequently, there will inevitably be a fair number of
absentees. Mention will be made, for example, of Ismailism
only in an allusive way and by comparison. Yet Ismailism is
the other great branch of Shi'ism, and was certainly at the
forefront of metaphysics and gnosis in Islam. But we have
dealt with it elsewhere and intend to return to it in more detail
Another as
1
great
theabsence
Qorân-e will bethe
farsî, the"Persian
book commonly
Qorân", referred to
namely the
immense poem or Mathnawî by Jalâloddîn Rûmî .
But it is no longer unknown in the West. Anyone who wants

to study and meditate on it line by line, even without knowing
Persian very well yet, can easily do so thanks to the faithful
2
and complete English translation by RA Nicholson. purpose
Our here
essentially tended to explore the still almost unknown lands
where, over the centuries, the Iranian "harvests of the spirit"
have arisen.
Moreover, if it is correct to consider Mathnawî as typically
representative of a certain Persian-language Sufism, which
was also long flourishing in Anatolia, if on the other hand
Sufism has long been considered in the West
I. Cf. notre Trilogie Ismailienne (Bibl. Iranienne, vol. 9), Paris, Adrien
Maisonneuve, 1961.
2. Reynold A. Nicholson, The Mathnawî of Jalâluddîn Rûmî, edited with
critical Notes, Translation and Commentary (Gibb Memorial Series, N.S.
IV, I-8), London, 1925-1940, 8 vol.
X In Iranian Islam XI
Prologue
as representing in itself the mystical spirituality of Islam, these are Sufi, the use of the words 'irfân and 'irfânî (mystical). The researcher
nevertheless only partial views of the overall situation. who had learned in the West that Shi'ism had no sympathy for
Sufism, will perhaps have concluded that Shi'ism is foreign to all
What we mainly wanted to show here is an aptitude characteristic spiritual interiority. He will then have to learn about the work of a
of what some will designate as the Iranian genius, others as the master like Haydar Amoli
imprescriptible vocation of the Iranian soul: an aptitude eminently (14th century), recalling that ultimately the true Sufi is also the true
suited to building a philosophical system of world, without ever Shiite; which has the consequence that it is important and sufficient
losing sight of the personal spiritual realization in which philosophical for a shî'ite to be this true shî'ite 'irfânî. He will discover, alongside
meditation must bear fruit, and without which philosophy is no more the Shiite Sufi congregations, the existence of Shiite spiritual masters
than a sterile game of the mind. Aptitude, therefore, to unite who are great mystics without presenting themselves as Sufis. He
philosophical research and mystical experience; the refusal to will experience that at the Traditional Theological University of
dissociate them gives to one and to the other such a specific Qomm, for example, he can pronounce the words 'irfân and 'irfânî
character, that it is to be deplored that this Iranian, Iranian-Islamic and develop a perfectly comfortable dialogue with his interlocutors,
philosophy has hitherto been absent from our histories of philosophy. while the use of the words tasawwof and sufi cast a shadow over the
This absence has impoverished, amputated, our knowledge of man. faces.
For more than a millennium, notably still and especially during the This is a situation that may take him several years to understand. He
last four centuries, the production of philosophers and spirituals of will have to renounce certain established patterns, which limited the
Iran has been considerable. Their problems overlap with those of characters of spiritual dialogue in Islam to the scholastic theologians
our philosophers, but most often bringing to them points of view and of Kalam and the so-called Hellenizing philosophers (the falâsifa) ;
answers that the vicissitudes of polemics have kept out of the way between the two, there were the Sufis, without much sympathy either
in the West. And yet this Iranian voice has hardly managed to make for the former or for the latter.
itself heard outside the borders of Iran, so much so that today Now the real situation is in fact expressed in an analogy of relations
Iranians are not always aware that their traditional culture can whose formula has passed into the state of currency; the origin goes
conceal a message for contemporary humanity, and see even less back to the spiritual revolution operated by Sohrawardî
how to "update" this message. (12th century), the evocation of which will fill the whole of Book II of
this work. This formula states that Sufism is in relation to the theology
of the Kalâm, what the Sohrawardian doctrine of Light (Ishrâq) is in
relation to the philosophy of the falâ sifa. At the same time, this
Now, it is this conjunction of philosophical aptitude and mystical “quaternity” makes the spiritual situation of Iranian Islam appear in a
aptitude which, by marking the Iranian genius with its specific completely different light, instead of simply relating to it the categories
imprint, invites us to modify the two aspects of the concept of Sufism valid for the rest of the Islamic world.
generally accepted in the West. On the one hand, this concept is
that of a Sufism which, a little too readily, ignores philosophical Let's say that this day shows all the more the difference that
research, failing to suspect how, by meditating on the very act of almost all the thinkers and spirituals of which it will be treated during
knowledge, our philosophers have experienced what is technically the course of this work, remained very little known, even totally
referred to as unio mystica. On the other hand, it appears that this unknown up to now in the West. Many of the works cited here are
concept reserves to Sufism the privilege of mystical spirituality in still in manuscript. The aspects that we have tried to bring out will be
Islam. However, we are faced with the fact that certain spiritual of even greater interest, we hope, to both philosophers and
masters in Iran speak the technical language of the Sufis, without researchers in religious sciences. We do not have to hide that these
belonging to a tariqat or Sufi congregation, or even claiming the aspects are generally oriented against the ideologies in fashion
qualification of ex professo Sufis. today.
But perhaps they will be of a virtue all the more effective, by
For reasons that will be discussed in the course of this work, it is reminding us of many things that the tumult of our militant ideologies
the same masters who, for some four centuries, have preferred to has made us forget.
use the terms Sufism (tasawwof) and There is also no hiding the uncomfortable situation,
XII In Iranian Islam XIII

Prologue
the tribulations, of the Orientalist philosopher in general, of the
the University of Mashhad, 1s professor Sayyed Jalâloddîn
Islamizing philosopher in the present case. First of all, because the
Ashtiyânî, namely an Anthology of the Iranian philosophers since
state of research obliges him to do some preliminary work as a
the XVIIth century until our days. A first volume is already
philologist which is not quite his own. He must most often become 4
completed. Praise which,
Heavenaccording
that wetocan
ourbring
plans,
to should
fruition include
an enterprise
five
the editor of the texts on which he will then base his presentations.
large volumes and make known about fifty Iranian thinkers of the
Let the philosopher who has the privilege of working on texts
last four centuries, all of whom, in other words, have been unknown
already published, even written in his own language, compare his
up to now in the West. , and of which a large part of the works is
situation with his! But there is more. Nobody really knows where to
still in manuscript. Several of these works are studied here.
place it. He is like an orphan.
Orientalists are not necessarily metaphysicians, and would easily
regard the philosopher as a wandering knight, lost among them.
The irruption in broad daylight of these Iranian philosophers of
As for the philosophers, they are quite ready to welcome the
the last four centuries will call into question certain established
problems, but the unknown proper names, the new technical terms,
categories, in the first place our periodization of the history of
start by baffling them.
philosophy. For one will inevitably wonder whether these
We will again allude to these paradoxes, if only to encourage
philosophers are medieval philosophers or modern philosophers.
young researchers to overcome them; for it will be up to them to
Chronologically, they do not belong to what we call the Middle
ensure that Iranian philosophy, like Islamic philosophy in general,
Ages, and yet they belong to the so-called medieval period by all
finally belongs to the common heritage of philosophers.
the fibers of their problems.
"Modern" they are so chronologically, and yet their conception of
We should therefore not be surprised if we say that the research
the world does not quite correspond to what it is agreed in the West
collected in the four volumes of this work has extended over more
to call "modern", although there is, for example, between the
than twenty years. They were only possible thanks to repeated
Platonists of Persia, such as Mullâ Sadra Shîrâzî, and the Platonists
and prolonged stays in Iran, as well as dear and faithful Iranian
of Cambridge, their contemporaries, deep affinities of thought. The
friendships. They were combined, it goes without saying, with the
fact remains that our usual schema dividing history into “Antiquity,
tasks of an education normally given in Paris, and partially, for
the Middle Ages, Modern times” is in danger of collapsing, because
several years, in Tehran itself. May all those who listened to it
it only adapts to a specifically Western state of things. So it will be
know how much their attention was a stimulus to us.
necessary to find a reference other than chronological to mark the
synchronism of these Iranian philosophers with their peers from the
West.
It is exceptional for a researcher to have the opportunity, in the
course of his life, to explain what he proposed to do, and to say
Simple example of a difficulty raised in passing. There are others,
how and why he tried to do it, in short to write something that is
and of another order. We will have occasion to point out not only
both a program and a testament. However, this opportunity was
that Shiite Islam is a great unknown in the West, but that it frequently
given to us, not long ago, thanks to the jubilee volume that our
comes up against, and for this very reason, sometimes serious
Section of Religious Sciences of the École Pratique des Hautes-
misunderstandings concerning its essence, sometimes reluctance,
Études (Sorbonne) published to celebrate the centenary of our
even antipathies, all the more painfully felt by our Iranian friends as
School. We refer here to this text, because the present work is
they appear inexplicable to them. From this point of view we
both the illustration and the amplification of what it announces. 3
.
welcome
Finally, we cannot pass over in silence a parallel undertaking carried out
4. Cf. Anthology of Iranian philosophers from the 17th century to the
in collaboration with one of our eminent colleagues from the Faculty of present day, t. I. Persian and Arabic texts selected and presented by Sayyed
Theology and Islamic Sciences of 3. Cf. Problems and Methods in the Jalâloddîn Ashtiyânî. Analytical introduction by Henry Corbin (Bibl. Iranian,
History of Religions. Mixtures published by the Section of Religious vol. I8), Paris, Adrien-Maisonneuve, 1971. In this first volume seven
Sciences on the occasion of the centenary of the Practical School of Hautes- philosophers are represented: Mîr Dâmâd, Mîr Fendereskî, Mollâ Sadrâ
Etudes, Paris, PUF, 1968, pp. 129-146. Shîrâzî, Rajab 'Alî Tabrîzî, 'Abdorrasszâq Lâhîjî , Hosayn Khwansari, Shamsa Gilani.
XIV In Iranian Islam XV

Prologue
as a symptom of a revival in our studies the symposium organized to the relationship marked by the terms "exoteric" and "esoteric",
at the University of Strasbourg, in 1968, on "Imamite Shî'isme" exterior and interior, apparent and hidden, phenomenon and
5
. Shi'ism is not reduced to cursing the first three caliphs, noumenon, etc. It is a question of differentiating the degrees of
nor to practicing a fifth juridical rite alongside the four rites officially penetration into the “reality of the real”. Certainly, the human condition
recognized by Sunni Islam. is such that access to what is marked by the term “esoteric” and
What will be said about it here throughout Volume I and elsewhere related terms cannot be open to everyone indiscriminately.
will tend to show it to us as the sanctuary of the esotericism of Islam. The mass phenomenon is excluded here. In the traditional milieu,
this limitation is recognized as an inherent necessity of human nature.
The word that we have just written is, with a few others, the source Rûzbehân will speak of “esotericists” as being “the eyes through
of no less serious misunderstandings and reservations. which God still looks at the world”.
We have to use the terms esotericism, gnosis, theosophy, because What is called batin in no way arouses, in traditional circles, the idea
we have no other terms to best translate the technical terms to which of "little chapels" which have been made suspect in the West, not
they correspond in Arabic and Persian. Yet we know that the use of without reason, by pseudo-esotericism. Still one would like to be able
these words arouses reluctance, even irritation, in many serious to say with a writer of our days: it does not matter that the chapels
people. We do not hope to clear up misunderstandings in a few are small, as long as one honors great saints there!
lines. Those who are willing to read this book from cover to cover
will understand what it is all about. Here we are concerned with As for the word gnosis, it is one of those which provoke the worst
specifying beforehand the scope of a vocabulary. misunderstandings, insofar as it is bound up with an esotericism no
less misunderstood. Do we need to remember that researchers
particularly emphasize nowadays that the term “gnosticism”,
The spread of pseudo-esotericism in the West has long made the designating the Gnostic systems of the first centuries of the Christian
very terms esotericism and esoteric suspect. We would like all era, does not cover the entire phenomenon of “gnosis”? One should
readers to begin by thinking of etymologically “rethinking” the terms not therefore seek in all that is gnosis, the exact equivalent of these
in question. The Greek expression designates external things, same systems. There is a Jewish gnosis, a Christian gnosis, an
"exoteric"; designates inner, "esoteric" things.'interiorism'
Should theand
terms Islamic gnosis, a Buddhist gnosis. The misfortune is that, superficially
'interiorists' be preferred? These terms, derived
perfectly from Latin,
accurate, but would
it is to be informed, many speak of gnosis as of a mythology, for want of having
feared that nowadays the idea of "inner world", of "inner reality", this universe that our philosophers will teach us to know as mundus
arouses in many people the idea of subjectivism or a psychologism imaginalis. Either we will speak of it as a form of knowledge, a
which are absolutely out of the question among our thinkers. The rationalization replacing faith, forgetting precisely that gnosis, because
interior universes are for them nothing less than the spiritual it is gnosis, goes beyond toto caelo this way of posing the problem in
universes, claiming, with perfect ontological rigor, a sui generis terms of believing and to know. Gnosis is, as such, salvific or salvific
"objectivity", different, certainly, from what we currently understand knowledge: salvific because knowledge, and knowledge because
by this word. salvific. It is therefore knowledge that can only be actualized at the
price of a new birth, a spiritual birth. It is a knowledge which bears in
itself, as such, a sacramental character.
It remains that the contrast and the complementarity marked by the
Arabic terms zâhir and batin correspond perfectly
From this point of view the idea of gnosis is inseparable from that of
5. Colloquium organized by our colleagues, Professors Robert Brunschvig mystical knowledge (ma'rîfat, 'irfân). One will find here the illustration
and Toufic Fahd. Cf. Le Shî'isme imâmite ( Bibl. des Centers d'Etudes of it in the Shiite gnosis ('irfân-e shi'î) as in the lshrâq of Sohrawardî.
Supérieures Spécialisés), Paris, PUF, 1970 . -I74), as well as to the
communications of SH Nasr, on Shi'ism and Sufism: their principal and From this point of view too, any refusal of gnosis, however “piously”
historical relations (pp. 215-234), and of C. motivated it may be, contains in itself the germ of agnosticism. The
agnostic is not, as the banal usage of the word would have it, the one
Pellat, sur Mas'ûdi et l'Imâmisme (pp. 69-90). who refuses a confessional faith,
XVI In Iranian Islam Prologue XVII
but he who, pronouncing the divorce between thought and being, objective and uniform time which is that of everyone, and that it is
closes himself to himself and wants to close to others the access impossible to explain in this way the position which the philosopher
to the universes opened up by gnosis and whose immediate givens takes precisely with regard to this time. A philosopher can only be
take place in the "inner world", that is to say "esoteric". All of this his own time, and it is in this alone that his true "historicity" consists.
seems essential to us in order to understand the thinkers we are The “existential” metaphysics of Molla Sadrâ Shîrâzî makes us
dealing with here. understand that there is no living tradition , that is to say transmission
The word theosophy is also struck with suspicion. Here again, in action, except through constantly renewed acts of decision. Thus
please think etymologically. We will recall, on several occasions, understood, tradition is the very opposite of a funeral procession; it
that the Arabic expression hikmat ilâhîya is the exact equivalent of requires perpetual rebirth, and that is "gnosis."
the Greek theosophia; it designates this "divine wisdom" whose
object is not only being qua being, but the spiritual universes to We were therefore carried here by the conviction that the past
which gnosis opens access. Its organ is neither the faculties of and death are not in things, but in souls. Everything depends on our
sensible perception nor the reasoning intellect, but a third activity decision, when, discovering a hitherto unsuspected affinity, we
of the soul which is intimate intuition, inner visionary perception decide that what awakens it in us is not dead and is not of the past,
(kashf, moshâhadat), etc. We cannot therefore do without this word, because on the contrary we sense that we are part of it. the future
nor isolate from philosophy what it designates, whereas Sohrawardî ourselves. This is a diametrically opposite position to that which
requires from his disciple the most serious philosophical training consists in claiming to be linked to a moment of external historical
before attempting to go "theosophically" further. time which we call “ours”, simply because chronology has so
arranged it. This reversal itself produces a radical “reversion”: what
had been in the past will now descend from us. This alone allows
Other clarifications of vocabulary are still necessary. We will us to understand and value the scope of the work accomplished by
sometimes take a position against historicism, or even suggest an a Sohrawardi, as the "resurrector" of the theosophy of ancient Persia.
“anti-history”. Let no rejection of historical studies be imputed to us.
Far from there! A humanity that would renounce historical studies
would be a humanity stricken with collective amnesia. It is to be So what is the use of this word "irreversible", lavished in our days
feared that the evil has already made progress: always asking for right and wrong? It is we who give life or death, and in so doing we
the "new", pretending to be interested only in the "new", it is the find our true contemporaries elsewhere than in the occasional
symptom of an amnesia which makes you blind to the news from simultaneity of our chronological moment.
your own past. We could also argue that to compel oneself to
extract a large number of manuscripts from their obscurity is to do On the other hand, fighting against the so-called "outdated" by
authentic work as a historian. But that is not the question. launching into a frantic race for history is a hopeless fight, because
waged against an unconscious part of ourselves whose caricature
The point of view that the valorization of our authors forbids us we then flee. We commonly hear it said that, nowadays, the
here by right, is the "historical" point of view in the ordinary sense philosophy of history is in decline, but that on the other hand the
of this word, that is to say the point of view which does not allow us theology of history is taking off. To tell the truth, the idea of a
to understand and interpret a thought or a thinker only according to theology of history is not new. In Islam, it is to Shiite and Ismaili
their “historical” moment, their location in the chronology; one then thinkers that the merit is due, through their “prophetic philosophy”.
tries to “explain” them causally by “their time”, even to reduce them, Unfortunately, in certain Christianity today, it seems that it is because
causally still, to “precedents”, to finally conclude that, of course, “of it has lost its Logos that theology feels all the more inclined to
our time” this thought is “outdated” , "old-fashioned" etc. adventure.
An effort has been made here to maintain an understanding of And this, of course, is new, even a novelty that is more urgent, but
"existential time", such that, in the eyes of the philosopher, the more difficult to overcome than any "outdated" past, because it is
current expression "to be of his time" takes on a derisory meaning, the symptom of a radical disorientation. Seeking salvation in history
because it only refers to " the chronological time", to
XVIII In Iranian Islam Prologue XIX
not delaying the "meaning" imposed by others on history, a having to deal only with what he calls "pure thought", because he
theology tries to compete with its own secularized product, but has pronounced the divorce between thought and being. We do
forgetting that its own dimension is eschatological, and that not believe that this is the best way to come to understand Gnostics.
eschatology is the end of the story. A theology or a philosophy of
history is unthinkable without an Image of the world which, in its It would also be surreptitiously abolishing the border that some
totality, precedes and anticipates all empirical data; they are theologians nowadays cheerfully denounce as a false border,
possible only on the part of a being who is not in history, but namely between the sacred and the profane or the secular. It
transhistorical. remains to be seen how we go about abolishing it.
Please refer to what will be said here concerning the Arabo- We can sanctify all the activities of life, make man a “liturgical
Persian term hikayat, which can be the source of inexhaustible being”. In Christianity today, only the spirituality of Orthodoxy has
meditations, because it has the virtue of connoting both the idea of retained its meaning. In Islam, it was the ideal of the fotowwat, of
history and the idea of imitation (the Greek mimesis). this spiritual chivalry which will be discussed at the conclusion of
Any exterior story only symbolizes, imitates, re-quotes, an interior this work. On the other hand, it happens that one prefers simply to
story, that of the soul and the universes of the Soul. secularize the sacred. It is to this that the "treachery of the clerics"
This inner story is not a chronicle, but it is what makes the tends that is consummated today.
recurrences understood and allows a typological hermeneutics. The Iranian philosophers and spirituals who will be discussed here
On the other hand, to consider only the external, "exoteric" data, is were not involved in this betrayal.
to hold in hand only a derisory dirty chry; and yet it is to this cast-
off that many philosophies of history have attached the virtues of On the other hand, frequent use will be made here of the word
historical causality. Measured by the demands of our thinkers, this phenomenology. Without wanting to attach ourselves to any
mistake is the typical case of the agnostic mentioned above. There specific current of phenomenology, we take the term etymologically,
was therefore no reason to seek to submit Iranian-Islamic as corresponding to what the Greek motto designates to meet them
philosophy to some historical dialectic external to it; we have where they take place and where "Saving phenomena"
they have is In religious
their place.
studies, it is to encounter them in the souls of believers, rather than
sought to understand its entirely interior history, finally said to be
“esoteric”. in monuments of critical scholarship or in circumstantial
investigations. To let what has been shown to them show itself, for
For the same compelling reason, the "environment" in which we that is the religious fact . It can be the naive believer, as it can be
have tried to reach our thinkers and to live with them is the the deepest mystical theosophist. Molla Sadra himself said that the
environment which is really theirs, namely the spiritual universes esotericist feels much closer to the naive believer than to the
which were familiar to them and which they attempted to explore rationalist theologian, because he is able, without making allegories,
their metaphysical research. As for their "social" environment, we to "save the phenomenon", the sense of exoteric (zahir) professed
know too well for each of them what they thought of it; their by the naive believer. Under these conditions, we can then
profound attitude towards him was a tajrîd, a separation which may distinguish what is “phenomenologically true” from what is
appear to the homo collectivus today as a scandal, but which is a “historically true”, in the sense understood by scientific criticism
fact. So to want to explain them by what they wanted to be foreign today.
to (the "allogene" of the Gnostics), to deduce them from what they
precisely said no to, this approach would appear to us as a sterile
paradox. This would be to give in to the confusion, too frequently The word phenomenology appears most difficult to translate into
committed nowadays, between philosophy and the sociology of Arabic or Persian, when one tackles it head-on with the help of
philosophy. This confusion simply loses sight of what is the object dictionaries. But in fact the process of phenomenology, its logos,
of metaphysics, and if it loses sight of it, it is because this object is does it not consist in "saving" the phenomenon by showing the
tacitly considered by it as non-existent. Here we encounter again hidden meaning, the secret intention which founds it?
the typical attitude of the agnostic who, in the absence of Therefore what is designated by an Arabic expression such as
sociological support, believes kashf al mahjûb, which entitles many a work of philosophy or
mysticism and means "unveiling, uncovering of what
Prologue XIX
XVIII In Iranian Islam
not delaying the "meaning" imposed by others on history, a having to deal only with what he calls "pure thought", because he
theology tries to compete with its own secularized product, but has pronounced the divorce between thought and being. We do
forgetting that its own dimension is eschatological, and that not believe that this is the best way to come to understand Gnostics.
eschatology is the end of the story. A theology or a philosophy of
history is unthinkable without an Image of the world which, in its It would also be surreptitiously abolishing the border that some
totality, precedes and anticipates all empirical data; they are theologians nowadays cheerfully denounce as a false border,
possible only on the part of a being who is not in history, but namely between the sacred and the profane or the secular. It
transhistorical. remains to be seen how we go about abolishing it.
Please refer to what will be said here concerning the Arabo- We can sanctify all the activities of life, make man a “liturgical
Persian term hikayat, which can be the source of inexhaustible being”. In Christianity today, only the spirituality of Orthodoxy has
meditations, because it has the virtue of connoting both the idea of retained its meaning. In Islam, it was the ideal of the fotowwat, of
history and the idea of imitation (the Greek mimesis). this spiritual chivalry which will be discussed at the conclusion of
Any exterior story only symbolizes, imitates, re-quotes, an interior this work. On the other hand, it happens that one prefers simply to
story, that of the soul and the universes of the Soul. secularize the sacred. It is to this that the "treachery of the clerics"
This inner story is not a chronicle, but it is what makes the tends that is consummated today.
recurrences understood and allows a typological hermeneutics. The Iranian philosophers and spirituals who will be discussed here
On the other hand, to consider only the external, "exoteric" data, is were not involved in this betrayal.
to hold in hand only a derisory dirty chry; and yet it is to this cast-
off that many philosophies of history have attached the virtues of On the other hand, frequent use will be made here of the word
historical causality. Measured by the demands of our thinkers, this phenomenology. Without wanting to attach ourselves to any
mistake is the typical case of the agnostic mentioned above. There specific current of phenomenology, we take the term etymologically,
was therefore no reason to seek to submit Iranian-Islamic as corresponding to what the Greek motto designates to meet them
philosophy to some historical dialectic external to it; we have where they take place and where "Saving phenomena"
they have is In religious
their place.
sought to understand its entirely interior history, finally said to be studies, it is to encounter them in the souls of believers, rather than
“esoteric”. in monuments of critical scholarship or in circumstantial
investigations. To let what has been shown to them show itself, for
For the same compelling reason, the "environment" in which we that is the religious fact . It can be the naive believer, as it can be
have tried to reach our thinkers and to live with them is the the deepest mystical theosophist. Molla Sadra himself said that the
environment which is really theirs, namely the spiritual universes esotericist feels much closer to the naive believer than to the
which were familiar to them and which they attempted to explore rationalist theologian, because he is able, without making allegories,
their metaphysical research. As for their "social" environment, we to "save the phenomenon", the sense of exoteric (zahir) professed
know too well for each of them what they thought of it; their by the naive believer. Under these conditions, we can then
profound attitude towards him was a tajrîd, a separation which may distinguish what is “phenomenologically true” from what is
appear to the homo collectivus today as a scandal, but which is a “historically true”, in the sense understood by scientific criticism
fact. So to want to explain them by what they wanted to be foreign today.
to (the "allogene" of the Gnostics), to deduce them from what they
precisely said no to, this approach would appear to us as a sterile
paradox. This would be to give in to the confusion, too frequently The word phenomenology appears most difficult to translate into
committed nowadays, between philosophy and the sociology of Arabic or Persian, when one tackles it head-on with the help of
philosophy. This confusion simply loses sight of what is the object dictionaries. But in fact the process of phenomenology, its logos,
of metaphysics, and if it loses sight of it, it is because this object is does it not consist in "saving" the phenomenon by showing the
tacitly considered by it as non-existent. Here we encounter again hidden meaning, the secret intention which founds it?
the typical attitude of the agnostic who, in the absence of Therefore what is designated by an Arabic expression such as
sociological support, believes kashf al mahjûb, which entitles many a work of philosophy or
mysticism and means "unveiling, uncovering of what
XXII In Iranian Islam Prologue XXIII
ble of stars. Diving into the pool to "touch" the image would be as problems of imamology and christology. Book II (t. II) is entirely
futile as breaking the mirror. The shimmering surface is the place devoted to the work of "resurrection" which was that of Sohrawardî
of appearance (mazhar), but the image is not there. (12th century), namely that of a philosophy of light whose overlaps
We will compare with what was said above concerning the hikayat, with our own philosophy. The medieval osophy of Light (that of a
because all these aspects are interdependent. Another example. Robert Grosseteste) still calls for much research. Book III (t. III),
Shî'ite iconography depicts in wall paintings as well as in entirely devoted to Rûzbehân Baqlî de Shîrâz, leads to questions
manuscript illustrations, the characters of the Holy Family, mainly familiar to the “Faithful of love”, around Dante or prior to him. Book
the five who are called the "personages of the Mantle" (the IV shows some summits of the metaphysics of Shi'ism and Sufism
Prophet, his daughter Fatima, the three first Imams), but their (Haydar Âmoli, Semnânî, 14th century). Book V (t. IV) illustrates
faces always remain veiled. with a few great figures what the "school of Ispahan" was. Book
Each viewer has the freedom to allow an epiphany of it to occur VI shows the meaning of the Shaykh school (19th century). Finally,
within himself in accordance with his desire, so that he could take Book VII is entirely devoted to the Twelfth Imam as the center of a
on his own account the Gnostic testimony of an apparition reported Shiite fervor culminating in the idea of spiritual chivalry (fotowwat,
in the "Acts of Peter": Talem eum vidi qualem capere potui (I saw javânmardî). Here the overlaps with the traditions of Western
it as I was able to grasp it). Vision is never captive to a datum; the chivalry as with the Joachimite tradition will emerge spontaneously.
iridescence of the colors blazing in the Persian miniature suggests
their escape to the periphery, “outside the place”. Even enlarged
to the dimensions of a painting, the miniature remains miniature.
We have in fact deliberately multiplied the indications concerning
This itself suggests to us the answer to the question often cross-checks and comparisons. Because our desire and the very
asked in Iranian interviews: why did classical Persian literature purpose of this work are to communicate our conviction that the
not produce novels, in the sense that we give to this word? It is spiritual culture of Iran can no longer remain absent from the
because, to produce this kind of novel, one must not perceive the universal “cultural circuit”. What we would lose comes out
world “in a mirror”. spontaneously from these pages. But we do not hide from
The story (the hikayat) that interests the Iranian Gnostic is the researchers that the work is overwhelming: to dominate the texts
novel of initiation. But precisely this interest was manifested in the and master a vocabulary that makes them communicable in our
passage from the heroic epic to the mystical epic, and this is a Western languages, it takes the effort of a lifetime. What we have
capital fact of the spiritual culture of Iran. We will see the fact tried to achieve here is a very small part of what remains to be
announce itself in the work of Sohrawardî. done.
Simple glimpses raised in passing, but which will suffice to Finally, we will say to the reader who wants to accompany us
suggest all that could not be said in the present work and which until the end of these seven books, that what we invite him to do is
should still be “let show”. As for the rest, a prologue is not intended Iranian pilgrimages which are so many pilgrimages of the soul, but
to summarize a book, but to announce the major themes that requiring a great adventure. of the Spirit, — the adventure of all
explain its order and structure. We just tried to do that. those who were invited, because they loved him, to build the
"Dwelling of the Seven Pillars".
Of the seven books contained in the four volumes of this work, February 1971 H. C.
Book I (vol. I) embraces the main aspects of Imamite Shi'ism, that
is to say the Shi'ism of the Twelve Imams or Twelver Shi'ism. He
collects them at their sources, that is to say in the traditions
coming from the Imams themselves, but simultaneously shows
their resonance and amplification in their greatest interpreters of
the Safavid period (16th and 17th centuries). ). It marks the
intersections between the spiritual hermeneutics practiced in
Shiism and in Christianity as well as between the
TRANSCRIPTIONS
Technical and economic needs have forced us to give up characters with

diacritics. Consequently the emphatics of the Arabic alphabet (s, t, d, z) are
not differentiated here from ordinary consonants. For all His technical Arabic
terms used in Persian, our transcription approximates as closely as possible
to the actual Persian pronunciation (the emphatic dâd and zâ , for example,
are represented simply by a z). The 'ayn and the hamza are both represented
by the ordinary apostrophe.
We apologize to the Orientalist philosophers, whom these inevitable

simplifications will not bother unduly.
For the non-orientalist reader let us observe this: the h always represents
an aspiration which it is necessary to mark. The equivalent ck is equivalent to
the French tch. The j should be pronounced dj. The kh is equivalent to the
German aspirated ch or the Spanish jota (as well as the in words that come
from the Avesta). The * is always hard (= ss).
The semi-consonant w, pronounced or in Arabic (as in English), is pronounced
as a v (as in German) by Iranians, both in Persian and Arabic words. The
circumflex accent on the vowels represents the scriptio plena ; the û always
has the sound of ou in French; o and e (= French ê) correspond to the real
value of vocalization in Persian. The vowel kesrâ (i) has been transcribed as
e in all Iranian root words or common names in Persian; in words with an
Arabic root, the use of the vowel i has been retained (but a word like hastin is
actually pronounced hasten, as well as all words of the same type).
Need we remember that the word Imam is pronounced Imame ? (in Persian
we pronounce émâme, almost émaume). It would absolutely be necessary to
prohibit the common usage which disfigures it by writing Iman (with an n, the
Arabic word îmân means faith). The word Imam must be provided with a
capital letter when it designates one of the twelve Imams of Shi'ism, in order
f
to distinguish it from the simple priest of a mosque.
As for the Arabic article al, there is no reason to put it before the Persian
proper names, since there is no article in Persian (for example Sohrawardî,
not al-Sohrawardî, which is an arabi-
XXVI In Iranian Islam
emphatic station, a bit like Descartes becoming Cartesius in Latin).

The nouns in final tâ marbûta have been transcribed according to the
pronunciation and spelling of Arabic words of this type passed into
Persian, so as not to have to change transcription according to whether
one refers to an Arabic context. or Persian, for example: hikmat,
nobowwat, walâyat etc.
Another example: the term designating the lord or “the Angel of a
species”. Our transcription Rabb al-Nû' (pronounced in Persian Rabb
on-nô, Rabb on-nû') corresponds to the Iranianization of vocalized Arabic
Rabb al-naw'. _
The Qur'anic references are given according to the type of edition

which is most generally current in Iran; the numbering of the verses ARGUMENT FROM BOOKS I AND II
corresponds to that of the Flügel edition.
As for the Greek terms, we have almost always transcribed them,
in order to make them possible to read for the readers, unfortunately
more and more numerous, who do not read Greek.
The Islamic world is not a monolith; its religious concept is

not identified with the political concept of the Arab world.
There is an Iranian Islam, just as there is a Turkish, Indian,
Indonesian, Malay Islam etc.
Unfortunately, if an abundant literature is at the disposal
of the reader curious to know the archeology and the arts of
Iran, before and since Islam, few books, on the other hand,
answer the question of the researcher who is questions the
"motivations" of the Iranian consciousness that configured
these forms.
Within the Islamic community, the Iranian world formed
from the outset a whole whose characteristic features and
vocation can only be elucidated if one considers the Iranian
spiritual universe as forming a whole, before and after from Islam.
Islamic Iran was par excellence the homeland of the greatest
philosophers and mystics of Islam; for them, speculative
thought is never isolated from its fructification and its practical
consequences, not simply as regards what we today call the
social environment, but as regards the concrete totality which
man nourishes from his own substance, beyond the limits of
this life, and which is his spiritual world.
It is by remaining faithful to this position that the author has
built the monument that he presents here in seven books,
and which is the result of more than twenty years of research,
carried out in Iran itself, in libraries such as in the intimacy of
his Iranian friends, combined with the experience of a teaching
given in Paris and Tehran. His method is essentially
phenomenological , without being attached to a specific
phenomenological school. It is for him to encounter the
religious fact by letting the religious object show itself as it shows itself to those
XXVIII In Iranian Islam Argument from books 1 and II XXIX
who he shows himself to. Hence the essential subtitle given to the behind you. Unlike majority Sunni Islam, for which, after the mission of
work: spiritual and philosophical aspects. Who says aspect supposes the last Prophet, humanity has nothing new to look forward to, Shi'ism
spectator , but here the spectator, who is the phenomenologist, must keeps the future open by professing that even after the coming of the
become the spiritual guest of those to whom this object is shown and "Seal of the prophets", something is yet to be awaited, namely the
assume with them the charge. Any historical consideration will revelation of the spiritual meaning of the revelations brought by the
therefore remain immanent in this object, without imposing on it from great prophets. Such was the hermeneutical task with which the holy
outside some foreign category, dialectical or other consideration. Imams were invested, and their teaching fills volumes. But this spiritual
It is on this condition that the overlaps suggested by the author in intelligence will only be complete at the end of our Aion, during the
many passages are possible, synchronically, because they are parousia of the Twelfth Imam, the presently hidden Imam and mystical
variations of the same object. pole of this world.
The first two volumes contain Books I and II of the work.
Hermeneutics thus includes a specific perception of temporality,
is
which is expressed in a periodization of history: the time of the mission
Book 1 _ endeavors to show some essential aspects of of the prophets is followed by the time of spiritual initiation. "Here,
duodecimal Shi'ism or Imamism, strongly established from the origins Shi'ite prophetology recrosses the aspirations of the Joachimite
in Iran, and since the 16th century which has become the official movement in the West, and its annunciation of the reign of the Spirit.
religion. These aspects are brought out and analyzed on the basis of But this periodization is in fact already metahistory, because its
what the author has already proposed to call the "phenomenon of the essentially eschatological dimension breaks the 'story.
revealed Book", as it shows itself to those whom the Qurân designates
as Ahl al-Kitâb, this "community of the Book” which encompasses Like hermeneutics, imamology confronted Shi'ite thinkers with the
Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In each of the branches of the same problems that Christology had posed to Christian thinkers, but
Abrahamic tradition, interpreters of the Bible and of the Koran found
Shi'ite thinkers always tended to resolve them in the sense rejected by
themselves faced with the same problems and the same tasks: for all
Christology. official. This is perhaps how the Shiite gnosis preserved
of them it was a matter of knowing what is the true meaning of the
itself from any secularization in social messianism.
Book. On both sides, the search for the true meaning, which is the
spiritual meaning hidden under the literal appearance, has developed
similar methods to reveal the esoteric, that is to say interior, meaning Shiite metaphysics and Shiite spirituality are the substance of each
other. Information exclusively limited to majority Sunni Islam has for
of divine Revelation. . The “phenomenon of the Book” is at the origin
of hermeneutics, that is to say of “Understanding”. It is probable that too long led to the identification of Sufism and spiritual Islam. In fact,
the esoteric hermeneutics of the Bible and the Koran still have much Shiite spirituality goes beyond Sufism.
to teach the philosophers who nowadays show themselves so Of course, there are Shiite Sufi congregations, the genealogical tree
preoccupied, precisely, with hermeneutics. of most tariqats or congregations going back to one of the Imams as
well. But the Shiite esotericist is already, as such, on the Way (the
The technical term designating the esoteric hermeneutics of the tariqat), without even having to enter a Sufi congregation. At the top of
Qurân is the word ta'wîl, which means “to bring back” a thing to its a mystical Sinai, knowing the Imam as his personal guide leads him to
origin, to its archetype. Shî'ite metaphysics is dominated by the idea self-knowledge.
of the unknowable, inaccessible, unnamable God in his Essence, and
by the idea of his epiphany in the pleroma of the Fourteen entities of Appears at the same time volume II which contains book II: Sohra
light, manifested on earth in the person of the "Fourteen Immaculate". wardî and the Platonists of Persia.
(the Prophet, his daughter Fatima, the twelve Imams). The esoteric In press. Volume III will contain Book III of the book
meaning that the Shiite ta'wil derives from the literal Qur'anic data (the Faithful of love); Book IV (Shi'ism and Sufism).
mainly concerns this pleroma of the Fourteen. It illustrates, by the very Volume IV will contain Book V (School of Ispahan), Book VI
fact, the strictly Shiite concept of prophetology, from which it follows (Shaykhie School) and Book VII (The Twelfth Imam and spiritual
that Shiism refuses to have its future chivalry), as well as a general index.
FIRST CHAPTER
Shi'ism and Iran
I. - Difficulties of the investigation
If someone asks me to specify a certain aspect of the theory of

"Platonic Ideas", I can assume that my interlocutor is already aware of
philosophy; I will therefore not have to tell him about the life of Plato,
nor to explain to him what Greece is, what philosophy is in general
and Greek philosophy in particular. It will be the same for all the
philosophers and themes familiar to our programs; we have previously
acquired references, which lighten our dialogues.
On the other hand, if the same interlocutor, determined to get out

Prime Book of his "cultural provincialism", asks me to explain to him what Twelver
Shiism is, of which he admits to ignoring almost everything, I am
thrown from immediately in a certain embarrassment, in fear of having
ASPECTS OF TUEDECIMAN SHEISM to explain obscurum per obscurius.
I can begin by replying that the word shî'isme is a very strange
French word, because it is formed from a suffix taken from the Greek
and attached to an element taken from the Arabic word shî'a, which
pro comes from a verbal root connoting the idea of following, accompanying.
The word shî'a can designate in Arabic any group of adherents and
followers, a school (one will speak, for example, of Plato's shî'a ); but
used in an absolute way, it is the term by which they designate
themselves, in Islam, those who are conscious of professing authentic
and integral Islam, because they are the adherents and followers of
the Twelve Imams.
I will immediately have to specify that the word imam means "the
one who stands in front", "the one who guides". Because in general
liturgical usage, the imam is the one who guides the ritual prayer, the
one on whom the participants model their
4 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Shi'ism and Iran 5
ritual gestures and attitudes, the word commonly designates, in Zoroastrian, perhaps I will have plunged my benevolent
Sunni Islam, the servant of a mosque. In the terminology of Shiite interlocutor into an abyss of reflections or hesitations, but I will
Islam, the word Imam takes on an eminent meaning, reserved for have only set out the program for a response whose detail will
the twelve descendants of the Prophet from 'Alî ibn Abi-Tâlib, threaten to take on overwhelming proportions.
husband of his daughter Fâtima al-Zahra (Fâtima "who has the And this, because all my allusions will risk being obscure,
brilliance of flowers”), up to the one who, for nearly eleven because each explanation will require a new one, and all my
centuries, has been the 12th Imam or the “hidden Imam”. This references will be without precedent.
complete group, this pleroma of the Twelve Imams, is that of the Everything happens as if any "problem" of religious philosophy
spiritual Guides, those who are both the Treasures and the concerned another planet, as soon as we leave the horizon
Treasurers of the divine Revelation, consequently the guides for familiar to the debates of the Christian or post-Christian world.
the understanding of the true meaning of this Revelation, for the And yet, more than those of any other religion, we should be
hermeneutics (from the Greek hermeneia) which is the act of intimately close to the problems posed and lived in Islam as a
understanding and making understood the hidden meanings, the prophetic religion, centered on the revealed Book, since the word
“esoteric” meanings (from the Greek ta ésô, the interior things), Qurân, the "Book", does not mean anything other than our Bible
meanings hidden under the literal external appearance. From this word . Or would there be, unconsciously, the fear of running the
moment, I will have to explain the notion of walâyat, that is to say risk that the problems, as they have arisen and arise in Islam,
this divine predilection which sanctifies the holy Imams as Close or Friends of God oblige
(Awliya'us, precisely because of their proximity, to review the terms
Allah), to say not only how and why this notion is the in which we we usually ask ours? The renunciation of all
complementary notion of prophecy (nobowwat), but how it is, in apologetics would nevertheless mark the most fruitful of
the Prophet himself, the source of his prophetic mission, how it is encounters. Unfortunately, post-Christian ideologies have already
defined, in short, as the 'esoteric', that is to say the internal aspect been so successful in ravaging vast areas of Islamic consciousness
of prophecy (batin al-nobowwat). I will have to recall from the that the hour of this encounter may still be distant. The pessimists
outset that prophecy does not consist in predicting the future, but will rather say that it is already outdated.
in uttering a divine Word.
We think not. Still, in trying to briefly inform my interlocutor, I
But, having said all that, I will be on duty to explain the theology can only refer him to a tiny number of works dealing with the
of Revelation in Islam, to say what the Qurân is as a holy Book points of theology or philosophy that my explanations will have
revealed from Heaven, in order to explain the mission of the raised. They are rare, while there is no shortage of research and
Prophet, the meaning of this mission and those that preceded it, studies which are not even, for us, an introduction to the real
and why the prophetic mission postulates, according to Shi'ism, question.
the necessary complement which is the Imamate. For what will occupy us throughout these pages is essentially
When I have explained that Twelver Shi'ism is characterized by Shiite spirituality, Shiism as the life of the spiritual man.
the fact that, for it, the Imam has its fullness (its pleroma) in the
person of twelve Imams, without more, I will have to explain the This presupposes that one admits the existence of permanent
difference with the Septimanian Shi'ism or Ismailism, whose spiritual universes, posing to man a permanent questioning,
thought, dominated by the septenary, proceeds by group of seven addressing to him a permanent invitation. We cannot admit this,
Imams. of course, without having overcome the spontaneous "agnostic
Finally, when I have indicated that Twelver Shi'ism has been, reflex" in Western man today. Anyone who has not overcome this
for nearly five centuries, the official religion of the Iranian nation, reflex can only confuse philosophy with the sociology of philosophy.
but that from the origins, from the establishment of Islam in Iran, There is an abyss between one and the other research, and it is
multiple testimonies tell us attest to the predilection of the Iranians because they are not even aware of it that so many goodwill
for this form of Islam—when, moreover, I have suggested that the colloquia miss the essential questions. We here profess that the
Shiite idea of the twelfth Imam, the "hidden" Imam, the "expected" spiritual traditions of the West and the East have a permanent
Imam, presents a remarkable affinity with that of the Savior or meaning; also, this meaning is always in the process of being
Saoshyant of ancient Persia fulfilled in
ourselves. It depends on us that they be put in the present, our to speak only once identified by him each of the assistants. I think I
present, and it is under this aspect that there is reason to speak of understood well in Shiite Iran what a living esoteric religion is. It is
their historicity. This historical meaning does not consist in locating also the same discretion that we note in the absence of a "missionary
them in a closed and outdated past, in making them depend on spirit", of proselytism, in Iranian Shi'ism in general. In this same
social or sociopolitical circumstances, outdated or not, from which, circle, I recently heard a young Mullâ in his thirties declare with deep
everywhere and always, they have assumed the mission of liberating man. conviction that Shi'ism, while addressing everyone, could only receive
When the words spiritual facts are pronounced here, they will the consent of a spiritual elite. and tend to extricate this elite. And
indeed be real facts , but the reality of which is not that of external this, the Imams knew very well. How many times also have I heard
historical facts, because their reality is not linked to external this statement: "If the Imam has not guided you towards these things
chronology. To make a spiritual truth depend on a moment in the himself, if there is not in you the ability to understand them, all the
calendar, to explain it by the date on which it was announced in this words that the can be addressed to you from the outside will strike
world, is what is generally called "historicism", and it is a confusion your ear in vain. »
between the 'time of the soul' and v, time fallen into history' (our
authors will teach us the difference themselves here). Western man We will see later that this idea of the Imam as the inner Guide in fact
may have been shipwrecked in historicism, already dragging down dominates all Shiite spirituality.
more than one traditional civilization in his shipwreck. It follows that this attitude, proceeding from a perfect initiatory
spirit, does not excessively favor scientific inquiry.
So much for the difficulties relating to ourselves. Does this mean Shiite literature is immense, both in Arabic and Persian, both in
that if we overcome it, everything will become easy? No, because printed books and in manuscript reserves. Going straight to the point
the penetration of the spiritual world shî'iî in question here, is not and requiring bibliographical lists from the outset is not the approach
particularly easy. First of all, the ex abrupto survey, questionnaire that is necessarily destined for success. One will discover the books
and notebook in hand, is excluded. Questioning a Shiite about his little by little, not only in long stays in the libraries (whose catalogs
religion from the outset (even and above all if he is perfectly informed are in great progress), but during friendly talks, unexpected
about it) is the surest way to make him close himself, very encounters, just as it will happen that one "discovers" some famous
courteously, to any subsequent question, unless he prefers to get rid place of pilgrimage. If you are surprised, asking why you did not
of the questioner by answering with harmless fantasies. There are know this earlier, why you were not told about it, the answer is almost
many reasons for this attitude. One could say that it is a reflex invariable: because it is only now that you should know the book or
inherited from periods of fierce persecution, but the reason would the thing. There's no hazard.
still only be occasional. In fact, the imperative of taqîyeh or kettmân,
"discretion" (the "arcanum discipline"), was imposed by the holy
Imams themselves, not only as a clause of personal safeguard, but In short, in the case of Shi'ism, even more perhaps than for any
as a attitude commanded by absolute respect towards lofty doctrines: other religious universe, the sine qua non condition for penetrating
has strictly the right to hear them only one who is able to hear and and living its spirit is to be its spiritual guest.
understand the truth. To do otherwise is to hand over to the unworthy But to be the host of a spiritual universe is to begin by making it a
the deposit entrusted to you; it is lightly committing a grave spiritual home in yourself. It is only possible to live in the Shiite spiritual
betrayal. universe, as in any other spiritual universe, and to understand how
one lives there, on the condition that it also lives in you1 . Without
this internalization, we cannot
Hence a feeling of extreme modesty with regard to all things
religious, a discretion and a reserve whose rigor only relaxes once I. See our book Avicenna and the Visionary Story (Iranian Library, vol.
the conviction has been acquired that the interlocutor himself 4), Tehran-Paris, Adrien-Maisonneuve 1954, vol. I, pp. 10 ss. where
already we insisted on the conditions of an experience thus lived. They
professes total sympathy and understanding. towards these things. differ from the postulates of the "history of philosophy" in the ordinary
Participating in a Shiite study circle in Tehran (to which further sense of the word; they presuppose a fundamental criticism of current
allusion will be made here), I observed more than once that the expressions such as "to be of one's time" or "not to be of one's time" etc.,
Shaykh who was its soul, did not make up his mind a criticism whose meaning may differ for Westerners and for Easterners today.
8
Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Shi'ism and Iran 9
will speak only from the outside and probably in the wrong direction, nature, consequences of which the first victims are his own Shiite friends.
because one cannot describe a building in which one has never entered. There is a mysterious law: “Only the wound heals, the weapon that made
When our Ishrâqîyûn philosophers, those of the lineage of Sohrawardî, it. Perhaps if the West secreted the poison, they are able to secrete the
make philosophy and spirituality inseparable, they thus give their own antidote.
mark to the thought of Iranian Islam, but by this very fact they provoke But it is not certain that he was aware so far of this responsibility. We
the seeker to a great spiritual adventure, to a quest prolonged. His status would like to further clarify these difficulties.
as a host cannot be that of a weekend visitor , but that of a permanent
host, ultimately that of an adopted person, sharing the obligations of the
sons of the house. For it may happen that he will be the first to discern
2. - A spiritual universe to understand
and formulate a danger, and it will be up to him to help his adopted
brothers to face it, so that the Abode continues to fulfill its role for any The religious phenomenon, the perception of the religious object, is a
man who take refuge there. primary phenomenon (an Urphaenomen), like the perception of a sound
or a color. A primary phenomenon is not what is explained by something
else, something that is derived from something else. It is the initial given,
An "esoteric" dwelling no doubt. Certainly, there is an abusive use of the explanatory principle, which explains many other things. The infirmity
this word in our country which sometimes rightly irritates the Western of our so-called positive philosophies or of our paraphilo-sophical
reader, because too often it is only a question of pseudo esotericisms disciplines, is to derive the religious phenomenon from something else,
aimed at very profane things or very worldly vanities. But the word will to explain it by political, social, ethnic, economic, geographical
translate here rigorously what the Arabic terms batin, ghayb etc. connote, circumstances, etc., and thereby to miss what is properly and irreducibly
as qualifications of this spiritual world which cannot be reached by the the religious object . For one can accumulate all the circumstances one
common perception of the senses nor by abstract reason. Inner and wishes, this will never produce the first phenomenon, the determined
invisible world of the Soul, which is as such the only one where the religious phenomenon, such and such a perception of the religious
hospitality of souls is practised, because all the spiritual traditions, those object, if there is not first of all the fact first of the consciousness which
which are precisely called "esoteric", testify to the same transcendent, perceives this object, shows it to itself. If a religion exists, the first and
inner and hidden. They are divine wisdom, etymologically theo sophia, last reason for the phenomenon is the existence of those who profess it.
and converge to the goal of the same quest, because the abode of It would be ineffective to say to them: "Disappear then, you have been
Wisdom, Domus Sapientiae, at the summit of the soul, is wherever the explained." For the recurrences of the res religiosa are free and
summit is reached, as is the center is wherever the center is reached. unpredictable: the Spirit blows where it wills. The perception of the
religious object is its own sufficient reason.
The seeker, during his quest, will see the difficulties on the Shiite side
resolved by the very impetus of his research, when this is in truth an Showing the meaning, the noetic or cognitive scope of what
consciousness shows itself to itself in each of its acts and each of its
impetus of the heart. There is perhaps no reason to be so optimistic
about the difficulties that await him, in return, on the Western side. He intentions, is, as we know, what is called phenomenology. On the other
will sometimes have the impression that certain summary explanations, hand, we have gone to great lengths to explain, or rather "reconstruct",
accepted once and for all and for a long time, paralyze the questioning the Shiite religious phenomenon by means of considerations familiar to
necessary to access this spiritual universe. Consequently, he sometimes our conception of the modern and Western world, but completely foreign
seemed to detect a strange desire to minimize the meaning and to the religious phenomenon as such. There will be an opportunity to say
importance of the Shiite religious phenomenon, as if the recognition of its it again here: we have forgotten the primary religious phenomenon a little
strictly spiritual factors had to jeopardize certain acquired positions, too much, forgotten that man configures his world and his environment
sometimes scientific, sometimes apologetics. He will finally have to face according to the presentiment, even obscure, of the origins and the ends
the consequences of the Western impact on a traditional civilization. of his being, and the reverse process has been taken for granted. It is
the first phenomenon which is the principle of explanation.
Shi'ism and Iran 11

10 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism
particularly relived the scriptural antecedents of his Revelations.
cation, but how would he show himself to anyone without the
sense of sight? We have preferred to explain it by racial considerations, for
And what needs to be seen is precisely something that example, by identifying the concept of Islam with the concept of
escapes explanations, which by accumulating all sorts of Arab ethnicity, forgetting the extent and fervor of the non-Arab
elements known elsewhere, "reconstruct" a religious object Islamic world, and forgetting that no political ambition can confer
already given, but which no analysis or reconstruction would on an ethnic concept the ecumenicality of a religious concept.
give us, if there had not first been a consciousness to see it. It We have tried, here and elsewhere, to break this ambiguity, by
is a question of seeing, in our turn, what the philosophers and saying why we had to speak of "Islamic philosophy", not of "Arab
the spiritual have seen, when they posed and discussed their philosophy".
2
.
problems. Now, how can we see it, if we are not in our turn And we think thereby of safeguarding the authentic greatness
philosophers and spiritual people, if we no longer even know of the Arab concept by considering it in relation to the Arab
what is the mode of vision proper to philosophy, and if we Prophet, that is to say as a prophetic greatness, which dominates
renounce its inalienable right through time? ? It is this from very high the small political and conquering ambitions of
abandonment that we commit when we confuse philosophy with men, because it is a divine thing which they cannot make their
a sociology of philosophy. At the source of this renunciation and property.
this confusion, there is, tacit or avowed, the agnostic option: one We can then observe, without reluctance, that the history of
professes, tacitly or not, that the object of the metaphysical Islamic philosophy and spirituality abounds in the names of
inquiry does not exist, that it was a illusion of "outdated" eras, Iranian personalities, not only during the first centuries, but from
and that what interests us scientifically is the "social" behavior the 17th century until our days. This history is constituted by
or the socio-political circumstances capable of "explaining" to us monuments that are not only written in classical Arabic, but in
how humanity could be so long at the continuation of the the Persian language. What configures this Iranian participation
metaphysical and religious chimera. in Islamic philosophy and spirituality is precisely a spiritual
universe with its own style, that of Iranian Islam, that of Shi'ism,
But is it so scientific to pretend to explain to those who see, that of Ishraq, that of his Sufism. But we will remain faithful to
the reasons for which they see what precisely one is oneself our conception of the religious object, refusing here again any
unable to see? What can we know, since we do not see the ethnic “explanation” which would claim to deduce its genesis
object they see? From then on, this object is confused for us through the causal action of mysterious “racial genes”.
with the non-existent. How can this nothing be explained by
something else—the metaphysical object by social circumstances? The explanation would be as vulnerable as one claiming to
Applied in detail to the technical structures of metaphysics (most explain the form of Sunnism by the Arab “race”. What meaning
often ignored by those who reject them a priori), this kind of would all this ultimately have for spiritual humanity as such?
explanation can lead to rather comical blunders. This,
unfortunately, does not prevent the havoc. Admittedly, this kind of explanation would remain within the
limits of the fundamental agnosticism that we denounced a few
Because the religious object has been socialized with us by a lines ago, but totally foreign to what it would claim to explain,
sort of fury of "incarnation," to use a theological word that has insofar as it is totally foreign to the facts of transcendence. here
passed into the profane fashion of our day, because we attach is a very simple illustration. It seems quite natural to us in French
ourselves by preference to the historical solutions which have to designate a particular region of Islam by adding a national
been given a problem rather than reaching it in its essence, qualifier. The title of this book bears the words “Iranian Islam”.
because we prefer to reduce the religious object to something We will again speak here of “Iranian shi'ism”. This thematization
other than itself rather than letting it explain itself, for all these goes without saying for us;
reasons, and a few others, we have, for example, forgotten that
the phenomenon of Islam was first and foremost a religious
phenomenon, having at its source a prophetic inspiration, and 2. See our History of Islamic Philosophy (coll. “Ideas”, 38), Paris,
Gallimard 1964, p. 5, on the distinction that it is essential to maintain
that its Prophet between “Arabism” and “Islamism”.
in fact, translated literally into Persian, it would be difficult to bear, pure Iranian root to designate the prophetic mission and the person
because the qualification thus given involves a sort of secularization of the prophet (vakhshvar, vakhshûr, payghâmbor, in Arabic nahî
of the religious, sacred concept. Very often our Iranian friends have and rasûl), because these words are already represented in the
pointed this out to us: these expressions could not be translated Avesta, the holy book of Zoroastrian Persia. Through the Shraq of
literally without some unusual, shocking twist. Doesn't this mean Sohrawardi, the prophetic message of ancient Iran is integrated
that our evidence and positive concerns are foreign to the traditional into the lineage of the great Semitic prophets.
spirit? So are we not distorting something essential? Already the Ismaili gnosis had made Zarathustra/Zoroaster a
"dignitary" of the period of Moses. It will perhaps be said that this
integration does not belong to historical criticism. On the other
This is why, rather than constructing a theoretical explanation hand, it constitutes one of those spiritual facts which explain many
by means of external causes, it is better to orient ourselves on the things to us, starting with what is at issue here: the quest for the
structure of spiritual facts as such, and as they are proposed to us: True Prophet, the pursuit of a "prophetic philosophy", as a constant
to discover what the religious phenomenon shows us , what this stylization of Iranian consciousness.
phenomenon explains to us. And what he shows us first of all, in
the present case, is an extraordinary, a total devotion of the Iranian Moreover, when the Iranian adolescent studies the past of pre-
soul to the Shiite idea as well as to the idea that it made its own by Islamic Iran at school, he does not encounter a period of ignorance,
Excellency. But, of a thing to which one brings total devotion, it is darkness and “idolatry” (the jahiliya). He familiarizes himself with
much more true to say that it is something which holds you in its the names and gestures of the legendary heroes of the Shâh-
power, than to speak of it as something which would be your Nâmeh of Ferdawsî (of which we will meet some in the pages which
property. . It is much more true to say that it is the spiritual reality are going to come, cf. infra book II). He learns to know the name of
which contains and envelops us, than to say that it is we who a prophet: this Zarathustra of which, after the Greeks, we made
contain it. If, in this reversed light, we know how to discern the true Zoroaster, and whose name passed in the philosophical literature
nature of the relationship of interiority, the pact forged between of the Occident with Kleuker, Nietzsche, GT Fechner. It is the oldest
Shi'ism and Iran takes on an unparalleled meaning, an inalienable name we see appearing on the horizon of Iran's religious past
validity. (whether in the 10th or 8th century BCE). A “prophet”, that is to say
the messenger of divine Revelation to men.
We will then have to understand what the philosophers and
spiritual people of Iran have dedicated and devoted themselves to, Thus it was traditionally understood by his community, just as it
the spiritual cause that they had made their own, even before the was in Islam by the school of Ishrâqîyûn descended from
prophetic message of Islam, and which can enlighten us on the Sohrawardî, and it is a traditional conception whose rights cannot
way which they have received and understood this one. Shiism be prescribed by the new interpretations that have been given
essentially orients philosophical meditation on the fact of the prophetic message. today with the help of ethnology.
This “prophetic philosophy” implies an anthropology whose However, this prestigious past will not be discussed in this book.
exemplary cases are meditated on in the person of the Prophet We tried previously, in another book to show certain constants of
and in those of the Twelve Imams. The lshrâq is the resurgence of the Iranian vision ofofthe
3
, theworld,
Earth vision
and theoperating
terrestrial
thelandscape.
“transfiguration”
The
the philosophy of the Light of ancient Persia. The main characteristic religious thought of Iran was, from the beginning, essentially guided
spiritual traits of Islamic Iran that will emerge in the course of this by the clear foresight of the eschatology which will resolve the
book will be those of Shi'ism and Ishraq. Insofar as all of this has cosmic drama, inaugurated by the invasion of the Ahrimanian
been little known up to now, all of this also tells us what we still powers. She was the first to formulate, and remained in the constant
have to learn from our Iranian philosophers and spirituals, and concern of formulating what should be called a “philosophy of the
therefore the tasks that we may have to fulfill today. and tomorrow, Resurrection”. On
with them and for them.
We have just used the word "prophetic philosophy". 3. See our work Celestial Earth and Resurrection Body: From Mazdean Iran
It is remarkable that the Persian language has words of to Shiite Iran. Paris, Buchet-Chastel, 1961.
these constants “from Mazdean Iran to Shiite Iran we will not return acquiescence, that is the Shiite fact, and that is the secret message
here. of Islam as so many spiritual Iranians have understood it, from
What we will have to do is to choose a few pages from the century to century, and to which they have devoted themselves with
enormous corpus of hadith (traditions) which preserve for us the passionate piety.
teaching given by the Imams of Shi'ism to their immediate disciples.
It is always a matter of a high religious and spiritual teaching, foreign
to political demands. When, for reasons that have remained 3. - Certain prejudices against Shi'ism
mysterious, the 'Abbasid Caliph Ma'mûn (218/833), son Hârûn al-
Rashîd, decided to appoint the 8th linâm, Imam 'Alî Rezâ (203/818) So how is it that when we focus on Shi'ism, on what it represents
as his successor, he not only were the vehement protests from the for Islamic philosophy and spirituality, we have the impression of
hostile Hashimites; the Imam had to do violence to himself to accept provoking something like a surprise? alarmed, quickly turning to
a choice he could not afford to refuse. But, a year later, his premature refusal, in some people whose research and vocation have attached
death, which was no coincidence, broke the aberrant project. to religious things, and more particularly to things of Islam? A first
point of inadmissibility will be to oppose that this is, after all, a
"marginal Islam", and because we have a taste for practical efficiency,
Moreover, as we will see, when one speaks, even with good will, of we will declare our preferences for the "majority" conceptions and for
the “legitimacy” of the Imams (the “'Alids”), one secularizes the those who represent them. We could already answer that anyone
question and one completely misunderstands what is in question. who has lived Shi'ism for several years in Iran itself will never have
The closed dynasty, formed by the group of twelve Imams, the last had the feeling of being in a "marginal Islam". He will have had, far
of whom will remain, until the end of our Aiôn, invisibly present in from it, the feeling of being at the center and at the heart of an intense
this world, is not in competition or rivalry with a political dynasty of spiritual reality. But what is most painful in this negative attitude is
this world, because there is no common field between them, any that, by its taste for the majority, it degrades the spiritual reality, so
more, we might say, than the secret dynasty of the Guardians of the tenuous and so fragile among humans today, to the rank of
Grail, in our Western traditions, is in competition with any political phenomena of power and mass, as if nowadays everything had to be
dynasty, nor even - because above it with the official hierarchy of expressed and justified in statistics. This is why I incline to see in this
the Church and its apostolic succession. This is because, in the attitude the symptom of a supreme fault against the Spirit. Moreover,
case of the Imams as in the case of the Guardians of the Grail, it is it happens to express itself in decisions whose systematic negativity
a matter of another world, a world that escapes attempts at painfully disconcerts, I can say, our Iranian Shiite friends.
socialization and historical materialization.
A saying that the Imams of Shi'ism have repeated one after

another, declares: “Our cause is difficult, heavy to assume; only an Everything happens in fact as if one claimed arbitrarily and from
Angel of the highest rank, a prophet sent (a nabî morsai) or a faithful the outside, to reduce Islam to a pure legal religion, to sharî'at
believer whose heart God has tested for faith can do so. This is a (religious law, positive religion). If you object to these people that the
hadith to which we will have to return here, just as we will have to entirety of the res religiosa islamica postulates the bipolarity of the
return to this statement of the sixth Imam, Ja'far al-Sadiq (ob. shan'at and the haqîqat (the truth or the spiritual Idea, the inner
148/765): "Islam began expatriated and will become an expatriate reality), they will answer you that it is not more that Islam. Now, if
again as it was at the beginning. Blessed are the expatriates from within Islam there is a cleavage between foqahâ (doctors of the Law)
the community of Mohammad! that is, those who leave the masses and 'orafâ or hokamâ (the spiritual, the mystical theosophists),
to follow the spiritual worship of the Imam. There are those who someone who is himself outside of Islam cannot, under any
respond with acquiescence to this challenge. Their answer has no circumstances, assume the right to exclude the 'orafâ from Islam.
other explanation than their very being, a pre- existential choice, None the less the ready answer is held against you. If, the walayat
because the ultimate and sufficient reasons escape our deductions. of the Imams being the "esoteric of prophecy" (batin al-nobowwat),
This
you endeavor to show that what is called 'irfân-e shî'î, the Shiite Sunni orthodoxy. This is also the tendency which has manifested
gnosis, is par excellence the "gnosis of Islam", these same itself in the "ecumenism" of certain Sunni circles. Hence, in
people whom the mere word gnosis is enough to alarm — conclusion, everyone will believe that, if Shi'ism manifests
because the idea that they have of it is very far from the thing - prejudices with regard to Sufism, it can only be for reasons
will believe themselves authorized to reject Shi'ism "on the identical to those of Sunni orthodoxy. And this is how the state
margins", forgetting that, by this summary judgment, they are the of the question is distorted from the start.
pure figures of the Twelve Imams, and with these the "cloud of The whole situation seems even more difficult to grasp from
witnesses" of the hoqîqat, which would be put outside of Islam. the fact that we see many spiritual Shi'ites, Haydar Âmoli and
Let's say the thing in all its seriousness: it is spiritual Islam that Mullâ Sadrâ Shîrâzî for example, obliged to face, so to speak, on
would be forbidden to be Islam. So, is that, basically, what we two fronts: on the one hand with regard to a certain Sufism, on
want? Enclose Islam within the limits of the religion of the Law, the other hand with regard to a certain Shi'ism which, precisely
in order to leave no other way out for spiritual vocations than to leave Islam? out of fear of this same Sufism, falls back into a legalism oblivious
This would be to forget that this way out, all the 'orafâ and the of what constitutes the essence of Shi' ism. The phenomenon
hokamâ have indeed found it precisely within Islam, that is to say has mainly occurred since the Safavid era, which saw Twelver
in the esoteric of Islam, and this this is what Shiism represents Shi'ism become the state religion in Iran.
for those who adhere to the doctrines of the holy Imams. Inevitably What we forget on both sides, and what escapes the current
the question of the relationship between Shi'ism and Sufism will representation mentioned a few lines ago, is that in fact most
arise here. It will be so again in the course of this book, and in tariqats, that is to say Sufi congregations (the word tariqat means
the very terms in which it arose for those who profess both "way"), — trace their spiritual genealogy to one of the Imams of
Shi'ism and Sufism, par excellence Haydar Amoli (8th /14th Shi'ism, more specifically to the first Imam, Imam 'Ali ibn Abi-
century). Unfortunately, if it is true that on the Western side we Talib, and to the eighth Imam, Imam Ali Reza. Even and above
have already studied Sufism quite a bit, if a certain number of all if we dispute the history cited in detail, the intention affirmed
people have a certain knowledge of it, if even, in its authentic in the genealogies thus claimed, is all the more eloquent. As well,
forms and in less authentic forms, it attracts a certain number of what Shi'ism and Sufism have in common, Haydar Âmolî will
souls in perdition, the same cannot be said, on the other hand, remind us of in a very large book: essentially the bipolarity of
with regard to Shi'ism. To this same extent, the idea that we have prophecy and walayat, of religious law (sharî'at) and its spiritual
of Sufism is more or less incomplete and out of whack, and it is meaning. , the exoteric (zahir) and the esoteric (batin) etc. (cf.
all the more difficult to grasp where the question of the relationship infra book IV, chap. I).
between Shi'ism and Sufism, and what is the exact scope of the
reservations expressed with regard to Sufism, among a good What differentiates them manifests itself there. Ciman
number of Shi'ites who are nonetheless true mystics. duodenal Shi'ism, Shi'ite gnosis, has always tended to preserve
the balance and simultaneity of the exoteric and the esoteric, of
the symbol and the symbolized, a balance often compromised,
In general, Sufism, as they have known and studied it in Sunni on the other hand, by a certain sufism. A symptom of this
circles, forms in the eyes of Westerners the only alternative to imbalance appears in the importance that Sufi congregations
the religion of the Law. As for Shi'ism, it is explained by a feeling place on the person of the shaykh; it may happen that the shaykh
of political 'legitimism', without worrying too much about the as "pole" (qotb) is practically recognized there as the visible
various meanings of the word 'politics'; we care even less, personification and successor of the Imam. If a Sufi Shiite master
generally, to distinguish between spiritual circles, the entourage like Sa'doddîn Hamûyî (650/1252) was in a special devotional
of the Imams where the pure Shiite religious idea grew up (the relationship with the twelfth Imâm, the "hidden Imâm", it can
only one that interests us here), and the agitators or the agitated happen, on the other hand, that the person of the shaykh makes
who were able, as in all similar cases, exploit this idea. As a the the meaning of the hidden Imam. And this is indeed what is
result, Shi'ism is almost reduced to being only a fifth legal rite unbearable for a pure spiritual Shiite, because this "usurpation",
alongside the four others (Hanbalite, Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'ite) often leading to forms of excessive devotion with regard to the
recognized by person of the shaykh, does violence to
the state of things which results from the "occultation" (ghaybat) "to go beyond" Islam nor to leave Islam (any more than a Ghazali
of the Imam, and which must last until the end of our Aiôn. striving to introduce the mystical life into Sunnism).
Paradoxically, Sufism tends to appear as a metaphysical They live from it and actualize all the latent spiritual force. What
secularization of pure Shi'ism. they go beyond, of course, is the pure legalistic, social and
It is that in fact Sufism would thus tend to eliminate imamology; political conception of Islam, which would indeed be its death.
moreover, this is ultimately the result at which Sunni Sufism The spiritual Shiite is best placed to understand the tragedy of
leads. The balance between zahir and batin can only be a Haliâj, his obsession with the case of Iblis, as also the
safeguarded by the balance between prophecy and walayat, complexity of the case and the work of an Ibn 'Arabî (Haydar
between prophetology and imamology. It is destroyed by purely Âmolî we will call again). If it happens that Christology must be
and simply transferring to the person of the Prophet the particular considered here, it is not that Haliaj rallied or secretly converted
charisms of the Imam; and by renouncing imamology, one makes to Christianity from a "religion of the Cross"; it is that in fact Shiite
a tawhÿd impossible. authentic, an attestation of the Unique of imamology theologically assumes a function homologous to that
Uniques which is simultaneously exempt from agnosticism (ta'tîl) of Christology in Christian theology. Imamology has also taken
and anthropomorphism (tashbîh) (cf. infra chaps. VI and VII). So pleasure in frequently marking the correspondences between the
we can see how, on the one hand, the Sunni Sufi can appear in person of the Imam and that of Jesus (for example, Jesus as the
the eyes of the spiritual Shi'ite as a sort of defector, forgetful of Seal of the Adamic walayat ; the First Imam as the Seal of the
his origins, just as, on the other hand, the spiritual Shi'ite can universal walayat ; the 12th Imam as Seal of the Mohammadian
even consider Sufism shî'ite as shaking what is dearest to him. It walayat. Hence these extraordinary sermons in which the Imam
is that in fact he does not himself need Sufism, its tariqat and its proclaims himself “the second Christ”. Cf. again the dream visions
shaykhs. Because of his inner personal connection with the holy of the mother of the 12th Imam, infra book VII).
Imams he is already in the tariqat, in the spiritual path, without
necessarily needing this path to materialize in a tariqat or Sufi However, when Shiite imamology found itself confronted with
congregation. He will have every appearance of speaking the problems analogous to those of Christology, it was always, of
language of the Sufis; however, he would not belong to any course, to rally to solutions corresponding to those which, on
tariqat, and a Mulla Sadrâ Shi râzî could even write a fairly severe the contrary, had been discarded by the Councils. It does not
treatise against the Sufis of his time. result less from this that it renders impossible and ridiculous
what should be called less a prejudice than a summary and a
priori theological classification, namely that which claims to put
This understood, we would perhaps cease to misunderstand, on one side what would be theology or "natural" mysticism, and
as we have done, the case of eminent Sufis like Hallaj, and the on the other hand what would be "supernatural" theology or
relationship of a Hallaj with Mohyiddin Ibn 'Arabi. We totally and mysticism. One facilitates the task a little too quickly by confusing
a priori misunderstand gnosis and the meaning of gnosis in Islam, under the denomination of “natural mysticism” or mysticism “of
when we maintain that Hallaj was a pure orthodox sun nite having the Yoga type”, other spiritual or mystical doctrines which have
nothing to do with this gnosis! It is a Western way of seeing nothing to do there. In "natural mysticism" it would be a question
things, barely concealing its apologetic presupposition, and which of an effort by man to unite himself, by his own forces, with the
decided in advance that the texts should be put in a position to impersonal Self, the Absolute, whereas the supernatural theology
prove the contrast between a Hallâj and an ibn 'Arabî, as if the of Grace would reserve to the man of other perspectives.
second was "monistic", while the first would not be. In truth, either However edifying the hidden apologetic intentions may still be
they were both, or they were neither. This second hypothesis is here, the fact remains that "Islamic theosophy" ('irfân and hikmat)
the correct one, if we relate it to what the Western term "monist" has a vision and a practice whose breadth is sufficient to allow it
means technically. Rûzbehân of Shiraz remains the best guide to challenge this simplistic dichotomy. .
to understand a Hallâj, as Ibn 'Ârabî, in turn, was better placed
than all of us to understand what was going on. Neither Hallaj nor It is superfluous to point out that the Islamic notion of prophecy
Ibn 'Arabi wait and prophetic mission (which is not "foretelling the future") is not
a notion that one could
21
20 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Shi'ism and Iran
reduce to the perspectives of Yoga. This notion, which embraces also means something unlawful, and does not turn it into
the whole cycle of prophecy, covers the succession of the something lawful. Conversely, the sharî'at deprived of the
prophets of the Bible, which it prolongs in the person of haqîqat, far from being “saved” for all that, is nothing more than
Mohammad, who was so attentive to reliving the scriptural an empty shell. The tension is then abolished, but once the
antecedents of his Revelations. If "natural" religion is defined as religious concept of the esoteric (hâtin) has been abolished, we
the effort made by man to save himself, well! neither the have also lost the idea of the pure spiritual community to which
prophetic charism nor the charism of the Imams depends in any it gives its invisible cohesion. Thus, the religious concept and the
way on this human effort. This is even the reason why Shi'ite social system are irremediably identified; and the day when the
theology repeats that, while men can elect a head of state, or structure of traditional society is shaken, it is the religious concept
establish a pontificate, they can neither "elect" a prophet nor itself which is put to rout.
"elect" an Imam. The very idea of it is absurd. This is why we will evoke here (infra § 4) to close these
Nor does the "encounter" with the hidden Imam, the form that premises, a moving testimony of the consequences of this
the unforeseeable encounter with divine assistance or grace can "socialization of the spiritual" in countries of Sunni Islam,
take in Shi'ism, does not depend on or result from the effort of precisely because it leads us to ask ourselves: the situation of
man alone, not more than it is a conjunction with the impersonal isn't Shiite Islam different?
Self. It is the very meaning of the “natural” and the “temporal” At first sight, one can say that an essential difference is going
that is metamorphosed. This is why their Quranic meditation puts to be due to the fact that the walayat and the Imâmat appeared
our spirituals in a position to embrace the totality of the cycle of there as the inseparable complementary notion and as the
prophecy and religions (for example, the Greek sages, too, necessary extension of prophecy, that is to say of the mission of
received their wisdom from the "Niche of lights" of prophecy ): the Prophet and the revelation brought by the Prophet. The Imâ
these are the “six days” of the creation of the religious cosmos, mat of the twelve Imâms and the prophecy are co-original ; the
and they know that the seventh day will dawn. On the other hand, Imâmat, in the Shi'ite sense of the word, is the original and
is it exaggerated to speak of the difficulties of Christian thought, permanent support of the haqîqat which gives life to the sharî'at,
official at least, with regard to the project of establishing a general and which keeps the neutic herme of the Qurân open to other
theology of religions which does justice to the phenomenon of universes (see below chap . IV and V) as it keeps it open to the future.
the Holy Book, in its full truth, even in the Quranic Revelation? ? On the other hand, without the Imâmat, any effort towards the
Why raise such issues? It is that today it is no longer possible haqîqat finds itself at odds, because this effort is then deprived
and it would not be honest to avoid it. It is inevitable that these of support and guide, as of any term of reference which allows it
questions will be asked, when we ask ourselves, as we do here, to pass safe and sound between the two chasms. ta'tîl and
what we have to learn from our Iranian thinkers and spirituals, tashbîh ( that is to say between agnostic rationalism and naive
and what we have to do with them and for them. How can we anthropomorphism).
deal with the “spirituality of Iranian Islam” by ignoring these Let us specify again: the Imams are no longer materially
questions? In any case, the field of tension defined by the present in this world. Their authority cannot even be compared
bipolarity of the shari'at (the Law, the obligations of positive to that, always ambiguous, of a "spiritual power" capable of
religion) and the haqîqat (the spiritual truth, the "gnosis" of the exerting a constraint at least on souls. It is a question of what
holy text, the unveiling of the hidden meanings belonging to the their spiritual person represents, what it represents as the interior
higher planes of being and of consciousness) — this field of guide of consciousnesses, and what it represents, in its supreme
tension is essential for integral Islam, that is to say for spiritual reality, as the configuration of the metaphysical horizon. This is
Islam. I believe that the situation is clarified in all fidelity to the the very meaning of the Imam as Guide, as Pole and as Witness
spirit of the 'orafâ of Twelver Shi'ism, by noting that, if one of the (cf. infra chap. VII).
two poles is abolished, it is the full Islamic reality which is In the new world which is developing and in which the
abolished, for the haqîqat is indeed the haqîqat of positive religion characteristics of the iron age are accentuated, the religion of
and it presupposes the latter; it is not a source of licentiousness the Prophet will only be threatened with suffocation and death if
of the spirit. The hidden, "gnostic" meaning of the illicit it is arbitrarily separated from its spiritual truth and from its
, spiritual interpretation. The Imams, thwarting before the letter the trap of history
ricism, have constantly repeated that if the meaning of the to all those who refuse to be the accomplices of what was so
Qurânic verses were limited to the persons and the circumstances rightly called, already more than a generation ago, the “betrayal
on the occasion of which they were respectively revealed, the of the clerics”. This expression is hardly used nowadays; yet it is
whole Qurân would already be dead; it would only be a thing of impossible for this betrayal to be definitively consummated.
the past. Now, the Book is alive, because it never ceases to
“happen” in souls: until Yawm al-Qiyâmat (Day of the Resurrection). In the West, we have become aware that our social and
This implies that the living meaning of the Book is not linked to a political ideologies most often, in fact, only represent aspects of
moment in historical time, nor to the particular social system of a a secularized theology. They result from the laicization or
given place and time; but this only men of the Spirit can secularization of previous theological systems. This means that
understand, see and say. these ideologies postulate a representation of the world and of
For to say that the sharî'at can only survive through the haqîqat, man, from which any message from beyond this world has been
is to say that only this spiritual truth can bring about the eliminated. However far the hope of men is projected, it no longer
necessary metamorphoses, preserve it from succumbing, crosses the limits of death. The secularization or secularization
denatured and stifled by political socialization. of theological consciousness can be observed, par excellence,
It is not Islam alone, it is all religion, including Christianity, in the reduction of theological messianism to a pure and simple
which is in danger of succumbing to the "social" and to sociality; social messianism. Secularized eschatology now only has a
perished! first interior, because of the resignation of the souls mythology of the “sense of history”.
who become its accomplices, because the confusion of the It is not a sudden phenomenon, but a long process.
“religious” and the “social” is well before our days. Only those "Secularization" does not mean the substitution of secular power
who will face this peril victoriously will face it, not the seekers of for "spiritual power", because the very idea of "spiritual power",
compromise "with their time", but those who will have the materialized in institutions and expressed in terms of power, is
strength to be shohadâ , witnesses "against their time", witnesses already already the secularization and socialization of the
of this other world and of this other world whose he proclamation spiritual. The process is underway when we attack, as we have
is the essential content of the prophetic message. done for centuries, all forms of gnosis, without the Great Church,
It is not in the power of men or of books to elicit such by withdrawing from Gnosis, sensing that it was preparing at the
witnesses, but it is incumbent on them to ask questions: will same time the age of agnosticism and positivism.
there be tomorrow an elite capable of assuming the haqîqat of
Islam, so that manifest to our world the meaning of pure spiritual His dogmatic magisterium was only replaced by the social
Islam, having nothing to do with the experiences and ambitions imperative of collective norms. The one who was the "heretic"
of politicians? And this question is addressed par excellence to has become the "deviationist", when one does not simply say a
Shi'ism: because the commemoration of the drama of Karbala, "misfit". Because we come to explain any phenomenon of
at the beginning of its liturgical year, has the sense of a individual religion, any mystical experience, as a dissociation of
permanent protest against the orders of this world; because the the individual and his “social environment”. The “agnostic reflex”
idea of the hidden Irnam, the expectation of its parousia which paralyzes any inclination to welcome witnesses from “another
dominates the spirituality of Shiite Islam, means that the question world”. It is poignant to note the dread that agitates such large
posed here is the one that was posed to it from the beginning. fractions of Christianity today: the fear of passing for not being
Will he be able tomorrow, as in the days when there were only a “in this world”, and therefore of not being taken seriously. So we
handful of faithful around the Imams, to make it heard by this world? (see below chap.run
III).out of steam to “be of our time”, to proclaim the “primacy of
the social”, to agree with “scientific requirements” etc., and this
ridiculous race makes us forget the essential. N. Berdiaev has
4. - Problems to overcome together stated the exact diagnosis: the great tragedy is there, in the fact
We have just alluded to the phenomenon of the “socialization that Christianity, in its official and historical forms, succumbed to
of the spiritual” and the consequences of its impact on a the temptation that Christ had repelled.
traditional culture. These consequences impose a very heavy task
It remains that it is these secularized theologies that the West
carries everywhere with him, along with the tools of his material One can then ask where are the real dividing lines? Is it
civilization. The term "West" here naturally encompasses what between received and established forms of religion? or else,
our newspaper terminology calls the West as well as what it within these official forms, is there not taking place, without their
calls the East. A host of Easterners these days are "Westerners" knowledge, a regrouping of spiritual families of the same type?
in the sense intended here; they are sometimes even more so To become aware of this would be, on the one hand, to preserve
than many Westerners who are not yet "disoriented". But what oneself from many misinterpretations, those that candid experts
can happen where the theological antecedents of which our sometimes commit on the spot, because they suspect neither
ideologies are only the secularization are lacking? the collapse produced in certain souls, following the massive
invasion ideologies whose premises were not secreted by these
The problem is all the more acute in Islam, since Islam shares souls themselves, nor the intimate safeguard clauses which will
with Christianity the foundations of the same prophetic religion. prevent others from answering the indiscreet questions of the
We can commemorate the names and teachings of the same
investigators. On the other hand, the truly spiritual would become
prophets together.
aware of what unites them interiorly, of the problems they have
But, on the other hand, as we have more than once pointed out,
what the thinkers and spirituals of Islam have sought is neither to face, and of the way in which they could, for the first time
what we call a theology nor what we call exactly a philosophy: perhaps, face them in common.
their metaphysics, their hikmat ilâhîya, is a “divine wisdom” We were speaking, a few pages ago, of the field of tension
whose two terms which designate it correspond literally to those defined by the shari'ât and by the haqîqat, that is to say by the
of the compound Greek word, theo-sophia. exterior letter of positive religion and by its esoteric truth.
One can shut oneself up in the first and also mutilate it, by the
Precisely, one can say that the separation between theology very fact that one refuses the second; or else, on the contrary,
and philosophy is the first symptom of a secularization of by becoming a follower of the latter, safeguarding the integral
consciousness; in our country it goes back to Latin truth of the former. We already know that this second attitude is
scholasticism, perhaps to the Summa contra Gentiles of Saint Thomas Aquinas. the very one which constitutes the essence of Twelver Shi'ism
Theology then remains the domain reserved for the "spiritual and of the teaching of its Imams. But one can add that this "field
power", while the philosopher grants himself all the freedoms, of tension" is essential to what we designate here as the
except that of being a theologian, and we have here the first "phenomenon of the Holy Book"; that, therefore, it is known and
indication of metaphysical secularization, that is to say say of experienced by all the Ahl al-Kitâb (the families of the Book).
the desacralization of the world. Theo -sophia, in its very Judaism and Christianity also have their esotericists, and there
metaphysical truth, is its antithesis and antidote. It can only be are many family traits between them and the Gnostics of Islam.
implemented by the knowledge of the heart (ma'rifat qalbîya);
hence the importance of this theme among our Shiite It would be a fascinating task, of enormous proportions, to be
theosophists. This implementation cannot separate theoretical sure, but of unforeseeable consequences, to study comparatively,
knowledge and spiritual experience. It is this alone which can from the point of view which we here indicate, the meaning and
make all knowledge and all human initiative bear fruit into self- destiny of the so-called esoteric schools in Islam and their
knowledge and self-awareness. And that is what today's man analogues in Christianity. We would, of course, have to go back
probably needs the most. It is therefore not surprising if, each to Gnosis, emphasize the teaching given by Christ to his most
time that Islamic theosophy has found itself faced with problems intimate disciples, read with "new eyes" the texts of the Gnostic
analogous to those of Christian theology, it has been, as we Gospels which have recently become accessible, to detect how
recalled above with regard to imamology, to incline to solutions certain pericopes or evangelical sentences, quoted with
whose spirit was no doubt in affinity with a certain Christianity, predilection by the Shiite and Ismaili authors, were transmitted
but with precisely that which was, by the decisions of official to them by the way or with a Gnostic coloring.
dogmatics, "repressed to the margins of history", according to
a terminology the fashion. When we say with “new eyes”, we mean a state of mind freed
from any bias against Gnosis; there are mistakes that ignorance
is not enough to excuse. What we

Shi'ism and Iran 27
classically called "Gnosticism", becomes a particular case within a universal religious

common traits. We would have to turn our attention here to those who are called the
phenomenon bearing the name of gnosis, or other denominations translatable by
Spirituals of Protestantism: a Sebastian Franck, a Valentin Weigel, a Caspar
this word. Gnosis, that is, saving knowledge. “Knowledge” which is initiation into a
doctrine; "saving", because the revelation of the mystery of the superior worlds, Schwenckfeld; all the circles that were influenced by the theosophy of Jacob
Boehme, then by the Arcana caelestia of Swedenborg, without forgetting either
hidden under the letter of the divine Revelations, cannot be accomplished nor
Oetinger or the Christian Kabbalists, from whom one cannot dissociate the Jewish
assimilated without the adept going through a new birth, the spiritual birth (in Arabic
Kabbalists. On the other hand, we would have to systematize the principles and the
wilâdat rûhânîya ).
implementation of the spiritual herme neutics of the Qurân, from the teaching given
by the Imams of Shi'ism themselves, then that which develops in Ismaili theosophy
as in that of Twelver Shi'ism, and in the great Qur'anic commentaries of the hokamâs
It is far from testimonials and monuments of the universal Gnostic religion,
and mystics (those of Rûzbehân, Ibn 'Arabî, Semnânî, Haydar Âmoli, Molla Sadrâ
hatched around the “phenomenon of the Holy Book”, are already collected and
Shîrâzî etc.) up to those of the Shaykh school (cf. infra chap. IV and V). For our part,
accessible in a corpus. But another family trait between Gnostics everywhere and
time has so far only allowed us to sketch the beginnings of a "comparative spiritual
always is evident in the repugnance they share with regard to the pure fides historica,
hermeneutics"
that which measures the degree of reality of its object by the documents which attest
to its existence. physical existence in the "past" (or give these documents this
significance at all costs), one that requires an arithmetically established chronological
situation, like any other event or character in secular history. Such faith is only the 4
By broadening and
.
business of the outward man. It is the fides historica denounced by all the mystics
deepening it, we will better glimpse, with the common structure of the suprasensible
as fides mortua, and no doubt there is a secret and fatal connection between this
universes, the traits of the interior man that emerges, everywhere and always, from
fides historica and historicism, in the decline of philosophy; finally, a connection
the spiritual hermeneutics of the Holy Book, the traits common to the prophetic
between the preponderance of this fides historica and the preparation or advent of
esotericism, and also alas! the traits common, everywhere and always, to their
what was to be historical materialism.
adversaries, whether they are called the doctors of the Law, the foqahâ, or whether
they are those whom Dostoyevsky typified in the character
4. See our study Comparative Spiritual Hermeneutics: I. Swedenborg. II.

However, we noted, also a few pages ago, a statement repeated by several of Ismaili Gnosis (Eranos-Jahrbuch XXXIII), Zürich 1965, pp. 71 to 176. This
the Imams of Shi'ism, namely that, if the revelations contained in the Holy Book had essay deals with the principles of spiritual hermeneutics practiced on both
sides, and insists on the themes of Adam and Noah as well as on Ismaili
only this "historical meaning", a long time ago that the entire Holy Book would be Christology. The great work of Abû'l-Hasan Sharîf 'Âmilî Ispahânî (ob..
dead. To put it more exactly, it is the very expression of "historical meaning" which 1138/1726), the Tafsîr Mir'at al-Anwâr (the Mirror of Lights), methodically
finds itself called upon to connote something quite different from its ordinary meaning. exposes and defines the perspective and the rules of Shiite hermeneutics.
For the Imams, this "historical meaning" is not that which refers to an external event His project was colossal: to show the spiritual, esoteric meaning, that is to
say interior (batin), of each verse of the Qurân, by gathering around each
enclosed in the past, dead with those who have died, and become an archaeological all the hadîth and akhbâr of the Imams. The enterprise exceeded the limits
curiosity, but it is the meaning which is accomplished, does not cease to happen of a human life (we know of another example: the exhaustive enterprise of
among the living, until the Last Day. It is the meaning that concerns the inner man, a Shaykh Hosayn Yazdî, culminating in eight manuscript volumes in folio,
meaning that aims at very real events, but which do not take place on the physical preserved in Kerman, but not exceeding the end of the 2nd Sura, i.e. one
tenth of the Quran). Our author (who had been a pupil of Moh. Bâqer
plane of existence. Majlîsî, of Ni'matoîlâh Jaza'erî, of Mohsen Fayz Kâshânî) succumbed to
the task, and only constructed a large volume of prolegomena, published
in Iran as an introduction to the Tafsîr al-Borhân by Sayyed Hâshim
Bahrânî (ob. between 1695 and 1697), which groups together in four folio
volumes the main teachings of the Imams relating to each of the Qur'anic
This is the esoteric meaning, and this is why its truth does not depend on external verses. For more details, see Yearbook 1965-1966 of the Religious
historical circumstances. Sciences Section of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes, pp. 106-108. We will
And it is around this meaning of the Holy Book that we see, everywhere and speak later (t. III, book IV) of the great commentary in which a spiritual
always, regrouping the spiritual families having Shiite of the 8th / 14th century, Haydar Âmolî, exposes the principles and
rules of ta'wîl or spiritual hermeneutics.
of the Grand Inquisitor, the same ones that we see reappearing (catastrophes of the kind that a moving testimony will evoke later);
during the parousia of the twelfth Imam (infra book VII). they must attach value to what they are in the process of destroying,
Also, is it by starting by living together this understanding of the finally understanding why those who are the last custodians of it
Holy Book, that we will then be able to better understand the attach such a value to it.
problems that are common to us and that we have to overcome
together, because we will then identify a situation and a terminology
that may be common to us. I alluded above to a small group of Shi'ite We sometimes find ourselves faced with inextricable translation
studies in which, from year to year, I had the pleasure of participating difficulties. It is practically impossible to directly translate, in Persian
during my autumn stays in Tehran. The personality of Shaykh or Arabic, terms such as secularization, secularization, materialization,
Mohammad Hosayn Tabataba'i, professor of traditional philosophy socialization, evolutionism, etc. We get away with it either with
at the Theological University of Qomm, was the central figure; the periphrases, or by tearing certain words out of their current use, or
circle brings together some colleagues from the young Iranian by unusual neologisms. But we can see that neither circumlocutions
5
University, as well as some shaykhs, some of theirrepresentatives
students, of nor neologisms arouse in our Eastern interlocutor the same emotional
traditional culture. resonances, the same associations of thoughts, as those evoked
directly by these terms in each of us. And this is no less true in the
case of our Eastern friends who pass for the most "Westernized".
I was able to notice, on many occasions, how the situations and
the problems resulting from an interior comprehension of the Bible,
were accessible to them; how certain texts, translated into Persian That, to evoke our most current problems, we are deprived of a
by Meister Eckhart or J. Boehme, even certain episodes of our common terminology (reciprocally, it is not always easy to translate
legends of the Holy Grail, seemed to them to speak the same into our languages the very rich metaphysical terminology of our
language as theirs. On the other hand, let us not hide from ourselves Shiite thinkers), it is the clue that we lack a common spiritual "past"
that the way in which we Westerners try to analyze and interpret the here. I am not speaking of external historical events, but of a common
situation of this time, the statements (whether dialectical, sociological, experience of the inner man and of the worlds of the soul, an
cybernetic) in which we try to to fix the times, all of this is hardly experience which "happens" in existential time, the time of the
immediately accessible to those of our Eastern friends who still have "history of the soul". », a story that happens as the esoteric meanings
the privilege of fully living their traditional culture. of the Holy Book are fulfilled in the inner man. It is to this history,
always recurrent, never irreversible, that the Imams, as we have
seen, allude to when explaining what is the ta'wîl, the hermeneutics
Worse still, it seems that the prospects of our situation hardly or spiritual interpretation of the Holy Book; however, it is also to it
arouse their interest. It seems normal to them that we go adrift or that our own spiritual people in the West refer. It is in this “existential
towards chaos, when we have lost the "polar dimension" of man, time” that we can make something “happen” which is then common
when we are no longer capable of interpreting any structure "vertical" between us. And this existential time will here originate from a
than as a social phenomenon of authority and domination. common spiritual hermeneutics of the Holy Book.
Our questionings, our “contestations”, are then themselves called

into question. This is precisely where a common problem can arise.
Westerners must be able to bear the consequences of a situation Unfortunately, our own spiritual people are in general rather little
that no one asked them to create; they have to secrete the "antidote" known up to now by our Eastern friends. Of Christianity, they have
themselves, but they can only do so if they understand the situation understood more or less what the missionaries and apologists have
they have created. propagated, or, much more massively, what the post-Christian
ideologies translate, encroaching on the secularization of earlier
theological mysteries.
5. We owe to the eminent Shaykh Mohammad Hosayn Tabataba'î a new But the so-called Christianity “repressed from history”, that through
edition of the great philosophical encyclopedia of Mullâ Sadrâ Shîrâzî and a
tafsîr of the Qurân (fifteen volumes published). which, on the other hand, our spiritual people have lived their own
history, that one has remained almost ignored. We do him the best
30 Shi'ism and Iran 31

Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism
welcome, as soon as it is mentioned (cf. the allusive examples given above), but most often break with the cosmos (make no mistake: the "cosmonautical" of our bears will in no way
we stick to the schema, however outdated, which opposes Western machinery and restore the broken structure.
technology to the traditional spirituality of the East. Because there is a Threshold to be crossed, a Threshold that, by definition, no rocket or
sputnik will ever cross). And this rupture once consummated, it can no longer happen that a
This is why it seems important to me to conclude these premises, by showing that it is derisory individualism, totally disarmed in fact against collective conformity, against sociality,
sometimes necessary to reverse this rather summary dichotomy, if it is really a question for while the individuality of the mystic is itself, in itself, a universe, capable of balancing the
us of overcoming together the same problems and the same perils . I would like to contrast outer world. The paradox of the mystical experience is in fact that mystical absorption in
two striking testimonies: on the one hand, a few lines from Nicolas Berdiaev, representative oneself is always at the same time a liberation of oneself, an impulse beyond frontiers, and
of this Christian philosophy of Russian Orthodoxy, so little known in general to our Eastern this because "all mysticism teaches that the depth of the man is more than human, that in
friends, yet closer to their thought than neither are our socio-political ideologies. her hides a mysterious link with God and with the world. It is in oneself that the issue outside
of oneself is ; it is from the inside and not from the outside that one breaks down the obstacles
by an entirely interior work. It is this deep conviction which led Berdiaev to affirm that "the
man with whom psychology deals is still outside. The psychic element is not the mystical
It is to Berdyaev that we owe the most far-sighted protest against the danger of the "social" element. The inner man will be spiritual and not psychic This differentiation (which reproduces
and of the invading society. On the other hand, a few lines emanating from a Sunni Arab that of Gnosis between the “pneumatics” and the “psychics”) takes on a fundamental
personality, showing us in contrast the dead end in which excessive “Westernization” can importance in his thought, because it conditions the attitude of the mystic towards any
9
objectification of the faith lived.
».“Religions,” he wrote again, “translate into knowledge and
engage.
into being what, in mysticism, is experienced and revealed immediately. The dogmatic
The intrepid originality of Nicolas Berdiaev does not allow him to be attached to any knowledge of the universal Churches was only the objective translation of the mystical
school, if not to the theosophy of Jacob Boehme, of which he expressly claimed many times. experience directly lived […]. Dogmas degenerate and die when they have lost their mystical
10
s
».
source, when they conceive of the outer man and not the inner man, when their experience
All his work is an amplification of the leitmotif stated in his book on The Meaning ofCreative
the
Act. Even more than a vehement protest, this work is an insurrection against a time “when is physical and psychic and not spiritual. The actual historical belief is the belief of the outer
sociological consciousness has replaced theology […]. The domination of sociality over man, whose mind is not delved into mystical sources; it is a belief adapted to the physical
contemporary consciousness weighs like a nightmare; this external society conceals and plane of existence. And it is this very thing which has led us to suggest that there is doubtless
extinguishes all authentic realities a fatal secret connection between the advent and demands of the fides historica and the
preparation of an age that
7
. »
Now "in all times mysticism has discovered the world of the inner man and contrasted it
with the world of the outer man." But what this mystical revelation of the inner man revealed
was the structure of the human being as microcosm, the "microcosmism" of man (this is also
one of the fundamental themes of mystical theosophy in Islam). Now, this is precisely what
the positivism of sociological consciousness ignores or rejects, which supposes the
11
. »
6. We recall here the two great studies by Nicolas Berdiaev preceding the French
translation by Jacob Boehme, Mysterium magnum, Paris, 1945. Cf. our study on The
Spiritual Combat of Shi'ism (Eranos-Jahrbuch XXX), Zürich 1962, pp. . 76 ss.,
“Immediate religious experience and socialization of the spiritual”.
8. For the same doctrine in Shiite gnosis and in Sufism, cf. our Ismaili Trilogy
7. Nicolas Berdiaev, The Meaning of Creation: An Essay in the Justification of (Iranian Library, vol. 9), Tehran-Paris 1961, pp. (148-159), “The journey within oneself”.
Man, translated from Russian by Lucienne Julien-Gain, Paris 1955, pp-348-349.
On the place of this book in Berdyaev's work as a whole, cf. his Essay on spiritual 9- The meaning of creation (that is to say of the creative act), p. 376.
autobiography, translated from Russian by E. Belenson, Paris 1958, pp. 262, 380 10. Ibid., p. 376.
and more. 11. Ibid., p. 377.
was to be that of historical materialism. This is the theme that emerges Is it possible not to kill God, by trying to isolate religion from a social
from the Essay on Eschatological Metaphysics given elsewhere by system condemned by technical and scientific progress? In our Islam,
Berdyaev. “Christ had repelled in the desert the temptation of the religion and society are confused, one and the other only exist by the
kingdoms of this world, but Christians in history have succumbed to this inseparable union of the two. Is it possible to modernize us without
temptation. This is what the transition from eschatological Christianity to damning ourselves What is striking in this pathetic testimony is the total
historical Christianity means, that is to say, the adaptation of Christianity invasion 13of? a» soul by an ideology to which it is powerless to secrete the
to exterior historical conditions . that it is important to understand in antidote itself, because the premises of this ideology are in fact foreign
order to judge the secularized forms of social messianism that appeared to it. We are in the presence of a Muslim personality claiming his Western
in the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as to thwart the illusion education, and of this influence received from the West are radically
dogmatically affirming the meaning of history, because such a meaning absent, of course, the tendencies and the protests which are expressed
is inconceivable without a metahistorical dimension ( the "polar in the texts of Berdiaev quoted above; it is, on the contrary, the influence
dimension", as we said above, that which connects to the "celestial of the ideologies that these texts denounce.
pole"), and it is precisely of this dimension that positivism and sociality
deprive man's conscience.
A first typical affirmation comes with the slogan: “living with the times”.
If we have just insisted on this effort tending to the new establishment Who, then, will give this distraught Muslim soul the consciousness and
of a mystical Christianity, whose eschatological perspective essentially the strength to be and to live its own time, not the time of the anonymous
determines the orientation, it is because the work of a Berdyaev attests collectivity, but its own personal time, its existential time, where truth and
to us that “Westerners” are no doubt capable of secreting the antidote meaning of a doctrine appear from the fact that one assumes it oneself,
to the negativities resulting from the socialization of Christianity. This is and not by reference to such or such moment of the chronological past,
like a phenomenon of spiritual homeopathy. But what will happen nor to such or such disappeared social particularities? And yet, the
elsewhere, where the poison comes from outside, and where, for this spirituals of Islam have admirably formulated the difference between
reason, its true nature does not appear immediately? The eschatological external historical time (zaman âfâqî) and the time of the soul (zaman
perspective was also essentially that of Islam, par excellence that of anfosî) ; they knew indeed that it is "in that time" only, in this existential
Shiite Islam. But is Islam today able to secrete, for its part, the antidote time, that a Tradition is transmitted alive, because it is an inspiration
to ideologies which, coming from outside, destroy and ruin what was its constantly renewed, and not a funeral procession or a register of
spirituality? This is the serious question already posed here; it dominates conforming opinions.
the situation we have to face together.
The life and death of spiritual things are our responsibility; they are put
For here, in poignant contrast, is the testimony of a Muslim "in the past" only by our resignations, our renunciations of the
personality from Jordan, Sunni Arabia. The remarks were made during metamorphoses that their maintenance "in the present" would entail for
an interview dating back a few years, but there is not a word to change us. It is not a question of attempting "impossible syntheses", but it is a
it, as the situation has only become more widespread and worse since question of understanding what spiritual people have always understood,
then. This eminent Sunni Arab personality expressed himself thus: “As I which is expressed in the sentence of Imam Ja'far recalled above: "
live with the times and have received a Western education, progress Islam started expatriate and will become expatriate again. Happy
only seems possible to me outside of tradition. There are many of us in expatriates! »
Jordan who think this way, who attempt impossible syntheses. Like all
our Arab and Muslim brothers in the world when they start to think, we For, strangely enough, it has always appeared to spiritual people that,
are living through an atrocious drama. far from consisting in the dissociation of the social and the spin
13. See the interview published by Max Olivier-Lacamp in Le Figaro of

12. N. Berdiaev, Essay on Eschatological Metaphysics, pp. 230-231. October 17, 1960, p. 5.
ritual, in their differentiation and separation, the "peril sharfat is possible, because it is a personal matter between the
of damnation", fatality leading to "killing God", would result believer and his God, and it is such, provided
precisely of a confusion and an identification between the to be enlivened by the haqîqat. But where does this haqîqat come from?
religious thing and a given social system. It is even a What is the source?
much more radical separation than that which still allows The terms in which we posed this question between
to speak of a "spiritual power" distinct from the "temporal power", friends, in Tehran, about the interview in question, came back
for, as long as one expresses oneself in terms of "power" and power, therefore to posit it as properly pertaining to spirituality
as we noted above, one is, always or already, shî'ite, and that is why it led us to meditate until
at one level or another of the socialization of the spiritual, that is to say its sources and foundations the philosophical and spiritual situation
of the situation leading to the Nietzschean exclamation: of Shi'ism. Essentially this: to perceive, at the center of Shi'ism,
“God is dead. And from this exclamation we have just perceived an the function of his prophetology and his imamology as
echo, hitherto unheard of, on the lips of a personality situating it at equal distance from the legalism of religion purely
Muslim. legal and external, and the implications contained in the idea
This is why, during the meetings of the small study circle Christian of the Divine Incarnation; that is to say as the "way
shî'ites alluded to here earlier, we right” (sirât mostaqîm) passing equidistant from monotheism
had the opportunity, just a few weeks after the publication abstract and monolithic, and of the dogma which, postulated by the Church
the text of the interview in question, to ask us, in Tehran phenomenon and the idea of its magisterium, becomes secularized in the ideology
even the question: what would a Shiite have to say? A of a social Incarnation, when theology, renouncing itself, gives way to
shî'ite who would essentially live his religion as Dîn-e sociological consciousness. Essentially again: the idea of the ghaybat,
Qiyamat, religion of the Resurrection. It could happen that the of the occultation and the present invisibility of the Imam, because this
testimony reported above would keep its dramatic significance for all occultation implies,
cases where the Islamic religion is identified with the idea of a divine incognito , the idea of an essentially spiritual
purely and simply with the religion of sharfat. But community and the eschatological expectation of the Parousia.
what will happen where sharfat is experienced as not being This eschatology gives meaning to the condition of humanity
that half of the integral religion, this one comprising essentially the present, because it puts an end to it by a transfiguration of the
haqîqat, the spiritual truth, the gnosis which is Qiyamat, Heaven and Earth. The idea of the ghaybat makes impossible any
resurrection? socialization and any institutional materialization of the
For the record, let us recall the characteristics that differentiate res religious. Because the Parousia, the reappearance of the hidden Imam
profoundly Arab Islam and Iranian Islam; they don't have to (cf. again infra book VII), it is not an event which must
be treated here for themselves, but among these differences there is arise from outside, one fine day. If the Imam is hidden, it is
the etkos which, at the present time, preserves Islam Iran from being because it is the men who have made themselves incapable of
entangled in socio-political passions, racist exasperations or national. to see him. Its future Appearance presupposes a metamorphosis of the
This is why the universal sense, F°ur des hommes: it depends on its followers that
supranational, from the concept of Islam as a religious concept, is progressively this Parousia, by their own act of being.
lived and appears much more clearly nowadays in a Until then, time for the major ghaybat , it's time for a
countries like Iran. What we note, for sure, is that the divine presence incognito, and because it is incognito, it does not
Jordanian personality whose testimony we have just quoted, is can never become an object, a thing, still less a socializable reality.
completely ignored, no doubt because his This is the meaning of ghaybat time, as
education left her in complete ignorance on this point, the not "historical" time, but as existential time.
bi-polarity of the sharfat and the haqîqat, of the religion of Then the contrasts stand out by themselves, in a brief
Law which, left to itself, is only social religion, and recapitulation. If Shiite prophetology and imamology resist efforts to
spiritual religion, religion in truth, the whole substance of which socialize the spiritual, it is because the idea of
is made of the spiritual meaning of divine Revelations, and this meaning is the walayat is that of a spiritual initiation, of a gnosis,
independent of a particular social system. Even among the not that of a Church: the Friends of God, the "men
more serious external upheavals, fidelity to prescriptions of God”, are Guides, Initiators; they do not constitute
a dogmatic magisterium. Theophanic visions and persons do of nostalgia. We would like this book to inspire them at least
not postulate any Incarnation that secularizes the divine by with the courage of their nostalgia, by convincing them that
bringing it into the fabric of empirical history. The ghaybat, the there is no reason to succumb to this mythology of the "sense
concealment of the Imam, the divine incognito , maintains the of history", incapable of thinking in the present what it calls up
eschatological dimension (that of primitive Christianity), just as the past, because it gives itself the illusion of having gone
it maintains in the incognito of an Ecclesia spiritualis the esoteric beyond it.
hierarchy which escapes all socialization, and consequently, to We recalled above the teaching of the Imams according to
any secularization. The homology of the cycle of prophecy and which it is the interior meaning, the esoteric meaning, which is
the cycle of the walayat makes it possible to perceive a plan of the true historical meaning of the divine Revelations, because
historical permanence, or better said, a hiero-history fulfilling this esoteric meaning is that which, until the Last Day, will not
itself in the spiritual world, progressing from ascent to ascent, cease to "happen" in the inner man. The esoteric meaning here
not in the linear flow of an indefinite evolution. Truth is not a is the historical meaning, because it is the story of the soul, and
function of the moment in the linear timeline, but a function of because it is thus maintained in the present by this very story.
the height of the horizon at which it is perceived. This is why what is called “tradition”, by transmitting the
The time of the ghaybat is not a time with which "one makes" safeguarded object, each time gives rise to something new, not
external history; it is an existential time. The hidden Imam is the new fashionable ideologies, but new witnesses. Admittedly, it is
time of Shiite consciousness, its permanent link with metahistory. no longer quite the current conception that identifies history and
the past. On the other hand, would there be less frankness and
These indications are those that guide us as to the meaning rigor in this way of understanding “in the present” than there is
of the problems to be overcome together. We alluded above to in what are commonly called new historical methods? For when,
the paradox that marks the external situation of Shi'ism, from with the help of archaeology, economics and sociology, we strive
the very time of its triumph with the Safavid Restoration in the to present the past of the anonymous masses as a veritable
sixteenth century (this will be discussed again, infra chap. II). "subject of history", is this not still and always the mirror of our
The powerful work of a HaydarÂmoli (7th /14th century), that of presuppositions, our inclinations and our resentments, which
a Mollâ Sadrâ Shîrâzî and his pupils (11th /17th century), presents to us "in the present" the image that we decipher
grouped around the teaching of the holy Imams, are among there... in all objectivity?
those which should help Twelver Shi'ism to overcome its own
paradox, by making it aware of the current meaning of its There is a comparison for which we confess a predilection and
spiritual message, and thereby of its spiritual combat (infra chap. which we will repeat here, because it arises from a spontaneous
III). meditation in front of the ravines of the dry torrents which furrow
To close this chapter, let us make a striking observation. the Iranian high plateau. Often, with the same friends, we found
If twenty years ago, it was not very frequent to meet a young ourselves evoking the unpredictable day when the living waters
Iranian intellectual with whom to discuss the philosophy of a would once again flow to the full brim. But then, we asked
Mullâ Sadrâ Shîrâzî, it is no longer a fact today. exceptional. Of ourselves, where is the future of a flow of living water, whether it
course, it will never be a fact that statistics have to deal with, but is a river of this world, or whether it is a “spiritual torrent”?
something is taking shape, something to which the pages of this Is it at its estuary where the ocean absorbs it? Is it in the deserts
book would like to contribute their modest part. Certainly, I know of sand where he is going to disappear? Or is it at its source? Its
very well that, if there are many Iranians, young and old, who source, is it not its future? For the past and the future, when it
fervently live the high doctrines of the masters, some of whom comes to the things of the soul, are not the attributes of external
will be mentioned here, there are others, young as well. or less things; these are the attributes of the soul itself.
young, who, at the mention of the names and thoughts with It is we who are living or dead, and who are responsible for the
which these pages will be filled, have got into the habit of life and death of these things. And this is the very secret of the
responding, some with a negation which has ignorance as an spiritual hermeneutics of the holy Imams.
excuse, others with a refusal which is often confession Molla Sadra, for example, is one of those who know very well
that we never know except in proportion to our love, and

that our Knowing is the very form of our love. Also, all that the
indifferent call the "past" remains "to come" in proportion to
our love, which is itself the very source of the future, since it
gives it life. Only, one must have the courage of one's love,
CHAPTER II
Notion of Shi'ism of the Twelve Imams
I. - The fundamental idea of Imamism
Let us first try, in an overview, to situate the axis of Shiite

thought and spirituality. What is stated here in broad strokes
will be clarified in the course of the following chapters. Having
indicated elsewhere in more detail the four great periods in
which the history of Twelver Shi'ism can be schematized, 14
we
return to them here only in passing. .
The first period is that of the holy Imams themselves.

It begins with the 1st Imam, 'Ali ibn Abi-Tâlib (ob. 40/661),
confidant and depositary of the secrets of the Prophet, as shown
by the multitude of interviews and declarations whose text is
preserved in the Shiite tradition. . This same period goes until
the year which marks the “Great Occultation” of the XIIth Imam,
that is to say 329/940. It was also the year in which Mohammad
ibn Ya'qûb Kolaynî died, who from Ray (ancient Raghes) near
present-day Tehran, where he was the leader of the Shi'ite
community, had gone to Baghdad, where for twenty years he
was busy collecting from the very sources, in particular from the
last two representatives (nâ'ib) of the 12th Imâm, the thousands
of hadîth (traditions) which today constitute the oldest systematic
collection of Shiite traditions 16 Certainly had been
14. See our History of Islamic Philosophy, vol. I, pp. 53 ss. Conversely,
we return here in detail to certain fundamental themes which, in this last
book, could barely have been sketched.
15. This is the large collection entitled al-Kâfî (The Book that suffices),
comprising two large sections: the Osûl (Sources) and the
Forû' (ramifications). Two good editions have recently been published in
Teheran, one containing only the Arabic test alone (1375/1955 ss., 8
volumes); the other, accompanied by a Persian translation of Shaykh Moh. Bâqer Kamra'î, 1961 ss.
The Osûl contain all the elements of theology and theosophy
40 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Notion of Shi'ism of the Twelve Imams 41
previously compiled many older partial collections, which Kolaynî tion). Of course, the Shi'ites also commonly use the word sunna
was able to use and some of which have even come down to us for their own use, but they then designate by this word the integral
(because of the persecutions, the Shi'ite literature of the first Tradition encompassing the entire enormous corpus of teachings
centuries suffered enormous ravages; there is a host of works of dating back to one or other of the twelve Imams.
which we know today only the titles). As we know, each of these
hadîth goes back to one or other of the Imams through a series of The fundamental idea is this: Sunnism professes that the
witnesses who form the chain of transmission (isnâd). prophet Mohammad (ob. II/632) closed the “cycle of prophecy”
and revealed the last religious law, the last sharî'at; the Prophet
A second period extends from Kolaynî to the great Twelver himself declared that after him there would be no more prophets
Shî'ite thinker, who also dealt with Septimanian or Ismaili Shi'ism, or new sharî'at . It is the "Seal of prophecy" (khâtim al-nobowwat),
Nasîroddîn Tûsî (ob. 672/1274), a period mainly marked by the the Seal of the prophets (khâtim al-anbiyâ'). The religious history
elaboration of the great sums of Shiite traditions, works devoted of humanity is therefore closed; from generation to generation of
to this or that particular theme, the great Shiite tafseer or the era of the Hegira, humanity turns towards the final point which
commentaries on the Qur'an. A third period extends from Nasî was thus set, in the past, at the divine Revelations.
roddîn Tûsî, that is to say from the Mongol invasions, to the
Safavid Renaissance, at the beginning of the 16th century. This Shi'ism certainly also professes that Mohammad was the “Seal
period will be evoked later (infra book IV) with the name and work of Prophecy”. However the religious history of humanity is not
of Haydar Amoli, to whom this book owes a special debt. As for closed, and here is inserted all the prophetology which was the
the fourth period, we can consider that it begins with the Safavid proper work of Shiism in Islam (infra chap. VI).
Renaissance, from what we have already called elsewhere the This is because the end point of the “cycle of prophecy” (dâ'irat
"School of Isfahan", dominated by the prestigious figures of Mîr al nobowwat) coincided with the initial point of a new cycle, the
Dâmâd and his pupils (infra book V); it encompasses the Qadjar cycle of spiritual initiation or “cycle of walâyat ”.
period (infra Book VI) and those who still today are the The word walâyat means friendship (Persian dustî). It relates on
representatives of traditional thought. Only our successors will be the one hand to the dilection, the love, which the followers profess
able to say when and in what sense a fifth period will have started! with regard to the Imams, and on the other hand to the divine
predilection which, from pre-eternity, qualifies them, sanctifies
them as the "Friends of God", the Close or Beloved of God (Awliya'
This briefly recalled, let us again emphasize the characteristic Allah). The word thus expresses the qualification of those who,
aspects. What is called shî'ism (the shî'a), as opposed to sunnism, after there is no more prophet (no more nabî), are designated as
is the set of followers ("shî'ites") who, for all that concerns the lofty the "Friends of God", and whose spiritual charism is to initiate
speculative doctrines and the spiritual hermeneutics of the Qurân their followers, their "friends", in the true sense of the prophetic
than the current practice of the Islamic religion, align themselves Revelations. In the strict and rigorous Shi'ite sense, the qualification
with the teaching of the holy Imams and devote a special devotion of Awliya relates essentially to the Twelve Imams, and by
to the person of the latter. We also say tashayyo' 'to profess to be derivation only to their followers, their "friends", while Sunnism
Shi'ism', in contrast to tasannon, 'to make a profession of Sunnism'. (Sunni Sufism) generalizes its use. .
This last term comes from the word sunna (tradi
The cycle of walayat opened when the cycle of prophecy was
closed. This is why, just as the "Seal of Universal Prophecy" was
Shiites. In the Safavid era they were the subject of monumental manifested in the person of the Prophet Mohammad, so the "Seal
commentaries authored by Mollâ Sadrâ, Mohsen Fayz, Mailisî, Khalîl of Universal Walayat " was manifested in the person of the First
Qazvînî, Sâlih Mazandaranî, Molîâ Rafî'â etc. As we recently devoted two Imam, while the "Seal of the Mohammadian walâyat " will be
years of lessons to the imamological part of Kolaynî's collection and its
commentary by Molla Sadrâ (which remained unfinished), and as we manifested at the close of the very cycle of the walâyat, that is to
intend to give at least a partial translation of it elsewhere, we simply refer say during the Manifestation of the XIIth Imam (these summary
here to the summaries published in the 1962-1963 Yearbook of the Section statements will be completed below, book I, chap. VI and VII, and
of Religious Sciences of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes, pp. 69 ss. ; 1963-1964, pp. 73 ss. Book VII). The walayat cycle,
Notion of Shi'ism of the Twelve Imams 43

people, supernatural and mediating, polarize the devotion of their
it is the progressive initiation into the inner, spiritual, esoteric followers.
(building) meaning of the divine Revelations. When the "Seal of Such is, very briefly said, what one finds at the heart of Shi'ism,
the Mohammadian Walayat" appears, all these secrets will be what immediately arouses in it a mode of thought, a philosophy
revealed; it will be the reign of pure religion in spirit and in truth. which can only be that which designates itself as a prophetic
This Seal will be the last Imam, the Twelfth, reappearing in the philosophy (hikmat nabawîya).
present (parousia) as the Imam heralding the Resurrection (Qa'im This is precisely the proper and irremissible dimension that Shi'ism
al-Qiyamat). has erected in Islam, a dimension that has hitherto remained
Thus, by turning towards the Prophet who was the Seal of misunderstood by Sunnis in general, no less misunderstood in the
prophetic revelation, the Shiite believer turns eo ipso towards the West, where people were all the more inclined to sympathize with
one who was announced by the Prophet himself as being to be the prestige of majority Sunni Islam, that embarrassing questions
his descendant, an "other him". -even”, the Seal to come of the
were avoided for certain ulterior motives.
walâyat. By adhering to the message of the Last Prophet, the How many times, we have alluded to it, our Shiite friends in Iran
followers of the Imam are not the captives of a closed and sealed have questioned us about the secret reasons for what appears to
past, but eo ipso, as if carried by the secret of "prophecy in them to be a strange bias!
motion", they turn towards the advent of him who will unveil not a
new Law, a new shari'at, but the spiritual meaning, the hidden
meaning of all the Revelations given to humanity, and who will 2. - Prophetic philosophy and initiatory religion
thus transfigure them. The existential situation is fundamentally
different on the side of Shi'ism and on the side of Sunnism.
This “prophetic philosophy” is in a way the stake of the “spiritual
combat” that Shi'ism must sustain on several fronts, and on the
Twelver Shi'ism is also referred to as Imamism. The Arabic outcome of which it depends whether or not it is Shi'ism. An old
word Imam, as we recalled above, designates etymologically “one habit, followed without discussion, has only too long made it
who stands in front”. He is the spiritual guide (in Iran the Persian possible to consider that Islamic thought and spirituality were
word pîshvâ is also commonly used, to which is added the number expressed in three forms: that of Sufism, that of the so-called
designating respectively each of the Twelve: Pîshvâ-ye yakom, Hellenizing philosophers, that of Kalam or scholastic theology of
is
Pîshvâ-ye dovvom, I Imâm, IIe Imâm, etc.). In the proper Shiite Islam, which is rather, in its essence, an apologetic dialectic.
sense, the qualification is reserved for the group of the Twelve,
that is to say the eleven Imams descended from the Prophet by Only, there is a Sufism which rejects philosophy and books, and
his daughter Fatima (al-Zahra, the Brilliant aunt), and his cousin there is a Sufism which has built an extraordinary metaphysics
'Ali ibn Abi-Tâlib, the first of the Twelve, The concept of Imam, whose themes were originally supplied to it by Islamic gnosis.
guide, initiator, is implied in the very idea of Shi'ism as the gnosis Conversely, there are philosophers who reject Sufism, and there
of Islam, and if the Imam is a guide (hâdî), it is that he himself is are philosophers who profess it. And in front of each other, there
guided by God (he is Mahdi). Moreover, the qualification of guided- are the men of Kalâm, the Motakallimûn, the scholastics of Islam
guide (mahdî and hâdî) is extended to the Twelve Imams of Cimain who themselves have little more sympathy for the Sufis and the
duodenal Shi'ism, because all together are a pleroma, a complete philosophers than the latter have. for them. However complex this
whole; they are of one and the same essence (haqîqat, Greek scheme may already be, it is nevertheless out of whack, because
ousia). it is incomplete, and it is incomplete because it does not make
room for an essential member: the prophetic philosophy of Shi'ism,
The Twelve Imams are those who guide their followers in the of pace much more hermeneutical than dialectical, that is to say a
hidden spiritual, interior, esoteric (batin) sense of the Revelation way of thinking which, rather than constructions arguing on logical
set forth by the Prophet, those whose teaching (forming a abstractions, prefers a progression which strives to reveal,
considerable corpus ) remains, for all time after the last prophet "uncover" what is hidden (building) under the apparent (zâhir), and
and up to the parousia of the hidden Imam, the source of a spiritual to perceive its resonances at the levels of several
tradition which cannot be improvised or reconstructed through
syllogisms, just like their
several worlds. When the meeting will be definitively established are facts which, while not being what we call history, are not for all
between lshrâq, the "oriental theosophy" of Sohrawardî (infra that what we call myth. And it is this ability to grasp the reality of
books II and V), and the shî'ite thought, it will become current the Event on this intermediate path that renders futile here the
among our Iranian authors to declare that the lshrâq is towards explanations of a social psychiatry whose "diagnoses" presuppose
the abstract philosophy, in the same relationship as Sufism to above all, in those who formulate them, the inability to escape of
Kalam. Already this analogy of proportions would be enough to the dilemma: or myth or history The dominant fact of metahistory
16
edify us on the way in which we conceive the terms in presence. is for the Islamic conscience that to which? the Koranic verse 7:
171 refers. terrestrial: A-lasto birabbi kom? “Am I not your Lord?
A prophetic philosophy is a philosophy which takes its point of — a question answered with a unanimous "Yes"; Under this
departure in the prophetic fact; his gnoseology, that is to say his unanimity were hidden, it is true, many nuances, each human
doctrine of knowledge and of the degrees of knowledge, places at having then, according to our thinkers, pre-existentially chosen his
the top prophetic knowledge, hierognosis with its various modalities, destiny in this world. It is on this “prologue in Heaven” that the
because this gnoseology itself proceeds from prophetology (infra vision of Islamic spirituality is fixed; it receives various interpretations,
chapter VI). corresponding to different levels of understanding. For Ibn ' Arabî
It has its source in the reported traditions of the holy Imams, (ob . 638/1240) it was God himself who was thus in pre-eternity,
traditions which most often explain a Qur'anic text laden with both questioning him and answering him . vision tied a pact of love
allusions, and I do not believe that we can, historically and with the eternal Witness-of-contemplation (shâhid-e qidam), the
chronologically, go back to more ancient sources in Islam. This is one who is both the contemplator and the contemplated; when the
why this prophetic philosophy illuminates even the structure and Spirits had entered into the terrestrial corporeal form, the passion
the terminology of the system of those philosophers which have pre-existing to this ephemeral condition of their being, made them
hitherto been habitually considered; it makes us understand, for all ask with Moses: “Show yourself to me. ” 18
example, why Fârâbî, Avicenne, Sohrawardî, also place prophetic
knowledge at the summit of their gnoseology.
A prophetic philosophy is, of course, the type of philosophy that

a religion of prophetic essence such as Islam develops, that is to
say a religion dominated not by the idea of a divine Incarnation
which makes enter God into history, but through the idea of the The mystic is thus guided by a mystical Sinai which will be for him
message that the ever transcendent divinity delivers to men, personally the place of theophany. Among esotericists in general,
inspiring it to those among them whom it chooses. To wonder and among the Shiites in particular, this verse is one of those
what the role of philosophical meditation can be in Islam, and which explicitly affirm the pre - existence of souls (in a variously
therefore what type of spirituality will develop jointly with it, is conceivable mode) to their present earthly condition . lends a
therefore to locate the place where this philosophical meditation is Platonic flavor to the “symbol of faith” written by one of the most
"at home", not out of place, as it is where it is refused. eminent and oldest Shiite doctors, Shaykh Sadûq Ibn Bâbûyeh
(ob. 381/991). For all Moslimîn, the same verse implies their
First of all, what human situation does prophetic philosophy here, responsibility with regard to a pact
from its origins, have to face?
We know that the Islamic consciousness of man and of man's
destiny presupposes a form of consciousness eminently capable 16. It is in the context of these problems that we have been led to propose
the term imaginai to designate the event which is neither "historical" in the
of grasping perfectly real facts , without being facts belonging to ordinary sense of the word, nor "imaginary"; see our study “ Mundus ima
what we call history, that is- that is to say materialized in the ginalis ” or the imaginary and the imaginary, in “Cahiers internationales de
framework of the chronology and whose material traces are symbolisme”,
*
n° 6, 1964, pp. 3 to 26. See again infra chap. iv.
recorded in the archives. For this consciousness exist the facts of 17. See our book The Creative Imagination in Ibn 'Arabi's Sufism, Paris,
metahistory, which does not mean posthistorical, but quite simply Flammarion 1958, p. 218, no. 17.
transhistorical. This 18. See Book III of this work, chap. v and ch. vi, § 4.
19- Cf. on this theme a masterful lesson by Molla Sadrâ, infra n, 74.
mysteriously concluded, by divine will, between man and his God. promoted to the rank of "prophetic philosophy", will henceforth be
inseparable from spiritual effort and personal spiritual realization.
And from this derives the meaning that Islamic spirituality gives The fundamental difference with regard to legal Islam can already
to the present life: this is the test of man's fidelity to the pact be glimpsed. We are in fact led to note that the essential aspect
concluded between God and him in pre-eternity. under which the difference between the legal religion of Sunnism
To remind men of this pre-existential pact, such is the goal of the and the gnosis of Shiite Islam is revealed is the different conclusion
mission of the prophets. As for the meaning of this pact and the that we draw, from and on the other, from the acceptance of the
way of being faithful to it, this is the secret hidden under the letter same fact, namely that the prophet of Islam closed the cycle of the
of the prophetic Revelations. This is why such a verse nourishes previous periods of prophecy, those of the great prophets who
the meditation of all that is designated as gnosis ('irfân) in Islam, came before him: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus , —
this gnosis which alarms, everywhere and always, literati and Mohammad being the last prophet who brought a shari'at, the seal
dogmatists, because it reveals a level of being and of of legislative prophecy (nobowwat al-tashrî').
consciousness that they refuse, and because it is salvific
knowledge, a knowledge which cannot occur, as such, without an In this case, if it is true to say that the prophetic Revelations
initiation and a regeneration bringing about the spiritual individual. have only a literal sense, if their scope is limited to the exo teric
For Islamic gnosis, man is not a sinner, a sick person affected by of a moral and social Law, then the religious history of the humanity
the heredity of an original sin; he is an exile, a gharîb (cf. infra is well and truly closed, since there will never be any new divinely
book II, chap. v and book III, chap. I), whose whole business is to revealed sharî'at (we have already mentioned the declarations of
become aware of the reasons for his exile and the means of the 5th and 6th Imâm affirming that, if the meaning of the Qurân
returning home. was limited to this meaning literally, the whole Qurân would already
Those who do not want this return are lost in a hopeless abyss. be dead). On the other hand, if the Revelations carry in themselves,
Those who seek the way, find it in gnosis, through the discovery in their text, something hidden, something that the Prophet, as
of the hidden meaning of the prophetic Revelations, through the such, did not have the mission to reveal to men (cf. infra chap.
ta'wîl which conditions their spiritual birth (wilâdat rûhânîya). VI) , the situation changes completely. This situation will be
characterized by the eschatological expectation of the revelation
It is there then, in the need to find the Way and the guide for of the pienial meaning of the Revelations—a revelation which
this Way, that Shiism originally takes root, and it is there that this progresses in the night of esotericism. This night began with the
prophetic philosophy is born, the spirit of which could not be better 1st Imam, as soon as the Prophet left this world; it will only end
defined. that by recalling the comparison used by our great with the parousia of the last Imam, the Twelfth, presently hidden,
philosopher Sadrâ Shîrâzî (ob. 1050/1640): “The Quranic and this parousia will prelude the Great Resurrection (al Qiyamat
Revelation is the light which makes us see, it is like the sun which al-Kobrâ).
lavishes its light.
Philosophical intelligence is the eye that sees this light. For Shi'ism, eschatology is neither a vague article of faith nor a
Without this light, we will not be able to see anything. But if we simple theme of edification. It is something fundamental, organic,
close our eyes, that is to say if we pretend to do without something from which his very philosophy proceeds, for there is
philosophical intelligence, this light itself will not be seen, since no prophetic philosophy unless it is organically linked to an
there will be no eyes to see her. Any antagonism between eschatology; such a philosophy proceeds from the presentiments
philosophy and theology is a priori overcome in a hikmat ilâhîya, of this eschatology and organizes the forms of its anticipations.
a "divine wisdom", prophetic theosophy which, at the time of Molla One would perhaps rally nearly everyone in Islam to the
Sadra, will tend to designate par excellence the spiritual considerations by which, from the outset, the Imams of Shi'ism
hermeneutics of the Qurân, such as know the teaching of the have shown the necessity of the existence of prophets. But then
Imams. what about now that there'll never be no more prophets, now that
From the pact which is thus concluded, also from the beginning, the last Prophet has come? This pathetic question is posed by
between prophetic revelation and philosophical meditation, results Shi'ism, and it is to this question that it answers,
a particular situation for philosophy, which,
for precisely the urgency of a prophetic philosophy is such only for each esoteric; the first is the visible and manifested aspect of
because there are no more prophets. the second; this one is the spiritual truth, the real Idea (haqîqat),
The answer is in the affirmation of the walayat of the Imams the secret, the gnosis, the sense and supra-sensible content
succeeding the risalat (prophetic mission) of the last Prophet. (ma'nâ) of that one. One takes substance and consistency in the
This is the answer given by the hadîth of the Imams themselves, visible world; the other subsists and consists in the supersensible
as it is the one elaborated by the most representative theologians- invisible world ('âlam al-ghayb).
theosophists of Shiite gnosis, an Ibn Abî Jomhûr for example (ob. It is the fundamental correlation of the exoteric and the esoteric
post 901/1496) . What makes for them the essential difference of which is shown in the correlation of the prophetic mission of the
Shi'ism with regard to majority Islam is the walayat, and this is the Messenger of God (the risâlat of Rasûl Allah) and the initiatory
esoteric, textually the res esoterica (al-amr al-bâtina) 20 The Islam function of the Imam as “Friend of God” (Wali
professed by the Shiite conscience postulates the initiation into a Allah). The prophetic function is to allow the “descent” (tanzîl) and
doctrine which is the doctrine of salvation, and thus well represents the manifestation of the exoteric, of the manifested, that is to say
gnosis in Islam. This initiatory feeling is expressed in a fundamental of the positive letter of religious revelations. Eo ipso it postulates,
thesis which was sufficient, from the outset and on its own, to for Shi'ism, a complementary function to "accomplish the
cause alarm among the doctors of orthodoxy of Sunni Islam, return" (ta'wil) of this exoteric to its spiritual truth, to its original
representing the spirit and conceptions of the religion literal. This Idea or esoteric meaning.
thesis is that all that is exterior, all appearance, all exoteric (zahir) To bring about this return is what the word ta'wîl (to lead back to)
has an interior, hidden, esoteric reality (batin). The exoteric is the etymologically designates, and that means: spiritual interpretation
apparitional form, the epiphanic place (mazhar) of the esoteric. (or hermé neutique) of the Revelations. This hermeneutic stems
Also, reciprocally, an exoteric essentially from the charism of the Friend of God (walayat) or
initiatory function of the Imam. In the very measure that exoteric
20. Mohammad ibn 'Alî ibn Abî Jomhûr Ahsâ'î is one of the great Imamite and esoteric (zahir and batin) are in reciprocal codependency, the
thinkers of the 9th -this
and
10thassertion
centuriesconcerning
of the Hegira
the (ob. post of
essence 901/1496). For
Shi'ism, cf. prophetic function and the initiatic function of the Imam (nobowwat
his great book Kitâb al-Mojlî, Tehran 1324, p. 480. It can just as well be and walayat) are also both interdependent, united, inseparable
read in the previous century in Haydar Âmoli, and our authors always (motalazimatan). The source, the acceptance and the viability of
invoke the declarations of the Imams themselves in support. Let us
emphasize right now that we always use, in the Shiite context, the term the Shiite notion of the Imam therefore depend on the initiatory
walayat, not the term wilayat in common use in Sufism. Often these two religious consciousness of which this notion expresses the first
terms are confused with each other in the West, and they are translated, and fundamental perception. It is an archetypal image prior to any
inappropriately, by “holiness”. The walâyat is the qualification of the Imams empirical data.
as Friends of God, Beloved or Close to God (wali Allah; plural Awliya'
Allah). We immediately understand that the mystery of this divine election, Any other explanation would therefore miss what essentially
of this sacralization, is at the very heart of the prophetic mission distinguishes Imamism from mainstream Islam and from the
(nobowwat); there is no nabî who is not a watt, but a wali is not necessarily legalistic religion, attentive to the validity of acts and rites,
invested with the quality of nabî. The word walayat essentially has the suspicious and hostile with regard to any "interiorization". , of all
meaning of “friendship” (in Persian dusti) ; it is frequently coupled with the
term mahabbat (love, selection). It thus designates at the same time the that recalls and of all that the idea of initiation implies. As a
feeling of devotion and love that the Shiites profess for their twelve Imams. corollary, to speak of esotericism in Islam while ignoring Shi'ism
The walayat for the Imam is a participation in the eternal walayat of the (this happens quite frequently in the West) is not to suspect the
Imam. The metaphysical context of imamology gives the walayat a cosmic
meaning and function; it announces itself to the different planes of the true state of things. This is to evade the scope of the affirmation
universe. The wilâyat, in the ordinary sense of Sufism, relates essentially that the faith (îmân) cannot achieve its full realization without the
to the subjective states of the mystic. To say how one passed from the walâyat of the Imâm, which means: if we recognize neither the
walâyat to the wilâyat and to ask oneself if one can speak of wilâyat while meaning nor the function of the Imam—and therefore without the
ignoring the walâyat, is to call into question the whole relationship between
Shi'ism and non-Shi Sufism. 'ite; a special work would be needed to deal ta'wîl, which means: without the intelligentia spiritualis, the ma'rifat
with the problem (cf. infra t. III, book IV). In any case, the problem of of the divine Revelations (cf. infra chap. v). For the ta'wîl, deprived
prophetology evoked here and in the course of this book, arises in terms of imamology, will appear to the shî'ites as a sort of secularization
of nobowwat and walâyat, the walâyat being “the esoteric (building) of of shî'ism, and this is of great consequence, as we shall see, when
prophecy”.
it comes to
to conceive of the relationship between Shi'ism or Shi'ite Sufism mass of humans to be Imam, because his charism being invisible
on the one hand, and non-Shi'ite Sufism on the other. to them, just as much as the spiritual world to which it originates
There is already here a set of fundamental notions concerning and relates, the Imam does not depend on their judgment. There
prophecy and the imâmate, the explanation of which will come are even situations where it is important that the Imamate is not
later (infra chaps. V to VII). Let us add a few more that must be manifested (as in the present tense of the ghaybat). The temporal
kept in mind from now on, and by which our authors characterize caliphate concerns only the maintenance of the shari'at, the lineage
the spiritual person of Imam 21. The initiatory function of the of the exoteric. None of the eleven Imams, after Imam 'Ali, actually
"Friend of God" (his walayat) has as its end the knowledge of the exercised it, but each of them was none the less the "Maintainer
esoteric, that is to say the spiritual meaning of the divine of the Holy Book" (Qayyim al-Qor'ân), and this implies something
Revelations; the temporal prophetic heritage (warâthat) concerns quite different from the temporal caliphate. It is the caliphate "in
only the knowledge of the exoteric, that is to say the literal meaning the true sense", as it is realized in the person of the Imam, but its
of the Revelations (we will see below chap. VI, 4, the knowledge integral realization can only, by definition and in essence, come
which is the spiritual heritage). The Imamate in its entirety is the about at the end of an eschatological perspective.
double knowledge of the esoteric and the exoteric ; to assume the
spiritual prophetic testament (wasâyat) is to keep and preserve Here is now a text which, by making us fully feel the Shiite
the "lineage of the esoteric" (sihilat al-batin). As for the temporal ethos , recapitulates all that we have just sketched in broad
caliphate , the temporal succession of the Prophet is to keep and strokes. This text tells us something like the conclusion of a
preserve the “lineage of the exoteric”, a preservation which will conversation between the sixth Imam, Imam ja'far al-Sadiq, and
remain forever precarious and ambiguous in the absence of the Mofazzal ibn 'Omar al-Jo'fi, who was among his most intimate
first. disciples. Here is the exact narration of it: “Our cause is difficult,
declared the Imam. To sustain it, we need consciences where
These details already indicate how the question of the Shiite dawns rise, hearts ablaze with light, healthy souls, beautiful
Imamat goes infinitely beyond the limits to which Shiism has natures. This is because God has already received the commitment
wanted to reduce all those who have only been able to give it a (mithâq) from our Shi'ites. To him who is faithful and loyal to us,
political or socio-political explanation. The first Imam, 'Alî ibn Abi- God faithfully give the gift of paradise. The one who betrays us
Tâlib, cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet, was himself, as we and violates our right, that one already puts himself in Hell. In truth,
know, only "fourth caliph" in the order of succession in the official we (the Imams) hold a secret from God, a secret whose burden
history of Islam. exoteric. But, just as this does not invalidate his God did not impose on anyone but us. Then he ordered us to pass
reality as an Imam, it does not confer any imamic investiture on it on. We pass it on. But we would not have found anyone who
those who were, according to the official chronicle, the first three was worthy of it, anyone to entrust the deposit of it and who was
caliphs (Abû Bakr, 'Omar, 'Othmân), nor on those who were then able to carry it, until God had created for this purpose certain men
outwardly holders of the khali fat (Umayyads, Abbasids etc.). To who were created from the clay of Mohammad and his posterity
understand what is at issue with Shi'ism is to understand that it is (i.e. of the substance
a question of something other than "political legitimism", of dynastic
competitions . be recognized by the
storming his minbar (his pulpit), climbing it leaping like monkeys and forcing
everyone to retreat before them. Since he had this dream, the Prophet was
21. Cf. Ma'sûm' Ali-Shâh, Tarâ'iq al-haqâ'iq, lithogr. Tehran 1316 (1903), never seen smiling again. These men are the “cursed tree” of which the
vol. I, p. 259. This three-volume folio work (in Persian) is the most complete Qur'anic verse 17:62 speaks; there is no doubt for our authors that this
encyclopaedia concerning Iranian Sufism; a new typographical edition was accursed tree is the Omayyads.
published recently in Tehran. It will be noted that the definitions of some Mullâ Sadrâ, in his great commentary on Kolaynî (Sharh al-Osûl min al Kâfi,
characteristic concepts of Shiite Sufism, as translated above, are given by ed. lithogr. in-folio, Tehran nd, p. 462), framed this theme in a long
Ma'sûm 'Alî-Shâh according to 'Âlaoddawleh Semmâni, the author not development concerning the occultation of the Imamat until the end of the
questioning , on this point, the latter's shfism (cf. infra book IV). See Moh present Aion. The twelve Imams do not form a "dynasty" like those of this
again. 'Ali Sabzavari world; theirs has essentially an eschatological dimension; the twelfth Imam is
Khorâsânî, Tohfat al 'Abbasiyah, Shiraz sd, p. 75. both already there and not yet there. The supreme “authority”, in the Shiite
22. A famous hadith to which our authors refer is the one which reports the sense, is that of the Invisible, of the Imam invisible to the world.
vision of the Prophet seeing in a dream a group of men from his community
even of the Prophet and the Imams), it is from the light of the hadith which makes the secret of the Imams the secret of esoteric
latter that these men were created, by a creative superabundance hermeneutics, and thereby refers to the mystery of the “primordial
of divine Mercy. We pass on to them, from God, what we are prophetic Reality” (the Haqîqat mohammadîya) [infra chap. v].
commanded to pass on. They slow welcome and support it; their
hearts are not troubled. Their minds are in sympathy with our We are thus led to fix two more essential aspects which
secret; they tend spontaneously to the spiritual understanding of complete the constitution of the concept of the Imam for Twelver
what we are; spontaneously they ask about our cause. But God Shi'ism: in the first place, how in its structure the pleroma of the
also created people who belong to Hell. We have orders to convey Imams is constituted by twelve persons of the same essence,
the same to them. So we pass it on to them. But their hearts frown which assume pre-eternally, that is to say even before their earthly
at our secret; they are terrified and send it back to us with a epiphany, an essential theophanic function. Secondly, how
refusal; unable to bear it, they cry lies. God put an imprint on their because of this theophanic function, the Imamate is an essential
hearts. Their languages articulate some truth; they utter the constituent element of the eternal prophetic religion, and
formula, but their hearts reject it. » consequently is present in all periods of the cycle of prophecy.
Then, says Mofazzal al-Jo'fî, the Imâm shed tears, then, raising
his two hands, he said: “O my God! Make them live with our life, 3. - The pleroma of the twelve Imams
make them die with our death! Do not let any enemy prevail over
them, for if you let the enemy prevail over them, there would be To fix these two aspects, it is necessary to consider first of all
no one left to adore you in this world. This text, vibrating with the this number twelve as determined in itself by its very perfection; it
most authentic
23
. » Shi'ite tone, will have its resonances in all that will is this perfection that is attested by the declarations of the Prophet
follow here. It preludes the interpretation of the Qur'anic verse concerning the number of Imams, and it is this pleromatic
33:72, as concealing the secret of the divine deposit entrusted to perfection, such that it cannot exceed the number twelve, which
man. It sets out the same reasons as those of the interview of the invests with its prerogatives the mysterious personage of the
1st Imam with his disciple Komayl ibn Ziyad (infra chap. III, 2 and twelfth Imam. Next, it will be important to recall its exemplification
3). He suggests that, during the metahistorical scene of Covenant and correspondences in cosmology and in hierohistory; the Twelve
(mithâq) that we evoked above, the yes was not pronounced in have their Manifestation at the different cosmogonic planes of the
the same way by all humans. Some carried a refusal in their manifestation of being, as in the successive periods of the cycle
hearts. These were to be the eternal deniers, the men of the of prophecy.
"failed initiation", of the "no without yes"; their destiny, too, It is these different manifestations that halo their earthly historical
originates in a pre-existential choice of which no human explanation personalities, fleetingly appearing during the first three centuries
can be reached. Finally, the first sentence pronounced here by of the Hegira.
the Imam is identical to that of the famous On the one hand, we will observe that the number twelve also
has its importance in Septimanian or Ismaili Shi'ism. Even there,
however, it refers not to the limited number of Imams themselves,
but to the twelve dignitaries (the twelve Hojjat) who permanently
23. This long and grave hadîth comes from the Kitâb riyaz al-jannân (The surround each of them. The number twelve therefore does not
Gardens of Paradise) by Fazlollâh Mahmûd al-Fârsî (cf. Shaykh Aghâ express the same fundamental rhythm there as for Twelver Shi'ism
Bozorg, Dharî'at, vol. XI, p. 321, n° 1945). He is often quoted: Kâshefî (ob. and this is precisely one of the differences between the one and
910/1504) in his Jawâhir al-Tafstr (cf. Rayhûnat al-adab, IV, n° 539); Abû'l- the other . Of the many traditions
24
is limited
statingtothat
twelve,
the number
some goofback
Imams
to
Hasan Sharîf Ispahânî in his Tafstr Mir'at al-Anwâr (supra p. 27, n. 4), p. 6
and Passim; Shaykh Ahmad Ahsa'i etc. Moh. Bâqer Majlisî recorded it in
his great encyclopedia Bihâr al-Anwâr: ed. lithogr. I, 135 and new. ed.
typogr., Qomm nd, vol. II (Kitab al-'ilm), chap. XXVI, hadith 105, pp.
209-210. On the "handles of Heaven" and the "handles of hell" of which a
human creature can be constituted, cf. our book Celestial Earth, pp. 350 24. On this functional difference of the number twelve, cf. our book
ss., the text of Moh, Karîm Khân Kermânî. Ismaili trilogy (supra p. 31, n. 8), index sv twelve.
tent to the Prophet, the others to some of the Imams in person. to be aware that he will simultaneously avoid the double trap of
The necessity of the number twelve, as a perfect number, tashbîh and ta'tîl, that is to say of anthropomorphism and
ciphering the interior norm of a perfect totality, of a pleroma, is agnosticism. On the other hand, if he rejects the Shiite idea of the
illustrated, in these traditions, by references to the twelve signs of Imam, whatever he does and says, he will in turn commit the fault
the zodiac, to the twelve princes (tribes) of Israel , to the twelve of Iblis; he will inevitably fall either into the tashbîh, by being
springs that the wand of Moses caused to spring from the rock, to mistaken about the meaning of the Names and the divine
the twelve months of the year, to the twelve hours of the day, etc. Attributes, or into the ta'tîl which, in its vain effort to save the divine
It is a whole theology of the Aion which thus reappears in Twelver transcendence, only substitutes for the naive monotheism of the
Shfism. tashbîh a mono abstract theism.
On the other hand, it is because of the foundation and origin The Twelve Imams, with the Prophet and Fâtima his daughter
of the Imâ mat, from before and beyond its manifestations in this (Fâtima al-Zahrâ, "of dazzling beauty", "who has the brilliance of
world, in the eternal prophetic Reality (Haqîqat mohammadîya), flowers"), origin of the imamic lineage, form the pleroma of the
that a relationship is established on earth unique between the "Fourteen Immaculate". (in Persian Chahârdeh Ma'sûm), whose
Prophet and the Imam, between Mohammad and 'Alî ibn Âbî manifestations, theophanies, occur on the different planes of the
Tâlib. However, if, in the company of the prophet of Islam, the universe (lâhût, jabarût, malakût, nâsût, cf. infra chap. v).
Imamat was manifested in the eyes of all, already previously it Without being able to insist on it here for the moment (because it
had been “manifested secretly” with each legislative prophet (cf. will be necessary to deepen the comparative research), we will not
again below). This is because the function of each prophet was however omit to point out the analogy of their group with the
always essentially the risâlat, the delivery of the divine message groups of Twelve and Fourteen well known in the Gnostic texts. of
26
in its literal tenor, while the ministry of the Imams was initiation the Coptic language.Aion The Apocalypse
of light, formsofof
Adam
appearance
knows Fourteen
of the
into the hidden spiritual meaning of the literal divine Revelation (the ta'wil , tahqiq ). Illuminator (in Shiite terminology we would say: mazâhir of the
The Imams are the guides leading to this understanding, to this Haqîqat moham madîya). Manichaean gnosis focuses on
intelligentia spiritualis; better still, they themselves are this interpreting a prayer of Seth, son of Adam, addressed to the
meaning (cf. again infra chap. v). This is because metaphysical "Fourteen great Aiôns of light" (or Seth, like "Imam of Adam", is a
imamology meditates, in their pre-existing persons, the primordial leading figure in shî' gnosis it); it sets out to interpret the "Fourteen
theophany, a celestial superhumanity, creaturely, to be sure, but vessels" on which Jesus sailed to descend into this world. 27 No
which is the divine Face revealed to men. less striking is the analogy between the Twelfth Imam (the
It is eo ipso towards this Face that men turn, when they turn Fourteenth of the Immaculate) and the Fourteenth of the Aion of
towards the Divinity, for the latter in itself remains inaccessible to light. The Apocalypse of Adam also speaks of the Fourteenth as
them: it is the abyss, the divine Silence, the Deus absconditus. the alien, the foreigner: a young boy born in a mysterious way,
This theme of the Face is of capital importance for all Shiite kidnapped in an inaccessible place, where he is educated and fed
theology; it is in no way the fruit of belated speculation; it is already 28. The Twelfth Imam, Mohammad al-Qa 'im (the Resurrector) or
stated in the hadîth of the Imams themselves . what man does, it al-Mahdî (the Guided),
is towards the Face of Deus revelatus that he turns. It is on the
condition of
26. On the groups of twelve, the twelve, cf. for example Unbekanntes
altgnostisches Werk, in Coptic-Gnostic Schriften I. Bd., hrsgb. by Cari Schmidt,
2nd edition by Walter Till, Berlin 1954, p. 338 (chap. III), p. 353 (cnap. XII) etc.
25. On this Shiite theme of the Face, see our recent study Face of God and
Face of Man (mainly based on the work of Qâzî Sa'îd Qommî) 27. On the fourteen Aiôns (Eons), cf. Apocalypse of Adam in Coptic Gnostic
[Eranos-Jahrbuch XXXVI], Zurich 1968, pp. 165 to 228. In addition, our ed. and Apocalypse from Codex V of Nag Hammadi, hrsgb. v. A. Böhlig and Pahor Labîb,
trans. by Molla Sadrâ Shîrâzî, The Book of Metaphysical Insights (Kitâb el- Halle-Wittenberg 1963, p. 91; pp. 109-115 (The fourteen statements about the
mashâ'ir) (Iranian Bibl., vol. 10), Tehran-Paris 1964, pp. 185, 188-189; Ismaili poster). Kephalaia, I. Hälfte, Stuttgart 1940, chap. VIII, pp. 36-37 (on the fourteen
Trilogy, index 8. v.; History of Islamic Philosophy I, pp. 75-76. On the twelve vessels of Jesus); chap. X, pp. 42 pp. (sur les fourteen grands Aiôns dans la
persons or primordial hypostases of the "Heaven of the walayat " cf. again our prière de Sethel).
celestial Earth, pp. 112 ss. 28. Apocalypse d'Adam, pp. 92 et 114-115.
born in a mysterious way, still disappears as a child, the very day Addressing his own wasî (spiritual heir), the Prophet declared: "O
when his young father, l'lmâm Hasan, leaves this world. 'Askari 'Alî the Imams guided and guides, your descendants the Most
(in 260/873, cf. infra book VII). We will hear the prophet Pure, will be twelve in number (that is to say eleven with you ).
Mohammad express himself with regard to him as the prophet You are the first; the name of the last will be my own name
Zara thoustra with regard to the Savior-Saoshyant: “I am in him (Mohammad); when he appears, he will fill the earth with justice
and he is in me. » and harmony, as it is now filled with iniquity and violence”.
The Twelfth Imam (Fourteenth of the Immaculate) is the hidden
Imam of our time; he resides in a suprasensible world, invisible to Alluding to what had been shown to him during the night of
humans, until his future Appearance, his final parousia which will ecstasy of his celestial assumption, the Prophet attests to having
close the present cycle of our world. The time we live in now is seen on the pillars of the Throne twelve lights; in each of these
the time of its "occultation", the time of the ghaybat. As the lights a line of green writing respectively bore the name of each of
expected Imam (Imam montazar) , he has been identified by many the twelve Imams . brought to the Prophet and given by him as a
Shiite authors, among others by Haydar Amoli, with the Paraclete present to his daughter (we will recall here the theme of the tabula
announced by Jesus in the Gospel of John 29 . this paracletic smaragdina in the Hermetic tradition).
inspiration of Shiite Islam, as witness to the eternal prophetic
religion, poses a crucial question to the “general theology of
religions” that the future may see hatch. Because the figure of the This emerald tablet bore in lines of writing whose gold blazed like
12th Imam polarizes the devotion of Twelver Shi'ism, we will the light of the sun, the names of the Prophet and his twelve
devote the final book of this work to him in particular. But for the Imams. One of the “Companions” of the Prophet, Jabir al-Ansari,
same reason, it was impossible to engage us further, without one of the first Shiites, was even able to take a copy with Fatima's
mentioning it now. permission; the Ve Imâm, Mohammad Bâqir (ob. around 115/733)
still provides the attestation, thus well before, “hagiographically” at
least, that the line of the Twelve Imâms has reached its
We said above that the structure of the pleroma of the Twelve chronological limit in this world. All these traditions, in their
31
finds its attestation and its guarantee in a multitude of traditions multitude, amplify and comment on what Shiism perceives in the
.
or Shiite hadiths ; it also finds them in the Koranic verses of which Qur'anic verses which it considers its divine guarantee. The
the Shiite hermeneutics makes the scriptural foundation of its double motive that he likes to meditate there is that of the
faith, just as it finds them finally in the correspondences shown to immaculate purity ('ismat) conferred by a divine gift on the person
it by a theosophy of cosmic dimensions which will be evoked of the Imams, and that of a divine investiture (nass) by which their
further on. We can here only allusively retain a few of these spiritual rank escapes, of by its very nature, to the arbitrariness of
multiple traditions. election by men.
There is, for example, the one where the Prophet himself
declares: “The Imams after me will be twelve in number; the first Two of these Qur'anic verses are of significant importance.
is 'Ali ibn Abi Talib; the twelfth is the Resurrector (al Qâ'im), al-
Mahdî (literally the Guided, who is by that very fact al-Hâdî, the
Guide), by whose hand God will cause the Orients and the 30. Cf. Lotfollâh Sâfî Golpâyagânî, Montakhab al-âthâr fî'l-Imâm al thânî
Decision Makers of the Earth to conquer. Or again: their number 'ashar (Summary of traditions concerning the twelfth Imâm), Teheran, 1333
is the same as that of the months of the year; the same as that of (Î954), pp. 58-61, s. 1-2, 5-8.
31. For all these traditions, see the entire Kitâb al-Hojjat in Kolaynî's Osûl
the springs which the wand of Moses caused to spring up when it mina'l- Kâfî. On the subject of the “emerald tablet” in possession of Fatima,
struck the rock of Horeb; the same as that of the Chiefs (noqaba) of Israel. ibid., Bâb 78: ed. from the Arabic text alone, Tehran 1334/1375, vol. I, pp.
526 ss. ; ed. from Arabic text with Persian version, Tehran 1381, vol. II, pp.
29. Cf. Sayyed Haydar Âmoli, La Philosophie shî'ite, ed. H. Corbin and O. 606 ss. Also Ibn Abi Jomhûr, op. cit., p. 458; the great encyclopaedia of
Yahia (Iranian Library, vol. XVI), Tehran-Paris 1969, pp. 103-104 of the Majlisî, Bihâr al-anwâr, ed. lithogr. flight. IX, p. 221, referring to the Tafsîr
Arabic text, on the Paraclete, and Ismaili Trilogy, pp. 99 ss. See also Ibn Abî (Qorânic commentary) attributed to the XIth Imâm, Hasan 'Askarî; Safinat
Jomhûr, op. cit., p. 308, referring to 'Abdorrazzâq Kâshânî, commentator of Bihar al-Anwar, vol. I, p. 140; Persian version in Moh. Sârollâhî, Kittab sabîl
the Fosûs of Ibn 'Arabî. al-falâh yâ râhrastgârî, Qomm (1959), pp. 221-223.
There is the verse (3: 54) which refers us to the proposal of home; my brother 'Ali) is the prince of the Imams, his sons are the
ordeal (Mobâhala) that the prophet Mohammad had addressed to crown jewels of my lineage; and my daughter, the sovereign of
the Christians of Najrân and to their bishop (in the year 10/631), to women 35. The Mahdi will proceed from us. One of the
adjure God to decide by a sign between their respective Companions (Jâbir al-Ânsârî again) having asked: "O Messenger
conceptions of the person of Christ. As we know, the Christians of God, who is the Mahdî?" “, the Prophet replied:” There will be
finally gave up attempting the test. But the staging had been nine Imams descendants of Hosayn. The ninth will be the Qâ'îm
extraordinary. In the setting of the "red dune" the Prophet had (the resurrector): he will fill the earth with harmony and justice as
hung, between two trees cut into poles, a large black fabric forming it is today filled with tyranny and violence, He will fight to lead back
a portico; he took his place there, having his daughter Fatima (al- to the spiritual sense (ta'wîl), as I I myself fought for the revelation
Zahra, al-Batûl, the Virgin) behind him; on her right, her husband of the literal meaning (tanzîl). »
and cousin, 'Ali, the first Imam; on his left, the two child Imams,
Hasan and Hosayn. These are the four members of his family This last sentence states the reason why, as we will see at the
whom the Prophet had, with himself, constituted as "hostages" of end of this book, the figure of the twelfth Imam dominates the
his proposal for an ordeal. Together they form the group known as whole cycle of spiritual initiation (the cycle of the walayat), of
the "Five People of the Cloak" (Ashâb al-Kesâ, this Cloak that the which we recalled above that began with the very closing of the
Hidden Imam took on during his parousia, and the symbol here is cycle of prophecy. A paradox follows which is specific to the
of extraordinary power) 32. It is the group of these five Persons genius of Shiite thought and which is implied in the very statement
united by a “sacramental solidarity” that the Shiite faith considers of the Prophet affirming that there would be only twelve Imams to
a theophanic vision. For Shî'ite theologians, there is no doubt that succeed him. How can this number twelve be enough to cover the
the expressions used in the verse mean that there is between the entire time until Yawm al Qiyamat, "day of the Resurrection"?
five persons a community of essence, one and the same (haqîqat) From the beginning, the situation is such that the dynasty of the
33
twelve Imams can neither compare nor compete with any dynasty
.
of this world, because it belongs to another order.
Another verse sanctifies the same group of Persons, and through
them their descent from Imam to Imam up to the twelfth Imam, On the one hand, the Earth can never be deprived of an Imam,
because it is by no means the only ancestry according to the flesh, even if he is hidden and invisible, because it would then be without
but this 'ismat, this immaculate purity, joined to the nominal communication with Heaven; the Imam is the mystical pole; if it
investiture (nass), which, of each of the Twelve Imams of Shi'ism, ceased to exist, humanity could not persevere in being. That the
has made an Imam. It is the verse (33: 33) where it is said: “God great mass of humans is unaware of the existence of this pole
wishes to remove all defilement from you, O members of the changes nothing. The Imam must therefore never cease to be
Prophet's Family, and confer upon you complete purity. » present. But, on the other hand, the pleroma of the Twelve is
Here again, the five figures are grouped in the shadow of the already constituted and completed; twelve is the perfect number
Prophet's cloak,34 and it was on this occasion that the Prophet without which the Imamate would be incomplete, and by the very
pronounced this prayer: "My God, here are the members of my reason of its perfection the number twelve cannot be surpassed.
The twelfth Imam must therefore exist now; he must have existed
32. In the order of numbering that we follow here, following the most widespread in this world from the moment the XIth Imam left it.
usage in Iran, the verse of the Mobâhala is verse 3: 54 (in the editions published in However, the cycle of Initiation or His walayat is still incomplete;
Egypt, it is verse 3: 61 ). See L. Massignon, La Mubâhala de Médine et l'hyperdulie
de Fâtima, Paris 1955. This booklet, rich in original insights, is unfortunately written the Manifestation (the parousia, the future Appearing) of the twelfth
in a “telegraphic” style, as sometimes happened to the late Massignon. The texts Imam is still awaited. Therefore it is necessary that the XIIth Imam,
quoted therein are of such importance to Shi'ism that we intend to give their full while already being there, is still the Expected;
translation elsewhere . See again below . II, book. II, ch. II, 2.
33. Cf. Ibn Abi Jomhur, op. cit., pp. 100-1 479,480; Safinat, vol. II, p. 480, sv 35. This theme received extraordinary amplification; Fatima-Sophia, as sovereign
Kisâ'.
of “humanity in the feminine”, has become the high figure of a Shiite sophiology;
34. See Safinat, vol. II, pp. 101-102, sv tahara; Tafsir Imam Hasan 'Askari, we will speak of the fâîimîya (the “sophianity”) of the holy Imams; see our book
Tehran, 1316, p. 186; Golpâyagânî, op. cit., p. 86. Heavenly Earth and the Resurrection Body, pp. 114-119.
6o Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Notion of Shi'ism of the Twelve Imams 61
it must therefore be both 'existing in the past' and 'existing in the future', and it is this very the walayat, homologated to the duration and hours of a cosmic nychthemeron. Another
simultaneity which determines the mode of its existence today: presence 'between times', example: the Prophet himself, to illustrate this same theme, recites this Qur'anic verse
presence invisible and permanent, since his "minor" occultation begun in 260/874, until the (85:1): “I swear by Heaven to the twelve fortified castles (the signs of the zodiac). Then he
end of the time of history, until the dawn of the new Aiôn, that of the Perfect Man 36. It is, asks his interlocutor: "Do you believe that God Most High swears by the astronomical sky
for consequently, of a presence which cannot assume the mode of a material presence in and its constellations?" The Heaven in question here is my own person. As for the twelve
a place of sensible physical space. And this is why the necessity of this presence postulates fortified castles (or zodiacal constellations), these are the twelve Imams coming after me
the existence of an intermediate supersensible world, another world having another time
(cf. infra chap. IV, 5); this permanent presence postulates, as such, the idea of the hidden 38
Imam, the necessity of the occultation of the Imam, of this ghaybat to the meditation of . »
which the imamite theosophists have so studiously attached themselves, and which Here the allusion refers to a transcendent imamology, expanding into cosmic
preserves from all an attempt to desecrate and socialize the fundamental idea of Twelver proportions. As already indicated, the earthly persons of the twelve Imams are placed in a
Shi'ism (cf. all of Book VII below ). theophanic relationship (mazhariya) with the cosmogonic powers; they are the manifestation
of it on the earth plane.
Moreover, Shiite theosophy is fundamentally a "theophanism"; this is why it so quickly

recognized its own good, that is to say the sources which were borrowed from it, in the
colossal work of Ibn 'Arabî, and immediately assimilated that -ci, even if it means perfecting
Now, in addition to the scriptural foundations given to it by the Koranic verses and the the schematization of the univocity of being (wahdat al-wojûd). The case of the Shiite
traditional words of the Prophet and the Imams, the Shiite doctrine has its framework, as commentators of Ibn 'Arabî, par excellence that of Haydar Âmoli, is quite significant in this
we have said, in a set of visions embracing cosmogony and hierohistory, conceptions respect. Haydar Âmolî is all the more at ease to criticize the points of the doctrine of Ibn
which, too, represent in Shi'ism the tradition of a very ancient gnosis. This no doubt 'Arabî that are irreconcilable with the Shi'ite doctrine, above all with regard to the person of
because, contrary to what happened in the West, the development of thought was never the "Seal of the walâyat " (cf. infra book IV, chapter I). But the dominant idea, on both sides,
restrained by a more or less arbitrary boundary between theological tradition and remains that of a perfect correspondence and homology between the cosmic planes,
philosophical speculation, and because the only goal that appeared to the height of this between the spiritual universes and the visible universes. It is thus that, in the persons of
thought, could only be an integral theosophia . The Qur'anic verses, like the traditions of the twelve Imams, from the first to the last, it is declared that all the religions and all the
the Prophet and the Imams, provide many data for speculative cosmology; reciprocally, the perfections have been manifested, both spiritually and visibly. This formula of Ibn Abi
latter never fails to refer to these traditional sources. From their conjunction, the Imamate Jomhûr derives from a cosmogony where the hierarchy of planes forms a very complex
emerges under this other aspect which was pointed out above, namely as an essential structure. This hierarchy determines on the other hand the hierarchy of the senses that the
element of the universal prophetic religion, permanent at all periods of the cycle of prophecy. esoteric hermeneutics reveals in the Qurân (infra chap. v).
39
.
There is, for example, this statement attributed to the sixth Imam, Jà'far Sâdiq: “The
night has twelve hours; the day has twelve hours as the year has twelve months; the We will retain here, by simplifying to the extreme (and without taking into account the
Imams are twelve in number, 'Ali is one hour of these twelve â7. Without difficulty, our variants), the following 40 features . There is originally eter
authors see in this statement an allusion to the cycle of Initiation or
38. Golpâyagânî, op. cit., p. 6o art. 6.
39. Ibn Abî Jomhûr, op. cit., p. 488.
36. Ibn Abî Jomhûr, op. cit., pp. 456-457, 488 pp. 40. For what follows, cf. ibid., pp. 489-490. The Tarâ'iq of Ma'sûm Ali-Shâh (supra
37. Cf. Shaykh Abû'l-Qâsim Ebrâhîmî (Sarkar Aghâ), Fihrist-e Kotob-e p. 50, n. 21), vol. I, p. 261, comment on this subject on chapters 462 and 463 of the
Mashâyekh (bibliographie de l'école shaykhie en théologie shî'ite), Kerman, 1957, Kitâb al-Fotûhât al-Makkîya, which introduces the whole problem of the connections
vol. II, p. 408; il ya sur ce kadîth tout un traité du shaykh Hajj Moham. between the theosophy of Ibn 'Arabî and that of Twelver Shi'ism.
Khan Kermani. The work of Haydar Amoli is, par excellence, a site in which to study the question;
nally of the theophanies twelve celestial princes or primordial Imams, constituted of Nabî mosal ( sent prophet), were also commissioned to reveal the Book of a new
in the supreme Heaven with twelve mansions, where each of them respectively religion and thus inaugurate a new period of prophecy, — each of them was followed by
occupies the throne of his royalty. twelve Imams, his spiritual heirs (awsiya). It is that in fact each of these Messengers
They know the secrets of the “Inviolate Table” (Lawh mahfuz), through a knowledge was an epiphany of the same prophetic reality finally manifested in its fullness in the
that is immanent in their very being. In their turn, they constituted seven "Seal of the prophets", just as all the respective Imams of all the prophets were the
representatives or chiefs (noqabâ'), which correspond to the regent Intelligences of epiphanies (not the “reincarnations”) of the same imamic reality. Speaking of the 1st
the Spheres among the philosophers; these seven leaders are themselves assisted Imam, his direct spiritual heir, Prophet Mohammad said: “'Ali was missioned secretly
by “templars” (sadana) who, for certain functions, correspond to the Animae with every prophet; with me he was so publicly" As the statement in fact aims, in the
caelestes, motors of the Spheres among the philosophers. The whole group person of 'Ali, at the idea of an eternal Imam, if we think here of the spiritual ministry of
"revolved" in the service of the twelve primordial celestial princes, to whom the Imam, of his "priesthood initiating the hidden meaning of the Revelations, we will
correspond twelve categories of Angels mediators between the worlds. Angels, sense the full importance of the fact that,
41
for its part, Ismaili gnosis gives this "eternal
stars and heavens are all together the epiphanic forms (mazahir) of the same Imam" the name of Melchizedek . The iteidea
.
of theof imâmat,
a universal
imâmisme,
prophetichas
religion,
its roots
thein the
substance of the Anthropos (Insan), the primordial Man who is the principle and flowering of which we see here, while still failing to distinguish the "chain of transmission"
source of the totality of existents, because, under various denominations, it is initially which carried it to to the esoteric ecumenism of Shi'ism encompassing the whole of
made-to-be by the Divinity which itself remains eternally transcendent to being. hierohistory .
As a corollary, if we consider the twelve celestial Imams in their primordial

cosmogonic function, it is the Angels and the celestial Spirits who are their
theophanic forms in their respective universes. But if we consider the Imams in
their earthly manifestation or personifications, it is the spirits of the Imams who The great prophets, among the Envoys or Nabîs morsal,
receive inspiration and high knowledge from the angelic Spirits. In short, all the
universes as a whole constitute so many epiphanies of the same primordial reality
41. This is one of the fundamental hadiths repeated by all authors; see Between
which is manifested on earth in the person of the Fourteen Immaculate: the twelve others, Ibn Abi Jomhûr, pp. 458-460.
Imams, the Prophet and Fatima, his daughter, the origin of their lineage. The 42. See Kalami-Pîr ed. W. Ivanow, p. 64 of the Persian text (Maliku's-salâm;
homologies are immediately perceptible: the perfection and the order of the visible Malik Shulim; Malik Yazdaq); Haft Bâb or “ Seven Chapters ”, by Abû Ishaq
worlds are conditioned by the seven stars, the seven heavens, the twelve zodiacal Qûhistânî, ed. W. Ivanov, pp. 39-40 of the Persian text. This representation of
Melchizedek in Ismaili Shiite gnosis would require a long study. While the third of
constellations. The perfection and order of the spiritual cosmos are regulated by the Zoroastrian Saoshyants or Saviors will be identified by Qotboddîn Ashkevârî,
the seven poles (aqtâb) or prophets and the twelve Imams. The esoteric hierarchies pupil of Mîr Dâmâd, with the twelfth Imam, it is remarkable that Melchizedek is
meditated in Sufism originate from this scheme. It is also this same diagram which expressly given the name of the first of the three Saoshyants. In the Haft Bab, p.
allows us to represent to ourselves the function of the twelve in the cycle of 41, line I, the question mark placed by the publisher should be deleted. The Persian
spelling, quite correct, must be read Oskîdar: Avestan Ukhshyat-eretha > pehlevi
prophecy and in the cycle of Initiation. Hôshê tar > Persian Oshîdar. In the journal Kairos, Zeitschrift für Religionswissen
sckaft und Theologie, 1/1959, one will fruitfully read an article by Raymond
Panikkar, Eine Betrachtung über Melchisedek, pp. 5-17. The article is written from
the perspective of Catholic theology, but the author has a presentiment that the
priesthood of Melchizedek conceals a universality capable of founding a general
theology of religions; Unfortunately, he does not seem to suspect either that the
By reason of this law of homology and correspondence, each of the Nabis idea has been professed for several centuries by prophetology and Ismaili
among the prophets who, having had the quality theosophy, or that the figure of Melchizedek was, within Christianity itself in the
fifth century, for the Melchizedekian Gnostics, the theophanic figure, par excellence,
see the French Introduction to the work cited above p. 56, no. 29. Moreover, the of the Logos "separated from the flesh" (asarkos). It is through this theophanic
prolegomena of the commentary of the same author to the Fosûs of Ibn 'Arabî are idea that one can sense the link between the Melchizedek of the Melchizedekian
of capital importance; we hope, with Mr. Osman Yahya, to publish it. See our same gnosis and that of the Ismaili gnosis.
French introduction, pp. 53 ss., and Yearbook 1963-1964 of the Section of Religious
Sciences, pp. 77 ss.
64 Notion of Shi'ism of the Twelve Imams 65

are seven in number: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, plenary. And this is the meaning that we are invited to hear in this
Jesus, Mohammad; their number corresponds to that of the hadith, by referring it to the twelve Imams: "The sages of my
i3
planetary Spheres . These
diagram, seven
called great prophets
the “poles”. Just as are, in this of the
the stages community are the counterparts of the prophets of Israel 45. " As for
revolution of the planets are inscribed in the Heaven of the twelve the twelve Imams, guides and spiritual initiators who have marked the
figures of the zodiac, so the seven periods of prophecy, inaugurated stages of each of the periods of prophecy throughout hierohistory, our
respectively by each of the seven poles, are respectively authors know the names in detail. But this is perhaps one of the
punctuated by the succession of twelve spiritual heirs (Awsiya ) or thorniest chapters of Shiite prophetology and imamology (those of
Imams. No Nabî dies without having invested a spiritual successor imamism as well as those of Ismailism). This chapter poses many
who takes his place, not, of course, to assume the prophetic problems. First of all because the order of succession includes both
function in his place, but to assume the imâmate. biblical and extra-biblical names.
Adam invested his son Seth; Noah, his son Shem; Abraham Then, because the sources would require a whole search for them,
invested Ishmael; Moses, after Aaron's death, invested Joshua; and because the Arabic spelling having definitively disfigured their
Jesus invested Sha'mûn al-Safâ (Simon-Peter). But the prophet of authentic form, the identification of a good number of these names is
46
Islam reminded his people of this: there is none of these prophets often precarious . As Imams
amongofothers,
the period
the names
of Adam
ofwe
Seth,
recognize,
Abel,
who has not been betrayed by his people, and he himself Enoch... For the period of Noah, those of Sem, Arpakhshad, Japhet,
announced to his people that in turn his own people would betray with those of Arab prophets mentioned in the Qurân: Sâleh and Hod.
the pact of fidelity. towards the one he instituted as his spiritual For the period of Abraham: Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Job, Zeno,
heir, 'Ali ibn Abi Talib . regard to what constitutes for her the Daniel the major. For the period of Moses: Aaron, Joshua, 'Ozayr.
essence of Islam as a spiritual religion, namely imamism.
For the period of David: Sai'omon, Asaf. In the period of Jesus:
Sha'mûn al-Safâ (Simon bar Kepha), the line leading (by other names
than those of the canonical group) to Bohayrâ, also referred to as
We noted previously and we will again note the difficulty there Georges, the Nestorian monk who confirmed Mohammad in his
is in translating in a way that makes all the resonances heard, the prophetic vocation and the reality of his visions, when he, in the grip
technical terms of Awliya (the “Friends”) and of walâyat. We will of doubt, had been led to him by his wife Khâdija.
also be warned by a great Imamite Sufi shaykh of the 7th / 13th
century, Sa'doddîn Hamûyeh (ob. 650/1252), that these terms It is essential, as we shall see, to bear in mind this recurrence,
only appeared with the religion of Mohammad, although the this "historical permanence" of the pleroma of
spiritual function they designate existed in earlier periods of Twelve, which is quite different from the idea of reincarnation, to
prophecy. Even there, however, the depositaries were still understand with the hagiography of the XIIth Imam the premonitory
designated as Nahîs (that is to say, Nabîs without more, not Nabîs dreams which were dispensed to the latter's mother, then
morsal nor Nabîs, sent with a Book; on this differentiation, cf. infra
chap. VI , 2). The remark implies the idea that it is with Islam, that
is to say with Shiite Islam, that true esotericism, gnosis in its truth, 45. Cf. 'Aziz Nasafi, Tahqiq-e nobowwat o walâyat, cité in Tarâ'iq, vol. I, P.
appeared . counts six great prophets Enunciators (Nâtiq, plural 259. Sa'doddin Hamûyeh (or Hamû'î) was the master of 'Azîz Nasafi; his still unpublished
Notaqâ) of a new Law (David not appearing in the series), which work brings a capital spiritual testimony to the "invisible presence" of the Twelfth Imam.
Cf. again 'Azîz Nasafî, The Book of the Perfect Man, Persian text published by the late
are the six days of the creation of the religious cosmos or hiero Marijan Mole (Bibl. Iranienne, vol. XI), Tehran-Paris, 1962.
cosmos. The VII Nâtiq is the last Imam, although he is not the
enunciator of a new sharî'at, but of the hidden meaning of the 46. The oldest document on this point seems to be the Kitâb Ithbât al wasîya of
Revelations; see our Ismaili Trilogy, index sv hexaemeron. On Mas'ûdî (ob. between 333 and 346 h., that is to say between 944 and 957 AD); see
this same theme of the spiritual meaning of the "six days" of Symposium on Imamite Shiism, 1968 (Publications of the Center for the History of
Creation, cf. our Comparative Spiritual Hermeneutics (supra p. Religions of the University of Strasbourg), the communication by C. Pellat pp. 69 ss. and
27. n. 4). our remarks p. 90. These are the same names that we find, arranged in ingenious
diagrams, in Haydar Âmoli. For Ismailism, cf. our Comparative Spiritual Hermeneutics,
p. 173, no. 169, P-175, n. 190 etc
44. Cf. above p. 50, no. 22.
that she was still a Christian. The twelve "Imams of Christ" do not Shiite writers, and which has remained a common practice book
assume here exactly the role that Christianity assigns to the twelve among all pious Shiites to this day.
Apostles; they are not simultaneous; they assume the transmission V. Mohammad al-Bâqir (“The one who opens” or “splits”, that
of the message until the time when another prophet was to be is to say the one who makes known), born in 57/676 in Medina,
raised up, the last Prophet. They are the ones we will see also died in Medina in 115/733 (his tomb is to the Baqî'). The
appearing during the mystical engagement of the XIth Imam and many hadiths that come from him are particularly rich in Gnostic
Princess Narkes (infra book VII). teaching. In certain scenes from the "Gospels of Childhood",
Finally, then, come the Twelve Imams of the period of transposed into some Ismaili texts, his person takes the place of
Mohammad; the 2nd and 3rd Imams are brothers, sons of the 1st that of Jesus.
Imam and of Fatima; from the 4th Imam, the line descends from VI. Ja'far al-Sâdiq (the "Truthful", the "Loyal") born in 80 or
father to son. All, according to the Shiite tradition, died the death 82/699 or 702 in Medina, also died in Medina in 148/765 (his
of the martyrs (the weapon used against them being uniformly, tomb is in Baqî'). He had many pupils and disciples, and a very
from the fourth Imam, poison). large number of hadith come from his teaching which, like that of
I. 'Alî Mortazâ, Amir al-Mu'mmîn (Emir of the believers), his father, was of decisive importance for the elaboration of the
husband of Fatima and cousin of the Prophet, born in Mecca various aspects of Shiite doctrine.
between 600 and 605 AD, assassinated in Kufa in 40/661. His
sanctuary is in Najaf. VII. Mûsâ al-Kâzem (“He who contains himself”) born in
II. al-Hasan al-Mojtabâ (the "Chosen" or the "Chosen"), born in 128/745 in Medina, died in Baghdad in 183/799 (his tomb is in
3/624 in Medina, where he also died in 49/669 (his tomb is in the sanctuary of Kâzimên, near Baghdad). While he is the 7th
Baqî', cemetery of Medina. Baqî': “a place planted with many Imam recognized by the Twelver Shiites, his elder brother, Imam
47
trees”) .
Isma'il, who died prematurely, is the eponym of the Ismaili Shiites,
III. al-Hosayn Sayyed al-shohadâ' (“Prince of martyrs”), born for whom the Imam continued in the line of 'Isma'il. It is here that
in 4/625 in Medina, died as a martyr in the tragedy of Kar balâ in the division of the Shiite family into Twelver and Septimanians
61/680. His tomb is at the sanctuary of Karbalâ which is, with occurs, VIII. 'Alî al-Rezâ (He in whom is "divine complacency"),
Najaf, one of the Shi'ite pilgrimages par excellence. He and his born in 153/770 in Medina, died in Tûs, in Khorassan, in
brother Hasan figured, still young boys, as we have said, among 203/818. His grave is at the famous shrine of Mashhad, the
the “Five Characters of the Coat” (see above) and were then Iranian Shiite pilgrimage par excellence. We mentioned above
nicknamed “Princes of the adolescents of paradise”. how the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mûn, son of Harûn al Rashîd, had
recognized him as the “designated heir”. The premature death of
IV. 'Alî Zayn al-Abidîn al-Sajjâd (The "Ornament of men of the Imam (which was no doubt no coincidence) put an end to this
piety", "He who is in constant adoration"), born in Medina in 36 or project.
38/656 or 659, also died in Medina in 92 or 95 /711 or 714. His
tomb is in Baqî'. He is the author of a book of edification known What could result from it? The Imam had accepted only under
as "Psalter and Gospel of the family of the Prophet", a text which duress. The Shiite idea could not consent to a compromise with
was the subject of many comments in the paths in which the policy of the Caliphs had engaged Islam.
The Imams had to remain what they were: Witnesses from
47. Over the centuries, the Shî'ites had populated the baqî' with pious another world and from another world. The testimony of Imâm
and sumptuous monuments (domes, chapels). When the Wahhabis, after Rezâ, like that of his father, Imâm Musâ Kâzem, we can still hear
their entry into Mecca (1924), had established their power in Arabia, all
this group was demolished, by puritanism, and converted into a field of ruins. thanks to the voluminous work in which Shaykh Sadûq Ibn
It was during a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1956 that the Iranian sovereign, Bâbûyeh (ob. 381/991) has collected their main teachings and
accompanied by all his retinue, made a long visit to the baqî', stationed in their preach.
front of the site of the venerated tombs of the Shi'ites. Restorations were IX. Mohammad al-Jawâd al-Taqî (the “Magnanimous”, the
then promised as far as possible. The event caused all the more sensation
as no Iranian sovereign had been seen in these places for a very long “Pious”) born in Medina in 195/811 and died in Baghdad in
time; Iranian periodicals published numerous illustrations on this occasion. 220/835 (his tomb is in the sanctuary of Kâzimên). With him
opens the touching and pathetic group of the last Imams, all of
whom died in the flowering of their age.

X. 'Alî al-Hâdî al-Naqî (the "Guide", the "Pure") born in Baghdad their respective ranks. We find them in the books of theosophical
or Medina in 212 or 214/827 or 830, died in Samarra in 254/868 in scholars, such as Haydar Âmolî, who had a visionary intuition of
the camp where he was held prisoner for twenty years by the them, and we find them in popular Shiite iconography. the periphery
Abbasid Caliph and his police. There are hadiths of very high of a circle of which the prophet Moharnmad is the center. Fatima, her
significance from him. His grave is at the sanctuary of Samarra. face veiled and
XI. Hasan al-Zakî al-'Askarî (the “Integral”, “He who is retained in
the camp”), born in Medina (?) in 231/845, died in Samarra in
260/874. A moving figure which will be discussed at length at the
end of this book. Like that of his father, his tomb is at the sanctuary
of Samarra, one of the Shiite pilgrimages.
XII. Mohammad al-Qâ'îm, al-Mahdî: the mysterious figure, the
one called the Resurrector (Qâ'im), the Guided (Mahdî) , the
Expected (Montazar), the Proof or Guarantor of God (Hojjat ), the
invisible master of this time, 12th Imam, hidden Imam. Born in
Samarra in 255/869, he disappeared on the very day of his father's
death, 4 Shawwâl 260 H./24 July 874. last book of this work.
In total, His honorific nicknames apart, the proper names of the

Fourteen Immaculate are reduced to seven: Mohammad, Fâtima,
'Alî, Hasan, Hosayn, Ja'far, Mûsâ. The transcendent meaning of haloed by the sun, forms the link between the Prophet and the
these Names is one of the themes of Shi'ite theosophy. It is because imamic lineage; it is located sometimes in the axis between the
the order of succession in which the Fourteen Immaculate appear Prophet and the 1st Imam, sometimes set back to the right. The
fleetingly in this world does not in any way present itself as a historical twelfth Imam, the hidden Imam, having the features of a young boy,is
contingency. The order of succession of their terrestrial persons forms one of the poles of the axis where the Prophet, Fatima and the
reproduces the order of their pre-eternal blossoming in the Pleroma, I Imam are located.
blossoming of their being of light according to the order of their This iconography (visualization of the Invisibles) takes shape in the
response to the mysterious question A-lasto bi-rabhi-kom? resonating momentum of intimate religious feeling. It is in its iconography and in
in a universe prior to Adamic humanity, prior to the world of its Prayer that a religion truly reveals something of its deepest secret,
phenomena visible on earth. The total dimension of their persons is a secret which, in fact, remains forever unspeakable in human words.
not the historical context of their fugitive terrestrial appearance which So our task here would be to make perceptible the resonances of the
suffices to indicate it. This context was most often dark in the eyes of Shî'ite Prayer, but this theme would require, in itself, a whole great
men, a curve of life marked by sadness, sorrow, hardship. We must work.
perceive its vertical dimension, invested and hidden in the envelope Because, being 'absent', the Imam cannot in person lead the official
of evanescent flesh: it is there, vibrant in the testimony of the prayer of the community at the mosque, everyone can pray in his
teachings given in response to the disciples who questioned them oratory as well; the texts of personal liturgy (the do'â) have developed
about the meaning of the divine Revelations. There is in their total considerably in Shiite Islam, forming a vast literature which conceals
person, manifested from world to world, and from consciousness to treasures of piety and religious psychology. It includes greetings to
consciousness, infinitely more than what their brief earthly appearance each of the Twelve Imams following an annual, weekly, daily calendar;
realizes. It is to this "total person" of each of the Twelve Imams that texts of mental visits or spiritual pilgrimages to all the Twelve Imams
a monograph should be devoted; the materials abound, the work or rather the Fourteen Immaculates.
would be considerable.
We will allude further on (infra chap. v) to one of these spiritual
pilgrimages (al-ziyarat al-jâmi'a) beginning thus: "Hail upon you, O
Some diagrams illustrate the archetypal arrangement of members of the House of Prophecy, who
you are the place of the prophetic Message, the place where the Angels follow “I. O my God! honor and salute, equip and bless the Prophet... the Lamp which
one another, the place where the divine Revelation descends...” illuminates, the Star which shines... the prince of the Messengers, the Seal of the
Here, we cannot omit mention of a Prayer which is regarded as the Twelver prophets... Honor and salvation be upon you... oh Sent by God, O Imam of Mercy,
Shi'ite prayer par excellence. Its composition is attributed to the great philosopher O intercessor of the community, O Witness of God before his creatures, O our
and theologian Nasîroddîn Tûsî (ob. 672/1274), who played such an important prince and our lord... intercede for us before God.
role in the salvation of the Shiite community when Baghdad was taken by the
Mongols. For this reason, the prayer is known under the title of "Davâzdeh] Imâm-
e Khwâjeh ye Nasîr", and we see, for our part, no decisive reason to invalidate “II. Oh my God ! honor and salute, equip and bless the most pure prince, the
this attribution. In the prologue which precedes the text, Nasîr Tûsî himself victorious Imam... epiphany of marvels and prodigies... the shining Meteor...
recounts the circumstances of its composition. He had wanted to pay homage to Center of the circle of problems... Lion of God victorious... Imam of the East and
the one who was to be the last Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad, al-Mo'tasim the West... O brother of the Messenger of God, O husband of the Virgin... O
(640/1242-656/1258), with a scientific treatise composed by him. Witness of God before his creatures, O our prince and our lord... intercede for us
before God.
“III. Oh my God ! honor and salute, arm and bless the glorious Lady, the
But the Caliph, discovering at the beginning of the book a eulogy of the Twelve beautiful, the very pure, the oppressed, the generous, the noble... who suffered so
Imams, tore up the manuscript and threw it into the waters of the Tigris. Nasir many afflictions during such a short life... the Queen of women, She with the big
thought it prudent to distance himself; he left for Samarqand, where he arrived in black eyes, the Mother of the Imams... the daughter of the best of the prophets...
the midst of preparations for the Mongol expedition which was to put an end to the the Immaculate Virgin... the Most pious... Honor and salvation be upon you and
Abbasid caliphate. It was on the way that he had a vision in a dream where the your descendants, O Fatima the Brilliant, o daughter of Mohammad the Messenger
Prophet and the 1st Imam suggested that he compose a Prayer in praise of the of God... o Witness of God before his creatures, o our Lady and our Sovereign...
Fourteen Immaculate. (We will evoke in this regard another Prayer heard in a intercede for us before God.
visionary dream by Mîr Dâmâd in the mosque of Qomm, infra book V.)
“IV. Oh my God ! honor and salute, equip and bless the chosen prince, the
Imam of hope... Who discovered evil, trial and suffering, what appears and what is
We can quote here the long text of this spiritual pilgrimage only by abbreviating invisible... Honor and salvation be upon you, O Hasan! O son of the Messenger of
it considerably as our ellipsis will indicate. We have omitted, among other things, God, son of the Emir of the Faithful, son of Fatima the Bright! O Witness of God
the mention for each of the Fourteen of their sanctuary, that is to say of the burial before his creatures... O prince of the adolescents among the inhabitants of
place visited mentally (cf. the indications given above). We had to limit ourselves paradise... intercede for us before God.
to suggesting the rhythm of this Prayer, each moment of which passes through
two stages: the invocation to God in the form of a variable litany, followed by a
response in unison “V. O my God! honor and salute, equip and bless the ascetic prince, the Imâm
48
of prayer... ornament of pulpits and temples, the Tested by misfortune and sorrow...
.
Honor and salvation be upon you, O Hosayn ibn 'Ali! O martyr, O oppressed! Son
of the Messenger of God, son of the Emir of the believers, son of Fâtima the
48. The text of the Dawâzdeh Imâm (Doxology of the Twelve Imâms), Brilliant... O prince of the adolescents among the inhabitants of paradise...
attributed to Nasîroddîn Tûsî, is given, among others, in the great euchologe intercede for us before God.
composed by the famous theologian Moh. Bâqer Majlisî, the Kitâh Zâd al-
ma'âd (The Viaticum of the Return), ed. lithogr. Tehran 1352/1933, gf. in-80,
588 pages (Arabic and Persian); our text appears in the margins of pages 207 to 227. “VI. Oh my God ! honor and salute, equip and bless the father of the Imams
This text should not be confused with another much broader text, the Ziyârat and Lamp of the community, Who discovered sadness, Who gave life to tradition...
al-Jâmi'â (spiritual pilgrimage to the Twelve Imâms), a text dating back to the Honor and salvation be upon you, O 'Ali ibn Hosayn, O al- Sajjâd (worshipper by
10th Imâm, 'Alî Naqî, which recapitulates the qualifications given to the
Religious Sciences, pp. 151-154. The qualifications under which the Imams show
Imâms in the hadîth and which, in the deep and dense commentary of Shaykh
Ahmad Ahsâ'î (ed. Tabriz 1276/1860, infra t. VI, book V) becomes a veritable themselves to the Shiite consciousness are eo ipso the foundation of the spiritual
sum of theosophy and imamic spirituality. On this last work, see our report in hermeneutics of the Qurân.
Annuaire 1968-1969 de la Section des
excellence), O son of the Messenger of God... O Witness of God creatures... both of you intercede for us before God, “XIV. Oh my
before his creatures... intercede for us before God. God ! honor and salute, bless and bless him who sums up in his
“VII. Oh my God ! honor and salute, equip and bless the Moon person the vocation of the Prophet, the impetuousness of the Lion
of Moons, Light of Lights, Guide of the elite and prince of the of God, the all purity of Fatima, the long-suffering of Hasan, the
righteous... Boiling ocean and precious pearl... Honor and salvation bravery of Hosayn, the fervor of al- Sajjâd, the memories of al-
be upon you, O Mohammad ibn' Ali, o al-Bâqir (the very versed in Bâqir, the traditions of Ja'far, the knowledge of al-Kâzem, the
high knowledge)... o son of the Messenger of God... o Witness of arguments of al-Rezâ, the generosity and piety of al-Jawad al-
God before his creatures... intercede for us before God. Taqî, the venerable dignity of the two 'Askari, the incognito of
divine occultation, the Resurrector (Qâ'im) in truth... the Word of
“VIII. Oh my God ! honor and salute, equip and bless the loyal God... the Witness of God, the Triumphant by the order of God..
and very truthful prince, the wise, the constant, the long-suffering, Imam] in secret and Imam in the open, who expels sadness and
the compassionate, the guide on the path, the one who quenches sorrow... the generous, the magnanimous, Mohammad ibn al-
his Shiites with a generous and pure wine... Honor and peace be Hasan, invisible lord of this time and vicar of the All-Merciful, Imam
upon you, O Ja'far ibn Mohammad, O al-Sâdiq... O son of the of men and geniuses. .. Honor and salvation be upon you, O heir
Messenger of God... O Witness of God before his creatures... of Hasan 'Askari, O Imam of our time, O awaited Resurrector, O
intercede for us before God . guided who guides! Son of the Messenger of God... Witness of
“IX. Oh my God ! honor and salute, bless and bless the generous God before his creatures... intercede for us before God. »
prince, the long-suffering Imam, the patient who knew how to
contain his anger... the one shrouded in the most luminous
nobility... Honor and salvation be upon you, O Mûsâ ibn Ja 'far, o Thus we listen to the prayers of the Shiite hearts... At the end
al-Kâzem, o son of the Messenger of God... o Witness of God of this work, we will find the group of the last three Imams, the
before his creatures... intercede for us before God. touching figures of the tenth and eleventh centuries,
, 'Askaris,
the two
held
“X. O my God! honor and salute, equip and bless the very pure prisoners in the camp of Samarra by the Abbasid government, and
prince, the oppressed Imam, the martyr succumbing to poison... yet disposing of all things in view of the fleeting epiphany in this
the sage knowing the secret science, full moon in the starry sky... world of the mysterious figure of the twelfth Imam. One text, among
companion of souls... Honor and Peace be upon you, O Ali ibn others, will allow us to appreciate the unique tone of the prayers
Musa, O Reza ! son of the Messenger of God... Witness of God that he inspires in his pilgrims.
before his creatures... intercede for us before God.
“XI. Oh my God ! honor and salute, equip and bless the prince Just as his ancestor Mohammad is the "Seal of the Prophets",
of equity, the magnanimous, the generous... he who knows the as we have already said, so the XIIth Imam is the Seal of the
secrets of the Origin and the Return, guide for all people, refuge Mohammadian walayat, the Seal of those Friends of God who
for his friends on the day when the crier will proclaim his cry... the initiate their friends into the secret of the theophanies.
Ahmadian Imam, Mohammadian Light... Honor and salvation be Prophet and Imam are theophanies of the same primordial Light
upon you, O Mohammad ibn 'Alî, O al-Taqî al-Jawad ! O son of and of the same Supreme Spirit (Rûh A'zam). To the first belongs
the Messenger of God... O Witness of God before his creatures... the exoteric, to the second the esoteric. The walayat is the esoteric,
intercede for us before God. the Gnostic Idea of prophecy; prophecy is the exoteric and visible
“XII and XIII. Oh my God ! honor and salute, equip and bless form of walayat.
the two magnanimous and perfect Imams... Double sun, double Just as all the prophets were epiphanies (mazahir) of the Seal of
moon, double luminary... heirs of the double sanctuary... both the prophets, so all the "Friends of God" and all the spiritual
helpers of the human race... double symbol of good direction ... initiates are forms manifesting that which is and will be the
both of whom discovered hardship and sorrow, both masters of Mohammadian Seal of the Friends of God. It is this whole set of
generosity and kindness... Honor and salvation be upon you both, notions that remains to be explored further in the following chapters.
O 'Ali ibn Mohammad! O Hasan ibn 'Ali! upon you, O al-Naqî al-
Hâdî, and upon you, O al-Zakî al-Aska rî ! Son of the Messenger
of God... Witnesses of God before his
(there are secondary ones, the Zaydites of Yemen, for example).

4. - The paradoxes confronted by Ismailism It will have to systematize the traditional teachings of the Imams
and by Twelver Shiism accepted in one and the other branch, and the whole of which
forms a considerable corpus . The constitution of this corpus was
However brief they may be, the foregoing indications will have strictly the work of the Twelver Shiites. Between the 4th / 10th
and
made it possible to glimpse some major outlines of tomorrow's centurysyntheses

and the 6th / 12th century,
of Ismailism the great
emerged, theosophical
the works of the Ismaili
duo Shi'ism: its fundamental thought, the orientation of its thinkers of the Fatimid period, among whom the greatest names
spirituality, what one might call its "imamocentrism". All that we are those of Iranian thinkers (Abû Ya'qûb Sejestânî, Mo'ayyad
can say about it in the present book is, of course, only a minimum Shîrâzî, Hamîdoddîn Kermânî, Nâsir-e Khosraw, etc.).
—a stepping stone. In addition, to really give an overall idea of the
thought and spirituality of Shi'ism, and therefore not to omit any During this same time, the Twelver Shî'ites (generally living in
essential detail of the physiognomy of Iranian Islam, we should very difficult conditions) were mainly occupied in constituting the
now consider the other branch of Shi'ism, the "Septimanian" corpus of the traditions of their Imams, systematically grouped
branch which is more commonly designated by the name of around the great themes that have become classics in Shi'ite
Ismailism. theology. It was thanks to this diligent care that, when better times
had come for Twelver Shi'ism, the great Iranian theologian of the
As we have already recalled, Ismailism owes its name to its Safavid era Moh. Bâqer Majlisî (ob. 1110/1698-1699), was able,
seventh Imam, Imam Isma'il, eldest son of Imam Ja'far Sadiq (ob. with a whole office of collaborators, to finally constitute the whole
148/765), who died prematurely before his father. of the corpus, which, in the old lithographed edition, includes no
From the seventh Imam, the two great families of Shi'ism less than twenty-six volumes in fourteen large volumes in folio (a
separated; the number which essentially punctuates theosophy new typographical edition is in progress in Tehran). Although for
and imamology of Ismailism is no longer the number twelve but various reasons, a certain number of hadîth (traditions) have not
the number seven. Twelver Shi'ism, we will not return to it here, been recorded there, this corpus recapitulates the whole of the
reserving the right to devote respectively to the fundamental Tradition of the Prophet and the Twelve Imams, that is to say the
thought of Twelver Shi'ism as to that of Ismailism, the overall study integral sonna recognized Twelver Shi'ism. And this corpus is not
that both are still awaiting 49. However, we will recall here in a few only the basis of the neutic herme or esoteric interpretation of
lines how the Ismaili religious phenomenon is of primary interest Revelation; it also forms a whole encyclopedia of spiritual science,
to the spirituality of Iranian Islam. encompassing not only tawhîd, prophetology and imamology,
cosmology, anthropology and eschatology, but also all explanations
relating to the ritual and practice of shari' at, that is to say in short
everything that concerns the esoteric (batin) and the exoteric
First of all, any in-depth study of Shi'ism, taking things from the (zahir).
origin, that is to say, from the very lifetime of the Prophet, will
begin from the outset at a level prior to the ramification of Shi'ism. As we have seen, the distinction, fundamental for Shi'ism,
ism in its two great main branches between the batin (the interior, the hidden, the spiritual sense, the
esoteric) and the zâhir (the apparent, the exterior, the positive
49. Cf. our Ismaili Trilogy, Index to Shiism and History of Islamic letter, the literal meaning, the exoteric), is correlated with the
Philosophy, vol. I, the whole of chapter II. It will be understood that to
complete this last work, we had to go through the thankless task of differentiation of the functions assumed respectively by the Prophet
the text editor, the greater part of the material still being found in and by the Imam. Twelver Shi'ism endeavored to maintain a
manuscripts. In the article to which we referred in the preface to the perfect balance: the Prophet and the Imam are two torches issuing
present book, one will find an account of the program which we have from one and the same Light (cf. again infra chap. VI); the batin
endeavored to fill, over the years, in our teaching at the Ecole des
Hautes Etudes. For his part, our colleague, Sayyed Jalâloddîn cannot subsist without the zahir which is its support; the symbolized
Ashtiyânî, professor at the University of Mashhad, is preparing an (mamthûl) can manifest itself only in the symbol which symbolizes
Anthology of Iranian philosophers from the 17th century to the present it (mathal). And such was also the position of the Ismaili doctors
day; about fifty Shiite thinkers must figure there. of the Fatimid period.
We also have on this point a very long epistle addressed by esoteric, is not the test of a temporal triumph. His triumph could
Imam Ja'far Sadiq to his disciple Mofazzal al-Jo'fî, alarmed by the only be eschatological; if not, when an eschatological religion must
extremism of some of his co-religionists. adapt itself to the conditions of external history, is it necessary to
It is not the gnosis professed by these over-enthusiastic adepts wonder whether political triumph will not be accompanied by a
that the Imam condemns; what he condemns is the radical mistake profound crisis of spiritual doctrine? Isma'ilism and Twelver Shi'ism
made by the latter on a specific point . this does not mean being confronted this paradox in turn, and under very different conditions.
authorized to drop the performance of these rites. Gnosis brings Ismailism had to confront it, from the tenth to the twelfth century,
the spiritual truth (the haqîqat) to shine through under the veil of through the triumph of the Fatimid dynasty in Egypt. Twelver
the rite imposed by the sharî'at, because it makes the very letter Shi'ism has been confronting it since the beginning of our sixteenth
of the latter transparent. But this transparency can only occur century, since the moment when the young Shah Esmâ'il (Ishmael),
thanks to the simultaneous maintenance of one and the other. To founder of the Safavid dynasty, by restoring the national unity of
break their connection is to indulge in spiritual licentiousness, it is Iran, made 'Imamism or Twelver Shi'ism the state religion.
to abolish the flowering of symbols, and it is, in a certain aspect,
to repeat Adam's fault. This is why the perfect balance between
zahir and batin, recommended with so much vigilance by Imam How did Ismailism, for its part, come through this ordeal? Our
Ja'far, will also remain the concern of Twelver Shi'ism. task here is not to analyze the gap between what can be read in
the books of high Ismaili theosophy and the contingencies resulting
from the policy of the Fatimids of Cairo.
However, this balance has never ceased to be threatened by It is not an oversimplification to say that this policy did not, by
the course of human events, because it challenges it like a itself, lead them to emphasize the esoteric. The drama following
paradox. This confrontation is what we thematize here as the the death of the Fatimid Caliph al-Mostansir bi'llâh (487/1094) split
51
"spiritual combat of Shi'ism." We have noted that in its essence the Ismaili community, in turn, into two Western
branches:
branchthewhich
so-called
the secret of Shi'ism lies in the nature of the walayat, in this divine continues to follow the old Fatimid tradition, and the the so-called
"dilection" which mystically invests the person of the Twelve eastern branch which stems from the reform proclaimed in Alamût
Imams with the responsibility of perpetuating and transmitting the (the famous Ismaili “commandery” located in the mountains to the
esoteric of the Revelations. , and which, for this reason, is defined south-west of the Caspian Sea), and which more particularly
as F “esoteric of the prophetic mission” (batin al-nobowwat). constitutes Iranian Ismailism. Now, what characterizes this
However, one can only wonder with some concern if the most reformed Iranian Ismailism is that it does not hesitate to tilt the
perilous paradox, dramatic also, through which a religion can pass balance in favor of the haqîqat or gnostic truth, against the sharî'at
or positive religious law, and therefore to admit the precedence of
the Imam on the Prophet. Such was the meaning of the
50. This epistle of Imam Ja'far is quoted throughout in the Tafsir Mir'at al- proclamation of the "Great Resurrection" (Qiyâmat al-Qiyâmât) at
anwâr (supra p. 27, n. 4), pp. 12-14. Those targeted by the Imam's words are
the disciples of Abû'l-Khattâb, and alternatively, for the author of the Tafsîr, Alamût , on August 8, 1164 . an epoch too absorbed by external
the reformed Ismailis of Alamût. Some hadiths state, in a strange form, that and official history to be still attentive to the events of a spiritual
"Prayer is a person", "Fasting is a person", etc. and some followers take it history which escape its control and its categories. Simplifying to
upon themselves to maintain that knowing this person dispenses with the extreme, we can say that, by the procla-
effective religious practice. In fact, the question conceals a metaphysics of
being which decides the relationship between the nomen actionis and the
nomen agentis, and therefore the question is to be treated as aiming not at
abstract essences but at person-archetypes. Cf. on this point our two studies:
Sabaean Ritual and Ismaili Exegesis of the Ritual (Era nos-Jahrbuch XIX),
pp. 229 ss., and Cyclical Time in Mazdaism and Ismailism (ibid., XX) pp. 208 51. Brief reminder of the circumstances in our History of Islamic Philosophy,
ss., where important pages of the Tasawworât of Nasîr Tûsî are studied. Let pp. 114 and 138.
us add that Shaykh Ahmad Ahsâ'î, in his great commentary on the Ziyârat al- 52. See our article for the Eighth centenary of Alamût (in Mercure de
Jâmi'a (p. 378), admirably resolves the question by implementing the notion France, February 1965, p. 285 to 304) sketching the geographical framework
of walâyat, the followers being created from an irradiation of the light which of the events that preceded it, and giving the translation of the "Great
constitutes the being of their Imams. Proclamation" of the 'Imâm Hasan 'alâ dhikrihi-s-salâm.
solemn declaration, made at Aîamût, of the personal religion of until the day of his parousia. The reign of the Twelfth Imam
the Resurrection (Dîn-e Qiyamat), the reign of the sharî'at was put continues on a mystical, suprasensible plane; its daily effectiveness
to an end.
is in the secret of consciences. His situation cannot be compared
The spirit of the reform of Alamût thus marks a contrast, a with that of the Imams of the Fatimid dynasty, descended from the
shock in return compared to the political Ismailism of the Fatimids, line of Imam Ismâ'îl who exercised temporal power in Cairo for two
and if one confronts the documents with the oldest Ismaili texts, centuries (from the accession of 'Obaydalîah al-Mahdî in 909 , until
one cannot defend oneself from the impression that this spirit the disappearance of al-Amir bi-ahkâmiîlâh in 1130).
agreed well with that of, let us say, an “ultra Shi'ism” of the origins,
the spirit of a pre-Fatimid Israeli imamology. We have another And this is also why the situation of Shah Esmâ'îl (Ismâ'îl,
indication of this spirit in the fact that, when the organization of Ishmael, born in 1487, died in 1524), founder of the Safavid
Alamût with its commanderies disappeared in its turn in Iran, under dynasty, cannot be compared with that of the Fatimid Imams.
the blows of the Mongols, Iranian Ismailism, going underground, Shah Esmâ'îl, with the ardor of his youth, acted in the name of the
was confused with the sufism. Even today it is more or less invisible Imâm; he gave back to the Shiite community its right to
considered a Sufi tariqat (congregation). life, that is to say its right to bear witness in this world. But he
himself was not the Imam, and so it has been, ever since, for every
We then see imamology fructify in an experience of mystical love Iranian ruler as head of the Shiite state.
of which the figure of the Imam is the centre, and which Twelver The sovereign is the one who guarantees to the faithful the time of
Shi'ism is also familiar with, since spiritual life is nourished there their "waiting", until the parousia of the Imam. If, inevitably, the
from the same sources. An example: the way in which the Koranic situation of religion of State changed something for Shi'ism
verse of Light is meditated on (Qoran 24: 35), where the symbol compared to the times of clandestinity, the fact remains that the
of the olive tree “which is neither from the East nor from the West” idea of the Imâm essentially invisible imposes on the spiritual life a
appears. This olive tree becomes the tree growing at the top of a
rigor quite different from the situation where, from generation to
mystical Sinai which is the very person of the spiritual reproducing generation, the Imam can be encountered as a physical person in
the case of Moses; the olive tree is then the symbol of the Imam this world. By affirming the ghaybat, occultation, invisibility, as
as being this Soul of the soul who is the eternal Beloved of the being essential to its idea of the Imam and the imam, Twelver
soul. It is not, as we have53just suggested, the flowering of this
.
Shi'ism attests to the height of the spiritual horizon where it situates
mystical experience which would suffice differentiate Ismaili the reality of the Imam.
spirituality from the spirituality of Twelver Shi'ism; on both sides It is still important to say more, to dissipate the ambiguity created
the notion of walayat led to the same development. in the West by the abusive use of a terminology speaking of “Shi'ite
legitimism”, or of Shi'ism as the cause of the “legitimists” in Islam.
What differentiates Twelver Shiite spirituality is the particularity of No, the cause of the Imams in no way represents a dynastic
the paradox it had to face, on its side, to safeguard its integrity. legitimism in simple competition with some rival dynasty of this
More precisely said, the analysis of the situation will lead us to world, any more, as we have already said, than the dynasty of the
identify a double paradox. Grail is in rivalry with a dynasty of this world or with the succession
First of all, as professed by Twelver Shi'ism, the conception of of the Apostolic See. It is ridiculous to reduce the question to these
the Imam and the relations of the Imam with this world is not the terms of rivalry. There is no possible rivalry except between two
same as that of Ismailism. We have already noted that, the worlds situated on the same plane. Now we have here two different
pleroma of the Imams being pre-eternally limited to the number worlds; the world of malakut dominates the world of our competitions
twelve, it follows that the very idea of the hidden Imam is implied too high to have to compete with it.
in the Twelver concept of the Imam. The Imamate of the Twelfth,
both present in the past and present in the future, extends On this point, it is precious for us to collect the testimony, among
"between times", invisibly present in the time of this world, since others, of an eminent theosophist of the Safavid period, Qâzî Sa'îd
its concealment from the eyes of men (260/874) Qommî (ob. 1103/1691), in his monumental commentary on a
53. Cf. our Ismaili Trilogy, part 3 (Symbols selected from the “Rose Garden work of one of the oldest Shiite doctors, Shaykh Sadûq Ibn
and
of Mystery” by Mahmûd Shabestarî), pages (95-123) and index sv olivier. Bâbûyeh. "It's a good thing

established by Tradition, he writes, that the Messenger of God, inseparable from the recognition of the Prophet's mission
after he had been given the choice between the condition of (nobowwat), that the acquiescence to it is inseparable from tawhîd,
servant and the royal condition, chose to be a servant-prophet from the Attestation of the Unique. The Attestation, the shahâdat,
('abd nabî), not not to be a king prophet (malik nabî). There can is in fact a triple Attestation, without the integrality of which a
therefore be no exoteric royalty (saltanat zâhira, that is to say moslim (someone who professes Islam) is not a true believer (a
temporal) to succeed him, nor any sovereignty of the kind mu'min) 65. However, in the practice of the walayat with regard to
exercised by the powerful of this world (imârat al-jabâbira). Since the "Holy Family", Shiite Islam shows itself as a religion of love,
that royalty did not belong to himself, how would it have been the very different from this legal spirit which generally passes for being
lot of whoever succeeded him? Of all necessity therefore, if the that of Islam, and to which undoubtedly corresponds the general
prophet has a success, this succession must consist of the attitude of Sunni Islam.
religious succession (khilâfat dîniya), guaranteeing the faithful the But our Shiite doctors, relying on their most explicit hadith , teach
best conditions of viaticum and the Return, and that this spiritual that without this intention and service of love connoted by the term
royalty (saltanat ma' mawiya) falls to the one who is of constant walayat, no good work produced by men can meet with divine
devotion, the one who can be said to be the very soul of the approval. Under this aspect, Shi'ism, which has so often been
Prophet, as the Prophet declared with regard to 'Ali, al-Hasan, of presented as the antithesis of Sufism, actually precedes Sufism
al-Hosayn .” 54 This statement is perfectly explicit; it best on the path which characterizes it. But at the same time a serious
expresses the strictly religious conception of spiritual Islam among question arises: if it is true that many fervent Shi'ites have
the Shiite doctors, those from whom we have to inform ourselves. expressed reluctance with regard to Sufism, what about the
relationship of Shi'ism and Sufism to the origins?
These essential features of the imâmate as “spiritual royalty” One of the most serious questions that Sufism has faced (cf.
and as essentially “invisible” in the present state of the world, only infra book III, the case of Rûzbehân) was to know whether, yes or
flow from the notion of walâyat, which necessarily reappears as a no, love (feeling and word) can intervene in the relationship
leitmotif throughout the present pages. Let us now specify another between man and his God. There were very different responses
implication, this one preparing us to hear one of our two paradoxes. on this point. But let us note this: if Shi'ism maintains, through its
Commonly, in the texts, the word mahabbat (love) forms a doublet apophatic theology, the absolute transcendence of tawhîd, it is
thanks precisely
56
, to its imamology
double that it preserves
trap of metaphysical tawhîd
idolatry, from
namely the
from
with the word walâyat, or is substituted for it, to designate the
dilection, the love, of which the person of the holy Imams is the agnosticism. and naive anthropomorphism.
object on the part of their faithful. More precisely said again:
acquiescence in this walayat is also He avoids this double trap, by recognizing in the pre-eternal
theophanic person of the Imams, the support of the divine Names
and Attributes. By contemplating in the theophanic reality of the
54. This text appears in the great commentary of Qâzî Sa'îd Qommî on the Imam the revealed divine "Face" (this theme of the "Face"
and
Kitâb al-Tawhîd of Ibn

A follower hadBâbûyeh
come to (381/991)
speak withchap. II, 35th
the Xth Imam,hadith 3 matlab,
'Ali fol. pers.).
b (ms.
I36 Naqî, whom
the Abbasid police held prisoner in the Samarra camp. 55. The triple shahâdat or attestation of faith which, from a simple moslim
makes a mu'min or faithful shî'ite, therefore includes: the attestation of the Unique
(tawhîd), the attestation of the prophetic mission (nobowwat ), and the attestation
The long text of this interview forms a complete symbol of the Imami Shi'i faith.
of the walayat of the Imams; see among others Tafsîr Mir'at al-anwâr,
Qâzî Sa'îd repeatedly returns to the theme of the Imamate as purely spiritual Moqaddamat I, Maqâlat II, pp. 23 ss.
royalty. It is important to note the fact, because poor philosophies of history too 56. There is a necessary interconnection between the negative or apophatic
often tend to “explain” the retreat into the spiritual realm and eschatological theology (tanzîh) of Shi'ism and its imamology positing the "epiphanic function"
hopes as a compensation for frustrations of a political order. Apart from the fact of the Imams (mazhariya) as manifesting not the divine Essence (the dhât), but
that this type of explanation totally misunderstands what is involved, it should be the divine operation or "energy" (the fi'l). See our communication on Imamology
noted that Qâzî Sa'îd wrote in the midst of the Safavid period when there could and Philosophy (Strasbourg Colloquium 1968, supra p. 65, n. 46). Negative
be no question, for Shi'ism, of political frustration. But, just as in the hadîth it is theology is exposed, with all its rigor, in a long khotba (sermon) delivered at Merv
always religious themes that the Imams discuss with their disciples, so our by the eighth Imam, 'Alî Rezâ, and inserted in the K. al-Tawhîd of Ibn Bâbûyeh,
thinkers have always known that the meaning of the Imam transcends all political chap. II, 2nd hadith. Qâzî Sa'ïd Qommî's commentary on this text is fundamental.
reality of this world, because its “dimension” is essentially eschatological.
already indicated above, chap. I, 3, and to which we will come where we must seek the reason for the paradoxical invasion of
back again), Shi'ism from the outset, even before Sufism had Shi'ism by fiqh, legal science, to the detriment of all that is 'irfân
faced the problem, revealed to the human creature the meaning and hikmat ilâhîya, gnosis and mystical theosophy, taught by the
of the love which intervenes between him and his God. Imams themselves ; this, although until today the tradition of
This is all there is in the walayat as "esoteric of the prophetic hokama' and 'orafâ has never been interrupted and represents
message", in the idea of the Imam as a guide leading to the interior something unique in Islam. We will come back to this essential
world (batin). And when we say interior world, it is not a question aspect of the "spiritual combat of Shi'ism" later on.
of the contrast which we are accustomed to mark by the use of
the words "objective" and "subjective". Perhaps it is difficult to Hence it would seem, at first glance, that the situation is quite
make this understood nowadays when a certain agnosticism which simple. On the one hand, there would be spiritual people who,
still claims to be Christian only affects contempt for what it qualifies faithful to the essence of Shi'ism, profess the integrality of Islam,
as "inner and subjective religiosity", because their "commitment" namely its exoteric and its esoteric; in a general way, all those
in the affairs of this world did not give these pious agnostics time designated as the 'orafâ, the hokamâ, the mystics and philosopher-
to understand what it was all about. On the other hand, for all our theosophists (we will see, infra book II, how already Sohrawardî
esotericists, the interior world designates the spiritual reality of established between them a hierarchy of degrees).
suprasensitiv universes which, as a spiritual reality, is that which And then, on the other hand, there would be those who, for one
encircles and envelops the reality of the exterior world. A Shî'ite reason or another, fearing everything that passes in their eyes to
thinker like Qâzî S'aîd Qommî particularly insists on this paradox: be "philosophy", stick to fiqh, to canon law, as if such was Islamic
in the circles of spiritual universes, unlike what is the case in science par excellence, not to say exclusive. These are the
material circles, it is the center that "surrounds" the suburbs. foqahâ, the doctors of the Law, those in whom their co-religionists
“Getting out” of what we commonly call the outside world is not a have more than once denounced the paradox of Shiite doctors
“subjective” experience, but as “objective” as possible, even if it is dropping the essential part of the teaching of their Imams.
difficult to convey the evidence to a mind that wants to be
“modern”. ". In fact, the situation is even more complex than this dichotomy
would suggest. And this complexity is to a large extent due to the
ambiguity of the original relations between Shi'ism and Sufism,
That said, Shi'ism, throughout its history, was not always able one of the reasons for which we suggested a few lines ago. In
to affirm purely and simply what makes up its essence, as we have Sunni Islam the situation is simple: over the centuries Sufism and
just alluded to. We said above that he, for his part, had to face a the Sufis have attested to and represented, in the face of the
trial and a paradox similar to what Ismailism faced during the doctors of the Law, the audacity of the interior religion and the
Fatimid period. Notwithstanding the analogy, the few features paradoxes of the religion of love. In Shiite Islam it is not at all so
already noted and on which we will insist later, warn us that this simple, because, from the outset, the notion of walayat dominates
test had to take on a different character, if only because of the the whole of Shiite doctrine. By this very fact, the doctrine includes
concept of the Imam and the imamate. which is dominated, in all the elements of the religion of love addressing itself to the
Twelver Shi'ism, by the figure of the twelfth Imam and by the idea theophanic Figure, to the revealed Face of the transcendent and
of his necessary concealment (ghaybai) . But the fact remains that unknowable God in itself, to the Person who “answers for” this
after having been forced, for a long period, into a more or less inaccessible God. As a pole of orientation, this same Face guides
rigorous clandestinity, Shi'ism was finally able, once Iranian the mystical pilgrim in the ascent of the metaphysical universes
sovereignty was restored by the Safavids, to live in broad daylight. that it reveals to him; as mystical pole , the invisible Imam groups
In such circumstances the temptation to settle in this world is around him the whole of a spiritual hierarchy enveloped in the eyes
great, and the better one settles in this world, the less one is of this world in the same incognito. All these elements are found,
inclined to emphasize the questions which hold all the attention of of course, in Sufism and in the metaphysics of Sufism to the point
theosophists. mystics. Perhaps it is mainly of giving the impression, when it comes to Sunni Sufism, of a
Shi'ism which no longer dares to speak its name. But for
just as much, precisely, the Shi'ite, on condition of living the The complexity of this situation is far from apparent at first sight;
integrality of his Shi'ism, does not need Sufism as such, because it takes many years spent not only in frequenting texts, but in that
his Shi'ism is already the "tariqat" (mystical way), as we indicated of beings. What is in question is with a whole fundamental
above (chap. I, 3, pp. 18 ss.). In other words: the notion of Sufism conception of the destiny of man, our very knowledge of Islam. It
(tasawwof) alone does not cover the whole of the mystical life in is striking that what turns out to be constitutive of Shiite spirituality
Islam. And it is precisely this that made us ask the question above: and which we have just indicated very quickly, has so far gone
what about the origins of the relationship between Shi'ism and unnoticed by Westerners as well as by most Sunni Muslims.
Sufism? that is to say, what about the origins of spiritual Islam?
To ask this question clearly is at least to avoid being mistaken. So we will ask Haydar Amoli in the following chapters how he
It is not the existence of Shi'ite Sufism which, as such, provides meditates on the Shi'ite texts concerning the human situation
the answer. Nor is it enough for a Shiite theologian to express typified in the case of Adam. In the light of this situation, certain
reluctance, and sometimes more, with regard to Sufism, to have interviews of the first Imam, 'Ali ibn Abi
to be classed among the doctors of the Law, the antimystics. Far Talib, with his chosen disciple, Komayl ibn Ziyad, take on a relief
from there. Many spiritual Shi'ites speak exactly the language of in which the whole destiny of Shi'ism is already prefigured—in
the Sufis, and yet are not Sufis; they do not belong to any tariqat. contrast to those "impossible syntheses" which we have heard
Mullâ Sadrâ Shîrâzî, one of the greatest names among the previously evoked in the pathetic confessions of a Sunni Arab
mystical theosophists of Iran, was even led to write a book against personality from Jordan. In other words, a Haydar Âmolî, like a
the Sufis of his time, while he himself was being reproached for Mullâ Sadrâ Shîrâzî, and later the masters of the Shaykh school,
his Sufism by some of his colleagues. themselves situate for us the positions and the stakes, even today,
of what we have called the "spiritual combat of Shi'ism".
Sufism itself is very diverse. There is a whole Sufism which has
developed an admirable metaphysics, verified by its spiritual
experience; but there is also a Sufism that ignores all metaphysical
knowledge. There is a Sufism where imamic devotion is
preponderant, but there is also a Sufism where the person of the
shaykh tends to substitute purely and simply for the transcendent
person of the Imams.
Finally, we can say that there is a double paradox: there is the

paradox of the doctors of the Law, oblivious to the integrity of
Shi'ism and its esoteric background; the paradox has been
worsening since the Safavid period, but its symptoms are manifest
earlier, just as the blossoming of the schools of thought of the
Safavid period was prepared by preceding generations. And there
is the paradox of a certain Sufism forgetful of its origins. It is this
double paradox that put so many Shiite spirituals in the need to
face a "double front". This was the case with Sadrâ Shîrâzî and
many others, right up to the Shaykh school. Previously, this was
typically the case of Haydar Amoli (8th / 14th century) who, in his
monumental work, summarized as well as possible, with
penetrating lucidity, the situation experienced by the Shiite
spirituals (cf. infra book IV ). This is why the following pages will
frequently call on his work.
The Spiritual Warfare of Shi'ism 87
of the Omayyads) had seized power over the Islamic community,

he gave free rein to his hatred against the Emir of the believers
(the first Imam, 'Âlî ibn Aî-Tâlib); he wrote letters to all his prefects,
giving them the order to put to death whoever claimed to follow
the religion of 'Ali... They went so far as to curse 'Ali from the top
of the pulpits of the mosques... The same hatred raged against
the descendants of the Imam, so much so that it was difficult for
CHAPTER III them to make known their science and to have pupils.
It is said that Sofyan Thawri having come to Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq
The Spiritual Warfare of Shi'ism (the sixth Imam), the Imam said to him: O Sofyan, you are a man
whom the Abbasid police are looking for; the sultan has his eye
on you. Go in haste! but it is not we who chase you away.
And when Abu Hanifa (the head of the Hanafi rite in Sunnism)
had to quote the Amir of the Believers during his lessons, he was
57
content to mention him in these terms: the shaykh said this Things ...
did not go better when the reign of the Omayyads had ended and
I. - Situation of Shiite Spirituals
the Abbasids had come to power (132/750). The Imams had to
remain confined to their homes, observing the taqîyéh (the
As if it were a sign of contradiction for this world, the Shi'ism of
the Twelve Imams was the object of atrocious hatreds which “discretion” or “discipline of the arcane”). No one could freely go
rarely disarmed. They manifested themselves against the person and help them, freely collect from them a rivâyat (transmission of
of the first Imam as well as in the tragic fate of his eleven a tradition)... On the other hand, all facilities were given to the
descendants. But the Imams themselves warned their disciples foqahâ hostile to the Imams. Their hatred and their ignorance
that their cause was difficult and that, to support it, one needed earned them all the honours; each had a province (wilâyat) where
“hearts tried for the faith”. As an eminent shaykh told me: “Never he could propagate his knowledge at his ease. All of this is
forget that there were only a handful of devotees around our common knowledge. Let the wise think about it. If, despite all this,
Imams, and that it will be so until the end of time. Because Shi'ism we
assumes before the world, essentially and integrally, the spiritual 57. In his Jâmi' al-asrâr (published in La Philosophie shî'ite, cit. supra p. 56,
reality of the prophetic message of Islam, it could not come to n. 29), pp. 424-425, Haydar Âmoli recalls a pathetic scene that happened
between the VIth Imam, Ja'far Sâdiq, and Abû Hanîfa who had been his pupil.
terms with the ambitions and designs of this world. We do not We see Abu Hanifa inviting the Imam to come to Kufa to forbid people to
have to do political history here, but to indicate only why over the insult the memory of the Companions of the Prophet: “ The Imam ; They
centuries (say since the entry of the Seljuk Turks into Baghdad in wouldn't welcome what I tell them. — AH: How would they not welcome it
1055, putting an end to the influence of the Persian Shiite dynasty from you, you who are the son (descendant) of the Messenger of God? —
The Imam : You, you are the first to ignore me. You entered my house without my permission.
of the Bûyides), so many Shi'ite traces are lost, because in fact You sat down without my order. You speak without my opinion. It occurred to
the Shi'ites observe, in clandestinity, a rigorous "discipline of the me that you speak in syllogisms? — AH: Yes. — The Imam : Take care, O
arcane". So we sometimes hesitate about the Shiite affiliation of No'man! the first to make a syllogism was Iblis (Satan), when he received the
an author, while reading between the lines the admission that he order to bow before Adam: You created me from fire, he said, while he (Adam)
You created it from clay. (Then the Imam begins to ask Abu Hanifa a series
cannot make explicitly. of questions concerning fiqh and tafsir. At each answer, the Imam replies with
a "Why then?..." and Abu Hanifa's situation becomes inextricable. cable.)
A treatise in Persian from the 7th / 13th century (the name of “Here, continues Haydar Amoli with beautiful violence, how this man (Abu
the author remains uncertain) lets his indignation burst thus: "If Hanîfa) spoke with the Pole of the poles during his life. And it is this that the
'ârif (Dâwûd Qaysarî) places among the number of the insignia Awliya !
anyone asks, writes our author, why the science of Sunni foqahâ I testify to God! this is an enormous imposture. In truth, the aversion for the
is so widely spread in the world, whereas it is not the same for Shi'ites and for certain other Sufis is due only to nonsense of this kind. If I
the science of the holy Imams (Ahl-e Bayt-e Rasûl, the "members weren't afraid to lengthen, I would explain some of their sources (osûl) and
of the house of the Prophet"), the answer must be: the reason is their derivations (forû') which would make it possible to judge their position.
But it is better to be silent. »
that, when Mo' awiya (the first
88 The Spiritual Warfare of Shi'ism 89

finds widespread almost everywhere today something of the between the Safavid family and the Ni'matollahie family,
science of the Imams, it is indeed the proof that God is the descended from Shah Ni'matollah Walî Kermânî, one of the great
60
guarantor of the religion of his Messenger, of the group of our masters of Shi'ite Sufism (ob. 834/1431) of the previous period .
Imams and of their science 58! » But things changed profoundly with the reign of Shah 'Abbas the
This somber picture suggests to us in a nutshell what the Great (1587-1628). It is not the history of this reign which concerns
Shi'ites had to put up with on the part of the "orthodoxy" of power. us here, but the situation of the spiritual, and on this situation the
The last Imams (10th and 11th Imams) lived practically in captivity personal confidences of a Mullâ Sadrâ Shîrâzî in his books, as
in the camp of Samarra (some hundred kilometers north of well as the intention which dictated several of his books, edify us
Baghdad), and left this world when they were still in full youth. sufficiently (cf. infra book V).
However, they too had fearless disciples to whom they passed on
their teaching (cf. the great encyclopedia of Majlisi mentioned The Safavid Renaissance was marked by a boom then unique
above). in the world of Islam, by the emergence of several schools of
The final reflection of our anonymous writer from the thirteenth thinkers whose influence is felt to this day, and whose leaders
century also attests to this desperatio fiducialis (confident despair) were Mîr Dâmâd , Sadrâ Shîrâzî, Mohsen Fayz, Rajab 'Alî Tabrîzî
which is at the heart of the Shiite ethos . He writes himself in a and many others, with their pupils and their pupils' pupils. This is
century when the great figures of the Shiite philosopher-theologian not to say, however, that their situation was absolutely comfortable.
Nasÿroddÿn Tÿsÿ and a master of Shiite Sufism such as Sa'doddÿn If Molla Sadrâ had to live for ten years in retirement, in a town
Hamÿyeh appeared, in the midst of the Mongolian turmoil. In the hidden in the secrecy of a high valley not far from Qomm, he
following century will arise the work of Haydar Âmoli and that of himself tells us the reason: the hostility of the foqahâ, their attitude
Rajab Borsî; still later, in the century which will precede the advent closed to everything called hikmat and 'irfân. We are then witness
of the Safavids, the work of Ibn Abî Jomhûr to which we have to this paradox that we were trying to situate a few pages ago: the
already referred. All this would prove, if need be, that here again Shiite gnosis which had victoriously passed through several
"the blood of martyrs is the seed of believers." centuries of persecution and clandestinity, found itself, with the
This is why, when we speak of the "spiritual combat of Shi'ism", it temporal success of Shiism, before a new kind of test to face.
is not so much this open struggle that is in question, where Things took the course one expects of the human condition.
everyone easily recognizes his own. It is a question of something Alongside the unique rise of hokamâ thought, we note the
more subtle, of a fight against an internal threat and against a formation and growing influence of a legal orthodoxy, more and
peril that is more difficult to recognize, because this threat and more exclusively devoted to practical questions of canon law,
this peril, as we have just indicated in the preceding pages, are jurisprudence and casuistry, suspicious of the regard to all that is
formed at the moment even where the outward appearances are philosophical,
those of success.
Judging by things on the surface, one would not expect a
danger to emerge from such a resounding success as the advent
of the Safavids in Iran. Doubtless this danger did not arise with
without casting their shadow on the person of Shah Esma'il; there is no need to
Shah Esmâ'il, himself a Sufi, surrounded by Sufi companions, and insist on it here. There is on the other hand to suggest that very instructive would
who, a young hero of fifteen, had the audacity, in the great be a phenomenological comparison between the significance of the advent of
mosque of Tabriz where he had just come from to enter Shah Esmâ'il (Shah Ishmael, crowned in 905/1499, at the age of fourteen) such
victoriously, to celebrate the prayer in the name of the holy Imams as it could be experienced on the one hand in Iran, over time, by and for the
59 Iranian national consciousness and the Shiite religious consciousness, and such
despite the hostility of a Sunnilinks
population There were then many
.
that through the stories of travelers it appeared on the other hand in the Occi
tooth, as the advent of a “new prophet”, the “new Sufi” to bring about the end of
58. Mo'taqâd al-Imâmîya (the faith professed by the Imâmite Shi'ites), Islam and Turkish power; see for example André Chastel, Leonardo da Vinci by
treatise in Persian (without author's name) from the 7th /13th century, on the himself, Paris, 1952, p. 164.
Shi'ite Kalâm (tawhîd, prophecy , imâmat) and the fiqh (law), ed. M. Meshkat and M.-T. 60. Cf Jean Aubin, Materials for the biography of Shah Ni'matollaâh Walî
Danesh-Pajuh, Tehran 1339/1961, pp. 138-141. Kermânî (Bibl. Iranian, vol. 7), Tehran-Paris, 1956. The edition of the works of
59. See the text quoted by Edward G. Browne, A Literary History of Persia, Shah Ni'matollâh was undertaken by M. Javad Nûrbakhsh Ker mânî (6 volumes
vol. IV, Cambridge 1930, p. 53. Some cruel behaviors are not published in 1968).
90 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism The Spiritual Warfare of Shi'ism 91
theosophy, mysticism. It is difficult to speak of clericalism where tional to the so-called modern world; it is that, before this same
there is no Church; but the foqahâ and the akhûnd have
world, of the whole fraction of humanity still capable of foreseeing
sometimes made up for this absence so well that the
the spiritual and supernatural destiny of man.
consequences have made themselves felt to this day.
To carry out this combat, Iranian Islam has never lacked
It is not only the pages of Molla Sadra that inform us of this;
knights, from generation to generation, until our days. We said
the incomprehension with which the Shaykh school later came up
above that the spiritual Shi'ites had to face a "double front". The
against is another example (cf. infra book VI).
work of Haydar Âmolî shows us that one of these fronts was itself
I can say that even today in Iran, this preponderance of fiqh and a double front, because of the ambiguity weighing on Sufism,
foqahâ is a subject of frequent and discreet conversation between
depending on whether it is considered as a witness of Shi'ism in
hokamâ and 'orafâ. How did we get here ?
partibus . sunnitarum, or as a defector forgetful of his origins. To
How did fiqh, canon law, come to be so pervasive? Admittedly,
understand this, insist again on this type of spiritual Shi'ites who
fiqh is part of the training of any theologian-philosopher, but the
speak a technical language not different from that of the Sufis,
painful situation originates from those of the foqahâ who claim to
and who profess a theosophy in which many non-Shi'ite mice can
limit all theological science to fiqh . They thus mutilate the very
easily find their way. They too have dreams, visionary experiences.
teaching of the holy Imams, and forbid Shi'ism from making its
And yet, they do not belong to Sufism.
spiritual message known. However, the perpetuation and
transmission of this spiritual message of the Imams are
independent of the question of knowing whether this or that
This is precisely the situation which, on the one hand, led Mollâ
Islamic society will reject or accept, in order to “adapt to the
Sadra to stand up against the ignorantine foqahâ , and which, on
modern world”, the introduction of the civil code.
the other hand, led him to write a treatise against certain mice of
Also, it is by limiting Islamic science to the science of fiqh that we
his time ,61 whose pious agnosticism professed contempt. books,
condemn ourselves to situations without exit.
the rejection of philosophical meditation as a spiritual exercise,
No doubt this is a well-known socio-religious phenomenon also
and which ultimately led to a spiritual libertinism that was the
elsewhere. The refusal of all that is "gnosis" is inspired by a
opposite of the attitude of the foqahâ, in the sense that this
dogmatic rationalism under which is concealed a conscious or
libertinism willingly professed a batin without zâhir. The reasons
unconscious agnosticism, and it is this refusal which gives rise to
for which mystical theosophists like the masters of the Shaykh
the situation characterized previously here as a situation in which
school criticize, in turn, Sufism, aim above all, in addition to a
Shi'ism must somehow hide from itself, that is to say where Shiite
doctrine mistaking the meaning of the univo city of being (wahdat
gnosis, to preserve its integrity, must somehow hide from official
al-wojûd ), the organization and congregational practices of
Shi'ism. Now the awareness that Shi'ism had of itself from the
Sufism (tariqat), Shiism already being, as such in its integral
outset was the awareness of being the esoteric of the prophetic
essence, the “tariqat” par excellence; the criticism targets the role
message (batin al-nobowwat), and it was, according to the
assumed by the person of the shaykh in Sufism (one thinks of
pathetic formula of the Imam Ja'far, the religion of the
the guru in India), because it appears to the Imamite spiritual that
“expatriates” (ghorabâ) from among the Mohammad community.
this role usurps that of the only spiritual master whom he must
That by the fact of the temporal triumph, something like an official
recognize and follow the Shiite adept, namely the personal guide
Shi'ism has come about, expatriating the expatriates of the Imam,
"invisible to the senses but present to the heart", who is the
this is indeed what gives its meaning to the "spiritual combat of
hidden Imam. The general conviction of these masters is that
Shi'ism". It is up to Shi'ism to win in this fight, and thereby to
which Haydar Amoli already stated, and that is that in its distant
dominate the situation described by the Jordanian personality
origins Sufism took
during the interview reported above (pp. 32 ss.). For the
"triumphal" period has already passed, and only those who will
understand the call of the Imam will be able to face the dizzying 61. The book directed against the agnostic foqahâ' is the Persian treatise
problems raised in Shiite Islam, as elsewhere, by the impact of entitled Seh Asl (the Three Sources, ed. SH Nasr); the book directed against
the West . And after all, this situation is not only that of traditional certain Sufis is entitled Kasr asnâm al-jâhilîya (Pulling to pieces the idols of
Islam. ignorance, ed. Dânesh-Pajûh); see our introduction to the Book of Metaphysical
Penetrations (supra p. 54, n. 25) pp. 34 and 37. On Molla Sadra, see here t. IV, Book V.
92 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism 93

The Spiritual Warfare of Shi'ism
birth in Islam through Shi'ism, but that by separating from the which decisively deny any identification of the “religious” and the
Imams of Shi'ism, Sufism became denatured. “social”, because it is not to a “social religion” that the call of the
In fact, everything happens as if Sunni Sufism had transferred Imam summons. By proclaiming the "spiritual expatriate" blessed,
the content of imamology to the person of the Prophet alone, by the Imam calls on the latter to renounce all compromises with the
eliminating everything that did not agree with Sunni sentiment. The values and orders established in this world, in order to make this
smiling idea of the mystical pole , the Qotb, is none other than that world itself the field of his "quest" of a another world, the field of his
of the Imam; as well in Shiite Sufism, the Imam remains the pole migration towards what is already invisibly present in this world,
of poles as Seal of the walayat, while in Sunni Sufism the idea of the world of palingenesis and of the Resurrection of which the
the Qotb only replaces that of the professed Imam by Shi'ism. From Imam is the herald. To use fashionable language today, let us say
the time when the great works of Ismaili theosophy emerged (3rd - that such is the only “presence in the world”, the only “commitment”
4th /9th- 10th centuries), we see something of it reflected in Sufism.
and
in this world, for the spiritual pilgrim as witness to the absolute.
Moreover, why did somethemselves
Sufis professing Sunnism
as bearers of a want to present
message from And it is this spiritual Islam which has remained unsuspected not
the hidden Imam? Think of the case of Hallaj, which remains only by the Jordanian personality whose pathetic testimony we
inseparable, because one never borrows simple words, from those have reported above, but also by all those of whom such testimony
whose technical language he borrows. It would seem that it was to is sadly representative today.
discredit the latter, that one sought to dissociate it from them. And
yet, the more one dissociates him from it, the more one justifies the
Shiite judgment on his case. On the other hand, the sentence of Imam Ja'far has the sense
of a personal eschatology lived presently “in the present”, because
the spiritual expatriation consented to join the way of the Imam,
It will be recalled, on the other hand, that Jâbir ibn Hayyân, the marks a rupture. And this rupture puts an end to the captivity which
famous alchemist, disciple of Imam Ja'far Sâdiq, according to a keeps man under the shelter of high social ramparts to guarantee
constant tradition that nothing invalidates in a decisive way, was the individual against an immediate religious experience; by this
nicknamed, from the outset, the Sufi. Jabir's alchemy is inseparable rupture, consciousness suddenly reveals this ghorbat, this exile
from his Shiite conceptions: the Imam is for the spiritual world what that Sohrawardî will typify in a gripping narrative (infra book II).
the Stone or the Elixir are for the world of Nature. And it is thus This sentence of the Imam calls his faithful to the walayat, calls him
that one of Jabir's most abstruse works perhaps provides us with to devote his love to the pure Theophanic Figures whose light, by
the first elaboration of the authentically Gnostic motif of the tearing him from the solitude of his exile, reveals to him all the lies
Stranger, the foreigner, the spiritual expatriate (gharîb) who has accumulated to disguise reality. of this exile and to lead him to a
come from distant. However, the archetype of the Stranger remains compromise with this world. Here even the work of Haydar Âmolî
in Shiite gnosis the person of Salmân the Persian (Salmân Pârî) remains perfectly current for Shiite spirituality, in the sense that it
or Salmân the Pure (Salmân Pâk): pilgrim in search of the True awakens its follower to the consciousness of a triple spiritual
Prophet, belonging by birth to the Mazdean chivalry, passing by combat, in other words the combat on a "triple front" that the
Christianity, finally marked with the seal of pure spiritual Islam by spiritual must sustain in order to respond to the Imam's call and
becoming, orphan and solitary, the adopted of the Imam. And the safeguard the integrity of his Shi'ism.
case of Salmân is the case of all those to whom the famous
sentence of Imâm Ja'far refers, to be quoted again here because Of these "three fronts", we already know two from what precedes.
it has the virtue of a motto: "Islam began expatriate and will There is a fight against Sunnism as a pure religion of the sharî'at,
become an expatriate again as he was at the beginning. Blessed that of the doctors of the Law refusing the vivification of this Law
are those among the community by its spiritual truth, its gnosis.
nity of Mohammad who emigrate (the ghorabâ)62 . »
Positions are net; they are even more so if, under the pretext of
This call from Imam Ja'far, as we already know, is one of those modernizing the sharî'at, we make “religious law” “social religion”.
And then there is a second fight, more painful and more pathetic
62. Cf. our study on The “ Book of the Glorious” by Jabir ibn Hayyan (Eranos than the first, since it must be fought, and we have recalled why,
Jahrbuch XVIII), Zurich 1950, pp. 104 ss. within Shi'ism,

where the 'orafâ and the hokamâ, faithful to the integral teaching of the Gine Shî'ite, and the Sufis who, because of the same forgetfulness, vitu
holy Imams, find before them those of the doctors of the Law, the fathered Shi'ism. Both affect to ignore that the teaching of the holy Imams
foqahâ, who outwardly profess Shi'ism, but who in fact have forgotten conceals all the secrets of the higher sciences. Both have deliberately
left this aspect aside, claiming that this teaching only concerns the
the very vocation of Shi ism, forgotten its esoteric teaching which is the
deepening and the transfiguration of the prophetic Revelation by the domain of the exoteric sciences, the ritual of the Law, jurisprudence;
Imams. some have even insinuated that, if the Imams had a secret, they did not
Finally there is an even more subtle combat, faced with a certain Sufism pass it on to anyone. Those of the foqahâ shî'ites who behaved in this
forgetful of its own origins, a Sufism which, by denying Shi'ism, by way did so to deny the very existence of esotericism. As for those of the
forgetting the origins and the source of the walayat, is mistaken as to Sufis who acted in this way, it was to deny their origin, quite simply
the one who is the “Seal”, and which, by exaggerating the practice of forgetting that, without Shi'ism and the Imams, their own theosophy
certain techniques to the detriment of what is 'irfân, gnosis, can would not exist (cf. texts quoted infra book IV, I) .
degenerate into a pious obscurantism, no longer responding to the
problems and expectations of men.
The Imams were not simply interpreters of the sharî'at, or rather it
As we will see again (infra book IV), the entire great book of Haydar should be said that it was by interpreting the sharî'at as they did, that
Âmoli responds to this purpose: to bring the foqahâ to recognize the they were the guides on the mystical path. (tarîqat) and the masters of
necessity of mystical gnosis ('irfân), and to rally those of the Sufis who higher theological knowledge (the haqîqat). Shaykh Ahmad Ahsâ'î and
are in a way the lost witnesses of Shi'ism within Sunnism. The original the Shaykh school, from the 18th century to the present day, have not,
relationship between Sufism and Shi'ism will then be reestablished. On in turn, maintained anything else; their spiritual combat was directed in
this condition depends, for Haydar Âmoli, whether spiritual Islam the same direction as that of a Haydar Amoli. That the Twelve Imams
survives or perishes. From the fourteenth century, this was a perfect are primordial theophanies; that in their spiritual entity existing prior to
glimpse of the problems that the evolution of Shi'ism in Iran was going their earthly manifestation (cf. already supra chap. II), they are invested
to pose with growing acuteness up to the present day. And the terms in with a cosmogonic function, these are not so many speculative theories
which they were posed remain current in the eyes of anyone who belatedly constructed, but evidence stated in the most old hadîih, those,
understands that what is at stake in the triple combat is none other than for example, collected in the Kitâb al Hojjat of Kolaynî. If the Christian
the divine deposit entrusted to man. hermeneutics of the Bible cannot fail to place Christology at the center,
for its part the Shiite hermeneutics of the Qurân is necessarily an
"imamocentric" hermeneutics. This, because imamology conceals within
itself the secret of God and of man, which means the secret of the
2. - The divine deposit entrusted to man relationship established between God and man, insofar as this relationship
could only be established by "men of light" designated as prophets.
What is in question is knowing whether, yes or no, in the absence of
what the word batin connotes (the interior, the hidden, the esoteric, the
"mystical") the Islamic doctrine in its whole is deprived of the constitutive
element which finally gives it its meaning; if the teaching of the Imams
of Shi'ism constitutes precisely this esotericism of Islam, as forming an The theophany of the Twelve Imams, or rather that of the Fourteen
integral part of the "phenomenon of the Holy Book", because they Immaculate, is accomplished as a descent from universe to universe, in
themselves constitute the esoteric of the Mohammadian Logos or a gradual succession analogous to the succession of theophanic meta
eternal prophetic Reality (Haqîqat mohammadiya) and that, therefore, morphoses of the Logos in the book of "Acts 63 of John
the whole phenomenon of the Holy Book postulates, from the outset, ". The integral hermeneutics of the revealed Book embraces
zâhir and batin, exoteric and esoteric. Also Haydar Âmoli does nothing
63. As the mystery of the "Cross of light", Acts of John, chap. 98 ss.
but behave like the hokamâ and 'orafâ shî'ites, everywhere and always, Idea of the metamorphoses of the Logos, already formulated in Philo, and
when he sends back to back those of the shî'ites who reject the gnosis which recurs frequently in the writings of Origen, showing the Savior man for
of Sufism, because they forget its meaning. ori men, Angel for Angels, cf. Joseph Barbel, Christos Angelos (Theo phaneia,
3), Bonn 1941, p. 292, no. 457,465, 469. This is again the idea that formulates
these different ontological states, in the order of their descent to "discipline of the arcane", taqîyeh or ketmân. Note that the attitude
the world of terrestrial man (cf. infra chap. v). designated by either word is not what we call “mental restriction”.
Moreover, there are a multitude of statements traditionally It is a saving clause, of course, and quite understandable in the
attributed to the Prophet and the Imams, statements which clarify case of the Shiites.
the allusions of the Qur'anic verses, to attest that Islam and the But, above all, it satisfies a principle of rigorous spiritual honesty.
Qur'anic Revelation imply and postulate an esoteric teaching, a If this honesty is prescribed by the Qurân, it is because there is
higher truth hidden. There would also be to mention here the whole something exoteric and something esoteric, and the veiled form in
collection of sermons (khotbat) attributed to one or other of the which the precept is stated corresponds all the better to its nature.
Imams, but in which an eternal Imam is expressed in fact, of whom Now, such is the esoteric meaning of the verses alluding to the
each of the twelve Imams was an exemplification on earth, since
entrusted deposit which must only be returned to him who has the
all are one and the same essence. Among all these sermons right to hold it, and par excellence, the following verse: "God
stands out the famous "Sermon of the Declaration" (khotbat al- commands you to restore to those whom they belong the entrusted
Bayân) 64, where the identity of the Imam with the Perfect Man deposits” (4: 61). It is because indeed, comments Haydar Âmoli,
(Anthropos teleios) is affirmed, a theme by which the imamology all the secrets of God (asrâr Allah), all the theosophical secrets,
shî 'ite attests to its link with the theological motif of the celestial are so many deposits that he entrusted to the heart of his Friends
Anthropos , familiar to all the gnoses which preceded it . trance, in (Awliya). To deliver them to him who has no right to them, because
Kufa where the 1st Imam had delivered this sermon. they exceed his capacity, is to incur both the rigors of the Law and
divine wrath.
This is why the Imams themselves have prescribed the observance
Let us mention only a few of them here: “I am the Sign of the Most of taqîyeh to their disciples.
Powerful. I am the First and the Last. I am the Manifest and the
Hidden. I am the Face of God. I am the hand of God. I am the In fact, such a conception of the nature of the "entrusted
deposit", foreseeing, with its consequences, the possibility that the
side of God. I am the One who in the Gospel is called Elijah. I am order to transmit it only to the person who is its "heir", expresses
the one who holds the secret of the Messenger of God..." so profoundly the secret of theosophy and the secret of the Holy
The statement of this theophanic secret spontaneously leads Book, that it reveals the very origin of the drama typified in the
our Shi'ite authors, such as Haydar Âmoli, to detect in the Qur'anic person of Adam, the earthly Adam, the man Adam. There is a
verses the commandment which imposes "discretion", Qur'anic verse whose gravity is such that the very existence and
the raison d'etre of what is called esotericism depend on it,
a Gnostic text like the Gospel according to Philip (edv and trans. Jacques E.
Ménard, Paris 1967), sentence 26. Cf. our study Divine Epiphany and Spiritual
because this verse links the mystery of God and the mystery of
Birth in Ismaili Gnosis (Eranos-Jahrbuch XXIII), 1955, chapter I, “Metamorphoses man as one and the same mystery. This is the verse where God
of theophanic visions”. himself declares: “We have proposed the deposit of our secrets in
64. Even if this sermon was not actually pronounced by the first Imam at the Heavens, on the Earth and in the mountains; all refused to
Kufa, it was, at a given moment, by an eternal Imam, in the Shi'ite consciousness,
and this is what is phenomenologically important. In fact, this sermon
assume it; all trembled to receive it. But the man agreed to do it;
recapitulates many scattered affirmations in the hadîth held to be the most he is violent and ignorant” (Qorân 33: 72).
authentic, and a thinker as exacting as Qâzî Sa'îd Qommî held for the authenticity
of this sermon which he himself commented on. It also seems identical with the To understand this verse, we must in short answer two questions:
Khotbat al-iftikhâr (Dharî'at, vol. III, n° 984), which is already mentioned by Ibn
Shahr-Ashûb, and there is a commentary on it by Hasan Sabbah, the founder of what deposit, what secrets are we talking about? Secondly, in what
Alamût (ob. 518/1124, cf. Kalami Pîr, ed. does the violence and ignorance or unconsciousness of man
W. Ivanov, pp. 79-81 of the Persian text). The Khotbat al-Bayân is one of a consist here? The two questions are inseparable from each other:
number of sermons in which Shi'ite gnosis most vigorously asserts itself; the what are the secrets that man could not have accepted if he had
Khotbat al-tatanjîya (“The preaching between the two gulfs”, tatanj — khalîj) has
been admirably commented on by Sayyed Kâzem Reshtî. We will come back to not been violent and ignorant?
this elsewhere. How could this violence and this ignorance precisely lead him to
65. Cf. Ismaili Trilogy, index, sv Dealing with this theme of the Anthropos in betray this deposit? The ambiguity of this violence and this
Imamite gnosis as in Ismaili gnosis would require a whole book, because it ignorance is formidable; Shiite hermeneutics perceives in it the
dominates their entire "adamology."
drama from which the present human condition originates,

the secret of the present destiny of humanity. It would also be hadith from the Prophet or the Imams; the idea dominates the whole
necessary to mobilize all the Shiite traditions, all the hadiths of the cosmogony and anthropology of Shiite gnosis.
Imams, coming, more or less close, within the reach of this verse. It There is, among other things, a very long interview of the Ve Imam,
would take a whole book. Imam Mohammad al-Baqir, with his disciple Jabir al-Jo'fî.
In very brief, there is what the Imams have repeated in the hadith: We can only indicate here a few major features of this sumptuous
“This secret was our walayat. Now, the walâyat is itself the member hadith 67. The initial affirmation is the constant affirmation: the Prophet
of a triad constituted by a triple acquiescence: to the Unity of the and the Imams were the first created beings, when there was neither
Unique (tawhîd), to the exoteric mission of the prophets (nobowwat), Heaven nor Earth, neither place, nor night nor day, neither sun nor
to the esoteric mission of the Friends of God (walayat). The weight moon, neither Adam nor earthly humanity. The Fourteen Immaculate
which man took upon himself is the weight of this triple Attestation proceeded as Fourteen Lights (Fourteen “Aions” of light) which are, in
(shahâdat). But the very idea of this triple shahâdat, what the second relation to the light of their Lord, like the rays of the sun in relation to
and third phases of it aim at, postulates the existence of a humanity the sun. There is even here something like a reminiscence of the visio
entirely of light, a "celestial" superhumanity, pre-existing to the Adamic smaragdina of the Apocalypse: the Fourteen Lights are around the
humanity, to that of Adam the Earthly. This is why the integral meaning ineffable Presence like so many pavilions of green color ("And the
of the Qur'anic verse is intelligible only according to the whole of the Throne was surrounded by a rainbow similar to emerald” — Rev. 4:3).
cosmogony and the prophetology of the Shiite gnosis. And it is From this pleroma of the Fourteen Lights, the genesis of the worlds
according to this integral meaning that Adam's violence and ignorance takes place in the following succession: the Place of the places, the
show an ambiguity, a double face, one of which is in praise of Adam cosmic Throne, the Heavens and the Angels, the Air and the geniuses,
while the other was his downfall, and by this duality establishes the finally the man-Adam.
agreement between the different Shiite allusions to this verse. Let us
try to explain the content of these indications which are a little too At each of the acts of the cosmogony, reappears in one way or
dense. another, in mysterious characters, the triple Attestation (shahâdat),
affirming the divine Singularity (tawhîd), the prophetic mission
It is advisable to always bear in mind the attestation that the Prophet (nobowwat) and the initiatory mission (walâyat ), because to each of
and the Imam bear respectively to themselves: “I was already a these acts of the cosmogony corresponds a particular theophany of
prophet (a nabî)... I was already a wali (an Imam) , while Adam was the pleroma of the Fourteen Lights.
still between water and clay”, that is to say while Adam was not yet The acts of cosmogony and anthropogenesis end with a solemn
formed. enthronement of the Fourteen Immaculate: “It is because of you that
This means that prior to Adamic humanity, to that of the earthly Adam, I have created what I have created. You are the elite placed between
and immeasurably prior to the chronologies of what our human me and my creation. I have veiled myself through you to my creatures
sciences call prehistory, preexists a seraphic humanity, a group of other than you. I have made you such that it is through you that one
human creatures of pure light, immaculate, preserved from all fall, finds oneself in front of me, and that it is through you that every
"infallible", unlike Adamic humanity; it is the pleroma of the Fourteen request is addressed to me. For everything is going to perish except
Immaculate (Chahârdeh Ma'sûm). Our texts, the commentaries of my Face (cf. Qurân 55: 26-27) and you are, you, my Face.
Qâzî Sa'îd Qommî for example, designate them by significant terms: You do not perish,68and whoever chooses you as friends will not perish.
».
supreme humanity, humanity of the heights (al-bashar al-'awâlî),
archangelic humanity (anas 'aqlîyûn), men of light (bashar nûrîyûn) This solemn text is particularly typical of what is called hadîth
etc. In their nostalgia and ecstasy of love (walah wa hayaman), these qodsî, an inspired narrative in which God speaks (as
beings of light surround the Sublime Throne, the invisible Temple
which is the archetype of the temples of all the universes . treatises on the esoteric meaning of the five great religious practices (asrâr
al-'ibâdât). We are referring here to chapter IV of the Kitâb Asrâr al-Hajj (Book
of the esoteric meanings of pilgrimage), faith. 182 (personal ms).
67. This hadith comes from the Riyaz al-Jannân of Fazlollâh Mahmûd Fârsî
(supra p. 52, n. 23); it is confirmed by other hadith of Sadûq Ibn Bâbûyeh (infra
p. 100, n. 69).
66. Cf. Qâzî Sa'îd Qommî, in his great commentary on the hadith cited above
p. 80, no. 54. The author has here developed his commentary into a broad 68. I quoted in Tafstr Mir'at al-anwâr, p. 28-29.

in the Qurân itself) to His first person, and whose form finds its Of course, the transmission of this Light does not belong to a
explanation and its justification in the whole of prophetic gnoseology physiology of the physical organism. It must be understood in the
(infra chap. VI). From a text of this kind it emerges that the Fourteen manner of what concerns the physiology of the “subtle body”. It
Aions of light are the primordial theophanic Figures, initial supports allusively indicates the only idea of “incarnate nation” that Islamic
of the very idea of Theophany. For "to create the world" is for the prophetology could recognize.
abyssal God to become known, and it is by these Figures alone that Finally, it is the precise reminiscence in Islamic theology of the
he can be known, since, in whatever direction one turns, they are theme of the "True Prophet", professed in primitive Christian
the divine Face that the 'we meet. Man can only know God by his prophetology, that of Judeo-Christianity or Ebionicism (the "True
Names and his Attributes, and these Figures are the support of Prophet" hastening, from prophet to prophet, until 'instead of his
these Names and these Attributes. rest, this being, for Christianity, the person of Jesus, while, in Islam,
he is the person of Mohammad).
Hence the name of Hojjat (guarantor, proof) given to them par
excellence: the Fourteen Immaculate are those who "answer for" These elements being united, we can glimpse what is the secret
the God whom no one can see or reach, and this is why they are entrusted to the deposit of the man-Adam, and how the
the imperishable divine Face . . We will see later that this is the very unconsciousness which allows him to agree to take charge of it,
secret of the "imamocentrism" of Shiite spirituality (infra chap. VII). also leads him to betray it.
The holy Imams have repeatedly repeated, in their lessons, that
This hadith is confirmed by many others, such as those collected the secret whose deposit is thus offered to the human creature is
by Shaykh Sadûq Ibn Bâbûyeh 69, where Prophet and Imam are their walayat71 , that is to say this qualification which makes them
described as two primordial Spirits forming one and the same Light, the "Friends of God" (Awlîyâ Allah), the "guardians of the divine
bi-unity expressing the double "dimension" of the Haqîqat cause " (al-amr al-ilâhî), invested with the mission which doubles
mohammadîya . It emerges from this that, pre-eternally, the and completes the prophetic mission (nobowwat) and whose end is
superhumanity of the Mohammadian Logos or of the Mohammadian to initiate those who "choose as friends and as guides", in the hidden
Light (Nûr mohammadî) pre-exists the Adamic humanity. The nature spiritual sense, in the esoteric sense of the divine revelations
of this superhumanity becomes even more precise when God wants imparted to the prophets. To "take them as friends" is, on the part of
to create Adam the terrestrial, since the Creator then "kneads" a their faithful, to dedicate their love to them (their walayat or their
portion of this Light with a portion of the "clay" of 'Illîyûn (the highest mahabbat, the two words frequently alternating), thus devoting this
degree of the paradises), and this substance of light is inserted into love to the divine Face which is shown in them. to men, and it is
the substance of Adam. It is thus the divine “dimension” (jihat precisely this, we now know, that by which, in the form of Shi'ism,
haqqiya, the lâhût) which, in the being of the prophets, doubles the Islam as a prophetic religion is a religion of love. Those who "take
human and creaturely “dimension” (jihat khalqîya, the nâsût) ; by them as friends" are preserved from perishing, for the divine Face is
the first, the prophets receive from God; by the second they imperishable. This is why the attestation of this walayat, as a
communicate to men. Because this substance of light introduced devotion of love responding, on the side of the faithful, to the divine
into Adam will be transmitted, from prophet to prophet, until the final love of which the Twelve Imams are the object, — this attestation
period of the cycle of prophecy: from 'Abdol-Mottalib, the common (shahâdat) is the final and indispensable achievement of a triple
ancestor of the prophet Mohammad and the Imam ' Ali, this Attestation: Attestation of the Unique (the Super being, the Ineffable,
substance of light splits into two halves, which are manifested the Unpredictable), Attestation of the prophetic mission which reveals
respectively in the person of the Prophet as "Seal of prophecy" and it to men (as to its Names, its Attributes, its Operations), Attestation
in the person of the Imam as "Seal of walayat ". of the 'Imamat by
70
».
'Abdol-Mottalib was the father of 'Abdollah, father of the Prophet, and of Abû-
69. Hadîth collected in the Kitâb al-Mi'râj of Sadûq Ibn Bâbuyeh, quoted in Tâlib, father of Imam 'Alî.
Tafsîr Mir'at al-anwûr, p. 30. 71. Cf. the hadîth of the Imams collected as a commentary on verse 33: 72 in
70. Tafsir, pp. 25 and 39; Qazi Sa'id Qommi, 136b ; Haydar Amoli, op. cit., Kitâb al-Borhân fî tafsîr al-Qorân by Hâshim b. Solaymân al-Hosayn al Bahrânî
index of hadîth and index of technical terms sv nûr. We recall that (ob. 1107 or 1109 h.), Tehran 1375 (1956), vol. III, pp. 340 sec.
this walâyat, devotion of love constitutive of the faith itself (îmân), which attests that the Imâm The Shî'ite doctors are in fact in agreement on the meaning of the scene of the primordial
is the initiating guide to the hidden meaning of these Names, these Attributes, these "Covenant" described in the Qur'anic verse 7:171, on the scope of the interrogation posed to
Operations. men in the mystery of metahistory: Am I not your Lord? ( A -lasto bi-rabbi-kom?). At the same
This is why all the Shiite doctors agree on this point: the tawhÿd, the Attestation of the time as the tawhîd, was eo ipso then proposed to all the posterity of Adam the commitment
Unique, is towards the Attestation of the prophetic mission in the same relation as the latter towards the message of the prophets to come and towards the imâmate of their Imâms 75.
74
towards the Attestation of the Imam of the twelve Imams; in other words, the walâyat has the Certainly, although humanity then responded by a "yes", his doctors know that this "yes" was ,
same relationship to the nobowwat as the latter has to the tawhîd. The three phases of the not pronounced by everyone in the same way. But the fact remains that in the humanity of
Certificate form an inseparable whole. The testimony given to the Twelve Imams, being the Adam, as we recalled above, had been deposited the pure substance of light of the prophetic
resounding, in the heart of the faithful, of the walayat of which they are the object on the part messages to come. It is precisely by this pure substance of light that the man-Adam answers
of God, this testimony closes and seals the whole, to such an extent that without the walayat , this "yes". It is in him what utters this "yes" (and this is symbolized by this feature of hierohistory,
without this devotion to love that the term connotes, not only is faith vain, but there is no faith
the Prophet saying to the Imam: "Me and you,
( îmân) in the full sense of the word . in the universe, at each level of the theophanies, because
it concerns the Principle and the double movement of which the Principle is both the point of
origin and the point of return: movement of genesis which proceeds from it and movement of
return which leads back to it . , mabda' and ma'ad. This pair of terms expresses under its
72
cosmic aspect the same bi-unity of which other examples express the religious aspect: tanzîl
.
and ta'wîl (descent of Revelation and renewal of the letter revealed to its archetype by
spiritual hermeneutics) , sharî'at and haqîqat (religious Law and its spiritual truth), nobowwat ancestor of the earthly Adamics (7:171). On the other hand, there will still be occasion
(prophetic mission) and imâmat. This is why, at each level of theophanies, of the beings who to note that the prostration of the Angels before Adam (2:28) concerns only the lower
populate the universe corresponding to this theophanic level, the same triple commitment malâ'ikas , not the four Angels who support the Throne ('arsh), nor those who are called
al-'âlûna (the Sublime) and who are the Veils, the Lights of the Haqîqat mohammadîya
(mithâq) has been asked, until the descent of theophanies reaches man. earthly of which the Throne is constituted (because it is before these Lights shining in Adam that
the malâ'ika precisely bowed down) , nor the Karûbîyûn (Cherubim) who are called the
"angels of the Veils". Cf. Shaykh Ahmad Ahsâ'î, commentary on the Ziyarat al jâmi'a
(supra n. 48), p. 117. Imamite Adamology, like Ismaili Adamology, knows an Adam at
several levels (Adam al-akbar, Adam the major, the cosmic Adam, Adam al-asghar,
Adam the minor, the little Adam, etc.).
74. It is necessary to mention here one of the strongest pages of Molla Sadra
commenting on the Qur'anic verse 7: 171, in his great commentary on Kolaynî, Sharh al-
osûl mina'l-Kafi, Tehran nd, p. 321. Sadrâ refers to the different levels of manifestation of
souls (at the level of the world of Intelligences, of Malakût, of the mundus imaginalis or
barzakh, finally of the physical world). He refers to the doctrine of the pre-existence of
73
.
souls in Plato, and he observes its perfect agreement with verse 7:171. However, he
considers that one should not simply speak of pre-existence; we must take into account
that "over there" the souls have another mode of being and of manifestation. The zohûr of
72. Cf. Tafsîr Mir'at al-anwâr, pp. 19 and 25 ss. (chap. IV: that the walâyat was which the verse speaks, the “lobos” which contained the sons of Adam, were precisely the
presented to men at the same time as the tawhîd). Intelligences, the 'oqûl as being their “fathers”, during their pre-existence at the level of the
73. Cf. Qâzî Sa'îd Qommî, the Kitâb asrâr al-Hajj (supra p. 98, n. 66), chapter v, world of Intelligence. We will come back to this hermeneutics in the context of a work
which begins with a long hadîth of the Sixth Imam concerning the secret of the Black specially devoted to Molla Sadrâ Shîrâzî. Let us simply observe here that this agreement
Stone (cf. our study on The Configuration of the Temple of the Ka'ba as the secret of between Platonism and Shiism on the pre-existence of souls is not inaugurated by Molla
the spiritual life, in Eranos-Jahrbuch XXXIV, pp. 129 ss.). "What comes to mind, writes Sadra. Already seven centuries earlier Ibn Babûyeh in his Kitâb al-l'tiqâdât (symbol of
Qâzî Sa'îd, to explain this mysterious story, is that the best thing to say is that the faith), a fundamental work for Shi'ite thought, professed the doctrine of pre-existence in
reception of the commitment (mîthâq) took place in several abodes or successive terms whose Platonic resonance is striking.
levels , according to the descent of the thing from the upper Heavens to the lower
Heavens”, fol. 183.
The Tafsîr Mir'at al-anwâr draws the same teaching from a long hadîth of the Ve Imâm,
where it is said among other things: "Then He created the angels, then He showed 75- On the implication of the recognition of the walâyat of the Imams in the “yes” (balâ)
himself to them and received from them the mithâq towards him -even as regards the given in response, the “day of the Covenant” (mîthâq) to the question “ A-lasto? » see
rohûbîyat, towards Mohammad as regards the nohowwat, towards 'Alî as regards the particularly the Tafsîr Mir'at al-anwâr, Moqadam mat I, Maqâlat II, 4th fasl., pp. 25 sec.
walâyat ”, p. 29. There was therefore a mithâq prior to that which was asked of the Adam

we were the first to answer yes”). The formidable burden before God 76. ” He could then assume the weight of the esoteric, the
which the Heavens, the Earth and the mountains had trembled, secret of those to whom it was said: “You are my Face. »
man agrees to assume it (Qorân 33: 72). And what he says yes For his part, Qâzî Sa'îd Qommî will say that in this state, it is
with human knowledge as it is with spiritual circles where, unlike
to is to the very secret of the theophanies, to the mystery of the
revealed Face of the Unknowable, which can only reveal itself by material circles, “it is the center that surrounds the periphery. The
concealing itself in Figures which reveal it, and that is there even intelligence as center "encompasses" all the lights which are its
what ties the permanent link between imamology and the esoteric. knowledge. Hence “knowledge is a single point of which only the
ignorant make a multiplicity”. This multiplicity blossoms with the
There too a grandiose hermeneutics is given free rein, other, and this is why Qâzî Sa'îd Qommî can say that it is to this
developing what in Shiite spirituality would correspond to the ignorance that verse 33:72 alludes. Thus, as long as Adam, the
77
theme De dignitate hominis of our Platonists of the Renaissance. man, does not know that he there is other than God to be, he is
.
The man had to be violent and unconscious to take on the deposit capable of carrying, by the force of his sublime ignorance, the
of such a formidable secret, and in this aspect both qualifications weight of divine secrets: he is the "theophor". The moment comes
turn to his praise. Haydar Âmoli says it: there are magnificent when God is no longer enough, he then ceases to ignore
secrets there, themes of unfathomable depth. He also devoted a everything that is other than God, and at the same time, posits
whole treatise (Risâlat al amâna) to them, of which unfortunately this other. Theophanic Figures are other than God; so why would
we have not been able to find any manuscript up to now. he need their mediation? And their mediation becoming
However, we can supplement this to a certain extent by all that superfluous, why would he not have direct access himself to the
this same Qur'anic verse (33:72) has inspired Shi'ite commentators. esoteric, without the intermediary of an exoteric who manifests
and reveals it? Because from the moment that there is the other,
he himself is also this other; therefore why would he still need
This violence and this ignorance to which man testifies by someone other than himself? Sublime ignorance turns around
assuming the divine deposit, what are they? A courageous and is inverted into a vertigo of pride before himself, a vertigo
violence that man, typified in Adam, does to himself: to assume that blinds him to any recognition of the other, and pushes him to
the divine secret is to annihilate his own self before absolute appropriate everything that belongs to the other. It is this vertigo
Selfhood; it is to decide to ignore everything that is other than that hierohistory still symbolically recounts.
God, to even ignore that there is anything other than God. At this
limit, the mystery of man is resolved in the mystery of God.
The secret of the Attestation of the Unique is to deny all that is The divine secret referred to in the Qur'anic verse 33:72 was
not God, it is to know that there is only God to be (this is what the walayat of the Imams; we now know the reason, — the reason
Haydar Âmoli calls tawhîd ontological, in relation to which why this walayat was precisely the tree of paradise which should
theological tawhîd is only a first phase, such that, if one stops not be touched, the tree which should not be desecrated. In his
there, one risks succumbing to the trap of metaphysical idolatry). commentary on this verse, Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq
78
indicates that Adam was given the vision of
When a thing transgresses its limit, it turns into its opposite.
So it was with the violence and ignorance in question: they had 76. Cf. Mullâ Fathollâh, Minhaj al-Sâdiqîn (great commentary on the Qurân
been, in fact, a heroic madness, a sublime unconsciousness, in Persian, in 3 vols. in-fol.), Tehran 1309 h., vol. II, ad 33:72.
77. Cf. Qâzî Sa'îd Qommî, Comment. of the Tawhîd of Ibn Bâbuyeh, chap. II,
without which the man-Adam could not have assumed the secrets 35th hadith, 4 matlab, fol 137, which refers here to the so-called Theology of Aristotle.
and
of God. The two qualifications are therefore well here to the Haydar Amoli, for his part, also commented at length on this verse; ignorance of the
praise of man: Adam, by the concentration of his spiritual energy other is the basis of ontological tawhÿd . The secret of the deposit entrusted to
(his Minuta), lifted the weight, although this weight was beyond Adam was the walâyat of the Imams, and Adam having come to betray this deposit,
the declaration of the Sixth Imam then takes on an extraordinary allusive significance:
his strength. Someone asked him (who? symbolic history does “Our cause is heavy, difficult; only an angel of the highest rank, a prophet sent or a
not say): “You have prejudged your strength. Didn't you know the believer whose heart God has tested for faith can assume it. »
burden was overwhelming? »
And Adam replies: "I didn't know anything other than 78. Cf. and Kitâb al-Borhân (supra p. 101, n. 71), vol, III, pp. 340-342.
the divine superhumanity of the Fourteen Immaculate in the blazing verse 33:72 binds together the mystery of God and the mystery of
Glory of the Throne. Adam is astonished: does there exist a man.
humanity superior to his, created "in Heaven" prior to him? Now, No less remarkable is the consonance between the Ismaili
precisely the light of these superhumans, of this "celestial" humanity, hermeneutic and the Twelver Shiite hermeneutic of Adam's fault.
was the deposit which was entrusted to him and of which he had For both of them, it is clearly not a drama of the flesh, but a drama
assumed the secret. These, at the level of their Adamic of human knowledge.
manifestation, had to be his own lineage. According to Ismaili hierohistory 80, Adam had been constituted as
But this is what is no longer enough for the man-Adam. This deposit prophet and Imam from the beginning of our present "cycle of
entrusted to him, he wants to seize it for himself. He succumbs to a occultation" (dawr al-satr), whose conditions differ completely from
dizziness of ambition, transgresses his own limit by wanting to those of the cycle of epiphany (dawr al-kashf). who preceded him.
achieve himself, already, the rank which could only be manifested The laws of knowledge are different; man can have the perception
at the end of his line, with the one who would be the "Seal of the of spiritual things only by the thorough knowledge of correspondences.
walayat ”. But analogical knowledge, the perception of symbols, presupposes
That was to touch the "forbidden tree," to violate the "discipline the bipolarity of sharî'at and haqîqat, of the positive letter and
of the arcane." The tree symbolizes both the walayat of the Imams spiritual truth or gnosis, of the exoteric and the esoteric. Now what,
which the man-Adam claims to replace, and the science of the on the suggestion of Iblis, Adam wants to achieve is a knowledge
Imams, the science of this humanity of light (bashar nûrîyûn), to that is beyond his measure: he aspires to the direct perception of
which the man-Adam wants prematurely to reach, then that he has the esoteric, of the hidden spiritual reality, by stripping it of exoteric
neither the strength nor the capacity to carry it. “He is violent and envelope through which it shines through and which signifies it
ignorant,” says verse 33:72. (some fashionable theologians today speak of "demystification" and
As Qâzî Sa'îd Qommî explains with remarkable depth, the knowing "demythologization", without really realizing what they are doing).
subject and the objects of his knowledge (the cognoscibles) are
necessarily on an equal level. The cognoscibles are actualized by
the knowing subject, just as food becomes part of the subject who Adam thus wants to seize, by violence, a knowledge which is
feeds on it. essentially science of the Resurrection, and which it belongs to the
Now, by touching the tree of Knowledge which was forbidden to last Imam of the cycle (the Qa'im) to reveal to men. This knowledge
him, by "eating" its fruit, its "knowable things", Adam eo ipso obliged escaping him, because it exceeds his capacity, Adam only finds
them to "descend"; and it was that very 79
thing, for him, eo ipso, himself faced with his own nudity, that is to say his own inner
"descending from paradise. What is remarkable
». in this conception darkness, his own ignorance.
is the link thus established between the transgression of Adam, In wanting to “bare” the esoteric, what Adam is laying bare of it is
of man, and the transgression of the esoteric. The Shiite gnosis, as his own impotence to know. To lose the sense of symbols is to be
esoteric of prophetic Revelation, rejected and persecuted by all "the stripped of the garment of the divine Word which, like a robe of light,
violent and the ignorant", could only be attentive, as it was, to the dispelled all darkness within. What remains then? The remembrance
meaning of this transgression, which is in fact a regression that of lost symbols, and this is what, for man, covers his nudity with the
degrades knowledge, reducing it to a lower level, prohibiting the "leaves of the garden"...
perception of symbols. No more hierognosis communicating with
the universes beyond; more perception of supersensory spiritual We therefore understand that in the inner sense of the verses
things. By casting off the weight of divine secrets first assumed, by
betraying the trust entrusted to him, man has become an agnostic.
80. See the note Comparative Spiritual Hermeneutics (cited above p. 27,
It is in this sense that one can say that n. 4) in which are studied the chapters that Qâzî No'mân, in his Asâs al-
ta'wîl, devotes to Adam and Noah. It is striking to note the convergence of
the Ismaili hermeneutics of the case of Adam and the case of Noah with the
spiritual neutic hermeneutics of Swedenborg in his Arcana caelestia (the
detailed references are given in the quoted study). See also our History of
79. Qâzi Sa'îd Qommi, Kitâb asrâr al-Hajj (supra p. 98, n. 66), chap. VII, Islamic Philosophy I, pp. 60 ss., 124 ss., as well as our study Epiphanie
fol. 186. divine... (quoted supra p. 95, n, 63), pp. 162 seq.
Qurânic prescribing fidelity to the entrusted deposit, Shiite esotericism, with All the heavier is this deposit that the man-Adam now bears it through
Haydar Âmoli, understands the imperative to which its own existence is his nostalgia and his repentance, that is to say after having found it after a
linked: "O you who are faithful, do not betray God and his Messenger, by long quest. Among the conversations of Imam Ja'far there is a magnificent
betraying the deposits which have been entrusted to you, since you are symbolic narrative, the motif of which bears a striking reminiscence of the
among those who know” famous Song of the Pearl in the Gnostic book of the "Acts of Thomas" and
(8:27). This entrusted deposit, we have been shown what it is, and now we which thus perhaps provides us with the key to the symbolism of the "pearl"
can understand that there are two ways of betraying it, both of which lead and the "quest for the pearl" (we will find another reminiscence of this in the
to the same result. "Story of Western Exile" by Sohra Wardi, infra book II). The Imam asks a
disciple: “Do you know what the Black Stone is? (the Stone embedded in
One can betray it by wanting to seize it by violence, by stripping it of the one of the corners of the Ka'ba temple at Mecca)". And the Imam to teach
envelope which conditions its transparency, by renouncing the “discipline his disciple that the Black Stone had been an angel given as a companion
of the arcane”. In doing so, it is handed over to the inept who, unable to to Adam in paradise, to remind him of his promise (his commitment, the
understand it, can only violate and distort it. They confuse, for example, mithâq). Better said still: she was the angel who, at the center of Adam's
what is spiritual resurrection and what is social insurrection; the finality of being, had received the charge of the "trusted deposit", for it is in the
their effort no longer even reaches the limit where the idea of the new birth, malakut, the angelic world of the soul, it is that is to say, in the esoteric of
spiritual birth (wilâdat rûhânîya) imposes its meaning. the visible world, that the scenes evoked by the Qur'anic verses of the
"Covenant" (7: 171) and the "entrusted deposit" (33 72) are accomplished.
When, because of his repentance, God returned to Adam, he changed this
But one can also betray the entrusted deposit by denying it purely and Angel into a “white pearl” that he projected from paradise towards Adam
simply, and this negation is remarkably facilitated by the first form of “descending” on the road to exile. But Adam did not recognize it at first and
:
betrayal, since by this the esoteric has already ceased to be what it was, saw only
thissome
pearl stone.
from itsIt coating,
was necessary
so that that
the pearl,
by hisby
repentance
resuming he
its peeled
first form,
and that its contents have been distorted. Pure and simple rejection is all spoke to him, reminded him of his commitment and awakened in him the
forms of agnosticism, from the pious agnosticism of the doctors of the Law memory of his homeland of light. So Adam wept.
and their social successors, to the positivism of the technocrats. The former
degrade the knowledge of spiritual things to the level of knowledge of
natural or social things, the latter ignore all spiritual science. The agreement
between one and the other is easy. What happens then is with the rejection
of all that connotes the esoteric, the radical degradation of the exoteric itself
(the zâhir), because there can be no sharî'at in the state true in the absence And again the angel is hidden and disappears under the appearance of a
of gnosis ('irfan and haqîqat), and it is absurd to speak of an "orthodox" very precious mineral, which Adam carries on his shoulder all along the
Sufism as a Sufism which would be without gnosis. Left to itself, the exoteric route that leads him from Ceylon to Mecca.
(the sensible, the manifest), ceasing to symbolize with the invisible, with When he is tired, the angel Gabriel who accompanies him, relieves him to
the supersensible, is nothing more than still life, desiccated bark, derisory carry him in turn. This is how the "angel of Adam", the esoteric of Adam,
chrysalis. Shari'at , as understood by legalistic and social religion, and came into this world. And the Black Stone was placed at one of the angles
Nature as questioned and exploited by technocratic science, are only two of the Temple which is at the center of the world, since the angel is at the
aspects of the same degradation. Secularization and socialization of the center of Adam's being81 .
spiritual go hand in hand with the will to power of a utilitarian and agnostic
science. This is why the external danger coming from the "technique" of the This entrusted deposit, the angel hidden in Adam, this is the weight of
West is a danger for traditional Shiite Islam only insofar as it would have the divine secrets that Adam, after having found the pearl of gnosis, carries
rejected, betrayed "the divine deposit assumed by man ". with him. So heavy is the weight that Gabriel, the Angel of Knowledge and
Revelation, must help carry it.
81. For the "secret of the Black Stone", as set forth in a long hadith by
Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, commented on by Qazi Sa'id Qommi, cf. our study
on The Configuration of the Temple of the Ka'ba (quoted supra p. 102, n.
73), pp. 130 sec.
83
As well, the Imams of Shi'ism repeated one after the other the sentence that to the imam: "What is gnosis? The Imam, to test him, replies: "What have you
we already know: “Our cause is difficult, heavy to assume; only an Angel of the to do with gnosis?" and to explain to him why it would be harmful to both of
highest rank can do it, or a prophet sent, or a believer whose heart God has them if he spilled such a secret from his person to his: a vessel cannot contain
tried for faith. We will see later (chap. v) that this declaration of the Imams more than its capacity, and the Imam has order to put everything in its place. It
preludes all their esoteric teaching. These tested believers are those of the is precisely this disposition that Komayl then invokes: “Can someone like you,
Shiites whose "yes", the acquiescence during the pre-eternal scene of the he says to the Imam, disappoint the expectation of the one who questions him?
"Covenant", was without reluctance, those who "were created from a ray of the
light of the Fourteen Immaculate". . Imam Ja'far also alludes to it again in the
great hadith that we quoted throughout here previously (supra p. 52): “Our Can someone of your rank, with regard to the high knowledge of spiritual
cause is difficult, said Imam. To sustain it, we need consciences where dawns realities and with regard to the discernment of the aptitude of each one, frustrate
rise, hearts ablaze with light, healthy souls, beautiful natures. It is because God the one who questions him, deny him his right, cause his goal to remain
has indeed already adored the commitment of our Shi'ites [...]. Oh my God! forbidden to him, because will he have refrained from answering him? No, the
Make them live with our life, make them die with our death. Do not let the divine precept: As for the one who asks, do not reject him (Qorân 93: 10), - this
enemy prevail over them, because if you let the enemy prevail over them, there precept makes it your duty to answer, taking as maxim that of the Prophet:
will no longer be anyone to adore you in this world. These are the witnesses When speaking to people, speak to each according to his intelligence. »
who assume internal Shi'ism. gral and perpetuate the transmission of gnosis in
this world (the silsilat al-'irfân); they are those who can carry the weight of the
entrusted deposit, assume the cause of the Imams, because they are the Then the Imam grants the request and begins to explain: “Gnosis is the
believers "whose heart God has tried for the faith", and that is why there was unveiling of the oratories of the divine Majesty, without anything being able to
82
»
never only a handful of true believers around the Imams... These are the ones
.
be shown. - Explain to me again. — It is the obliteration of all the conjectural,
to whom we hear the first Imam alluding already during an interview with his the serenity of the known in all certainty. - Explain to me again. — The veil is
disciple Komayl . torn, the secret has triumphed. - Explain to me again. — A light has dawned
from the dawn of preeternity; it shines in the temples of Tawhîd (that is to say
in the persons of those who profess True Unity. A gloss from one of our
manuscripts adds in the margin: this light is the eternal Imam ). - Explain to me
again. - Turn off the lamp, morning is up. — After that, the Imam remained
silent. »
Such a text would suffice in itself to show us that the teaching of the Imams,
the source of Shiite theosophy, puts us in the presence of something which
3. - The interviews of the 1st Imam with Komayl ibn Ziyad differs just as much from the dialectic of the scholastics of Islam (the
Motakallimum) that of the demonstrative method of the Hellenizing philosophers
In fact, we are particularly thinking here of two interviews of the first Imam (the falâsifa), and of the indifference of the pious ascetics with regard to
with Komayl ibn Ziyad, who was one of his disciples and outstanding Knowledge. It is a typical form of teaching that is too little considered in general
companions. The first of these interviews, for the purpose pursued here, forms among us, when we speak
a sort of introduction to the second. These are the texts that best show us the
meaning and the challenge of "spiritual combat" according to the thought of
the Imam, and also what spiritual chivalry is able to support it.
83. On Komayl ibn Ziyad, disciple and companion of the 1st Imam, origin of the
silsilat komayliya among the Sufis (although Hujwîrî, Kashf al-Mahjûb, transl. RE
During the first of these interviews, Komayl asks Nicholson, so often quoted in the West, seems to ignore it, which is perhaps
significant), cf. Safinat Bihar al-anwar, II, 496-497; Mâmâqânî, Tanqîh al-Maqâl, II,
n° 9938; on the interview reported here, cf. Ma'sum 'Ali
Shah, Tara'iq al-haqa'iq, II, pp. 39-44. For haqîqat (and in the second entry tien
82. This is the long hadith already quoted above and referred to above in note 'ilm haqîqî) with the meaning of gnosis, cf. R. Strothmann, Gnosis-Texte der
23 on page 52. Ismailiten, Göttingen 1943, p. 54.

of Islam, so much so that we could be mistaken to the point of solemn solitude 85. The Imam takes Komayl by the hand, leads
speaking of Shi'ism as a "religion of authority", in the sense that him out of the city, into the desert, and there, having exhaled a
this term has in the West, so much have we lost the sense of deep sigh, he declares to him: “O Komayl ibn Ziyad! F°urs are
what spiritual initiation consists of. The Imam, as we can see, vases; the best of them are those with the greatest capacity. Take
does not impose any dogmatic formula. The science he teaches, away from me what I'm going to tell you. Men are of three
our authors characterize it as knowledge inherited by the soul ('ilm categories: there is the divine sage ('âlim rabbanî, the perfect
irthî, cf. infra chap. VI, 4). It is an inheritance to which the soul is theosophos ); there are those who, by receiving his teaching, are
entitled — and into possession of which it enters — to the extent led to Deliverance; and then there is the mass of the common,
of its ability. The heir is the one who is able to understand; he those who follow any agitator and turn in the direction of any wind.
does not have to conquer his heritage by the efforts of a These are not enlightened by Knowledge; they do not rest on a
conceptual dialectic. It is his degree of understanding that assures firm pillar. O Komayl! Knowledge is more valuable than material
his right to “succession”, and makes him someone to whom the goods; it is Knowledge (gnosis) that watches over you, while you
“entrusted deposit” can be handed over; this is what Komayl watch over material goods.
argued when he asked the Imam to answer him.
Admittedly, the text of the interview is difficult. It provoked Wealth is diminished by spending it. Knowledge is increased by
lengthy commentaries 84. Haydar Âmoli who will comment on it 86
lavishing it [...]. Knowledge is whatjudged.
judges;Owealth,
Komayl!which
the treasury
is
himself at length in the second part of the great work which will of material goods perishes, while the Gnostics are living, with a
be discussed later (infra book IV, chap. I) limits himself to life that continues forever and ever. Their physical persons
observing, by quoting it for the first time, that the ultimate disappear; others who resemble them in their heart, take their
significance of this interview is in the final line: “After that, the place. »
Imam kept silent. Which for him means: Komayl, led to the level
of the mystical path, can henceforth see with his own eyes. After And the Imam, with a gesture of his hand pointing to his own
that, there is no more question to ask in terms of rational dialectic, heart, continues: “Here there is superabundant gnosis. If only I
because dialectic is like the lamp in relation to the sun. The things could find men strong enough to wear it! Certainly, it happens to
that come under inner revelation and mystical experience can me to meet some subtle spirit, but I cannot give him my confidence,
ultimately neither be expressed nor shown, as the Imam allusively because the religious things are for him a means which he puts at
says from the start. Haydar Amoli draws a double consequence the service of the interests of this world; the benefits of God are
from this. First of all, it is in silence that the Gnostic attains the for him a pretext to prevail over the servants of God; the resources
goal of his search through a spiritual experience which is the of knowledge, a pretext to have the upper hand over the friends
highest possible degree of attainment of God. of God. Or else I happen to meet some docile spirit with regard to
the doctors, but who, in his conformity, is totally devoid of inner
Secondly, if the Imams divulged these divine secrets (asrâr vision; doubt enters his heart at the first difficulty that arises.
ilâhîya) to the most eminent of their disciples and familiars, no
one is permitted to divulge them before the unworthy and the
profane. Here again, a solemn reminder of the precept concerning
85. This text appears in Nahj al-Balâgha, ed. Hâjj Sayyed 'Alî-Naqî
the “trusted deposit”. So those who, from generation to generation, Fayz al-islâm, with trans. Persian, Tehran 1371 h. 1., vol. VI, art. 139, p.
assume the custody and transmission, who are they? 1144-1149. Cf. again Safinat Bihâr al-anwâr II, 224, and the new edition
of Bihâr al-anwâr, Tehran 1376 h. 1., t. I, p. 186; Shahrazôrî uses it in his
commentary on “Oriental Theosophy” (Hikmat al-Ishrâq) by Sohra wardî,
A second interview of the Imam with Komayl takes place in a cf. our edition (Iranian Bibl., vol. 2), pp. 302-303.
86. We should think here of the spiritual interpretation (ta'wîl) of zakât
(tithe or alms prescribed by the sharî'at) among the Ismailis: it is to
84. Notably by Haydar Amoli, in his Jami' al-asrâr (op. cit., supra p. 56, transmit the teaching of theosophy ('ilm-e Dîn) to the faithful followers, to
n. 29), cf. index sv Komayl; by 'Abdorrazzâq Kâshânî, the famous each in proportion to his need, that is to say to his capacity; see Kalami
commentator of Ibn 'Arabî; by Sayyed Mohammad Nûrbakhsh, cf. Tara'iq Pir ed. W. Ivanow, Bombay, 1935, p. 96 of the text, and Abû Ishaq
II, pp. 39-40; see also the commentary on Golshan-e Râz (The Rose Qûhistânî, Haft Bâb or Seven Chapters, ed. W. Ivanow, Bombay 1959, p.
Garden of Mystery) by Shamsoddîn Lâhîjî, ed. K. Samî'î, pp. 291-293. 54 of the Persian text.
Well no! neither this nor that (are worthy of my trust or my gnosis). Or of decisive importance. By deciding on the vocation of Shi'ism as an
again, I meet someone insatiable for pleasure, who lets himself be led initiation into a higher doctrine, as "esotericism", these traditions of the
docilely by his carnal appetites; or another who has a passion for Imams respectively place before their responsibilities those of the
accumulating and hoarding. Neither can in any way be shepherds of Shi'ites who claim to pass by this esotericism, like those of the Sufis
religion; far from there. What most resembles them are the grazing who want ignore the origin and support of their own gnosis. The idea
herds. Is it then necessary that in such an era gnosis should die, when of these witnesses who, even completely ignored by the mass of men,
those who are its supports die? Well no ! Never, in fact, is the Earth from generation to generation, "answer for" God in this world, involves
empty of men who, answering for God, assume the maintenance of his the idea of a spiritual community whose hierarchy is based, not on
testimonies, whether they do so in the open and without a veil, or precedence of an external social order, but only over the qualifications
whether they remain hidden and totally unknown. It is through such of the inner being. It also escapes all materialization and all socialization.
men that the divine testimonies and the understanding of their meaning The "caliphs of God" on Earth, of whom the 1st Imam speaks, were in
are not destroyed. How many are they ? Where are they ? the first place the eleven Imams, his successors, and further still, all
those whose invisible succession maintains the pure spiritual hierarchy
around the one who is the mystical "pole", F "hidden Imam", until the
I testify to God! their number is small, but their rank is sublime. It is end of our Aion; without them humanity, whether it knows it or not,
through them that God preserves his testimonies and his signs in this could not continue to exist. And it is there finally that the direction and
world, until they transmit them to their emulators and entrust their seed the stake of the spiritual combat of Shi'ism are decided.
to the hearts of those who resemble them. For them the gnosis shows
itself suddenly, according to the whole truth of the inner vision. They
implement the joy of certainty. They find easy what the weaklings find
difficult. Among the hadith expressly emphasizing, with what is the reason
They are familiar with what frightens the ignorant. They are in the for it, the esoteric essence of Shi'ism, let us again recall the hadith
company of this world with bodies whose spirits that animate them several times already quoted here, because it is the leitmotif which,
remain suspended in the Supreme Abode. O Komayl! these are the with some variations, reappears regularly; it appears in several
caliphs of God on his Earth, those who call to his true Religion. Ah! collections and the Imams themselves have underlined its decisive
what an ardent desire I would have to see them! » importance. “Our cause is difficult; it imposes a hard effort; only an
angel close to God (malak moqarrab), or a prophet sent (nabî morsal),
If we juxtapose this solemn declaration of the 1st Imam with that of or a faithful follower whose heart God will have tested for the faith can
87
Imam Ja'far, which we recalled at the end of the preceding paragraph, assume it. .
we see that, one after the other, the Imams of the shi' isms have The disciple who reports this statement from Imam Ja'far further
offered the same basic teaching. clarifies: “Imam Ja'far added: Among the angels there are Close and
From one and the other declaration, as from a multitude of similar non-close. Among the prophets there are sent and unsent (cf. infra
declarations, we gather a triple certainty: it is that Shiism constitutes chap. VI). Among believers, there are tried and untried. This cause
fundamentally and by right the esotericism or the inner meaning of which is proposed to you, was proposed to the angels. Only the
religion. Islamic; this esotericism or this inner sense is initially and Reconciles assumed it. It was proposed to the prophets. not
integrally the teaching to which the Imams initiated their disciples and
that which the latter transmitted; from the dispensation of this teaching,
from its acceptance by some, from its refusal by others, spontaneously 87. This hadith of capital importance for the Shiite consciousness appears
follows the distribution of humans into three categories. in the Osûl mina'l Kâfî of Kolaynî, Kitâb al-Hojjat, ed. from Tehran 1334 h-
s./1375 h. 1. (Arabic text only), vol. I, pp. 401-402. The Tafsir Mir'at al
anwâr, p. 26, quotes it from the Ma'ânî al-akhbâr of Sadûq Ibn Bâbûyeh;
see Safinat, II, 29. It will be noted that the statement reverses the order of
On these three points, the best commentary on the great declaration the famous testimony of the Prophet, in which Haydar Amoli, in agreement
made by the 1st Imam to Komayl ibn Ziyad, is to be found in the hadiih with many other mystics, discerns the very secret of the Prophet (going
beyond his condition of Envoy transmitting the tanzîl, to find in its pure state
of the Imams which take up the same theme. its walâyat) : “There is for me in the company of God a certain moment
We only list a few of them here. The set is when neither Angel of the highest rank nor sent prophet can contain me. »

are assumed as the Envoys. It was offered to believers. the less the Shi'ite conscience attributes them to it, there is an
Only tried believers have assumed it”. And already the Ve Imam, unreserved testimony concerning the esoteric essence of Shi'ism and
Mohammad Baqir, making the same statement to one of his friends, the stakes of its combat.
added: "Do you not understand that the difficulty of our cause is shown Moreover, it is all this that motivates the imperious prescription of
in that God has chosen to assume it among the angels? , the angel the taqîyeh, this “discipline of the arcane” which it was indicated above
brought closer to him; among the prophets, the prophet sent; among that it stems from the very meaning of the “entrusted deposit”.
believers, the believer with a tried heart. And a commentator from the Imam Ja'far goes so far as to say: “He who is without taqîyeh (he who
88
Safavid era like
remarks:
it is to"The
exclude
intention
the possibility
of this narrative
of assuming
and ofthis
all others
cause does not observe discretion, by unconsciousness or by refusal of the
perfectly without ardent desire, without assent and perfect love. towards esoteric), that one is without religion. And we read in the "Book of Shi'ite
the immaculate purity ('ismat) of our Imams The sixth Imam, Imam Beliefs" (Kitab al-i'tiqadat) of the great Shi'ite theologian Ibn Bâbûyeh
Ja'far, also makes a declaration to one of his intimates which is (ob. 381/991): "It is not permitted to abolish the taqîyeh until the
89
hammered home by the repetition of the word sirr, . » "secret". We will appearance of the Imâm heralding the resurrection (al-Imâm al-Qâ'im),
perceive all its resonances, if we remember that the word sirr through whom the religion (dîn) will be manifested integrally, so that
designates both a secret, a hidden thing, and one of the subtle psycho- from the East to the West it will then present itself like the same religion,
spiritual organs: secret thought, superconsciousness or as it was in the days of Adam. There is already an answer to those who
transconsciousness. This declaration, we will find it later (chap. v) with deny esotericism.
the previous one, at the key of the esoteric hermeneutics of the Qurân,
intelligentia spiritualis. The Imam therefore declares: “Our cause is a If the teaching of the Imams concerned only the explanations of the
secret veiled in a secret (sirr mastûr fî sirr), the secret of something that sharî'at, the Law and the ritual, as some have claimed or still claim, the
remains veiled, a secret that only another secret can teach; it is a secret imperative of taqîyeh would be incomprehensible. Quite the contrary,
about a secret which remains veiled by a secret. Or again: “Our cause notes Haydar Âmoli, it would be about things that one proclaims, and
is the truth, and the truth of the truth (haqq al-haqq) ; it is the exoteric, that moreover one must proclaim from the top of the pulpits of the
and it is the esoteric of the exoteric (batin al-zâhir), and it is the esoteric mosques in front of everyone. But this is obviously not what the
of the esoteric (batin al-batin). It is the secret, and the secret of statements of the Imams quoted above are aimed at.
something which remains veiled, a secret which is veiled by a secret. »
During his second interview with Komayl the 1st Imam divided
humans into three categories. Several statements by the Sixth Imam
affirm in turn: “We, the Imams, are the Sages who instruct; our Shiites
are those who are initiated by us; as for the remainder, it is the foam
These few lines of a poem by the 4th Imam, 'Alî Zayn al-'Âbidîn rolled by the torrent 90. Three categories consequently. The first is that
(95/714) are still to be meditated upon here: , do not crush us... — O of the 'âlim rabbani, the divine Sage, the perfect theosophos , the title
Lord! if I divulged a pearl of my gnosis — They would say to me: Are being reserved strictly for the Imams, although its use is extended to
you then a worshiper of idols? "And there would be Muslims who would designate the perfect theosophists, modeled on their example. The
find it lawful to shed my blood!" — They find the most beautiful second category is made up of the "faithful with a tried heart" who
presented to them abominable. "That one of the holy Imams could receive and transmit this teaching.
have uttered such things, or that at all the
Finally there is the mass, not so much of the “profane” as of the deniers
and the hardened, the whole of those who are unaware of or refuse
any idea of a spiritual science. Imam Ja'far expressly states that there
88. Safinat, ibid. The familiar to whom Imâm Mohammad Bâqir is no fourth group.
addressed himself was Abu Hamza al-Thamâlî (ob. 150/768), an Arab of The position of a Haydar Amoli, in his generous effort to rally Shiites
the Azd tribe (the one given as the ancestry of Jâbir ibn Hayyân the
alchemist). The 8th Imam, 'Ali Reza, says of him: "Abu Hamza was in his and Sufis together, by making them aware of what they are and what
time as Salmân the Persian was in his time, in the sense that he was they should be, is a
,
Ve of us (the 4th 6th and 7th Imams ). Safinat , I, 339.
familiar with four
,
89. Tafsîr Mir'at al-anwâr, p. 26.

90. Kolaynî, Osûl mina'l Kâfî, Tehran 1334/1375, vol. I, pp. 33-34.
position which follows very simply. It is up to everyone to decide under them the same task, all those therefore whom the Imams place in the
which category they fall. Those who, nominally Shiites, deny the esoteric second category, the "faithful with a heart tested for the faith", who have
teaching of the Imams, because they are unable to bear not even the the strength to assume the cause of the Imams, however difficult it may
weight of it but the idea of it, as well as those of the mice who, while be, in a world that can only ignore it. It is a theologoumenon so essential
practicing the esoteric terism, failing to recognize its source and support, for Shi'ism that we will see the Shaykh school give it a development of a
cannot claim to belong to the second group (and even less to the first). particular magnitude (infra book VI). In its effort to maintain or restore
This second group is the group of "faithful with the tested heart" who the integral teaching of the holy Imams, we will see this school show
assume the weight and the consequences of the triple shahâdat. They that this theologou menon is indeed in reality the "fourth pillar" of Shi'ite
are the ones who, in the open or incognito, maintain the divine doctrine: there is tawhid; there is prophetology; there is imamology;
testimonies on this Earth, and make this world still “a world that God finally there is the principle of the Shiite community understood in a
looks at”, – looks at and concerns. Their elite is made up of a minority of sense which allows it to be best characterized in terms that are familiar
them, whose own vocation is to transmit the secrets of the Imams and to us, essentially as an Ecclesia spiritualis. It is because the hierarchy it
to keep them alive in the hearts of the “tested faithful”. These are the comprises is an invisible, incognito hierarchy, founded solely on the
ones about whom the First Imam said: “Where are they? how many are qualifications of the spiritual man, of the inner man.
they ? I testify to God! their number is small, but their rank is sublime. »
is
That this hierarchy is inherent in the second category defined by the

This elite forms this incognito spiritual hierarchy whose idea remains Imams is what our authors have already observed by experience,
fundamental in Twelver Shi'ism, from which non-Shi'ite Sufism has because we are forced to recognize that there are individuals who are
undoubtedly only borrowed it, because in its essence, in its structure more perfect spiritually than others, closer to God than the others, and
and its perpetuation , it presupposes the one who is permanently its that this elite necessarily includes a hierarchy of degrees as to
mystical "pole", the twelfth Imam, the hidden Imam. Without the idea of knowledge, spiritual awareness, fervor. There have been Imams since
this hierarchy or these invisible or incognito spiritual hierarchies, we the time, and there have continued to be since then, these strong
cannot unravel the question posed here, that concerning the meaning individuals endowed with high knowledge and perfect spirituality (such
and the stakes of the spiritual combat of Shi'ism. It changes the aspect as the exemplary cases of Saiman the Persian, Abu
of the question of the relations between Shi'ism and Sufism.
Dharr, the two Jabir, Mofazzal, the four successive representatives or
Even more: it is through it that the Shi'ism of the Twelve Imams can, in nâ'ib of the hidden Imâm, at the time of the "minor occultation"). The
the tumult of our world, discreetly insert its spiritual message - testimony Shiites recognize them as mediators, guides acting in the name of the
from another world, reminder of another world, not a compromise with a Imam, able, even in this time of "major occultation" which is ours, to
supposedly irreversible evolution. have access to the presence of the Imam, such encounters relating to a
suprasensible mode of perception.
However, this finding relates to a factual situation which itself has to

4. - The invisible spiritual hierarchies be explained by a fundamental order of things. The structure of the
spiritual hierarchies is determined by the order of procession of beings
Elected officials who, from generation to generation, unknown and from the Haqîqat moham madîya, the "primordial Mohammadian Reality"
ignored by the mass of men, pass on the same task, equally unknown as the Reality initially established in being already mentioned at length
to the mass of men, a task unfit for official relations, escaping all social here and which will be mentioned again below. The terminal Figure of
investigations. They form hierarchies to which certain traditions allude, this Mohammadian Reality as the pleroma of the "Fourteen Immaculate"
the tenor and origin of which remain somewhat mysterious. Around is the one who, in the order of Manifestation, is designated as the Twelfth
them are grouped all those "Shi'ites in the true sense" who, on receiving Imam, presently the hidden Imam. It is with the evocation of this Figure
their teaching, assume with that

see this book (infra Book VII). Let us say now that the idea of the spiritual also Abdâl (those who "substitute" each other).
hierarchies of which we are speaking, their function, their structure, their mode of We have tried elsewhere to show the irremissible function of this mundus imaginalis
being and of action, all of this gravitates around the idea of the twelfth Imam and for the spirituality which concerns us here. spiritual hierarchs under this name of
91
his "invisible presence". as "pole of poles"; the Twelfth Imam is its presupposition Abdâl. It is a prayer composed by Dawud, grandson of the second Imam the Imam
.
and its keystone (the idea is ordered to that of the cycles, to the cycle of the walayat Hasan Mojtaba, and who was one of the companions of the and VIth Imams.
succeeding the cycle of the prophecy, cf. infra chap. v and book VII). Hence, this The Shiite liturgical calendar proposes the fifth recitation of this prayer for the day
theme of esoteric spiritual hierarchies and their connection with the Twelfth Imam which marks the middle of the month of Rajah (seventh month of the lunar year). In
is of such complexity that it would take a whole book to deal with it. We limit fact this liturgy is especially known under the name of the mother of its author, as
ourselves here to a minimum of indications.
“pious practice of the mother of Dâwûd ('amal Omm Dâwûd). It is a beautiful
and
Salutations
ecumenical
on the
prayer
three par
great
excellence,
Archangels,
because
on thethere
"Supports
followofone
theanother
Throne",the
on the
Guardian Angels, on Adam and Eve, on Abel and Seth, on all the prophets of the
As they are evoked in certain hadîth of the Imams, these hierarchies do not yet
biblical tradition and of the Arab tradition named one after the other, on Jesus and
have the complexity that they assume in the later traditions. A statement by Imam
his twelve Imârns (from Simon to Georges), on the Prophet and his twelve Imâms,
Ja'far, announcing the inevitable occultation (ghaybat) of the Imam, expressly
on the Abdâl and the Awtâd, on all the family members descended from the Imams,
mentions thirty elite Companions, thirty Noqaba (spiritual princes) who, from time on all men of piety in general, etc. It ends with these words: “Honour, O my God! all
to time, during the time of the “Great Occultation” (started in 329/940) have the
of your angels and prophets whom I have named, and all whom I have not named
privilege of having talks with the hidden Imam and keeping him company. During
the time of the "minor occultation" (from 874 to 940), the Shiite elite could still have
access to the hidden Imam. Since the Great Occultation or “Major Occultation” (on
this double Occultation cf. infra book VII), only these thirty Noqabâ have this
privilege. This poses, as such, the problem of the "residence" of the hidden Imam.
Whether it is designated sometimes as the mysterious valley of Shamrîkh, on the
side of Yemen, sometimes as the mystical city of Hûr qalyâ, it is always a question
of a mystical country belonging to the "eighth climate", such as the mysterious
92
Green Island in which had access to a pilgrim whose account is preserved for us . »
by the Shiite tradition (infra book VII). Moreover, a much older text, namely a tradition of the fourth Imam, 'Alî Zayn al-
Âbidîn, already mentions the degrees of the spiritual hierarchy. During an interview
with Jâbir ibn Yazîd al-Jo'fî, the Imâm mentions seven articles of faith whose gnosis
(ma'rifat) is necessary for the faithful Shî'ite: the meaning of the attestation of the
Unique ; the meanings of the Names and Attributes conferred on God; the prophets
(like abwâb,
It is therefore essentially a question of the mundus imaginalis, a world which is
in a way the double of our sensible world but in a subtle state, and which occupies
an intermediate rank between this sensible world and the pure spiritual world, 91. On the necessity of the ghaybat of the twelfth Imam and his
entirely "separate" from this world. It is through this mundus imaginalis that the companions, cf. Osûl mina'l-Kâfî, ed. cit., vol. I, pp. 340 sec. See also the
epistle of Sayyed Kâzem Reshtî on the theme of esoteric hierarchies, in
Imam is both present to our world and invisible to the men of this world. His thirty Majmu'a (collection of 31 treatises), ed. lithogr., Tabriz 1277/1860, pp.
elite companions have a mode of being and a mode of action analogous to those 78-82 (it is an epistle addressed in response to questions posed by Mîrzâ
of their Imam; they are hidden, invisible to human eyes. This is why they are called Ibrâhîm Tabrizî). On the rijâl al-ghayb (the men of the supersensible world),
see the pages of 'Abdol-Karîm Gîlî translated in our book Celestial Earth...
rijâl al-ghayb, the men of the supra-sensible world, the men of the hidden world, pp. 243 ss. On the mundus imaginalis see the article cited above p. 45, no.
the Invisibles. 16, and below t. IV, book. V of this book, the chapter devoted to Molla
Sadra. See again infra t. II, book. II, n. 96.
92. The text of this prayer appears in the great euchologe entitled Mafâ-tih
al-Jannân (The keys of paradise) which is in current use in Iran, ed. 1330
Their number is constant. When one of them dies, more exactly when his presence hrs/1370 hrs. 1., p. 136 ss. (among the liturgies of the month of Rajab).
in this world ceases definitively, another is raised to his rank. That's why we call On Omm Dawud and his son, Dawud ibn Hasan ibn Imam Hasan Mojtaba
(i.e. son of the second Imam), cf. Rayhanat al-adab, vol. VI, p. 218, No. 451.
them
"thresholds" from God to man and from man to God); the Twelve Imams; the thousand man; of these four thousand, four hundred; of these four hundred, forty;
"Supports" or "Pillars" (Arkân); the Noqahâ ; the Nojabâ (cf. again below p. 198)93 of these forty, four; of these four, one unique which is the pole (qoth), The stability
Three hierarchies are thus placed below the Imâm: I) The “Supports” of the world rests on it; not for a moment does the world exist without him, for
without him the world could not persevere in being 95
»
(Arkan); these are four persons who remain identical, without permutation or .
substitution, from era to era. It is generally considered that they are those of the Another version declares: "God possesses on earth three hundred notables
prophets who were "abducted by God" from this world without crossing the threshold (a'yan, a word designating the 'eyes' and precious elite personages such as the
of death: Enoch (also identified with Idris, Hermes), Elijah, Khezr (Khadir), Jesus: 'eyes', those eyes by which, according to Ruzbehan, our world is another world that
Living immortal, permanently subsisting by the very permanence of their "Pole", the God looks at), — three hundred people whose heart conforms to the Heart of Adam
Imam. 2) The Noqabâ (spiritual princes), thirty in number, already named above. 3) (these are the Noqabâ, guides or spiritual leaders); forty whose heart conforms to
The Nojabâ (Spiritual Nobles), forty in number. The total number of the last two the heart of Moses (the Nojabâ, spiritual Nobles); seven whose heart conforms to
hierarchies gives seventy persons. This number is constant, but people are replaced the heart of Abraham (the seven Abdâl); four whose heart conforms to the heart of
by others, from time to time, as they leave this world. The determination of their the Archangel Gabriel (the awtâd, the pillars); three whose heart conforms to the
number and their function is related to the idea of the "descent" of the divine Names, heart of the Archangel Michael (the three afrâd)', one, whose heart conforms to the
of the universe to which each of these Names is assigned, but we cannot enter heart of the Archangel Seraphiel and who is the pole of poles ( qotb al-aqtâb)96 .
here into the detail of this very complex (cf. still infra book III and book VI).
This
unique example of "seraphic" humanity is always the Imam; for the present time,
the hidden Imam. It is this same schema that we will find in Rûzbehân (infra book
III); it will be noticed that the order of the Noqabâ and the Nojabâ is reversed there.
The Shiite theologians know, moreover, that certain shaykhs among them place It would now be necessary to follow the development of these hierarchies in the
below the Nojabâ a permanent group (by substitution) of Just and Sages, three work of Ibn 'Arabi and among his many commentators.
hundred and sixty persons whose number corresponds to the degrees of the
celestial Sphere. However, the clearest indications that we have from the Imams Admittedly, the figures are to be understood here as arithmological symbols,
themselves do not seem to mention it. There are also a few variations. During an referring to certain cosmic correspondences and to the very rhythm of the ordination
interview with Mofaz zal al-Jo'fî, for example, Imam Ja'far explains in detail to him of being (tartîb al wojûd). Let us remember, however, that the Shî'ite authors, the
the structure of this hierarchy: with each Imam and in each era there is an elite of shaykhis in particular, tend to retain only three categories, a triple "portico" (rawâq)
forty mystical companions: the twenty-eight Nojabâ, the twelve Noqabâ, among in front of the "threshold" of the Imâm: the four Pillars (Arkân), the thirty Noqabâ,
whom the Abdâl and the Awtâd. The total of forty corresponds to the number of the forty Nojabâ, as mentioned in the hadîih of the IVth Imâm. This is why it will be
Nojabâ indicated above said that the thirty Noqabâ are identical with (or at least that in their number are
found) those who are designated as Awtâd (the "pegs" which maintain the terrestrial
world or the "cosmic tent") ; like Abdal, as "partial poles," since they are the
94
. intermediaries between the Imam and other men for the dispensations that the latter
On the basis of these initial imamites data, it is possible to understand the receive from him; finally like the "men of the suprasensible" or
excrescences which one observes elsewhere. In an Ismaili context, for example,
we find this: "Our Masters have declared: of mankind we have chosen four
93. This hadith of the 4th Imam is recorded in the great collection of
Moham mad Khân Kermânî, Kitâb al-Mobîn, Tabriz 1324, I, pp. 412-413 (and 95. Cf. Haft Bâbi Bâbâ Sayyid-nâ (Hasan Sabbah) in Two Early Ismaili
comes from 'Awâlim al-'olûm). See the commentary given to this hadîth by Treatises, ed. by W. Ivanow, Bombay 1933, p. 12, and our Ismaili Trilogy, 3
Mohammad Karîm Khân Kermânî, Tariq al-Najât, Kerman 1344, pp. 105 and 500-502. treatise, § 4 and n. 76.
and
and
96. Cf. notre Trilogie Ismaélienne, 3 partie, § 9, et Shamsoddin Lahiji,

and
94. Cf. Ismaili Trilogy, part 3, p. (93), n. 114, and Kitab al-Haft wa'l-Azillat,
ed. Aref Tamer, Beirut, 1960, p. 92. Sharh-e Golshan-e Râz, éd. K. Sami'i, p. 282.

the Invisibles (rijâl al-ghayb), because these men, absolutely laughingly. One could say that to each of them applies the law
pure, entirely devoted to their divine service, are hidden by that governs the Knights of the Grail: "And his strength is
God from the eyes
97
of the oppressors until the Last Day (Yawn sacred, as long as he remains unknown to all." The reason for
al-Dîn) .
their occultation in the eyes of ordinary men is none other than
The conception of this esoteric spiritual hierarchy is so the very occultation of the Imam. For if the Imam is the hidden
organically linked to the Shiite idea that, when one sees it Imam today, it is essentially because men have veiled him from
figure elsewhere, for example in the texts of Sufism outside themselves, because human consciousness has become
Shiism, it is easy to detect that these texts represent in this incapable of knowing him and recognizing him, of perceiving
Sufism the transfer of an imamology which no longer dares or his mode of being, its mode of action and the "place" where it resides.
which no longer wants to speak its name. This may not have And this incapacity entails the same concealment of all those
appeared very clearly so far, so neglected are the Shi'ite texts. who are members of the Imam and whose whole composes his
very Name. The parousia is not an external event that will
Moreover, what essentially matters for our purpose is the impose itself one fine day from outside; it is only the final term
way in which Shi'ism, let us say par excellence, on this point, of the metamorphosis of consciousnesses.
the Shaykh school, by drawing all the consequences of the A beautiful page from Ivlohammad Karîm Khân Kermânî (ob.
ghaybat, that is to say, say of the idea of the hidden Imam, 1288/1870) sums up the essentials well : is not possible. It is
interpreted the meaning of these hierarchies in such a way that not permitted to ask to know their persons individually and by
Shi'ism stands as a rampart against any "socialization of the name. Neither is an answer from them possible, because they
spiritual", against any confusion with the "social", against any are the sacrosanct Name of the Imam of that period, whose
compromise jeopardizing the essence and the primacy of what name it is not permitted to pronounce during the time of
is spiritual. We know that the last representative (nâ'ib) of the occultation (ghaybat)
hidden Imâm, received from him the order not to appoint a
successor; henceforth the followers of the Imams will refer to 98
.
the Sages who transmit the teaching of the Imams, and among There are many hadiths stating that it is not permissible to
whom are found incognito those who form the hierarchies that mention their names. If they are the real and positive Name of
have just been described. With the death of 'Ali al-Samarri the hidden Imam, it is because a person's name is his
(329/940), the last representative named by name of the hidden qualification. And a person's qualification is his light.
Imam, the "Major Occultation" began. His last words were: His light is his radiance. And the influence of the Imam is his
"From now on the matter belongs to God". These words shî'ites (shî'a-ye û, his followers). It is therefore inappropriate
express the whole Shiite ethos . Henceforth the figure of the to mention their names or to want to know them. It can happen
hidden Imam dominates the Shiite consciousness; it is the very that by a particular divine favor, someone comes to know one
history of this consciousness (we will come back again, to of them: it is because he had the capacity to do so and God
finish, on this aspect, infra book VII). made him know it. As for those to whom he does not make it
Also, when they deal with the hierarchy of the Sages who known, it is obviously because they do not have the capacity
assume the tradition of this teaching, the shaykhis emphasize for it, and therefore it is inappropriate for them to claim it.
that the purpose of the Imam was to refer his followers to the Yes, such is the manifest and desired divine disposition for this
existence of a category of people, but that it excludes any time: men have to recognize as a global fact the existence of
individual and nominative designation among them. For it is this category of people (the Noqabâ and the Nojabâ), to admit
not something like an ecclesiastical hierarchy; it is a hierarchy their role and to feel solidarity with them . ,
of men based solely on their inner spiritual value, on their
degree of spiritual proximity to the Imam, and this remains the 98. The prescription of this silence was originally understood in its literal sense,
latter's secret. Also none of them is able to declare themselves for quite understandable reasons; its profound and abiding meaning emerges from
publicly or to be known outside. the present context. Cf. on this double aspect of the question, the excellent
presentation by Hâjj Zaynol'Âbidîn Khân Kermânî (4th successor to Shaykh Ahmad
Ahsâ'î, ob. 1360/1942) in Risâleh-ye haftâd mas'-aleh, Kerman 1379/1960, 62nd
97. Cf. Sayyed Kâzem Reshti, the epistle cited above n. 91. question, pp. 442-454.
just as we know that there is a hidden Imam (Imam ghâ'ib), that we Certainly, Shiite theosophy, no more than any of the traditional
must recognize his existence and qualification, be in communion with theosophies, has ignored an "evolution" embracing all forms of life and
him, although we do not know him in his physical person This page is the history of humanity as a whole. Only this "evolution" bears another
99
completely characteristic» of the type of Shiite spirituality, as determined
.
name for it, because it is centered according to the origin and the finality
by the idea of the hidden Imam, with all the implications that arise that this theosophy reveals, that is to say according to a metahistory in
from a religious consciousness that has reached its full potential. the absence of which to speak of a "meaning of the story" is equivalent
maturity. We have nothing here that resembles the Church phenomenon, to expressing oneself by metaphor. An axiom governs the thought of our
with its clergy and its magisterium. Nor is there anything resembling Shiite theosophers and not only theirs: “Nothing goes up to heaven,
certain modern “esoteric” groups which, by appropriating the idea of except what has come down from it. It is because in fact of prehistory,
succes sio apostolica, claim a canonical “regularity” because of man can only represent to himself that which corresponds to his
mysterious diplomas. And above all we have nothing that allows this eschatology. In other words: the idea that he has of his origins is linked
confusion of the religious concept and of a social system, of which a to the finality that he recognizes in his being.
Sunni testimony has shown us the dramatic consequences.
And it is still so today. But unlike our reigning ideologies, the hierohistory
of the world and of man for our traditional theosophy is a cyclical history:
there is the arc of descent (nozûl) and there is the arc of ascent (so'ûd).
The status of the spiritual hierarchies of Shi'ism is perfectly This hierohistory is vertically oriented, in Gothic style. It is not the story
formulated in this inspired sentence (hadîth qodsî): “My Friends (Awliya'î) of an irreversible linear evolution , proceeding from an unfathomable
are under my tabernacles; no one knows them except myself .” 100 past, and whose gratuitous presumption is that humanity could only
When one of them passes from the earthly state to another life, another begin below itself. It is, far from it, the story of a conversion or a
succeeds him in his rank, but this “succession” remains the secret of progressive reversion , of an “ascent” towards what the “descent” had
the Imam. From the shaykhî point of view one can say: nothing is more made inaccessible. We refer here to the beautiful pages of Mohammad
esoteric than the structure of the shî'ite community, and no better Karîm Khân Kermânî translated elsewhere, on the meaning of this "world
antidote to any attempt to enslave the res divina for the purposes of a in ascent
will to power in this world. . But at the same time also, because it is
101
eschatological, this esotericism acts as a force against all dogmatic ».
immobility. For the time of eschatology, begun with the completion of

the mission of the "last prophet", will only end with the parousia of the
last Imam. 5. - The challenge of the spiritual combat of Shi'ism and its topicality
This will bring down all the veils before the secrets to which the "Friends This issue emerges clearly, it seems, from the preceding texts and
of God", during this cycle of Initiation (dâ'irat al walâyat) and this time of reflections. It can be considered in relation to the existence and
occultation, have the task of awakening the consciousness of those who significance of Shi'ism itself, and hence to the position of Shi'ism in
have the ability, that is to say, ultimately, of those who are able to Islam. It can also be considered in relation to the spiritual and religious
understand what is the deposit of which Adam had assumed the weight. situation of our time in general. We are only recapitulating here the
concerns set out above, in Chapter I of this book.
To follow Adam in his conversion, his "repentance", to assume the
triple shahadat, is to reverse the movement by which Adam "descended
from paradise"; it is to assume the fight which opposes the “rush The first mode of consideration takes us back to the situation of Shiite
forward”. A "headlong rush" which today bears many names, claims to spirituals, as we tried to sketch it at the beginning of the present chapter.
be "irreversible" and all the more "irreversible" in that it does not know The terms in which a thinker of the quality of Haydar Âmolî analyzed it
exactly what it is "progressing" towards. in the 7th / 14th century
99. Moh. Karîm Khân Kermânî, Irshâd al-'awâmm (en persan), Kerman 1355/1936,
t. IV, p. 309. 101. These translated pages will be found in our book Celestial Earth... pp. 356 ss.
and “A world in ascent, not in evolution. »
100. Ismaili Trilogy, 3 Treaty, § 9.

remain valid, as we have pointed out, for the following periods, above, allows us to understand a peremptory affirmation like the
and have kept all their topicality today. The texts of the holy following, which for him is not a paradox: "The Sufis are those to
Imams which have been or will be quoted here are sufficient to whom belongs the name of shî'ites in the true sense (al-shî'at al-
indicate that a Shi'ism which would claim to be an exoteric religion, haqîqîya) and tested faithful (mu'min nomtahan). All Shi'ite Sufism
that is to say a pure religion of the Law (sharî'at), would be a will repeat after him this proposition, the reciprocal of which is
contradiction in terms. itself and would irreparably mutilate the essential: since the Shi'ites in the true sense are Sufis, those of the
entirety of their teaching. When the Imams speak of the “secret” Shi'ites who refuse Sufism must be only shî'ites in the metaphorical
that they have to transmit to those who can assume it, it is indeed sense (majâzî). No doubt, but what is refusing Sufism?
a question of gnosis. The Shiite doctrine is par excellence the
gnosis of Islam; Shi'ism is itself the succession, the uninterrupted
tradition of gnosis (silsilat al-irfan). Spontaneously this type of Shiite spirituals already mentioned
There is nothing else to add to settle the situation opposing the here and which will be mentioned again: these spirituals, these
hokamâ rabbânîya and 'orafâ (mystical theosophists), those who mystics, who practice the spirituality of Sufism, express themselves
would like to reduce Shi'ism to the legalism of the doctors of the in the technical language of Sufism, and yet do not belong to any
Law, the foqahâ. The “difficult cause”, “heavy to assume” that the Sufi congregations, even show reservations and reluctance towards
Imams propose to the “faithful with a tried heart”, is the one whose them. A few reasons have already been indicated here: inflation of
implications are contained in the three aspects of the shahâdat, the personal role of the shaykh notwithstanding the limits that his
the triple Attestation. It emerges from this that, if the attestation of person necessarily imposes, certain practices, certain metaphysics
the Unique is linked to the recognition of the prophetic message, of being which, more or less well understood by the followers, can
likewise the recognition of the prophetic message would be lead to laxity or licentiousness. There is no doubt: there are Shiite
inoperative and obsolete without the recognition of the imamate mystics, “proven believers”, certainly belonging to the second
as esoteric of the prophetic message. For if there is no esotericism category of humans according to the census of the Imams, and yet
which can subsist independently of the exoteric envelope which who are not Sufis. Haydar Âmoli's proposal must therefore have a
symbolizes it, reciprocally exotericism stripped of its esoterics, much broader meaning than that in which we would understand it
that is to say of the power to symbolize with something other than from the outset. If not, should the paradox be pushed beyond the
it manifests — is no more than an inert corpse, a derisory limits? Could Haydar Âmoli target the Sunni Sufis as crypto-Shi'ites,
chrysalis. We have heard the Imams repeat that, in this case, the of course, but many of whom have nonetheless vituperated Shi'ism,
whole Qur'an would have long since died; the Qur'anic Revelation and while it is these "lost children" of Shi'ism that his life's work is
would long ago be no more than a museum of theological trying to recover?
curiosities, such as it is in fact precisely in the eyes of an agnostic.
In fact, a principle of spiritual life seems to us to dominate and
However, following the old habit of considering Islam only illuminate the question here. The Islam of Sufism differs from the
under the aspect of Sunni majority Islam, when one opposes to Islam of the Law in that it is a religion of divine love.
pure legal religion that which crosses the interior threshold leading It is this very thing, as we have already indicated (cf. above pp. 81
to the invisible universes, it is to refer to the Sufism and what the ss. and 101 ss.) which posed to him theologically formidable
word technically means. Very little consideration has hitherto questions: how to conceive that the idea of love, that the very use
been given to the relation of Shi'ism and Sufism. of the term, are reconcilable with the rigors of tawhîd?
When we did, it was generally to talk about their incompatibility. We will see later (Book III) how Rûzbehân posed and painfully
But isn't this an opinion expressed lightly, out of ignorance of experienced this question. But what we have hardly noticed up to
what Shiite spirituality is? When we read the texts of the Imams, now, which nevertheless is an evidence lived by all spiritual Shi'ites,
we are led to “rethink” the whole question. And this is already is that Shi'ism, as a religion of the walayat, is precisely par
what, as we have seen, a Shiite thinker like Haydar Amoli did in excellence and par excellence . essence the form of the religion of
the eighth /fourteenth century (cf. again infra book IV, chap. I). love in Islam. For if the essential Divine Ground (Kuhh al-dhât, the
What we learned from him over the pages Grund in Master Eckhart), in

the abyss of its transcendence, excludes any idea of a reciprocity that a tariqat of the twelve Imams, a spirituality covering what we in the West have
devotion of love would presuppose in its regard, this one, on the other hand, become accustomed to commonly designating as Sufism, without the Shiite
is carried in all certainty on the theophanic Figures which are the Forms of adept being subject to the vulnerable sides that have exposed Sufism in its
the Deus revelatus; these Figures are precisely the pre-eternal Figures of the practices. tics, its organization or its manifestations, to the criticisms of many
Imams, in whom the divine Names and Attributes are invested (cf. again infra spiritual Shiites, already in the time of the holy Imams.
chap. VII).
On the other hand, the teaching of the latter, such as the Shiite spirituality
Whence the practical requirement of the triple shahadat which primitively must live it, their "secret" such as it has to be its depository, already preserve
and initially makes Shi'ism the guide and guarantor for the aspirations it, in essence, from decay and sclerosis. of a religious literalism depriving the
mobilized in and by Sufism, at the same time as, by its very imamology, it exoteric of the interior meaning which is its life, cutting it off from the spiritual
preserves these aspirations. tations to degenerate and lead the adept into a universes with which it symbolizes, and finally leaving the way open to the
vertigo of identification of himself with the Unrevealed. This is why Haydar confusion of the social and the religious. For, denied the secret of the Imams,
Âmoli, like all his colleagues, is not troubled if it is pointed out to him that the which is the very way, the tariqat of spiritual Islam, there remains only the
majority of Sufis are found in Sunni Islam, to such an extent that for many the rites of a social religion, rites that a science itself secularized will be
idea of Sufism calls for that of Sunni Islam as its natural place. It is precisely responsible for explaining and to justify by their social function.
because the testimony of Sufism in Sunnism responds there to a need which
is not found in Shi'ism, and because Haydar Âmoli knows the spiritual dangers
which, within Sunni Islam, have always threatened the Sufism, because its We thus close the circle, and we find ourselves faced with the question
aspirations are cut off there both from their roots and from their end. posed by the dramatic testimony of the Jordanian personality evoked in the
preceding pages, when, in our study group in Tehran, we asked ourselves:
"The situation is it hopeless? What would a Shiite have to say? Suffice it to
say that the answer is already to be found in the interviews of the First Imam
And that is why we are led by him to a fundamental idea of Shi'ite spirituality, with Komayl ibn Ziyad quoted above, as well as in the texts of the Imams
as it overcomes and dominates the contrast between the Islam of the doctors mentioned below and which we could easily have multiplied.
of the Law and the Islam of the Sufis. This idea has already been formulated
here: it is that the Shi'ism of the Twelve Imams fully lived is already, in itself,
the spiritual way, the tariqat, and that the Shi'ite "with the heart tested for the On the other hand, for all those who reject the haqîqat, the idea of the
faith” is already a smile, even without entering a tariqat, a Sufi congregation; esoteric meanings which, by rising from world to world above the plane of
he is already, as such, the "Shi'ite in the true sense." But then the term Sufi appearances and the letter, give its meaning to this world, because the The
goes beyond what it usually connotes for us. In such a case, one must axis of these worlds passes through the celestial pole, — for all those to
translate by “mystic”, and understand that there are great mystics in Shiite whom the idea of the pure spiritual community to which this haqîqat gives its
Islam who are not necessarily “Sufis” in the specific sense of this word. An coherence and its invisible consistency appears ridiculous, what happens on
example: the great theologian of Safavid Shi'ism, Mohammad-Baqer Majlisi, the day when the external order of traditional society is shaken? It is the
the one to whom we owe the monumental encyclopedia of Shi'ite hadith , religious concept itself, identified by them with the concept of this social order,
protested strongly when his father, Mohammad-Taqi which is thrown into disarray. The serious question posed at the present time
is this: is there today, kept in secret reserve in Islam, a force of souls capable
of assuming the future of a pure spiritual Islam? Answering this question
should be nothing more for Shi'ism than responding to the constant appeal of
Majlisî (ob. 1660), a “Sufi”, And he was not entirely wrong. its Imams. Its vocation, through its triple shahâdat, is to attest, in its very
His father was not a Sufi in the specific sense of the word, and yet he was being, that Islam cannot be reduced to the literalness and exteriority of the
no less a true mystic. This is more than a nuance, it is a precision whose sharî'at, any more than what we call the social merges with religious reality.
significance it is important to understand in order to orient oneself in the
spiritual life of Shi'ism.
It therefore remains that the integral Shiite, the "faithful with the tried heart"
to live, personally and integrally, by following the
Whence the dilemma finally posed by the "spiritual combat" of the real manifestation of divine transcendence. This may be the
Shi'ism: either the abandonment, the radical socialization of the manifestation of a "demystifying" theological dialectic, but it is
spiritual, succumbing to the attraction of wills to power and making a remarkable that it fits so well with the most radical agnosticism. And
pact with "powers" which sometimes even ignore what the word it would be so much simpler and more honest to say it! We will
"spiritual" signifies, sometimes ruins its meaning all the better simply ask ourselves if some Westerners are able to pass this test:
because they have known it, for it is not the unbeliever, but the to compare the results of these post-Christian theological virtuosities
believer alone who can profane and blaspheme. Or else faith in the with a direct reading of the Qurân in the text, or with some texts of
divine inco gnito , were it through a desperatio fiducialis (a despair the Imams of the kind cited in the course. of this book? In those who
that retains confidence), the feeling of this incognito perpetuated as will attempt the test, perhaps the inner voices will resound like those
a challenge and typified, par excellence, in the person of the Twelfth of a Last Judgment...
Imam, the Hidden Imam, because, in this case, religious reality can
neither be an object nor be objectified, neither socialized nor
collectivized (cf. again book VII). The believer whom such a faith For those to whom the very idea of such an ordeal remains
inspires will resolve on his own the problems posed to him, in the foreign, it may appear quite natural to hear it said that adherence to
present world, by his fidelity to the prescriptions of the shari'at. His the religion of the Prophet is incompatible with the life of a modern
fight will be victorious. State and that the Islam is doomed. Of course, they can't imagine
Divine incognito , Ecclesia spiritualis, it is significant that it anything other than dragging Islam into their own debacle. But surely
is these terms, well known in certain Western traditions, the "believers with a tried heart" will return the question: what if the
which appear to transcribe the spiritual message of Shi'ism, condemnation were the reverse?
following the line of the second mode of consideration that The latter, "how many are there?" where are they ? asked the Imam.
we proposed at the beginning. Because these terms are This is what remains the secret of God. “Few in number”, it is enough
unusual in the face of the “main currents” of ideas that are that they are, because these will not roll along with the torrent, this
fashionable today, we can also measure the symptoms of torrent which nowadays bears so many different names. But the
the unprecedented crisis affecting Christian theologies in the more they are, the more will diminish "the foam rolled by the torrent"
West. For it is at the end of twenty centuries of Christianity of which the Imam still spoke.
that we can hear Christian theologians denouncing what This is why, contrary to fashionable theologies denouncing all that
they call a confusion between Christianity and what they call they qualify as gnosis, without knowing very well what gnosis is (cf.
“systems of religious redemption”. Contrary to Christianity, above pp. 25 ss.), it is advisable to say that gnosis is more current
the latter would detach man from this world and from his today than ever. For any Gnostic, as well as for the Qurân, the
history, would open a window to him on a beyond capable of exclamation "God is dead" is meaningless, because the absurd is by
explaining this here below, showing him the way leading to definition what has no meaning. And the simply absurd would be that
the restitution of its lost nature. It is claimed to find in the divine Truth was conditioned by a determined moment in History, that
Bible what twenty centuries of Christianity had never thought the truth of divine Revelation, of the Holy Book, depended on the
of looking for or finding there. We discover there a safeguard moment of its appearance in the chronology of external facts and
preserving the faith from degenerating into what is now called a “heavenly escape”.
circumstances. passengers. This we have heard the Imams
For it is no longer a question of practicing an apologetics of “limits”. themselves say. It is that the spiritual facts, the perfectly real events
The powers of man are limitless, the powers of homo of hierohistory, have no time in the past of the exterior history of
progressivus dragging homo sapiens towards socialization, material facts. Not happening in this time, they cannot be overtaken
collectivization, totalization, the absolute empire of by this exterior story. For the time of the Soul in which they take place
technocracies... "How not to kill God?" asked our Muslim (cf. again infra chap. IV, 5 and book IV, chap. II), they are both
from Jordan with anguish. There are Christian theologians present and to come. The word "irreversible" so often repeated today
to answer this question by adding to Nietzsche's exclamation. wrongly and through, ceases to have currency. The accomplished
What would characterize the Christian faith is the face to mode of the verb in Semitic
face of the power of the triumphant man and the impotence
of the dominated Creator. It would be there, it seems,
is not the "past" tense of our verbs. It can be translated sometimes

by the past, sometimes by the present, sometimes by the future.
The facts of eschatology are themselves expressed in the
accomplished mode.
To the fury of materialization which absolutely wants to "incarnate"
spiritual facts in History, because we have become powerless to
grasp the reality of events other than those recorded in the chronicle CHAPTER IV
of material facts, indifferently visible to everyone world, hierohistory
opposes events which belong to exterior history only to the way in The Phenomenon of the Holy Book
which the ray of the sun, passing through a stained-glass window,
"belongs" to the building which it illuminates. Their truth raises the
witnesses up to the universes where their permanent presence, to
the accomplished. This is what the “phenomenon of the Holy Book”
presupposes, and this is why the phenomenon of secularization
undoubtedly plays out around the “phenomenon of the Holy Book”. It
has its primary origin in the refusal of the haqîqat, in the refusal of the I. - Holy book and hermeneutics
integrality of its senses. And it is this integrality that the hermeneutics
of the Imams reveals. Under these aspects is amplified the deep There have been many times in the course of the preceding pages
intuition of Shi'ism. of this "phenomenon of the Holy Book", of its specificity, of its
completeness, - of the specific situation of Shi'ism defined by its
hermeneutics of the Book, - by this hermeneutics of which the holy
Imams are the guarantors and the guides, at the same time the
treasurers and the treasury—a hermeneutics whose interior law
develops the perspectives of worlds where the Nietzschean
exclamation "God is dead" announces only the death of the one who utters it.
This is a set of spiritual facts having their analogue in all the
communities grouped around a Holy Book (the Ahl al-Kitâb). All the
problems that originate there have their analogues on both sides. But
the state of meditations and research is far from being on both sides
at the same level of conscious clarification. Now the theme is of
decisive importance. So that this phenomenon of the Holy Book can
be the place of reflections in which participate the Iranian reader,
interested in the connections with the problems meditated on in the
West, and the Western reader, interested in what connects the
questions of Koranic herme neutics to questions which are already
familiar to him elsewhere, — we will try to indicate very briefly here
the link of these common researches. We will thus have some
essential preliminaries for the understanding of the perspectives of
esotericism and spiritual hermeneutics (chap. V), as well as for the
questions of Shiite prophecy exposed next (chap. VI).
The Qur'anic expression Ahl al-Kitâb (literally "People of the Book")

specifically designates a religious community which
136 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism The Phenomenon of the Holy Book 137
possesses a Holy Book, that is to say a community whose very existence proceeds held and in Islam, to the hermeneutics of the Bible and to the neutical herme of the
from this Holy Book, because its religion is founded on a Book "descended from Qurân. Considering in particular the stories which, in the Qurân, have their
Heaven", a Book revealed to a prophet and which been taught by this prophet, antecedents in the Bible, including in the books which it is agreed to call "apocrypha",
specially commissioned near her for this purpose. Alongside the Muslims, the we are led to discover, in those who meditate on them, analogous hermeneutic
"people of the Book" (the "communities having a book") are the Jews and the situations. One is thus led to the idea of a "comparative spiritual hermeneutics", that
Christians themselves (the Zoroastrians, thanks to the Avesta, have more or less is to say of a theology of the religions of the Book which would focus on and lead to
benefited from the privilege; those whom the were called the "Sabians of Harran", an understanding of what there is in common between the demands and the
and who were Hermeticists, were less fortunate) perspectives which the phenomenon of the revealed Holy Book arouses and
discovers, the prophetic scriptural fact, — and a theology which would lead to an
102
.
understanding of the meaning of what happens if we gather in some ideal assembly,
However, all have in common a problem which is posed to them by the for the moment in some "Castle of the Soul" or Domus Sapien tiae, the spiritual
fundamental religious phenomenon which is common to them: their Holy Book which hermeneutics of Biblical Revelation and the spiritual hermeneutics of Quranic
is the rule of their life and their knowledge in this world and beyond this world. The Revelation. We have sketched elsewhere a first attempt by comparing the themes
first and last task is to understand this Book. But what is understanding and making of Adam and Noah, as they emerge from the spiritual hermeneutics of Swedenborg
understood (the very thing designated by the word hermeneutics, from the Greek and the hermeneutics of the Ismaili gnosis; certain convergences are remarkable
hermeneia) ? To understand, without even needing to specify it, is always to
understand a meaning, and it can only be the true meaning of this Book. But the
mode of understanding is conditioned by the mode of being of the one who
understands. With the phenomenon of the "revealed Holy Book" is inaugurated a
103
problem which does not only concern this or that particular behavior of man; it is the .
very mode of being of man that is in question, in other words the very concept of The Holy Books recount events whose "external gesture" (the zahir) is presented
anthropology. For all the interior behavior of the believer derives from his as accomplished in the past; they stage characters, facts and gestures, figures from
understanding; the lived situation is essentially a hermeneutic situation, that is to say the past. It is necessary, however, that these events and these beings have a
the situation where for the believer the true meaning blossoms, which at the same meaning different from that which they would have, if they appeared simply in a
time makes his existence true. This is why this phenomenon of the Book not only profane book. If they have a meaning for the life and death of the one who reads
typifies a particular anthropology, but also a whole form of culture. them, it is because they are not simply events of the "past", events recorded in the
chronicles. We already know how fundamental this aspect was for the Imams of
Shi'ism, since the V Imam, Imam Mohammad Baqir (ob. 115/733), forcefully declared
to his friends: "If the revelation of the Quran had meaning that in relation to the man
or the group of men on the occasion of which such and such a verse was revealed,
then never
and
the whole
dies;Qurân todaywill
his verses would be dead.
be fulfilled Not!men
in the Theof
Holy
the Book,
future,the
as Quran, is alive,
they have been
Its effects are permanent, to such an extent that the very phenomenon of the fulfilled in those of the past .
Holy Book, with the inner behavior which it both presupposes and determines, could
be taken as the starting point for a comparative study of spirituality, and in general
of the religious anthropology of the "peoples of the Book", those of the East and
those of the West. For one can say that there is not only a certain number of
prophetic data common to the Bible and the Qurân, but also something common in
the problems that the search for the true meaning, as meaning spiritual, posed
respectively in chr 103. Cf. our study Comparative Spiritual Hermeneutics (cited above p. 27,
n. 4, and p. 107, n. 80).
104. Tafsîr Mir'at al-anwâr, Tehran 1375, p. 5. Several hadith of the 5th
and 6th Imam formulate and take up this thesis of capital importance.
102. Cf. already our study on The Interiorization of Meaning in Iranian Sufi This same thesis calls for the necessity of the continuous presence of the
Hermeneutics (Eranos-Jahrbuch XXVI), Zürich 1958, pp. 57. ss., of which several Imam in this world, even of his "hidden" presence, because it is through this
essential reasons are repeated here; see further on Book IV of the present work. presence which inspires its hermeneutics, that the Book never dies and that its
meaning still to come, cf. Comparative spiritual hermeneutics, p. 168, no. 130.
the pitfalls of what, nowadays, was to be called “historicism”. even among the Jewish Kabbalists and among the Christian esotericists for
the spiritual hermeneutics of the Bible, and there is an irreducible difference,
Let us take the Latin word comprehendere in its exemplary sense here: to it seems, between this mode of perception and what we currently mean by
contain, to involve. To understand a meaning is to imply it oneself, in one historical understanding. Irreducible, unless we have a system of approval
way or another, in one's own mode of being. Anyone who does not imply it, and validation. But if such a system can be at the disposal of the esotericist,
that is to say does not understand it, would hardly be able to explain it. it is not certain that the historian as such has one at his disposal.
What then, if the meaning in question concerns the very meaning of his life?
The verses of the Qurân are referred to as “signs” (âyât), and that is precisely Let us take an example which best illustrates the problem posed by the
what it is all about: understanding the signs that are addressed to you. But spiritual hermeneutics of the Bible, and as a corollary by that of the Qurân .
this postulates that the act of understanding takes place in the present; the (1688-1772) thus states the principle of his hermeneutics: just as there are
meaning of the sign is implied in the one who understands it, because he is three Heavens in the spiritual world — Supreme Heaven, Middle Heaven,
the one to whom it is addressed. Lower Heaven — there are, corresponding respectively to each of these
kingdoms, three meaning in the divine Word: a "heavenly" meaning, a
At the very bottom of the act of understanding there is thus a problem of spiritual meaning, a natural meaning. What is primordial is at the center, in
time: the relation between the time of events and the time of the reader or ultimate position, as the end is in the cause, and therefore in the effect. The
the hermeneutic, a relation which is itself the time and the place of their structure of the Word is then presented as follows: on the outside a natural
meeting. . According to whether one neglects or refuses the problem thus or literal meaning, which is the envelope, the container and the support of an
posed, one misses the encounter, or on the contrary according to whether internal meaning which is the spiritual meaning, and this in turn contains an
one becomes aware of it by applying oneself to solving it, one approaches even more interior meaning, the celestial meaning (which would thus
with frankness the presuppositions of any act of understanding, of any correspond to that which Islamic esotericism designates as the esoteric of
hermeneutics, the case taking on incomparable gravity when it comes to the the esoteric, batin al-batin).
meaning of what is specifically designated as the "revealed holy book."
We will note later (§ 5) that the spirituals of Islam have been attentive to the
qualitative differentiation of times, and to this specific time which presupposes
the understanding, the hermeneutics of the events which take place "in the These two meanings exist simultaneously in the literal sense, and it is
soul". ". By saying “in the soul”, we mean the specific “spaces” in which these precisely this simultaneity that Swedenborg then attempts to analyze. In
events take place and their place. Heaven and in the world, he says, the order of things is presented according
to a double type of structure: there is a successive order, a mode of structure
where the parts are successively added to each other, from highest to lowest;
and there is a simultaneous order, where things are juxtaposed, from the
2. - Spaces and perspectives of spiritual hermeneutics most interior to the most exterior (as if going, from several homocentric
circles, towards the periphery). He invites us to consider the successive
Perhaps one could say that the ability to perceive forms in the succession order as one would the sections of some column of a temple, whose
of irreversible chronological time, to situate them in a moment of this circumference, narrower at the top, is growing from top to bottom.
succession and to explain them as a function of this moment, is in inverse
proportion to the aptitude to perceive them and to situate them in space, in a
space, that is, which is no longer the quantitative and homogeneous physical What is at the top and at the principle in the structure of the successive type,
space, and to explain them by their rank in a permanent and hierarchical corresponds to what is interior and central in the structure of the simultaneous
qualitative spatiality . We will see (infra chap. v) that the esoteric hermeneutics type. What is the basis and the arrival
of Shi'ism deploys the meanings of the Koranic text, so to speak, on several
levels of universes that can be depicted in diagrams. It's about
105. For what follows, cf. already our study For a morphology of Shiite
spirituality (Eranos-Jahrbuch XXIX), Zürich 1961, pp. 57 ss., “Hermé
neutics and perspective”.
in successive order, corresponds to what is external in subtle 107. Basically it leads us to conceive several
simultaneous order. spatiality modes, including the visual mode, corresponding to
To represent to us the metamorphosis of the successive into the sense perception is perhaps not even the privileged case.
simultaneous, we must therefore conceive of something like the following The Word, the divine Word (it is she who is in question here, when he
event: that the highest and most original things in is about hermeneutics), it is the sound incantation that evokes
the successive order become the intimate and the heart in the order beings, and which remains the deep and secret nature of each
simultaneous, while things inferior and last to being 108. Stabilized in this being, this nature does not reveal itself to
occur in successive order, become the outer and extreme parts in the the empirical sense of sight, but to another visual sense,
simultaneous structure. Everything happens to an interior vision perceiving other spaces. But
as if the column in question descended by collapsing on precisely spaces, and this psycho-spiritual spatiality, which has
itself (by telescoping) to merge with a flat surface, its vertex now properties other than sensible spatiality, requires in its
occupying the center of the an homologation of the sound space to the suprasensory spaces, where
new figure. This homologation from successive to simultaneous, the vibrations of the Word are propagated as in
the way in which the simultaneous is formed from the successive, can be "arpeggios charged with distant lights" (Joseph Baruzi).
verified in all things of the material and spiritual universes. The law is It does indeed appear, ultimately, that this way of envisaging the
constant: what is above and original tends synchronism of the spiritual or interior senses and of the natural or
towards the center and the ultimate. In the case of the divine Word, the exterior sense, is common to all mystical theosophies
celestial, spiritual and natural proceed in successive order, and, finally, that developed in religions based on a Book
present themselves in a simultaneous structure: celestial sense and or revealed Books. There is something in common, we
spiritual sense of the Word are simultaneously in the natural or literal have already indicated, in the manner in which a Swedenborg
sense, which is the understands the Bible, and how the Shi'ites, Twelver
106
container and the envelope .
and Isma'ilis, or else the Sufis of the school of Ibn 'Arabî, understand
It seems that one could neither better nor more explicitly the Qurân and the body of traditions that explain it. A
than the great Swedish visionary theosophist does, lay the something that can only be discovered and analyzed in terms
problem of the plurality of meanings of divine Revelations, as of structure, because only a phenomenology of configurative
being essentially the problem of a relation between Forms or consciousness is undoubtedly able to observe the fact
temporal figures and Spatial shapes or figures. It is only by posing the and value its meaning. We must limit ourselves here to enumerating
problem in this way that one gives oneself the possibility of conceiving a few landmarks.
a history other than the material history of the From the outset, we can say that, if already there is a correspondence,
external empirical facts, and especially not to confuse the as regards the internal norm of structure, between the situations
spiritual meaning and allegory. In other words, when Swedenborg respectively confronted by the spiritual in Christendom
opens to the mystical intelligence the spaces where and in Islam, one of the privileged places where there would be to release
and perceive the "events in Heaven", suggesting the foundations of the phenomenon, would be the metaphysics of
the homologation of the successive to the simultaneous, he perhaps light professed on both sides and contemporaneously, in
delivers to us the secret of all superior spiritual life, the very one West and in the Islamic East, namely in Iran. We could
that, in Richard Wagner's last drama, gives us the say that the Dionysian hierarchies and the perspective of Ibn Al Haytham
Gurnemanz's response to Parsifal: "Scarcely have I walked, (Alhazen), the theme of hierarchical illuminations
Yet I already feel far away! — You see, my son, said Gurnemanz, Here in Denis the Areopagite and the metaphysics of light,
time becomes space. » seemed to be related (Ed. Gilson). The same is
This homologation of forms in time to forms rigorously true of the "oriental theosophy" of Soh
in space proposes a case of isomorphism particularly
107. The idea of isomorphism refers here particularly to research
Gestaltists, concerning the phenomenology of Form (Gestalt) or
106. Swedenborg, Vera christiana Religio, art. 210, 212, 214; see the study gestalt psychology.
cited above p. 137, no. 103, c. I, § 2 : “The principles of hermeneutics 108. See t. III, book. IV, ch. III of this work (on the doctrine of
spiritual. » Horufis).

The Phenomenon of the Holy Book
rawardi (ob. 587/1191), articulated essentially on a metaphysics of light and example, Qâzî Sa'îd Qommî shows, according to the twelve functional
an idea of archan gelic hierarchies, originating both from late neoplatonism relations determining the form of the Temple or cosmic "Throne" (as an
and from the Mazdean theosophy of ancient Persia (cf. infra book II). archetype of the cubic form of the Ka'ba), the need for the Imams to be twelve
in number. , nothing more.
The interest shown by our medieval philosophers in optics in general, that The frequent diagrams in the works of the Ismaili Theosophists or those of
is to say in the treatises De perspectiva which had their sources in Arabic the school d! lbn 'Arabi (as with the Kabbaiists or with certain disciples of J.
texts, is nourished by the synthesis thus effected between the science of light Boehme) may at first sight appear fantastic. In fact, these diagrams have as
and the metaphysics of divine illumination. As we know, it was mainly the much rigor as noetic value. They verify and illustrate structures having their
work of Robert Grosseteste whose cosmogony deals with light as the very own reality, corresponding to their own mode of perception. And if there is a
substance of being, as being corporeality itself from its most subtle state, and sure way to enhance them, it is to be guided by the method of investigation
posits it as primary constitutive origin of the universes. Now, the title of a common to the metaphysics of light in Iran and in the West, a method that can
treatise such as De luce seu de inchoatione formarum (“On light or the birth be characterized as an esoteric method of spiritual interpretation of laws of
of forms”) finds its exact equivalent among the Ishrâqîyûn, the “theosophists optics and perspective, based on the same cosmogony of light Of course, it is
of light” or “oriental theosophers”. from the Sohrawardi school. It is the very not a question of leading or reducing the spiritual universes to the level of
laws of optics that open up the space, or the hyperspace, of the perspectives evidence of sensitive perspectives.
that the hermeneutics of the spiritual meanings hidden in the sensible must
have at their disposal. In his treatise De Luce, Bartholomew of Bologna (12th m .
century) puts in correspondence the seven modes of participation of the

bodies in the light, and seven modes of participation of the angelic and human
intellects in the divine Light 109. In our turn, we could put in correspondence It is the opposite, or rather it is a reversion, a return to the origin of all
here the seven esoteric levels of the Qurân, which Semnânî relates to the perspective. It is this very thing that inspires Suhrawardi, as well as those who
seven centers or subtle organs of mystical physiology, each characterized by came after him, the frequent recourse to the science of mirrors or to
a color, a degree of light (cf. infra book IV, chap. IV). comparisons with the phenomenon of the mirror. Here even, when the
phenomenon of the mirror is called upon to reveal to us structural laws which
ultimately suggest to us a mode of spatiality specific to the spaces which open
up in and through the resonances of spiritual hermeneutics, it could happen
that our own research has much to learn from that pursued by the
phenomenology of musical experience, insofar as we find ourselves then on
Whence one understands the extraordinary praise of Perspective the path opened up by our metaphysicians of light, when they give a spiritual
formulated by Roger Bacon: it is among the most fundamental sciences of interpretation of the laws of perspective.
Nature, it is the key to intellectual knowledge and to the spiritual sciences,
because it is It is always a question of a vision, and because the experience
of exterior illumination makes us understand, by its laws and its images, the
experience of interior illumination . figures (the sphere and the pyramid in Our attention on this point has been particularly drawn to the works of our
particular) and their properties, in order to promote geometric examples in as late friend V. Zuckerkandl, namely the pages where he suggests how the
many symbols, by applying them to the physics of Light. It is then that example of the "room of mirrors" (that is to say the room of which all the sides
something like a topography of spiritual universes becomes possible. In Shiite are made up of mirrors) offers us the best means of meditating Visomorphism
theosophy, for which can emerge between a precise aspect of the musical experience and
this phenomenon of mirrors to which,
109. Etienne Gilson, Philosophy in the Middle Ages, Paris 1947, pp. 424-426, 111. The features common to the method of Roger Bacon and that of the
470-473. 521. Ishrâqîyûn have already been noted by Asin Palacios, in his work on Ibn Masarra
110. Cf. Raoul Carton, Physical Experience with Roger Bacon, Paris 1924, y su escuela, nouv. ed. in Obras escogidas, Madrid 1946, vol. I, pp. 159-160.
pp. 72-73.
144 The Phenomenon of the Holy Book 145

Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism , for their part,
are referred to by our visionary theosophists . imaginative perception, a world in a maximum rapprochement between visual space and auditory space. What
which God has created for each soul a universe which corresponds to this soul, actually happens there? On the one hand a phenomenon of iteration or self-
so that when the mystic contemplates this universe, it is himself, his own soul, multiplication, on the other hand a progression which is, as such, a return to the
that he contemplates there. origin, a reversion (compare above p. 143, the context in which we have already
used this word).
In the first place, through the play of mirrors,114

such that each object is repeated
It is to this that, according to Ibn 'Arabi, 'Abdollah ibn 'Abbas, one of the most there from image to image, the presence of this object of a unique
is never
andlimited
solitary
to presence;
the act
famous companions of the Prophet and of the 1st Imam, had alluded by declaring: each appearance of the object at one point implies ipso facto its appearance at
"This Ka'ba (the temple located at Mecca ) is only one mansion among fourteen other points, that is to say its self-multiplication in as many images as there are
mansions. In each of the seven Earths there is a creature who is our image, so mirrors and reflections of mirrors. Likewise in the auditory space, each sound is
that in each of the seven Earths there is an Ibn 'Abbas who is my image repeated from octave to octave; each presence of a sound at a given point in the
auditory space implies the repetition of its presence, at the corresponding pitch,
113
. » from octave to octave.
Without doubt, this is one way among our authors of formulating their feeling
of a hierarchy of universes in correspondence with each other, universes to which
their intimate experience allows them to be present in a way or another. But it Even more, it is the whole "field" of a given tonality which is repeated from octave
must be admitted that this perspective appears so strange and foreign to the to octave, just as the whole space of the mirrored room is repeated by the reflection
feeling of the universe and to the mental habits prevailing in our day, that we must from image to image. . We know that we can sing a hymn at different pitches; the
renew our methods of investigation, if we want to manage to foresee what is of sounds will then be qualitatively different as to pitch, and yet it will still be the same
such an experience, and to obtain a “certification” (tahqîq) of it, that is to say if we tune from the same hymn. We therefore willingly follow V. Zuckerkandl, when he
do not intend to resign ourselves either to historicism or to psychologism, or to invites us to reflect on this musical phenomenon as being at the very origin of the
any interpretation of this kind, whether it is dialectical or not. And if we do not theory of Gestalt (in the technical sense that the word "form" takes on among
resign ourselves to it, we do not see that it is possible to elude the urgency of the Gestaltists), because in wondering how the tune of the melody is preserved,
task. It could then happen that it becomes easier for us to carry out, in the although the "material parts" of it are changed, we discover that what constitutes
company of our spirituals, the passage, the exodus, leading from the sensible the "matter" of this melody are not the sounds, but the relations of a sound to
space to the supersensible spaces, if we face the question by finally posing it for another, and that, if the air of this melody is preserved, it is because the relations
itself. , as the problem of the relations between auditory or sound space and have remained identical
visual space gives us the occasion, which, under another aspect, comes down to
saying between temporal forms and spatial forms, or, in Swedish Borgian terms ,
between the successive order and the simultaneous order. 115
.
It is here, it seems to us, that one can intuitively grasp that, if one does not
understand this principle of conservation, it will also be impossible to understand,
that is to say to admit and to fully value the fundamental law which governs the
hermeneutics of the Bible in a Swedenborg on the one hand, that of the Qurân
What therefore caught our attention in the pages to which we refer here is that and of the vast body of traditions in the theosophy of Islamic esotericism in
the "chamber of mirrors" is described there, with its properties, as the "place" general, to 'somewhere else.
where
It is the possibility of really "starting over" the same "story" at different levels, at
112. It is a mirror phenomenon which unravels the mystical epic of the birds ascending octaves,
recognizing themselves in Simorgh (infra chap. VII in fine, cf. t. II. liv. II chap. v),
and which reveals the secret of the “personal city” (infra t. II, book II, chap. vi, § 5). 114. Cf. Victor Zuckerkandl, Sound and symbol : Music and the external World
(Bolligen Séries, XLIV), New York, 1956, p. 329.
113. See the context of Ibn 'Arabî translated in our book Celestial Earth... p. 115. Cf. Victor Zuckerkandl, The sense of Music, Princeton University
216, Press, 1959, pp. 16-17.

up to the level of metahistory: as Swedenborg does when commenting on Genesis, but a reversal. The progression of our world having the form of a cycle, it is a return
Exodus or the Apocalypse, as do the Shi'ites, Twelver and Ismaili, by perceiving the to the origin, that is to say to the very plane where the “drama in Heaven” gave rise
spiritual meaning of the Qur'anic verses and traditions at the level of the eternal to our material and transitory universe. Adamic humanity has before it the "heavenly"
pleroma of the holy Imams and of the spiritual hierarchies which proceed from them state which it left behind , just as in the interval of the octave, the fundamental sound
(cf. infra chap. v). It is also impossible to understand the physiology of the spiritual which we left behind us, is also that very one towards which we ascend.
body or of the "body of resurrection", as it has been developed in Shi'ism, in our
time, by the Shaykh school, if we do not perceive these "octaves" of universe where
the constituent relationships of a person, a situation, an event are repeated and
preserved each time, but at different heights. If we admit that it is thus possible to To start from any point in the visible terrestrial world, the molk, is to progress
envisage the hermeneutic problem in terms of Gestalt, we will on the other hand towards its point of origin, that is to say first of all towards this world of Hûrqaîaya
sense that it is perhaps a fault of envisaging it thus, that positive science nowadays which is the mundus imaginalis, the interworld where the spiritual takes body and
generally opposes indifference, if not refusal and hostility, with regard to this religious shape, and where the corporeal spiritualizes itself into autonomous Forms and
phenomenon, which is nevertheless essential, which spiritual hermeneutics has Images, which our authors repeat remain free of any matter other than their own
constituted throughout time. She only sees or hears the arbitrary, where there is light, like the images in the mirror. the principle of this self-multiplication of presences
117
organic morphological necessity. But there is perhaps a hermeneutic deafness to which the tradition quoted above according to Ibn 'Arabi alluded, and which is to .
comparable to musical deafness. be put in correspondence with what iconology designates as "levels of meaning".
The history of the holy Imams of Shi'ism, for example, who inaugurated the cycle of
spiritual initiation succeeding the cycle of the prophetic mission (infra chap. VI and
book VII), can be understood at the level of earthly existence (which for us moderns
merges with that of history itself), and from interworld to interworld it can be heard
even in the supreme pleroma (infra chap. v). It is no coincidence that, in Ismaili
Secondly, we refer to the law that seems to impose on the phenomenon the very theosophy, imamology, regulated by the septenary like prophetology, proceeds by
structure of the sound space, and which is the law of reversion. This law makes that heptads of Imams, from octave to octave.
any movement from a sound of the musical scale makes us progress towards and
arrive at this same sound, at the octave. Likewise also in the “chamber of mirrors”
any unfolding starting from a point is simultaneously a progression towards this same
point in the image of the mirror. What in our tonal system is designated as the interval
of fifth or dominant, marks the point of extreme distance from the fundamental sound;
from this point a reversal in direction takes place; the forward progression becomes It will perhaps be pointed out to us that the interpretation of the phenomenon to
a return to the starting point, to the fundamental sound at the octave. This is why the which we refer here ultimately depends on the tonal system which has prevailed in
"miracle of the octave" has been spoken of, not without reason, as something without the West and on our idea of harmonic functions. But I would like to say that it is
other example or parallel in the phenomenal world . analysis in the relations that it precisely for us, men of the West, that it is mainly a question, by the means which
implies, we find something like the isomorph of it in the cyclic form which governs the are within us, of reaching at its source an experience which reveals to us a spatiality
cosmogony and the eschatology of Islamic esotericism. Mabdâ" and Ma'ad: place of other than our "daily" spatiality, and which thereby reveals to us a realm where, as
origin and place of return (supra p. 127). The interval from one to the other does not of right, it is possible to authenticate and certify the visionary configurations of our
outline a rectilinear evolution, "Oriental cisism disguised more or less frankly under the interpretations of historicism
or sociology. For if it is not enough to say that the theosophy of the Ishraq, for
example, was thought
116. V. Zuckerkandl, Sound and symbol, p. 96-104 and 329. For the
physiology of the "spiritual body", presupposing that the notion of "body" is 117. On mundus imaginalis, cf. above p. 45, no. 16, and p. 121, no. 91;
understood at different octaves of the universe, cf. our book Celestial Earth... Celestial Earth... index sv image, as well as our book Creative Imagination
index sv body. in Ibn 'Arabi's Sufism, Paris, Flammarion 1958, Part II.

in the 6th / 12th century, if it seems ridiculous to claim to "explain" it vertical or polar, that is to say oriented on the "celestial pole", the
by asserting that it was "very much of its time", and cosmic north", which guides traditional cultures. Both
naturally referring to the single time of the calendar of terms of Mabda' and Ma'ad polarize a descent and an ascent.
history, so what? What is revealed to us in Sohrawardî emphasizes this: “We tell you: return! But the idea
this form of human experience and how is it possible? Perhaps it is back implies the idea of a previous presence, and woe
for us a "continent yours ! if by place of return you understand Damascus, Baghdad, or
lost” that it is as difficult for us to find, as it is difficult for the some other earthly homeland .
phenomenologist to define the world that reveals itself to us.
by the rhythms of the sound space. dilemma to which the conscience is most often reduced
It is not only the Holy Books, Bible and Qurân, modern before the old holy texts: either myth or
which put us before this irreducible fact: that for so many story ?
so many readers the text has had and has other meanings Neither myth nor history. We can only get out of the dilemma on the condition
than what is apparently written (the zâhir). In the same case to admit that there are perfectly real events , taking place in a space
finds, for example, a very large part of Persian literature: mystical other than that of our physical space,
epics and lyric poetry. How many Orientalists have been surprised, if which is for us the theater and the stage of the only events
not scandalized, by the fact that so many which we call historical. This other "space", our authors
Iranian readers can hear in Hâfez's poems pushed its ontology very far, designating it as 'âlam
a mystical sense! The fact is there, however, and no deafness al-mithâl (mundus imaginalis), this world which is not the "imaginary"
118
hermeneutics cannot invalidate it .
but the imaginary, and which we have more
This is why, speaking of hermeneutical perspective, that is to say studied elsewhere 120. On the other hand, when our contemporaries pose the
of the levels of meaning corresponding dilemma is implicitly in identifying history and the historical with
from the divine Word to the different planes of the universe, and by the materiality of external facts, and in confusing,
orienting the problems in the direction of those posed to us by the without further investigation, spiritual meaning, symbol, myth, allegory etc.
sound perspective, our purpose is in no way to speak by metaphor. This confusion is haunting. What must happen for the
Admittedly, the approach that we have just attempted to outline, spiritual meaning is lost and degenerates into allegory? There is a
goes against the tendencies that prevail today in theology and phenomenon of decadence of spiritual forms which is in essential
exegesis; more simply, it goes against the pheno leads the world as correlation with the loss of what we have just called
it shows itself in what we call the the polar dimension. It remains to deepen the comparative
historical consciousness. Nevertheless, some texts remain investigation, the terms of which have already been set out above, namely
will show us again that, on pain of the worst misunderstandings, the search for the conditions that were made for hermeneutics
it is impossible not to question the presuppositions of the latter, if one spirituality, respectively in Islam and in Christianity. We have
intends to communicate with the phenomenon of the world as it recalled the absence of the Church phenomenon in Islam; there would be
shows itself, in Iran for example, in the wondering whether this institutional phenomenon does not go hand in hand,
consciences which still remain open, nowadays, to the as such, with a predilection for the literal and historical meaning,
perspectives of traditional culture. admitting at most some pious typological interpretation
What we call historical evolution, orientation to or allegorical, undoubtedly very edifying, but harmless
the horizontal, controlled by this hypothetical "sense of history" which both metaphysically and socially. Because it's usually
obsesses so many minds these days like a dogma in Christian formations on the margins of the official Churches,
secularized, — this form of consciousness correlatively implies that the tradition of hermeneutics has been perpetuated and renewed
the loss and disappearance of the dimension in height, the dimension spiritual, even if it means spending our days in the eyes of science
119. Sohrawardî, Epistle of the towers of the citadel (Risâlat al-abrâj);

118. On Hafez's hermeneutics, cf. our introduction to Rûzbehân see our edition of the Arabic text in the appendix of the "Persian works" ed. by
Baqlî Shîrâzî, The Jasmine of the Faithful of Love (Bibl. Iranian, vol. 8), Tehran SH Nasr (Iranian Bibl., vol. 17).
Paris 1958, pp. 58 ss. 120. Cf. above n. 117.
exegetical in general for something arbitrary and artificial, which does it shows its presence “elsewhere” in another dimension.
violence to the texts. It's pure phobia
121
.
The conditions were different in Islam, as we recalled earlier (while There is expressed a feeling of being, of life, of presence in the world, of
emphasizing in what sense the periods of temporal success were, both for its purpose, very different in this traditional Islam from all that is familiarly
Isma'ilism and for Twelver Shi'ism, a test). But it would then be necessary to connoted for Westerners by the notion of incarnation, and this is why we
analyze among the spirituals of Islam the reasons which motivate or facilitate were already asking ourselves earlier, because the question is decisive: how
the absence of compromise between personal demands and the collective could a world where this religious dogma has not prevailed conceive of it and
norms tending to the socialization of the religious thing. experience its metamorphosis or decadence, we mean the "conversion" of
religious dogma? into a secularized dogma of social Incarnation, of collective
Sohrawardî configured the pathetic symbol of this in his “Story of Western consciousness, generating the illusion that it suffices to leave the individual
Exile” (infra Book II); another symbol can be read in the very term which to enter into something like the divine? As a corollary, to what extent would
designates the spiritual man, the sâlik, the "pilgrim" of spaces beyond the the evolution of the world of Forms be parallel?
visible (which brings to mind the expression peregrinare pro Christo, used in
the ancient Church Celtic). But in the end, the first and ultimate question, on
which all the others depend, including those that have been raised in this The tone of Shiite esotericism results from a completely different dominant
paragraph, is this: how to conceive of the relations of the supersensible and tone: that of the ghayhat, the occultation of the hidden Imam, which is only
the sensible, the presence of Supramaterial Energies in Material Forms? the limit case of this mystical dimension which halos and irides all things of a
How does the idea of spiritual hierarchies have anything to do with the suprasensible dimension. The terms to which the contrast is reduced are
structures of any earthly hierarchies? those of historical consciousness and gnostic consciousness.
First and last question, because it decides the different directions taken
by what was the traditional East and by what is the West. This relation of 3. - Historical Consciousness and Gnostic Consciousness
the spiritual and the sensible, as presupposed and experienced by the
spirituality of Shi'ism, is found admirably formulated, for example, and in To speak of historical consciousness is to deal with a theme which
perfect consonance with the metaphysics of light, in some very beautiful nowadays goes without saying. On the other hand, trying to do justice to the
pages of the late leader of the Shaykh school in Iran, Shaykh Sarkar Agha. Gnostic consciousness obliges us to go against the theological currents of
Speaking of the way in which souls make their entry into this world, we must our days and to break with many prejudices unless we also consider it only
understand it, he says, with the way in which the image of the human person as a "historical phenomenon", which would simply cancel our talk. The first
makes his entry, his appearance, in a mirror, or compare it with the light of of the warnings should be, whenever one has the opportunity, to denounce
the sun which, from the height of the sky, strikes a mirror-like surface aunt. the current confusion between what is allegory and what is spiritual meaning.
No more than the incandescent mass of the sun "descends" on this Earth,
the souls, that is to say the self-spirits with their archetypal spiritual body, do
not "descend" materially in this world, "in person" for so to speak. This is why Admittedly, it will be stressed here that the knowledge of the techniques
the mirror of its presence in the terrestrial world can break, the archetypal implemented in Christianity for the study of the Holy Books, and mainly
Image, belonging to another universe, nevertheless continues to subsist in represented at the origins by the different techniques of the school of Antioch
itself and for itself. It is that there is nothing in common between the way in and the school of 'Alexan drie, is of great use for all research concerning the
which the image is "suspended" in a mirror, and the way in which we beginnings of Quranic hermeneutics. Unfortunately, we can only refer here
conceive, for example, that the black color is diffused in the black body. . to general research on the aspects of ancient Christian exegesis, 122 and
limit ourselves.
The mineral substance of the mirror is in no way that of the image reflected Abû'l-Qâsim Ebrâhîmî) in our book Celestial Earth... pp. 363 ss.
122. To Gershom G. Scholem deserves the credit of having insisted
in it. The mirror shows the image, and by showing it, with great technical rigor on the difference between allegory and symbol .
to recall the classic formula which ends up condensing the famous technique even where it must move within definite limits, not only excluding the recurrence
of the “four senses”: littera (sensus historians) gesta docet; quid credas, or the return of any spontaneous personal prophetic inspiration, but also the
allegoria; moralis, quid agas; quid speras, anagogia. “The letter (the historical intervention of a prophetic hermeneutics. From the outset, it could not dispose
sense) teaches what happened; allegory, what you must believe; the moral of what had been excluded as "heresy"; any perspective on the Pleroma, on
sense, what you must do; anagogy, what you must hope for. This formula the events of which it is the place, on all that can only rise to consciousness in
does not enjoy an excellent reputation today; its mere mention is sometimes symbolic figures, was closed . The allegory is only a paraphrase of perfectly
enough to irritate philologists and theologians today, who see in it only artifice, conscious contents that can always be known and expressed in another way,
a means of distorting and torturing the texts, a means which the theologians which makes it something superfluous and artificial. It can move in several
of yesteryear would have used to introduce into the texts what they had directions, but these directions are all at the same level of consciousness and
themselves in mind. It must be admitted that the abuse that was made of this perception of being.
technique was to expose it to the reproach of dissolving the content of the
texts in favor of a universal allegory . But on the other hand, we must
recognize that it would have been difficult to get the pious exegetes who for
centuries practiced this technique to admit that the important meaning of On the other hand, spiritual symbolic exegesis attaches to the simultaneous
Scripture was that which we consider today as the "natural and historical”. maintenance of the letter and its hidden meaning (the zâhir and the batin),
Beneath their clumsiness, their artificial and irritating processes, there remains because it is on this condition that the literal appearance becomes the
to be found the latent intention of the steps of their thought and perhaps in transparency of another world. But this transparency is produced only by the
our turn we commit another confusion, when we omit the fundamental screen of the letter 123. Promoted to the function of symbol, the letter of the
question: what are the conditions of the act of understanding, that is, text presents itself, as a symbol, as the only and the best possible expression
hermeneutics? in what space does it unfold? in what time does it take place? of beings and of beings. unformulated events, of foreseen things, which have
not yet risen, or will never be able to descend or rise completely to the level of
consciousness. The symbol necessarily remains below the mystery to which it
refers. Thus, to explain a symbol is in no way to abolish it, to render it useless
(as the construction of an allegory can be useless): it is always to be deciphered
anew; it always remains to "realize" its meaning. The perception of symbols is
On the answer to these questions (we have tried to answer the first two only effected by a descent or an ascent to different levels of being, to different
above), it depends on whether we commit or avoid the confusion between depths of consciousness or heights of superconsciousness. This is why the
allegory and symbol. Sweden Borgian hermeneutics, for example (supra § 2), brings out the spiritual
If we are attentive to what is involved, we can distinguish among all the meaning, but expressly rejects the allegorical method of interpretation;
"peoples of the Book" those who sought and could not go beyond the
allegorical meaning, and who are almost always found in the ranks of official
religious formations. cials, — and those who have really sought and practiced
the spiritual sense, and who are almost always found on the fringes of official
and majority religious formations. This is because allegory is harmless; the
spiritual sense can be revolutionary.
123. A simple example. Is it a question of considering the case where,
from the natural sense, from the letter of the Word, there does not come out
any divine inspired revelation? We can read this absence in the words of
If the allegorical technique appears artificial, it is because in the end it goes those who utter: “Out of Galilee there shall not come forth a prophet” (John
7:53). But this negation may well occur in the Word's own house; it is then
from the same to the same, insofar as among his own that the Word is profaned, and this is what the words
announce: “It is not becoming that a prophet should perish outside of
as a "form of expression radically transcending the sphere of allegory", Jerusalem” (Luke 13: 13). “Galilee” and “Jerusalem” are then promoted to
cf. G. Scholem, The Great Currents of Jewish Mysticism, trans. of Mr. the rank of symbols whose meaning propagates in inexhaustible waves,
M. Davy, Paris, 1950, p. 39-40. For the confrontation, a wealth of because, even explained, a symbol always remains to be deciphered anew,
material is gathered in the works of H. de Lubac, Medieval as remaining below the mystery to which it refers. On the two Gospel verses
Exegesis , the four Christians, Paris 1958. quoted above, see the beautiful text of W. Cairns Henderson, The Prophet
of Nazareth of Galilea (in New Church Life, Bryn Athyn, Pa., April 1965, pp. 145 ss.).
it in no way abolishes the literal meaning, the apparentiae reales, adversaries deserved the opposite reproach as well. We have
but it makes them transparent, diaphanous, heralding and noted as a decisive symptom of his way of thinking, the
signifying images of a world more consistent than themselves, but insurmountable difficulty presented to him by the historical fact of the Incarnation.
which can only be seen through them. Nor is the hermeneutics of But would it not be that the very notion of historical fact was not
the Scriptures among the ancient Gnostics allegorical . practiced yet an acquired notion for the Christian religious consciousness,
by the latter, that of Shiite esotericism, is no longer confused with and that "historicity" was not imposed on it as a criterion of truth,
allegory. unless historicity consisted precisely for it in something else? No
doubt the historical Christ, the Christ of the Incarnation and of the
Passion, embarrassed Origen. But conversely why was it that the
It is far from being done justice on this point.125 The immediate Pleroma whose "history" the Gnostics told, the Aion Christos and
perception of the primordial facts of metahistory accompanies eo Sophia, put the adversaries of the Gnostics in such angry
ipso a form of Gnostic knowledge; it would be necessary to do embarrassment?
violence to it to constrain it to the evidences of what we call
historical consciousness. For what the latter implies, we have Rather than reproaching the antagonists for a faith which was
heard the Ve Imam denounce as bringing with it the death of the respectively their raison d'être, it would be better to put oneself in
Holy Book, since that abolishes the spiritual sense always in the a position to understand their non-explicit motivations, those on
process of being accomplished. which it depends whether or not the spiritual meaning in question
is accessible or not. The embarrassment of an Origen was
This is why it is a reason for painful astonishment to hear about experienced throughout the history of Christianity by spirits who
the “errors” of Gnosis. Those who express themselves thus present between them the same family trait, who have a similar
implicitly refer to the dogmas whose rational statement was to way of apprehending religious facts . mode of apprehension is
prevail over the centuries to come. As well the interpreter who signaled by a requirement that goes against the criteria demanded
supports the religious phenomenon of Gnosis in its various forms, by what nowadays we understand by historical religion, historical
will go from astonishment to astonishment. He will have to religious fact. It will be argued that without the dogma of the
understand what hides the virulence brought to eliminate Gnosis Incarnation as it was finally formulated by the Councils, without the
during the first centuries of Christianity, virulence reappearing as idea of hypostatic union, the object of the Christian faith does not
well during the ages, each time the spirit of Gnosis manifests itself. "enter into history". But there were therefore people who were
The degree of alarm that this provokes can be measured, among perfectly Christians, and yet did not feel this necessity. For there
other things, by the various comments aroused by the character of to be this necessity, it was precisely necessary first of all the
Origen, the doctor who is invoked although or because his name postulate of historical consciousness; what it requires as a criterion
cannot be pronounced without let it be the word gnosis, for it is of truth and reality of a fact was necessary for the necessity of
difficult to invalidate the point of view of those who see in him only bringing the object of the Christian faith into the fabric of what is
a Christian gnostic. Now, he has been characterized by reproaching called history.
him for being much more attentive to conceiving the Gospel as a
pure spirituality than as a historical revelation; but its Must we say that it was the Christian conscience which
postulated, by itself and as such, the advent of the historical
conscience which is ours today? It will nevertheless remain that
124. Cf. the two preceding notes (ref. to G. Scholem) and our comparative there were Christians who refused this necessity and did not
study Her meneutics spiritual (cited above p. 27, n. 4). The Valentinian surrender to this evidence. The Cross of Light, for example, is not
hermeneutic of the Samaritan woman (John 4: 7 ss.) is in no way “allegory”, a fact of history like the fact of the Incarnation as defined by the
nor myth nor history, cf. F.-M. Sagnard, La Gnose valentinienne, Paris 1947, Councils. For the gnostics of the Acts of John, the Cross of Light
pp. 494 ss.
125- This is how we must reluctantly denounce the work of I. Goldziher, Die
is neither less real nor less true
Richtungen der islamischen Koranauslegung, unver. Neudruck, Leiden 1952, 126. Cf. in particular HI Schoeps, Vom himmlischen Fleisch Christi, eine
for whom everything Shiite is automatically and systematically qualified as dogmengeschichtliche Untersuchung, Tübingen 1951, and our study on The
tendentious, arbitrary, falsified, etc. And one can read even more serious things
interiorization of meaning... (cited above n. 102), chapter I.
in other “scientific” works.

than the Cross of Calvary; she is even more so, since she is the real one. It the danger of "heresy", of overcoming the hiatus between historical Christianity
too is a very real fact, but of a reality which cannot be perceived by the and interior Christianity. But by rediscovering gnosis in Islam, we rediscover
organs of sensible perception, by eyewitnesses whose inner spiritual state the meaning of the event whose reality is perceived, without it having to “enter
would be indifferent; it is a reality that does not fit into the web of material into material history”. Even there, as we have recalled and will verify again,
facts of history relevant to historical criticism . of incarnation, and hence as a the initial situation is different; the prophetic vocation is founded there on
contrast between Gnostic consciousness and historical consciousness. theophanic experiences; the Koranic Christology is there in consonance with
that of the Acts of John; the apparition remains the real event , invested with
a precel slow reality. Of course, this does not mean that the spirituals of Islam
have been spared the troubles experienced by their mystical brothers in other
regions. But the situation differed on both sides. We have tried to situate this
There are real events in the Pleroma; they have neither the nature, nor the difference by marking the issue of the spiritual combat of Shi'ism. It is this
time, nor the place which are those of the event postulated by the official and difference again, which makes it our duty to reflect on the shaking that the
rational dogma, but we are, after so many centuries of historical consciousness, invasion of our "historical consciousness" and its philosophy of history can
so firmly clinging to the evidences of the external history, that if a religious produce today, in a religious consciousness which was foreign, because she
fact happens to "lose" its material historical reality, it seems to us that it loses only believed in this world by believing in its end, in both senses of the word:
its reality quite simply. However, by withdrawing from Gnosis, by ridiculing the finitude and finality.
Pleroma, by rejecting the reality of the Figures that populate it and that of the
events that take place there, we forget perhaps that we are consuming, in the
eyes of a gnosticism, the naturalization and secularization of the Christian
idea itself. Worse still, it is from earthly events that we withdraw all consistency
the moment we incorporate them into the limits of historical reality, thus It was suggested above that the careful limitations imposed on the
“secularizing” the very meaning of Redemption. Hence when we accuse the harmless allegorical technique (where it still survives, on the margins of the
Gnostics of having been the greatest danger to Christianity in the first literal historical meaning as only received natural meaning) go hand in hand
centuries, we quite simply forget that in the eyes of the Gnostics, it was their with the definitive repression of all prophetic hermeneutics. From this point of
adversaries who put Christianity in danger of dead. view, one does not believe that those who consider that the repression of the
Montanist movement marked a decisive turning point for Christianity, from the
second century onwards, are exaggerating. 128 When Montan (Montanus)
and his disciples invoke a new revelation by the Angels, they are rejected as
heretics committing an attack against the apostolic tradition. Since then, any
The gravity of these antagonisms explains why in the end the spiritual, renewal, any recurrence of the free expression of the Spirit in the form of
celestial, pleromatic sense (the concern of the Gnostics of all time) was prophetic message and vision, or as prophetic hermeneutics of previously
confused with — or canceled by — the pious allegiance to goresis that those revealed texts, is no longer licit. Free prophetic inspiration is replaced by the
who strove, without incurring dogmatic institution and magisterium of the Church. Will it be said that it is the
first which "continues" in another form?
127. Cf. our study Divine Epiphany,,, (supra p, 95, n. 63), pp. 142 and 191-192,
and Acts of John 97-102 (MR James, The Apocryphal New Testament, Oxford,
1950, pp, 254-256). Regarding the mystery of the Cross of Light, "it is not the
wooden cross that you will see when you come down from here, any more than I
am the one who is on this cross, me whom you do not see now, but whose voice Isn't it better to frankly agree that in fact it was impossible for the Church to
you hear. I was recognized as being what I am not, not being what I am for the accommodate itself to a “prophecy in freedom”, to spontaneous revelations of
multitude... You will hear that I suffered, however I did not suffer; you will hear the Spirit. But then too, tradition will have to be fixed in the letter of the dogma.
that I did not suffer, and yet, yes, I did... Nothing that is said about me happened
to me. But what is not said is that, yes, that I suffered”. Fencing
On the meaning of the Christian cross in Ismaili gnosis, see our Ismaili Trilogy,
128. Cf. Ernst Benz, Creator Spiritus: The spirit teachings of Joachim von
index sv cross as well as our article on Ismailism and the symbol of the cross
(review La Table Ronde, December 1957, pp. 122-134 ) . Fiore (Eranos yearbook XXV), Zurich 1957, le chapter III: Montan's teachings on
the paracletes, pp. 293 ss.

of prophetic inspiration, elimination of gnosis, exclusion or destruction of all Allah) cannot be compared with the magisterium of a high priesthood;
writings qualified as apocryphal and hatched in Gnostic circles (some have moreover the Imamat is presently in occultation, the ghaybat. Heresiographers
only recently been found), these are all symptoms, manifesting with logic are not “historians of dogma” in the technical sense in which we understand
and a perfect coherence, the demands of historical religious consciousness this word (and a takfîr has never had more than a limited local scope). It is
against gnostic consciousness. significant to note how much for an Islamic thinker, the different schools, the
systems of thought remain current, or as always awaiting activation. The
Other consequences flow from this. The history of dogmas presents itself scope of a doctrine is judged according to the "polar dimension", not located
as “irreversible”. A “heresy” condemned by the magisterium belongs to the according to what we call the evolution of dogmas. Schools and thoughts
past; it was not in the "sense of history," that is, in the sense of the deployment make "signs" to our thinker, and he reacts to them according to his personal
of dogma; it is “outdated”, so there is no longer any need to return to it, as if receptivity. It is to him that they present themselves, not to some abstract
the interpretation represented by it could constitute an instance that is always character from an "outdated past" that he merely represents to himself.
current. At best, there remains the possibility of studying a doctrine of the
past, even if it had since become "heretical", without however questioning its
orthodoxy, since the latter only depends on the historical moment, there is no
instead of condemning the doctrine that had become “heretical” by referring So we have to come to a reflection that agrees with many philosophical
to the orthodoxy which was to be that of the centuries to come! The history of concerns today, but to which it is all the more significant to be led by the
dogmas does not have to emit or collect “signs” which are to be understood meditation of things in Islam. The idea of a "scientific" criticism of religious
in the present and could call everything into question. The texts which would questions which has an equal meaning for those who are endowed with the
have this virtue, it can only propose them with a chaste “objectivity” to the religious organ and for those who are deprived of it (a fortiori for "believers"
reader of today, to put it in front of these doctrines “as they are presented”. and "unbelievers") is perhaps -be as fanciful as the idea of an instrument that
Without a doubt; but to whom do they present themselves? We are perfectly could also be used by musicians and people with musical deafness. But the
entitled to refuse this question, but we must admit that we are then missing question also arises: does the word “scientific” only have one meaning? is
the very problem of hermeneutics; there is no notion of meaning, nor any not a hermeneutics of the spiritual sense, of the inner sense, reconcilable
meaning that is established, except in relation to the one for whom this with the idea of rigour, method and validity?
meaning signifies. But what meaning would a spiritual story have in the
present for anyone who considers that story to be “outdated”?
4. - Historicization or internalization?
Such symptoms are not found in traditional Islam. We already know that If it really is a dilemma, the terms result from the situation that has just
the profound and characteristic thought of Shi'ism is to profess that with the been analyzed. However, there may be a way out to be found by escaping
closing of the cycle of legislative prophecy, a new cycle opens, a cycle of the options and categories that have imposed this situation. Let us recall
initiation into the hidden meaning of divine Revelations: a cycle of the walayat, them very briefly, as the situation allows us to see them from the side of the
which we will learn from our authors that, under this name, in fact continues West.
in Islam a secret or esoteric prophetic function (nobowwat batina), a
The event of the Reformation in the 16th century has been considered
"contemplative" prophecy in a way, by which an inspiration having its own
modalities is perpetuated own (infra chap. v). Moreover, the spiritual conceive contradictorily, sometimes as having precipitated the maturity of historical
there the vocation and the experience of the mystic on the model of the consciousness, leading to the secularization characteristic of post-Christianity,
prophetic experience, as a renewal of his charism. The walayat of the Imams, sometimes on the contrary as having carried within itself the remedy, nothing
their investiture as "men of God" (Friends and Loved Ones of God, Awliya' less than a reinstatement, a reopening of the prophetic inspiration closed in
the first centuries of Christianity. It is quite true that Martin Luther spoke of
the time when he was a monk as a time
“where he allegorized everything”, whereas now his concern consists in tradere since all moments, including his own, are historically conditioned and
Scripturam simplici sensu. However, we must not forget that it was still to his determined, all that remains is to attempt to interrogate, as Dilthey did, the
mystical training that he owed the great discovery of his youth: the significatio personal and historical life, where the expression of it has been. fixed in durable
passiva which brings about in the being of the believer, through faith, the event and accessible monuments, to understand the inner meaning that is expressed
of "justification". The literal meaning was therefore confused with the there. Promoted to the rank of science par excellence, neutic herme is then
tropological meaning. If, then, the plurality of the four senses and their artificial “comprehensive interpretation”, the act of understanding the inner meaning
technique were overcome, it was only thanks to an interiorization whose which is only revealed under certain conditions. The first of all is that there is in
meaning was to be forgotten by later orthodoxy, and whose true heirs were life itself a relationship between the interpreter and the thing of which his text
those whom the history of Protestantism designates as the " Spirituals" (Sebastian speaks; no less necessary still, a “vital relationship” a relationship of prior
Franck, Valentin Weigel, Caspar Schwenkfeld, the whole school of Jacob involvement between the performer and the author who speaks of this thing in
Boehme in general, without forgetting the idea of a Rosi Crucian Order, this text. Hermeneutics is thus (as with the Stoics) the “science of the individual”;
propagated by the writings of Johann Valentin Andreae, but whose Thirty its technical achievement will be to achieve objective validity.
Years' War was to stifle all hopes 129).
But doesn't this itself presuppose a trans-historical fixation? Of course,

Moreover, it is their tradition that we find in the "divinatory her meneutics" Plato only understands those who philosophize in the company of Plato; to do
of the great theologian of German romanticism, Friedrich DE Schleiermacher so, however, one must understand the meaning of Platonism. We may get
(1768-1834). His name is here an opportunity for us to highlight two facts that away with it by saying that it is a "moment in the history of philosophy", that this
are of eminently interest to our discussion. On the one hand, it was under the moment is itself the image of a past time, or that it is one of the " sources” to
influence of the work of Schleiermacher that the philosopher-historian Wil helm reconstruct this image.
Dilthey conceived the idea of a hermeneutical technique as a "comprehensive
interpretation", which responds with the affirmative to the question posed here, Very well, but to understand a work as a source, it is still necessary to
at the end of the preceding paragraph. Unfortunately, the Diltheyan hermeneutics understand it in a certain way, to decide for a certain meaning, even more to
will be lost in the pits of historicism, without hope of an orientation or a point of decide for the meaning of that with regard to which it is considers as a source
fixation. As there is frequent use today of the word "hermeneutics" in the human 130. Then one must either turn endlessly in the "hermeneutic circle", or else
sciences, it is significant that through the work of Dilthey, this use originates in succumb before the prospect of a horizon receding indefinitely as the line of
the "phenomenon of the Holy Book". On the other hand, we have seen continuous and uniform time lengthens. chronology, that of "non-oriented" time
nowadays a theological hermeneutics, reacting blindly against the spirit of - unless a certain metaphysics which does not even dare to recognize itself as
Schleiermacher and combating all historicism, lock itself into a hopeless such nor to admit the true name of its eschatology, defines the process (political,
impasse. As it is probable that the Muslim student or researcher has hardly social, cultural) and establishes a "dialectic of History" as a secular paraphrase
heard of this situation, it is important to say a few words about it here, because of Bossuet's "Discourse on Universal History", while forgetting that his own
knowledge of it is presupposed for any confrontation with the theological point of view is inevitably conditioned, too, like the others. In short, as soon as
situation in Islam, for any comparative theology or philosophy. this feeling of exterior material historicity has established and imposed the
"past", as soon as it considers this past as closed and surpassed, without
possible recurrence, the
We have just alluded to historicism. When historical consciousness goes

through an inflation such that it no longer leaves the philosopher the hope of
placing himself outside of his 130.cf. Wilhelm Dilthey's Collected Writings, V. Volume: The spiritual
world, introduction to the philosophy of life, Leipzig and Berlin 1924, pp;
129. Cf. our Research on Lutheran hermeneutics, report in Yearbook 317-330 : The emergence of hermeneutics, et R. Bultmann, L'Inter
1939-1940 of the Religious Sciences Section of the Ecole des Hautes prétation du Nouveau Testament, introd. et trad. par O. Laffoucrière, Paris,
Etudes, pp. 99-102. 1955. le chapter II : Le problème de l'herméneutique, pp. 43 pp.
The Phenomenon of the Holy Book 163

philosopher has only to note that there is "no common measure Persian) of a particularly fruitful ambiguity; it is the word hikayat,
between history and truth, between the individual and the idea, which signifies a "story", a "narrative", and as such an "imitation",
between the moment and eternity". And the question will remain a "repetition", as if the art of the historian were essentially akin to
posed: “How is truth historical and how is history truth? 'historicity. the art of mime 132. It is that in fact all history that takes place in
131
? This is precisely the question that all gnos this visible world is the imitation of events first accomplished in the
soul, "in Heaven", and this is why the place of hierohistory, that is
to say gestures of sacred history, is not perceptible by the senses,
Or rather, it is the question by which every Gnostic rejects in because their meaning refers to another world. This intuition
advance the a-gnostic position that gives rise to the dilemma. proceeds from the presentiment of these multiplied spaces, of
Moreover, where, as in the esotericism of Islam, the spirit of gnosis these “octaves of universes” which were discussed above (§ 2),
has been perpetuated, with the idea of saving knowledge and the and thereby from the prescient that the truth of any event must be
theophanies of the Pleroma, this perpetuation implies the absence grasped at the level of reality . where this event actually takes
or in failure of what was designated above as "inflation of historical place (cf. all of what will be said, to finish, concerning the twelfth
consciousness". It was for a long time a commonplace to oppose Imam). Only spiritual hermeneutics safeguards the truth of the
the “a-historical” spirit of Hellenism and the historicity that a religion hikayat, the truth of the prophetic stories of the Bible and the Qurân,
of salvation presupposes; but in fact, it is this notion of historicity because it grasps their spiritual meaning at the level at which the
that is equivocal, because the big deal is that “temporality” is not event actually takes place, in the time is clean, metahistory time.
synonymous with what we currently understand by “historicity”. On Anyone who has understood this will never feel the need to
this point, we will see again that the spirituality of Iranian Islam has "demythologize" or "demythologize" the stories of the Bible and the
precisely formulated the decisive distinction, and through it the Qurân, because, if these stories are not history (like the profane
intuition of its prophetic mysticism appears to us as having already story of Jules Caesar, for example), they are not myth either.
resolved at a single stroke what is at stake. agenda of current
philosophical concerns: there is a time other than the time of history,
a real, sacred time, which is that of the events of the invisible world On the other hand, one experiences the feeling of a tragedy in
of which the soul is the “place” (cf. below §5). front of the contemporary effort of a theological school (that of R.
Bultmann) which, perfectly aware of the impasse of historicism,
continues no less to oppose lucidly a refusal that has become
We are used, since the phenomenology of Hegel, to oppose traditional on the sole horizon, however, which saves from
Nature and History, History being the world of man. In fact, in the agnosticism in all its forms, including its most pious and most
eyes of our hokamâ and 'orafâ in Islam, Nature and History (what orthodox forms. The theologian is then trapped; we see him
we call that) both belong to the world of becoming, both falling succumbing to historicism at the very moment when he claims to
under the empire of physis. This is why the historical time that post- be fighting it, when he comes to speak of the need to
Hegelian philosophy opposes to the becoming of Nature, is itself in "demythologize" (Entmytholo gisierung) Christianity, under the
fact, with regard to the theosophy of Shi'ism and Sufism, only a pretext that it would be a question, with universe of the Bible and in
naturalization of time, because it is inadequate to speak of a fall of the biblical accounts of an image of the world which is "gone
133
the Spirit in time, meaning by that “into history”: one should rather ". The confusion is such that the
speak of the fall of time itself into history. Only then can we 132. Cf. our Comparative Spiritual Hermeneutics (cited above n. 4), index sv
understand how the interiorization of meaning marks a reversal of hikayat. On the hikayat, as the key to the “mystical recital”, cf. our study From
time. the heroic epic to the mystical epic (Eranos-Jahrbuch XXXV), Zürich 1967, pp.
195 sec., 207 sec.
133. R. Bultmann, op. cit., in particular pages 141 ss., 179 ss., 191 ss.,
which accumulate, it seems to us, the most serious misunderstandings on the
Here, there is in Arabic a key term (also used in notions of the mythical, the symbolic and the historical, misunderstandings
which take into partly due to the consecutive inexperience of the contempt in
which “dialectical theology” has held the science of religions, which at least has
131. Cf. Bernard Groethuysen, The Paradoxes of the History of Philosophy the merit of forcing a broadening of the horizon of problems and the field of verifications.
(Theory, vol. s, 1939, Part 3), p. 264.

the same theology comes to attribute to mythical thought what has nothing to do
the crisis that such a "modern" perception of things can unleash in a still-believing
with it, and remains the characteristic of rational dogmatic thought, namely the
Muslim soul. On the other hand, we could refer here to the Koranic verse 4: 156
objectification of divine action on the plane of world events. We are told that the
135. "Docetist" Christology, it is said, without really knowing what "Docetism" is;
myth must be interpreted "existentially" and not cosmologically. But how does the
not faith in a fantasy or ghost, but in the reality of a caro spiritualis, whose vision,
second interpretation exclude the first? and why then impute to Gnosis what is
appearance (doké), can only be perceived by the spiritual senses. "Docetism" is
the opposite? This is how the Gnostic idea of Redemption is accused of reducing
the theological criticism of knowledge by pure faith. This is also what we find in
the being of the believer to a datum of this world, while for the New Testament
the Acts of John quoted above, and other related books which still exist. Let us
the being of the believer would remain outside this world. It is strange that the
expressly note that these "Gnostic" books were not the fruit of the theoretical
Gnostic idea of the Pleroma and the events of this Pleroma, the idea of the pre-
speculations of scholars; they were practiced by the simple believing people, for
existence of souls and of the limit, the "cross" (stavros) which separates the
whom theophanies and visions had the force of events. If the theology of our day
Pleroma from this world, are so misunderstood.
rejects them, would it not be that the eschatological qualifications which it likes to
boast of are perhaps reduced to a pure dialectical construction?
Should we hope that if we misunderstood everything called gnosis in general

a little less, our adversaries would speak differently? In the meantime, the same
a-gnostic theology is reduced to juxtaposing the event of the Cross of Calvary as
So, insofar as the process of interiorization of meaning will appear to us as
being a historical fact, and the event of the Resurrection as not being one,
responding to an imperious requirement functioning contrary to what historicization
because its only historical trace, these are the visions of the first disciples. This
requires, the
supreme example is just as much the admission of a resignation, the admission
of a total powerlessness to conceive that the visions have the full reality of events
135. This Qur'anic verse 4:156 states this: "They say: We put to death
—events whose reality, time and place do not are not those of profane history, the Christ, Jesus, son of Maryam, Messenger of God, whereas they did
but those which are proper to what our theosophists in Islam have designated as not kill him, did not crucify him. , but it seemed to them [...] or rather God
the eighth climate. This was the theme of our previous research and that which took him up to him. As this verse joins the teaching of the Acts of John
will postulate the completion of the present work (infra book VII). Let us say it: if it
(cited above n. 127), it is important to emphasize that this teaching is
much more subtle than the crude and current Docetist conception (or at
is vain to seek the traces of the Resurrection on the level of material historicity, least than the summary interpretation that the commonly given), namely
because there is precisely the kingdom of the dead, it is also necessary that the134 , that Christ possessed only a simulacrum of body which suffered only in
Passion of Christ be, just like his Resurrection, a event that escapes the material appearance. In truth, the “docetism” of the Acts of John presents itself as
the theological critique, par excellence, of knowledge. Let us recall these
historicity of external history. lines of CG Jung: “Historical facts are real, of course, but they reveal only
what impresses and what the man of the senses can conceive. Now, the
event of the crucifixion is more than that for the one who knows the divine
secrets: it is a Mysterium, that is to say a symbol which expresses a
parallel psychic event taking place in the contemplator. In Platonic terms,
it is an event in a heavenly place, that is, on a mountain and in a cave
Otherwise, all you have to do is draw all the consequences from Nietzsche's “God where a Cross of light is erected [Acts of John 97 ss.], which has many
is dead”, and no doubt the theology in question has already done so. But we have synonyms c ie many aspects and meanings. It expresses the unknowable
seen previously nature of the "Lord" [...]. Understood in this sense, the Docetism of the
Acts of John appears rather as a completion of the historical fact, far from
134. See our work Celestial Earth... all of Chapter II of Part I (on the being a devaluation of it” (Von den Wurzeln des Bewusstseins, Zürich
"eighth climate"), as well as the texts translated in Part II . 1954, p. 331). We will say again that Docetism only translates the
We also refer to Gilbert Durand's recent research which overlaps with experimental fact reported in the Acts of Peter: "I saw him as he was in
ours. See his important articles: The status of the symbol and the my capacity to grasp him" (Eum vidi qualem capere potui). The theophany
imaginary today (review Lumière et Vie 8 r, Lyon, May 1967, pp. 41-74); is each time commensurate with the “dimension of the soul”, that is to say
Tasks of the Spirit and imperatives of Being: for a gnostic structuralism its aptitude for letting a divine Figure show itself to it. Because finally, the
and a docetist hermeneutics (Eranos-Jahrbuch XXXIV, pp. 303-360), soul is not the witness of an external event; she is the one in whom the
Zürich 1966; The Polarizing Structures of Psychic Consciousness and event takes place. Likewise for our phenomenology, knowledge is not
Culture (ibid., XXXVI, pp, 269-300), Zurich 1968, about Being, but is Being .
knowing each other.
question posed by the foregoing considerations cannot be eluded; it it was even mentioned several times during our talks in Iran.
amounts to asking whether historicization is inherent in the essence of
Revelation, or whether it is only one possible thematization of it among We will only recall here the case of Joachim of Fiore in the twelfth
others. One can challenge the question only if one prejudges what is in century, to whom the interior meaning of the Scriptures was revealed in
question. the illumination of an Easter dawn, and who left the deposit of this
And the calling into question comes from the fact, irrefutable, that from Revelation in the form of three great treatises of a her prophetic meneutics,
the beginning there were Christians who perceived and lived Christianity, intelligentia spiritualis of Scripture .
without the event depending for them on the material fabric of external By a strange synchronicity, the "prophetic Abbot" happens to be the
history. The historical form corresponds to a necessary thematization of contemporary of the Ismaili proclamation of the Great Resurrection at
the events of the soul, because these events form a "history of salvation". Alamût in Iran (August 8, 1164), which established pure spiritual Islam,
But then either this "salvation story" is perceived only where it really takes and itself happened much more as a "liturgical mystery" than as a "historical
place, in the world of the soul, in the space and time of the worlds of the fact " . “to go down in history”. But his pure idea, echoed through the
soul, and it is a symbolic story with all the irremissible force of its truth, centuries, has fueled all the philosophies and theologies of the Paraclete.
because one may not understand but one does not refute symbols. Or It is echoed by the blossoming of similar prophetic inspirations in pietist
else it is projected into the web of external events, as if it were simply one circles in Germany, where they
of them.
But for all that, what the desire for exterior historicization has thus
“materialized”, the dialectic of “historical materialism” can therefore easily
overcome and “surpass” it. 136. See the article by Ernst Benz quoted above p. 157, no. 128, as well as the new
edition of his great work, Ecclesia spiritualis, Stuttgart 1964. It would be of great interest to
And here we are again at the heart of the tragedy. No outcome to be
bring out certain common features between the typological hermeneutics of Joachim of
sought for this in the theological impotence that we noted above, for if Fiore and the hermeneutics of Shiite theosophy.
theology rightly recognizes that it is not on the historical level of material Just as there is, on the one hand, symmetry between the events and figures of the Old
facts that we must seek the traces of the Resurrection, he would have to and New Testaments, so there is, on the other hand, symmetry between the different
periods of the total cycle of the prophecy (same protagonists, plan of historical permanence);
learn that there is spiritual history , events and a time which, at an octave
there is symmetry between the cycle of the mission of the prophets (nobowwat) and the
or several octaves higher, are perfectly real, and before speaking of cycle of the walayat of the Imams.
necessary "demystification", although quite different from those to which What the Old and New Testaments are for the “spiritual Gospel”, the Torah and the Gospel
we are accustomed to exclusively reserve the qualification of "historical". are for the Qurân. The Imam having been secretly missioned with each prophet, Shiite
esotericism intends to recapitulate and bring to light in their truth all the previous
This is knowing what level of being the very real event relates to, and it is esotericisms. Some of our
enough to be a little gnostic to know it, or to learn it in the Book of Acts of Shî'ite authors have themselves affirmed the identity of the Paraclete (the reign of the
John quoted above . And it is eo ipso to discover the reality of spiritual Spirit) and the twelfth imam. There is an affinity between the idea of the "archetype of the Book"
time, of this time of the soul where new events do not cease to be fulfilled, (Omm al-Kitâb) and that of the Evangelium aeternum. On both sides, the spiritual
hermeneutics exercises a prophetic hermeneutics. We have sometimes used the term
even, for example, once the cycle of legislative prophecy is closed. It will Ecclesia spiritualis above to designate the incognito hierarchies of the Shiite community.
be again question later of what continues, for Shi'ism, after the closing of There is, however, a difference. Given the present occultation (ghaybat) of the twelfth Imam,
the legislative prophecy. When the future horizon remains open, or is the Shiite community cannot cross this limit, while pious enthusiasts have wanted to "enter
forced to open to the inspiration of a prophetic hermeneutics of the Holy into history" the Ecclesia spiritualis of Joachim of Fiore, and tragedies resulted.
Book, the same facts occur, the same vocations come to blossom. A
certain parallelism can thus be observed in the facts of spiritual history in 137. See our article For the eighth centenary of Alamût (cited above p. 77, n. 52). About
Christianity and in Islam; the “Great Resurrection” proclaimed in Alamût, on August 8, 1164, we recalled there:
Resurrectio non est factum historicum sed mysterium liturgicum. He can hear it for whom
the “liturgical mystery” has more reality than any historical fact; see on this point the
penetrating analyzes of Pjotr Hendrix, Der “ Garten ” und der “ Morgen ” als Ort und Zeit für
das Mysterium Paschale in der Orthodoxen Kirche (Eranos Jahrbuch XXXII), Zürich, 1964,
p. 151.
can equally attest to being faithful to the initial inspiration of the spirituals of These constants make it possible to fix a certain number of connections
the Reformation. It is a clair-vision which in Jacob Boehme (1575-1624) is which are established, as soon as consciousness, freed from the chains of
amplified in a prophetic exegesis of the biblical account of Creation, the material historicity that it has itself forged, opens to itself the path of
Mysterium magnum. A Johann-Albrecht Bengel (1687-1752), under the hermeneutics. prophetic, just as "prophetic philosophy" releases ready-made
influence of a sudden spiritual illumination, intuitively perceives all the interior givens. There is a historical hermeneutics that only escapes the dead weight
meaning of Scripture 138. Finally, an example no less striking of the prophetic of the "irreversible" past established by itself by authoritatively imposing a
vocation to which a vision initiates, the case of the great Swedish theosophist meaning on the history it thematizes; and there is a prophetic hermeneutics
Emmanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), and the monumental work of his which brings back, raises the real history, but still hidden, to a plan which
prophetic hermeneutics of the spiritual sense. transcends toto caelo our material reality, our data of fact and their material
evidence, positive or social, which are for us, " modern”, the privileged
obviousnesses. There is historical truth and there is prophetic truth; there is a
What is important to observe is that the hermeneutics of the spiritual, historical meaning and there is a prophetic meaning; there is a historicization
interior, esoteric meaning is everywhere governed, among the spirituals of of events which are in themselves meta-historical, and to compensate and
Christianity as among those of Islam, by a triple constant: 1) a law rigorous, redeem this historicization, there is an internalization of external events. There
the law of correspondences, that is to say the idea of a "symbolism of the is a continuous, quantitative and uniform cosmic time, exterior time measured
worlds" (tawâzon al-'awâlim, "counter-balancing" of the worlds, among the by the movements of the stars, and there is an interior psycho-spiritual time,
Ismailis), which presupposes the existence of these worlds and the plurality time specific to the events of the soul, purely qualitative and discontinuous
of planes of reference, in short the traits that characterize Gnostic cosmologies. time (of which the idea of the tempus discretum in medieval angelology
2) There is this idea that the celestial, pleromatic realities, which are expressed already formulates the presentiment).
in the apparentiae reales (the zâhir), are received each time according to the
spiritual state of the man who perceives them. 3) This idea that all the events
observed or recounted as happening outside the soul, are, by the transparency
conferred on them by the law of correspondences, so many symbolic
expressions of the interior events of the soul, and that the soul only becomes
aware of its own events thanks to this transparency of their symbols. And all And without this differentiation of a time which is other, other than the
this is as far from the allegorical method of the ancient exegetes as from the external time of the chronology which numbers the planetary revolutions, it is
allegory practiced for a very long time by the modern science of religions to undoubtedly impossible to understand the perspectives of Shiite prophetology.
"explain" mythologies. The periodization of the hierohistory of the prophets, whether in Twelver
Shi'ism (each of the great prophets followed by twelve Imams, most of whose
names can be identified in the Bible) or in Ismailism (the seven Imams of
each prophet , the proclamation of the Great Resurrection at Alamût, in 1164,
139
.
as happening in the middle of our Aiôn), all this periodization will appear as a
"sight of the mind" to anyone who has not perceived that it concerns proper
time. of hierohistory. And it will appear all the more easily (but vainly)
138. Think here of JA Bengel's hermeneutical rule: Te totum applica ad textum, "refutable" with the aid of a simple history or archeology textbook in that,
rem totam ad te, golden rule in keeping with the spirit of the young Luther.
Compare then this rule of Sohrawardî (in Kalimat al-tasawwof) : “Recite the Qurân under cover of the same names, we do not speak, on both sides. another, of
as if it had been revealed only for your own case. The unison of the two hermeneutics the same events.
of the Bible and the Qurân is truly striking.
139. And all this also shows that the so-called “demystification” in theology is only
an impasse of ignorance. Compare again the suggestive article by Friedemann Horn,
Swedenborgs Vision einer Neuen Ckristenheit (Offene Tore, 2/1957). p. 43, recalling
how Thomas Mann (in Joseph und seine Brüder) tends to render the historical event For the events of hierohistory are those whose future possibility remains
transparent , by showing how the men of the Bible "returned" (which etymologically is open by the affirmation, stated by the
the meaning of the ta'wil) the earthly event to its superterrestrial form, to its celestial
truth, the latter in no way abolishing terrestrial reality, but on the contrary founding
and guaranteeing it. We can take here as a golden rule the asserted tion of Swedenborg: "All [the Angels] receive the Heaven which is outside them
according to the quality of the Heaven which is within them" (De Caelo et Inferno, art, 55).

Prophet himself in a famous hadith , that the Qurân has seven esoteric depths Mazdean from Fârs, who went in search of the True Prophet whom he found
(cf. infra chap. v and book IV, chap. II). in Arabia and whom he initiated into his prophetic vocation, helping him to
The very foundation of Shi'ism, this affirmation orients its entire spirituality in become aware of the spiritual states of the previous prophets and to reproduce
a direction analogous to that determined in Christianity by the idea of the them in himself. From this "angelic ministry" that Salmân assumes with the
Paraclete, since both the "hidden Imam" assumes, after the Prophet, both the Prophet as a companion of initiation, it follows that ta'wîl, renewal in the
name and the function of the Paraclete 140. The Shiite conscience remains hidden sense (in the sense that affects "in the present" those who meet it)
open to expectations and presentiments, while the majority Islam lives by the goes back to the very origins of Islam, as conceived and professed by Shiite
evidences of the Law, definitively reached and formulated. The Imam will not esotericism .
bring a new sharî'at, a new Law, that would be contradictory, but he will "open"
the intelli gentia spiritualis, that is to say the ta'wîl of the Muhammadan
Revelation and of all previous Revelations. But by then, and for ten centuries
already of our time, the imâmate entered into occultation, the ghaybat. One (Nomos), that is to say the Angel of Revelation who invests the Prophet as
can only see the Imams in a dream or in the ecstatic intuition of a confidential Paraclete, this link which in Islam is at the origin of the “phenomenon of the
prayer (monâjâl). However, the Imams can, in this way also, reveal a meaning Holy Book”.
or a prayer, and that is enough to invest their confidant with a certainty that If the meaning of the mystical vocation is to reproduce the spiritual state of
defies all powers; we will see more than one example in the course of this the Prophet, if the prophetic vocation of the mystic is thus founded on the
book. esoteric meaning of Revelation, this presupposes that the mystic has near
him a Saïmân, or better said that he is taken back to the "Salmân of his
being" (the "Salmân of the microcosm", as a very old Ismaili treatise puts it),
because this is how his inner relationship with Iman is established, source
and guarantee of this esoteric meaning. This is also why the idea of the Imam
Certainly, it is appropriate to speak of the authority of the Imam and transcends each of its earthly exemplifications; the momentarily visible Imam,
the Imams, but it is authentically a question of a purely spiritual authority, such and such a figure in the pleroma of the Twelve, was only the terrestrial
not of a power rivaling, under another name, with the powers of this pole of an eternal Imam and the threshold giving access to him. The Imam is
world. . For it is precisely the prophetic affirmation giving a hidden, interior in itself the eternal theophany (tajallî, mazhar), the celestial Anthropos, the
Figure of divine anthropomorphosis (and the name of Melchi sedek which is
meaning (batin) to each appearance (zâhir), which founds imamic
authority, and it is this affirmation which suffices to throw into the ranks of given to him in certain Ismaili Shi'ite treatises, reveals rather eloquently what
religion majority an alarm comparable to that aroused in Christianity by a is the representation in question and where it comes from). Now, it is because
Montan or a Joachim de Fiore. But in Islam this affirmation goes back, of this "heavenly" mode of being that finally the Imam is alluded to as the
even before the Prophet had uttered it, to the time of his own initiation into invisible inner master of the spiritual man (infra chap. VII). It is to all of this
his own prophetic vocation, that is to say up to the role assumed with the that one should think in order to fully understand what Sufism Haydar Âmoli
Prophet by Salmân Pârsî (Salmân the Persia, or Salmân Pâk, Salmân the is talking about when, as we noted earlier, he speaks of Sufism as being the
Pure), this mysterious figure already mentioned here and who dominates true Shi'ism (cf. again infra book IV, chap. I), because such an assimilation
from so high the horizon of Iranian Islam. We can henceforth better leaves its imprint on the whole spiritual history of Iran.
understand this son of a knight . Haydar Amoli, Jami' al-asrâr (supra n.
29), pp. 103-104; Ibn Abî Jomhûr, Kitâb al-Mojlî, 308; both expressly
identify the Paraclete (Fâraqlîtû) and the twelfth Imam; see there, the ta'wîl
that 'Abdorrazzâq Kâshânî (disciple of Ibn 'Arabî) gives of the acronym
ALM (preceding the 2nd sura of the Qurân): three letters referring
respectively to the divine Self (dhât), to the archangel Gabriel who is the If therefore the possibility of a prophetic inspiration remains open under
Holy Spirit and Agent Intelligence, and to the twelfth Imam, Mohammad b. another name, if access to the "contemplative prophetism" of the cycle of the
Hasan 'Askari, as at the origin, at the center and at the completion of being. walayat marks the summit of the experience
141. Cf. L. Massignon, Salmân Pak and the spiritual beginnings of Islam
Iranian (1934), in Opera minora I, Beirut 1963, pp. 443-483.

mysticism, and if this culminates in it through the radical interiorization brought therefore, could only accommodate a res historica as a res mortua, and would
about by the spiritual hermeneutics of which the Imam is the guide and the not realize that, in doing so, it was indeed continuing the story of the thing to
symbol, then the idea of the Imam is indeed what makes it possible to maintain which it is attaches, but continues it the way one follows a funeral procession
both the idea that Mohammad is the "Seal of Prophecy", and the idea that yet (arranged by itself), while the believer continues the story of this thing because
something new can happen, and that this something the spiritual man, the he himself is the life of it as much as it is his life. And this is why we have
mystic, becomes. In other words, to the question posed in the form of a invoked the phenomenological method here. Phenomenology simply means,
dilemma: “historicization or internalization? we would reply in Shiite terms that according to the famous Greek expression (sozeïn ta phainô tnena), “to save
it is precisely through interiorization that the time of hierohistory continues, that phenomena”, that is to say to account for them by revealing the hidden intentions
is to say that the "cycle of the walayat " is accomplished. which motivate them, make them “show themselves”. This is also what the
expression kashf al-mahjûb ("to reveal what was hidden") designates, which is
the title of many treatises on metaphysics and mysticism, both in Arabic and in
This response is also what will justify our insistence on the phenomenon of Persian.
the Holy Book and its hermeneutics in the preceding pages. Far from being
tangential to our research, these pages lead us to recapitulate a position that
we will try to formulate in what follows.
The phenomenologist thus finds himself in a position to tell the story which
The notion of history and historical research is stricken with a certain is immanent in the consciousness whose intentions he lets show. It shows the
ambiguity. It is admitted that to express oneself historically on the doctrine of a phenomenon as it shows itself to this consciousness. Historical criticism begins
philosopher is to make this philosopher say what he said. To criticize what he by bringing the religious object back into history; it imposes on this religious
said, to prove him wrong, is to express oneself no longer as a historian, but as object a history which had not been its own, a time which was not its own. The
a philosopher. phenomenologist lets the religious object itself tell its story, its own story, whose
Curiously enough, it is precisely among scholars speaking as historians that time is the time proper to the consciousness of this object. He knows that the
we sometimes hear criticisms denying to Shiism the fact that such and such an living and lived reality of the Imam must be sought in the testimonies of those
Imam could have formulated such and such a statement, for the reason, for who live it or have lived it, those for whom the person of the Imam is their own
story, while they themselves are , hermeneutics. Contesting their testimony can
example, that its content presupposes the lexicon introduced by the translations
of Greek philosophical works into Syriac and Arabic. Supposing that the lead to results that we will call scientific, but it must be clearly seen that, in
argument is really decisive, the fact remains that, for more than thirteen doing so, we have forcibly introduced the religious object into a history and a
centuries, it is the voice of its Imams which, in these same words, has made time which, not being its own, in radically alter the meaning and appearance.
itself heard by the Shiite conscience. To say that the Imam did not make these There must be a way to save, in all rigor of method, this authentic meaning and
statements is to contest the fact perceived by the Shiite conscience, to contest aspect, that is to say original. I spoke here of phenomenology, but I remember
its right to hear it thus, and consequently to contest its truth. the words of an eminent Iranian Shiite shaykh who had never heard of
phenomenology, but who hit the right note from the start. It was about criticisms
questioning the authenticity of part of the corpus of sermons, interviews and
However, the philosophical argument invoked today cannot change the fact letters of the 1st Imam, known as Nahj al-balagha. The shaykh expressed
that, for more than thirteen centuries, it is indeed the voice of its Imams that himself thus: “Yes, I know the criticisms that are made about this book; but
the Shiite conscience has heard in their words, and that it is that which what I also know is that, whoever held the pen to write the text we are reading
constitutes its own history, its own, immanent history (the cycle of the walayat), today, at that time it was the Imam who was speaking. »
where such and such a statement is heard as having been made by the Imam,
because, given the content of these statements and given what the Imams are,
they can only be the words of the Imams. The argument that is opposed to
them today tends to nothing other than to put an end to this voice, and
consequently to interrupt this history, to put an end to it.
Could this be the paradoxical success of a historical science which,

If, therefore, the seeker wants to hear the Imam speak, instead of phenomenologically true, that is to say true of the truth of events which,
imposing silence on him by forcing him into a story that is not his own, he while being perfectly real, do not enter into the common historical "dimension."
too must hear him at that moment. Now, "that moment" cannot be related to
the external dating of the continuous chronology of common history, but to The rigor of this method alone makes it possible to understand and value
the blossoming of the phenomenon perceived in consciousness, in a time a multitude of texts concerning the person of the 12th Imam, the hidden
which is the qualitative time proper to this awareness. Imam, without making it either myth or legend, or requiring it to be history in
the ordinary sense. the word ; it makes it possible to save and preserve the
Why is the content of this consciousness not a res historica which falls reality which is specific to the events of the world in which the XIIth Imam
into history, but itself constitutes its own history? And this to such an extent lives. Another example: the case of Suhrawardi, of major importance for the
that, even if it were decidedly proven by philology that the words of the Imam phenomenology of Iranian consciousness. When Sohrawardi affirms his will
should be dated later, that would change absolutely nothing in this story? It to restore the theosophy of the sages of ancient Persia, and claims for his
is that the person of the Imams, by their belonging to the pleroma of the doctrine the spiritual ancestry of these sages, it is permissible for modern
Haqîqat mohammadîya, as well as by the content of their teaching, relates positive criticism to consider this ancestry as a view of the mind. But, apart
to spiritual realities and universes, to sut generis events taking place in these from the fact that Suhrawardi did indeed know certain authentic data from the
universes . ; it is not an outward gesture like that of Julius Caesar, we have theosophy of pre-Islamic Persia, no positive criticism can change anything in
already noted this. Neither the real person of the Imam nor the content of his the hermeneutical fact: starting from Suhrawardi, there is something new in
teaching appears, like Caesar's person and gesture, on what is called the the meaning and the meaning of ancient Iran for the thinkers of Islamic Persia.
"theater of events." It is the person of the Imam (even invisible to the senses) It is that Sohrawardî had, even against the laws of filiation recognized by
who is himself the "theater of events" (the mazhar), but this he is and can modern historical dialectics, proved his spiritual ancestry by restoring life to
only be in the consciousness of those to whom the Imam shows himself as something which, in his disciples, turns out to be essential for the philosophical
Imam. If we go looking for it elsewhere, and if we claim to show believers and spiritual consciousness of Iran (cf. infra book II).
what they should have believed and seen, if they had put themselves in our
place as critical scholars, we destroy the phenomenon and certainly come
back with their hands. empty.
These disciples are those who are referred to as the “theosophists of

Light”, the Ishrâqîyûn. The conjunction of the theosophy of the shraq
(“eastern” theosophy) with Imamism in Iran (from before the school of Ispahan
Certainly, in the considerable literature of Shi'ism, certain traditions in the 16th century) illustrates a particularly significant spiritual fact . As we
(hadith) are presented in such a way that, the Imam being the form, the shall see, it is in the very process of Knowledge that our Neoplatonic
category, of all theosophical perception, of all hierognosis, the process of theosophers of Persia perceive the continuation of hierohistory, for the very
transcription had to put spontaneously in the name of the Imam the sentence act of Knowing, as they meditate on it and explain it to themselves,
or the vision perceived under his inspiration "at that moment". It is a deep presupposes the identity of the Angel of Revelation (Gabriel) and of the Angel
inner truth and it falls into the category of hadîth qodsî (inspired story). It is of Knowledge, the “personal” identity of the “Agent Intelligence” and of the
this very thing that makes the person of the Imam the history of the Shiite Holy Spirit. This identification in no way led to a rationalization of the Spirit, as
consciousness and of this the hermeneutics of imamology, and it is no less has been said a little too hastily in assimilating the situation a priori to what
in conformity with the hermeneutic situation described by the Ve Imam. was to happen in the West. It was rather the opposite that happened, namely
Having to understand this and to make it understood, the phenomenology of not a "philosophy of history" constructing with great help from conceptual
Shiite consciousness joins the concerns that were those of the so-called dialectics the meaning of the "great currents", but what one could call a
school of Formgeschichte. So, in the first place, it is important to understand theosophy of history. Holy Spirit, remaining open to the recurrences of a
the difference between what can be historically true in the ordinary sense of prophetic hermeneutics fulfilling
the word, and what is and remains
in concrete individuals. Also it is this theosophy of the Holy Spirit which would in their souls” (41:53). On the horizons (âfâq), that is to say in the cosmos, in
offer, by its affinities, the virtuality of a dialogue with unforeseeable the external, objective, extramental, historical world. And in their souls
consequences with the theosophies inspired and guided, they too, in the (anfos), that is, in the inner world, in the psycho-spiritual world. Consequently
West by the idea of the Paraclete. It is bound up with a whole psychology, there is the zaman âfâqî, the chronological time, the time of external history
with a whole conception of the faculties of man (the angelic, prophetic, and of the events of this history; and there is the zaman anfosî, the interior
"Gabrielic" soul), agreeing with a prophetology which implies the elaboration time, the time of the events of the soul, of symbolic stories, the existential
of a prophetic anthropology. time. It is between these two poles that the law of correspondences, the
"symbolism of worlds" comes into play here; on this symbolism depends the
perception of a spiritual meaning relating to things and events "in Heaven",
and this perception occurs at a depth which marks a break in level (both
5. - Spiritual intelligence and the forms of temporality cosmological and psychological) with the appearance exoteric, while the
according to Semnânî and Qâzî Sa'îd Qommî allegorical method only paraphrases the latter by means of "replacement
And it is all this, namely the identification of the Angel of Knowledge and figures" which follow one another at the same level.
the Angel of Revelation, of the "Agent Intelligence" and of the Holy Spirit, as
an identification postulated by the intelligentia . spiritualis, — the possibility of
a prophetic inspiration kept open (by the "Mohammad of your being", Semnânî
will say), — the latent solicitations of the esoteric sense, of the prophetic truth And the extraordinary hermeneutics of Semnânî, his interiorization of
higher and truer than any historicization of the fact accomplished, — the prophetic types, moves, as we shall see, at the different depths of the
perception of external events as symbols of the events of the soul, the events dimension thus opened up. But she never tires of making it understood that
thus being passed on from “octave to octave of the universe” (supra § 2), — thus internalized, the events remain very real and take place in real time.
it is all this which calls for and conditions a metamorphosis of our concept of
uniform time . We have already noted that the efforts of our modern philosophy Of course, this time is not the zaman âfâqî (the time of the "horizons"), the
to bring out a notion of historical time which is proper to man in the face of cosmic, quantitative, continuous time, measured by the revolutions of the
Nature, have perhaps resulted in fact in an aggravation of the "naturalization" stars; it is the zaman anfosi, the psycho-spiritual time, qualitative time,
of man. On the other hand, to conceive that historical time is itself a fall of existential time, time of the events of the soul, not measurable in
time in history, one must have the concept of a time other than the time of the homogeneous units provided by the course of sidereal revolutions. The
historical phenomena of our world; it is necessary to implement the idea of a passage from one world to another, the shift from the time of the history of
quantitative, proper time: psycho-spiritual time, other than quantitative, the world to the time of the history of the soul, Semnânî suggests the
continuous and measurable time in constant units regulating the course of incommensurability of its terms by quoting this Quranic verse which echoes
historical chronology. the One of our Psalms: “A day with (or for) your Lord is like a thousand years
of the time you reckon” ( 22:46)142 .
This reversal of time signifies the shift to a new plane of consciousness; it

implies the inner metamorphosis of man, and that is why it is not a question
of a simple allegory. This reversal is both what makes possible and what
Now, it is remarkable that already one of the greatest masters of Iranian produces the interiorization of meaning, that is to say the interiorization of
spirituality in the 14th century, 'Alaoddawleh Semnânî, some of whose major data relating to external historical events, henceforth perceived in the time of
texts we will analyze below (infra book IV, chap. IV), was perfectly aware of the soul, the " time of your Lord.
this and has had a precise technical lexicon to say it. And it was precisely by
the spiritual hermeneutics of the Holy Book that he was led there. Also this reversal of time allows the theosophy of our hokamâ to set aside
the objection which asserts against the esoteric idea recognizing the eternal
This clear awareness of two forms of heterogeneous temporality, Semnânî Qurân as the eternal divine Word,
achieves in effect by commenting on the Qurânic verse: “We will show them
our Signs on the horizons and 142. Cf. Semnânî, Kitâb mashâri' abwâb al-Qods, ras. Shahîd 'Ali 1378,
fol. 16. Sur Semnânî, voir infra t. III, liv. IV, chap. III.
that the events reported in the Book should then have occurred before the characters slightly different from those of Semnânî, an elucidation of the problem. He is perfectly
existed (cf. infra book IV, chap. II). This objection proceeds from a completely rational aware of opening a breach in the venerable prejudice of certain metaphysics, posing as
and unilateral notion of time; it only conceives of physical, continuous, measurable and an axiom the immobility and immutability of any spiritual universe as such. It is that he
irreversible time, the time of the exterior history of the world (zaman afâqî); it forgets the professes a metaphysics of being which agrees with a long theosophical tradition in
relationship between the hikayat and what it "imitates." Incapable of perceiving the Islam, and for which the problem of being and of. persistence of being does not arise
symbolism of the worlds, he who takes this objection on his own only precipitates the first of all under the aspects of the verb "to be" (esse, wojûd) or of the noun "being" (ens,
"fall of time into history", for the before and the after, as a fall into the past, do not only mawjûd), but above all under the aspect of being in the imperative (KN, Esto!).
happens in and through historical time, in and through “diachronic” dispersion. But there
is another time, that of the “synchronism ” of before and after.
It is this divine imperative which, by its perpetual recurrence, perpetually uproots

constituted being, "being" and its act of being, from the weight of nothingness, because
the whole universe of being is not is that of being which is not self-sufficient, does not
"Symbolism of the worlds", we have just said. It is that the "transfer" or "reversal" of itself have anything to be. And this is true of the material universes and the spiritual
time presupposes an interior metamorphosis of man, and that simultaneously this universes. All are traversed by the immense upward movement of a creative imperative
metamorphosis, by freeing his psycho-spiritual organs hitherto paralyzed, gives the which lifts them from the weight of their negativity. This is conceivable only on the
interior man access to other universes. , suprasensible universe whose time is different. condition of admitting and introducing the idea of movement even into the realities of the
“Here, my son, Parsifal heard himself say, time becomes space. This other time superior worlds, that is to say the idea of a spiritual or ideal movement (harakat rûhânîya ,
becomes another space . Any man and any culture that ignores or refuses access to it, ma'nawiya).
are eo ipso powerless to admit the reality of spiritual events as such. This reality can
only be understood in those "octaves of universes" mentioned above, and this is
precisely what the idea of the "symbolism of the worlds" expresses. This idea opens “But, says our author, it is extremely difficult to understand, and that is why you see the
only by and for an intelligentia spiritualis, and this is why the spiritual neutic herme of majority of speculative philosophers rejecting this idea. admit that there are three
the Holy Book is linked to the perception of other forms of temporality, before which 144
categories of time 1) There is an “opaque»time” (dark, dense, heavy, zaman kathif). It is
.
disappears the dilemma which did not offer the choice only between myth and history. the time of material beings, the duration of physical movements, performed by
physical subjects and falling under the perception and control of the senses. It is time
145 :
measurable, in one way or another, by sidereal revolutions; it corresponds to the zaman
âfâqî in Semnânî.
We have just recalled how Semnânî, one of the masters of the spiritual hermeneutics
of the Qurân, had been attentive to this problem, the aspects of which should be
followed in the theosophical tradition of Islamic Iran. Among all the representatives of
this tradition, it seems that the plurality of times, or rather forms of temporality, particularly
2) There is a “subtle time” (latîf zaman) which is the duration of the “spiritual
preoccupied Qâzî Sa'îd Qommî, already cited here as one of the most eminent Shi'ite
movements” produced by spiritual beings.
thinkers of Persia. safavid.
Already, for our thinkers, all physical movement, including astronomical movements,
ultimately originates from a
In his extensive yet unpublished commentary on a work by Ibn Bâbûyeh (Shaykh
they are so many infinitely precious collections of the traditions (hadîth and
Sadûq), the Kitâb al-Tawhîd, which is one of the most ancient and fundamental works
akhbâr) of the Imams. Qâzî Sa'îd Qommî, eminent philosopher-theosophist of
of Shi'ite thought143, Qâzî Sa'îd Qommî sketched, with tech means the Safavid period (ob. 1103/1691-1692) devoted to his Kitâb al-Tawhîd a dense
and profound commentary in three volumes, totaling more than a thousand
Pages, unfortunately remained unfinished.
143. We recall that Ibn Babûyeh, nicknamed Shaykh Sadûq, was one of the
and 144. Qazi Sa'id Qommi, comment. du Tawheed, chap. II, 2nd hadith, fol. 27
pillars of immense 4th / 10th century centuries (ob. 381/991). His work was (pers. ms.).
Shiite theology ; only a relatively small number of treatises have survived; 145. Ibid., fol. 30
b

which symbolizes the total duration of a Cycle in Ismaili theosophy. It is the
spiritual movement. Generally speaking, "subtle time" is the form of temporality
Aevum mundi, the Aion.
that comprises all the movements that take place in the world of the Soul,
The differentiation of these categories of time is to be compared with that
both in the upper malakût which is the world of the Angeli caelestes (the
found among other Islamic thinkers, and which derives from that of the
“Moving Souls” of Heaven), than in the lower malakut which is the world of
Neoplatonists . apart from the fact that the Creator, the founding Principle of
human souls. These movements encompass the revelations, inspirations and
being, remaining itself transcendent to being (absolutely monazzah,
visions given to the prophets and to spiritual people in general, the
hyperousion), has no common measure with the realities comprised in the
thaumaturgies performed by them, in short all the events of hierohistory, all
three universes, nor consequently with the three categories of their respective
things that do not happen in the physical world nor, therefore, in time. of this
world but in the time and space of Malakût, the world of the Soul as a whole. time. On the other hand, if the "turnaround" from one time to another time is
conceivable, if thought can access these universes symbolizing one with the
It is the 'âlam al-mithâl, of which we have already explained why we translated
other, it is because each thing of the physical world (the molk) has a particular
it by mundus imaginalis "imaginary world", for the reason that Qâzî
malakût which governs it. In turn, this malakût has a jabarût. In other words,
for each thing in the sensible world there is an Image (mithâl) in the mundus
imagi nalis of Malakût, and for each Image there is an archetypal Reality of
pure light. This is the divine Word (Kali mat ilâhîya), the divine Imperative of
Sa'îd, in agreement with all his colleagues, does not miss the opportunity to
each creature, which maintains it in being, leads it to its perfection, is its
emphasize that this "world of the Image and the Imagination" ('âlam al-khayâl
Witness before God and before men; it is the intimate, the esoteric (batin) of
wa'l-mithâl) is in no way a "imaginary" reality, but a perfectly existing reality
his being, and at the same time what is pre-posed to his being, what "walks
(mawjûd), corresponding to the organ of perception that is proper to it,
forward" (moqaddam) of his being. We will see further on (chap. VII) that it is
Imaginative perception. In the absence of an ontology which rigorously makes
precisely under this aspect that the figure of Imam is at the heart of the most
room for this intermediate world of the Soul, it becomes impossible to
personal spirituality of Shi'ism—as the celestial pole of each being, the axis
understand the reality of theophanic visions, to understand the meaning of
of his personal history. We will point out later a text attesting, among others,
symbolic narratives, to admit this world of "bodies subtleties” without which
a lived experience of the dense and opaque “reversal of time” of the sensitive
no spiritual intelligence of the revelations concerning the “Minor Resurrection”
world to the “subtle time” of the imaginary world. This is the " hadîth of the
White Cloud" masterfully commented by Qâzî Sa'îd Qommî.
(Qiyâmat soghrâ) and the “Major Resurrection” (Qiyâmat kobrâ) is not
possible, because all these things do not “enter into the history” of our world,
but are not therefore myth. And that is why their time is not our time of this
world; when one tries to suggest the qualitative time of malakut in units of
"dark time", the first appears disproportionate. It is this shift, or reversal, from
the time of our chronology to "subtle time", that Qâzî Sa'îd finds suggested in
A few companions are led by the Imam on a mysterious journey to Malakut,
the Qur'anic verse speaking of "a day whose duration is a thousand years of
and here a perfect synchronicity is established for them. They are then
our calculation" (32 : 4). This “subtle time” is therefore also the one that
contemporaries, eyewitnesses, of events that “diachronic” history recounts in
Semnânî designated as zamân anfosî, the psycho-spiritual time, and which
the past or announces in the future (infra book V, chap. III).
he for his part found typified in a corresponding Koranic verse (22:46).
To recapitulate, let us say with Qâzî Sa'îd that the three categories of
time correspond to the three universes (each of which in turn comprises a
multitude of degrees). 1) There is the sensible world ('âlam hissî), the molk.
3) There is the “even more subtle” or “absolutely subtle” time (zaman altaf). It
2) There is the world of the Soul, Malakut, the world of the imaginai 3) There
is the time of the superior spiritual Entities, of the pure cherubic Intelligences
is the world of the Intelli
(Angeli intellectuales), sacrosanct Lights, the world of Jabarut. It is to "that
time" that the Qur'anic verse speaks of the "Degrees by which the Angels 146. Cf. our study on Cyclical Time in Mazdaism and Ismailism
and the Spirit ascend to Him in a day whose duration is fifty thousand (Eranos-Jahrbuch XX), Zürich 1952, pp. 182 ss., where the conceptions
years" (70: 4). This number is the one of time and temporality are evoked comparatively in Proclos, Rhazes,
Nâsir-e Khosraw, Bîrûnî.
gence, the world of Noûs, the Jabarût, the world of pure intelligibility or of of the world, can reach, certainly, they are the witnesses of these visionary
pure Lights. The forms of this world proceed from the Soul; this proceeds events, nothing else, and this is why it is always free to challenge their
from Intelligence, and this proceeds from God, an initial procession which is testimonies attesting to the universes that it itself does not reach. Because
that of the Haqîqat mohammadîya (primordial Mohammadian Reality), as the the real place and the real content of the event remains and is, let's not say
Prophet states in several forms, sometimes saying: "The first thing that God “nothing but” the soul of these witnesses, but “nothing less” than their soul.
created was Intelligence ”, sometimes saying: “ My light ”. The nomenclature You then have to decide, once and for all, where and when to look for the
of these universes offers variants among our theosophists, but the living and those who really live "in the present"...
schematization is constant—with a constancy already underlined by
Sohrawardî 147. Of these three universes something is invested in the human This decision taken, we will understand how the idea of theophany,
being, and the possibility is given to him thereby, according to his spiritual transcendent to history, can precisely determine the conception of a cycle or
progress, at least to glimpse the "turnaround" from his time to other times, of a succession of cycles of hierohistory, because this is essentially a
which become other spaces , theaters of events which, judged in the sole light symbolic history. . This conception differs fundamentally from what we
of historical time and laws of our world, can only appear as "unreal". On the commonly call a "philosophy of history"; any more than it is a conceptualization
other hand, for the "pilgrim" of the Spirit, it becomes possible to understand of facts nor their generalization into “historical laws,” it does not proceed from
an outer story as a real symbolic story , in other words as a hikayat, an empirical observations. We have already noted the function of the number
"imitation" symbolizing with the real things of other worlds. And that is seven and the number twelve, respectively in the imamology of Isma'iliism
Vintelligentia spiritualis. and in that of Twelver Shi'ism. These numbers express a cosmic law, because
they correspond to the rhythm of lived consciousness. The image that they
model is the very organ of the perception of facts, the image that the soul
carries within itself and which, by allowing it schematizations, allows it to
represent itself and to understand empirical facts. .
The notion of the "time of the soul" (whether we say zamân anfosî with
Semnânî, or zamân latîf , subtle time, with Qâzî Sa'îd Qommî), as the time of
theophanies and archetypal events of the soul, preserves of a confusion
inherent in the confusion of the times. With the recurring theophanies, the It is not an image that it owes to facts; it is the facts that owe him this image.
events of the soul, their discontinuous irruptions, we do not have a conceptual For our theosophists, it is the ontological anteriority of malakut over molk. A
material allowing us to build a continuous history, nor therefore a philosophy modern person will perhaps speak of the imaginal as an a priori constitutive
of history, whose linear development, of cause history in historical question, form, without which there would be no Imago mundi. Whatever the name, it
offers a rational sense which satisfies and perhaps reassures, - then that is an a priori which is most often forgotten by "objective" historical science,
unlike the fact of the Incarnation fixable at a determined point of the chronology when it deduces from "facts" an always vulnerable philosophy . schematizes
(the year I of our era), these " irruptions” do not enter into external history, are the facts in as many symbols. One understands them or one does not
not incorporated into it, but remain immeasurable to it. What the story, the understand them, but one does not "refute" the symbols. The cycles of
story hierohistory (and the astronomical cycles corresponding to them) considered
by Shiite prophetology come under an Imago mundi. Both the cyclic time
ismaé link, for example, far from operating in the direction of our
147. Ibid., ch. II, 3rd hadith, fol. 43. “Know that for every thing in the
world of Molk, there is a Malakut peculiar to it; in turn, this Malakût has a
Jabarût which dominates it and which encompasses it [...]. In short, each
being has a divine Word, a divine Imperative which is its Watcher and Guardian...”
The names of the three universes to which the three categories of time 148. Hence the Eastern historian conceives his task as that of a chronicler
correspond may vary; one can have the world of the phenomenon ('âlam having to register and faithfully juxtapose the chains of testimonies (isnâd).
al shahâda), the world of mystery ('âlam al-ghayb), the world of the Mystery It is improper to reproach him for not having a critical overview of historical
of the Mystery ('âlam ghayb al-ghayb); the creaturely world ('âlam al-khalq), phenomena and their "causes"; the "philosophy of history", he will do it, or
the world of the Imperative ('âlam al-Amr), the world of the deity ('âlam al others will do it, elsewhere, but not in the Chronicle, whereas with us it
olûhîya) ; the world of the visible domain ('âlam al-molk), the world of happens to the historian as such, by relating the "facts", to construct already
suzerainty ('âlam al-robûbîya), the world of the deity ('âlam al-olûhîtya). Ibid. the philosophy of facts.
historical time bringing old age, death and disappearance, brought back to saint is here the same as the one who gave rise in Christianity to the figures
the origin, fulfills the "delayed eternity" of a being. previously mentioned. On both sides the hermeneutical situation is comparable,
This is neither a perception nor a philosophy of empirical facts, but a and the names of the ancient prophets are the same. So the task of a future
perception of the “facts” of Malakût. comparative spiritual hermeneutics will not consist of a theological
This is also the case for all the sciences that come under the Imago mundi retrospective, but of a new event; it will be to bring out the common structure
of traditional cultures, let us note this in passing. This is why, for example, we of the spiritual state which is linked to the “phenomenon of the Holy Book”,
miss the meaning of astrology when, instead of recapturing the Imago mundi such as the great spiritual commentaries on the Bible and the Qurân make it
by which this intuitive scientia orders the stars and represents their role, we glimpse.
make it a rational science and we discuss in terms of rational causality an idea
of astral influence foreign to this causality. Whether such decadent astrology On either side, the object of spiritual hermeneutics is not something to be
could have become is another matter. Allusion to it is made here only by way fixed in a state of neutrality and indifference. We see an interpenetration of
of example: if we want to grasp the meaning of an Imago mundi and the the hermeneutic and the object of her hermeneutics taking place. This is why
functioning of its hermeneutics as Interpretatio mundi, we must separate them, the meeting between hermeneutics coming from both sides can only take
make them independent, in some way. sort of material with which image and place in the “time of the Soul”. The mission of the 'orafâ and the hokamâ is
interpretation operate, understanding first of all how they have given transcendent to all earthly social and political orders; it can only invite each
themselves their object. "It is in your heart that the stars of your destiny one to accomplish his own metamorphosis, to give birth and growth to his
are" (Schiller). It is in the heart of the Gnostic that the stars and the cycles of “subtle body of resurrection”. She is unaffiliated with any faith-based
prophetic history are. All of Semnânî's esoteric hermeneutics will consist of organization; it operates a desocialization. On the other hand, it produces
this interiorization of the heroes of the prophecy. those men in whom the invisible meeting of Heaven and Earth takes place; it
is in this encounter that are the Mafâtîh al-Ghayh, the keys to the world of the
Mystery; they, and they alone, are the “keys to the Kingdom”. If we lose sight
of this, we will never understand how those "keys" have been used by those
who have used them.
And this is why the current antinomies disappear here: between prophetic
religion and mystical religion, for the visions and theophanies which are at the
origin of the prophetic vocation are themselves at the summit of the mystical
experience 149; between religion and philosophy, between belief and
knowledge, since the Imam, whose walayat is the esoteric of the prophetic
message, is himself the Perfect Sage, the Man with the superhumanity of an
angel (Insân malakî, Homo angelicus) and that the Theosophical Sage (the
hakîm ilâhî) is himself a prophetic philosopher.
This fundamental idea of the prophetic vocation of the philosopher and

the mystic translates the intimate feeling that the free inspiration of the Holy
Spirit is not closed; this will continue as long as the "cycle of the walayat "
lasts, like an inspiration calling for the blossoming not, of course, of a new
revealed Law, but of the meaning, that is to say the esoteric meaning of all
the revelations. . It is because of this continuity by which the esoteric meaning
is fulfilled in each faithful "with a tried heart" that we have heard the Ve Imam
proclaim that the Holy Book is forever alive. The spiritual phenomenon of the
Book 149. On this solidarity of prophetic religion and mystical experience, cf.
the whole of our book The Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn 'Arabî,
Paris, 1958.
Esotericism and hermeneutics 187
According to Sunni theory (cf. already supra p. 50), Shi'ism

envisages the Imam and the Imam essentially on the plane of
the esoteric (batin); the person of the Imam being invested with
a metaphysical function, the character and the constituent
elements of his person are considered accordingly. The Twelver
Imamites, the thousands of hadîth they meditate on and
CHAPTER V comment on, do not seek to establish a political theory as the
program of the Imamat (it is not a question of a rivalry between
Esotericism and hermeneutics Guelphs and Gibelins). Not only is it not even necessary for the
Imam to exercise any temporal power in order to be the Imam,
that is, to be the mystical pole of the world, but the Duodeciman
Shiites know very well that the world , in his present state, is
incapable of knowing and recognizing the Imam. Moreover, the
Imam being limited to twelve Imams, the concealment (ghaybat)
of the Twelfth Imam is inevitable, as an inherent necessity.
I. - The secret of the Imams or the four levels of Mullâ Sadrâ Shîrâzî, among others, has systematized in a few
esotericism very dense pages all that differentiates the Sunni conception
150
and the Shi'ite conception of the Imam. The person and the
.
That Shiism is, in the essence of its doctrine, the inner function of the Imam, according to the Shi'ite conception,
meaning (the building) of prophetic Revelation, therefore the cannot fully understood only by a perception encompassing the
esotericism of Islam, is already clear enough from all that
totality of these "octaves of universes" of which we spoke above
precedes. The idea of the walayat , which is its driving idea, is
as so many levels graduating the heights of spiritual hermeneutics.
itself defined as the “inner, esoteric meaning of the prophetic
message” (batin al-nobowwat). What was outlined above (chap. Moreover, we have already read (above p. 99) a hadith of the
II) and the developments that prophetology in general still calls Ve Imam projecting from the outset the perspective of any
for, the idea of cycles, the kind of knowledge "inherited" from the “prophetic philosophy” on the primordial creation of the Pleroma
prophets, finally the meaning of the Imam for In Shiite spirituality, of the Fourteen “Aions” of light.
all of this is centered on the idea of the walayat, and thereby A perspective where the heights or the depths of the inner sense
even on the phenomenon of the Holy Book. Not only is the Imam are spread out, of the esoteric reality without which the “external
the "Maintainer of the Qur'an" (Qa'im bi'l Qur'an), but the idea of gesture” described at the level of the phenomenal sensible world
the Imam and the Imam is in itself the esoteric content of the would only have meaning for a past that is already dead. And
spiritual hermeneutics of the Holy Book. this is why we have heard the same Imam thwart the trap of
"historicism" in advance, by proclaiming that the Holy Book is
It is then necessary to take the Shiite idea of the Imam and forever alive by the inner sense always in the process of being
the Imam at the height of the metaphysical horizon where it is fulfilled in each faithful believer. .
initially revealed. It differs essentially from the Sunni conception, Imamology and the spiritual hermeneutics of the Holy Book
according to which the Imam is the head of the community, the are situated on the same ascending and descending perspective;
pivot of the social order (administration, justice, army etc.); in
this last case, all the moral conditions that can be demanded of 150. Cf. mainly Kolaynî, the Kitâb al-Hojjat (des Osûl mina'l-Kâfî), chapter
II, with the great commentary of Molla Sadra, Sharh al-osûl mina'l-Kâfî (in-
him never concern anything except the plane of the exoteric (zahir). fol.), Tehran nd, pp. 447-448, in which Sâdrâ discusses, point by point, the
The Sunni conception postulates neither a metaphysics of the Sunni conception set out by Fakhroddîn Râzî, in his Mafâtîh al-ghayb, ed.
Imam, nor that the person of the Imam is invested by God with of Constantinople, I, 711 ss. ; ibid., chapter v, and Molla Sadra, Sharh, pp.
that "immaculate purity" ('ismat) which, in the Shi'ite conception, 457-459, where the commentator opens a long discussion with the
is the privilege of the Fourteen Very- Pure, expressly notified by Mu'tazilites and responds, point by point, to the objections made to the
Shi'ite conception. Cf. our presentation on Imamology and philosophy, at
certain Qur'anic verses. It is that unlike the concep the 1968 Strasbourg Colloquy on Imamite Shiism (supra p. 65, n. 46); and.
still below pp. 240 and 306, n. 221 and 295.

Esotericism and hermeneutics
interdependent one of the other, they are two aspects of the same Version B states: "Our cause is a secret that remains veiled (sirr
process which is accomplished from world to world. The "pleroma mostasirr), a secret that only a secret can teach, a secret above a
of the Fourteen Immaculate" (Chahârdeh-Ma'sûm) has its secret (sirr 'alâ sirr), a secret that remains shrouded in secrecy . »
manifestations, its theophanies, at all the degrees of the scale of the worlds.
The Logos-prophet is revealed from degree to degree, from situs This double text, the same allusive density is maintained from
to situs, inseparably from the Light which reveals its secret, the one version to another, presents some slight variations with the
esoteric. The "eternal Qurân" descends from world to world, lesson cited above. As it has just been quoted here, we find it
passing through the metamorphoses which from the state of the embedded in the vast commentary composed by Shaykh Ahmad
"archetypal Book", in its pure intelligible essence, lead it to the Ahsâ'î (ob. 1241/1826) on a great classic text of Twelver Shi'ite
state of material book which, in our world, contains the secrets of piety, the text of a "Spiritual visitation to all the Twelve Imams" (al-
the worlds from which he descended. The Imâmat thus accompanies Ziyarat al jami'a) 152. This is a long sequence of greetings listing
the “descent” of the Logos-prophet and of the Book to all the in very precise technical terms the spiritual and metaphysical
“abodes”, positions or situs (maqâmât) whose knowledge is the qualifications of the Twelve Imams, so that the together presents
object of the hikmat ilâhîya, theosophy. To know these worlds, that one of the texts best suited to make us understand the scale of the
is gnosis, because this knowledge is new birth, ascent, return to ontological planes of imamology (the maqâmat, “theosophical”
these worlds. The word which in Arabic designates spiritual stations) and simultaneously the different levels of the hermeneutics
hermeneutics, ta'wîl, means precisely that: “to lead a thing back to of the Qurân. The double hadith of the Sixth Imam comes at the
its origin, to its archetype (asl) ”. The one who is the guide of this beginning of the commentary, during the pages which explain the
operation is the Imam. Hermeneutics and esotericism begin here meaning of these words: "Hail to you, O members of the Prophet's
by leading us back to a hadith already quoted (above p. 116) and Family, who are the place of the prophetic message risalat). The
which is one of those hadiths in which it happened to the Imams to commentary systematizes the degrees listed in the two versions
hold the very quintessence of Shi'ism. . into four maqams , marking the real order of ontological precedence,
going from the most eminent to the least eminent. For greater
This hadith is particularly abstruse, and it is important to briefly convenience, we will keep to designate these degrees, levels or
comment on its allusions, because it can be said that it is "the key" positions, the Arabic term maqâm (plural maqâmât: situs, position,
to esoteric hermeneutics. It was transmitted to us by Saffâr Qommî station, rank, dignity, residence, and also a tone or a mode in
(ob. 290/903) who was a disciple of the 11th Imâm, Imâm Hasan music, where one counts twelve).
'Askarî, in his great collection of traditions which are fundamental
151
to theosophical imamology. is two hadiths, or two versions of a .
hadith in which the sixth Imam, the Imam, Ja'far Sadiq, states the 1) The first maqâm is the one named fourth in both versions; it
same thought; we will refer to them here as version A and version
is the “secret that remains shrouded in secrecy”.
B.
Version A gives this: “Our cause (Amr-nâ, Res nostra), says the
Imâm, is the truth (haqq) and the truth of the truth. 2) The second maqâm is the one that version A designates as
It is the exoteric, and it is "esoteric of the exoteric, and it is the the “secret of the secret”, while version B designates it as “secret
esoteric of the esoteric. It is the secret (sirr), and the secret of the above a secret”. This is still what version A designates as the
secret (sirr al-sirr) it is the secret of what remains veiled (sirr al esoteric of the esoteric (batin al-batin).
mostasirr), a secret which remains shrouded in secrecy.
These first two maqâm are together those who are targeted
in version A as "truth of truth" (haqq al-haqq).
151. Saffâr Qommî, Basâ'ir al-Darajât, Tabriz 1381, Part I , chap. XII 3) The third maqâm is what is called in version A simply “the
pp. 28-29. Saffâr Qommî (Abu Ja'far or Abû'l-Hasan Mohammad ibn secret” (al-sirr) , and as “the esoteric of the exoteric” (batin al-
Hasan ibn Farûkh) is one of the most famous Imamite traditionists;
disciple of the 11th Imam, Hasan 'Askari (ob. 260/874), he was one of zahir). In version B
Ibn Bâbûyeh's sources; he died in Qomm in 290/903, cf. Rayhanat al-
adab, vol. II, p. 483, no. 873. 152. Shaykh Ahmad Ahsâ'î, Sharh al-Ziyârat al-jâmi'a (supra p. 70, n.
48) pp. 7-8.
190 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Esotericism and hermeneutics 191
it is designated as a “secret that only a person can teach. (dhât), to the person of Zayd. This is why we will say that these qualifications
secret ».
proceed from Zayd, without being Zayd himself.
4) The fourth maqânt is designated in version A as “the exoteric”. In version B it is
These considerations lead to understanding the ontological situs of the Imams
named first and there it is referred to as "secret which remains veiled" (sirr
in their pleromatic existence, and thereby the passage from the first maqam to the
mostasirr).
second maqam, the eternal birth of the “primordial Mohammadian Reality” (Haqîqat
These last two maqâm are those that version A designates, from the beginning,
mohammadîya) within the eternal Unrevealed. For, as a prayer for the month of
as the truth (al-haqq) tout court. The schematization thus ordered, what are the
Rajah says, the text of which is traditionally attributed to the Twelfth Imam: "You
metaphysical conditions that found it? Here again, we follow Shaykh Ahmad
have constituted them (the Twelve Imams) as the original place of Your Words
Ahsâ'î's commentary as closely as possible. (Kalimat, Verbs), as the Pillars of Your tawhîd, like the Signs of Your maqâmât (the
1) The first maqam is the situs of the Unrevealed, the station or abode of the situs, dwellings or planes of Your Mani festation), which are not absent anywhere.
"secret which remains shrouded in secrecy", the Abyss of primordial Unity , the It is through these maqâmât (that is to say the Imams) that he who knows You
Truth of Truth, the Truth which makes to be True, that is to say which makes being knows You; there is no difference between them and You, except that they are
be. It is in this secret that the placing of being in the imperative (the KN, Esto) is Your servants and Your creatures. Their origin is in You, their return is to You The
eternally accomplished, without which there would be neither act of being (wojûd), comparison proposed above bears fruit here. What makes the fundamental reality
nor something of being. (mawjûd), nor something having to be something (a (the haqîqat) of the Imams corresponds to the standing position (the act of
quiddity, tnâhîyat). standing) in the case of Zayd. This fundamental reality is manifested in them and
152a
would not be manifested without
. » them, just as the standing position is only
To make this understood, Shaykh Ahmad Ahsâ'î resorts to the following manifested and can only be perceived and known by the existence of the
comparison. Consider a man who is standing (qâ'im), Zayd for example, and his standing man. The standing man is the situs (the maqâm) through which and in
relationship with the act of standing (getting up, standing up), the standing which he who knows Zayd knows Zayd, the only situs through which one can know
position (qiyam). Zayd, whose real essence remains hidden under his qualifications. It is an
“Standing man” (qâ'im) is the qualification of Zayd, the appearance or analogous relation which is signified when one says that God is knowable only by
manifestation of Zayd in the standing position (qiyâm); it is the manifestation of these maqâmat, these situs or positions which are realized only in and by the
the standing position in the person of Zayd, but it is neither Zayd in itself nor the person of the Twelve Imams, or more completely said, in and by the person of the
standing position in itself, as a reality in itself. It is by the standing position that Fourteen Immaculate. This is what these words of the 1st Imam mean: “We are the
Zayd is standing; but it is the standing man that we see, it is not the standing A'raf (cf. infra chap. VII); God is knowable only by the way of our knowledge”, that
position. This, we only perceive the dimension of its being in act in and through is to say only on the condition of knowing us.
the standing-subject, someone who is standing. It is she who "invisibly" is upright
in the standing man, but she is there in the manner of a thing which is manifested
by another, and yet it is through her that the man is upright . -upright. It is
manifested only by a standing man, but this standing man has no "standing"
reality except through it, because it is the principle which makes a standing
subject (wojûd qâ'im) exist. The same can be said in the case of the man-seated,
the man-who-talks, etc. These are all things, positions and situations, which are
showable in Zayd, these are actions and qualifications which are manifested in There is no divine cognoscibility except through the knowledge of the Fourteen
the person of Zayd, but all of them are other than Zayd himself. Doubtless, as Immaculate which are the situs of the divine epiphany, just as what we see is this
qualifications by which one knows Zayd, and which are knowable by the fact of man who is standing; we do not see the standing position in itself; we see it only in
Zayd, they are in his resemblance, but nevertheless, as qualifications, they are a standing man, but it is indeed through it that this man is standing. The Unrevealed,
not identified with the essence. the Absconditum, is inaccessible. He is only knowable in his Manifestations, and
reciprocally these exist only through him. They “are him without being him”.
152a - The text of this prayer for the month of Rajab is found in Ibn
Ta'ûs, Kitâb al-Iqbâl (slnd), p. 646.
Esotericism and hermeneutics 193

(Amr maf'ûlî) as "activated imperative" in the first of created beings, being then
“No difference between them and You, it is said, except that they are Your
servants and Your creatures. » being as an object in relation to itself (just as written signs are the simultaneous
passive aspect of my act of writing , the words “writing”, “reading” etc. being
The first maqâm, as corresponding to the Essential Divine Fund (Kunh al-Dhât, understood in the double sense in question).
cf. Master Eckhart's Urgrund ), concerns only an apophatic theology ( tanzîh). The
comparison proposed with the relationship between the standing man and the
There is an intense effort to penetrate the meaning of being and the blossoming
standing position is particularly suggestive. At the very bottom of things, it is a
of being. It is this “activated imperative” that our theosophists designate as the “Light
question of the very mystery of the revelation of being, which our Shiite theosophists
of Lights” (Nûr al Anwâr), “Primordial Mohammadian Reality” (Haqîqat
have been led, following the tradition of their Imams, to meditate on a level which
mohammadîya), Pleroma of the Fourteen Immaculate. The Light of Lights is therefore
overhangs that which consider the Ishrâqîyûn, the Neoplatonists of Persia or
here the First Emanated from the Imperative, as being the significatio passiva of the
“Theosophists of Light”, disciples of Sohrawardî. This is why it is essential to have
"imperation" of being.
even a brief idea of them, in order to understand what our theosophists grasp as
the metaphysical pre-existence of the Fourteen Immaculates, as well as the
This 'imperation' itself (the active imperative) remains shrouded in the mystery of
discrepancy which raises their metaphysics of being by one degree in relation to
the first maqam (the 'secret shrouded in a secret'), while the Light of Lights is, as
that of the Ishrâqîyûn.
such, only the second maqam. But since these are two aspects of the same
Imperative, the transcendence and the immanence of this Imperative are thus
reconciled in the pleroma of the Fourteen Immaculate. Instead, among the
We evoked above the “putting of being in the imperative”. This suscitation, or Neoplatonic Ishrâqîyûn , the Light of Lights would already correspond to the first
rather this "imperation" of being is preordained to every aspect of being and of maqâm, hence this one, instead of being situated beyond being (like hyperousion)
beings : without this "imperation", it would never happen that the standing position would already be already "in being" and included in being. Intelligence, the Nous
(qiyam) be manifested and made knowable thanks to a standing subject (qâ'im). 'Aql), the Spirit, is then the first hypostasis emanating from the Light of Lights,
This "imperation" is symbolized by the two consonants of the imperative of the verb whereas when the Imami theosophists use these words, it is to designate Intelligence,
to be in Arabic: KN (Esto), and it refers par excellence to the Qur'anic verse (17:87) the Spirit of Reality moham madienne. This Intelligence or this Spirit “which proceeds
where it is said to the Prophet: "They ask you on the Spirit. Answer: the Spirit from the divine Imperative” is the Face of this primordial Mohammadian Reality. All
proceeds from the imperative of my Lord (min amr Rabbi). Now precisely, the this said quickly in very broad strokes, enough to suggest its importance, for all
interpretation of this Imperative entails in Neoplatonizing Theosophists on the one misunderstandings concerning wahdat al-wojûd (when translated as "monism")
hand, and in strictly Imami Theosophists on the other, a difference in their respective could be cleared up, depending on whether one begins this " univocity of being” with
metaphysics of being. It happens that among the first, the verse is interpreted rather a “Light of Lights” located at the first maqâm or, on the contrary, at the second
as meaning: "The Spirit is the imperative of my Lord". It is the creative Spirit and maqâm. And we can glimpse the consequences for Shiite spirituality and for the role
itself uncreated, which activates being, by itself being being in the imperative and, assumed in it by the figure of the Imams . active, primordial instigation or 'imperation'
as such, it is already pre-eternally "in being." For their part, strictly Imami of being, and this is why its secret is inaccessible to us, remains for us 'wrapped in
theosophists like Shaykh Ahmad Ahsâ'î profess, as the VIth Imâm teaches, that the secrecy'. At this level, the tawhîd, as taught by the Ve Imâm
Spirit (the Holy Spirit) is the most sublime of creatures. They then differentiate the
Amr (the imperative) in a double aspect: on the one hand, the imperative under its
active and activating aspect which is the making-to-be (amr fi'lî) and which, as such,
153
remains transcendent to being, eternally precedes everything that is already "in .
being", because everything that is of being (wojûd) or of beings (mawjûd) is, as

such, of fact-being ; and on the other hand, this same imperative under the aspect
of its significatio passiva
153. For more details, see the texts translated in our edition and translation
of Molla Sadrâ Shîrâzî, The Book of Metaphysical Penetrations (Kitâb al
Mashâ'ir) (supra p. 54. n. 25» abbrev.: Penetrations), p.p. 201, 213-215, 2I7,
240-243, notes 90, 96, 101 and 130.
to Jâbir al-Ansârî, “it is that you know that nothing resembles Him (cf. Qurân why this maqâm is also called the esoteric of the esoteric.
42: 9), and that you adore Him without associating anything with Him”. It is the mystery of the primordial Theophany in the Mohammadian Reality or
As Shaykh Ahmad Ahsa'i explains, the fact that you adore him and that this pleroma of the Fourteen Immaculate, the level of the ma'ânî, which are what
adoration is not addressed to the void of pure negativity, is that in this act of we understand of the Divinity, what the Divinity reveals to us of itself, in some
adoration even God manifests himself to you. , although in this very way. so our modi intelligendi (modes of understanding).
Manifestation it does not cease to be invisible to creatures (as the standing-
position is manifested only in the standing-subject, the active Imperative in In an interview of the 4th Imam with Jabir al-Jo'fi it is said: “O Jabir! the
the activated Imperative, without what manifests itself becomes visible in itself). accomplishment of Tawhîd is the knowledge (ma'rifat) of the God of eternal
sovereignty whom looks do not perceive, while he perceives looks. He is the
It is then at the level of this Manifestation or Epiphany that the ma'ânî are Subtle, the Omniscient, and he is the Hidden Mystery (Ghayh batin), as he
constituted, the positive concepts of God, the divine qualifications which have calls himself. As for the ma'ânî, it is we (the Imâms, the Fourteen Immaculate)
a meaning for us, men, and it is the primordial Mohammadian Reality, pleroma who are his ma'ânî (its positive meanings), what is found manifested from Him
of the Fourteen Immaculate , First fact of being, Light of Lights, which is the for you (zâhiro-ho fi-kom). He created us from the light of
support of these qualifications. As the Ve Imam said again in Jabir: “It is We
(the Imams or the Fourteen Immaculate) who are these ma'ani. We are the
Hand of God, His side, His tongue, His imperative, His decision, His son essence. »
knowledge, His truth. We are the Face of God which is turned towards the
We must think here of this mystery of the celestial Anthropos , of the
earthly world in your midst. He who recognizes us has for Imam certainty.
primordial Man, well known to all forms of gnosis.
In Shiite gnosis, the pleroma of the Fourteen Immaculate Ones, in the unity of
its essence, assumes the function of the Anthropos as the form of the
primordial Theophany. In other words: it is impossible for man to express
He who rejects us has for Imam Sijjîn (the seventh circle of the Infernum). »
himself about God, just as God cannot reveal himself to man, without a certain
« This is why, says Shaykh Ahmad, it is indeed towards the inaccessible
divine anthropomorphosis "in Heaven", that is to say his accomplishing in the
Essence that man turns, although forever he cannot find it; and yet he never
suprasensible, and without this postulating an Incarnation in the Christian
ceases to find her, even though she remains forever inaccessible to him. »
sense of the word (cf. again infra chap. VII). We can refer here to the Gnostic
context of the visions of Enoch or the ascension of Isaiah. The idea of this
initial Manifestation "in Heaven" is the foundation of Shiite imamology, which
This paradox situates imamology, and with it the whole doctrine of the means that it assumes a function analogous to that of the Christology of the
Haqîqat mohammadîya, in relation to the Unrevealed, that is to say in relation
to the metaphysical level which precedes the revelation of being and which Logos, and which also means that without it the tawhid would be impossible.
the Imâm designates as "secret that is shrouded in secrecy". By this very fact, For without imamology, the tawhîd performed by man would fall into the trap
this first maqâm is not yet the “place of the prophetic message”, but it is the of metaphysical idolatry; it therefore preserves man both from ta'tîl (agnosticism,
source from which all prophetic mission originates, just as the active Imperative the "placing of God on vacation"), since it founds and stabilizes the ma'ânî, —
is the source which constitutes its object in being. same, the First Emanated and from tashbîh (assimilation of God to creaturely things) , since these ma'ânî
or primordial Mohammadian Reality. are not the Essence itself and refer beyond themselves.
2) The second maqâm is therefore the second "theo sophale" station, the
metaphysical level designated as "the secret of the secret", the first maqâm
being the absolute Secret which remains enveloped in its mystery, the hidden, Similarly, Shaykh Ahmad further explains, that when we talk about Zayd's
the absolute esoteric. The secret of this secret is the act of this primordial standing position, his sitting position, his movement, his rest, his generosity
divine Essence manifesting itself in that which veils it, and this mystery of its etc. these are all aspects, meanings, ways of understanding Zayd, likewise
occultation in its manifestation, and of its manifestation in its very occultation, when the Imam declares: "We are his ma'ânî ", these ma'ânî are the meanings
is a "secret by above a secret'; it is of the Deus revelatus for man, the aspects under which God
196 Esotericism and hermeneutics 197

manifests itself to man and under which man understands God (these that is to say, again of the Prophet in his metaphysical pre-existence.
aspects are further specified infra chap. VII). In relation to the Essence All of this can only be stated with the help of the preceding symbols:
without which these qualifications would be without reality, they are the primordial Water falling on the still sterile Earth (32:27), the still
this Essence “in such and such a sense”. In relation to their effect and inanimate region (35:10), the oil igniting on contact fire (24: 35), the
concrete vestige, they are the names of personal individuals assuming meaning or the allusion of the creative Word falling on the still inert
these qualifications of which they are the mazâhir, the epiphanic forms. concept, — here then the perfect vegetation blossoms and the lamp
Thus we must understand all the hadîth where it is said that the and the living meaning shine, — so many symbols referring finally to
Fourteen Immaculate are the Attributes of God, the Names of God, the in the Name by which the Heavens and the Earth are illuminated,
Mercy of God, the divine Face which remains after the disappearance Name which among the neoplatonizing Ishrâqîyûn is the Intelligence
of all things154 , the divine Face turned towards the Earth of men, the of the Universe 'Aql al-koll) and among the Shi'ite theosophists, the
target (rnaqsad) of whoever orients himself towards it, what is Calame, the Mohammadian Intelligence, the Mohammadian Spirit or
manifested by God at all levels of being, in all the concepts (ma'ânî) Mohammadian Light 'Aql, Rûh, Nûr mohammadî, according to the
that men have formed of God, the Signs manifested on the horizons triple variant of the hadîth in which the Prophet declares: "The first
and in the souls (that is to say in the outer world and in the inner world, thing that God created was my Intelligence", or "my Spirit", or "my
Qorân 41: 53). In short, the Fourteen Immaculate are the primordial Light") . In this initial Mohammadian Intelligence, the Merciful
spiritual entities (arwâh) , having life in themselves and communicating establishes himself; he deposits in it and causes to proceed from it
life to others. They are the Sacrosanct Souls forming the "Fourteen the supersensible realities of all things , the forms of creatures in the
Temples of the primordial Tawhîd " , 155 all of one and the same subtle state. This is why Intelligence is indeed the Threshold (bab) of
essence. They are the “place of missioning”, both of the missioning of God towards creatures, and as reciprocally it is through it that every
being and of the missioning of the prophetic vocation of the prophets. creature receives what it receives and that it turns towards God, the
A whole constellation of symbols refers to this problem: it is the letter Intelligence is the Threshold of creatures towards God.
Nûn of the Koranic verse 68: I, it is the "primordial Book", it is the "keys
of the Mystery" (mafâtih al-ghayb), it is the still sterile Earth (cf. Qurân
33: 27) and the primordial Water which fertilizes it; it is the primordial
Inkpot from which the Reed (the Intelligence of the universe) draws, It is therefore this maqam which is referred to in the hadith of Imam
and it is "the oil which is about to ignite without even a fire having Ja'far as “a secret that only a secret can teach”.
touched it" (Qorân 34:35). The purpose is aimed at the mediating function of revealer and
interpreter eternally devolved to the prophetic Logos. Because this
revelation blossoms eternally within the Haqîqat mohammadîya, they
are the Imams, the “place of the eternal prophetic Message”.
3) The third maqâm is the one designated as the maqâm of In contrast to the first maqâm enclosed in its mystery, they are here
“thresholds” or “Doors” (abwâb) ; it is the maqam of the "secret that the “place” of this revelation, the place where its light descends, where
only another secret can teach", the esoteric of the exoteric. It is within its stars decline. At the second maqâm, they are the esoteric of the
the Haqîqat Mohammadiya the eternal blossoming of Intelligence, of esoteric. At the third maqâm, they are the esoteric of the exoteric, that
the Mohammadian Logos, is to say the esoteric of what is manifested by the revelation of the
Mohammadian Logos. They are the guardians of his prophetic Law,
that is to say simultaneously the Treasurers and the Treasury, the
154, According to the Qur'anic verse 28:88: “Everything is perishable, except secret to be transmitted and the secret which alone can transmit it to
its face. That this Face is the Imam, and in what sense the Imam is the the creatures coming below them.
imperishable Face in every being, is shown by a long statement by Qazi
Sa'îd Qomraï, of equal importance for philosophy and spirituality.
Cf. our study Face of God and Face of Man (supra p. 54, n. 25). We will discuss 4) Also the fourth maqâm is identified purely and simply with the
later, chap. VII, the concordant interpretation of a present-day shaykh. Imamat, it is the maqâm of the exoteric
155. On the Fourteen Ideal Realities, temples of tawhîd, cf. again Penetrations, is
pp. 217-218, n. 101; on the order of their ontological procession, Celestial Earth, 156. Cf. Kolaynî, Kitâb al-Hojjat, I and 14 hadîth, ed. cit., pp. 10 and 20-21;
pp. 111 ss. Penetrations, § 124, p. 204 of the French translation, and note 96, pp. 213-214.
(zâhir), not, of course, that the Imamate is the exoteric, but of Imam Ja'far. Doubtless the foregoing suffices to show what the
because the eternal Imamate, as it is meditated on in the second Imam's allusions are aiming at: the epiphanic descents (tanazzolat)
and third maqam, is the secret which is hidden and remains of the Logos-prophet, the successive levels of prophetic Revelation,
hidden, "secret which remains secret” under the exoteric of and what at each level is its "place". privileged as being the secret
prophetic Revelation. The Twelve Imams, in the unity of their invested in the heart of this Revelation, that is to say the Imâmate
essence, are the "place of the prophetic message", because it is of the twelve Imâms as being the esoteric of this Revelation at its
in them that are concealed the teachings communicated to the successive levels.
Messenger of God, and "under the regime" of the exoteric they From there will hatch the general prophetology and imamology of
are the guardians of the hidden meaning of these teachings. This Shi'ism (infra chap. VI), and simultaneously the spaces and the
maqâm is therefore that of the Guarantor and Witness of God, depths of the spiritual hermeneutics of which we spoke above,
“answering for” God before men, his Face turned towards the that is to say the levels successive phases in which the exoteric
Earth, the eye through which he looks at men. The Imam is the and the esoteric of the Qur'anic Revelation are perceived. These
one who opens fortified castles, abandoned wells; he is the refuge different levels of revelation of the prophetic Logos are as such so
of the banished, the security of the fearful, the help of believers,
many "epiphanic descents" of the eternal Qurân, starting from the
invisible Caliph of God in this world for the whole time of the Great
archetype of the Book (Omm al-Kitâb) at the level of the "secret
Occultation, that is to say until the consummation of this Aion.
which remains shrouded in secrecy".
Having collected these explanations, we can see with Shaykh
Âhmad Ahsâ'î that the teaching concerning these maqâmât is
already that which is recapitulated in an interview of the 4th Imâm 2. — The epiphanic descents of the Holy Book
with jâbir al-Jo'fî (the one we quoted above pp. 121 ff.). "Do you
know, O Jabir, what gnosis is ( ma'rifat, spiritual knowledge par The relationship of the Word, of the eternal divine Word and of
excellence)? Gnosis, you should know, is I) the accomplishment the Book which materializes this Word in the world of the
of tawhÿd (the Unification of the Unique in the situs of negative or phenomenon 'âlam-al shahâdat) is the theme which imposes itself
apophatic theology); 2) the gnosis of the ma'ânî (that of the par excellence on the prophetic philosophy hatched from a prophetic religion.
positive concepts, of the divine Attributes having a meaning for Mullâ Sadrâ Shîrâzî summarizes the point of view of prophetic
man); 3) the gnosis of the "Thresholds" (abwâb, the "thresholds" philosophy best, by saying this: “The Word (the Word) which
where the prophetic mission of the various prophets shines); 4) descends from God is Word under one aspect, and it is Book under
the Imam's gnosis; 5) the gnosis of the “Pillars” (the four immortal another aspect. The Word, because it belongs to the world of the
Living Ones); 6) the gnosis of the Noqaba; 7) the gnosis of the Imperative 'âlam al-Amr) is other than the Book, since it belongs to
Nojabâ. We already know that these last two points refer to the the creaturely world [...].
spiritual "leaders" and "nobles" forming the esoteric hierarchy of Because it belongs to the world of the Imperative, the Word has
which the Imam is the pole (Qotb). Under the present regime of the Hearts as its dwelling: "It is in the hearts of believers, and only
the exoteric, in the present period of the occultation of the Imam, those who have received knowledge perceive it"
they too are in occultation; we must recognize their existence, but (Qorân 29: 48) "and understand it only those who know"
it is impossible to designate them and to know them by name; (29:42). As for the Book, because it belongs to the creaturely world
their name is the secret of the Imam 157. The first three points of ('âlam al-khalq), its dwelling is the written Tablets which have a
the hadith correspond respectively to each of the first three maqam material dimension and which everyone can perceive (those of
just described; points 4 to 7 corresponding together to the fourth Moses, for example). But the Word "no one touches it except the
maqâm. Pure" (56:78). She is an "august Qurân" (56: 76) having a sublime
rank, on a Tabula secreta (Lawh mahfûz, 85: 22) "that no one
We must condense here to the extreme what there would be touches except the Pure, it is a revelation of the Lord of the
to say concerning the four maqâm indicated in the double hadîth worlds" (56 : 78-79)-” The “descent” (tanzîl) of this revelation of the
Lord of the worlds, this is precisely the Book
158
.
157. On the esoteric hierarchies cf. the references given above pp. 121
ff., n. 91 to 93. 158. Mullâ Sadra Shîrâzî, Penetrations, § 122 pp. 193-194.

The differentiation between the world of the Imperative ('âlam al Amr) and the symbolism of the four lights of the Throne suggests how the hierarchy of
the creaturely world ('âlam al-khalq) is fundamental in all Islamic esotericism. the spiritual universes proceeds from there to the world of the phenomenon.
In broad terms, the world of the Imperative is the world whose act of being,
existence, proceeds eternally and immediately from the Imperative Esto (KN). The procession of these universes therefore reproduces the hierarchy of
the esoteric maqâmât described above. These maqâmât, by designating the
The creaturely world is the world whose being proceeds from the mediation of “successive places” of the manifestation of the prophetic Logos, designate eo
the world of the Imperative. We have recalled above the clarifications that ipso the epiphanic descents of the Word down to the state of the Book in the
Imamite theosophy provides on this point, avoiding any misunderstanding as world of phenomena.
to the unity or univocity of being (wahdat al-wojûd). This unity (encompassing In terms of Imâmite theosophy, this descent implies ab initia the blossoming
the totality of being, the word being being taken in one and the same sense) of prophetology and imâmologie, since it is the Haqîqat mohammadîya which
only begins with the second maqam described in the preceding paragraph. It is both the subject and the mediator of this descent. This is a theme whose
is already fact-being, since making-being, the active and activating Imperative deepening is postulated by all the hadith of the Prophet and the Imams relating
(Amr fi'lî), remains transcendent to being itself, to the being that it places to the esoteric, for example the famous hadith where the Prophet affirms the
precisely in the Imperative ( and which is the significatio passiva of this seven esoteric depths (cf. infra book IV, chap. II , where is analyzed the
Imperative). Consequently, the world of pure Intelligences which is, among the treatise of an anonymous spiritual of the VIIIth /XIVth century on this theme).
Ishrâqîyûn philosophers, the world of the Imperative, is also so among our In Semnânî (cf. also infra book IV, chap. IV) the esoteric hermeneutics
Imâmite theosophists, but as an activated Imperative (Amr maf'ûlî), and as referring to the “seven prophets of your being” proceeds from the same
such it is already of the creaturely order. However, it does not belong to the intuition.
'âlam al-khalq, because it is an eternal creation which does not "fall in
chronological time" (its time is not ours, but this "subtle time" of which Qâzî Here, to be brief, we are mainly inspired by Sayyed Kâzem Reshtî's great
spoke Sa'îd Qommî, as seen above). In other words, because the pure (unfinished) commentary on the "Verse of the Throne" (Ayat al-Korsî, Qorân
Intelligences are indeed the immediate support of the eternal Imperative which 2: 256), because its introduction also implements the double hadith of Imam
makes them be, just as iron is the support for the heat of fire (it is this heat), Ja'far, treated here in the preceding paragraph
160
the Intelligences are indeed the world of the Imperative ('âlam al Amr), but .
they are as activated Imperative (Amr mafûlî) Since Shi'ite esotericism is ordered to the perception of the true meaning
of divine Revelations, it goes without saying that the indication of what this
true meaning is (hidden meaning, inner meaning) must necessarily let us
foresee how this meaning is constituted ontologically. (theme of epiphanic
159
. descents), and it goes without saying that there is the very source of
Under this abstruse terminology, a metaphysical option of great consequence prophetology and imamology, the "eternal Imam" (not this or that Imam in his
is expressed. On the other hand, if the world of Intelligence is commonly empirical person) being the holder of the secret of prophetic revelation, from
referred to as the First Emanated from the Light of Lights, we have also world to world, because he is this very secret. This may be extremely difficult
specified that for imamite theosophy this First Emanated is the Light of Lights to state, but this is what the notion of Haqîqat mohammadîya mediates.
itself, proceeding immediately from the mystery of the Imperative ("secret
which remains shrouded in secrecy"), and this Light of Lights (Nûr al-anwâr)
is the primordial Mohammadian Reality from which Let us have this in mind: to each of the maqams to which this primordial
Mohammadian Reality, pleroma of the Fourteen Immaculates, is considered,
the Imams, in their pre-existence
159. Ibid., p.200, n. 88. The Ismaili philosopher Abû Ya'qûb Sejestânî, in 160. This is the hadîth referred to in note 151 above . Sayyed Kâzem
his Kashf al-Mahjûb (Unveiling of hidden things), ed. H. Reshtî's commentary on the verse of the Throne (Sharh Ayat al-Korsî, 2: 256)
Corbin (Bibl. Iranienne, vol. 9), Teheran-Paris, 1949, also deals with this is a compact work that unfortunately remains unfinished; ed. lithogr. Tabriz,
question in rigorous Persian terminology (hast-kardan, the bringing-to-be; s. d, (circa 1860), in-40 that
, 352 the
pages. These
Qurân is a few lines of
ciphered the prologue:
writing, "Know
a symbolic story
hast-kunemdeh, the bringing-to-be; hast-kardeh, fact-being; kunendagî, the (ramz) between the Friend and the Beloved, and that no one, except them
situation of making-being, transcends being, which is always the being of two, knows the true meaning of its words."
what precisely is made to be, the hast of the hast-kardeh).
pleromatic, are the "place of the prophetic message" (such is the radiations of this Light of Lights, and these radiations are the
first salutation of the Ziyâtat al-jâmi'a quoted above). principles of the complete universes (including in their turn other
They are the situs of the manifestation of the Logos-prophet, and worlds). The Intelligence of Muhammadan Reality is the principle
we have seen that starting from the maqâm of the "secret remaining of all Intelligences; it is symbolized as white light, as the upper
enveloped in the secret", they are the maqâm of the "secret of this column of the right of the Throne, as “the Spirit who proceeds from
secret" (the esoteric of the esoteric), secret veiling itself in the the divine Imperative”.
primordial Theophany, then the "hidden secret" in the Manifestation The Spirit of Muhammadan Reality is the principle of all Spirits; it
of the Logos mohammadien (the esoteric of the exoteric), "secret is symbolized as yellow light, lower column of the right of the
that only a secret can teach" (that is, that is to say that the secret Throne. His Soul is the principle of all Souls; it is symbolized as
of the prophetic Revelation can only be known to him to whom the green light, the upper left column of the Throne. His Nature is the
Imam communicates this secret that he himself is), finally secret principle of all natures; it is symbolized as red light and as the
hidden in the literal, apparent text of the Book materialized in this world . lower column on the left of the Throne 162. The hierarchy of the
All this implies that the Logos-prophet, "Sent of God", has an universes is spread out as follows : of the Unrevealed, of the Amr
epiphany in a series of graduated universes; that each time this fî'lî. 2. World of Lights or pure Intelligences 'âlam al-Anwâr), world
manifestation (as during the passage from the first to the second of jabarut, white light. 3. World of Spirits 'âlam al-Arwâh), upper
maqâm) involves, as such, an occultation (it will be said that "the malakût, yellow light.
exoteric of each higher degree becomes the esoteric of the lower
degree"), and that consequently this place of manifestation, the
"secret" which supports it necessarily also has, from degree to 4. World of Souls, lower malakût , green light (the 'âlam al-Mithal
degree, its own mode of being. This means that ab initio, any or mundus imaginalis being the world of Images of the whole
manifestation of the Prophet is inseparable from the Imam and malakût). 5. World of material bodies, Nature, red light.
from the secret of his Imam (the Prophet Mohammad says it in his
own words: 'Ali, that is to say the Imam, "was sent with every The tetrad of lights primordially irradiated with the Light of Lights
prophet secretly, but with me he was sent publicly”). This is why or Mohammadian Reality, these are the
one of the degrees of Shiite esoteric hermeneutics concerns the
mode of being of the Imams at the different levels of manifestation empyrean (corresponding to the 'arsh) and the firmamentum (fixed sky,
of the prophetic Logos, in the universes preceding the material corresponding to the korsî). On the other hand, we will again note here the
world, — from the Logos to the state of Pure Word, prior to the discrepancy in the use of the term “Light of Lights” (Nûr al-anwâr). Among the
state of the Book and the exoteric of the Book written in this world. Ishrâqîyûn, it designates the First Being, as being itself Ens supremum and
source of Emanation. Here the “Light of Lights” is the First Being as first
But it is also one of the most difficult points, on which Shiite created being (protoktistos), because the creative Principle remains
theosophists most often express themselves only with discretion. transcendent to being and to the first being that it brings into being. On this
metaphysics of being, postulating a rigorous "primary philosophy", Imamite
gnosis and Ismaili gnosis agree; see above p. 200, no. 159, and Penetrations,
pp. 235-236.
What are these different universes and how are there 162. Sayyed Kazem Reshti, op. cit., p. 2, and Penetrations, pp. 218-220.
any in the maqâmât of the primordial Mohammadian The motif of the Throne and its four lights goes back to the teaching of the
Reality, the explanation in the form of symbols? (It is the Imams themselves, cf. Kolaynî, Kitâb al-Tawhîd, chap. XX (= chap. of the 'Arsh
Throne, 'Arsh, in the cosmogony of Shi'ite theosophy.) and the Korsi); Safinat II, p. 616; Penetrations, pp. 213-215. This motif of the
Throne (corresponding in Islamic gnosis to the motif of the Merkaba in the
The hypostases presented by the cosmogony of the Jewish Kabbalah) is constant in its structure, while presenting certain variants
philosophers — the Intelligence 'Aql), the Spirit (Rûh), the in the distribution of the symbolic lights and of the names of the higher
Soul ( Nafs), Nature (Tabî'at) — here refer to the primordial archangelic tetrad (Séraphiel, Michaël, Gabriel , Azrael), cf. our book on Ibn
Mohammadian Reality as the primordially established 'Arabi, pp. 270-271. It is found expounded in all the works of our Theosophists,
being and161Light and a whole book would be needed to coordinate the details. Above the
: fourofArchangels
Lights or four Lights are the
archangelic tetrad recalled above, there are the four Mala'ika al-a'lûn, Angeli
161. Although, for simplicity, the words korsî and 'arsh are both translated Sublimes, two of which are the Spirit of the Divine Imperative, while the other
here as "throne", the two terms refer to two distinct metaphysical realities, two are responsible for angels of the Veils (the Cherubim, Karûbîyûn); see
between which the relationship is analogous to the relationship between heaven Shaykh Ahmad Ahsâ'î, Ziyarat, p. 117.
Archangels who did not have to bow down to Adam (cf. to the Fourteen flames, the "Fourteen temples of tawhÿd ", together forming
Qorân 2: 32), because they are precisely the lights before which the Angels a single primordial essence, a single Light ,186 from which radiate the light
prostrated themselves while bowing before Adam (alludes are also of the cherubic Intelligences or "Angels of the Veil", and the light from which
sometimes made to the fourteen superior archan gelic Lights irradiated with the prophets were created. From the irradiation of the being of the prophets,
the Light of the Fourteen Immaculate, which do not did not have to prostrate was created the being of faithful believers. So on until the humus.
themselves before Adam, since they constituted the being of light of the
celestial Anthropos We have suggested above, p.55, a possible comparison “No reality is created from an essence that is inferior to it.
with the Fourteen Aiones of light named in some Gnostic texts of Coptic As All lower reality is created from the irradiation of a higher reality. A superior
for the "existential" meaning of the motif of the Throne, it is that the spiritual reality is, for example, the sun itself; the lower reality is its irradiation
163
person of the faithful believer, of the integral follower (the mu'min in the
. illuminating the surface of the Earth. Each reality exists in its true sense
Shi'ite sense of the word) is made up of radiations from the four (haqîqat) in its proper rank and in relation to what is below it; it is symbol and
Furthermore, each individual existence has its act of being, of existing, in the figure ( majâz), effect brought about, in relation to what is above it . , it is the
reality symbolized as white light, its individual identity, in that which is whole ta'wîl, the symbolic hermeneutics with its extreme complexity, which is
symbolized as yellow light, its determination and measure, in that which is thus rooted in the very process of being.
symbolized as green light; its original matter , in that which is symbolized as
red light . I am the Essence of all that has an essence (the dhawât lil-dhât,
all the essencifications of the Essence). »
Indeed, in each of the worlds designated above by their symbols and

which can only be signified by symbols (everyone could here agree once
and for all on the difference between symbol and allegory), — in each of
these worlds is accomplished successively the descent of the prophetic
Logos, the reality of the Word being condensed to that of the written Book,
This is also what every Shiite theosophist, Sadrâ Shîrâzî, for example, in other words: the succession of epiphanic descents of the eternal Qurân,
165
expounds in commenting on the motif of the Throne. . from world to world.
The general plan of being conforms to this vision, Shaykh
Ahmad Ahsâ'î, for his part, recapitulates it thus: the primordial existence At the level of Lahût, of the Divinity, of the Unrevealed, the world of secrets
directly aroused in being by the divine Imperative (as the substrate of this ('âlam al-asrâr), there is not yet a Logos (Kalâm) nor a Name, nor a
very Imperative, like Amr maf'ûlî), is the primordial mass of the Light of description. It is the first maqâm described above as that of the "secret
Lights, Light remaining shrouded in secrecy", the one to which esoteric exegesis relates
this verse: "You did not know what the Book is, nor what it is. is that faith.
Yet We have made it a light by which We guide whom We please” (42:52). It
163. See above p. 55, no. 27, and p. 196, no. 155; Penetrations, p. 121. is the unfathomable abyss from which eternally emerges the Imperative of
164. Cf. Penetrations, pp. 166-167 (translations of two texts by Mîrzâ Ahmad being, imperative
Ardakânî Shîrâzî and Shaykh Ahmad Ahsâ'î).
165. The hadîth from which the sentence quoted in the above text is taken appears
in the Kitâb Mashâ'riq al-Anwâr (the Orients of Enlightenment) by Rajâb Borsî (8th /
14th century). It is regarded as one of the most difficult hadith ; it is a visionary 166. Regarding a hadîth of the First Irnâm (“I am in relation to Mohammad as the
conversation between the lâhût (divine) and the nâsût (human) of the Imam. We have light in relation to the light”, that is to say lumen of lumine), Shaykh Ahmad Ahsâ’î
found and studied six commentaries on it so far, cf. Yearbook 1968-1969, p. 150-151. explains: “This light is totally in Mohammad; it is totally in Imam 'Ali; totally in Fatima;
On the quaternary structure of the Throne ('Arsh) found at all degrees of being, cf. totally in Imam Hasan; totally in Imam Hosayn; so on for each of the Fourteen
Molla Sadra's commentary, Sharh, p. 314. "Nothing that God has created in his Malakut Immaculate. For, despite its multiplication, it is one. This is what the Imams mean by
remains outside of these four," declares the Imam. We have previously recalled that for saying: We are all Mohammad. The first of us is Mohammad. The one in the middle
each species, there are four interior things (omur batiniya): a nature, a sensitive soul, is Mohammad. The last of us is Mohammad. » See Penetrations, p. 102.
an imaginative soul, an intelligence. They have multiple abodes and forms of
manifestation..."
167. Ibid., pp. 105-106, note 15.

whose being that it "imperative" is the same Muhammadan Reality, Reality whose his first "descent". In accordance with the stated symbolism, in this universe the
Intelligence, as primordial Intelligence, is the prophetic Logos, the Logos of the Qurân is white light, with a brilliance similar to the brilliance of the “White Pearl”.
prophet in his pre-eternity ("the first thing that God created was my Intelli gency”). Thus, from world to world, as the cosmogonic establishment “descends” from
This Logos is the knowledge that God has of his creation and his knowledge of universe plane to universe plane, eo ipso the Logos-Prophet is raised up as Herald
himself in this Logos; this knowledge is the eternal archetype of the Book (0mm to the peoples of these universes which overhang ours. , and the eternal Qurân
168
al-Kitâb), it is the Qurân in the entirety of its manifestations, degrees,
and significations.
descents "descends" (tanaz zol) with it: to the world of Spirits where it is yellow light, to the
“We have imparted to you a Spirit proceeding from Our imperative. You did not world of Souls where it is green light like emerald, and where the scene of the
know what the Book is...” (42:52). Which is stated in yet another form: "The Qurân “covenant” or pact with earthly humanity (Qorân 7: 171); finally to the world of
is a secret allusion (ramz, a "ciphered writing") between the Friend and the bodies where it is red light .
Beloved, and no one except them two knows the true reality (haqîqat) of his It is
therefore below the maqâm, the "secret forever shrouded in secrecy", consequently
170
at the level of the "world of Lights" (irradiated from the Mohammadian Reality)
that the divine Revelation hatches through the Logos- prophet, and it is in this
169
world of Enlightenment or pure Intelligences that the Prophet, in his
. » preeternity, is A fundamental law determines the modality of these epiphanic descents: in
missioned first of all as in descending from one plane of the universe to another, what is the manifested, the
exoteric (zâhir) for the beings of a superior universe becomes the hidden, the
esoteric (batin), for those of the immediately lower universe. As the descent
progresses, a new envelope, a new veil (symbolized by the corresponding light)
envelopes the previous veil, which was the exterior immediately accessible to
those of the superior universe and becomes, at the following degree, " hidden
secrets”. The structure of prophetic Revelation, such as it appears to us in this
168. Symmetrically corresponding is the Ismaili affirmation deriving from world (zahir and batin , prophecy and imam), reproduces the structure which has
apophatic theology: the only divine Ipseity which is accessible to man is the
knowledge, even negative, that the First Intelligence has of its Principle; see been inherent to it since the origin of the worlds to which it is propagated. This
Ismaili Trilogy, pp. 19-20, no. 24 and 26. Here, what we know about God is the esoteric of the prophetic Revelation, from world to world, we also know that it is
knowledge that God has of his Creation and of himself in the Haqîqat the esoteric of the primordial Mohammadian Reality, that is to say the pleroma of
mohammadîya. The knowledge that the latter possesses is not knowledge about the Twelve ïmâms, "place of the prophetic message".
God, but the knowledge that God himself has of this Haqîqat or this Logos.
169. This is the text cited above p. 201, no. 160; see Sharh Ayat al-Korsi, p. 2.
In addition, the text quoted above p. 205, n.166 shows how the Fourteen
Immaculate Ones are, of course, fourteen persons of light (ashkhâs nûrânîya), 171
.
but at the same time each one is the very person of Mohammad the "Friend of
God", that is to say that each is also the whole Haqîqat mohammadîya, both It is thus that the beings of the "world of Enlightenment", whose perception and
alone and all the others. It is remarkable that a somewhat kathenotheistic organs of penetration (mashâ'ir) are made up of the excess of epiphanic light of
conception is already to be found in a proto-Ismaili text such as the Omm al-Kitâb Mohammad's Reality, do not themselves understand the Qurân as understood, at
(ed. W. Ivanow, in the journal Der Islam, Bd. 23, Leipzig 1936. this pre-eternal level, by the Prophet-Logos. In the same way the esoteric, the
An Italian translation was recently provided by Pio Filippani Ronconi, Napoli,
Istituto universitario orientale, 1966). The master ('Abdallah Sabbah) ceases to secret, which the beings of the world of the Souls understand, is only the exoteric,
see the young Imam (Moh. Baqir) and sees the Prophet transfigured, his face the external envelope, the bark (qishr), compared to the knowledge which the
shrouded in hair of light: “I am the pure Lord, transcending all attributes and all beings of the world of the Spirits possess. , and the esoteric known to the world of
descriptions. Successively he sees 'Ali, then Fatima . The latter, dressed in silk
the Spirits is like the bark and the exoteric compared to what
and gold brocade, a green veil over her hair, states: "There is no God but me, no
God either in divinity or in humanity or in the heavens nor on earth, except me
who am Fatima-Creator (in the masculine: Fâtima-Fâtir) ; I created the minds of
True believers. Finally Imam Hasan appears, then Imam Hosayn, who declares:
“I am Hosayn ibn 'Ali, I am Hasan ibn 'Ali, I am Fatima the Brilliant (Fâtima al-
Zahrâ); I am 'Alî al-'A'lâ (Excelsus excelcis simus); I am Mohammad the 170. Cf. Kâzêm Reshtî, Sharh Âyat al-Korsî, p. 3, and above p. 81, no. 55
Chosen” (fol. 19b -22 of the manuscript; cf. Italian translation, pp. 18-20). and pp. 102 ff. n. 73.75.
171. Ibid., p. 3-4; this name appears at the beginning of the original text of the
Ziyârat al-jâmi'a, and itself comes from earlier hadîth .

know the Intelligences of the world of pure Lights; hierohistory 172, and to understand it is to perform ta'wil. The
and in these Intelligences the esoteric penetration does not reach descent (tanzil) of Revelation is completed; it is now necessary to “take
only a bark compared to the knowledge of the Prophet-Logos, back” the Book to its origin, to its archetype. the
so that the esoteric reached by the beings of the world of total cycle is divided into two arcs: arc of the descent (nozûl or
Ames is only "the bark of the bark" in relation to the knowledge that the tanzil), symbolizing the prophetic mission "bringing down"
Prophet-Logos possesses of the archetypal Qurân or the Revelation, — and arc of the ascent (so'ûd), or arc of the Imâ mat,
the Haqiqat mohammadiya. Finally, what the literati of this world perceive accomplishing the ta'wîl or ascent symmetrical to the descent
is only the bark of what the two discounts
esotericists, and that is why the haqîqat of esotericists is not These perspectives which arise with theosophical metaphysics, are
not an allegorical truth, but the literal spiritual truth, that is to say at the those which make it possible to understand the declarations of our
same time spiritual, since belonging to a plan authors, when they affirm that all the Books
superior, and literal as it corresponds to the mode of being revealed to previous prophets — Torah, Psalms and Gospel —
and mode of perception which are proper to this higher plane. are only a transcription of the Qurân, a state among its states,
When the hadith allude to the esoteric (batin) whose that the Qurân is its secret, its nucleus, that their secret is in
knowledge is the privilege of the prophets and the Imams, they the Qurân, and that for this reason the Imâm of the Resurrection
mean by this the absolute esoteric in its essence, because the esoteric, (Qâ'im al-Qiyamat), through integral ta'wîl , will reveal the secret
such as it is for us, the terrestrials, is only an exoteric for beings who are of all divine Revelations, And when they affirm that
superior to us. As for the absolute esoteric, which neither is nor can the Qurân contains information concerning the "world of
become exoteric, no one has a part in it except the Fourteen Immaculate. Mysteries", the suprasensible, the events accomplished in
other worlds or to be accomplished in ours, the knowledge of what has
The descent of the Qurân from the "world of secrets" and the come down to us and the knowledge of
world of pure Enlightenment, inaugurates, reaching to the world what has not reached us, of what has remained hidden in
terrestrial or world of the sensible phenomenon, the "cycle of the prophets, or with the Close Angels, or with the Angels
prophecy” beginning with Adam, progressing from prophet Cherubim, or among the Supreme Angels the knowledge of
173
as a prophet until the Plenary Manifestation of the Light all the invocations and confidential psalms (monâjât) which
Mohammedan in the person of the "Seal of the Prophets",
were articulated by a Nabi, an Imam or an Angel etc.
last of the legislative prophets, of which each previous prophet was a
Meditating in front of this immense horizon, Sayyed Kâzem Reshtî
partial manifestation or epiphany. With the
writes: “O my brother! read the Quran, never give up on it. He
closing of the cycle of prophecy by the mohammadian Revelation, begins
is more precious to you than anything else. If you there
the "cycle of the walâyat " or of the Imamate
persevere, you will see the secret of what I have just said. When
(cf. infra chap. VI), cycle inaugurated by the 1st Imam and before
you will have understood all this, you will have understood a certain sum
end with the parousia of the 12th Imam closing our Aiôn
of the science of the Quran. But you will also have understood that it is not
(infra Book VII). In accordance, as we have just recalled,
not possible to read it as it is in itself, because it is impossible for us,
very law of the manifestation of the Logos or of the Word, of world
in the world, the Imamate on earth is postulated by the state of the Word moslimîn and mu'minîn. This reading is not possible
become Book. Imam and Book form a couple. In terms than to the prophets and the Imams [...]. May the little understanding that
shî'ites it is frequently repeated: "The Qurân is the mute Imâm." there is in you, therefore, not mislead you to the point that you
The Imam is the speaking Qur'an. At the end of his descent, pretend to the knowledge of the Qurân. That's why don't rebel
the Word has become Book: it is made up of a text, of words, of
narratives, of "stories" or hikayat, an Arabic term which, so 172. On the link between the hikayat as "mystical recital" and the hiero
happy, as we have pointed out, makes it clear that any history, cf. supra, n. 132.
earthly "history" with visible facts, far from having its meaning in 173. Ibid., p. 3-4. We have alluded to above (p. 102, n. 73, and p. 203,
not. 162) to these higher angelic hierarchies: al-Mala'ika al-moqarrabûn,
itself, is only the imitation, the correspondence of events accomplished
al-Karûbîyûn, al-A'lûn, who did not have to bow to Adam,
or accomplishing themselves in superior universes. since they were the same lights shining in this one. Iblis (Satan) was not
which themselves give it its meaning. This is the very concept of not their number, hence the question posed to him after his refusal:
Are you mad with pride or would you be one of the Sublimes? (38:76).
not against someone who affirms something and proves it by the to their being as well as to the level of the body in relation to the spirit.
Qurân in a way different from what you had understood, as long as So if we ourselves have, of course, a discourse which is Intelligence,
you do not see anything in it that excludes or contradicts the hadîth a discourse which is Spirit, a discourse which is Soul, a discourse
and the agreement of the true School (imamism) [...]. which is Image, a discourse which is body, we can sense its proportion
When you have understood that the true meaning, the spiritual Idea in relation to their discourse, to them, at each of the levels or each of
(haqîqat) of the Qurân is a figure (a "ciphered writing", ramz) that only the “abodes” of their Manifestation or epiphanic descent from world to
God Most High, the Prophet and the members of his House (the twelve world.
Imâms) understand ), and that it is these members of the House who
instruct the one who takes up residence in their House, well! know that Moreover, this is only the application to ourselves of this law of the
when we hear from the Prophet the Qurân in multiple worlds, and manifestation of being which, as we have seen, from world to world,
finally understand, to the extent of our understanding, what has filtered converts what is exoteric to a degree higher manifestation in esoterics
into this world, and how these multiple universes are differentiated of the degree of lower manifestation, as by an accumulation of veils, or
between them by their degree of subtlety or opacity, of elevation or as by an aggravation of the passivity of the being with regard to its own
density, of immateriality or materiality, then there is reason to admit imperative, the latter leading it to be the being in this world, — bringing
that their understanding varies with the diversity of our faculties of the Word into a Book. The levels of the neutic herme of the revealed
understanding From the last level of the manifestation of being where Book correspond to the levels of this manifestation or revelation of
174
the epiphany of the Qurân is accomplished in the form of the Book, it ».
being (cosmic Qurân) since the original Imperative. Thus, just as the
will be said that what we earthlings understand of the Qurân, after its
double hadith of the Sixth Imam, stated at the beginning of this chapter,
descent into the world of bodies (symbolized by the light red), when
previously found its explanation in the order of the descent of the
we perceive only the ultimate "bark", it is the exo teric (zâhir). What we
primordial Mohammadian Reality, it is also explained in the hierarchy
understand of it in the mundus imaginalis, the world of the “emerald
of the worlds to which the levels of the hermeneutics of the Qurân, in
cities” (Jâbalqâ, Jâbarsâ, Hûrqalyâ) or world of the Images of malakut,
the order of the ascent symmetrically inverse to the order of the
is called the esoteric (batin). What we understand of it in the malakut
or world of Souls (symbolized by the green light), is called the esoteric descent. In the order of descent, the esoteric is successively the "secret
of the esoteric (batin al-batin), or the interior of the interior. What we remaining shrouded in secrecy", in relation to what is manifested in the
understand of it at the level of the world of the Spirits (symbolized by world of pure Enlightenment; then, "secret above a secret", or secret of
the yellow light), is the esoteric of the esoteric of the esoteric (batin the primordial Theophany as Mohammadian Reality enveloping the
batin al-batin). What we understand of it at the level of the world of secret of the Unrevealed, in relation to what is manifested in the world
pure Enlightenment (symbolized by white light) is an esoteric to the of the Spirits; secret veiled under the exoteric of manifestation in the
fourth power. Divine leniency lowers as it elevates in knowledge. As mundus imaginalis, "secret that only a secret can teach", for the world
this inspired hadîth (hadîth qodsî) says: “There is no limit or end to my of Souls; secret hidden under the exoteric of sensible appearances, for
love. But of course, specifies our author, all that we can understand is the human being dwelling in the terrestrial world. This is the hierarchy
still only the exoteric and the "bark" in relation to the first Hypostases of the four maqâmât, described above. The science of the Qurân, as
which are our causes. In other words: all the esoteric that we grasp is gnosis of the secret of Tawhîd in the manifestations of the Fourteen
only exoteric in relation to what the Fourteen Immaculates are and Immaculate, is therefore a formidable test. From where, the Imams
understand, since already our intelligence, the most subtle part of our repeated in turn: “Our cause is difficult, it requires much pain; only the
being, is in relation Close Angel, the prophet sent (the Nabî morsal) and the believer whose
heart God has tested for faith can assume it. »
174. Ibid., p. 3.

Esotericism and hermeneutics
the Mofassirîn as such are ready to admit that there is, besides their own, another way
3. - The esoteric hermeneutics of the Qurân of looking at things. It would be useless to reopen the debate here.
We cannot enter here into the detail of the techniques implemented by and for this The word ta'wîl, as we have already recalled, means exactly "to bring back or lead a
transcendent hermeneutics (the word hermeneutics, let us remember again, designates thing back to its origin", to its archetype (asl), to lead back, for example, each hikayat,
the modality of Understanding, the modus inteïïigendi according to each mode of being, each "story", to the metahistorical event of which it is the imitation and which it typifies,
modus essendi , and therefore, the way of "making people understand", the interpretation; "historicizes". It can be applied in general to all the forms or degrees of esoteric
the word exegesis designates more specifically the technical detail of the explanations, hermeneutics, that is to say to all the degrees of the building whose scale has been
the implementation of the hermeneutics). The treatises methodically exposing the indicated above. The implementation can present many differences, since it postulates
question are very complex, offer several systems of gradation which overlap, and which the metaphysics of being and beings involved in the very way in which one understands
one day will have to be compared with the processes implemented in the Jewish what "revelation" means. There is quite a distance, for example, between the way in
Kabbalah and with those of the Christian esotericists. , to the couple zâhir (exoteric) which Averroës practices ta'wîl, and the way in which the Isma'ilis, the Twelver Shî'ites,
and batin (esoteric) corresponds the couple tafsîr and ta'wîl. The tafsîr is the exegesis the Ishraqiyûn, the Sufis like Rûzbehân, etc. practice it. So many variants which do not
of the Qurân such as the text presents itself in its literal evidence. We pursue this imply any contradiction; the hermeneutical levels are not in a relationship of dialectical
175
exegesis by observing all the rules of Arabic grammar, by taking the words in the sense
.
antithesis between them . , of the Tafsîr of Mullâ Sadrâ Shîrâzî, whereas this monumental
recorded in the dictionaries, even if it means admitting, when necessary, the need to Tafsîr is in fact a Ta'wîl). Conversely, as Sayyed Kâzem points out, it happens that the
understand them in the figurative sense. Historical, legal, linguistic and poetic references word ta'wîl is taken in a more restricted sense than the general meaning indicated
are multiplied, making it possible to elucidate the difficulties of the literal text. Thus above. It then applies to something intermediate between the zâhir and the maqâmât of
monuments of tafsîr were built, in classical Arabic and in Persian, works of the Mofassirîn the batin that we have previously described. In this case, ta'wîl designates more
176
(commentators, authors of tafsîr). The esotericists have never denied nor rejected the particularly a hermeneutics of the Qur'anic text brought back either, on the one hand, to
.
value of the work of the Mofassirîn on the level where the latter are placed, that is to say the microcosm (it is the interiorization of the Qur'anic data, their connection with the
on the level that the perception of literal evidence presupposes. Unfortunately, we inner man, cf. example below the ta'wîl of Semnânî), or, on the other hand, to the
cannot say that the converse is true, and that all alchemical operation with all its spiritual implications, that is to say to what is designated
as al-insân al-awsat, the intermediate man (between the natural man and the Perfect
Man), or as al-mawlûd al-falsafî, what the Latin alchemists designated as Filius
philosophorum. In this case,
175. Unfortunately, we must limit ourselves here to a very small number

of references. The overall systematic study of the spiritual hermeneutics of
the Qurân is yet to come. It would have to synthesize the principles stated
and applied by a Haydar Amoli, a Semnânî etc. Molla
Sadra commented on the "Throne verse" not only in his commentary
of the Kâfî of Kolaynî, but in a special work, published in his Tafsîr, which,
while bearing only on a few suras, comprises no less than 617 in-fol pages.
(Shiraz 1286/1869). It will be appropriate to start from the hermeneutical
rules set out by the Imams themselves. Rûzbehân Baqlî recalls them at the
beginning of his own mystical Tafsîr ('Ara'yis al-Bayân fî haqâ'iq al-Qorân,
Bombay 1301). We referred above (p. 201, n. 160) to the work of Sayyed 176. For more details, cf. what we have had the opportunity to expose in
Kâzem Reshtî, the first pages of which deal with spiritual hermeneutics in the course of previous research: Avicenna and the Visionary Narrative (Bibl.
general. By the same author, let us mention an important “Epistle on the Iranienne, vol. 4); Preliminary study for the Book of the two Wisdoms of
levels of the exoteric, the esoteric and the symbolic neutic herme” (Risâla fî Nâsir-e Khosraw (ibid., vol. 3); Ismaili Trilogy (ibid., vol. 10); the study cited
maqâmât al-zâhir wa'l-bâtin wa'l-ta'wîl) in Majmû'a of 34 treatises, lithogr. above n. 4, first comparative sketch, where are studied the hermeneutic
Tabriz 1276/1859-1860, pp. 366-368. principles implemented on the one hand by Swedenborg (Arcana caelestia),
on the other hand by Qâzî No'mân (Asâs al-ta'wîl).
the ta'wîl is more particularly the valorization of the Koranic data at the level of the Quranic verse the hadiths in which the Imams commented on these verses or referred
terrestrial man and his interior transmutations. Penetration into the superior degrees to them. 180 have been published. Other monuments are unfinished or still unpublished
corresponding to the suprasensible worlds (the maqâmât described above, the modes 181. The shay khie school gave, for several suras, commentaries which are a model
of existence of the Fourteen Immaculate or of the Mohammadian Reality at the of the genre 182. The Ismailis generally preferred to spread their ta 'wîl in their great
different levels of the manifestation of being) — this penetration then forms a tafhîm systematic treatises All of this could not be studied by neglecting the commentaries183
batini or higher esoteric interpretation One wonders whether this hermeneutic has in produced by the theosophists of Sufism: those of a Rûzbehân (incorporating earlier .
fact been systematically realized for the entirety of the Qurân. As far
177
as we know, it Sufi tafsîr ), of an Ibn 'Arabî, of a Semnânî, because overlaps are frequent.
has not been completely, but it has been undertaken many times and partially carried
.
out. Moreover, the integral task would exceed the forces of a human life and the
limits of its duration; it would require a whole team or several lives of scholars, and the
result of the work would occupy several shelves of a library . stated the rules of the It is in all these books that we see opening up the spaces and perspectives of the
plurality of meanings of the Qurân. There is no reason to be surprised if, during the spiritual hermeneutics mentioned above (chap. IV).
first centuries of the Hegira, the Twelver Shiites, more or less forced into hiding, had
enough to do to safeguard everything possible. to collect from the corpus of the The reading of the Qurân, accompanied by the texts which transmit the
teaching of the Imams 179. The systematizations could only come afterwards. We teaching of the Imams to their relatives and close disciples, constitutes par
have, for example, today voluminous Tafsîr (in fact Ta'wîl) grouped around each excellence the exercise of meditation for 180. We have referred here many
times already to the Tafsîr Mir'at al Anwâr and Tafsîr al Borhân (common
designation but more exactly said: Kitâb al-Borhân fî tafsîr al-Qorân) (supra
p. 27, n. 4). We must also name the Tafsîr-e Sharîf-e Lâkîjî, the work of
Qotboddîn Ashkevârî (student of Mîr Dâmâd, ob. 1630), published in four
large volumes by Moh. Ibrâhîm Ayetî and Jalâloddîn Mohaddeth, Teheran
1381. And there are still others.
But these Tafsîr are far from collecting, for each verse, all the traditions of
the Imams.
181. For a seeker can only die in pain if he undertakes the task alone.
We have mentioned above p. 27, no. 4, the great Tafsîr of Hosayn Yazdî,
collecting all the hadîth of the Imams, verse by verse, but whose eight folio
177. Let us now also point out the very interesting and original volumes do not go beyond the end of the 2nd sura; the manuscript is kept
hermeneutical doctrine of a Shiite theosophist of the last century, Sayyed in Kerman, in the library of Shaykh Abû'l-Qâsim Ebrahîmi (Sarkâr Âghâ).
Ja'far Kashfî (ob. 1267/1850-1851), distinguishing three degrees or levels: Unpublished also the great Tafsîr of Semnânî, of Sayyed Ahmad 'Alawî,
tafsîr, ta' wîl, tafhîm, to which he respectively homologates the three pupil and son-in-law of Mîr Dâmâd (Latâ'if-e ghaybî). We will have occasion
philosophical schools: peripatetics, stoics, ishrâqîyûn or platonists. We will to recall later how, thanks to Mr. Osman Yahia, the autograph of the seven
come back to this later; see t. III, book IV, chap. I, n. 49. large volumes of the Sufi shî'ite Tafsîr (also unpublished) by Sayyed Haydar
178 Cf. the epistle to which we referred supra p. 212, no. 175 fine. Âmolî was recently found (infra t. III, liv. IV, chapter I).
The author briefly explains there what are the zâhir (the exoteric), the zâhir
al-zâhir (exoteric of the exoteric), the batin (esoteric), batin al-batin (esoteric 182. The ideal complete work would be the Tafsîr giving for each verse
of the esoteric). The ta'wil implements the hadith of Imam Ja'far (supra p. of each sura the zâhir, the batin etc. (Semnânî had seen the task very well
188, n. 151); he perceives the meanings at the levels of the microcosm, of and set the example). Very valuable from this point of view is the collection
the mesocosm (alchemy), of the macrocosm. In general, it implements the comprising the Tafsîr of several suras by the shaykhs of the shaykh school,
famous hadith of the Prophet affirming the seven esoteric depths of the published in Kermân 1379-1381 (500 + 307 pages). The following suras
Qur'anic text (see below t. III, book IV, chap. II): hence seven zâhir, seven are commented on (for each the zâhir, the ta'wîl, the batin): al-tawîi (112)
zâhir al- zâhir, seven batin, seven batin al-batin (7 X 4 = 28, which by Shaykh Ahmad Ahsâ'î; al-Hojorat (49) by Moh. Karim Khan Kermani;
corresponds to the double aspect of the Fourteen Immaculate). Semnânî al-'Ankabût (29), Fajr (89), Kawthar (108), by Moh. Khan Kermani; al-
had calculated the overwhelming number of volumes that would have to be Jomo'ah (62), al-Monâfiqûn (63), by Zaynol-'Âbidin Khân Kermânî.
written to comment on the whole Qurân in the same way that he had done 183. Let us note, however, the great work of Qâzî No'mân, Asâs al-ta'wîl
starting only at sura 53 (the Star), where he took over from Najm Dâyeh (the foundation of ta'wîl), each chapter of which methodically groups the
Râzî ( see below t. III, book IV, chap. IV). Qur'anic verses relating to one of the prophets (a part of which is studied in
179. Cf. our History of Islamic Philosophy I, pp. 53 ss. Ibid., pp. 19-20, our Comparative Spiritual Hermeneutics, supra n. 4), and Ismaili tischer
the hermeneutical principles enunciated by the 1st Imam and the 6th Imam Korân-Kommentar (Mizaj al-tasnîm) hrsgb. v. R. Strothmann, Lief.
are the very ones to which Rûzbehân refers at the beginning of his Tafsîr I-4, Göttingen 1944-1955, from sura al-Tawba (9) to sura al-Ankabût (29).
(supra n. 175).
216 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism esotericism and hermeneutics 217
Shiite spirituals. All this leads to the conclusion that it is impossible question are later; these are those of the unitive fusion
it is up to a Westerner to get an idea of what a spiritual and seeing things through the secret of the heart (transconsciousness).
Islam reads in the Qurân, if it only has literal grammatical translations, Where are the Pleiades, for a human hand
established in our languages. impossible to can reach them? If we ever set out to explain
understand the injunction of a Kâzem Reshtî that we read above (p. these degrees by using the language of the people who remain
209) and which echoes so many others, because we have not attached to the sole evidence of the material universes, we never
never been able to read the Qurân in the West as the hokamâ read it would not join these problems. For this is the secret that can
and the 'orafa. A translation which wanted to give the idea of it would alone to teach the secret (these are the very words of the hadith quoted
require a lot of work and would take a considerable extension. above, p. 189)185 ”.
Insofar as one persists in confusing symbol and allegory, by
I will be told that the time would rather have come to implement estimating that it is a question here of things which would otherwise be
some positive historical criticism. It's a way known, one will miss the point. The symbol
to consider things and we have dealt with it here previously. of the four lights of the Throne is not an allegory but a
But here, what interests us is the irrefutable spiritual fact :
ramz, a "cipher" that we have never finished deciphering, a
how the Holy Book was read and practiced by the elite
"cipher" by which is indicated and simultaneously veiled a
of the spirituals of Islam, for nearly fourteen centuries. And
truth which, at the level of human intelligence, cannot be
if it is true that a spiritual fact cannot disarm criticism
transmitted than "encrypted". Will refuse it those for whom the universes
positive history, on the other hand no historical criticism
spiritual are only abstractions; but it is reserved for
can invalidate a spiritual fact. And if a hadith is read by the
only prophets to restore sight to blind hearts. Certainly he
Shiite believers as coming from an Imam, to understand this
is normal for exegetical works to be fascinated by our
hadîth is to understand "how" indeed it comes from the Imam,
and this is the understanding to which religious phenomenology is days by sensational archaeological discoveries, unheard of even a
attached, because it is the only way to meet generation ago. But there is no incompatibility between the discoveries
spiritual fact. If historical criticism begins by denying, of archaeologists and hermeneutics.
in the name of her own arguments, that the text may come from esotericists, any more than the former make superfluous
the Imam, it has the right to do so by virtue of its premises. But he needs the second. It's because the questions posed by both
to renounce ever encountering the spiritual fact, since it begins by others, or which are posed to one and the other, respectively differ
destroying the intentionality that constitutes it. But it is completely, because they are not posed to the
the spiritual fact that we seek to attain in the Shiite neutical herme of same level of understanding. Their respective maqam differs.
the Qurân. The conclusive “document” for positive historical science,
We would therefore be mistaken if we decided a priori that the bet can be for the faith of the esotericist only a new "cipher"
The implementation of esoteric ta'wîl is only an artificial technique or yet to decipher. Because what science ultimately seeks
fanciful inspiration. Literalism is not spiritual by the hermeneutics of the esoteric, it is something
the only one to demand rigor, and rigor does not exclude inspiration: something that does not bring it closer even to the return of the most
inspired rigor, rigorous inspiration. As written fabulous chronologies, handled with ease by prehistory.
again Sayed Kâzem Reshtî: "The explanation of these levels and and paleontology. It is that the events of archehistory
degrees of understanding (maqâmât) is something that are not yet, for all that, metahistory; the events
God only allows on the condition that it be kept secret of metahistory are not expressed in the past tense of our
in hearts and enveloped in the veils of mysteries, because verbs, and they are accomplished in universes which cannot be
that creatures must pass first through the second ascent, then through sensed only by the "secret of the heart": to the depths
the degree of coagulation .
through decay and death to rise in the garden of truth
184. Allusion to the phases of the alchemical operation (solve and coagula) gnostic. See our History of Islamic Philosophy I, pp. 115-116. see
symbolizing with the transmutation of the spiritual man. It is worth mentioning here Commentary on the Ismaili Qasîda of Abû'l-Haytham Jorjânî (Iranian Bibl.,
the " hadîth of the tomb", the latter typifying philosophy as the tomb where flight. 6), Tehran-Paris 1955; the Arabic text of the " hadîth of the grave" with
the exoteric aspect of positive religion and its dogmas must pass Persian commentary, p. 79; trans. French, ibid., p. 48 of the introduction. 185.
Cf. the epistle cited above n. 175 in fine and n. 178.
horizon where the secret of tawhîd announces itself as the very secret of being
born eternally from its own Imperative, the Esto (KN) which makes being
manifest in the First Being, the Light of Lights in the forms flamboyant paintings
of the Fourteen Immaculate.
The human intellect reaches only this Manifestation where already being has
been made to be who is. For the divine solitude which "imperative" being,
remains transcendent to the being that it causes to be, and inaccessible CHAPTER VI
elsewhere than in this manifestation which is its very Imperative, where being
is to itself its own patient ( Amr maf'ûlî). This is the very secret of the Imam Prophetology and Imamology
stated in the double hadith quoted at the beginning of this chapter (p. 188).
The Twelve Imams, in the unity of their essence as "place of the prophetic
message", are, in this pleromatic reality, the "place" where the active Imperative
and the activated Imperative, the transcendent Esto (KN) and being ( wojûd)
immanent in being (mawjûd). This is what Shî'ite spirituality professes by
professing that, if there were not the Imam, man could not perform tawhîd; his I. - Necessity of the prophets and necessity of the Imams
tawhîd would be lost in abstraction (ta'tîl), or would sink into the intoxication of
Perhaps we are now in a better position to penetrate into the detail of the
assimilation (tashbîh), perhaps to the point of "speaking God" in the first person:
Shi'ite doctrine of the Prophet and the Imam, and to complete the summary
Anâ'l Haqq (I am God)! The Imam is both the horizon-limit of the primordial
indications gathered previously (chap. II). Now that things have been considered
theophany and the form of the personal theophany, interior companion, invisible
in their total and real dimension, namely according to the polar dimension
personal guide. We will try later (Chap. VII) to better explain the
which shows us their constant origin at the summit of the world of jabarut, in
the order of an eternal simultaneity, it is now appropriate to to consider them in
the order of succession which manifests them to the terrestrial world (or, to
meaning.
speak with Qâzî
The manifestation of the primordial Mohammadian Reality, punctuated from
Sa'îd Qommî, passing from the order of "subtle time" to the order of "opaque
maqâm to maqâm both as a “descent” from the “Book of being” and from the
time").
“revealed holy Book”, leads the Logos, the Word, to the state of a Book. When
We had seen previously, in broad strokes, that Shiite imamology answers
this “descent” touches the world of the terrestrial man, it is the point where,
the question of knowing what is the scope and what are the consequences of
with Adam, the cycle of prophecy is inaugurated in our world. This cycle lasts
the affirmation stating that henceforth there will be no more prophets. The
until the moment when the one who is the "Seal of Prophecy" appears. The
response of Shi'ism can only be explained on the condition of deepening, with
closing of the cycle of prophecy is eo ipso the inauguration of the cycle of the
it, the very notion of prophecy and prophetic mission, and thus learning what
walayat, which will last until the parousia of the Imam presently hidden. The
are the spiritual state and the mode of knowledge that define a prophet. There
brief indications collected here, concerning the metaphysics of being that Shiite
are many variants, and these variants correspond to as many categories of
theosophy expresses in the Mohammadian Reality, pleroma of the Fourteen
prophets.
Immaculate, thus form a necessary prelude to the understanding of the
prophetology and the imamology of the Shi'i. ism.
Now, this very diversification will reveal to us an aspect of prophecy and of the
prophetic mission more general than that of "legislative prophecy" - an aspect
of prophecy such that the prophet, the nabi, is not necessarily, at the technical
sense of the word, a “Sent” (a nabî morsal, and in the most eminent case a
rasûl).
At the source of the prophetic vocation, of the nobowwat, the Shiite doctrine
places the walayat (in Persian dusti). The term we
220 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Prophetology and Imamology 221
is already familiar with the above. We know that it specifically designates this For the Shi'ite vision of things, the religious history of humanity does not
dilection or divine friendship which is attached, like a pre-eternal charism, to end with the closing of the cycle of prophecy; the very structure of our Aion,
the person of the Twelve Imams, and sanctifies them as the "Friends of God" punctuated by the phases of the cycle of prophecy which is succeeded by
or the "Beloved of God" (Awliya Allah). . Now, the walayat reveals itself not the cycle of walayat, postulates that there is still an event to be awaited—an
only as being the source of the prophetic mission, but as characterizing the event which concerns hierohistory.
spiritual state of a more general prophetic vocation than that which is
technically designated as “legislative prophecy”. This adds to the prophetic The idea of the Imam, as the spiritual heir of the Prophet, therefore calls
vocation as such a specific charism, that of the Messenger of God, for an exploitation of the notion of prophecy. This explanation, we find it in the
commissioned to reveal a Book, a new Law (sharî-'at). This legislative first place in the corpus of the traditions (hadîth and akhbâr) of the Imams,
mission is only temporary, while the walâyat which conditions the state of the those, among others, which are collected in the great Summa compiled by a
prophets in general, is eternal. However, any confusion of terms should be courageous Iranian Shiite theologian of the 4th / 10th century, Mohammad
and
avoided. Once the legislator prophet who was the "Seal of the prophets" ibn Ya'qûb Kolaynî (ob. 329/940), who still had time to know the last
appeared, because there will be no more new sharî'at , it is impossible to representatives (nâ'ib) of the hidden Imâm (the date of his death roughly
speak of "prophets", even non-legislators. This is why, whereas prior to Islam, coincides with that on which the "Great Occultation" of the Imam) 186. Note
we were content with the term prophecy as such (nobowwat) to designate however with care that, if the great work of Kolaynî forms the oldest Summa
the non-legislative prophets (the nabis) without the need for a term like encompassing all the loci theologici of Shi'ism, it had been preceded by
walayat, after the last Prophet we can only use the term walayât. But the numerous partial collections, compiled first hand by the intimate disciples of
term designates a charism that exists from the beginning of the “cycle of each of the Imams in turn. A few survived; many alas! are no longer known
prophecy”. After the closure of this one, and because there will be no more titles to us. moreover 187, the manuscripts having disappeared during the
prophets, the walâyat then appears as the spiritual heritage bequeathed to vicissitudes of the Shiite community, more or less forced into hiding until the
men by the cycle of prophecy now closed. end of the reign of the Abbasids (1258).
It is not these vicissitudes that we have to retrace here, any more than the
political agitation of which the Shiite idea may be the pretext. The teaching of
Two questions therefore arise: what does this heritage of the prophets the Imams, in thousands of pages, is always a religious teaching: exegetical,
consist of? And who are the heirs of the prophets? These questions are moral,
answered by the very teaching of the Imams of Shi'ism, for it is from the very
notion of an eternal prophecy that that of the spiritual heir, on this Earth, of 186. We have already referred frequently here to the great work of Kolaynî
(supra p. 29, n. 15, and p. 57, n. 31), the Kâfî, which arranges the teaching
prophecy emerges, it is that is, the very notion of the Imam. If we do not put of the Imams in a systematic order. Moh. ibn Ya'qub b. Ishaq Kolaynî Râzî,
things back under the horizon opened up to us by the previous chapter, this belonged to a notable family of Ray (ancient Raghes, to a dozen kilometers
answer can only have an unusual, untimely character, for the current opinion, in the south of Teheran), where he became the shaykh and Pîshvâ (spiritual
Guide) of the shî'ites. Renouncing this distinguished position and the facilities
in Islam and elsewhere, which considers things in a different way and on a
which Shi'ism could benefit from in Ray, he came to settle in Baghdad (around
completely different plane. 309-921), seat of the Abbasid caliphate, an unfavorable stay for the Shi'ites.
If he had the courage, it was because he was driven to it by his great project:
The fact remains that this answer was formulated, from the origins of Islam, to build, by coming as close as possible to the sources, this vast corpus of
traditions which, for centuries, was to be the firm support of his co-religionists.
by those very people whose genealogy terres tre ("reproducing" an eternal He had time to know at least the last nâ'ib or representative of the 12th Imâm,
relationship in the Pleroma) went back to the Prophet by She who is called namely 'Alî al-Samarri, whose date of death in 329/940 coincided, within a
the “confluence of the two lights” (Fâtima, majma' al-nûrayn): light of prophecy few months, with that of Kolaynî in Baghdad. , and marked eo ipso the
and light of walayat. Finally, in the acceptance or in the refusal of their beginning of the “Great Occultation” (al-ghaybat al-kobrâ, cf. book VII below).
187. This can be seen by leafing through the most recent bibliographical
teaching, the spiritual fate of Islam as a prophetic religion has been played directory of Shiite works: Shaykh Aghâ Bozorg Tehrânî, Dharî'at ilâ tasânîf al-
out and continues to be played out. shî'a, published in Tehran and Najaf, 18 vol. published until today (1968)
including the titles of works until the end of the letter lâm.
222 Prophetology and Imamology 223

liturgical, theological, theosophical. It is never a “political program”. Shi'ite in their works, the historicity of the Shiite religious thing, of imamism, is
religious thought was preserved and elaborated not by politicians or agitators, effectively accomplished. Doubtless, is it not this existential historicity that
but by the handful of "tried-hearted believers" who successively surrounded positive historical criticism grasps, when all its concern is to demonstrate that
each of the Imams, even in the most difficult circumstances. such and such a word could not have been pronounced by such and such an
Imam? It is entitled to begin with destroy the object it does not believe in; but
188
.
then, since it does not exist, it finds itself faced with a nothingness of which
The philosophical and religious thought of Shi'ism as well as its "history", there is nothing more to say. A science that begins by destroying its object
as we emphasized in the previous chapter, is not something that one can - if does not seem to us particularly a triumph. So we hope to have made it
one wants to understand it and consequently live it — to consider from the understood, in the course of this book, why and how our religious
outside and "explain" by external circumstances. phenomenology aims to reach the reality of the religious fact as such, by fully
maintaining the religious object such as the reality presents itself to faith .
What the Imams have considered is that this story is a spiritual story which is nun who perceives this object. And we know that no positive historical
fulfilled in the souls of the followers, it is made of the testimonies of their criticism can prevent the fact that for the Shiite faith, for thirteen centuries, it
followers, and they are the source of information for their followers. ; this is is indeed this or that Imam who pronounces such a hadith, because the
why this “history” does not “evolve” in the sense that we currently give to this content of this hadith is such that it is good the Imam who utters it.
word. Also we cannot isolate their teaching from the comments of those who
lived through them, meditated on them and amplified them, because they
"believed in them": their works are the testimony of their faith, and their faith
enabled them to perceive all of them. contents. Once again we find ourselves We should therefore not be surprised if, previously and in what will follow,
faced with the postulate that we had to affirm in the course of this book, The we prefer to keep company with the masters who were in the “historicity” of
"historicity" of the things of faith consists in the very reality of this faith the Shiite faith. Haydar Âmolî, Mollâ Sadrâ Shîrâzî, Qâzî Sa'îd Qommî, many
grasping its object, in the heart of each believers, It is not a neutral material other "supports" of Shi'ite spirituality have already been mentioned here.
framework, which can be cut at will according to the slices of a chronology
Sadrâ Shîrâzî has left us a monumental commentary on the corpus
measuring uniform moments. established by Kolaynî 189. For the reality of things of faith, the chronological
distance is not taken into account; intentional proximity is everything and it is
“synchronism”. It is in this proximity that we have already witnessed a
philosophical meditation which is never isolated from spiritual realization—
This is why we cannot find a better guide or better "place" to understand and which attests to us that it was no coincidence that it was in a shî'
the thought of the holy Imams, than the masters who have commented on environment. ite that the traditional philosophy of Islam has been perpetuated
this teaching, as they received it as coming to them from the Imams, and not to the present day.
being able, because of its content, to hear it other than as coming from the
Imams. In their faith, in their thought and
To meditate therefore in the company of the masters of Shiite thought on
that of the loci theologici which, in the great collections of traditions, is
188. Particularly difficult circumstances for the 9th and Car
11th Imams,
, , devoted to prophetology and the Imam, we
the latter two, Imam 'Ali-Naqi and Imam Hasan 'Askari, being held more
or less prisoners by the Abbasid police in the camp of Samarra (some
hundred kilometers north of Baghdad). But it is important to remember 189. Let us also recall that Kolaynî's great work (supra notes 15 and
that, if the figures of the V and VI Imams, Mohammad Bâqir and Ja'far 186) comprises two major divisions: the Sources (osûl) in seven books,
Sâdiq, seem to dominate the others as regards the importance and scope and the Derivations (forû') in nineteen books. Two editions were given
of their teaching, it is not that they were "bigger" than the others. The recently in Teheran: one, bearing the only Arabic text (1955 ss.); the other,
twelve Imams are of the same essence and are equal to each other. But with Persian translation (1961 ss.). A third edition (1963 ss.) includes the
the decline and fall of the Omayyads, then the advent of the Abbasids commentary on the Osûl by Sâlih Mazandarânî (ob. between 1081/1670
(751), momentarily and temporarily made the situation less difficult for the and 1086/1676). As for the great commentary of Mullâ Sadrâ Shîrâzî,
5th and 6th Imam. Hence the large number of pupils that Imam Ja'far Shark Osûl al Kâfî, lith. Teheran (folio, 491 p., sd), it stops abruptly at the
could have had. Let us refer to the interviews such as Ibn Bâbûyeh twelfth bâb of the Kitâb al-Hojjât (Book of the Imâmat), death not having
preserved for us the “protocol” in his 'Oyûn akhbâr al-Imâm al-Rezâ, to judge the situation. left the author time to finish. We henceforth refer to the work of Kolaynî by
the simple word Osûl, and to the commentary of Sadrâ Shîrâzî by the word Sharh.
let us note that prophetology is, certainly, the place par sophes, the fourth of the degrees of the intellect, namely the
excellence where the Islamic conscience affirms its feeling of intellect in action, exists only in a small number of individuals,
the need for a guide who puts man on the "straight path" (sirat likewise, in the terminology of the Imams, of the five degrees of
mosta qîm) of his "return", that is that is, on the path of fidelity the Spirit (the Rûh ) that which is called the Holy Spirit (Rûh al-
to the pre-eternal pact concluded, even before his birth in this Quds) is only conferred on the prophets.
world, between God and him (cf. supra chap. II). As for the very Only, with Imam Ja'far, this human impotence is more clearly
concept of prophetology and as for the definition of the charism motivated than with the philosophers, a parte Dei.
of the prophets, we cannot go back historically any further than The transcendent divinity is inaccessible and invisible; no one
the teaching of the Imams of Shi'ism. It is through them and has ever seen God nor will ever see him (Shi'ism is on this point
with them that the question arose, and from their teaching in opposition to certain schools of Islam: with the Karra miyens
proceeds Islamic prophetology as such. A remarkable who admit a possibility of seeing God in this world and in the
convergence is to be noted between their arguments in favor next , therefore in dimension and space; with the Ash'arites who
of the necessity of the prophets, and the considerations that admit the possibility of it in the other world, but without face to
we can read later in the philosophers: al-Fârâbî, Avicenna, face, neither dimension nor space). Concluding a long context
Sohrawardî. This necessity is considered from a double point in which he exposed this impossibility of seeing and "touching"
of view: from man and from God. God, the Imam expresses himself thus: "So it is established
For the Avicennian philosophers, the 'aql, the intellect, the that among men there must be those who prescribe and who
Nous, remains in most men in a state of virtuality; integral defend name of the Wise and the Knowing, and who are their
human reality is actualized only in a small number of beings interpreters. These are precisely the ones who are called the
190. Their pessimism excludes the idea of a state of innocence prophets (anbiyâ'). They are the elite among his creatures;
in which, by the sole virtue of their natural impulses, men could these 194 are Sages (Hokamâ') educated by Wisdom (Hikmat)
have formed a society 191 The “ natural law” would be what and commissioned by her. They have in common with men the
we call the “law of the jungle”. For Avicenna as for Bîrûnî , it is creaturely condition and the physical organism. But, apart from
necessary that a law and a justice be established by a divine that, they do not participate in the ways of being and the
envoy, a prophet . the Sixth Imam, Ja'far Sadiq (ob. 148/765) behaviors of the rest of men, because they are, by the Wise
for example, in the great collection of Kolaynî 193. Left to and Knowing, assisted and inspired by Wisdom. Moreover, this
themselves, each to himself, men cannot get out of trouble; situation is constant in every age and in every era, thanks to
they must form associations, but this is only possible if one of the Signs and the proofs brought by the Messengers and the
them, superior to all, shows them what conditions the way of prophets. This, so that the Land of God may never be empty of
their security in this world and of their survival beyond this a Guarantor (Hojjat, a "proof") ,195 near whom there is a Sign
world. Just as for the philo ('alam, symbolon) which shows the veracity of his words and
the constancy of its fairness. »
This text of Imam Ja'far calls for a triple group of remarks:
1) There is the divine qualification conferred on the prophets
190. Cf. S. Pinès, Natural Law and Society: The Political-Theological Doctrine of as mediators. Molla Sadra, following a long tradition here,
Ibn Zur'a, Christian Philosopher of Baghdad (Scripta Hierosolymitana, vol. IX), shows that prophetic existence has two faces: one face turned
Jerusalem 1961, pp. 165 sec. towards transcendence (taqaddos) and divinity, the other
191. In Ismaili gnosis, the idea of the "cycle of epiphany" (dawr al kashf) does
not include an idea of primitivism either. In the “cycle of epiphany” which preceded
ours, it is a matter of a human condition far superior to that of our cycle of occultation 194. Let us note the use of these terms applied here to the prophets, whereas they
(dawr al-satr), which rightly postulates a sharî'at. See our Ismaili Trilogy, index sv commonly designate the philosophers and philosophy. That the Imam uses them in
dawr, cycle. prophetology therefore implies this prophetic philosophy which is hikmat ilahiya,
192. The idea of lumen naturale being thus set aside, it is all the more surprising theosophia. It then becomes possible for our authors to represent the Greek Sages
that certain Christian theologians classify on the side of "natural theology" or "natural as having drawn themselves from the Niche in the light of prophecy (Mishkât al-
mysticism" all that pertains to the thought and spirituality of Islam. nobowwat).
195. On the rather complex history of the term Hojjat in imamology, cf. our
193. Kolainî, Osul ; Kitâb al- Hojjat, Chapter I, Second Hadith, pp. 313-314. Ismaili Trilogy book , index sv

Have you seen him? —— the Ve Imam, Mohammad Bâqir (ob. 115/733), replies:
turned towards material reality (tajassom) and the human condition. This is what
"No, the eyes do not see it through the vision of the physical organ, but the F°urs
makes us say that the prophet is a man of divine condition or a divine lord of
see it through the realities (haqâ' iq) faith. It is not knowable by comparison (qiyas,
human condition (insân rabbanî aw rabb insânî). Both expressions are striking.
syllogism, analogy); it cannot be perceived by the senses.
They show how, from the outset, prophetology and imamology face the same
problem as that which, in Eastern Christology, decided between the Nestorians
Describable by the Signs (âyât), knowable by the symbols 'alâmât), without
and the Jacobites. In Islamic prophetology, it remains that the divine qualification
violence in his judgments, this is God, this God of whom we say: No God except
concerns only the eternal prophetic reality (the Haqîqat mohammadîya), not the 198
Him c) The VI Imam, ja'far Sâdiq, reports this response from the 1st»Imam, the
.
earthly humanity (basha rîyat) of the Prophet. This is attested in the Quranic
Emir of the Believers, to whom a certain man of science asked: “O Emir of the
verse: "I am a man like you, but a divine revelation has been given to me" (18: III).
Believers! Do you see your lord when you worship him? The Imam replies:
As for the divine reality, this other verse alludes to it: "It is not you who throw (the
“Beware! I wouldn't adore a God that I didn't see .” 199 The other replies: “How
arrow) when you throw it, it is God who throws it" (8: 17).
do you see him then? - Be careful ! says the Imam, the eyes do not see it through
physical vision, but the F°urs see it through the realities of faith The responses of
the Imams thus maintain the paradox: on the one hand, the refusal opposed to
Moses (“ You will not see me”, lan tarânî, 7: 139), on the other hand the prophetic
testimony (“I have seen my God under the most beautiful form”). One can even
2) The premises leading to the conclusion of the necessity of the prophets 200
say that the response
»
. of the Imams will lead their followers (cf. infra chap. VII) to
include, as we have just read, the thesis of the impossibility of a vision of God. On
specify a doctrine with which that of Ibn 'Arabî agrees, when it states that the
this point, the conversations of the holy Imams with their familiars are grouped
theophanic vision never occurs except under the form corresponding to the
under three themes: that divine vision is impossible; that God cannot be qualified
aptitude of the one to whom it shows itself (motajallâ laho) 201; the latter sees
by any other attributes than those which he gives himself; that God can only be
only his own form in the mirror of God (the Guide takes the form of the one he
known by himself. And yet ultimately a certain vision is possible, but then which
guides). Vision of the F°ur, science of the F°ur (ma'rifat qalbîya), the motif always
one? a) In a letter addressed to the XIth Imam, Hasan 'Askari (ob. 260/874), a
recurs among the Imams; it is therefore neither unique to Sufism as such, nor the
correspondent alluding to the famous tradition reported from the Prophet (the
invention of al-Ghazali (ob. 505/1111). It is important to remember this when we
hadîth al-rûya : "I saw my God under the most beautiful forms ”)196, asks this
wonder about the relationship between Shi'ism and Sufism, between imamology
question: “How can man worship a God whom he does not see? »
and mystical experience.
And the Imam replies : "In truth, God, blessed and exalted be he, has made
visible in the heart of his Messenger what, from the light of his sublimity, was the
object of his love. " this response of the Imam we are already advancing on the
mystical path. It tells us the reason for the inner vision, vision of the F°ur. It is 202
.
love that makes us see (which is the guided one), and what it makes us see is its
To give an example of the fecundity of this theme among the
own object. Vision is in proportion to love.
Molla Sadra emphasizes this: most men only see with the senses; with them the
198. Ibid., Bâb IX, 5e hadîth, p. 177; Sharh, pp. 259 ff.
'aql, the intellect, is only ever potentially; the intellectus sanctus ('aql qodsî), 199. On this theme serving as a guide to theophanic perception, cf. our study
which is the spiritual Heart, is disengaged from sensible time and space. Divine Epiphany and Spiritual Birth in Ismaili Gnosis (Éranos Jahrbuch XXXIII), 1955,
pp. 213, 225, 233, 241; compare Trilogie Ismailienne, 3 partie, pp. (40) seq.
and
b) To the question posed by a foreigner (a Khârijite) asking him: "What do and
200. Kolayni, ibid., 6 hadîth, pp. 177 ss.

you adore?" Most High God? 201. Ibn 'Arabi, Fosus al-hikam, ed . 'Affif, I, p. 61; Kolayni, Osul: Tawhid, Bâb X,
3e hadîth, pp. 183-184; Mollâ Sadrâ, Sharh, pp. 265-266 (cf. encore infra n, 251).
196. On this hadith and its role in mystical meditation, cf. our book on The Sufism
of Ibn'Arabî (quoted supra n. 149), pp. 203 ss. 202. On this theme, cf. our Ismaili Trilogy, the whole third part.
197. Kolaini, Osul : Kitâb al-Tawhid, Chapter IX, First Hadîth, p. 168; Mullah See again below n. 212 and Chapter VII.
Sadrÿ, Commentary, p. 253.
Shiite philosophers, because it will be present throughout the organ of prophetic gnoseology. Because prophetic revelation
prophetology and imamology, I will insist on an admirable page by and mystical experience are in perfect homogeneity , 205 Mollâ
Molla Sadra, inviting us to weigh the use of the word vision in each Sadra summarizes the motif thus: "The source of all mystical
case. In the entourage of later Imams, the words of a young follower unveilings (mokâshafât) is the human heart by its very essence and
206
of the Sixth Imam, the famous Hisham ibn al-Hakam, were by its intellection of the light, bringing into play the spiritual
Becausesenses.
the
frequently reported. This remark, agreeing remarkably with the heart has eyes, hearing and all the other senses. Many things in
premises of Stoic physics, held that God must indeed be a body the classic hadith confirm this. It is these spiritual senses that are
(jism), otherwise he would be an act (fi'l, verb), that is to say, to say the source (asl) of the bodily senses. When, therefore, the veil is
an unreal "taking shape" only by the subject conjugating the verb lifted between them and outer reality, the source (the spiritual
203 . essences, but a metaphysics of existence, itself stoic in sense) unites with the derivation (the bodily sense), and it is through
affinity. Consequently, the acts of existing of the same essence the spiritual senses that that which is apprehended by the bodily
situate it at different levels. This is the case for the notion of body, senses. The Spirit (rûh) contemplates all this by itself, because at
from the elementary body to the spiritual body. It is the same for its level all the essences ( haqâ'iq) form a unity, as they do for the
man, made up of a triad (the idea of which was abandoned in the agent Intelligence . he all forms and all levels of prophetology and
West by the Council of Constantinople, in 869). imamology.
3) Indeed, it is again this same motive of the heart which will

make hatch from the necessity of the prophets the motive of the
necessity of lmâm. This is the third group of remarks called for by
This triad is this: there is the physical man, at the level of the
the text of the Sixth Imam that we read above, where the Imam
organic body which has the faculties of sensible perception. There affirmed that the Earth can never be deprived of a guarantor of God,
is the psychic man, at the level of the “psychic body” whose a "proof" (Hojjat ) answering for him. This motif is essential for Shiite
members cannot be situated in the dimensions of this world, imamology; It owes its origin to the motif of the 'pole of the world', of
because he is not of this world; its organ is the Imaginative power the 'pole of poles', without which earthly existence could not continue
and the imaginative consciousness, the theory of which has been for a moment longer—a motif well known even in non-Shi'ite Sufism.
particularly developed by Molla Sadra. There is the pneumatic man, We have already learned that the Imam, the pole, can be sometimes
at the level of the "pneumatic or spiritual body", which possesses visible and known, sometimes hidden, unknown to men, inaccessible
spiritual senses (hawâss rûhânîya 'aqlîya), spiritual sight, spiritual to their sensitive perception, Such is the current state of things: the
hearing, etc. time of occultation (ghayhat) , the time of the hidden Imam.
This is why it is necessary to understand certain Koranic verses
and hadith in their spiritual sense , in order to understand them at How is the motive founded from the outset? We have already
their level, that is to say in their true “literal sense”. Consequently, if indicated this above. There is essentially this idea that it was up to
an essence such as that designated by the word body has several the prophet to reveal the letter of the sharî'at, while it would be up
modes of existence, differentiated in degree of nobility and density, to another to teach the spiritual meaning (the ta'wîl). This other is
one can go so far as to admit, at the limit, that there is something the Imam as “Main Keeper of the Book” (Qayyim al-Qorân). The
like a "divine body" (jism ilâhî), but to which the Qur'anic verse situation resulting from the hadith of the VIth Imam quoted above,
204
applies: "Nothing resembles it" (42: 9) was the following: the mission of the prophets by God is absolutely
Now, the seat of these spiritual senses is the F°ur, which will be necessary,
203. Kolayni, Osul: Tawheed, Bâb XI, 6e hadîth, p. 192; Skarh, p. 271. 205. And not in opposition, as a system of religious categories would tend to
204. We thus summarize very briefly what Mollâ Sadrâ develops in a very dense suggest, which precisely does not take into account the particularities of Islamic
and very personal page (which he entitles Tahqîq 'arshî wa tawhîd mashriqî, spirituality; see our Sufism of Ibn 'Aràbî (supra n. 149), pp. 83 ss.
research inspired by the Throne, that is to say by the heart, and Tawhîd in the
Eastern sense), Sharh, pp. 272 to 273. On the theory of the Imagination as a purely 206. Pick up the expression bi-'aqli-hi: the intellection of the F°ur.
spiritual faculty surviving the physical organism, cf. further t. IV, book. V, chap. II. 207. Mollâ Sadrâ, Shark, p. 454, sur le 4e hadîth du Bâb III du K. al-Hojjat.
because the great business for humans is to find the way by must go to meet the Messengers, the prophets. But it is there,
which their existence will attest their fidelity to the pre-eternal as we have seen, that the question arises: who to look for, when
pact: A-lasto bi-rabbi-kom? “Am I not your Lord? » there is no longer a prophet?
(Qoran 7:171). This way they cannot find without a guide, which The argument therefore secures a solid foundation: the
is the prophet. All right, but what about when the prophet is continued presence of a Witness (Hojjat) is necessary, because
gone? A fortiori, what about when the one who is no longer there the text of the Book, the Quran, cannot by itself be a Hojjat.
was the Last Prophet? And it cannot be because it essentially contains a zakir (exoteric)
During an interview with Imam Ja'far, one of his followers and a batin (esoteric), even up to seven esoteric depths; it is
(Mansur ibn Hâzim) explained to him the course of his ciphertext, filled with symbols.
discussions with the non-Shi'ites. When he comes to the “The Qurân, declares Molla Sadra, is not a book whose science
essential point: "Now that the Messenger of God is no longer can be assumed by the common knowledge of philosophers.
there, who will be the Witness, the respondent (Hojjat) before Most educated people are already incapable of understanding
men?" — generally the others reply: "The Qurân." But this the books of the philosophers, those of the ancients like Plato
Qurân, the adept has meditated on it himself, and he knows and Aristotle, those of the recent ones like Fârâbî and Avicenna.
how many disputes are fought over its text; he therefore So, how to understand the Qurân which is divine speech coming
understood that the Qurân alone cannot be the Witness, the from God, and descending into the heart of its prophet?
Respondent (Hojjat, the decisive argument), if there is not a 208 How could anyone be the guide for the multitude of his hidden
Maintainer (qayyim), a hermeneut (mofassir), who know the integral gnosis (haqîqat)
.
senses, if not one who has an inner sight (basîrat) enlightened

This Maintainer is the Imam, that is to say the Guide.
by God, a spiritual hearing (samâ' 'aqlî) who hears from God and
For his part, Molla Sadra shows that this essential thesis of his Angels , even if he does not see the form of the Angel and
Shi'ism is only a consequence of divine transcendence. (the Ab- does not hear the sound of the speech, as the Prophet saw and
grund) cannot be defined, nor can any proof of it be given from
heard by these two spiritual senses? All the difference, as we
anything else, for it is with this causelessness that the proof of
shall see, that gnoseology establishes between the prophets on
everything begins. The knowledge of all that is caused being
obtained from the cause, how to know what causes the causes the one hand, and the Imams and Friends of God on the other,
(mosabbib al-asbâb) and makes known any cause? This is what is in fact in the mode and degree of their hierognosis.
is meant by the words of the first Imam: "I have known nothing It remains that the one who has this double capacity of the
that I have not known God before", - which is echoed by that of spiritual senses, even if it does not equal that of the prophet-
a mystic: "I know my God only by my God . » sent, is the one who, after the prophet, is the Maintainer of the
Book, that is to say of its meaning. integral, and that is the Imam.
We have already noted that the solution to the problem of the
succession of the prophet refers neither to a Church, nor to a
"To know one's God" is to know his Attributes. dogmatic magisterium, nor to a collective norm, but to a man of
But how to reach this high divine knowledge, if not by a divine God, inspired by God. We have here in a way the scriptural
communication brought by an Angel (wahy) or by an inspiration proof of the Imamate by the fact that the Imamate is a necessity
(ilhâm)? Those who know about the "origins" and the of the hermeneutics of the Revelations. In its ontological depth,
"return" (mabda' and ma'âd) have received either this divine we have already learned that the relationship of the Imamate
communication by the Angel (these are the prophets), or else with the prophetic mission is that of a spiritual heritage whose
this inspiration (this are the Irnams and "Friends of God"), and heirs are pre-eternally invested. Here the argument put forward
this inspiration, received in a dream or in the waking state, to scripturally found the Imâmat of 'Ali ibn Abi
enters into what is called " hierognosis ". Talib is that among all the Companions of the Prophet, he was
All those humans who have received neither, the only one to know the full meaning of the Revelations. Not a
verse of the Qurân was revealed to the Messenger of God,
without the latter dictating it to him and making him recite it in
208. Kolaynî, Osûl : Hojjat, Bâb I, 2e hadîth, pp. 314-315.
209. For what follows, cf. Molla Sadra, Sharh, pp. 439 ss. turn, teaching him the tafsîr (the literal explanation) and the
ta'wîl (spiritual exegesis). “And the Prophet, says the Imam himself, prayed
God to enlarge my intelligence and my memory. I have not forgotten a single verse of the Imam, the guide, sentient perceptions, and the Mo'tazilite shaykh must agree that
the Book nor a single piece of knowledge that he dictated to me, since he prayed to he has a heart. “O Abu Marwan! Hishâm replies then, God has therefore not abandoned
God thus for me . ; we would like them to be better known and above all better your sense organs without giving them an Imâm who authenticates for them what is
understood in the West. valid, and by whom they can form certainty about what is the object of their doubts. And
he would have left all humans in their delusions, their doubts and their perplexities,
while for you he raised up an Imam to whom your own senses subject their doubts and
However, what makes us understand perfectly what it is about is that the Imam, thus their delusions.
qualified as "Maintainer of the Qurân", is designated as being the F°ur. On this occasion, 211
?»
again enters the scene the young Hisham ibn al-Hakam who distinguished himself
among all the companions of the Sixth Imam not only by his extreme youth, but by his It is very significant that the need for the Imam is thus based on an
ardor and his passionate devotion for the person of the Imam. Sometimes, the teenager homologation from the macrocosm to the microcosm, for at the very moment
took the initiative of a personal expedition to confuse an eminent Mo'tazilite master when the need for an Imam for the human community emerges, the way
(therefore representing the rationalism of Muslim scholasticism), Abû Marwân 'Amrû ibn opens up leading to the interiorization of imamology, that is to say the path
'Obayd, who held lectures cussion in Basra. It is of this dialectical commando that the on which the encounter between imamology and the most personal spiritual
Imam asks his young follower to report to him. The latter, therefore, having jumped on realization takes place. There will be a perpetual exchange between what
his camel, had traveled from Kufa to Basra, where he had found the Mo'tazilite master will be said concerning the role of the Imam in the community, and what
teaching one Friday, in the mosque, surrounded by his disciples. The moment was happens in the inner being of each spiritual individuality; the bond chosen
solemn; yet Hishâm does not hesitate to ask to speak, and he uses it to ask a series of by personal piety with one or other of the Imams will be experienced as the
questions that the Mo'tazilite shaykh begins by finding far-fetched. Hishâm asks him: Do presence of the inner guide. This is what resulted in Ismailism, for example,
you have eyes? What are you doing with it? So on for each of the five senses. The in the symbolism of Sinai and the olive tree: Mount Sinai typifies the person
shaykh lends himself to the game, which allows Hishâm to arrive at the ultimate of the mystic, at the top or at the heart of which grows the olive tree which
question, that posed by a psycho-physiology of the "subtle organs" for which the F°ur, is the 'Imâm, the soul of the soul (jân-e jân), his inner personal guide 211.
as conscience, judges in the last resort of certainty. study and doubts of sense Kolaynî, Osûl: Hojjat, Bâb I, 3rd kadîth, pp. 315-318. Here is the end of the
perceptions. The heart is therefore story: “'Amrû (Abu Marwan) was silent. A moment later he turned to me and
212
said: Are you Hisham ibn al-Hakam? I say no ! "So you're one of his
.
comrades?" - I say no! "So where are you from?" — I am, I said, someone
from Koufa. "Then you really are Hisham!" Then he pulled me into his arms,
made me sit in his place, and said nothing more until I got up. — Imam Ja'far,
at this story, laughed and said: O Hisham! Who taught you all this? 'It's
something,' said Hisham, 'that I learned from you and that I recomposed.
Then the Imam to say: God is my witness!
210. “Not a verse of the Koran, says the Imam, has descended on the
Messenger of God without his making me recite it and dictating it to me. So The truth of what you said is written in the Books of Abraham and Moses
I wrote it with my hand and he taught me the tafsîr (the literal explanation) (87:19). We hope to return elsewhere to the endearing character of Hishâm
and the ta'wîl (the spiritual exegesis), the nâsikh and the mansûkh (the ibn al-Hakam. As for the Mo'tazilite master, 'Amrû ibn 'Obayd (ob. 144/761),
abrogating and the abrogated), the mohkam and motashabih (the immutable who had been a disciple of Hasan Basrî, cf. Mâmâqânî, Tanqîh al-maqâl,
and the ambiguous), the proper and the general. And he prayed to God to vol. II, p. 334. No. 8729; Rayhânat al-adab, sv Abû 'Othmân 'Amrû, vol. V, p.
enlarge my understanding and my memory. I have not forgotten a single 131, No. 225. It has become customary to consider certain points in common
verse of the Book nor a single knowledge that he dictated to me, since he between Mo'tazilism and Shi'ism. The episode of Hishâm shows us that there
prayed to God thus for me. Then he laid his hand on my breast, and asked is a great deal of lack of general agreement. The tone differs from one side
God to fill my heart with knowledge and understanding, judgment and to the other, and even if there is agreement on certain points of the Kalam,
light” (Sharh, p. 440). 'Abdollah ibn 'Abbas, one of the most learned in tafsir Shiite thought is not limited to the Kalam alone; it finds its full expression in
among the Companions of the Prophet admitted that with the Imam he was hikmat ilâhîya and 'irfân.
212. On the symbolism of Sinai and the olive tree, cf. Ismaili trilogy, 3
and
like a small jar on the edge of the ocean. The Imam declared that the books
he could write in commentary on the Fatihat (the first sura of the Qur'an), parts, pp. (102-122). Compare, in Ibn 'Arabi, the Imam's idea of the micro
would form the load of 70 camels (ibid.). Quotations could be multiplied; all cosmos, during the celebration of the Prayer; see our Sufism of Ibn 'Arabi
refer to the essentially religious origin of what is called Shi'ism. (supra n. 149), pp. 193 ss.
234 Prophethood and Imamology 235

Let us even say that as a consequence of what we have learned Certainly, Molla Sadra reminds us, it is here that the question is
concerning the spiritual senses, it follows that the inner things, if one posed on which the interior rupture of Islam was made.
understands them as such, are indeed understood in their literal truth, What designates the person of the Imam? What about the necessity
as Mulla Sadra does in commenting on the episode of Hisham (we of its permanent presence from century to century, whether this
saw above, chap. v, that at each maqam the spiritual truth is indeed presence is visible and known, or on the contrary it is invisible and
the literal truth of this maqam). unknown to the mass of humans? The Shi'ite answer to these
“The heart, says Mollâ Sadra, is the subtle body of light (latîfat questions will be elucidated by itself, if we ask them from the point
nûrânîya) which must be distinguished from the organ of flesh in the where the difference between the divine communication (wahy)
shape of a cone (qalb sanawbarî). The thinking soul (nafs natiqa) is received by the prophets- sent, and the inspiration (ilhâm) given to the
the head and Imam of all its faculties; the heart, as the permanent Imams and Friends of God. For prophetic gnoseology, by distinguishing
abode of the soul, the throne on which it sits, is the head and the the categories of prophets according to the mode of their respective
Imam of the organs of these faculties . the Imam rises in every age; knowledge, situates eo ipso the place of the Imam and of imamology
hence the need for the invisible presence of the "hidden Imam" in a in prophetology. In other words: the fate of the community, as a
time of occultation (ghaybat) like ours. This, says our philosopher, is spiritual community, is decided according to what one accepts or what
a theosophical conclusion independent of the diversity of shari'at and one rejects from “prophetic philosophy”. And that is why we have
religions. For, as Imam Ja'far says in approving the young Hisham, it placed it (without always having been well understood) at the root and
is something that is written in the divine Books (Kotob ilâhîya), the at the foundation of philosophical meditation in Islam, because it is the
celestial Psalters (zobor samâwîya), "in the books of Abraham and of form in which those who have been the "supports" of the spiritual
Moses” (87:19). conscience of Islam reflected on the vocation of Islam in this world.
213. Molla Sadra, Skarh, p. 441. Compare the important development of

pages 261-262 (on Tawhîd, Bâb IX, 7th hadith, p. 178). Beyond solar light,
which is the most intense light in our world, there are other occult lights
(anwâr batinîya), supersensitive, which escape visible perception, because 2. - The categories of prophets and the walayat
the more intense a light, the less it is visible. 214
These supersensible lights (malakûtîya) form a hierarchy. There is at the Le mot nabi en arabe relates to the meaning that the root nb'
lower level, that which is called the vital, animating soul (nafs haywâ nîya) takes on in the 2nd and 4th forms (nabba'a and anba'a): to announce
and which is designated in the Qurân (6: 125) as sadr, the chest, the pectus.
Above, there is the thinking soul (nafs nâtiqa) that the religious lexicon news to someone. The prophet, the nabî, is “someone who announces
designates as the heart (qalb). Above, there is the contemplative intellect from God” (mokhbir 'an Allah). As for the reality signified by the
('aql-nazari), which the religious lexicon designates as the Spirit (Rûh). concept, its essence (the haqîqat), that is to say the prophecy
Finally, there is what the 'orafâ call the sirr, the transconsciousness, and (nobowwat) of the nabî , it is only possible to explain it, observes
which the philosophers designate as 'Aql fa"âl, the agent Intelligence. (All
these equivalences should be studied more closely.) These last two Lights Mullâ Sadra, on the condition to explain beforehand how knowledge
are comparable to the Fire and Air of our elemental world, because of their is “projected” (ilqâ al-'olûm) from God into the human heart. The Shiite
sublimity they have no epiphanic form (mazhar) in our world, nor any philosophers have thus been led by the prophetology enunciated by
connection with any body whatsoever, celestial or elemental. two first, closer,
they have a form of manifestation in this world.
the Imams of Shi'ism, to construct the gnoseology that a prophetic
(On the one hand, the "animating souls" have their form of manifestation philosophy calls for. Such is, one might say, the characteristic situation
(mazhar) in the earthly living bodies and the pectus (sadr) of the human of the philosophical thought secreted by Shiism, that is to say by
microcosm. The greatest of these manifestations is also the greatest of the esoteric Islam. It recognizes the fundamental identity between the
individuations of the Soul of the world; it is the Eighth Heaven (the Korsî, the
firmament). On the other hand, the thinking soul, which is the spiritual Heart Holy Spirit, Angel of Reverend
(qalb ma'nawî) has as forms of manifestation (mazâhir) in this world the
hearts of humans, at least "in those who have a heart" (50: 36), that is to say
an Imam. "The greatest of all is the Throne ( 'arsh) which is the Heart of the
macrocosm; it is the form of appearance of the Light-Thought, and this Light 214. For what follows, cf. Sharh, p. 445. Molla Sadra observes that the
hamza of the root nb' has more or less disappeared from common usage;
is the Seat of the name al'Rahman (the Merciful), the epiphanic form of the only the Mekkois maintain it.
secret (sirr) of God... ").
tion (Gabriel), and the Angel of Knowledge, the Agent Intelligence of which are thus considered. At the limit, we will have what is designated as “divine
the philosophers speak. We have already noted that this is neither rationalism communication by the Angel” (wahy), which is reserved for the great prophets
nor rationalization; we must be careful not to give as a pure and simple who have been commissioned to reveal a new divine Law (sharî'at). On this
equivalent to the Arabic word 'aql (intellectus, intelligentia, Nous), our term differentiation will depend all the rest of prophetology.
for "reason" (ratio). This is a sufficiently ample scheme to grasp in a single
whole the degrees which lead from the intellect in action of the philosophers As for the very process of this projection, Molla Sadra describes it as an
to the intellectus sanctus of prophetic knowledge. angelology of knowledge. The Angel (Gabriel or Agent Intelligence) is the
one whom the Qerân designates as the Calante (al-Qalam, 68:1). It is “the
And there is a fundamental postulate enunciated by Molla Sadra, of which one through whom God writes on the tablets of the hearts”. It is a spiritual
we note the technical terms: it is neither a question of reason nor of being (jawhar qodsî), essentially a being of light, "who is the mediating cause
abstraction, but of the heart and of the epiphany in the heart. between God and men for the actualization of knowledge in their hearts, in
This postulate is that the Heart of man ( qalb al-insân, this notion remains the same way as the Calame is the 'intermediary between the author of the
definitely at the center) is capable, by its fundamental nature (gharîza) of writing (fâ'il al-kitâba) and his receptacle (paper or tablet), for the production
welcoming the essences (haqâ'iq) of all the cognoscibles (ma'lûmât). of the drawings of the writing on the latter'.
However, the knowledge that is epiphanized (tajallî) in the heart can proceed
from religious data (the text, the canonical sciences, 'olûm shar'îya) and they
can proceed directly from the Donor of the data, that is to say of the Holy It must therefore be said, with Molla Sadra, that the relation of this being
Spirit Intelligence ('Aql, Rûh). The 'olûm 'aqlîya are not exactly our rational of light which is the Angel-Intelligence, with the cognoscibles, is analogous to
knowledge: they can be more than our philosophical knowledge. In a general the relation of sensible light with the visibilia, and the correspondence is valid
sense, they are the “spiritual sciences”. as well in what concerns the organ of exterior, "exoteric" vision (basar al-
zâhir), than with regard to the organ of interior vision ("esoteric", basîrat al-
batin) 216 . In other words: the it, seat of the visual faculty, perceives in
action when the sun dispenses its light. The F°ur, seat of intelligence, knows
The latter, Molla Sadra schematizes them as follows: there are those in action when the Angel (the Calame, Agent Intelligence) dispenses its light.
which are a priori (knowledge of the first principles), and there are those The heart is in the same situation as the eye. He can be hit blind. But nothing
which must be acquired 215. The latter can be acquired by teaching (ta'allom) is more foreign to all agnosticism than this theory of knowledge stemming
and detour of inductive reasoning: it is the knowledge of philosophers and from Avicennism.
speculative scholars. They can also be so as if they were “projected”
unexpectedly into the heart, without effort (ijtihâd) on the part of man. In turn,
this projection (ilqâ') can occur, without the man having the knowledge or the The comparison that always comes up is that of the mirror.
vision of the one who projects it into him; this is properly what is called The epiphany of divine knowledge from the mirror which is the Tabula secreta
inspiration (ilham), and it is the knowledge of the Imams (Awsiya, the heirs (Lawh mahfûz), bearing the imprint of all that God has engraved there, in this
of the prophet) and of the spiritual Initiates (the Awliya, Friends of God). But other mirror which is the heart, corresponds to the impression of an image of
it can happen that this epiphany (zohûr) in the heart is accompanied, in the a mirror in another mirror. There is a veil first between the two mirrors.
waking state or in a dream, by the vision or hearing of the Angel who projects
knowledge in the heart. All levels of consciousness You can try to remove it with your hand, and that's what philosophers do. But
sometimes the breath of divine breezes
_ 216. Ibid, Molla Sadra cites several Quranic verses in support. “We
showed Abraham the malakut of the heavens and the earth” (6:75); it is not,
of course, an external perception. "The heart does not deny what it has
215. We quote in support this statement of the first Imam: “I understood seen" (53:II, about the Prophet's first visionary experience); very clearly, the
that the intelligence ( 'aql) is double: there is that which is innate (matbu, perception of the heart (idrâk al-qalb) is called there vision (ru'ya). The
imprint, formed by nature), and there there is that which is acquired (maksûb). opposite of knowledge is therefore blindness. Hence this verse: “It is not their
Everything that can be heard from the outside (masmu') is absolutely useless eyes that are blind; it is their hearts, in their breasts, that are blind” (22:45).
when there is no innate intelligence, just as the sun is useless when the light
of the eye is paralyzed” (Sharh, p. 445).

Prophetology and Imamology
removes the veil in front of the eye of the heart ('ayn al-qalb), and this is the case of him, as prophet and Imam, Abraham whose sharî'at he followed, or again the
of the inspired. This is why there is no heterogeneity between the knowledge of case of the prophet Mohammad before he had the visual perception of the Angel
philosophers and that of the inspired. Molla Sadra insists on this: the Angel of communicating the Revelation to him; until then, in fact, he was simply a Nabî,
knowledge is also the Angel of revelation. Knowledge by inspiration is not without yet being an Envoy (rasûl).
differentiated from that acquired by effort (that of the philosophers), neither in
what constitutes knowledge itself, nor in its substrate (which is the heart), nor in These first two categories of simple prophecy (nobowwat) thus differentiated,
its cause (which is the Angel, the Pen, the Agent Intelligence), but it differs from will have a major importance for Shiite prophecy. We have already learned that
them in proportion to the removal of the veil, although this does not depend on what since Islam has been called walâyat (as the spiritual initiation of the Friends
the choice of man. Each time, knowledge is actualized in our hearts only through of God, the Awliya) is nothing other than the continuation, under another name, of
the intermediary of the Angel (bi-wâsitat al Malâ'ika), and this is what these a prophecy which began with the first age of mankind. The Shiite idea essentially
Qurânic verses allude to: "It is not given to man that God speaks to him if not by postulates the continuity of a secret, esoteric prophecy (nobozowat batinya), which
communication (from an Angel, wahy) or through a veil. Or he sends a prophet, will last until the end of time.
so that with his permission this Messenger may communicate to man what pleases
God” (42:50-51).
217 3) There is the Nabi who combines the spiritual states of the first two
.
categories, in addition to two other privileges. On the one hand he can no longer
The bases are now laid so that, starting from the differentiation of the categories have only in a dream but in a waking state the visual perception and hearing of
of prophets, we can understand how the fundamental notion of Imamism or the Angel; on the other hand, it is sent to a group which may be more or less
Twelver Shi'ism, that of the Imam-guide, arises. This differentiation is established
numerous. He is the prophet sent (the Nabî morsal). The case of the prophet
according to the gnoseology which has just been outlined. Jonah and in general the case of the prophets of Israel are given as examples,
who did not bring a new shari'at but followed the shari'at of Moses.
A long lesson of the VIth Imam, Ja'far Sâdiq, appearing in the great collection
of Kolaynî, teaches us that there
218
are four categories of prophets 1) There is the
prophet (nabî) who, unlike the Messenger , is a prophet only for himself. He does
.
4) There is the Nabî Sent who, in addition to the previous spiritual
not have to transmit to others the Signs (a'lâm) and the divine inspiration qualifications, no longer lives under the shari'at of a previous prophet, but is sent
(ilhâm) which are given to him. It is in a way an intransitive prophecy which does to reveal to men a new shari'at. In this case, the prophecy technically takes the
not go beyond its own person. name of legislative prophecy (nobowwat al-tashrî'). The lesson of the Sixth Imam
counts five of these great prophets. More generally, six are enumerated, beginning
with Adam, and sometimes seven, including David, whose Psalter, mentioned in
2) There is the nabi who, at the same time as he perceives the Signs and the Qurân, is considered a distinct revealed Book. The great periods of the cycle
receives the inspiration, sees or hears the cause, that is to say the Angel who of legislative prophecy are then defined by the names of Adam, Noah, Abraham,
"projects" knowledge into him, by spiritual vision and hearing. However, he only Moses, David, Jesus, Mohammad. They are the ones called the ulû'l-azm (men
has this vision or this hearing in his dream, not in the waking state. Nor does he of resolute decision)
have a prophetic mission for any group.
219
As examples we cite the case of Lot, who had above .
Each of these great prophets began by being a Nabî quite simply before being
217. Molla Sadra (Sharh, p. 446) gives here a very important long page for an Envoy; the maturation of the vocation of sent prophet takes place only slowly
Islamic spirituality. He shows how the spiritual method of the Ishrâqîyûn synthesises under divine influence. 220 Moreover, each of them was also the Imam, the guide,
the method of the philosophers and that of the Sufis. It is one of those pages which
explains why so many Iranian Shiite spirituals speak the language of Sufism, during his lifetime. Ismaili gnosis, as we shall see, is not
without belonging to a congregation of Sufis. We will come back to this later (cf.
infra t. IV, book V, chap. II).
and
219. Ibid., 3 hadith, pp. 328-329; Sharh, p. 449.

218. Osool : Hojjat, Chapter II, I Hadith, p. 326 ; Sharh, pp. 101-1 446-4 220. Ibid., 2
and
hadith, p. 328; Sharh, p. 448.

disagree on this point, but from now on Twelver imamology will specify, by This remark made, it will be noted that the gnoseology of Molla Sadra has
commenting on the Qur'anic verse (2: 118) relating to the investiture of only developed the prophetology taught by Imam Ja'far, who determines the
Abraham, the conditions required for an Imam to be said to be the successor categories of prophets according to the degrees of their aptitude for visionary
of 'a prophet; this verse, the Shiite theologians will invoke it, on each knowledge, hierognosis , and thereby founds the “prophetic philosophy”.
occasion, to justify their conception of the Imam, to ruin that of the Sunnis Now, it is this theory of prophetic knowledge which will now situate the rank
and to repel their criticisms. This is the verse in which God declares to of the Imam gnoseologically, and justify eo ipso the idea of a prophecy
Abraham: “Behold, I have established you as Imam of the peoples; "And in continuing until the end of time, because it is not It's more about “legislative
my descendants?" Abraham asks. — My promise does not extend to the prophecy”.
bad (al-zalimin, the violent, the iniquitous). »
The Ve Imam, Mohammad Baqir, father of Imam Ja'far, questioned by a

Abraham therefore demanded for his posterity the privilege of the follower about the Qur'anic verse (19: 55) in which Ishmael, son of Abraham,
Imamate; the divine response means that the quality of Imam requires an is qualified as a prophet sent (third of the categories defined above above)
inner spiritual purity that no external legitimation by carnal descent confers gives an answer which only confirms the previous hadith : "The Nabî quite
by itself. simply, he says, is he who has visions in a dream and hears the voice of the
The Shiites, by extending the requirement of this immaculate purity ('ismat) Angel, but does not see the Angel of his eyes in the waking state. The
to the twelve Imams of the family of the Prophet (ahl al bayt) who were his Messenger (rasûl) is the one who hears the voice of the Angel and has a
successors, therefore contradict the tendentious assertions reproduced by vision of it in a dream, but who, moreover, sees and hears it in the waking
some Orientalists. state […]. As for the Imam, he hears the voice of the Angel in a dream,
Never did carnal descent suffice by itself to make an Imam (there were without having the vision” (see the very important text of Molla Sadra, which
thousands of Imamzadeh, children of Imams, there were only twelve Imams). we give in a note)
222
In addition, it requires not only the nass (the express designation by the .
predecessor Imam) but the 'ismat. Let us not translate as is sometimes done,
by "infallibility", the word having taken on a precise and exclusive meaning 222. Osul: Hojjat, Bâb III, I hadîth, pp. 329-330. Molla Sadra gives here
in the West. Let us use the more exact terms of “immunity, impeccability, (Sharh, pp. 449-452) a very long development of "prophetic philosophy"
introduced by scientific preliminaries of extreme interest, because they relate
purity” (which is connoted by the Greek term anamar têtos). Hence the term all the recognized cases of hierognosis to psychoanalysis. -physiology generally
"Fourteen Immaculate" (Chahârdeh ma'sûm) to designate the Prophet, his professed in Islamic esotericism.
daughter Fatima and the twelve Imams. Hence, the Shi'ite conception, as The interest is also in a gnoseology eminently suited to account for cases of
we have already observed, does not allow us to place the line of the Twelve hierognosis, because for it already "any sensible perception, any perception
having a reality, in no way signifies that the soul has the vision of a form which
Imams on the same plane as the profane dynasties of this world (any more would be in the outer matter. For it is not this form which is the object of sensible
than the charisma of the "keepers of the Grail has its source in a political perception, nor it which is actualized for the perceiving soul. No, what in essence
"legitimism" prevailing against other dynasties). is the object of sensible perception are the forms which the soul sees with the
eye of the Imaginative consciousness. As for the forms which are outside, they
are cause for the appearance of a form which symbolizes with them (yomâthilo-
hâ) for the Imaginative consciousness. Thus, what is in reality the sensible
In fact, when they use the word Imam, Sunni theologians and Shiite perceived by the senses is the symbolic formed in the representation, while
theologians respectively refer to completely different concepts. what is outside is called sensible in another sense. Mullâ Sadrâ is thus at ease
221
. in explaining that there is no difference as to the production of the symbolic or
typifying form (sûrat motamaththila) before the imaginative consciousness, in
the case where it is occasioned by the exterior and rise therein by employing
221. Here is placed the long discussion of Molla Sadrâ (p. 448) with the the sense organs, and in the case where it is occasioned from within and
Sunni theologian-philosopher Fakhroddîn Râzî who exposes as honestly as descend therein by employing the Imaginative power to make present the
possible (but ignoring all of the walâyat as esoteric of prophecy) the conception spiritual cognoscibles. Either way, there is vision.
of Imam among the Shî'ites, in his great commentary on the Qurân (Mafâtîh al-
ghayb, ed. of Constantinople, vol. I, pp. 71 ss.), cf. above p. 187, no. 150 and Gnoseology therefore in no way consists here in placing the "imaginary" as
below p. 306, no. 295. On the conditions required for the Imamate in the Shiite unreal on the one hand, and the sensible as the object of true perception on the
sense, cf. again Shaykh Mofîd, Awâ'il al-maqâlât, ed. Tehran 1371 (1951), pp. other. It consists of starting from the precedence of the imaginative power, to
7 ss. judge the process which leads to a true vision, and the disturbances or disturbances

This last clarification is capital, since it already assimilates, as regards the heart of the Messenger, the fact that the Angel typifies himself for
His gnoseology, the case of the Imam to that of the Nabi of the him in a human form, just as in the case of Maryam, of whom it is said
second category defined in the preceding hadith . The consequences that the Angel "took for her the form of a human being without
will soon appear to us. blemish” (19:17), that is, of perfect form and absolute beauty. Prophetic
The same teaching is repeated in a hadith of the 8th Imam, 'Alî philosophy therefore postulates in the second place a theory of
Rezâ (ob. 203/818), designating by name the active figure of this imaginative knowledge and of the mundus imaginalis; our Mullâ Sadra
angelology of knowledge, namely Gabriel, the Holy Spirit, the Calame. has excelled in this task.
Let us then follow the additional information that Mollâ Sadra brings
us, concerning the process of this hierognosis. In the first place we He begins by reproaching too many Islamic philosophers (hokamâ'
are given an explanation of the qualifications and names conferred islamîyîn) and so many people who claim to be philosophical, for
on the Angel Gabriel in the Quran , and by which we are confirmed estimating that the forms contemplated, the sonorities heard spiritually,
his identity with the active Intelligence of the philosophers . wahy) to are simply things imprinted on the tablet of the imaginative
the prophets, inspiration (ilhâm) to the Awliya (the 'Locals' of God, the consciousness (hiss moshtarik), which would be, according to them,
Imams), the truthful vision in the mind of the Spirituals. The degrees an organic faculty having its seat in the anterior part of the brain and
of hierognosis are therefore a function of the degrees of the disappearing with the physical organism. One of the theses supported
manifestation of the Angel (angelophany): vision in the waking state, with predilection by Molla Sadra, in all of his works, is that the
vision in a dream, purely auditory perception. As the one who will Imagination is a spiritual faculty, therefore not perishing with the
become able to guide men is first himself guided by the Angel, physical organism; it is like the subtle body of the soul. 224 The
prophetic philosophy must guard here against any error of appreciation. opinion of the incriminated philosophers "is due, he says, to a radical
It is a question, by the application of the spiritual senses, of lack of knowledge of the world of Malakût (the angelic world of the
understanding, at the level at which they are true, the Koranic verses Animae caelestes), and to the weak faith in the Angels, in the form
mentioning the descent (nozûl) of Gabriel on that revelation and the Book take. For these things are completely
concrete existents, subsisting by themselves, without the need for a
substratum (as accidents would need); they even have much more
existential reality (mawjûdîyat) than external existents. However, their
world is another world; it is not possible to perceive it with our impure
which produce hallucinations (or what we would call schizophrenia). All of this is
extremely important. Molla Sadra assumes the only critical position compatible senses. »
with a prophetic gnoseology. It would still be necessary to insist here on the
fructification of Avicenna's gnoseology passing through the Ishrâq of Sohrawardî.
Following Molla Sadra, his entire school insisted on this theme of
223. Ibid., 2 hadith, p. 330. The pages that Mullâ Sadra devotes to this hadîth
and
and the following one (Sharh, pp. 452 ff.) would lead to a thorough study of the the imaginative power as an organ of knowledge distinct from the
role of the angel Gabriel in Islamic spirituality. Our authors know the etymology of senses and from the pure intellect. We can say that this angelology
his name (names in -el). “Gabriel is the one who is called the Holy Spirit, the of knowledge, postulated by a prophetic philosophy, agrees admirably,
Initiator of powerful force (allusion to 53:5), the one who helps by projecting divine if it does not even inspire it, with a philosophy which professes that all
revelation in the prophets, inspiration in the Awliya, the truthful vision dreamed of
by Spirituals. He is the faithful Spirit, the Noble Envoy, the one whose virtues are sensible perception is already an operation of the Imagination. active,
innumerable, universal the gift received, as this verse says: The Qurân is the for it is not the form of external matter which is perceived, but that
word of the Noble Envoy who has power with the master of the Throne and who which is in the soul .
is the Firm , the Obeyed, the Faithful (81:19-21). » « When we speak of the
speech of the Angel (taklîm) and of the story told by him (tahdîth), it is something
that is in the secret of trans consciousness (fî batin al-sirr) as spiritual discourse
(kalâm 'aqlî) and spiritual narrative (hadîth rûhânî). This is why Gabriel is
designated as the Holy Spirit (Rûh al-Quds), because in itself it is a sacrosanct 224. Sharh, p. 452. On this essential theme in the work of Molla Sadra, cf.
essence, as long as it has not descended from the sky of its transcendence and below book. V, chap. II. Prophetic gnoseology forms a whole: the ontology of the
its closeness to God. When he descends from the rank of his divine closeness, mundus imaginalis ('âlam al-mithâl), the noetic value of imaginative perception,
he assumes a figure and puts on a certain form which is in correspondence with the spiritual nature of the latter, independent of the organic body, and forming
the one on whom he descends” (Sharh, p. 453). Like the subtle body of the 'soul.
225. Cf. above n. 222.

appearance (zâhir) of the visible world, and because of the ambiguity of the world of "those to whom the Angels speak", without seeing the Angel face to face, or even
the phenomenon ('âlam al-shahâdat), there can be disagreement between the necessarily in a dream, Molla Sadra explains that this interview (tahdîth) of the Angel
apparent form and the hidden reality. On the other hand, the form which is produced is something that is inside or in the secret of transconsciousness (fî batin al-sirr), as
in the Imagination, when the latter directs its contemplation on the supra-sensible spiritual discourse (kalâm 'aqlî) and spiritual narrative (hadîth rûhânî). We could say,
world, and when the illumination of the superior world of Malakût is projected into the using the terminology of Semnânî: an interview of the spiritual with the “Gabriel of their
secret of the heart (sirr al -qalb), — this form actually makes known divine things; in being”. Prophetic philosophy then culminates in this presence of the inner guide, which
this case the outer form always corresponds to the inner reality; it is a beauty that is the source of the secret teaching, "esoteric" in the strictest sense of the word (ta'lîm
does not deceive (it is Imaginatio vera). Molla Sadra knows that there are extraordinary batinî), through spiritual hearing. capable of perceiving the scope of the theses of
secrets here, allowing one to know the secret of a man, the "inner man" (batin), Shiite philosophy which undermine purely legal Islam, reduced to the exoteric religion
according to the forms of his dreams. of the Law, closed on the letter of the past. If, among the spiritual states that
228
prophetology describes, we put aside the vision of Gabriel and the hearing of his
.
speech in the waking state (speech which is the "dictation" of a sharî-'at), it the fact
remains that all the other spiritual states share in common the Envoy (rasûl), the plain
Once the organ by which angelology and prophetology are tied, that is to say the prophet (nabî) and the Mohaddathûn, "those to whom the Angels speak", that is to say
organ by which is accomplished in man the communication (wahy) of the Angel making the Imams and the Awliya. Never, the Imams tell us, is the Earth left empty of men
himself visible to the wakefulness in the case of the prophet-sent, or the inspiration who bear the divine secrets, although they are unknown to the mass of humans .
(ilhâm) of the Angel becoming visible or audible in a dream in the case of the Nabî esoteric” (nobowwat batiniya), will continue until the parousia of the Last Imam. What
quite simply, we can understand the position assumed by prophetic philosophy of the Earth is henceforth deprived of is only prophecy legislating a sharî'at, a new Law
Shi'ism, when it assimilates, as we noted a moment ago, the hierognosis dispensed to (nobowwat al-tashrî') and, as a corollary, the use of the word nabî. And even the
the Nabî tout court (the non-sent one) and that which is dispensed to the Imam. In fact, prophetic mission (the risâlat) and the community
their case is the same: the Nabî plain and the Imam come under the category of
Mohaddathûn, “those to whom the Angels speak”.
This is a statement of the Prophet frequently quoted: “There are in my community

interlocutors of the Angels, people to whom the Angels tell stories (mohaddathûn).
The significance of this remark, so considerable for the whole history of Islamic
spirituality, cannot be clarified independently of the teaching of the Imams of Shi'ism.
Commenting on another lesson of the Ve Imam
226
. legislator) [...]. As for the mohaddath, it is the one to whom the Angel speaks; he
227 mentioning hears the Angel, but without seeing him in a dream. This is exactly the case of the
Imam as defined in the 1st hadith of the same chapter by the Ve Imam, and in the
2nd hadith by the 8th Imam (supra p. 241 ss., n. 222 and 223): “The Imam hears
226. Osul: Hojjat. Bab III, 4th hadith, p. 331. This hadith (of the 5th and 6th the word of the Angel without seeing the person of the Angel. It is important to
Imams) has, among other things, the interest of letting us know that the Qur'anic note that the definition of the mohaddath (the one to whom the Angels speak)
text followed by the Imams, bears in verse 22:51: neither prophet nor mohaddath... comes in the context of Shiite imamology and is given by the Imams themselves.
” The official text of the Qôran today does not include the third term (cf. already
the first hadith of the same chapter). The textus receptus of the Qôran, that is to 228. See the context cited above p. 244, no. 226. It will be noted that the
say the edition of 'Othmân, is said to have been purged of all the passages expression ta'lîm batini is characteristic in Ismaili esotericism. With the direct
favorable to the Shi'ites. We seem to have a very clear indication of this here. It teaching by the Angel, one reaches here the very source of esoteric knowledge.
will be noted, moreover, that the idea and the term of the Seal (khatim) of prophecy There would be to link here the question of the differentiation between hadîth qodsî
appear expressly among the Imams. hadith, pp. 330-331, of the Ve Imam: “The ( inspired hadîth) and hadîth nabawî. Cf. Mîr Dâmâd, K. al-rawâshih al-samâwîya,
rasul (the Messenger) is the one to whom Gabriel shows himself face to face; then Tehran 1311, 204-208. The question of hadîth qodsî (the hadîth inspired to those
227. Ibid., 3 he sees him and speaks with him [...].
and
"to whom the Angels speak") is of primary importance for Islamic spirituality. It is
impossible to deal with it if we neglect the gnoseology posed by the Imams of
The Nabi is the one who has visions in dreams like the vision of Abraham, and Shi'ism.
like the Messenger of God before the revelation (wahy), until Gabriel came to
229. Cf. the interview of the 1st Imam with his disciple Komayl ibn Ziyad (supra
him . from God with the risâlat (the mission of prophet
n. 83 and 85).

divine communication (wahy) are only interrupted in a particular have made it a light by which We guide. This light of the Word, of the
sense, for the premonitions (indhâ rât), the warning signs Verb (nûr al-Kalâm), it is this spiritual truth (haqîqat). And it is this
(mobashshirât) do not cease to continue. Certainly, Mohammad was light of the Word, in the heart of the Prophet, which reflects on those
the Seal of the prophets; there will be no more Nabi. And yet this who are united to him, not simply by external kinship without more
secret prophecy will continue forever, which, identified with its very (monâsabat surîya), but by a relationship that is both spiritual
source, bears the name of walayat. These theses flow from the (ma'nawîya ) and external, that is to say the Twelve Imams (the dual
teaching formulated from the origins of Islam by the Imams of nature of their relationship with the Prophet is thus underlined again).
Shi'ism; and yet, faced with official Islam, as it has historically
become, they have a revolutionary character. As for the other celestial Books, they descended on the previous
prophets with their external form, according to the "exoteric" of these
So, let us try to recapitulate this prophetology by explaining these prophets ('alâ zawâhiri-him), written on tablets or leaves that can be
theses somewhat. First of all, what distinguishes, as regards read by anyone who knows how to read; these prophets were as well
gnoseology, the case of Mohammad as Seal of the prophets? as their community under the direction of these Books. This verse
Without going into detail in the Islamic and Shi'ite theory of prophetic says: "He sent down the
inspiration (which it would be useful to compare once and for all with Torah and the Gospel to serve as a direction (guide) for men »
the solutions that have been given, in the various Christian (3:2). The Seal of the Prophets, by the epiphany of the pre-eternal
denominations, to the problem of scriptural inspiration ) , let us Lights of the Qurân at its heart, was invested in person, and after him
summarize the indications that Mullâ Sadra gives us when its Twelve Imâms, with this direction and this function of guide
commenting on the hadîth of the Ve Imâm that we quoted a moment (hidâyat). In other words, further clarifies Molla Sadra: with each of
ago 230 . ) which is the Word of God (Kalâm Allah) bringing down the previous prophets there was the Book that he brought to his
the Truth on the heart of his servant, as He says it in his own words: people, so that this Book might be a light for them ("He who sent
Gabriel sent down (deposited) on your heart the Book intended to down the Book that Moses brought as a light and a guide” 6:91 ),
confirm the Sacred Books that came before him (2:91), which means while in the case of the Prophet Mohammad it was his coming from
that the angel Gabriel really sent down to the heart of the Prophet God”, i.e. Mohammad, “as well as a self-evident Book”, i.e. the Qurân,
the spiritual Realities (haqâ'iq) of the Qurân, not the simple external 5:18).
form of the words, words written on tables and readable by any
reader understanding Heb reu or Syriac. Nope! what he brought
down is the spiritual reality (gnostic, haqîqat), not just the external
form. » All the difference is there, and it has its principle in the secret of
the primordial Mohammadian Reality (supra chap. v): on the one
hand a prophet, a Nabî who is sent, and with him a light which comes
from the Book that he brings; on the other hand, a Nabi who is by
How do we picture the difference between the revelations given himself light, and with whom there is a Book.
to earlier prophets who “brought a Book,” and the revelation that was The “phenomenon of the Holy Book” therefore takes on a very
the charism of the Seal of the Prophets? particular aspect in the Islamic consciousness, its final aspect, owing
Molla Sadra explains it by relying on a series of Qur'anic verses. The to the fact that it accompanies the coming of the Seal of the Prophets,
spiritual content, the Gnostic reality (haqîqat) of the Qurân, whose precedence among the prophets has just been explained to us.
descended into the heart of the Prophet before the external form of As understood by Shiite theosophy, the faith of the community of this
the Book (the words, the letters), before the Speech (the Logos) prophet (îmân, no longer simply Islâm) will be in essence the gnosis
uttered (Kalâm), it that is to say, before the celestial interlocutor, the of this light, not pure and simple adherence to the letter of the text
Angel, appeared to his gaze. It is of this spiritual essence of the Book that presupposes this light.
that verse 42:52 declares: "We And this is the meaning given to this verse: "He engraved faith in their
Loves and helps them by a Spirit from him" (58: 22). What this faith
230. For what follows, cf. Molla Sadra, Sharh, pp. 455-456 (commentary of the perceives in the appearance of the Last Prophet is the manifestation
4th hadith cited above n. 226). of the divine Name which sums up all the Names,
because it is the terrestrial epiphany of the glorified Logos or eternal prophetic premises of a general theology of religions and of the history of religions, a
Reality (the Haqîqat mohammadîya). theology whose center of perspective cannot be a fact fallen “into the past”; this is
The question we were asking earlier, and to which the vocation of Shi'ism why the horizon of Shiite thought is a paracletic horizon, and we will see without
responds, arises here spontaneously: the last prophet has come, but he is no surprise the figure of the XIIth Imam identified with the Paraclete (in Haydar Âmôli
longer there. His mission was to reveal the Book of which the text is the literal and several others)
231
appearance, the exoteric envelope of this Light which modulated his heart. .
We have already pointed out a common affirmation among Shi'ite authors:

But after him, who will save men from being immobilized before this appearance during the prophetic periods prior to that of the prophet of Islam, the word wali
and will guide them to this esoteric reality which is its light? There must be a guide (plural Awliya') was not used, the word nabi was said . But what has been
whose mission is no longer to reveal a sharî'at, a Law, but to reveal the secret understood since Islam by walâyat is also what was previously designated by
meaning of the latter. The Earth can never be deprived of such a guide, whether prophecy, nobowwat not accompanied by risâlat, that is to say simple prophecy,
he is publicly known, or whether he is in occultation. That's the whole Shiite idea, not the prophetic mission of the Envoy charged with revealing a shari'at. There is
we already know that. The cycle of prophecy was followed by the cycle of walayat, no difference as to the concept, there is only a difference in the use of the word,
that of the spiritual initiation of gnosis; there are no more Nabis, but there are the simply because, Mohammad having proclaimed that he was the Seal of the
Awliyas, the Friends of God, the Gnostics. prophets (Khâtim al anbiyâ'), one does not can no longer use the word nabi. But it
is necessary that in the community of the Last Prophet, there are those men of
whom he himself said: “There are men who are not prophets and whom the
prophets nevertheless envy. These are the Imams, the Friends of God and the
The walayat is the divine love which specifically and initially sanctifies the friends of these Friends. What the Prophet meant by saying: "There shall be no
Twelve Imams as "Friends of God"; their persons are the theophany of this divine prophet after me" is that the "legislative prophecy" was henceforth closed. There
love. Whence the walayat, among their faithful, is the worship of love dedicated will be no more new Law, no revelation of a new sharî'at. But we have learned
to their theophanic persons, as being the form of manifestation of divine love; it is that, the Prophet no longer being there, the Qurân alone could not be the Witness,
through their walayat that their faithful, in turn, can become "Friends of God" (cf. the Respondent, because it is a ciphertext with esoteric depths, the knowledge of
again infra chap. VII). The cycle of the walayat is the cycle of initiation into this which is not acquired from the external, but transmitted by those who know, those
finality of love, as into the secret that gnosis discovers under the letter of prophetic who have inspiration (ilham). This is why this prophecy whose designation we
revelations, because it knows who are those who, from maqam to maqam, are have just recalled as “esoteric prophecy” (nobowwat batiniya) must continue until
the “place of divine Revelation” (cf. supra chap. v). This is why our authors say the end of time. It is that of the Witnesses whose continued succession will bring
that without the walayat, there is no faith which is acceptable to God. This is how about the Resurrection (Qiyâmat) with which our Aiôn will end, when the uncovered
the walayat is an initiation into the secrets of prophecy (it is the batin al-nobowwat), one who will have been until then the hidden, invisible Guide of all these Witnesses
and the "Friends of God" are its initiators. More precisely said again, we have will appear: the Twelfth Imam
seen that, from the gnoseological point of view, the spiritual state of the Nabî tout
court (the prophet not "sent") is characterized by a hierognosis which is common
to the Imams, the Friends of God, the Mohaddathûn , “those to whom the Angels
speak”. This is why it is correct to say that, under the name of walâyat, continues
a form of prophecy which is no longer and will never be the legislative prophecy
of the great prophets sent, but that which has been designated as esoteric
prophecy, that is, relating to inner things (nobowwat batiniya). Because the latter
232
covers the whole history of humanity, one could say that Shi'ism has glimpsed the .
231. Cf. supra, n. 140 et infra t. III, liv. IV, chap. I ; t. IV, liv. VII, chap. III.
232. Molla Sadra, Sharh, p. 447 (on the hadîth to which note 218 refers
above): "This is what the eminent shaykh Sa'doddîn Hamûyeh explains very
well in a book written by him in Persian (Kitâb al-Mahbûb) ", at know that
from Adam to the prophet of Islam, each wali was simply called nabî. On
Sa'd Hamûyeh, famous for his bond of personal devotion with the twelfth
Imam, cf. still below n. 247.

Therefore, when our authors repeat that prophecy (nobow wat) is Sohrawardi wanted to parry the accusation by asking whether it
temporary, while walayat is eternal, the first affirmation relates to was an intrinsic divine impossibility or not, so that the fact would
legislative prophecy (nobow wat al-tashrî'), while the second, relating entail anathema (takfÿr) and condemnation on him (cf. infra book II).
to the walayat, in fact concerns an eternal prophecy, a permanent
qualification of the Friends of God, whose religion is also the eternal So far, the gnoseological relationship between the prophet and the
religion of spiritual humanity. 233 We know that, on the other hand, Imam has appeared to us: the need for the latter's charisma, because,
the notion of walayat dominates all of Sufism; but, precisely, the after the prophet legislator, it was necessary for there to be guides to
specifically Shiite notion of the walayat finally brought to light, we are initiate into the esoteric meaning of the prophetic revelations. The
faced with this question: will it be permitted henceforth to speak of walayat is the esoteric of prophecy (batin al-nobowwat), this is the
the walayat in Sufism while ignoring its Shiite origin? , or, what would most common definition.
be even more serious, by summarily ignoring its fundamental But then the relationship between the prophet and the Imam as a
significance in Shiite theology? This meaning stands in maximum relationship between the exoteric and the esoteric must have from
contrast to the legalistic religion, the exotericism of Sunni orthodoxy. the outset a Gnostic metaphysical foundation. The notion of prophetic
234
Each time, in times past, the latter hasShi'ism,
suspected
theeven
consequences
a crypto- heritage and spiritual heirs of the prophet will only exemplify in the
have been dramatic. I will recall the trial of Sohrawardî (ob. 587/1191) terrestrial world the structure of the eternal prophetic Reality, the
in Aleppo. The decisive question was this: “You claimed in your books Haqîqat mohammadiya, the mohammadian idea , previously
that God can create a prophet whenever he wants? In fact, the considered at the different heights of the horizon. metaphysical. We
accusation refers to the prologue of the great book of "Eastern must now consider this structure from the angle of the prophetic
Theosophy" (Hikmat al-Ishrâq) where Suhrawardî affirms the mission in this world.
continuous presence of a Qotb, the "pole" of which the Earth can
never be deprived. But we now know all that this idea implies. As well
is it enough that 3. - The prophetic heritage and the Imamate
Here we will mainly follow Haydar Âmolî (8th / 14th century)

already frequently quoted, because he excels in implementing, with
fidelity and efficiency, the hadith of his Imams (cf. infra book IV, chap.
I). When we speak of prophetic religion or prophetic philosophy,
these terms naturally presuppose prophecy. Of this we recalled above
233. This is why, prior to the prophet of Islam, a Nabî plain and simple can an etymological definition (p. 235). It is not, of course, about
be superior to a Messenger: “Don't you see that Khezr (Khadir) was a Nabî, “predicting the future”. But given what makes its essence, and since
not a rasûl? Now, it was he who was the initiator of Moses, although Moses
was one of the greatest among the Messengers, since he was a legislative it has always been necessary to guide men on this Earth, can we say
prophet. Or better said: the dimension (jihat) of the prophecy (nobowwat) in when it began? Let's not wait here, of course, to be referred to an
the rasûl is greater than the dimension of his tisâlat (prophetic mission ad empirical history.
extra), because the first is the perfection of the contemplative intellect, while
the second is the perfection of the practical intellect” (Sharh, p. 449). Khezr
is the mysterious prophet who forms a couple with Elijah or is identified with
him. Some Shiite groups have identified him with the twelfth Imam. On the But let's not just expect a myth either. Our authors, we have said,
relationship of interiority and precedence between walâyat, nobowwat and know the facts of metahistory.
risâlat, cf. below § 3. Now, prophecy does indeed have its origin in metahistory. It began
234. See Sharh, p. 453, where Mollâ Sadra quotes chapter 155 of K. al-
Fotû hât al-Makkîya by Ibn 'Arabî. This is one of the flagrant cases in which in Heaven, even before the existence of earthly man (cf. supra chap.
Ibn 'Arabî's deep and secret agreement with Shi'ite thought is revealed. The v); in its variants, the idea is common to Twelver Shiite gnosis and to
couplets which introduce the chapter merely reproduce the doctrine of the ,
Ismaili gnosis. The first prophet was the one who, under his various
hadith of the V VIth and VIIIth Imams (without saying so). The very idea of a designations, presents himself as the celestial Anthropos .
continuation of prophecy under the name of walayat cannot deny its Shiite
origin. And then the rupture is produced by a evasion (at least in appearance)
of Shiite imamology. This is somewhat the whole problem of Sufism. We will The diversification of the categories of prophets, as we have found
again point out below how much Haydar Amoli was painfully affected by it. it exposed by the Imams of Shi'ism, recrosses the
On walayat and wilayat cf. above n. 20.
252 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism differentiation Prophetology and Imamology 253
reminded us by Haydar Amoli 235. When the Shi'ite authors speak of ments showing that the celestial Anthropos of ancient gnosis has become the
prophecy (nobowwat), they make a double series of distinctions. On the one Haqîqat Mohammadiya, the Mohammadian Logos, the archetypal Essence of
hand, there is a "teaching prophecy" (nobowwat al-ta'rîf) that one can the prophet, the eternal Mohammadian Reality. The human reality of the
etymologically designate as "gnostic", because its teaching is the gnosis earthly prophet is not its incarnation; she is its epiphanic figure (mazhar) like
(ma'rifat) of the Essence, divine Names and Attributes; it includes the first a mirror showing an image. It is in this quality that the Prophet, as Seal of the
three categories of prophets of the diagram analyzed above (p. 238), that is prophets, is the manifestation of absolute and universal prophecy. Such is the
to say the one hundred and twenty-four thousand prophets of which the meaning of these remarks repeated indefinitely by all the Gnostics of Islam:
tradition speaks, and which suffices to cover the whole history of the religions. "The first thing that God created was Intelligence", or else "the Pen", or else
And there is the “legislative prophecy” (nobowwat al-tashrî) including the "the Spirit", variants recapitulated in that ci: “The first thing that God created
mission of establishing a sharî'at, a divine law (fourth category of the same was my Light (the Mohammadian Light, Nûr mohammadî). And because this
scheme). On the other hand, prophecy presents a double aspect: an absolute, celestial Anthropos, this Verus Adam, was he whom God created in his own
universal aspect (motlaq, 'âmm), and a restricted, relative, particular aspect image ('alâûrati-hi), he who is its epiphany, its mirror, can say: "He who has
(moqayyad, khâss). seen me has seen God. No less frequently, this statement, which contains a
precise evangelical reminiscence, is attributed to the Imam. 237 This is
because the eternal prophetic Reality is, in fact, a bi-unity, a dyadic unity.
This particular aspect is that which is manifested in each of the prophets,
each prophet being an epiphany (mazhar) of the eternal prophetic reality. As
for the absolute and universal aspect of prophecy, only the Seal of the
prophets is its epiphany.
We find the idea of it, long before Ibn 'Arabî, already in the great texts of
To understand it, it is necessary to meditate on the prophecy in its origin Ismaili Shi'ite gnosis, where it appears as the dyad of the First Intelligence
(cf. supra chap. V, the primordial Mohammadian Reality), to reach the pre- and the Soul, or else the dyad of the first two. Intelligences of the Pleroma.
eternal reality of the Prophet, that which is expressed in a paradox like this: The eternal prophetic Reality (Haqîqat mohammadîya) presents two aspects,
"I was already a prophet, while Adam was still between water and clay (i.e. two faces, two “dimensions”: that of the exoteric which is that of prophecy
not yet formed). Such a statement refers to the primordial, ideal prophecy (nobowwat), and that of the esoteric which is that of walâyat or the Imâmat
(nobowwat haqîqîya) which blossoms in pre-eternity, from before time, and (cf. supra chap. v, the Twelve Imâms as the site of the prophetic mission,
permanent from century to century (nobowwat azalîya bâqiya). As for the from maqâm to maqâm). Hence the definition of the walayat as being the
herald of this primordial prophecy, the Ismaili gnosis explains it as being the “esoteric of prophecy”. This eternal prophetic Reality is therefore both the
First Intelligence or Archangel ('Aql awwal) of the Pleroma 236; Twelver source of primordial prophecy and of primordial or archetypal walayat
Shiite gnosis designates him under various titles: the Supreme Caliph, the ( asliya ).
Pole of Poles, the Sublime Spirit (Rûh a'zarn), the Supreme Calame, Homo
maximus (Insân kabîr), Verus Adam (Adam haqîqî) , as many designated
This is why it is designated as the Source of Life ('ayn al-Hayat), which must
be sought through the darkness of Nature, through that of literal religion, to
discover this spiritual Light of which we are It has been said that it was, in
the heart of the Prophet, prior to the letter of his revelations, and which from
235. The texts studied in the following pages belong to the great work his heart reflects on the heart of his spiritual heirs, the Twelve Imams. “The
of Haydar Âmolî, entitled Jâmi' al-Asrâr, published with another of his Source of Life is the esoteric of the Divine Name the Living (batin al-ism al-
books under the title of La Philosophie shî'ite (supra p. 56, n. 29 ). For Hayy). He who has truly understood it, drinks the water from the Source of
what follows, we generally refer to book III, 2nd qâ'ida, pp. 379-395.
Life, and he who drinks from this water, will never die, because he is alive
236. On the inauguration of prophecy "in Heaven" by the da'wat
( kerygma) of the first Intelligence of the Pleroma, cf. our book Ismaili with the divine life; and every living thing in the world lives by the life of this
Trilogy, pp. 141, 150 ss., 162. We note that the same idea is found in a
Twelve-century Shiite theosophist of the fifteenth century, 'Alî Torkeh
Ispahânî (ob. in Herat, 830/1427) in a booklet used by the author of
Dabestan (17th century). There even this prophetology is imputed to the and
Ishrâqîyûn, that is to say to the school of Sohrawardî. See below . III, book. IV, ch. III. 237. Cf. Ismaili Trilogy, 3 part, pp. (40-51).
Perfect anthropos (kâmil, teleios), because his life is the very life of God. » an Imam, knowing the esoteric of eternal prophecy), while Adam was still
between water and clay. »
Like prophecy, therefore, the walayat will have to present a double aspect: All of this, said in very broad strokes, allows us to understand a set of
an absolute and universal aspect, and a particular aspect. This was already traditional declarations in which the indissoluble bi-unity of the prophet and
manifested in all the Friends of God (Awliya) who, during the earlier periods the Imam, of prophecy and initiation or gnosis, of the exoteric (zahir) and
of prophecy, simply bore the name of Nabis. As for the absolute walayat , esoteric (batin). These, for example, where the Prophet declares: “I and 'Ali
the esoteric of the celestial Anthropos, it had its manifestation in the one who are one and the same Light. “We were, I and 'Ali, one and the same Light
was closest to the Prophet on earth by the double spiritual and earthly before God, fourteen thousand years before he created Adam. It is not, of
kinship, 'Alî ibn Abi-Tâlib, the 1st Imam, the 'Amir of the Believers. Hence, course, a question of years of our computing, but of pleromatic time (the
the Twelve Imams forming only one essence (haqîqat), it is the Mohammadian “absolutely subtle” time of which Qâzî Sa'îd Qommî speaks). Another
Imâ mat as such, which is the seal of the walâyat, that is to say of esotericism statement defines the rank of the eternal Imam in relation to the temporary
239
or the gnosis of all prophetic religions. Just as Mohammad had been the legislative prophecy.
(secretly),
“'Aliwith
wasme
commissioned
he was so publicly.
with eachWhich
prophet
means:
invisibly
each
Seal of the prophets, the Mohammadian Imam seals the walayat in the prophetic religion has included an esotericism, a gnosis, the existence of
person of the 1st Imam as the Seal of the absolute walayat , and in the which has remained secret. The mission of the last prophet is characterized
person of the 12th Imam as the Seal of the walayat or the Mohammadian by the fact that it publicly announces its existence, the teaching of it being
gnosis . This is why the 1st Imam was also able to say, echoing the Prophet: reserved for the Imam. In a sermon of extraordinary significance (the Khotbat
"I was a wali (that is to say al-Bayân quoted above), the Imam will say: "I am the one who holds the
secret of the Messenger of God 240. " The Mohammadian Imam is thus the
eso teric of all previous religions, but the manifestation of this gnosis will only
be complete, uncovered and without veil, at the time of the parousia of the
Mahdî, the twelfth and last Imam, as Seal of the Mohammadian walayat,
which is as such the Seal of the universal walayat .
238. It is here that Ibn 'Arabî adopts a position which appears aberrant to
Haydar Âmoli and to all the Shi'ites. His entire doctrine of prophecy and
walayat proceeds from Shiite premises (supra p. 250, n. 234). Nevertheless,
he posits that the Seal of the absolute, universal walayat is not the I Imam,
but
is
Jesus. to
seems Asus,
foron
thethis
Seal of the
point, Mohammadian
that walâyat
its commentator Dâwûd, itQaysarî
would be itself (it
exaggerated the scope of a famous dream, by transposing it to the plane of
hiero-history). It would therefore be necessary to study the position they take
on this point among the commentators of the Fosûs . Haydar Amoli professes
immense admiring respect for Ibn 'Arabî (he himself commented on the By showing us how imamology emerges spontaneously from prophetology,
Fosûs), but he cannot compromise on this point. Ibn 'Arabi's thesis disrupts these texts present to us the rigorous sequence of the essential themes of
all of prophetology; it is impossible to make of a prophet sent, prior to the Seal Shiite thought. It is through the motif of the Anthropos, of eternal prophetic
of Prophecy, the “Seal of the Walayat ”. A whole chapter of Book III of Jâmi'
al-Asrâr (pp. 355-448 of our edition) is therefore devoted to refuting Ibn Reality, that we can understand how and why the Imamate, with its
'Arabî's thesis by the triple path of theological tradition, philosophy and
theosophy. . Haydar Âmolî will come back to this at length in the preamble to
his commentary on the Fosûs. We cannot insist here on this controversy as 239. The figure of fourteen thousand is certainly no coincidence here. Just
such, which should be analyzed in detail. as in Ismaili gnosis the procession of the Seven divine Verbs or Cherubim,
during the "stupor" of the celestial Adam, will determine the septenary rhythm
It marks very well the moment when Shi'ism finds its good in Ibn 'Arabi, and of the cycles of redemption (Ismaili Trilogy, index sv seven), so the number
the moment when it must separate itself from it, for reasons which go back to fourteen figures here the “pleromatic time” of the procession of the “Fourteen
the original relations, still rather obscure, between Shi'ism and Sufism. . An Immaculates”.
anonymous glossator (p. 443, in note) suspects that there is perhaps a case 240. This is what is meant by the qualification of 'Alî ibn Abi-Tâlib as Seal
of taqîyeh in Ibn 'Arabî: "Often I noticed, he says, that in their language the of the universal walayat , that is to say of the walayat of all the prophetic
mystics use the name of Jesus by meaning the Holy Spirit and the res divina; religions, just as Mohammad is the Seal of the prophets. .
both refer to the Amir of the believers (the First Imam). This “aberration” of Ibn Hence some of these extraordinary texts, such as this sermon in which this
'Arabî then highlights the relationship between imamology and Christology. or that Imam expressed not limited in time, but an eternal Imam: “I am the
This question will be discussed further below, t. III, book. IV, ch. 1. gnosis of the mysteries. I am the Threshold of thresholds... I am the Face of God.
I am he who in the Gospel is called Elijah, etc. I am the one who holds the
secret of the Messenger of God” (Khotbat al-Bayân, supra n. 64).

esoteric function, is the heir of prophecy; how, through the gnoseology which Added to this are personal investiture (nass) and impeccability ('ismat), all of
situates the rank of the Imam, the idea of a science which is a spiritual heritage which designated the Twelve Imams as heirs (Awsiya) of the Prophet. But their
and which contrasts with all knowledge acquired from outside will become clearer. inheritance precisely is not the external, exoteric function, that is to say the
This outcome will have a decisive importance, because Shiite spirituality legislative prophecy. It is essentially the esoteric (always remember the definition:
culminates in the personal experimental verification of the maxim: "He who knows the walayat is the esoteric of prophecy). It is their knowledge, and with it the mode
himself (his soul), knows his Lord", that is to say his Imam . It culminates in the of this knowledge, which is precisely this heritage whose titles originate, before
discovery of this personal Guide, the one one must have known in order not to their earthly kinship, with their pre-existence in the Pleroma. The heritage
die having lived in unconsciousness. But this is not knowledge acquired from transmitted to the Imams is not the tanzîl (“to bring down” the revelation), but the
outside, but an inheritance given to the soul. ta'wîl (“to lead back” the letter of this revelation to its source).
In order to fully grasp the notion of a knowledge which is the heritage of the As for the nature of the kinship of the Prophet with the first Imam (and through
soul, it is therefore important first of all to identify the way in which the Shiite him with the eleven other Imams), it is expressed in this capital text, where the
authors represent the transmission of the prophetic heritage to the Imam, which Prophet (after the battle of Khaybar) addresses himself in these words to the
means, in the first place, the transmission of this Light which constitutes the pre- Imam: "If I were not afraid that a group of my community could say about you what
existing bi-unity of the Prophet and the Imam. Since the creation of Adam, the the Christians say about Christ (Masih), I would say something about you today
deposit of this Light, of their Spirit (the Rûh mohammadî), passed, from generation that would make you would no longer pass close to a group without the dust of
to generation, preserved from all defilement (in particular from that of shirk, the your steps being collected, and because of your extreme purity a remedy would
ignorance which disintegrates the divine Unity) , until the time when 'Abdol not be sought.
Mottalib, the common ancestor of Mohammad and 'Ali, appeared, in whose double
person the primitive bi-unity of the prophet and the Imam was split. But let it be enough for you to be part of me as I am part of you. Then he who will
inherit you will inherit from me, for you are in relation to me like Aaron in relation
241 to Moses, with this difference that after me there will be no more prophet This text
.
confirms what
242
precedes: constitutive, eternal essence (haqîqat), of the Seal of the
This representation makes us understand why the Shiites tirelessly reaffirm Envoys and that
. » of the Seal of the Friends of God (Awliya), of the Gnostics, is one
their position, because it has most often been misunderstood or misunderstood, and the same essence considered as regards the exoteric nature of prophecy
namely, that no man was ever worthy of the Imamate and the caliphate by his in the person of the Prophet, and as regards to the esoteric walayat in the person
only descent. carnality of the Prophet (nisbat jismânîya, hissîya, surîya), but that of the Twelve Imams. This pleromatic relationship having been established, let us
it also requires spiritual kinship (nisbat ma'nawîya), a spiritual kinship which examine how we represent the detail of things in the phenomenal world ('âlam al-
originates in the pre-existence of the primordial Mohammadian Reality. We have zâhir), as illustrated by a text like this where the Prophet declares, speaking of the
already insisted on this. What we have just read suggests to us that it is not Imam: His secret involves living my life and dying my death. He is like a branch
because they were the family of the Prophet that the Imams were the Imams, but that my God has planted with his own hand. He said to him: Be, and he is
it is conversely, because they were the Imams, that they had to be the members
of the Holy Family (the ahl al-bayt). This family relationship is only the
manifestation, in the visible world, of their pleroma tic unity. This is why it is never
a simple external carnal relationship, but an initially spiritual relationship.
242. Haydar Amoli (§ 817) quotes this hadîth of investiture from the book
of Akhtâb Khwârezmî, chap. XIV (Manâqib, Najaf 1965, p. 96), then gives a
long passage from Ibn 'Arabî (Cairo I ed., p. 119), which explicitly recognizes
It is this double kinship, earthly and spiritual, to which this unique relationship between the first Imam and the Prophet. And yet,
Ibn 'Arabî will move the Seal of the walâyat to transfer it to the person of
241. On the transmission of this Light, cf. the long hadîth of the cosmogony Jesus. Haydar Amoli cannot explain this inconsistency of Ibn 'Arabî.
(the Imams as the first created beings), commented on in the Tafsîr Mir'at al
Anwâr, p. 29; Haydar Amoli, op. cit., § 818.
(2: III and passim, which means that the Imam's ancestry is in itself simple phetosis; this in turn is the esoteric of legislative prophecy.
a vertical ancestry going back to the divine will, not the simple Now, the superiority of a spiritual state being determined in proportion
consequence of earthly generation, the latter only stemming from to its interiority, because divine proximity and independence with
that -the). May God take care of 'Ali and the heirs (Awsiya) of my regard to external things are a function of interiority, walayat, gnosis,
posterity after me (that is, of the eleven other Imams), for they will be therefore has the overall superiority. Haydar Amoli will say, for
the Guides (hodât, plural of hâdî), the Faithful, the Approved. God example, that the prophetic mission ad extra (the risâlat or legislative
will have given them my understanding and my science, which prophecy) is like the bark; the inner, esoteric prophecy (nobowwat
means that, being at the height of my rank, they are worthy of the batiniya) is like the almond; the walayat is like the oil that this almond
caliphate (that is to say of being my successors) and of the Imamate. conceals (cf. the figure below). A whole series
»
What qualifies the Imams as heirs of the Prophet is therefore that
they have the same degree of intelligence and knowledge as the
Prophet. This is precisely what qualifies each of them, as we have
seen, as Qayyim al-Qorân, Maintainer of the Qurân.
For the legislative prophecy is closed. We specified, a moment ago,
that the Imams are not the heirs of legislative prophecy; what they
inherit is the walayat of the prophet. But this presupposes that there
is in the prophet something more than his legislative mission, this
something which cannot be accounted for by the exotericism of Islam
alone, and which Shiism affirms as the gnosis of Islam. . A very
simple diagram makes us understand this.
We have been told that during his earthly career, the Nabî
Rasûl does not immediately attain the rank of Envoy. The examples of correspondences will repeat the same analogy of relations. We
cited with predilection are those of Abraham and Mohammad himself. will have as homologous series of the risâlat-nobowwat walâyat
He begins by being a wali (the term so frequently forming a pair with series, in the order of progression ad intra: the sharî'at (the literal
the term 'arif, here translated, as we have already done, by "gnostic"); religion), the mystical way (tarîqat), the spiritual realization (haqîqat);
then a Nabi, then a Nabî-Rasûl (this last degree, after the preceding the exoteric, the esoteric, the esoteric of the esoteric (batin al-batin);
stages, is indicated in the case of the prophet Mohammad by the theoretical certainty through information ('ilm al-yaqin), eyewitness
visible manifestation of the Angel). But, if the quality of Envoy (rasûl) certainty ('ayn al-yaqin), certainty through personal inner realization
presupposes the walâyat and the nobowwat, on the other hand the (haqq al-yaqin).
quality of wali and that of nabî do not imply any necessity of a later
passage to the state of Nabî-morsal or rasûl. The relationship It follows that the Prophet, before reaching the state of envoy
between these spiritual states, that is to say, on the one hand legislator (rasûl), had to pass through the state of wali or 'ârif (gnostic),
between the walâyat (state of the Friend of God, object of divine the walâyat (the gnosis of the Friend of God ) having in him, because
love), simple prophecy (nobowwat) and, on the other hand , the of his deeper interiority, precedence over quality. of prophet sent. It is
mission of the legislative prophet (risâlat), has given rise, among in fact an axiom constantly repeated by our authors: the walâyat (the
Shiite authors, to extensive theosophical meditations. The progression spiritual state of the Friend of God as Gnostic) is superior to the state
from the walayat to the legislative prophetic mission is seen as a of Nabî-Envoy, since it precedes the latter and in is the source.
progression starting from the most intimate, the interior, the esoteric
and going, towards the exterior, the exoteric. By representing them Only, in affirming this superiority, Twelver Shi'ism considers the
by three concentric circles, our authors, Haydar Âmoli, for example, three states as they are present in the person of the Prophet, and it
will say that the walâyat (divine love, spiritual initiation, gnosis) is the is this walayat, the privilege of his most intimate spiritual state, that
esoteric of pro he transmitted to the Imams. It is in the very person of the Prophet
that the walayat is superior to the

nobowwat. The essential difference (Haydar Amoli underlines it) between and where the Prophet declares: “Sometimes there is for me with God a moment
Twelver Imamite Shi'ism and Ismaili Shi'ism, at least the reformed Ismailism of (waqt) when neither Prophet Sent nor Angel of the highest rank can contain me.
Alamût (proclamation of the Great Resurrection, August 8, 1164) appears on In such a statement, the Prophet no longer expresses himself as the Messenger
this point. Because, from the superiority of the walâyat on the legislative who must receive the text that the Angel "sends down" (tanzil) and communicates
prophecy, the Ismaili gnosis concludes with the superiority of the person of the to him (wahy). He speaks like a wali, an ecstatic gnostic. And precisely, explains
Imam on the person of the prophet. No doubt this tendency has been latent
Haydar Âmoli, it is the esoteric of the prophet (batin al-nabî), that is to say what
since the origins of Shi'ism, and the Ismailism of Alamût perhaps only remained
in his person is in the rank of his walâyat, which receives the divine Outpouring
faithful to this primitive tendency. But the result is a radical transformation of
(al- fayz min Allah) without intermediary, and from the esoteric of his person this
Islam into a pure religion of the Spirit, and with the abolition of the Law, of the
divine Outpouring spreads over his exoteric which, in his person, is the rank of
sharî'at, something like an anticipation of eschatology, that is to say of the
prophecy. As this second moment is that of the visible appearance of the Angel
liberation that the last Imam, the Mahdÿ, would accomplish by establishing the
in the waking state, the first moment is therefore that when, before any external
reign of the pure spiritual sense of the prophetic Revelations But we are
communication from Gabriel, the Angel of Revelation who is the guide of the
sticking here to the middle way represented by the gnosis of Twelver Shi'ism.
Prophet , the latter, at the limit of his transconsciousness, encounters the
Even there, if the person of the Prophet retains precedence over that of the
243 “Gabriel of his being”. This is what is meant by the affirmation that the wali
Imam, there is always at least a latent tendency to profess the equality of both.
.
The reason for this is that in the very person of the Prophet, the walayat draws from the very source from which the Angel draws the revelation that he
takes precedence over the legislative prophetic mission, and it is precisely this communicates to the Envoy. This is why the prophetic psychology of our authors
walayat that the Imam inherits from him, because they are Prophet and Imam. , suggests to us something of primary importance for our theme of the guide
the same pleromatic essence, and that the Prophet only has to manifest the which is at the same time the guided. The significance of the Angel in prophetic
exoteric, while the role of the Imam, as Seal of the universal walayat , is to gnoseology is inseparable from knowledge by the Heart and by the “spiritual
make known the esoteric (let us remember the statement: "'Ali was missioned senses” of the heart.
secretly with each prophet; with me he was visibly so"). The Imam is therefore
properly qualified by the spiritual state which, in the Prophet, takes precedence
over his own prophetic mission. There is, of course, a constant tension in
Shi'ism between gnosis and the Law, a prophetic religion remaining prophetic
only on the condition of constantly going beyond the revealed letter, without But precisely this spiritual state superior to the legislative prophetic mission
however ever separating from it. and which conditions it, a state which is the walayat of the Prophet and which is
in him the source of his prophetic mission and his prophetic message (his
risâlat), this state, he it is not for the Prophet to manifest it. The personal
manifestation of the walayat in the visible terrestrial world is what is specifically
reserved for the Imam, whose person in essence is made of the same Light, this.
Light which is the Spirit and the essence of the eternal prophecy (the Haqîqat
We have been told above that the spiritual, Gnostic reality (the haqîqat) of mohammadîya). This is why, if it is true that, to a certain extent, with the theme
the Qurân descended into the heart of the Prophet before the form of words of the eternal Reality of the prophet, Islamic gnosis reproduces the theme of the
and letters, that is to say before the visible appearance of the Angel "dictating" Verus Propheta of Judeo-Christian prophetology (the True Prophet hastening,
the text to the Prophet. The meditation of our thinkers has led them to the prophet to prophet, to the place of his rest which will be here Mohammad, later
depths of prophetic psychology. That the Prophet remains the wali (the gnostic) than Jesus), it must be added that the idea of this prophecy, for the prophetic
who is in him superior to the Envoy legislator, they find the attestation in this philosophy of Shi'ism, is not separate from that of its hermeneutics .
statement which had an extraordinary fortune in Shi'ism as in Sufism,
The prophetic revelation “descended” from the celestial heights with which
the Prophet's transconsciousness (the sirr) communicates , to take the exoteric
and
243. For the imamology of Alamût, cf. our Ismaili Trilogy book 3 pp. part, form of the letter (this is the tanzîl). To know the spiritual meaning of the text as
(3-23), and the article cited above n. 52. well
"descended", it is necessary, as we already know, "to lead back" this text to One could indefinitely multiply the citations of texts attesting to the
its origin, and it is this operation which signifies, both as regards etymology awareness of the holy Imams of being the spiritual heirs. Let us limit ourselves
and as regards the concept, the ta'wîl, the spiritual exegesis. This is why the to this one from the 4th Imam, 'Alî Zaynol-'Abidîn (ob. vers 95/714): "We
prophetic line is doubled, from prophet to prophet, by the line of the Imams, recognize in a man, when we see him, the reality of faith or that of hypocrisy .
which begins with Seth, son and Imam of Adam. Because the ta'wîl is the Our shî'ites (our faithful followers) have their names written with those of their
ministry of the Imam, because the walayat is the esoteric which is the heritage ancestors. God has received the commitment from us and from them (mithâq,
of the Imam. It is this eternal walayat , which pre-exists and will super-exist cf. supra III, 2). They pass by the way we pass. They enter through the
this terrestrial world, which founds the initiatic ministry of the Imam as Qayyim entrance through which we enter.
al-Qoran.
We are the Nojabâ (princes and spiritual guides). We are named in the Book
The Imam has to "maintain" the Book against the decline of a pure literalism,
of God. We are among all humans closest to the Book of God, closest to the
that of a purely exoteric Islam, by maintaining its link with the Spirit which
religion of God. We are the ones for whom this religion was established. For
inspired it in the Heart of the Prophet, and which is the real meaning. It is all
God says in his Book: There has been established for you a religion, which he
this that constitutes the essence of the Shiite idea of the Imam, as heir of the
inherited Noah long ago, and which We have revealed to you, O Muhammad!
Prophet.
the one of which we made heirs Abraham (42: 11), Isrnaël, Isaac and Jacob.
It is therefore not a question of an inheritance simply based on carnal descent.
Now, therefore, we are those who know, and our science has been transmitted
Or rather, as we have seen, the external earthly relationship between the to us, because we have been made, we, the depositaries of their science. We
Twelve Imams and the Prophet is only the sign of their original relationship, in
are the heirs of the prophets; we are the heirs of the ulû'l-'azm (the six great
their pre-existence in this world. And this union in the Pleroma is the model
and the source of all spiritual kinship. legislative prophets among the Messengers)”.
4. - The science inherited from the prophets

From this text it emerges that the heritage transmitted from the prophets to
We can understand here the paradoxical, even scandalous appearance the Imams is prophetic knowledge itself, and that consequently they are the
that certain positions take on in the eyes of Shiite Gnostics, even among culmination in view of which the institutions of the prophets were established,
Sunni Sufis, who owe to Shiism, to Imamism, the very idea of a prophetic for they know of them. the esoteric. Now, their Shi'ites, their followers, "go
heritage, and which deform or mutilate it with astonishing unconsciousness. through the same path as them, enter through the same door." It is perfectly
When the Sufis profess that the legislative prophecy is complete, while the explicit: any philosophical thought that emerges from Shi'ism will be a prophetic
walayat persists eternally, the Shiites certainly agree. But they are no longer philosophy. In all the hadiths where they say "our shî'ites", the Imams do not
so when it happens to non-Shi'ite Sufis to declare that the successors of the think of carnal kinship. Haydar Âmolî is very explicit: it is not enough to be a
prophetic mission are the canonists, in other words the "four imams" founders Sayyed (an 'Alawî, a Fatemi etc.), it is not enough to have an external filiation,
of the four great legal rites of Islam. Sunni, while they themselves, the Sufis, because this does not in itself give any title to a inheritance which is spiritual,
perpetuate the walayat. This distribution begins in fact by admitting the not external. In the order of external filiation, it can go as it was for that of the
existence of an exoteric (zahir) which would subsist independently of the sons of Noah who was not saved from the deluge 245. “O Noah! no, this son
esoteric (batin), which is the pure and simple negation of the nohowwat is not one of yours”
batiniya and of the Shiite conception of Islam
(II: 48). In the absence of affinity (monâsabat) resulting from the commitment
244
. to the spiritual path (tarîqat), therefore in the absence of qualification, it is the
very aptitude for the inheritance that
244. Haydar Âmolî is particularly attached here to chapter XIV of the Fosûs
of îbn 'Àrabî ('Ozayr, that is to say Esdras) and to the commentary of Dâwûd 245. To be compared with the divine response to Abraham: "My promise
Qaysarî, ed. 'Affifi, pp. 131 ss. does not extend to the wicked" (2:118). See above § 2.
Prophetology and Imamology 265

of believers is more important than the carnal ancestry that connects me to
is actually absent. On the other hand, this aptitude exists among those who
him (walâyatî li-Amiri'l-mu'minîn khayr min wilâdatî min-ho). This sentence
are called the Owaysis, those who, without an earthly shaykh, without a
summarizes what we have identified so far.
human guide like them, have been guided internally by the Imam 246. This
same aptitude is typified par excellence in the person of Salmân the Persian,
On the other hand, we read in the tradition of Sunni Sufism, for example in
Salmân the Pure (Salmân Pâk), this son of a Mazdean knight, who became a
Christian and went in search of the True Prophet, because the Prophet (or the Dâwûd Qaysarî (ob. 751/1350), commentator of Ibn 'Arabî, certain things
1st Imam) declared about him: "Salmân is part of we, the members of the which scandalize a Shi'ite author like Haydar Âmoli. The Sunni author
Family (Salmân minnâ ahl al-Bayt). It is not by an exterior carnal filiation distinguishes between a double category of heirs: 1) a category which relates
(nisbat suriya) but by a spiritual filiation (nisbat ma'nawîya) that Salmân to the exoteric (zahîr) and to the sharî'at; they are the canonists, the doctors
became "a member of the Family of the Prophet". Now, there is no spiritual of the Law, the scholars of the exoteric ('olamâ' al-zâhir); 2) a category which
aggregation to a carnal family, or else this family must become eo ipso spiritual relates to the esoteric (batin) and to the walâyat. These are all the Awliyas in
family, for this aggregation to be intelligible. This is why Haydar Âmolî insists general.
on it: the adoption of Salmân implies that the term of Family, of House (Bayt),
does not concern the carnal, exterior family (bayt sûrî), including both wives Haydar Âmolî is surprised: not a word in Dâwûd Qaysarî on the Immaculate
and children, but the “Family of knowledge, gnosis and wisdom” (Bayt al-'ilm Imâms, those whose walâyat, in the absolute and particular sense, as well as
wa'l-ma'rifat wa'l-hikmat). the quality of heirs are nevertheless established by traditions, theology and
philosophy. The Shiite author is astonished at this evasion. In fact, it goes
back a very long way: from the moment when Sufism managed to speak of
the walayat while ignoring the source of this walayat.
So effectively passed over in silence, insists Haydar Âmoli, that the Awliya
This obviously presupposes that this family exists. Precisely this family become all believers without distinction, whereas there is no faith, in the full
are the holy Imams, as Haydar Amoli again shows by comparing the Prophet sense of the word, without the walayat, and the walayat would be inconceivable
to the father according to the flesh, and the Imam to the spiritual father (ab without these "Friends of God" (the Imams) who are initially the form of
ma'nawî). And this because, if the carnal lineage no longer has any meaning manifestation of divine love (cf. again infra chap. VII), and thereby even
for the other world, the same applies to the external, exoteric link with the without the Family to which all the emulators of Salmân are aggregated 247
Prophet Sent, that is to say, the obligation to comply with the obligations of Furthermore, Dawud Qaysari coldly declares :
the sharî'at , disappears into the other world; only counts and matters the
spiritual lineage created by the link with the Imam, that is to say with the
spiritual reality of prophetic revelation. The Imam is therefore the source of
247. Haydar Âmolî refers here, like Molla Sadrâ above (n. 232), to the Kitâb
the spiritual affiliation typified in Salman. And it is so true that Imam Ja'far al-Mahbûb of Sa'doddîn Hamûyeh, where the latter declares: "It is not permitted
defines his own lineage by declaring: "My walayat (the bond of my spiritual to use the name of Wali in the general sense as well as in the particular sense,
devotion) towards the Amir after the Messenger of God, for someone other than 'Ali and his (eleven)
descendants” (op. cit., p. 431). It therefore occurs as a kind of secularization of
the walayat in Sunni Sufism. Sa'doddîn Hamûyeh or Hamûyî was one of the
pupils and kholafâ' (successors) of Najmoddîn Kobra; he was the master of 'Azîz
246. The qualification of Owaysîs comes from the name of a pious ascetic of Nasafî, he was the friend of Sadroddin Qonawî, and corresponded with Ibn
Yemen, Oways al-Qaranî, who knew the Prophet and was known to him, without 'Arabî. After pilgrimage for twenty-five years between Syria, Iraq and Khwarezm,
them having ever met during their lifetime; he was one of the first Shiite martyrs he settled in Khorassan, his native country, where he died in 650/1252. Cf.
(31/657). Cf. our book on Ibn 'Arabi (supra p. 184, n. 149), pp. 26 ss., 29, 41, 45 Rayhânât II, p. 193, no. 409. As we have already indicated, he distinguished
ss., 49. As Owaysîs one quotes great Iranian Sufis such as Abû'l-Hasan himself by his personal relationship with the twelfth Imam. In the eyes of Haydar
Kharraqânî (ob, 425/1034) who had for guide the spiritual entity, the Angel Amoli, Dâwûd Qaysarî is largely responsible for the deviation from the doctrine
(rûhânîya), of Abu Yazîd Bastâmî, and 'Attâr of Nishapour (circa 617/1220) who of Ibn 'Arabî as to the person of the Mahdî (other commentators, Kamâl Kâshânî,
had for guide the Angel or the being-of-light of Hallâj. for example, do not doubt that the seal of the Awliya Mohammadians, the twelfth
The same spiritual fact is found in the form of "Perfect Nature", as the guide or Imam, i.e. the Mahdî). Moreover, Dawud confuses the question, and we no
"angel" of the philosopher, in the Hermeticism of the Arabic language. longer know if he is talking about the Seal of the general walâ yat or the Seal of
See below . II, book. II, the pages devoted to this question in the work of Sohra the Mohammadian walâyat . Haydar has this severe judgment about him: "If
wardî.
Dawud Qaysari puts himself in opposition to the ma-
the heirs of the Prophet are those whom current usage in Sunnism calls can be a science of heritage (“traditional” in the etymological sense). The
the “four imams”. The word imam here no longer has the technical Shiite science which is heritage is necessarily the science of the esoteric, this
meaning here: it designates the four founders of the four great legal rites: science which the Imams possess precisely as heirs of the Prophet, and
Abu Hanifa, founder of the Hanafi rite (see in note the account of a moving with them their followers, their “Shi'ites”.
interview between Imam Ja 'far and Abu Hanifa) 248; Ahmad ibn Hanbal,
founder of the Hanbali rite; Malek ibn Anas, founder of the Maliki rite; al- Is it to exoteric scholars, to the science of canonists, to any science
Shâfi'î, founder of the Shafi'ite rite. A venerable shaykh to whom I once acquired from outside, that we must relate certain sayings of the Prophet:
explained the phenomenon which we call "secularization of the spiritual", "The ink of scholars is more precious than the blood of martyrs." “The
remarked: "Similar thing happened very early in Islam, when we rejected scholars of my community are the counterparts of the prophets of Israel. »
the teaching of our Imams to prefer them that of the four founders of legal
rites. In this way, Shiite gnosis ('irfân-e shî'î) was eliminated. One must Or more briefly: “The scholars are the heirs of the prophets”? If we refer
therefore be seriously mistaken about the essence of Shi'ism to believe it
to the gnoseology outlined here at the beginning, according to the Imams
reducible, as certain attempts have made in our day, to a "fifth" rite
and their commentators, we immediately understand Haydar Amoli's
alongside the four others.
answer: it would be extravagant to say that any scholar in the world is a
heir of the prophets. Analyzing the Arabic phrase, our author shows that it
is to be understood in this sense: "The learned are called those who are
the heirs of the prophets", that is to say those by whom continues, after the
Haydar Amoli's Shi'ite response is formulated from the outset, with
closing of legislative prophecy, secret esoteric prophecy (nohowwat
vehemence: I) First of all, these four characters themselves energetically
batiniya) which is the walayat, that is to say the Imams and their “Shi'ites”.
repudiated all those who, in their time, attributed to them this quality of
heirs of the Prophet as for the shari'at. 2) Moreover, they could not have
claimed this quality, because they did not possess the 'ismat, the
One could raise an objection: to point out that even this knowledge-
impeccability which is the privilege of the "Fourteen Immaculate". 3) In no
heritage, that is to say the theosophical sciences in general, requires effort,
way can their science, which is legal science, therefore science of the
a whole asceticism of the mind and many renunciations . This is so, replies
exoteric ('ilm al-zâhir), pass for a science which is a spiritual heritage ('ilm
Haydar Amoli, but it would be wrong to say that this asceticism and this
irthî). It is a science acquired from outside by the effort of man ('ilm iktisâbî).
research are the source of these sciences; they prepare for it, they make it
The crux of the argument here is that the prophetic heritage cannot concern
fit; they are an instrument, not the cause.
the exoteric as such 249; it concerns the esoteric (batin) of this exoteric,
since it consists of the walayat, which is by definition the esoteric of
prophecy. However, such knowledge is not something that one acquires
from the outside, or that one can build up through syllogisms. 250. Molla Sadrâ (Sharh, p. 453) has a page of fine irony, and still current, on
the contrast between worldly scholars and official sciences ('olûm rasmîya) on the
one hand, scholars familiar with realities of the other world and the spiritual sciences
on the other hand. These, cannot approach them “he who does not have the faculty
of feeling them (the dhawq), whatever his intelligence and his experience […].
The science of the exoteric, it results from an acquisition from the outside Impossible for those who have tasted them to introduce them to those who have
by the effort of man, and this is why it does not never tasted them. What announces to you the pre-eminence of the spiritual
sciences and the scholars of the other world is that it is not impossible to acquire
eminent shâyekh , even with his own shaykh and his own master, it is nothing else the other sciences while loving the world and betraying the essential realities of
on his part than a manifestation of Sunnism (tasannon) allied to Sufism, in order to pure religious feeling. The love of this world can even be a help to acquire them
highlight his position in the eyes of the masses (op. cit. p. 436) . [...], the scholars then face a lot of difficulties because they are aware, by doing
science (bi-hosûl al-'ilm), to advance their career and social advancement (rif'a).
248. See above p. 87, no. 57, the story of this pathetic interview between Imam
Ja'far and Abu Hanifa. On the other hand, the spiritual sciences are incompatible with worldly ambitions.
249. We have seen above (§ 2 at the beginning), in the diagram of gnoseology They only reveal themselves on the condition that we put passions aside, that we
according to Molla Sadra, that the exoteric sciences, canonical sciences of fiercely guard against the society of people who want to be of their time, of their
religious data , remain outside the “spiritual sciences” whose source is directly the easy or vicious mores, so as not to 'attach only to the spiritual life' (on the personal
Donor . Datas. ethics of Molla Sadra, cf. again infra t. IV, book V, chap. II).
For "God acts not by causes, but in causes." The personal divine vision of the Prophet which has already held our attention, — to
gift is accomplished without consideration of a cause. And our insist on a third aspect of hierognosis which can also be joined to
author, to make it understood, resorts to this comparison: “It is like the first two (wahy and ilham). This is what the technical term kashf
a person whose father died leaving him a treasure that he buried designates, "unveiling" (theophanic perception), a term commonly
underground. To release this treasure from the earth, the heir must used in the technical lexicon of mystics, but with details that vary
take pains, dig and reject the earth. But it is not this effort which from person to person. other. It will be a question here of the
produces the treasure (as a syllogism produces its conclusion). mystical unveiling at the F°ur, therefore of a spiritual unveiling, but
No, the treasure is already there. The heir only has to gain access which at the same time reveals a form, a figure (kashf ma'nawî suri).
to it. So it is for all those whose father, the True Adam (Adam
haqîqî, the Verus Propheta, the celestial Adam), left after him, This is why this mode of mystical perception implements what we
buried under the earth of their heart, the treasures of theosophies. have already learned to know as the “spiritual senses” (hawâss
» rûhâniya) of the heart, of which the bodily senses are only the
extension towards the external physical world. .
It is impossible to insist here on the aspects and modalities of The famous hadith reporting the testimony of the Prophet: "I have
this knowledge which is a spiritual heritage. This is the theme of a seen my God in the most beautiful of forms" has solicited,
whole chapter (chapter III of the third book) of Haydar Amoli's great throughout the centuries, the meditation of the mystics and gnostics
work ( Jami' al-Asrâr). Let us again at least note this hermeneutic of Islam.
of the Qur'anic verse 5:70: "If they observed the Torah, the Gospel Let us retain an essential aspect of it, because it signals the
and what God has sent down from above, men would enjoy the moment we mentioned earlier, when the Prophet, as 'ârif (Gnostic),
goods which dominate above their heads. and of those who. are reached the very heart of his walayat, the "Gabriel of his being”.
under their feet. The observance of the Torah, explains our author, Haydar Amoli observes that, if Moses
is the observance of the Law as regards the exoteric. The had the vision of the divine Essence in the form of the Burning
observance of the Gospel is the observance of the Law as to the Bush, all the more reason is this theophanic vision conceivable in
hidden, esoteric meaning. The observance of the Qurân is the the form of Light and in the human Form.
observance of the totality. The verse therefore suggests the triple Our mystics agree that what Mohammad saw in this theophanic
observance of the sharî'at (the Law and the ritual), of the tarîqat perception was his own "form" (the form of his soul, surat nafsi-hi),
(mystical path), of the haqîqat (spiritual realization), a triad whose because it was "the most beautiful form outwardly and internally”.
terms are respectively reported to the most perfect of the great
prophets: Moses, Jesus, Mohammad, so that through these Ibn 'Arabi, for his part, explains it: the theophanic vision never takes
prophets men have the ability to contemplate the invisible realities place except in a form corresponding to the form of the one to
of the spiritual world (haqâ'iq malakûtîya) as well as the visible whom it is shown. But it remains to be clarified in Shiite terms.
realities of this sensible world (haqâ'iq molkîya).
Such as was presented to us the Intelligence of the "eternal
We would then have to analyze the long pages that our authors prophetic Reality" (that of which the Prophet said: "The first thing
devote to the species and variants of what are technically that God created was my Intelligence", "my Spirit", "my Light"), we
designated by the terms wahy (communication by the Angel) and recognized in she the celestial Anthropos , the first Intelligence, the
ilhâm (inspiration). Haydar Amoli shows how all the great thinkers first prophet “in Heaven”. Now, Mohammad as prophet is the
in Islam had to finally join the type of knowledge that is gnosis or terrestrial epiphany of the exoteric of this celestial Anthropos .
mystical theosophy. What he saw during his vision was therefore his own eternal
He is thus led to outline a critical history of philosophy and Essence, the True Adam, the eternal Man, as primordial theophany.
theology in Islam, from the point of view of Shiite theosophy.
But seeing oneself (one's soul) presupposes a myself more intimate
However, the expression that we have just encountered again, to myself than myself, the soul of this self.
the "True Adam" (the celestial Anthropos), invites us, because this Now, precisely we know that the eternal prophetic Reality is at the
is undoubtedly the secret of the famous hadith of the bottom of its essence, a bi-unity, made up of the

primordial reality of prophecy and the primordial reality of the Imamate. What Because the holy Imams are both the Treasurers and the Treasury (that is
is the soul, the spirit and the Heart of this prophetic Reality is its esoteric, to say the interpreters of the meaning and the very meaning ) of divine science,
namely the walâyat, and it is this esoteric which, during the final period of the all the science which is the spiritual heritage of the prophets, that which as
prophecy, is manifested on earth in the person of the Imam. The Prophet and long as such is gnosis and of which we now know by what way it is established
the Imam are respectively the Intelligence and the Soul, or the Logos and the — this science takes us back to the limit-experience where the Guided
Spirit, of the primordial Muhammadan Reality. discovers his Guide and recognizes himself in this Guide. This is also why this
notion of the spiritual heritage of the prophets governs the very idea of the
Also the Prophet frequently designates the first Imam, 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, as succession of cycles, the idea of the "cycle of the walayat " succeeding the
being "his own soul", his "self". And precisely, if the Prophet had the visionary "cycle of prophecy", situating the spiritual in a “meantime”, between the time
perception of "his soul", of his "self", it was as he was himself an 'ârif, that is of the one who was the “Seal of the prophecy” and the time of the parousia of
to say as the walâyat was the inner core of his being, the source of his the “Seal of the Mohammadian walâyat ”. The representation of this double
prophetic mission; it was not a vision belonging to his prophetic mission ad cycle is essential for the prophetology and imamology of Shi'ism.
251 extra Also, is it this same " hadîth of the vision" which put the spirituals
on thewhere
way toone
deepen to thethe
perceives limitecho
the meaning of the Imam,
that the different forms—
of at
thethe limit
same
maxim send back to each other: "He who knows himself, knows his Lord"; —
.
"He who has contemplated his own soul (his self), has contemplated his
Lord, that is, his Imam." — Finally: “He who dies without having known his
Imam, dies the death of the unconscious ”252, since he dies without having 5. - The cycle of prophecy and the cycle of walayat
known “his soul”, without having known “himself”. As we will see again (chap.
VII), some texts of the Imams illustrate these maxims, and give us a closer The two cycles correspond to each other; they are symmetrical to each
glimpse of how and why the figure of the Imam dominates the feeling of Shiite other. The idea of these two homologous cycles suggests something like a
spirituality, the spiritual realization of itself as envisaged by Shi'ism as the “plan of historical permanence”, which obviously only makes sense at the level
religion of the walayat. of hierohistory, not for a positive historical science. The walayat being the
mystery of the Imam, the esoteric into which the teaching of the Imams initiates,
it is both the content of the spiritual initiation and this initiation itself, since the
follower who professes in the intimate to his being the triple shahâdat, is eo
ipso established in the state of dilection of the Friends of God. The cycle of the
walayat, or cycle of the Friends of God succeeding the cycle of the Messengers
of God or prophets, can also be designated as the cycle of spiritual Initiation,
succeeding the cycle of prophecy.
251. The response of Imam Reza, when asked about this vision of the Prophet,
already anticipated that of Ibn 'Arabi and the mystics (cf. supra p. 227, n. 201),
by reporting the age of the character of the vision at the age of Mohammad; the
The keystone of these two cycles are the figures which are respectively
whole context remains visionary (the veils of green, red, white light, and their
mystical meanings). Haydar Âmolî explains: "In reality Mohammad only saw the designated as the “Seals”. The Seal of prophecy (Khâtim al-nobowwat) or the
form of his own soul, which was the most beautiful of Forms externally and Seal of the prophets (Khâtim al-Anbiyâ),_ it is the prophet Mohammad closing
internally... God created Adam in the image of his own form... But precisely the the cycle of legislative prophecy, which began with Adam and continued from
Verus Adam (Adam haqîqî), it is the eternal essence (haqîqat) of the Prophet.
And he saw it in the form of all of its manifestations (mazâhir) as a single form,
period to period, named each with the name of its prophet-legislator (Adam,
because the world is a Homo maximus (insân kabîr). An anonymous glossator Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mohammad). But we also know that, from
adds in the margin: "The haqîqat of the Prophet, his Spirit, his Light, his soul and prophet to prophet, the esoteric "dimension" of the eternal prophetic Reality
his principle (asl), that is to say the Spirit of Spirits, the reality of the reals, is the was secretly present, secretly accompanying each prophet, until it was publicly
Imam. As he said: 'Ali is my Spirit. »
manifested, during the mission of Mohammad, in the person of the Imam. The
252. Compare Kolaynî, Osûl: Hojjat, p. 376 (from the simple Arabic edition).
The same word nafs designates the soul and serves as a reflexive pronoun; our
philosophers have not failed to meditate on this fact.
closing of the cycle of prophecy inaugurates eo ipso the cycle of the walayat We have already pointed out that the idea of the "Seal of Prophecy" derives
in its pure state, that is to say, not preparing for the raising up of a new from a prophetology which manifestly reproduces the features of the Judeo-
prophet and a new Law, but the advent of the One which will reveal the hidden Christian prophetology of the Ebionites: the idea of the Verus Propheta who,
meaning of all previous Revelations, and thus abolish all the constraints of from prophet to prophet, "hastens to his resting place. There is, of course, this
the exoteric. difference that, for Islamic prophetology, the last prophet, "place of this rest"
The walayat is permanent; the legislative prophetic mission is transitory. and "recapitulation" of all the previous prophets, is not already Christ, but the
This is what is further expressed in the notion of universal or absolute walâyat prophet who gave him succeeded and which, according to a view common to
(motlaqa, that is to say independent, "absolves", of the determinations specific all Islamic exegesis of the Qurân, was announced by him Several diagrams
to such and such a prophetic period, since it is present in each). The Seal of are possible. We can imagine a single circle divided into two “hemicycles”: on
253
this absolute Walayat is the First Imam, because the Mohammadian Imam is the one hand, the arc of the descent (qaws al-nozûl, the Revelation, the tanzîl,
.
the esoteric of all previous prophetic Revelations. The walâyat then becomes the prophecy); on the other hand, the arc of the ascent (qaws al-so'ûd, the
the particular Mohammadian walâyat (khâssa), and the Seal of this ta'wîl , the Imâmat, the walâyat). Or on the contrary: on the one hand the arc
Mohammadian walâyat is the one who completes the pleroma of the twelve of the ascent towards the south of plenary prophetic revelation, and on the
persons of the Mohammadian Imâmat, the twelfth Imâm, presents the “hidden other the arc of the descent into the night of esotericism, until dawns the dawn
Imâm”. . It is the whole of the Imamate which is thus the seal of the walayat. of the spiritual Resurrection, the parousia of the twelfth Imam. In either case,
All this representation is grand and coherent. Shî'ite authors, Haydar Âmolî in the figures of the prophets and the Awliya face each other symmetrically on
particular, have been unable to explain how the great mystical theosophist Ibn each of the two arches. Or we can imagine two complete and distinct circles,
'Arabî had dislocated it, by making Jesus the Seal of the absolute walayat . In one symbolizing the "cycle of prophecy" (dâ'irat al-nobowwat), the other
fact, Jesus as ultimate prophet before Mohammad, is the Seal of the Adamic symbolizing the "cycle of walâyat " (dâ'irat al -walayat). Here again, the
walâyat (that is to say of the walâyat particular to the person of each of the respective homologous positions of the prophets and the Awliya will stand out
great legislative prophets since Adam). But, precisely as a prophet, he could clearly. This is how Shamsoddîn Lâhîjî (ob. 912/1506) in his great commentary
not be the Seal of absolute walayat . Perhaps Ibn 'Arabi had to practice a on the "Rose Garden of the Mystery", the work of a famous Azerbaijani mystic,
certain ketman in Sunni circles. Haydar Âmolî devoted long pages to the Mahmûd Shabes tarî (ob. 720/1317), also suggests well both diagrams.
discussion of this theme of the Seal of the walâyat. We have already pointed
this out, and there is no need to dwell on it here (cf. note 247 and infra book
IV, chap. I).
In one case, we have two circles facing each other. In the other case, a single
circle whose two arcs symbolize a “Day” and a “Night” of the world, a cosmic
As for the homology, or better the symmetry between the two cycles, it is “nychthemeron”.
based on the correspondence between the qualifications respectively conferred We thus represent the prophetic succession as drawing a figure in the form
on Mohammad the prophet, and on the twelfth Imam also bearing the name of a circle (dâ'ira, khatt mostadîr), composed of points, which are the existences
of Mohammad: the prophet Mohammad is the Seal final of the prophets and of the prophets.
of the prophecy, the XIIth Imam is the final Seal to come of the mohammadian The starting point of the "cycle of prophecy" in this world was the existence of
walâyat and the Friends of God. In his person is expressed the profound Adam. That with Adam begins the epiphany (zohûr) of prophecy, this means
feeling of Shi'ism, of being the eschatological future of the permanent prophetic that he was the first Manifestation of this eternal reality (haqîqat) which is
religion, common to all humanity. Hence each initiate of the walâyat cycle is prophecy. All the prophets or Nabis who took successive
with the 12th Imam, the Imam "currently hidden from the senses but present
in the heart of his followers", and Seal of the Mohammadian walâyat , in the
same relationship as each of the Nabis or prophets of the cycle of prophecy 253. Cf. Qurân 61: 6: “Jesus, son of Maryam said: O children of Israel! I
am the Messenger of God towards you, confirming the Torah which is former
with prophet Mohammad, Seal of Prophecy. to me and announcing to you the happy news of a Messenger who will come
after me and whose name will be Ahmad. For the hermeneutics of this verse,
see below . III, book IV, no. 96.

place in this cycle, were each respectively a Manifestation, a theophanic form, This homology has been briefly stated above: just as the prophets prior to
of this same eternal prophetic Reality. The cycle reaches its perfection and the Seal of Prophecy were manifestations of the same eternal prophetic
completion in the person of the Prophet Mohammad. Coming last, his earthly Reality (haqîqat-e nobowwat), so the Friends of God, Guides and initiators,
person is itself the epiphany of all the attributes of perfection manifested in are the manifestations of an eternal walayai , which is an initiation into the
the earlier prophets. It is the recapitulation (jâm'îyat ~ anakephalai ôsisjj that esoteric aspects of this prophecy.
is to say, the Plenary Manifestation of the primordial prophetic Reality. From
the moment when the cycle of prophecy ends, the cycle of Initiation begins, And just as the cycle of prophecy has found its perfection and completion in
that is to say the one where it is now up to the Imams, to the Friends of God the Seal of the Prophets (Khâtim al Anbtyâ'), so the cycle of Initiation finds its
254
who are the Beloved of God, to initiate their followers, their friends, into the
.
completion in the Seal of the Initiates, the Seal of the Friends of God (Khâtim
esoteric aspects of prophecy. invested in the person of the prophet; his al-Awliya'). The Shiite idea, the foundation of this eschatological esotericism,
walâyat or divine initiation is the very source of his prophetic mission or is indicated here by a double reason: in the first place the Seal of the Initiates
nobowwat (cf. the diagram, supra p. 259). However, because he is or Friends of God is identified, on the basis of traditions going back to the
commissioned as a prophet, and prophet legislator, his function and his Prophet, with the hidden Imam, the 12th Imam, the child of Imam Hasan
prophetic message (nobowwat and risâlat) exclude his mission to reveal the 'Askari and Princess Narkes (cf. book VII below ). Secondly, the parousia, the
esoteric meaning of the positive religion of which he reveals the letter. This is Appa rait-future of the presently hidden Imâm, will be the manifestation of the
why prophecy and initiation are shared between two persons: the Prophet and divine secrets (haqâ'iq, asrâr-e ilâhî) hidden in the letter of the Revelations
the Imâm This is, we already know, the essential point of the Shi'ite and the prescriptions of positive religion.
duodecimain doctrine concerning the Imamate, the substance of which is
exempified in twelve persons composing the pleroma of the Imamate. For the
cycle of Initiation following the "Seal of the Prophets" there is also, it must not Reign of the tdwîl, this parousia will be the liberation from all the servitudes
be forgotten, an irreducible particularity. While prior to the Mohammadian and gehennas of the Law. Gnosis and theosophy are the preparation and the
period, each prophetic period prepared for the coming of a new prophet, the anticipation of this parousia, insofar as they apply themselves to unveiling this
cycle of the walayat, now that the prophecy is closed, will not have its hidden meaning. This high knowledge will reach its plenitude and its perfection
conclusion in the advent of a new prophet. , that is, of a new positive religion. with the parousia of the Imâm-Guide, the Mahdî, who will close the cycle of
What this cycle prepares for is the parousia or Manifestation of the hidden Initiation.
Imam, and with it the manifestation of the Vahsconditum of all previous
Revelations. The cycle of Initiation which succeeded the cycle of prophecy is This itself suggests the spiritual meaning that should be given to the "end
therefore indeed that of an initiation or an esotericism in its pure state (walayat events" whose crash is described by the eschatological chapters of the shfid
mahz). books with great staging and "return" (raj'at) of prominent figures from previous
cycles. It is this meaning that should be understood, for example, in this hadith
of the Prophet announcing the advent of the last Imam: “The Celestials and
the Terrestrials will recognize him; Heaven will not keep a single drop of its
waters without spreading it in beneficial rain, and the Earth will not leave a
single one of its vegetation without causing it to sprout and grow, so that the
living then will wish for the resurrection of the dead. . And this resurrection is
in the very power of this vow. It will be the work prepared by the Imam assisted
by his companions, and this work he has already begun by those who, from
Hence the homology between the two cycles. generation to generation, are the “companions of the hidden Imam”. As Lahîjî
says, the resurrection of the dead, of dead souls, is the condition allowing the
254. Cf. the great Persian commentary, a veritable sum of Shi'ite Sufism, goal and the fruit of the existence of beings to be finally realized. These will
that Shamsoddîn Mohammad Lâhîjî (Sufi of the nûrbakhshî order, ob. 912/ attain perfect knowledge, will become gnostics in the true sense Çâtifân-e
1506-07), wrote (in 877/1473) on the long poem also in Persian, the “Rose
Garden of Mystery” (Golshan-e Râz), composed in the previous century by
the famous mystic of Azerbaijan, Mahmûd Shabestarî (ob. [720/1317, at
the age of thirty-three): Mafâtîh al-i'jâz fî sharh Golshan-e Râz, ed. Kay
van Samfi, Tehran 1337 (1958), p. 314 (abbrev. here: Lâhîjl, Mafâtîh).

haqiqi). And it is to the preparation of this grandiose exordium that the reign of the Initiatory function of the "Seal of the Initiates" is a solar walayat ( shamsiya ), while
Imam will tend. Our authors know that philosophically the annihilation of the world the walayat of all the other Initiates or Friends of God (from the Afrâd to the
is conceivable; but their irnamology allows them to defy this eventuality. Noqabâ) is a lunar walayat (qamariya). The twelfth Imam as Seal of the Initiates
holds and manifests the eternal reality of walayat (haqîqat-e walayat). “Absolute
Iran's eschatological horizon has remained constant, before and since Islam. The initiation, with the totality of its perfections, is manifested in his person. He is the
soteriology and eschatology of Zoroastrianism were dominated by the idea of Whole, while all the other Initiates, each manifesting one of the attributes of
frashkart, the transfiguration or rejuvenation of the world wrought by the Saoshyant perfection of Initiation, are like parts in relation to the Seal of the Initiates; being
and his companions, and preparing for the final restoration of all things. Shiite with all, this is with each
eschatology is dominated by the figure of the Resurrector (the Qa'im) and his 256
. »
companions; it tends to a new beginning (isti'nâf), a new Aion, which is an
apokatastasis, a restoration of all things in the primordial state of light. It does not This itself is conceivable only because of the intimate relationship between the
separate the idea of "minor resurrection", which is the individual exodus from the Seal of the Prophets and the Seal of the Initiates, and this relationship in turn is
perishable body, and the idea of "major resurrection", which is the advent of the conceivable, in its fullness and integrity, only in Shiite terms. . We can indeed
new Aiôn If now we want to define more closely the homology between the Seal conceive of a triple relation of filiation (farzandî): relation of descent according to
of Prophecy and the Seal of Initiation, and that of their respective relationship with the flesh, affective relation according to the heart, spiritual relation which is an
255
their manifestations, our authors teach us this. Just as the Seal of the Prophets
. essential and true relation. It is easy for our Shi'ite authors to show that the fullness
was the recapitulation totalizing all the Prophets who, prior to it, had been the of this triple relationship is realized and can only be realized in the person of the
manifestations of an eternal prophetic Reality, so the Seal of the Initiates totalizes twelfth Imam. And because in his person the plenary relation consisting of this
and recapitulates the existences of all the Initiates or Friends. of God: the virtual triple relation is realized, we can then say "that in truth the Seal of the Initiates is
perfection of the cycle of Initiation is epiphanized in act in his person. All are in the real Idea (haqîqat) and the esoteric of the perfection of the Seal of the Initiates
relation to him like members of the same corpus mysticum. This is why without ". prophets... Just as by being the theophanic form of the Name of the Merciful, the
Shi'ite imamology, that is to say without the idea of the Imam, the whole Sufi Seal of the prophets has become Mercy for the two universes and totalizes the
concept of the walayat would remain suspended in the void. One cannot even say diversities of the cycle of prophecy, likewise, because the child is the secret of his
that it is enough that the Prophet is himself the first bearer of the walayat, since father (that is to say because the XIIth Imam is the secret of the Prophet), the Seal
precisely this walayat remains and must remain hidden in him; it can only "exit" of the Initiates becomes the theophanic form of universal Compassion; it
through the initiatory ministry of the Imam, by investing itself in the person of the recapitulates and sums up the diversities of the cycle of Initiation. The happiness
Imam. of the two universes will be to follow him... For, without destroying the diversity of
multiple things, he will abolish their divergences, by making appear the secret laws
of their unity This idea that the Seal of the Initiates, Seal of the Mohammadian
walayat , manifests the esoteric of the Seal of the prophets or, better said, that it is
in person the esoteric of the prophecy of the last prophet, leads to representing a
unity or identity of essence between the two persons.
257
With the cycle of Initiation,
the total cycle, the cycle of cycles, ends by closing» in on itself, but the point where
.
it closes in on itself is none other than the initial point, that of the eternal
On the other hand, if one asks how His qualification of Friends or Beloved of Muhammadan Reality (haqîqat-e mohammadî) 258. Lâhîjî
God (Awliya), which is properly that of the Twelve Imams, can pass on to their
followers, one must imagine a relationship analogous to the relationship between
the prophetic mission of the Nabi and the initiatic function of the Imam. The first,
having its source in the walayat itself, is the Sun from which the walayat of the
Imam borrows its light, as the moon borrows its light from the sun. Similarly,
illustrating the active and passive double meaning of the word wali (the friend and
the beloved), our authors will say that the
256. Ibid., pp. 316-317.
257. Ibid., p. 317.
255. Ibid., pp. 315-316. 258. Ibid., p. 335.
applies himself to drawing mentally the diagram which is suggested to in the east, the darkness of night, which was caused by the interposition
him by the very text of the "Rose Garden of the Mystery" which he of the Earth, begins to separate from things. It is the moment of dawn,
comments on, and which makes it possible to homologate the whole of preceding the morning brilliance. The horizon is the circle which puts for
the cycle of prophecy and of the Initiation to the cycle of a cosmic nychthemeron . us a separation between the visible part and the invisible part of the Sky;
Moreover, this homologation to the duration of a cosmic Day and a rising and setting of the star are determined in relation to this circle. From
Cosmic Night coinciding with the revolution of the supreme Sphere, its east, the sun rises by the series of ascending degrees to the zenith.
presents itself immediately when one meditates on the nature of this
eternal Mohammadian Reality. It is the initial concretization starting from When he has crossed the circle which is called the meridian, the movement
the absolute Indeterminate (cf. supra chap. v). It is the supreme Spirit, of the Sphere of Spheres begins to drag him down; the decisive moment
the total Intelligence, a subtle mass of primordial glorification designated is marked by the midday prayer (namaz-e pishin). Finally, when the
again as Mohammadian Light (Nûr mohammadî). Just as each divine shadow begins to duplicate everything, it is the evening which progresses
Name has its own theophanic form and the worshiper which corresponds until the re-entry into occultation towards a new morning. the supra-
to it, so the eternal Muhammadan Reality corresponds to the supreme sensible, the total cycle composed of prophecy and Initiation. Prophecy is
Name, to the recapitulative divine Name of all the Names . 'it postulates, the rising of the Mohammadian Light which, by an ascending movement,
as Sa'doddîn Hâmûyeh explains, a double theophanic form (mazhar): from prophet to prophet, rises to the meridian which is the Seal of
that of prophecy which it finds in the Seal of the prophets, and that of prophecy, There even begins the cycle of Initiation, the gradual return to
Initiation which it finds in the XIIth Imam who is the invisible master of this the night of esotericism with all the trials that entails in a hostile world, but
time. which is the inescapable way, the necessary journey towards the morning
of the Resurrection, Yazvm al Qiyamat Although according to their
individual determination and their concrete form the prophets differ from
And as his disciple 'Azîz Nasafî insists: “Thousands of prophets who each other, and that, for example, Adam, Noah, Moses, Jesus (and the
came beforehand have successively contributed to the establishment of one hundred and twenty-four thousand Nabis who were prophets without
261
the theophanic form which is prophecy; Mohammad completed it. Now it having the quality of Envoys) were other than Mohammad, however , as
.
is the turn of the Initiation to be manifested and to manifest the esoteric to the reality of their eternal essence (haqîqat, ousia), all were
realities. Now the Initiator in the person of whom the Initiation manifests theophanic forms and manifestations of the same Mohammadian Light.
itself is the Imam, lord of this time . and Night in the sensible world. Until the final cessation of the cycle of prophecy, this (like the Verus
Propheta of the Ebionites) was epiphanized in the persons of all the
ancient prophets, from Adam who was the East and the rising of this sun .
As long as the sun is under the Earth, the night is on the Earth.
As it rises, still unseen, approaching our horizon
259. Ibid., p. 321. We must read the history of the prophets as describing the ascent of the
260. Cf. the texts quoted in Tarâ'iq al-Haqâ'iq, vol. I, p. 258: “The
primordial substance has two aspects (or dimensions); this is why it needs prophetic consciousness, that is to say the ascent of the degrees by which
two epiphanic forms in this world: that of the dimension which is called this sun ascended to the meridian, each prophet having manifested in his
prophecy, is the Seal of the prophets; that of the dimension which is called own person one of the perfections of the eternal Muhammadan Reality.
walayat, is the sahib al-zaman (the Imam of this time, that is to say the At sunrise, the cast shadow is longer. The higher the sun rises, the lower
hidden Imam). This is designated by many names, just as the primordial
substance is designated by many names. Ma'sûm 'Alî-Shâh also the shadow. When it reaches the zenith, the people, the silhouettes, no
emphasizes the attachment and devotion of Sa'doddîn Hâmuyeh (supra longer have a shadow. Likewise, in each period and in each generation,
p. 249, n. 232, and p. 265, n. 247) for the twelfth Imam or hidden Imam ; the shadow and the form of a Perfect (kâmil) have been
his work is unfortunately still unpublished. On his correspondence with Ibn
'Arabi, cf. our book cited above n. 149, p. 184. As for Aziz Nasafi, his
disciple, see supra n. 45. Note that the Ismailis considered him one of
their own, cf. W. Ivanow, A Guide to Ismaili Literature, London 1933, p. 99, no. 632. 261. Lahiji, Mafatih, pp. 320-321.

manifested by the sun of the Mohammadian Reality. These shadows were the successive The idea of theophany escapes the double trap of rationalist agnosticism and an
degrees marking the ascent of the sun to its summit. Likewise, when the light of prophecy incorporation of the divine into material givens that fall under the influence of sociology
reached its zenith, that is, when the last of the prophets appeared, it was the hour of and history. The unknowable God manifests himself through theophanic forms, he only
noon: every shadow was dispelled. person of the Seal of the Prophets, men have found becomes knowable through them, but he always remains beyond. On the one hand, the
themselves under the light of prophecy in the situation of the inhabitants of the equator at form which manifests it is indeed that which is manifested by it (zahir and mazhar);
262
the noon hour. This is an idea that our authors explain in several ways, each of which
. Considered in this way, as to what makes it the true Reality (haqîqat), it is all light. But on
typifies the difficulties traditionally encountered by their theosophical theology, always the other hand, considered in terms of its limited concrete determination, it is the shadow
with a view to guarding against two abysses. It will be said, for example, that the spiritual defining the necessary delimitation of its manifestation. This is why the author of the
position of the Seal of Prophecy represents the perfect balance (the equinoctial line) “Roseraie du Mystère” exclaims: “Oh! Light of God, Divine Shadow. He thus formulates a
between the day of unity and the night of multiplicity. It avoids a double danger: that of great theme developed by several masters of Sufism: that of the luminous Night (the
abstract and totalitarian monotheism, powerless to recognize the multitude of theophanies “midnight sun”), of the black Light, of the dark South. And this is another way of expressing
of the divine Names, and that of a polytheism which escapes the unity of this plurality. the “equinoctial” position of the Seal of the Prophets. It extends into another which
spontaneously calls for a reappearance of the symbols of the cosmic north, of the “polar
dimension” which is the direction of the “celestial Earth”, the mundus imaginalis ('âlam al-
mithâl).
It is a position that unifies by differentiating, and differentiates by unifying. It will again

be pointed out as a perfect balance between the exoteric and the esoteric, and therefore Thus it will be said that the Qibla, the orientation pole of the prayer of the Seal of the
between prophecy and Initiation; this balance, as we have noted, is the great concern of Prophets, is neither in the East nor in the West, but between the East and the West, which
the Twelver Shiites when they establish the relationship between prophetology and means say equidistant between the pure esoteric and the pure exoteric, or even equidistant
imamology. We will still speak of a perfect balance between tashbîh and tanzîh, that is to between abstract monotheism and the immanentism of an incarnation
say between the anthropomorphism of the literalists and the via remotionis, the negative 264
.
theology of theologian-philosophers always in danger, for the sake of safeguarding divine
transcendence. , to reduce divinity to an abstraction. To pass between the two perils, Thus the sun of prophetic Reality has reached full noon. Having once arisen from his
Shiite theosophy allowed itself to be guided by the idea of theophany (zohûr, tajallî) which occultation in the Land of Mystery, accomplished his ascent through all the theophanic
safeguards both unity and plurality, because theophany is a manifestation of God in the degrees represented by the individualities of the prophets, he has reached his zenith. This
human form as if through a mirror, no more "incarnating" in it than an image is incarnated point at which the Seal of prophecy is located, is both the one which separates and joins
in the mirror which nevertheless reveals it. And this applies just as much to the theophanic (the barzakk) the arc-de-circle of prophecy and that of Initiation, constituting together the
visions that the Friends of God may have, in the waking or dreaming state (cf. supra p. total Cycle. From the moment the sun declines from the zenith towards the west, the
269), as well as to the theophanic function invested in their own person, when they are shadow reappears and will increase. It is the necessary entry into the night of esotericism,
designates as manifestations of the eternal Mohammadian Reality. To say it, Lâhîjî still succeeding the ultimate manifestation after which humanity no longer has to wait for a
has striking images prophet. We have already noted that Shi'ism draws from this affirmation of Islamic
prophetology a feeling that is much less triumphant than pathetic. The Imam completing
the pleroma of the Twelve is no longer even
263
.
264. Ibid., p. 327. On the theme of the black light, on the pole and the
262. Ibid., pp. 323-325. “symbols of the north” in Sufism, cf. our study on The Man of Light in Iranian
and
263. Ibid., p. 326-328. Compare here the entire last chapter of our book on Sufism, 2 cis) 1971, chap.
ed. IChambéry,
to III. Éditions Présence (Paris, Libr. de Médi
Ibn 'Arabi (supra n. 149).
materially visible. The cycle of Initiation henceforth corresponds to the time by virtue of this correspondence that our Shiite authors endeavor, for
of the occultation of the Imam, who is precisely the master of this time (sahib example, to bring out the homology of position between the person of Christ
al-zaman), because he is the sign of this time. And all the perils of the hostile as the immediate predecessor of the Seal of the prophets, and the person of
forces which stir up under cover of this night threaten the fragile human the first Imam of the Mohammadian period, ' Ali ibn Abi Talib, as immediate
strength of the "Friends of God", of the pilgrims who cross it. It is the "Night successor of the Last Prophet 267. This is one of the aspects under which it
of Destiny" which must last until the dawn of the Resurrection, that is to say will be necessary to study certain correspondences between Christology on
until the parousia of the Imam. the one hand, Shiite imamology on the other. These correspondences have
found, it seems, a striking illustration in a certain dream vision of Princess
This Night, it is inevitable to cross it, and
265
there is only one way to cross it Narkês, mother of the 12th Imam (infra book VII).
safe and sound A first certainty guiding the Shiite follower in crossing this
.
Night is that the cycle of the Initiation, that is to say the cycle of this walayat
which is the esoteric of prophecy, is in perfect homology with the cycle of this And this first certainty implies a second, because it conceals within itself
prophecy, because, for its part, prophecy is none other than the of the walayat the inner strength that animates each experienced adept. The esoteric
or Initiation. From degree to degree, the rise of Day, the arc-de-circle on the hierarchy of the "Friends of God" forms, from generation to generation, a
eastern side, is in homology with the descent of Night, the arc-de-circle on mystical chivalry, an invisible community with the eyes of flesh, at the top of
the western side. which is the small group of the immediate companions of the hidden Imam
(cf. supra III, 4). Few humans know or acknowledge their existence, and yet
without their existence the rest of humanity could not even persevere in
Each of the prophets, as a partial manifestation of the primeval Muhammadan being. Through them there takes place, from generation to generation, a
Reality, manifested one of the attributes the totality of which was recapitulated continuous selection of "superhumans", a continuous ascent from Adamic
in the Seal of Prophecy. Likewise, each of the Initiates or Awliya, each of the humanity to the approaches of seraphic humanity typified in the supreme
"Friends of God" partially manifests, in his own way, the perfection of the Pole who is the hidden Imam. Their names are the secret of Imam: “My
Perfect Man who is the Seal of the Friends of God, the Seal of the Initiates, Friends are under my tabernacles, no one knows them except myself”. But
1' "Hidden Imam" of his time. In a symmetrical position with each of the precisely the idea of this walâyat proposes to each adept to exemplify
prophets, there are one or more of the "Friends of God": the "easts" and the mystically in himself, in the secret of his being, a relationship with the Imam,
"wests" correspond to each other. “In the arc of the ascent and in the arc of Seal of the "Friends of God", which is analogous to the relationship of the
the descent, writes Lâhîjî, there is respectively, facing each other, a figure
from among the prophets and a figure from among the Awliya, just as in a
circle each of the points on the western side faces symmetrically and
corresponds to a point on the eastern side .
(I, 258) even gives the names of this "dynasty" composed of the great
shaykhs of Sufism, according to the Kitâb al-'orwat al-wothqâ of 'Alâoddawleh
Semnânî (on this large figure, see here t. III, book .IV, chap.IV ). This is one
265. There is a convergence, not surprising, between the Ismaili of the points that cause difficulty between Shi'ism and Sufism, because it is
hermeneutics of the "Night of Destiny" (Qorân 97: 1-5) and that of Twelver to misunderstand the meaning of the twelfth Imam present both in the past
Shi'ism. For both of them, the dawn that rises at the end of the "Night of and in the future, and whose time is "between times", between the past and
Destiny" (laylat al-qadr), which, in the person of Fâtima, typifies the promise the future. No one can therefore “succeed” the twelfth Imam, nor even
of the present Cycle, is the parousia of the Resurrector. This is the meaning “represent” him publicly, since because of his occultation, his Bâb (his
hidden in the invitation addressed by Imam Hasan 'Askari to his aunt Hakima, threshold) is also in occultation. Claiming such a quality could therefore only
instructing her to recite over the Child (the twelfth Imam) the Qur'anic verse be, in the eyes of Shi'ism, betrayal or imposture.
(97: 1): "We sent down in the Night of Destiny. » 267. Ibid., p. 331-332, a text of capital importance. This is compared to a
Cf. encore ici t. IV, liv. VII, chap. I, § I. sermon (probably the Khotbat al-Bayân, supra p. 96, n. 64) in which the 1st
266. Lâhîjî, Mafâtîh, p. 331. Here we come to the theme of permanent Imam declares: “I am the second Christ. The text is quoted by an Ismaili
mystical hierarchies, cf. above, ch. III, 4. Curiously enough, a certain tradition author, Ja'far ibn Mansur al-Yaman, Kitâb al-Kaskf, ed.
of Sufism found a compromise position, making the twelfth Imam the pole of R. Strothmann, Oxford, 1952, p. 8 (cf. again our communication From ancient
his time, but giving him as successor the dynasty of the “poles” since his gnosis to Ismaelienne gnosis, XII. Convegno "Volta", Accad. Naz. dei Lincei,
“occultation”. The author of the Tara'iqal-Haqa'iq Roma 1957, p. 137).
Nabis with the Seal of the Prophets. To exemplify this relationship by one's
own person is to progress with certainty within Night; it is to advance this
Night itself to meet the dawn of the Resurrector (the Qâ'im).
But to establish this relationship, we already know that it is to know the

Imam "of his time", and there is no knowledge of the Imam without knowledge
of oneself. And it is to this that so many experiences lived from century to
century bear witness, in which the mysterious presence of the one who CHAPTER VII
polarizes Shiite devotion is affirmed: the twelfth Imam, the "expected Imam",
"hidden from the meaning but present in the heart of his faithful", and whose The meaning of the Imam for Shiite spirituality
name we never pronounce without accompanying it with the ritual greeting:
"May God hasten for us the joy of his coming! The theme of the hidden Imam,
on which the present work will end (book VII), is indeed the Seal of Shiite
imamology. We have already seen that it is the feeling of the continuity of a
permanent prophetic religion in our world which leads some of our Shiite
authors, Haydar Amoli for example, to identify by name the twelfth Imam, the
Expected Imam", with the Paraclete announced by Jesus in the Gospel of I. - Shiism as a religion of spiritual love initiating
self-knowledge
John
268
.
The preceding pages, and particularly the end of the last chapter, have
But then, it is the very idea of the Paraclete (the Comforter, the Defender) already sufficiently indicated to us where we must expect the Imam's sense
which now appears to us to be haloed for the Shi'ite vision, with a prophetic of Shiite spirituality to manifest itself. The term walayat has been repeated
light and the fact has so far gone unnoticed by the science of religions. . The frequently so far, and we know that Shi'ism is the religion of walayat.
Shiite identification of the Imam with the Paraclete will ultimately be the best
illustration of what our hadiths teach us concerning the meaning of the Imam THE richness of this term has already appeared to us, with the difficulty of
for the lived spirituality of Shi'ism—this spirituality which is religion. of the perfectly expressing its meaning by a single term in our languages, so much
walayat, that is to say religion of love, because only the form of his love does it designate a specifically Shiite feeling whose aspects are multiple.
leads man to self-knowledge. Man reaches knowledge of himself in the However, the contexts in which it has appeared to us, the Persian word
knowledge of his Imam, of the "soul of his soul", because this knowledge which most often translates it (dûstî), as well as the Arabic terms which
reveals him to himself in the form of his love which is the form of his be same. sometimes form a doublet with it, sometimes replace it purely and simply
(hibb, mahabbat, mowaddat ), all this allows us to perceive with certainty the
fundamental meaning: the religion of the walayat is the religion of spiritual
love.
Our authors frequently specify: the walâyat is the mahabbat (dilection,

love); the wali is the mohibb (the friend, the one who loves). It is this direct
meaning, this deep resonance, that we let escape when we give in to routine
and the approximate and that we translate the word wali simply by the word
"holy" . . Certain aspects no doubt coincide, but what the terms wali and
walayat connote goes beyond what in our languages is usually and
canonically understood by “holy” and “holiness”. By this very fact, let us no
longer be surprised if the essence of Shi'ism has been so frequently
misunderstood; it is important to understand that the walâyat is the central
268. See above n. 29 and n. 140. Cf. now our communication on The concept, a concept that unfolds in it in multiple aspects,
Idea of the Paraclete in Iranian Philosophy. Convegno sul tema “La Persia
nel Medioevo”, Accad. Naz. dei Lincei, Roma 1970 (In press).
286 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism The meaning of the Imam for Shiite spirituality 287
encompassing the entire horizon of the vision of the world, and it is important talk about Sufism. Now it is Shiite Islam as such, without even needing to
269
to understand its fundamental meaning That the Shiites were perfectly
.
refer specifically to Sufism, which presents itself as the religion of the walayat.
aware, through the very teaching of their Imams, that their Shiism was The testimonies of this are collected in all the Shiite literature. They are so in
essentially of love, and what specific tone consequently marks their feeling a particularly systematic way in a monumental work already cited here, the
of man and of becoming human, this is what we would like to briefly book of "Prolegomena to the Shiite hermeneutics of the Qurân" composed in
recapitulate. Isfahan, in the seventeenth century, by Abû'l-Hasan Sharîf Ispahânî , who
was a pupil of the great theologian Moh.-Bâqer Majlisî 271. The work forms a
Indeed it is from there, through the premises and implications that are considerable sum of commented hadîth , coming from the Prophet and the
discovered in an Islam professed as a religion of love, that the concept and Imâms, and attesting that the walâyat is the inner, esoteric (batin) meaning of
the figure of the Imam appear to us in their irremissible necessity. the Quranic Revelation. The walayat is, of course, a “category” allowing us to
Simultaneously too, it is the central problem of Sufism which is posed, understand hierohistory, but even more so, and for this very reason, it
confronted and resolved, even before and without there having yet been any modalizes the intimate heart of each faithful Shiite. The Shiite doctrine
talk of Sufism. This very point, as we have said, is the key to a spiritual postulates for the validity of any religious act an intention of love, an interiority
situation little analyzed until now. Finally, the Imam's meaning for the most shaped by this intention. This is how the famous hadith cited several times
personally lived Shiite spirituality will, of course, be found in this very walayat . above, in which the Imams repeated, one after the other, that supporting their
What the Imam signifies as the object of the walayat is shown to be the cause required such a heroic effort that only an Angel near, a prophet sent or
initiation of his follower into self-knowledge. a believer whose heart God has tried for the faith, — this hadith and all those
related to it, have the purpose, our author emphasizes, of excluding and
denying that there can be perfect acquiescence in the triple shahâdat
Initiated into this knowledge, he understands how and why there is no love (attestation of the Unique, of the prophetic revelation and of imamic initiation),
of God that is possible without the love of the Imam, for it is in the walayat, unless there is fervor of ardent desire (shawq), assent and perfect love
as a form of his love, that he discovers and verifies the meaning of the (mahabbat kâmila) to regard to the supreme purity ('ismat) of the Fourteen
famous maxim: “He who knows himself, knows his Lord. This understood, Immaculate
the qualifications assumed by the Imams in the hadiths are understood
directly according to this lived spirituality, as a guide to the encounter with
the "Soul of the soul".
(Jân-e jân) who is the imam. As we have analyzed elsewhere this

272
fructification of imamology in spiritual experience in Ismailism 270, we are .
particularly attached here to its aspect in Twelver Shi'ism. Moreover, the profession of this love, of this walâyat, prevails over all the
obligations of the sharî'at, not only in the sense that it alone authenticates
First of all let's notice this. To speak of Islam as a religion of love hardly the fulfillment of these obligations, but also because in the case of failure
corresponds to the current representation that we have of common Islam, at lances, it is able to fill these. This is what the Imams say in many hadiths,
least of Sunni Islam, in its aspect of a strict legal religion, observance of the stating that “the first thing a man is asked about after his death is his love for
shari' at. The paradox is usually understood only if one Us. If he professed this love (walayat) and if he died professing this love,
then his Prayer, his fasting, his almsgiving, his pilgrimage, are
269. An eminent shaykh of Iranian Shi'ite Sufism, Soltân 'Ali-Shâh (ob.

1327/1909) gave a very good systematic exposition of the walayat, both from the
point of view of theosophical theory and that of practice. (place of the Imam in
spiritual experience), in his book (in Persian) Basharat al-mu'minin, Tehran 1337
hs, chap, VI, pp. 134-149; see also his Walâyat Nâmeh. 271. This is the Tafsîr Mir'at al-anwâr, to which we have already referred many
and
times, cf. above n. 4.
270. See our Ismaili Trilogy, 3 part, where a comparison is 272. Cf. Tafsir, p. 26, commentary on the hadith of Imam Ja'far quoted in the
established between the Ismaili ta'wîl of the “Rose Garden of the Mystery” of Ma'ânî al-akhbâr of Ibn Bâbûyeh, and of the hadîth of the same family recorded in
Mahmûd Sha bestari and the Imamite commentary of Shamsoddîn Lâhîjî quoted the Kanz al-fawâ'id, the Basâ'ir al-darajât of Saffâr, the Manâqib of Ibn Shahr-Ashûb
above, p. 274, no. 254. etc.
approved by God. If he has not professed this love, then none of his works God. For knowing and recognizing the Imam (not only such and such of the
273
can be accepted by God. . » Twelve, but both each of the Twelve and all of the Twelve in their essence and
Thus, for Shiite ethics, works proceeding from the intimacy of being (from the their pre-eternal theophanic function) is what preserves from the double trap
building), pious works and the fulfillment of ritual obligations must proceed from tawhîd is exposed and to which naive monotheism unconsciously succumbs,
a feeling of love. , otherwise they are empty formalism. Abû'l-Hasan Sharîf both that of simple people and that of theologians, the double trap of ta'tîl and
writes: “Our shaykh (i.e. Moh.-Bâqer Majlisî) expressly declares it in his Bihâr al- tashbîh.
Anwâr: All the imâmites agree on this point, that the spiritual validity works and
their approval by God are conditioned by faith (îmân); however, it is an integral We already know that the first (the ta'tîl), in order to overcome the "human
part of the faith that the feeling of love with regard to the twelve imams and their meaning" of the divine Names and Attributes, relegates the divine Reality to an
imam. » absolute beyond. Shi'ism also posits this beyond the Names and Attributes
expressed in human language, but it professes that if one remains purely and
simply with this relegation to the beyond (ta'til), one is in full agnosticism, because
Nothing could be less legal than a religion thus conceived in its essence. The the personal human-divine relationship postulated by all believing consciousness
consequences go very far, as far as the very vocation of Shiite Islam in this is then dissolved. On the other hand, if one makes the divine Superessence
world is concerned. It is important that we clearly understand in what sense and (hyperousia) the support of the Names and Attributes, one is in full tashbîh
why the Imâm is the object of this walâyat (and when we say the "Imâm" in (anthropomorphism).
short, the word refers both to each Imâm and to the Fourteen Immaculate, since
by virtue of the unity of their essence each is also all the others). He who says: “What good is the Imam? God is sufficient for me, without
intermediary between him and me”—that one quite simply forgets that in speaking
of this God who is immediate to him, he can only ever speak of the God who
Let us say to clarify what is to follow and which has been prepared by all that reveals himself to him, of God as he is. he knows him in and through the form in
precedes, that any knowledge that man can have of God, not even only as a which God reveals himself to him.
knowledge which would result from his own efforts, but also any knowledge that Even if he speaks of it as an impersonal or a personal trans, he only professes
the Deus absconditus can give of itself as Deus revelatus, that is to say including it thus by virtue of the form which is shown or refused to him. Without this mazhat,
all knowledge which has arisen from the inspired revelations to the prophets — without this "theophanic form" in which God manifests himself - in the broadest
all this knowledge is eo ipso a human knowledge of God, whether acquired by sense of the word - it is impossible to speak only of God. This form is the "Face"
the effort of man or else revealed to man and for man. This human meaning of of God, and several texts have already shown us the importance of this theme
all human knowledge of God is summed up in the motto: "He who knows himself for Shi'ism.
knows his Lord." Now, one could not pass from one member of this double
sentence to the other, if the Imam were not the form of self-knowledge, the form We have been told that this "Face of God", this is the Imam, Further on we will
thanks to which a correspondence is established between the human subject see that he is what is pre-posed, "walking forward from the being of his
and the Absconditum. The truth of this motto will therefore be established as faithful" ( moqaddam 'alâ wojûdi-hi).
and by an interiorization of imamology: the Imam is this human meaning of all
human knowledge of If, therefore, one loses or abolishes the sense of the Imam—and with it the
validity of the human sense of human knowledge of God or of divine Revelation
to man—one finds oneself enclosed in the circle of the ta'tîl and the tashbih :
because it is human, "too human", this meaning is suspected and rejected, and
one remains with pure and simple agnosticism (ta'tîl); or else it is accepted,
without our being aware of what it really is, and we fall into the trap of
273. Theme from a khabar by Salmân Pârsî, taken up in a khabar by the metaphysical idolatry (tashbih).
Sixth Imâm recorded in the 'Amâlî of Ibn Bâbûyeh and quoted in Tafsîr, p.
22. And the commentator adds the considerations we quote here next. It Only the theophanic person of the Imam preserves the validity of this human
will be observed that all this is said, without it even being a question of Sufism.
It is a pupil of Moh.-Bâqer Majlisî who speaks, or who lets the hadîth of the sense, because it goes beyond its "too human". This is why outside Shi'ism,
Imams themselves state the principle of this religion of spiritual love. certain masters of Sufism, for example, have meditated until dizzy to escape
to the infernal dialectic in which the ta'tîl and the tashbîh imprisoned their Moreover, this affirmation is the corollary of the declaration which we
tawhîd, their "unification of the Unique". already know, and in which the Prophet affirms that the Imam was sent with
But the mystery of tawhîd is the mystery of divine solitude, of “God alone is each prophet secretly, and that with him, Seal of the prophets, he was sent
alone”. And it is not a question here of a solitary arithmetical unit, dominating publicly. This is because the walayat —the divine love of which the pleroma
or overhanging an infinity of other units or individuations of being. It is the of the Fourteen Immaculates is the object—is the secret, the esoteric of the
mystery of the each time-unique of all the Uniques, of the One infinitely divine revelations inspired to the prophets: the secret of the hidden treasure
multiplied by itself and which is always the unique One; this Face of God aspiring to be known. The Imam is this Treasure becoming knowable and an
which remains unique for each unique, that is the Imam, and what is expressed object of love. Christian theologians have asked themselves this question:
in the diversity of the qualifications that the Imams give themselves in their from the very fact that the Redemption is an accomplished fact like a historical
hadith. It is these qualifications that are repeated in the Shiite prayers, fact, falling into chronology among other historical facts, how can we conceive
distributed throughout a very complex liturgical calendar, so that the of the salvation of men prior to this historical fact? ?
commentary on each of these prayers can in itself constitute a whole treatise
on imamology. We cited an example above.
Such a question cannot be posed in such terms, we are gradually
understanding this, at the heart of a permanent prophetic religion from Adam
274
. to the last Imam.
The universality of the walayat of which the Imam is the object, and the Prior to the Seal of the Prophets, the prophets already brought the same
idea of the Imam as the human meaning of divine Revelation to man and for message to men, summoning them to the same religion of love with regard
man, such that without the Imam there is would not have an authentic tawhîd to the divine Face revealed to them by their prophetic inspiration. Heaven and
possible, it is this which coheres the feeling of what one can call "Shi'ite hell for men was their assent or their refusal. In a long interview with his
ecumenism", in the sense that Shi'ism intends to bring together in unity of this disciple Mofazzal, the sixth Imam explains that the Imam is the one who
walayat, of this religion of love, all the moments and all the figures of a decides between the people of paradise and the people of hell; he does not
permanent prophetic religion as the religion of all humanity which is the even have to judge them; it is their love, or on the contrary their hatred for the
spiritual posterity of Abraham. Imam, which is respectively either their paradise or their hell. It is in this sense
that there is reason to speak of Rezwan (the angel of paradise) and Malek
All the prophets and all their believers have professed this same walayat; all (the guardian of hell) as emanating from the order of the Imam . been so
together form a single and immense corpus mysticum (the Isma'ilis, for their since the origins of the mission of the prophets, as it will be throughout the
part, speak of the "Temple of Light" of the Imamate), from which one can cycle of the walâyat. “Shi'ites find their salvation in an act of love for their
exclude oneself only by a denial which is ipso facto a denial of the prophetic Imam” (this declaration leads to others which sometimes offer a certain
Revelations predating Islam. A hadîth of the second Imam, Imam Hasan ibn consonance with the idea of salvation in Pure Land Buddhism). By initiating
'Ali, declares: "Whoever rejects the precedence of the Amir of the believers his disciple into the mystery of this universal religion of love which
('Ali, the first Imam), that one contradicts the Torah, the Gospel, the Psalms, encompasses all believers, Imâm Ja'far rightly concludes: “O Mofazzal!
the writings of Abraham and all the other Books of God sent down from carefully collect all this, because it is the treasure of secret and hidden
Heaven. Because nothing is revealed in these Books, without the most knowledge. Show it only to those who are worthy of it. »
important of what is there after the attestation of the Unique (tawhîd) and the
attestation of the mission of the prophets, being the attestation of the walayat
with regard to 'Ali and the Imams
275
. » It is because in fact this Treasure can only be shown to those whose gaze
rises up to this height of the horizon which the mystery of the primordial
274. This is the case, par excellence, of the Ziyarat al-Jami'a cited above p. 70 n. Mohammadian Reality previously indicated to us, a mystery which is in the
48. On the theme of the Imam as being simultaneously the Face that God reveals to preexistence of the pure
man and the Face that man shows to God, see our study Face of God and Face of
man (according to the ° work of Qâzî Sa'îd Qommî), m Eranos-Jahrbuch XXXVI, pp.
165-228. 276. Hadith reporting a long dialogue between Imam Ja'far and his disciple
275. Hadîth of the second Imam (quoted in the Tafstr of al-'Ayyâshi), Tafsîr, p. 8. Mofazza!, Tafsir, p. 9.
spiritual beings, where everything is accomplished in the world of the Spirit, tirelessly meditated upon in Shi'ism, as establishing the very source of the
even before there are earthly creatures and biographies, because what all the walayat, the divine love, love of the hidden Treasure bearing on the primordial
prophets have announced is this eternal Imam, "place of mission and message Light which proceeds from it and which reveals it to creatures. Divine dilection
of the prophets” (supra chap. v). which founds and motivates the dilection (walâyat and mahabbat) borne by
This is what the Imam explains to his disciple. But Mofazzai at first does not their faithful to those who are its object — the Fourteen Figures of Primordial
understand. How is it possible that the earlier prophets could have professed Light — and which founds the ethical law of Shi'ism (that which is expressed in
this love for the Imam? How could their followers and their adversaries find the two common words in Persian: tawallâ wa tabarrâ, to choose as friends the
their paradise and their hell there respectively? And Imam Ja'far explained to Friends of God and their friends, to break with their enemies). Originally also,
him: "Do you not know that God Most High has sent his Messenger, that is to by this predilection God confers in some way a right (haqq) over Him to those
say a Spirit (the Prophet Logos) to the prophets, that is to say to Spirits created who are the pre-eternal object of this predilection. Whence this formula of
themselves two thousand years before the creation of creatures? Don't you invocation which, frequent in Shiite prayers, sounds like a supreme conjuration,
know that this Spirit called them to the triple Attestation? Here again it is verified as if, by invoking this "right over Him" conferred by God on His Friends, the
that Shiite theosophy cannot conceive of the whole of hierohistory outside the wish formulated by their friends carried within itself the power of accomplishment.
horizon of metahistory, where pre-existence and post-existence are involved . The Imams themselves uttered the formula bi-haqqi-nâ, which can be translated
We know that the number which "ciphers" in duration of "subtle time" the "by our right", or "in the name of our cause".
anteriority of the world of spiritual beings can vary. It remains that the disjunction
of before and after, the law of the irreversible, concerns only the order of
succession in our historical time (the "opaque time" zaman kathif), not the
simultaneous order events that permanent to the world of the Spirit. There is
neither anachronism nor chronology in the Imam's explanation; there is a In certain contexts, we said, recourse to this “right” is itself an answer to
perfect synchronism, but an inconceivable synchronism outside the horizon Mofazzal’s question. Indeed, because this "right" originates in metahistory, it
where imamology places us. could be invoked by virtue of a synchronicity which confuses our sense of
history, but which, on the other hand, is the key to hierohistory, because it is
the recourse to this "right", the invocation of this "cause", which unraveled the
drama experienced in this world by the prophets, one after the other. It is "in
the name of this cause" that God "returned to Adam" exiled from paradise, and
Also we find it underlying the idea of the corpus mysticum formed of all because this same "cause" is also the secret of the outcome of Koranic
those who have professed or are professing the religion of the same eternal Christology - Christ victoriously preserved from death by God who lifts him up
walayat . This walayat has its source in God himself, as he reveals himself in to Himself (4:156) — this same cause, invoked by the prophets, makes even
those who are the object of his love. And simultaneously, because they are the the idea of an impossible deicide vanish. In a hadith going back to the 8th
object of this love, they are conferred a "right" which was invoked even before Imam, Imam 'Ali Reza, and by him to the previous Imams, it is said: "When
"their time" in this world, and which thereby already answers the question Noah was in danger of being submerged, he invoked God by invoking our
posed by Mofazzal. In a hadith in which the Prophet alludes to the events of cause (or our right), and God saved him from being submerged. When Abraham
his "heavenly assumption" - when he was "within the distance of the two arcs" was thrown into the fire, he called on God by calling on our cause, and God
of which the Surah of the Star speaks (53:9) - he declares to the Imam 'Ali that caused the fire to become harmless coolness. When Moses made a way into
he heard God say to him: "I wrote your Name and his Name on my Throne, the sea, he called on God by calling on our cause, and God made the sea dry.
even before creating creatures, out of my love for you both. He who loves you And when the Jews wanted to kill Jesus, he invoked God by invoking our
and takes you as friends is before me among the Near Ones. He who rejects cause; then God saved him from death and took him to Himself (Qorân 4: 156)
your walayat and separates himself from you is before me among the impious
violators.
277
. »
278
This tradition, under its various lessons, is one that is . »
278. Hadîth of the 8th Imam, from Ibn Bâbûyeh, Tafsîr, p. 31. Compare
277. Hadîth provenant du Kitâb al-Mi'râj d'Ibn Bâbûyeh, Tafsîr, p. 30. this other hadith of the Third Imam, appearing in the Tafsir attributed to the
Here is another text, among many others, affirming the other than the time of secular history — we are able to understand
synchronism of this religion of the walayat common to all the the primordial meaning of the Imam for Shi'ite spirituality. The
prophets. This time it is an interview of the Ve Imam, Imam universalist sentiment of Shi'ism is linked to the universality of
Mohammad Baqir, with his disciple Jabir al-jo'fî, an interview that the devotion of love towards the theophanic Figure who is the
belongs to a whole group forming in a way the Shî'ite revealed Face of God. Now, the recognition of this divine Face
hermeneutics of the Old Testament of our Bibles. “I questioned by the man will pass, at this one, by the knowledge of oneself. It
the Imam, relates the disciple, on the interpretation of the dream is on the rock of a faith of which love is an integral part, that
visions given by Daniel. Is it authentic or not? "Certainly it is Shiism is conscious of bringing together the universality of
authentic," said the Imam. believers in the prophetic religion, through the message which
Daniel really had a divine revelation, because he was a prophet summons them to the quest for Soul of their soul. The progression
(nabi). Daniel was among those to whom God taught the which, from the meaning of the Imam for hierohistory, passes to
symbolic meaning of events (ta'wîl al-ahâdîth). He was truthful the meaning of the Imam for the most personal spirituality, does
and wise. And the divine religion that he professed was the nothing but implement the principle of the Shiite hermeneutics
religion of our love (love for us, the Ahl al Bayt). The affirmation on which we have insisted so much here.
can be understood, of course, only under the horizon of the Because its inner, esoteric meaning (the meaning relating to
primordial Mohammadian Reality. Jabir does not think of it; he is the walayat) is always being fulfilled in each new believer, the
astonished and asks the same question that Mofazzal, as we Holy Book remains alive for the duration of our Aion. From period
have read above, was to ask Imam Ja'far: “Of your love? love to period of the cycle of prophecy, it is the center of the "plan of
for you, Ahl al-Bayt? » » And the Imam answered : « Yes! I historical permanence" represented by hierohistory, that is to say
testify to God! There was never a prophet or an angel who did that from period to period the same protagonists and the same
not profess the religion of our love (illâ-wa kâna yadînu bi- antagonists reappear, the the same enthusiasm for faith and the
mahabbati-nâ) 279
».
same rejection of militant negativity: under other names and with
All this is perfectly self-explanatory. It is a “religion of love”, and it is not a Sufi
other actors, the dramatis personae remain the same. This
master who speaks, but the V Imam of the Shiites. Moreover, this religion has always permanence is expressed in the idea of the walâyat which is
beenFace
and
professed by this
to which the faithful of all the prophets,
love is addressed was the because
secret of the
theirrevelation
message.ofSo
thehere
divine eternal, while the prophetic mission is temporary; it is also
we are at the very heart of the matter. Established the idea of the religion of the expressed in the relationship which unites all the prophets and
walayat as being that of the permanent prophetic religion of humanity, because “the all spiritual people to the “Seal of the Prophets” and to the “Seal
Imam was missioned secretly with each prophet”; thereby established the meaning of the Friends of God”. It is the walayat as being the esoteric, the
of the Imam and the Imam for hierohistory, that is to say for the history of spiritual secret of the same message repeated from prophet to prophet
events which take place in the dimension of time XI Imam, Hasan ' Askari: "God until the "Seal of the prophets", which solidifies all the prophets
created Adam, taught him the Names... He placed behind him Mohammad, 'Ali, and all their faithful in the same corpus mysticum (the Temple of
Fatima, Hasan and Hosayn like five forms of lights, whose lights shone on the light of the Imam). What then of belonging to this corpus
horizons: heavens, veils, paradise, firmament, Throne . Then he ordered the angels mysticum? How is the walayat with regard to the Imam what
to bow before him to pay homage to him that God had made him a vessel gathering makes the faithful, the "believer with a tried heart", a member of
this mystical body that ultimately represents the notion of the Ahl-
these forms of light. And this other from Imam Ja'far: "O Mofazzal, I bear witness to al-Bayt (members of the Holy Family, of the prophetic “house” or
God!" Adam deserved that God created him with his hand and breathed into him his
Spirit, only because of the walâyat of 'Alî. God chooses Moses as interlocutor only “temple”)? How, according to the very words of the first Imam, is
because of the walayat of 'Ali. He raised up Jesus as a Sign for the two universes the “believer with a tried heart” the one who discovers this love
only because of the walayat of 'Ali " in his heart?
We already know that without the Imamate, before the Deus
absconditus, only a strictly negative theology would be possible
(that of the tanzîh, that which the Christian tradition designates
as “apophatic” theology). If the Deus ahsconditus becomes an
Tafsir, p. 31, Compare supra, n. 267.
279. Cf. this hadith of the Ve Imam, illustrating the Shiite hermeneutics of the Elder
object of knowledge and an object of love, it is thanks to the
Testament concerning the case of Daniel Tafsîr, p. 31. Face, the epiphanic Form (the mazhar) which makes it a Deus revelatus.
To say that the Imam is this revealed Face, this epiphanic Form, is already 1) We were speaking above of the idea of the Imam as being the human
eo ipso to state much more than an "objective" observation, pertaining to a meaning of all human knowledge of God as well as of all divine revelation to
theoretical theosophy, because already such a proposition engages the life man, as well as, as the object of the walayat, the Imam is the possibility and
intimate of the follower, that is to say the sense of the Imam for the lived the meaning of all divine love in man. On this theme, Moh. Karîm Khân
spirituality of Shi'ism. Kermânî deploys a particularly rigorous and instructive analysis. The ground
It is because the assent to this proposition presupposes the entry into act of of the divine Essence (konh al-Dhât, the superessential, the hyperousion, cf.
a personal relationship, and this actualization is produced insofar as the the Grund in Meister Eckhart) — this superessential Divine is therefore
recognition of the Imam as an epiphanic Form is eo ipso initiation of the absolutely one and only, pure, simple: ineffable, it cannot receive nor noun
follower. to self-knowledge. When he reaches this, he himself is an epiphanic or predicate; he resembles nothing and nothing resembles him. It is
form of the Imam, just as the Imam is the epiphanic Form of the Deus impossible for him to be the object of the love of a being in particular, nor for
absconditus. This is why the Ve Imam was able to say: “We are the his superessential love to be the love of a being in particular, since love is
Treasurers and Treasures of God in this world and in the next (cf. below the conceivable only between two beings between whom there is has a certain
full meaning of this proposition), and our Shiites are our treasurers. and proportion and homogeneity, leading to the inclination of each towards the
treasures to us, the Imams", since, in effect, the Imam is the content other and the reunion of one with the other.
(treasure) of divine science, and in each of the "tried-hearted" Shi'ites
something of the knowledge of the Imam.
The superessential divine love—that of the "hidden treasure" yearning to be
known—embraces the totality of being, giving being the counterweight that
outweighs non-being. It is the meaning that is attached to the universal
This theme has been thoroughly explored in certain pages by an eminent divine Will with which the metaphysics of being (mashî'at 'âmma kawnîya)
Iranian shaykh of the last century, Hâjj Moham mad Karîm Khân Kermânî deals.
(ob. 1870, cf. for more details infra book VI). Unfortunately, we can only give But the proper task of theology is to meditate on a particular divine Will
a very brief idea here. This is particularly the chapter which, in a monumental (mashî'at khâssâ shar'îya), which enters as such into relation with the things
work, exposes that it is through the love dedicated to the Imams that the which, in their particularity and their singularity, are the object of his love or
love of God is realized, and that fundamentally there is no love possible for the object of his hatred. The substratum (mahall) of the divine Will, both in
the regard for God that is not a love for them. The chapter is like an the metaphysical sense and in the theological sense, are the Forms of light,
amplification of the leitmotif provided by a hadith of the 1st Imam: “There is the primordial theophanic forms of the Fourteen Immaculate, as attested by
no man whose heart God has tried for faith, who has not ended up so many hadîth and akhbâr, and as substrate of the Will in both senses, their
discovering our love in his heart. °ur The essential that we have to retain Pleroma is precisely the passage from the Inaccessible and Impredicable to
here from the extremely dense pages of Moh. Karîm Khân Kermânî is, in a the Knowable and the Revealed. They are thus, in a certain sense, this very
280
»
way, a two-stage progression: in the first stage, all knowledge and
.
all love of Will; they are the theophany willed by it. They are the Names, the subjects
God is revealed as knowledge and love of the Fourteen Immaculates or of the Attributes which the superessential God cannot receive as a predicate;
of the Imam altogether, since this Figure summarizes the entire Ple rome. they are the ma'ani, the positive concepts of God, which by the Names and
Secondly, the knowledge of the Imam is revealed and actualized, in the Attributes are manifested divine intentions; in short, they are the aspects
faithful believer, as self-knowledge. under which God can be the object of human knowledge ( ma'rûfîya, divine
cognoscibility). So everything
281
280. Cf. Muhammad. Karîm Khân Kermânî, Tariq al-Najât, Kerman 1344 281. The technical explanation of the term ma'ânî (Latin intentions) comes
(supra n. 93), pp. 97 ss. and 101 to 105. "The man whose heart God has tried from ibid., pp. 103 and 105, in the context of the hadith of the 4th Imam cited
for the faith ", this is a typical expression that we have already encountered above n. 93. We should recall the many hadîth recorded by Kolaynî, in which
here, in the hadîth of the VIth Imam, to designate the only man capable to the Imams make themselves the supports of the Qur'anic "anthropomorphisms":
assume, in the company of the angels and prophets sent, the cause of the "It is We who are the Names, the Attributes... We are the side of God, the hand
Imams, heavy and arduous. of God, the Face of God,” etc.
298 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism The Meaning of the Imam for Shiite Spirituality 299
a man who, in the most intimate behavior of his being, models be. To reach the supreme limit which he cannot transgress, that
himself in their resemblance, thereby adapting himself to the is to say, to what is "present in front of his being", that is what,
"dimension" of the relationship with God, "since the Fourteen the shaykh explains, "to reach to oneself", to this nafs which
Immaculate Ones are themselves this relationship". The love of designates the self as the soul or the heart, anima la. more
him who loves them is eo ipso love for God, since, just as they personal, that self which is the Soul of the soul and of which it is
are the aspect under which God can be an object of knowledge, said that “he who knows his soul knows his God”; of course, it is
they are the aspect or the "dimension" under which God can be about the one whose reaching this spiritual level is a durable
object of love (sa mahbûbîya). And he whom they love, God and permanent state, not an accidental state. It is indeed at this
loves him, since they are his very love, the aspect of God as a supreme level that the Inaccessible is revealed to him in the only
loving subject (sa mohihbîya; let us note, in passing, how much accessible form, without his having to transgress himself, nor to
the aptitude of classical Arabic for forming names abstracts on match transcendence to himself, nor to match himself to it (the
each active or passive participle, serves the meta physicist trap which awaits the tawhîd, in the absence of the Imâm).
admirably).
In short, the one who is in affinity and homogeneity with the The secret of this self-knowledge as knowledge of God,
Imams, the one whose intimate being is modeled after the because it is knowledge of the Imam, is revealed at the end of a
example of theirs, and whose love for them invests all the dialectic that we can name, in Moh.
degrees of his being, that one, they unite him , rivet it to their Karîm Khân Kermânî, dialectic of the Sublime (al-âlî, what is
own souls (bi-anfosi-him, their "self", their anima) ; he is the above) and the Inferior (al-dânî, what is below). The Sublime
perfect and privileged faithful (mu'min khasîs kâmil) who, like does not descend, as it is, towards the Inferior, as the latter can
Salmân the Persian, is adopted in this world and in the next perceive and know it, since even then the radical heterogeneity,
among the members of the Holy Family (Ahl al-Bayt). Moreover, prohibiting knowledge and love, would subsist as it is. Nor can
the faithful Shiite is "created from the rays of their light": the the Sublime descend by altering its essence, by ceasing to be
matter or substance of his being is this light; its form is determined what it is in its to know him. But if instead of this alteration or this
according to its degree of receptivity to this light. Whence a “exinanition” of the Sublime, “this descent, writes our shaykh,
hierarchy of spiritual degrees (cf. supra III, § 4). This homogeneity takes place as and by a theophany (tajallî), a Manifestation
conditions the human possibility of a divine love; otherwise, the (zohûr), an attribute (sifat), a Light (nûr), then that is what we are
absolute divine incommensurability excludes that there can be a looking for. For if this theophany and this Manifestation were not
relationship of love between the human being and God. God in correspondence with the organs of perception (mashâ'ir) of
becomes an object of knowledge and love only in the form of his the Shi'ites, then the difficulty would remain as it was. But if there
Manifestation, and it is in this theophanic Form that the lover, the is correspondence, this theophany is homogeneous with the
beloved and love are united in a unity. This Form, that is the Shiites, it is part of themselves, and it is possible for them to
Imam, saves keeping from the double trap the tawhîd; and this reach it. There is in them what is in her. Otherwise, it would be
is the secret of the life of the Imam in the heart of every faithful absurd to make it their duty to achieve it. So the Sublime makes
believer, as the secret of what is appointed, “walks forward from itself known to the Infinite by an attribute that it is possible for
his being”: the pole where everything begins and where everything returns. the latter to perceive, to know and to understand. And this is the
2) It is thus precisely, insofar as he animates the spiritual life supreme degree to which the Inferior can reach, the highest of
of his follower, that the Imam, as the object of his highest his thoughts, because it is his soul (his self, his anima, nafs) and
knowledge and of his highest love, initiates him into self- his heart, according to the tradition which declares : He who
knowledge, reveals to him that Self which is the Soul of his soul. knows himself (his soul), knows his Lord, — and this is what
There is for each Shiite—as for each human being—a supreme these verses allude to: There are signs in yourselves, do you not
thought, the highest of his thoughts, the horizon of which he see it? (51:21). We will show them our Signs on the horizons
cannot transgress without his being being volatilized. and in their souls (= inside
And yet this relative superlative itself indicates that there is still
something above and beyond, this something which it could not
reach without transgressing the limit of its
of themselves) (41:53). Thus God notifies himself to the Shiites through their takes the Deus revelatus in self-knowledge which is knowledge of God. The
self (their soul). When they arrive at the knowledge of themselves (of their Imam is the form of my knowledge and my love of God. Knowledge of the Imam
soul), they have accomplished what is expected of them, namely the reveals to his adept that it is, as such, the form of his love, and thereby the very
achievement of what is ahead of their being, their Imam [...] . They are the secret of his being, for his being is his very love. And this is why the love of the
manifestation of their Imâm, just as the Imâms are the Manifestation and the Imam, this religion of the walayat, as our Shiite authors conceive it as embracing
meaning of God, they of whom it is said in the Ziyarat al-Jâmi'a (cf. supra chap. all the moments of an eternal prophetic religion, all the faithful of all the prophets,
v): Hail to those who are such that he who knows them, knows God, while he — is the initiation into self-knowledge, a Self which is not an impersonal Absolute
who ignores them, ignores God devoid of all qualification, but the Soul and the Beloved of the soul (jân-e jân),
282
. »
the self to the second person, "walking ahead of me", the Imam (in the perfectly
From this long quotation from a master of Shiite spirituality and from the etymological sense of the word).
preceding analysis, the following emerges: that the Imam is the theophanic
Form (mazhar); this Form is that under which God is the object of knowledge
and love; to reach this theophanic Form is eo ipso to reach the knowledge of
God, to reach him in the only form in which he is knowable and which, as such,
is the supreme degree to which the Inferior, the highest can reach. degrees of Shiite piety and spirituality thus culminate in this walayat dedicated to the
his being, of his knowledge and of his love. Because theophany is as such the Imam, as theophanic Form under which the Absconditum is revealed to man,
establishment of a relationship between the one who shows himself (mota jallî) and under which the hidden God becomes an object of love (this Form being
and the one to whom he shows himself (motajallâ laho), the one who shows the mahbÿbiya). And this is why all love of God, because it postulates a God
himself necessarily does so in a form proportionate and corresponding to the who is the object of love, is walayat of the Imam.
one who he shows himself to. This is a point on which Ibn 'Arabi has already
insisted. Only here, this relationship is expressly imamology itself, because it is Non-Shi'ite Sufism has sought this outcome with anguish, to escape what
imamology alone that makes this relationship possible, without the tawhÿd being Ruzbehan calls the "madness of the inaccessible." But what is important to note
shaken. is that the problem has already been posed by Shi'ism as such, and that its
imamology is precisely its outcome. For such is the meaning of the Imam under
the multiple qualifications conferred on him in the Shiite invocations, which only
This is why, because of this relation of homogeneity that theophany (tajallî) repeat the qualifications that the Imams give themselves in their hadith: the
poses, and because this theophany is the supreme summit to which the Inferior, Imam as Guide and as Pole, as A'râf, as Witness of God etc., each of these
the being in the world below, can reach, it is true to say that by reaching the qualifications being able to illustrate the fundamental theme of a knowledge of
"place" of this theophany (at this mystical Sinai where God reveals himself for self which is knowledge of the Imam, and which eo ipso is knowledge of God,
him), the faithful reaches the summit or the heart of his being, his self, his because he is no other knowledge of God accessible to man than the knowledge
anima (nafs) . But the form that this theophany takes, that is to say the Face of of his Imam.
this God who reveals himself to him at the summit of his soul, that is the Imam.
This is why to know oneself, to know one's soul, one 's anima, and with it the
whole universe of the soul, is to know one's Imam, and it is this knowledge
which is for each one the knowledge of his Lord, his knowledge of God. The
Imam is the form that Among all these qualifications, we can retain here only those which have just
been named. In closing this sketch on Shiite spirituality, we would like to indicate
how they are implemented by thinkers for whom philosophical meditation is
282. Tariq al-Najât, pp. 103-104. On the same word nafs, designating the soul and the self, never separated from spiritual life, from personal spiritual realization, mainly by
cf. already supra p. 270, no. 252. The self here is not the impersonal, but as identified with a Mulla Sadrâ Shîrâzî, so frequently quoted here. Mollâ Sadrâ is with Sâleh
the Imam, it is the me in the second person, jân-e jân, the soul of the soul. From the same Mazanderanî, Mohsen Fayz, Qâzî Sa'îd Qommî and others, among those
shaykh we have analyzed elsewhere certain pages of extraordinary interest, illustrating the
theme of Fâtima-Sophia: Fâtima as the "Soul" of creation and of each creature, the fâtimîya
Shî'ite thinkers who, by systematically commenting on the texts of the Imams,
("the sophia nity") as the secret of theophany, cf. our book Celestial Earth, pp. 115-119. raised
Cf. already supra n. 35.


The meaning of the Imam for Shiite spirituality 303
real landmarks. These make us understand why the philosophy which is their
subject is designated sometimes as “prophetic and imamic philosophy” (hikmat
2. - The Imam as Guide and as Pole
nabawîya wa walawîya, this second adjective being formed on the word wali),
sometimes as “Yemeni theosophy” (hikmat yamanîya ) in reference to the This fundamental theme of prophetic philosophy has already been brought
symbolic meanings of Yemen and the Yemeni corner of the Ka'ba; hence this to light by all that precedes. Suffice it here to recapitulate the essential moments.
tradition in which the consonance of the words îmân, faith, and Yaman, Yemen There is first of all the situation on which we wondered in these abrupt terms:
play: “Faith comes from Yemen and wisdom, theosophy, is Yemeni what happens, when the Prophet is no longer there and there will be no more
283 prophet, if, moreover, the true meaning of the prophetic Revelation is not in the
. »
only apparent letter, and that this true meaning does not result from a construction
“Yemeni Theosophy” and “Oriental Theosophy” (the doctrine of the ishrâq produced by deductions or inferences, but cannot be unveiled and transmitted
stemming from Sohrawardî, a specifically Iranian-Islamic form of neoplatonism) than by "he who knows"? The answer to this question is the bi-unity of the Imam
are fertilized by the same sources: the hadîth relating to the walâyat, to the and the Qur'an, affirmed in so many Shiite hadiths : the Qur'an is the "silent
Form of light of the 'Imam as the Face of God which reveals itself only by veiling Imam", the Imam is the "speaking Qur'an".
itself. Hence the idea of the Imam as being essentially the witness of God, as
being in the believer, at the summit of his soul, the active consciousness that
the believer has of God, the witness who bears witness in him to this God 285
.
otherwise inaccessible. Thus springs up, in Molla Sadrâ, whose teaching we The Imam, as "speaking Quran" is the Guide, and the permanent Guide, who
will again follow in particular in these last pages, a metaphysics of the "witness" initiates into the true meaning of the Quranic Revelation, and who thus maintains
and the "testimony" which, by positing the unity of the contemplator and of what the Book in the state of living Word. We have already referred to the hadîth of
it contemplates, determines the act of being, of existing, according to the the Ve Imam thwarting, before the letter, the trap of historicism. It is for this same
Presence, that is to say according to the presences of the soul in ever more purpose that the sixth Imam, Ja'far al-Sadiq, tests one of his disciples, asking
universes, presences which, as such, l absolve of his presence in the world him: “O Abu Mohammad! The Prophet was the Warner. 'Ali was the Guide. But
given over to death.
is there a Guide (Hâdî) today? » And the disciple answers : « Yes, my life is
dedicated to you! There has always been one Guide in your House after another,
until the turn came to you. “May God have mercy on you, O Abu Mohammad!
resumes the Imam. If it were such that a verse having been revealed on the
Imamology as a form of spiritual experience has undoubtedly influenced the occasion of a man, and when that man died, the verse also died, then the whole
metaphysics of being of a Molla Sadra, which reforms the classic metaphysics Book today would be dead. Not ! the Qurân is alive, and will continue to be
of essences to give primacy to existence (cf. infra book V). Now, the initiation fulfilled in those who will live in the future, as it has been fulfilled in those who
into self-knowledge presupposes the possibility of this “substantial mutation”, of have lived in the past . acted simply to understand the Holy Book in relation to
the “movement” which reaches the very substance of a being (harakat "its time", in relation to the historical or social circumstances which saw it spring
jawharîya) and whose thesis is fundamental for the theosophy of Molîâ Sadrâ . up.
Therein lies the key to the Mabdâ' and the Ma'âd, which opens to man the
presentiment of his immemorial metamorphoses and of his future palin genesis
—and the two "arcs of descent and ascent" encircle a horizon immensely larger
than what, in the West, claims to be evolutionary
284
.
285. Cf. Kolaynî, Osûl : Kitâb al-Hojjat, chap. VII, 3e hadîth ; Mollâ Sadrâ, Skarh,
283. Cf. our study on The Configuration of the Temple of the Ka'ba as the secret
of the spiritual life (Eranos-Jahrbuch XXXIV), Zürich 1967, pp. 108 and 118, and p. 467, pour al-Kitâb al-nâtiq et al-Imâm al-sâmit, et globalement tout le chapitre
pp. 160 and 162, n. 37 and 54. VII du Kitâb al-Hojjat de Kolaynî.
284. Cf. Mullâ Sadrâ Shîrâzî, The Book of Metaphysical Insights (Kitâb al- 286. Kolaynî, Kitâb al-Hojjat, chap. X, 3rd hadith, ed. Arabo-Persian, I, p. 365;
Mashâ'ir), text and trans. French (Iranian Bibl., vol. 10), Tehran Paris 1964, Molla Sadra, Sharh, p. 495. Several similar hadîth , coming from the Ve Imâm, are
quoted and commented on as fundamental from the beginning of Tafsîr Mir'at al-
anwâr, p. 5.

The meaning of the Imam for Shiite spirituality
291
the verses, which means that the Qurân is long dead. of a Guide, and I bear witness to God! I am presently that one From the Sixth » .
In other words, without the permanent walayat of the “Friends of God” in this world, there Imam, Ja'far Sadiq, a disciple, Abu Hamza, says: “I asked Imam Ja'far: can the Earth
would be no future for the Book of God. The life of the Imam and the life of the Holy Book remain without an Imam? He said to me: If the Earth were to remain without an Imam , it
in this world are integral to each other. would be swallowed up . in its waves the beings who inhabit it These declarations which
tie a mysterious link, a sacramental link in a way, between the presence of the Imam and
The presence of the Imam and his friends must therefore be perpetuated. This was the continuation of the terrestrial world of men, are pregnant with a certain number of
the theme of the interview of the First Imam with Komayl ibn Ziyad quoted above (III, 3), consequences. 293
The first is that, obviously, the necessity of the Imam is not just one socio-
we already heard there the motif of the mystical pole without whose existence the human political theme among
. » others. We are before a metaphysical theme concerning the supra-
world could not even last . It is in echo287

of the declarations of the I Imam that Molla Sadra sensible order and structure of the universe, namely the theme of the Imam as mystical
writes:
is
“Never can the Earth be deprivedthe of an
QurânImam,
would
of ahave
Guide to in
dieeach
by the
era.death
Otherwise,
of those Pole , Pole of poles (Qotb al-aqtâb). Molla Sadra explains it in a very dense page. The
whoHesupport it. Nowtowards
who guides the Qurân
himisisalive
aliveand will never
at every die until
moment the day
of time, untilof the
the Resurrection.
coming of the necessity of the Imam expresses an interior law of being, a law which makes each higher
Final Hour These lines only recapitulate what we can hear throughout the hadîth composing degree of being the goal, the finality, of the lower degree; this one exists by the superior
the chapter which, in large collection of Kolaynî , is devoted to the Imam as Guide and as degree; it can only be completed and find its perfection in itself. The lower degree of being
Guarantor of God (Hojjat), the one who "answers for" this God before men . unshakeable presupposes the existence of the higher degree, not vice versa. Better than a law of
consciousness that the Imams have of themselves. From the V Imam, Moham. Baqir: “I evolution, it is a law of the ascent of the being towards the superior degree which pre-
288
testify to God! Since Adam's soul was collected (i.e. since Adam's death) . » exists it. So it is with humanity. The latter can find its fulfillment only to the degree which
marks its supreme perfection. This is the meaning of the Imamate, because “by the degree
of the Imamate, specifies Molla Sadra, one signifies the Perfect Man (al-Insan al-kâmil,
Anthropos teleios), who is the king of the terrestrial world
289
.
and
God never allowed there to exist an earthly world, without there being in this world an
Imam who guides towards God; he is the Respondent for God before his servants, and
the earthly world is never left without an Imam who is this Respondent and this Guide for
294
men . terrestrial is never void of a Responder and
". But precisely because she is
291. Ibid., 9
and
hadith. And Sadrâ emphasizes: this awareness that the Xth Imam, 'Ali-
Naqî, had of being the Hojjat, the Guide and Respondent before those of his time, he
owed it to two sources: "The first, his intimate feeling (wijdân, hierognosis), the perfect
287. Molla Sadra, Sharh, p. 495, insists on this interconnection of the pole and the
mystical intuition (al-kashf al-tâmm) by which man knows himself (kâl nafsihi, the state
guide as "Maintainer of the Book",
of his soul). The imam was aware that inspiration (ilham) had come to him from God for
288. Ibid. Sadrâ insists: "There is no sense in speaking of the death and life of the
Book except by hearing it of the death and life of those who are its supports, who know the knowledge of things that the intellects of creatures are powerless to perceive [,..]. He
its intentions and secret meanings, just as the death of science has no other meaning was aware of divine assistance (ta'yîd) in his spiritual combat [...]. As for the other
than the death of the scientist, as we have shown previously in the "Book of Intelligence source, it was the investiture (nass) conferred on him by his father, and so by his
and Knowledge", (Kitâb al- 'Aql, which is Book I of the Osûl). But God does not take ancestors and predecessors” Sharh, p. 461.
away knowledge; he makes it descend from scholar to scholar. The scientist dies and
he takes with him what he knows, because the book is only the knowledge written on
the pages. This is why the "Keeper of the Book" continues until the day of Resurrection. 292. Ibid., 10e hadîth.
293. Ibid., 12e hadîth.
294. Molla Sadra, Sharh, p. 461, commentary on the hadith. The encounter between
289. This is the whole of chapter v of the Kitâb al- Hojjat des Osûl de Kolaynî (Sharh, the Shiite notion of the Imam and the Hermetic notion of the "Perfect Man"
pp. 457 ff.) . (Anthropos teleios, al-Insân al-kâmil) forms a keystone of imamic theosophy.
290. Ibid., 8 hadith, ed. Arab-Persian, I, p. 333; Sadra, Sharh, p. 461.
and
the royalty of the Perfect Man as the finality of being, this royalty neither as the pole on which the coherence and cohesion of being depend, expresses a
results nor depends on political considerations which would place the Imam metaphysical necessity and corresponds to an esoteric anthropology; its function
at a level where he would simply be the rival of the Omayyads and the is necessary because it is an initiatory function, and it opens onto an
Abbasids. It is something other than what social history thematizes, a kingship eschatological perspective (the twelfth Imam as Mahdî). Its necessity and its
which by its very essence implies neither the necessity nor even the idea of function are therefore what they are in essence; whether men recognize it or
a temporal political success, still less the idea that majorities are always right, whether they ignore it, that does not change anything. On the Sunni side, the
on the pretext that they "make" history. This is a story that “is made” without concept of the Imam as pivot of the social order does not involve any metaphysical
their knowledge; a spiritual royalty over the visible world, exercised incognito, consideration. Its necessity proceeds only from the consideration of temporal
something like the function of the dynasty of the Grail. things; it is not a sacred concept (implying a sacredness of the universe), but a
secular and secular concept. No metaphysical necessity or eschatological
perspective is envisaged as to the person of the Imam or as to the function of
the Imam. From which is necessarily absent the idea that the Imam must know
The other announced consequences then loom. This idea of the incognito, the ta'wîl and the esoteric meanings of the Qurân, therefore be someone whom
as we have noted, was already implied as essential to the Imam, in the God assists by an inspired science ('ilm ladonî) and whom he has immunized
declarations of the Prophet limiting the number of Imams of his lineage to against all defilements and failures (the 'ismat). Its choice therefore simply
twelve . This limitation necessarily implies, at a given moment, the re-entry of depends on consensus; he is elected. To which the Shiite conception opposes
the Imamate into occultation (ghaybat). Whence ipso facto the actual that if one can elect a political leader, a president, consecrate a priest etc., it is.
relationship of the Shiite believer with his Imam as the pole of his being is not On the other hand, it is obvious nonsense to speak of “electing” a prophet or an
a relationship with an institution of this world, but a relationship with the supra- Imam, not only because their charisma does not depend on the choice of men,
sensible world. The permanent but invisible presence of the twelfth Imam, but because it escapes common perception. “My Friends (Awliya'î) are under my
after his fugitive appearance in this world, implies for him a mode of existence tabernacles; no one knows them except myself. Finally, the sentence which
superior to the conditions which are those of terrestrial biology — supra- echoes the one in which we have just seen the culmination of the meaning of
sensible presence and existence are not manifested only in visions or in the Imam for Shi'ite spirituality — "he who dies without knowing soa Imam, dies
incognito encounters. But this invisible presence of the Imam polarizes the the death of the unconscious" — this sentence would not only lose everything its
devotion of Shi'ism; its simple followers as well as its doctors live in its meaning, but would become less true if it were related to the Imam as envisaged
familiarity (cf. infra book VII). Just as it is not necessary for the Imam to be by the Sunni conception.
materially visible to the eyes of the flesh, it is not necessary for him to be
known or recognized by the masses and the powers of this world. The
Imâmate is the intrinsic qualification of his being, that of the Perfect Man.
Neither the ignorance nor the blindness of men can abolish what in his being
makes him the Imam. And from this set of consequences and implications
emerges the fundamental, irreducible heterogeneity between the Shiite
concept of the Imam as guide and as pole, and the Sunni concept of the
Imam. Here even show their decisive significance an objection which the Sunnis
have commonly made to the Shi'ites and the answer given to them by the latter.
“You speak of the Imam, say the Sunnis, as necessary by a necessity founded
in God, but then his reign should be uninterrupted (there should never be
occultation, ghaybat). And at the same time you
We have underlined this heterogeneity in its place, in connection with the
pages where Mollâ Sadra takes up a long exposition by Fakhroddîn Râzî, the (Sharh, 447-448), Molla Sadra analyzes and discusses here (Sharh, 457-459) the
Sunni theologian-philosopher, devoted to the concept of the Imâm . Imam doctrine which is generally current among the majority Sunnis and Mo'tazilites; then,
those of Jâhiz, al-Ka'bî and Abû' l-Hasan Basrî; finally, he opposes to them the
Shiite doctrine of the Imam and the Imam. These are pages that deserve to be
295. We have already referred to these pages of Molla Sadra, of decisive translated in their entirety, so enlightening are they; unfortunately we cannot do that
importance, supra p. 187, no. 150, and p. 240, no. 221. After having analyzed here.
and criticized at length the doctrine of Fakhroddîn Râzî on the question of the Imamat
308 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism The Meaning of the Imam for Shi'ite Spirituality 309
speak of it as divine grace. But either the Imam, insofar as but in fact, if the terrestrial world subsists through the
you show the need for it, is not a grace; or else, if it is a grace, existence of the Imam, it is for a metaphysical and mystical
it is because it is not necessary. To which the Shiites reply: reason: it is because his degree of being is that of the Perfect
"The existence of the Imam remains a divine grace, whether Man, and that the Perfect Man being the reason for being
he exercises power or does not exercise it." and the finality ( ghâyat, the telos) of the terrestrial world, the
As the Amir of the believers (the 1st Imam) said: Never does world of men could not even persevere in being without the
the earthly world remain deprived of someone who assumes existence of the Perfect Man . sense of the mysterious
the task of answering for God, whether in public and existence of the twelfth Imam, "hidden from the senses but
recognized by men, or whether in secret and unknown to present in the hearts of his followers". It is what it is, the
them, so that never the indications of God nor his manifestation mystical pole of being. His Imâmate does not depend on the
are destroyed on Earth. As for the free exercise of his recognition of men. The imamic lineage, we said, is not a
sovereignty outwardly, that would be another divine grace. dynasty like the others, alongside the others. An Imam is not
Legislative prophecy has been closed and sealed, while the a "claimant" to the Imam. He is the Imam. “We are like the Israelites
Imamate persists and continues, which is the esoteric of in the midst of the people of Pharaoh,” declared the Fourth
prophecy until the day of the Resurrection [...] and this, Imam. The imamic line has returned to occultation (as the
whether men recognize it or, on the contrary, reject it . Indeed, last guardian of the Grail); but it is through it that is
if the Messenger of God is a Messenger even if no one perpetuated in this world, uninterrupted until the Last Day,
believes in his message, as was the case with Noah, for the silsilat al irfân, the lineage of gnosis, as the first Imâm
example, the Imam remains an Imam even if no one among taught to his disciple Komayl ibn Ziyad 299. The mystical pole of this
men recognize. For, even if no sick person comes to seek
remedy and healing from the doctor, the latter is no less a 297. Sharh, p. 464.
doctor. So it is in the case of doctors of souls, of those who 298. Sharh, p. 462. “From al-Minhâl ibn 'Amrû this is reported: I entered, he
said, the home of 'Ali ibn al-Hosayn (the fourth Imam). I say to him: How are
treat spiritual illnesses296and infirmities of the heart, namely the you this morning? O son of the daughter of the Messenger of God (NB this
prophets and the Awliya ».The answer therefore settles in all reference to Fatima in the greeting). The Imam to tell me: We find ourselves
clarity: in any case, the 'Imam remains the Imam, even if this morning, I testify to God! in the position of the Israelites among the people
he has to exercise his Imam in secret. No argument for or of Pharaoh who slaughtered their children and dishonored their wives. And
behold, the best of creatures after the Messenger of God is cursed from the
against its necessity can be drawn from "public opinion" height of the pulpits, and whoever loves us is deprived of his rights because of
towards it, from official recognition or the lack of it. It is his love for us”.
because the Imâmate forming with the prophetic mission a 299. On Komayl ibn Ziyad's talks with the Imam, cf. above pp. III ss., n. 83
and 85. Molla Sadra refers to those who wanted to remove the question of the
unique reality in essence (haqîqat wâhida bi'l-dhât), the imamic lineage by claiming that the “twelve” announced by the Prophet would
continuity of the imâmic lineage (public or secret, incognito) be the first twelve caliphs, therefore including the Qmayyads.
has as its raison d'être the perpetuation of the prophetic It shows to what absurdities this thesis leads. He quotes the hadith reporting
spiritual heritage, not the maintenance of a certain political the nightmare of the prophet (supra n. 22) seeing in a dream a band of monkeys
climbing his pulpit and forcing the faithful to withdraw before them. He takes as
state of affairs. The Imam depends so little on the recognition witness the comments, those of Sunni authors like Zamakhsharî, Fakhr Râzî,
of men that, in fact, none of the twelve Imams, apart from the Taftazânî, — those of a Shiite theologian like Abu 'Alî
first Imam, ever exercised a temporal authority, and was none Tabarsi. Finally, it recapitulates the prolegomena of Shahrastânî's Kitâb al-
milal , in which the latter analyzes how the first dispute which shook the Islamic
the less pitifully Imam. This is what constitutes the essence religion arose. Shahrastânî goes back to the revolt of Iblis against the investiture
of Shi'ism and determines the Shi'ite conception of Islam. We of Adam; this revolt branched out into creation in seven disputes; they are
have been told that the Prophet and the Imam do not exist mentioned in the commentary on the four Gospels (sic), in the Torah (it is in
solely because men need them for the smooth running of fact the apocryphal Vita Adae and Evae), and all have been recapitulated in the
form in which it manifested (mazhar) the first dispute in Islam. Shahrastânî, a
their religious and temporal affairs. Certainly, this good walk Sunni doctor, remains allusive enough for a Shiite thinker like Sadra to feel
presupposes their existence, authorized to invoke this text. He concludes these long pages by first quoting
the words of the Prophet: “Princes will come after me; those who will take their
296. Sadra, Sharh, p. 459, commentary on the first hadîth of chapter v of places near them, will acquiesce in their imposture and support their violence;
the Kitâb al-Hojjat.
lineage of gnosis is the twelfth Imam, the presently hidden Imam, and this towards which we must turn. Also whoever deviates from our walayat (i.e.
lineage consists of all those who are in a state of mutual knowledge and denies us his devotion of love), or gives preference to others over us, that one
301
recognition with those who designate themselves as the men of A'râf . deviates from the Way A triple gradation leads thus the relationship of the . »
Through this qualification, the Imam's sense of Shiite spirituality is further Imam and the A'raf until their reciprocal identification. Molla Sadra begins here
heightened as an initiation to self-knowledge, by showing that in their purely exoteric exegeses, the literalist commentators
have all more or less beaten the field, while the exegeses of the non-Shi'ite
esotericists let slip what is essential in the idea of A'raf. He extracts this idea
by focusing, sentence by sentence, on the intentions of the Imam, to give an
3. - The Imam as the A'râf authentically Imam exegesis of the A'râf. Once posited that this proper name
A'râf derives from the root 'rf, which connotes the idea of knowing, of knowing,
This theme refers us to the Qur'anic verses alluding the triple gradation marked in the response of the imâm can be analyzed as
300 302
the mysterious rampart erected between Paradise and Hell: the A'râf which , follows.
gives its name to the 7th sura (verses 44-45): "On the A'râf stand men who
recognize each by his physiognomy (7:44). A disciple reports the statement
that "the Sixth Imam (himself repeating a statement of the First Imam) gives in
response to someone who asks him about the men of A'râf : "It is we (the 1) In the first degree, the Imam begins by declaring: "It is we (the twelve
Imams ) who are on the A'râf.\ We recognize our companions by their faces. Imams) who are on the A'râf ", which means "at the summit of
And we ourselves are the A'râf, for God can only be an object of knowledge if knowledge" (ma'rifat), its highest rampart, elevation being understood here as
we pass through our knowledge. And we are the A'râf, for on the Day of a spiritual situation, not as one located in space.
Resurrection we are those whom God knows to be the Way (soon) Enter
Paradise only who knows us and whom we ourselves know. in the Fire let him 2) In the second degree, remarkable progression: the Imam not only affirms
who denies us and let us deny ourselves. If God Most High had willed, he that the Imams are at the top of the A'râf, but affirms that they themselves are
would have made himself known to men. However, he has made us his the A'râf, that is to say say that their knowledge mediates all human knowledge
thresholds, his way, his way, the Face of God. They are therefore not only the subjects of knowledge, those who know
and those whose knowledge is the summit of knowledge; they are also that by
which there is knowledge (ma'rifat), that by which and thanks to which there is
an object corresponding to this knowledge, for they are that which attains the
highest knowledge, the object of this knowledge. In this case, the person or his
qualification is used to designate and name the thing itself, that is to say here
these are not of mine, and I am not of them. On the other hand, those who the knowledge, this knowledge of which he is the cause and the source. In the
will not side with them and will not acquiesce in their imposture, those are first moment of the response, the
mine, and I am theirs. Finally, he shows that the authentic and multiple
riwâyâts can only relate, without possible ta'wîl , to the lineage of the Twelve
Immaculate, those who possess the gnosis of God and of his Signs by
"mystical perception (kashf) and a visionary intuition (shohûd). The line of
Imamate is unbroken; in it the lineage begun with Noah and Abraham is
perpetuated, because the Imamate is of the same essence as the prophecy
of which it is the esoteric. The spiritual meaning of prophecy must remain. 301. Kitab al-Hojjat, chap. VII, 9th hadith; Sharh, p. 473. This hadith , which
The sentence must be verified: “He who dies without knowing the imam of attests to the Imams' awareness of being the source of gnosis, ends with
his time, dies the death of the unconscious. » these words: "It is not without consequence for men to address themselves to
How dare you say that this spiritual sense and this knowledge had any murky springs flowing into each other.
connection whatsoever with one of those princes glimpsed by the Prophet in On the other hand, he who turns to us, turns to pure springs which flow by the
his nightmare? Sharh, pp. 462-464. We have already noted here the thought order of their Lord; they never dry up; they never stop. On Water as a symbol
which is almost a leitmotif in Qâzî Sa'îd Qommî, namely that the Prophet had of knowledge, cf. below n. 307.
chosen to be a prophet-servant, not a prophet-king, and that consequently he
could not bequeath to Imams than spiritual royalty (saltanat ma'nawîtya), 302. For what follows, cf. Sharh, pp. 475 ss. Mollâ Sadrâ first analyzes the
supra n. 54. meaning of the A'râf and the Ahl al-A'râf among Sunni exoteric commentators
300. On the A'râf, see the texts translated in our book Celestial Earth, pp. (including Jobbâ'î and Bâqillânî), then develops at great length the teaching of
235 sq., 237 sq. the Imams.

3) Then, in a third degree, by a new progression, the Imam affirms:
word A'râf is used to designate knowledge, gnosis itself (ma'rifat). “We "We are the A'râf, because on the Day of Resurrection we are those
are at the summit of A'râf ”, at the summit of this gnosis. In the whom God knows to be the Way..." Here the Imam means by the A'râf
progression marked by the second moment of the response, the word " what is the essential object of knowledge", not what is external to it
designates the cause of this gnosis, that by which it exists. “We are the and is known per accident. What is this essential knowledge? Just as in
A'râf ”, that means: We are that by which there is knowledge of God by the second moment of the response, the Imam is the knowledge that
man. We are the content of human knowledge of God, for we are the man has of God, that by which man knows God, so here, in the third
theophany. In other words: there is no ma'rifat Allah, God is knowable moment, he is the divine knowledge. of man, that by which God knows
and there is no human knowledge of God, except for the man who man.
knows us. We saw previously here that the Imam is the theophanic
form, that is to say that the Imam is the "Face" that God ineluctably The Imam says in effect: whoever knows us, God knows him as a being
assumes in all knowledge that man has of him, or in which God reveals of paradise. At the second moment, the Imam affirms: the knowledge
to him; without this "Face" there is only the Absconditum. The Imam, that the believer has of us is the knowledge that he has of God. In the
as being the A'râf, is therefore indeed this Supreme Face, that by which third moment: the knowledge that God has of the faithful, is the
there exists a human knowledge of God. knowledge that this faithful has of us. By knowing us, he has the
knowledge of himself as being of paradise, and this knowledge is that
which God has of him. Conversely, the one who rejects us has a
perception of himself which is his hell. "No one enters the Fire except
The meaning of the Imam for Shiite spirituality is found here as we he who denies us and whom we ourselves deny", and such is the
have analyzed it above. The Imams themselves teach the reciprocity knowledge that God has of him who denies us. It is the denier himself
of the two maxims, since the Imam can say: "He who knows us , knows who drives God out of his paradise, and that is hell. This is why at the
his Lord", and since, on the other hand, all our spiritual people repeat: limit where knowledge of the Imam and self-knowledge are combined,
"He who knows himself even (his soul), knows his Lord. This then, the exoteric meaning of the A'râf as "bulwark" takes on its full truth: the
because by knowing himself (his soul, his anima), it is his Imam that he Imam is indeed the rampart which separate heaven and hell.
knows; Now, he who knows his Imam, knows his Lord. There is thus
an alternation or substitution between the notion of the Imam and the
notion of the Self: to know one's Imam is to know oneself; to know Teaching where the meditation of the philosopher discovers
oneself is to know one's Imam (the Soul of the soul) and it is to know inexhaustible potentialities: the Imam is the knowledge that man has of
one's Lord . light" of his twelve imams, it is therefore access to this self- God, and as such he is the knowledge that God has of man. This
knowledge outside of which there is no knowledge of God, that is to double proposition marks the situs of the Imam at the level of the
say access to the awareness of the personal relationship that fact that primordial theophany, at the dawn of all divine cognoscentrism. Other
this God is such — such as he shows himself — for him who adores texts (supra pp. 296-297) have previously made us witnesses to the
him. Hence the importance of the visions of the Imams in dreams, rising of this dawn. There even it was a singularized divine Will which
visions in which his most intimate secret is revealed to the faithful who shone through from the horizon of a universal primordial Will, and this
are favored by them, the Imam as "Soul of his soul" the secret of his dawn made possible the appearance of the form (tajallî) under which
own knowledge of God. . We said above "the human sense of the the divinity becomes an object of love (its mahbûbîya).
knowledge of God". Here the Imam simultaneously announces the
divine meaning of this human knowledge. The voluntarist aspect there corresponded to a metaphysics of being
which, in a master of the Shaykhie school like Moh.
304
Karîm Khân Kermânî, refuses to encompass the ineffable divine Being
symbolic perceptions. We will quote later (t. III, book IV, chap. I) a vision of
Haydar Âmoli, perceiving in the sky of Baghdad fourteen symbolic circles of
303. Cf. our translation of Mollâ Sadrâ, The Book of Metaphysical lapis lazuli with gold inscriptions. Cf. again, in our Ismaili Trilogy, the themes
Penetrations, pp. 186-187. of the Imam as "Soul of the soul", of the olive tree at the top of the mystical
304. Visions which are not only contemplations of mental or dream Sinai.
apparitions, with personal dialogue, but which encompass the whole field of
and unpredictable in a univocal unity of being (wahdat al wojûd). Here, with Molla concept of Witness. In this notion converge a metaphysics and a spirituality of the
Sadrâ Shîrâzî, we have a thinker who admits this univocity, and his metaphysics Presence—Presence towards which all the motives of prophetic philosophy tend.
is initially expressed in terms of knowledge. The Imam is this point of convergence where the Witness, the "contemplating" (shâhid)
- the Imam at the top of the A'râf - is simultaneously the contemplated (mashhûd),
There is a global divine knowledge, essential perfect knowledge, which is the Witness-of-contemplation - the A 'raf himself—because this Witness, by
identified with the simple divine Essence, comprising no multiplicity, because this attesting to men the God whom he himself contemplates (by "answering for" Him),
Essence (Dhât) is the source from which spring the existences of all things, and is also the one whom men contemplate when this God "shows himself" to them. It
that by knowing himself, God knows the totality of things by the very fact of this is the eye through which God looks at and concerns men: because it is through this
knowledge which is identical to his Essence. And there is a divine knowledge of same eye that man looks at and concerns God (this motif will bear fruit in the
singular things, consisting either in the fact that the essences of things are present mysticism of Rûzbehân, infra book III). The Imams are both the eyes through which
to it in their existence in concreto, or in that their Ideas are actualized in being God looks at this world and the eyes through which men contemplate the divine
"prior" to their existence in concreto. The whole presents a hierarchy of causes Attributes, since the divine Essence is inaccessible to them. The Imam is therefore
and causes. Well, explains Molla Sadra, there is symmetry and rigorous parallelism indeed the contemplated contemplator (shâhid-mashhûd, contemplated by God
in the descending order and in the ascending order of this hierarchy. Just as the and men), preserving from ta'tîl and tashhîh, and the knowledge that I have of the
Angels are active causes (fa"âla) bringing about the gradual blossoming of the Imam is indeed the knowledge that God has of me. Hence the Imam is indeed the
virtual existence of creatures, so the prophets and the Imams, all the "Friends of "bulwark" between those of paradise and those of hell.
God", are causes and intermediaries acting on the virtual angelicity of human
beings, bringing them out of the state of animality to lead them to the actual angelic
state which makes them beings of paradise (ahl al-jinnat).
Also it is true to say, writes Molla Sadra, "that the knowledge that God has of
the spiritual state of the two groups is mediated by the knowledge that he has of
these Witnesses under their double aspect (attesting to the paradise of the each
And just as, in the order of cosmology, the knowledge that God has of the beings other's hell). This is the deep understanding (tahqiq) of the fact that the prophets
of this world in the making is a knowledge mediated by the knowledge that he and the Imams are God's witnesses for men, and of the meaning of this Qur'anic
himself has of their Angels (the Angeli intellectuales and the Angeli caelestes of verse: What will happen, when from each community we have produce a witness,
the Avicennian hierarchies), and that for this reason it is said that the Angels are and we have produced you as a witness against them? (4:45) 308. ” Then the
before God the "Witnesses" (shohadâ) of his creation, - likewise, in the three degrees, progressive in the answer of Imâm show their final truth: “We are
eschatological order, the knowledge that God has of the fidelity of his believers is the A'râf ”, that is to say we are those who in essence are the object of divine
mediated by the knowledge that he himself has of the prophets and the Awliya, knowledge (the ma'rûfûn bi'l-dhât), the objects of divine contemplation (the
and this is why they themselves are the "Witnesses" before God for men on the mashûdûn li'llâh), its Witnesses-to-contemplation, without intermediary, since,
day of the Resurrection. being intermediaries for the others, We are the high degrees of the Way (sirât)
through which man must pass to reach the supreme human proximity to God
It is therefore through the idea of these Witnesses that the text of the Imam
spontaneously leads the philosopher to discover the symmetry between the
function of angelology for cosmogenesis and cosmology (the order of Mabda')
307
and the function of imamology for the return of souls to their Origin (the order of .
Ma'ad), that is to say for soteriology and eschatology 305. Imamology has, like
angelology, its metaphysical foundation in divine Knowledge; both culminate in 306. Sharh, p. 475. Molla Sadra is very well aware that he is opening a new
this hermeneutical path to the philosopher's meditation here: "Make good use of
all this, he writes, for you will not find it in any other book than this one." .
307. This very ample commentary on the 9th hadith of chapter VII therefore
only follows the very structure of the hadith: the Imams are the A'râf, and they
305. Sharh, p. 466. are the pure sources (cf. supra p. 311, n. 301) opposed to troubled sources.

essentially orients towards the second aspect of the Hojjat : the invisible inner
The theme of the A'râf thus stands out as the summit, the "bulwark" of Guide, the inner Imam (Hojjat batina, Imam dâkhilî): dazzling sacrosanct light which
"prophetic and imamic philosophy", which is the gift of supreme wisdom. As Imam originates at the Throne, rises at the Orient of the soul, at its supreme horizon,
Ja'far says, commenting for a disciple on the Qur'anic verse 2:272: "He to whom illuminating the “senses of the heart” by which the prophetic message is understood
wisdom has been given has received immense good" (cf. Proverbs of Solomon
in its esoteric sense which is the walayai of the Imams; secret inner prophecy
3:13 sqq.), — "this wisdom (hikmat) is to have the spiritual consciousness, the
(nobowwat batiniya), relating to the hidden universes and the inner things of the
gnosis (ma'rifat) of the Imam 308. " It is a whole set of motives which prepares for
soul The idea of the "Inner Guide", far from abolishing the necessity of prophetology
the definition of this wisdom, and par excellence , the motif of the Hojjat to which and imamology, is its fulfillment end; it is precisely what imamology initiates. The309.
Sadrâ Shîrâzî returns repeatedly in his commentary on the texts of the Imams.
inner Guide to which the interiorization of imamology leads is the one who preserves
There is a double Hojjat, a double Witness, Guide, Guarantor. Under a first aspect,
the mystic from any Luciferian intoxication.
there is an exterior Guide: it is the prophet announcing before men, and after him
there were the Imams for those men who need a visible guide. But Twelver
Shi'ism, living under the direction of the "hidden Imam",
Before entering the Way, the mystic is the one targeted by the words of the Ve
Imam: “You are even more ignorant of the paths of Heaven than of the paths of
Earth. The "quest of the Imam" to which the Shiite follower is therefore invited, is
not the encounter with a guide who knows the spaces of the astronomical sky.
Sadra remarks: “The basis of this double comparison rests on the analogy Another world is referred to here, a world "corresponding to the inner, invisible
of knowledge with water. The analogy consists in the fact that they are both forms, which cannot be perceived by our physical senses, but by the spiritual
the causes of life. Knowledge is the cause of true and permanent life; water senses. 310
is the cause of life in this world. Then comes an important remark for the ».
theory of symbolic forms among our philosophers. To understand a symbol
is not to make it disappear; it remains necessary; the so-called
"demystification" is only a complete ignorance of what the symbols are. “If 309. On the "Inner Guide", the Envoy of the inner world, the prophecy
the ignorant,” writes Sadra, “were informed of the secrecy of scholars, they interior, cf. Sharh, p. 456 (comment, of chapter IV, I hadith).
would put these scholars to death […]. Each degree of light can only support 310. See ibid., chap. VII, 10th hadith (of the Ve Imam). The entire
what is stronger and more intense. The less strong light disappears where commentary of Molla Sadra could be analyzed and studied from the point of
the stronger light appears [...]. I do not mean that what is to be understood view of the progression towards the secret Hojjat , to the encounter with the
by the symbols which appear in the Qurân, is only what corresponds to their Guide or inner Imam. He returns to this theme each time the declarations of
inner spiritual meaning, to the exclusion of the reality of sensitive species, the Imams require him to do so. Very briefly we note here some steps, with
as the Batinians say ( it is the reformed Ismailis of Alamût who seem to be a view to future research: 1) Chap. IV, I hadith (supra, n. 309). 2) Chap. VI,
targeted in this way). No lie. What we are saying is this: the symbolic forms 3rd hadith, Sharh, p. 465. Man is at first only a vertical biped. Then, his soul
are there to allow us the passage, the crossing, from the forms of slowly awakens from unconsciousness thanks to the double Guide: the
manifestation (mazâhir) to the inner folds, from the sensitive species to the exterior Envoy who can be the nabî or someone who takes his place, and
spiritual content. This is because the Qurân includes a zâhir and a batin, a the interior Imâm (Imâm dâhkilî, Hojjat batina). 3). Chap. VII, 7th hadith,
tafsîr and a ta'wîl. Knowledge symbolizing with water, their respective Sharh, p. 472. On this remark of the VIth Imam “that for each science God
categories symbolize with each other: true knowledge with pure water, has established a door”, Only the one who knows this door, knows this
eternal certainties with gushing water, inspired knowledge with water science, namely the outer door and the inner, esoteric door. Likewise the
descending from the sky. The inverse knowledge symbolizes respectively Hojjat of God is twofold: inner witness and outer witness. The first is for
with the water of the quagmires, the water which dries up, the water poured prophets and those like them; the second is for common hadîth, Sharh, p.
(supra p. 316, n. 308).472.
6) Ibid.,
5) Ibid.,
13thII hadith, Sharh, p. 476 (infra
men. p.4) 318,
Ibid.,n.
8
and
from one vase into another...” Sharh, p. 476. See above chap. v and below
t. III, book. IV, ch. II. 311): the exterior Imam initiating to the interior Imam, the knowledge of the
308. Ibid., ch. VII, II hadith (of the VI Imam). Sharh, p. 476: “As the Hojjat Imam initiating to self-knowledge, which recapitulates imamic spirituality.
(guarantor, witness) is dual, outer and inner, so wisdom is dual: there is
veiled wisdom and unveiled wisdom. The veiled wisdom is that which is in 7) Ch. VIII, 17th hadith, Sharh, p. 484. There is the door of the heart and
the hearts of the prophets and the Awliya, these are the theo-sophists there is the door of external hearing, cf. still below pp. 319 ff., n. 314 and
(hokamâ' ilâhîyûn). Each of them is a sage in one aspect, and he is wisdom 315. 8) Sharh, p. 484-485, the long prologue to chapter IX of book VII, in
in another aspect, according to what we have established concerning the which Mollâ Sadra, analyzing the notions of witness and testimony,
unification of the act of intellection ('aql), of the intelligent (ma 'qûl) and of establishes the prolegs of imamic metaphysics as "metaphysics of
the subject who understands ('âqil) ”, a unification which, in “the metaphysics testimony" (infra § 3 and p. 323 , n. 324). 9) Ch. IX, 2nd hadith, Sharh, p.
of testimony”, is presented as that of the testimony (shahâdat), of the 485: the Imam both exterior Witness and interior Witness. 10) Ch. XI, I
testifying (shâhid) and of the testified (mashhûd). See again below p. 318, no. 311 and 313. hadith, Sharh, p. 491: the Imams as being both the Treasurers and the Treasury itself, etc.
318 The meaning of the Imam for Shiite spirituality 319

So when the Imam speaks of wisdom (wisdom whose degrees are The double Hojjat theme only answers and corresponds to the double
expressed as faith in God, in his Angels, in his revealed Books, in his wisdom theme. There is in the Imam a manifest wisdom and a hidden wisdom
Messengers, in the Resurrection), Sadra reminds us that, just as the Hojjat, (makhfiya). The manifested wisdom is the person of the visible Imam. The
the Guide, is double — outer and inner — likewise there is a double wisdom: hidden wisdom is the inner spiritual, intellective light (nûr batinî 'aqlî), light
there is an unveiled wisdom (hikmat makshûfa), and there is a veiled wisdom which is the spiritual life of the Imam, and by which is illuminated for his
(hikmat mastûra). The “unveiled wisdom” is the visible persons of the Sages, follower, for the one he guides, the world of 'Beyond with the celestial beings
personifications of wisdom. Whoever sees one of them (with the "eyes of the and figures it contains.
heart" which reveals its qualification to him) sees the form and the person of
wisdom. With regard to ordinary men, it is the divine gift of this wisdom "which And that is the gift of wisdom. Just as in the act of intellection, the subject who
is an immense good", namely the visible person of the Imam, since the Imam understands is himself this intelligence in act (this intelligence is not added to
is wisdom in person (nafs al-hikmat ). him, it is his being), so is the person of the Sage (the Imam) is wisdom. To
know by gnosis (ma'rifat) the person of this Sage, is to know this wisdom that
he himself is in person. But then, in this act of spiritual knowledge, the wisdom
As for the "veiled wisdom", it is that which is in the heart of the Friends of God of the Imam, like the intelligence in the case of the one who understands,
(the Awliya), of the prophets, of the Imams hokamâ' ilâhîyûn, Sages of God, becomes the wisdom of the adept, of the one who takes him as a guide, and
"theosophists" in the full sense of the word. And the teaching of the Imams who then becomes aware of the reciprocity of the two mottos: “He who knows
about A'râf makes it possible to understand that if each of them is a Sage in his Imam knows his Lord”, and “He who knows himself knows his Lord”, that
one aspect, he is also wisdom in another aspect. is to say his Imam. To have this perfect spiritual awareness of one's Imam, of
311
.
one's inner, personal, invisible Guide, is to become oneself someone in whom
Here a deep joy vibrates in the meditation of Mullâ Sadra 312, when he is actualized the wisdom which is the Imam, someone in whom there is “Inner
reaches the point of convergence where Shiite spirituality and the metaphysics witness”, precisely the Imam himself as inner Imam (Imam dâkhilî), the “divine
of being and knowledge which he professes as an Ishraqî philosopher, merge Face” which remains while everything is annihilated. It was said above that
into one. the unity of the spiritual consciousness of the shî'ite ishrâqî. It goes just as the Imam is the theophanic form, so the faithful follower is the epiphanic
exactly, he says, with this unification of the Sage and wisdom, as it goes, in form of the Imam. This is what imamic spirituality is: initiation into the interior
the act of intellection, with the unification between the subject who understands Imam by the exterior Imam, into self-knowledge through the knowledge of the
('âqil) and the intelligence, in action ('aql) 313. This observation illustrates the Imam.
characteristic feature already noted here, that of this Shî'ite Ishrâqî spirituality
where the effort of the philosopher is inseparable from spiritual realization
and vice versa (cf. again infra Book II, Sohrawardi and Book V).
Thus is to meditate on the meaning of each of the Imams of Shi'ism and

311. Ch. VII, II hadith, Sharh, p. 476, cf. above n. 308. The veiled wisdom is that the whole of their pleroma for Shi'ite spirituality.
which is in the heart of the Sages of God, the theo-sophists. “As for the wisdom All the teaching concerning A'râf culminates in what will be a metaphysics of
unveiled, they are their persons, for they are personifications of wisdom (ashkhâs the Witness (shâhid) and of the nun's testimonial Presence (shohûd), such
al-hikmat). Whoever sees one of them sees the form and the person of wisdom.
And it is for this purpose that wisdom is given to them as a gift of immense good that the Imam becomes in a way the active consciousness of his faithful. And
to the common people. it is thanks to this that the silsilat al-irfân is perpetuated in this world , the
For he who knows his Imam and pledges his allegiance to him, he pledges his lineage of gnosis, unknown to the mass of men, the secret lineage of the
allegiance to God, and he is given wisdom and immense good, that is to say, the heroes of the hierohistory of the walâyat cycle , made up of all those who , in
Imam, because that the Imam is wisdom in person. »
312. Ibid., p. 476-477, commentary on the 2nd and 13th hadith. this world, are "living" in the true sense of the word
314
313. The thesis of this unification (which joins the doctrine of al-Fârâbî), Mullâ .
Sadra bets it as an event of his interior life, an inspiration of which he carefully

noted the date: at sunrise, Friday 7 Jomadâ I of the year 1037 of the Hegira (= 314. Ibid., 13th hadith, Sharh, p. 477: “Humans, in relation to the Second Life,
January 14, 1628). See our introduction to the Book of Metaphysical Penetrations, form two categories: there are the dead and there are the living. Among the latter,
pp. 2 sec., 185 sec. and index sv ittihâd; above n. 308. there are those whose life is an essential, personal life, and there are those whose
life is a life that follows from the life of another. "The Imam is

The meaning of the Imam for Shiite spirituality
And this “community of the living” extends to the limits of a prophetic “ecumenism”
based on the same esotericism. Already above (§ I), the idea of the universal walayat
of which the Imam is the Seal, led to pronouncing this word. This is because all the
prophets of earlier periods with all their believers, all the faithful of the same eternal 4. - The Imam as Witness of God and Witness of contemplation
prophetic religion together form a corpus mysticum (the "Temple of light" of the
Imamat, in Ismaili terminology). “It has been the same in all ages, and it will be the
same in the future. It is because in fact all the Sages of God ('olamâ rabbânîyûn, the
Theosophoï), all the prophets and all their Imâms, are all together the same religion The texts which have just been analyzed and commented on have, we believe,
(dîn wâhid), the same school (madhhab wâhid). Or better said, they form a total and said the essential. However, certain increasing precisions enrich the final pages that
unique spiritual person (shakhs wâhid kolli 'aqlî). Likewise also, the believers who Mullâ Sadra still had time to devote, before his death, to the commentary of the Kâfî
follow them, wherever and whenever they exist, are like a single Soul; the school of of Kolaynî, — pages which alas! break off in full swing, with the same pathetic
each Imam is also that of another Imam, and at the same time the school of all the brutality as the Art of the Fugue left unfinished by Bach. And they are interrupted at
prophets and the Awliyas . ite in an eternal Eccle sia spiritualis . the moment when the supreme meditation of the Shiite thinker was about to be
unveiled to us on a culminating text of imamology taught by the Imams themselves,
and which he was in the process of commenting on line by line. We can only give
here a glimpse and a succinct paraphrase of these last extremely dense pages.
The entire commentary devoted to the theme of the Twelve Imams as "Witnesses
316
of God" (shohadâ' Allah) is oriented by this intuition that the act of being,
(wojûd),
existing
is a
function and in proportion to the degree of presence (hodur, hozur). However, the
notion of presence is constitutive of the notion of witness (shâhid).
one who possesses this essential life, directly infused by God. But by virtue of the
thesis of the ittihâd (supra pp. 316 ss., n. 308 and 313) flourishing in spiritual The whole metaphysics of being in Molla Sadra is here supported by imamology and
experience, he who attains a perfect knowledge of the Imam, eo ipso attains the 317
as if tied to its central theme. .
degree of interior light at the Imam; this becomes eo ipso the inner light of its adept.
See again below p. 323, n. 324 and 17th hadith, Sharh, p. 484, where the three groups Sadrâ insists first of all during a very developed prologue, on the two words
of men are recalled: the 'âlim (the initiator, the sage) who is the Imam; the mota'allimûn, shâhid and shahîd (our transcription differentiates them by the displacement of the
those who receive the wisdom of the sage, the disciples of the Imam, the initiates; and 318
circumflex accent) .
then the foam rolled alas! by the ghothâ' torrent). Or again, in Qur'anic terms: the close
ones (moqarrabûn), the companions of the right and the companions of the left. Shâhid is the "agent name" of shohûd (to be present at, to be an eyewitness, to see
with one's own eyes) and of moshâhadat (vision, contemplation; in mysticism, the
visionary perception of the worlds to which the mystic is the witness, and which
315. Ibid., Cf. again on the theme of the unity of prophetic religion, from period to
period, chap. IX, 1st and 2nd hadîth, Sharh, p. 485: "The Witness for each respective remain invisible to others). This concept presupposes the presence of a being to
community of the prophets and the Messengers, all the Witnesses (shohadâ') are part another being. The shâhid, the one who is a witness, who contemplates a thing, is
of us (the Imams) and of our own group, the members of the Family of prophecy and someone to whom and in whom the form or representation of this thing is present.
certainty, testimonial vision (shohûd) and knowledge. They and we, all together, form The shahîd is the gnant Witness (the "martyr" in the etymological sense); it is the
in the true sense the community of Mohammad. All the other men who follow them are
the community of Mohammad. So we and they are the witnesses of the peoples and force, the power (qowwat) by which the vision of the witness (shohûd) and the
of the followers, and Mohammad is a witness for us. This is the meaning of the Quranic presence (hodûr) are produced.
verse (4:45). You do not therefore, oh my friend, have to transpose the discourse of
the Imam to understand that the case of the verse is reserved specifically for the
community of Mohammad, to the exclusion of the other prophets and their respective
communities. In hearing the community of Mohammad in this way, Molla Sadra made
himself the spokesperson for a Shiite “ ecumenism”. Also, in the 2nd hadith of this
chapter IX, Imam Ja'far indicates that the Imams were named in the Holy Books, 316. This is the commentary on chapter IX of the Kitâb al-Hojjat.
previously revealed, beginning with that of Abraham (Sharh, p. 486). 317. Please refer to our trans. of the Book of Metaphysical Penetrations, index sv
presence, testimony, witness.
318. For what follows, cf. the introduction put by Molla Sadra at the head of his
commentary on Chapter IX of the Kitâb al-Hojjat ; Sharh, pp. 101-1 484 ss.
Now, what are the conditions of this presence of one being to another, a There are then necessarily degrees in the intensification of this Presence,
presence which conditions the very concept of witness? Many are the things degrees marked by the stages of immaterialization (tajarrod) and which
to which it is impossible, because of their fundamental nature, for another thing correspond respectively to the different levels of perception and consciousness:
to be present to them or for them to be present to another thing. sensible perception, imaginative perception, intellective perception. To each of
these degrees of knowledge and consciousness applies the law of unification
All the material things which, in this dark world, are located in the sensible already formulated above, for what we perceive, imagine, understand, is not
space, are in this case. Nothing can have presence in and for another thing, the material external thing, but the form (sensible , imaginal, intellective) which
and conversely no other thing can have presence in it and for it. One cannot is present in us. The state of the intelligent form is such only in relation to a
say, for example, that the Earth, the telluric mass, is existent, that is to say subject who understands it; intelligence in action is not something that is
"present" for the sidereal sky, nor vice versa 319; neither that the Air element superimposed on the subject who understands. it is this very subject. The
is "present" for the Water element, nor vice versa. This is why this world is the same must be said for the sensible form, for the imaginal form. From then on,
abode of unconsciousness and death, for everything is in Darkness and the intelligent form (ma'qula) itself becomes, as such, a form that understands,
unconsciousness in proportion to its attachment to this world and its remoteness an active form. The same is true for the sensible form, for the imaginal form .
from the world of the Light, Knowledge and Life, which is the world beyond, the oriental" (hozûr ishrâqî), so called because it rises to the Orient of the soul,
abode of the Living; but conversely, consciousness and presence are in when the soul is itself the Orient of its knowing . there also included, because
the spiritual consciousness (ma'rifat) that I have of the Imam, operates in me
function and proportion of the light received from the world of Malakût
the presence of the Imam. The Imam is then the "inner Imam", the Witness or
the active consciousness, present in myself (shahîd). This is why it is true to
say that each prophet, and after him each Imam, assumes the role of the
320
.
cognitive faculty in each of his followers, since there is for the follower, as such,
neither knowledge ('ilm) nor testimony (shahâdat) — he cannot be "present to",
When Molla Sadra thus professes that the degree of existence is proportional
have in him the "presence of" — except precisely as knowledge and testimony
to the degree of presence, his intuition goes to meet that which is expressed in
of the Imam ("the eye through which he looks" , as we said above).
a current terminology today. Only we will be careful to note that with Sadra and
the Ishrâqîyûn, it is a question of a mode of being in this world which differs
fundamentally from that of an existence irremissibly thrown and abandoned in
this world, delivered to his "being for death", For what the proportional
relationship between existence and presence means for a Mullâ Sadra is that
the more intense the presence, the more it is tears itself away from
determinations that involve unconsciousness and death, absence. The more
the existence of man is Presence, the more also the human being is the
324
Witness of other worlds, the less his being is "being for death" and the more he
is being for beyond . of death. The metaphysics of the Presence is amplified
into a metaphysics of the vision and the testimonial presence (shohûd), itself To recapitulate, we can say this: the Imam is the Witness of God (shâhid).
announced by imamology and realized by the interiorization of the latter (supra But what does it attest? About the A'râf, we read this statement of the Imam:
§ 3) “We are what God knows, we are the essential object of divine knowledge.
The Imam as shâhid (contemplating) is attested simultaneously as the mashhûd
(contemplated), as being the object of divine contemplation, and hence as the
form
321
.
319. Cf. book of metaphysical insights, pp. 78, 177 ss. 322. Ibid. See index sv ittihâd,
320. For what follows, ibid., pp. 186-189. 323. Ibid. See index s, v. presence. East and Oriental (knowledge); see even
321. See ibid., p. 234-235, where we have tried to clearly mark the difference further Book II of the present work devoted to Sohrawardî, the leader of the
between the "existential " metaphysics of Molli Sadra, and what has been called Ishrâqîyûn.
nowadays "existentialism"; see still below t. IV, book. V, eph. II. 324. Cf. chap. IX, introduction, Sharh, p. 485.
324 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism The meaning of the Imam for Shi'ite spirituality 325
and the content of divine knowledge—the form that divine knowledge takes this God for him, that is the Imam, interpresence which is established without
for us humans. Simultaneously, if the Imam is for his follower the Witness of there being ta'tîl nor tashbîh.
God (shâhid), of this God of whom he is the form in which this follower knows Ishrâqî (“eastern”) metaphysics thus culminates in a metaphysics of the
him, it is because he is eo ipso the contemplated of his follower (his mashhud). Imamate. At its heart there is the Shiite spirituality centered on the Imam:
Divine Presence to the Imam who is present to man, Divine Presence to man
He is the Attesting-Attested, the Contemplating-Contemplated (shâhid who is present to his Imam, Presence of the Imam to the man who is present
mashhûd), since he is the Witness to be contemplated, the Witness-of to himself 325. It is at the end of a similar deepening that we will see Semnânî
contemplation. In contemplating this Witness, the faithful contemplates the (infra book IV, chap. IV) discover by his spiritual hermeneutics the "prophets
very one whom God contemplates, the object of divine knowledge and of your being”. For the Sufi master Rûzbehân de Shîrâz, any face of beauty,
contemplation, which the faithful cannot contemplate elsewhere than in this because its beauty attests to the presence of its creator in this beauty,
Witness, and this contemplation brings about its presence in himself. same. becomes the shâhid-mashhûd, the Contemplating Contemplator, the Witness-
The mystery of this compresence or this interpresence is the Imam as interior of-contemplation (infra book III). But one can wonder whether this revelation
Witness (Hojjat batina). What his follower contemplates and attests is indeed of the divine "Face" in a human face would have been possible, even in non-
what this Witness contemplates and attests, and it is what his follower can Shi'i Sufism, without the mediation of Shi'i imamology—without the revelation
only see and contemplate in the contemplation of this Witness, since such is of the “Face” of God in the celestial Anthropos, the Light Forms of the
the form that for him the knowledge of the God which this Witness attests. Fourteen Immaculate.
And this knowledge is the presence within him of this Witness, and it is eo
ipso his own presence to this Witness, just as his presence to this Witness is
eo ipso his presence to Him to whom this Witness attests.
Mediation proclaimed in effect by this Qur'anic verse: "We have made you
an intermediary group" (2:137). Imam Ja'far explains this verse at length to a
326
disciple: this intermediate or mediating group is in no way the Arabs,
exoteric
as some
As already formulated above, the knowledge that his faithful has of this exegesis understands. No, they are the Imams, because they are the
Witness is therefore eo ipso the knowledge that God has of this faithful, since mediators between a double testimony: they are witnesses for men, and the
God knows his faithful in the one who is the Witness before him. The Imam is Prophet is a witness for them. The Prophet as initiator assumes for them the
the Witness whom God watches, by whom he is watched and by whom he active role of the faculty of knowledge and vision, just as each Imam assumes
watches, and it is through this interior Imam, the “Imam of his being” that God it for his faithful.
knows his faithful. “We are the essential object of divine knowledge” said the 327
Imam. What God knows in this Witness is therefore indeed eo ipso each of .
those who are present to this Witness—their Witness—and to whom he is We thus come to the ultimate qualification of the Imams that Mulla Sadra
present. We have seen Molla Sadra establish an essential parallelism: just still had time to comment on before leaving this world. Just as the Sage is
as God knows the beings of cosmogenesis through their Angels, so it is simultaneously wisdom, and the contemplator is the contemplated, so the
through the Imams and the Awliya that he knows the beings accomplishing Treasurer of divine science is also its very Treasure. A disciple recounts: "I
their Return to him. The Imam being the essential object of divine knowledge, heard Imâm Ja'far declare: We are the guardians of your divina (amr ilâhî),
to know the Imam is eo ipso to know His knowledge that God has of his the Treasurers of divine science, the Watchers over the secret of divine
faithful. And here we are, once again, led back to the oft-repeated motto, Revelation 328. " Imam declares "we are the guardians",
because its inexhaustible meditation is: "He who knows himself, knows his
Lord", since to know himself (to know the Soul of his soul) is to know his
Imam, and that the Imam is precisely the object of divine knowledge, what
God knows of man and in man. The presence of this faithful to this God and 325. Cf. Penetrations, pp. 186-187.
the reciprocal presence of 326. Ch. IX, 2nd hadith, Sharh, p. 485; see already supra, n. 315.
327. Ibid., pp. 485-486.
328. Ch. XI, I hadith, Sharh, pp. 491-492. In short, Treasurer and Treasure are
in the same relationship as 'âqil and ma'qûl (the subject who understands and the
content of his intellection), the shâhid and the mashhûd (the eyewitness and the
present thing to which he testifies by his presence ), cf. above p. 318, no. 313 and
326 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism The meaning of the Imam for Shi'ite spirituality 327
he uses the word hafiz. Now, philosophers know that this name is given to intelligence and intelligence in action, the case of the Sage and wisdom.
the “faculty that preserves” (qowwat hafiza) the forms of knowledge, that “So it is with all the attributes of an essence which exist only through the
which is their treasure. They say that the imagination is the Treasury which existence of this essence of which they are the attributes. »
preserves the forms of sensible perception, that Agent Intelligence is the On the other hand—and this is where the peak of imamology was announced
Treasury of the intelligible. —the commented on hadith confers on the Imams themselves this quality of
It is from here that Molla Sadra's meditation takes off, the impact of which "Treasures and Treasurers of divine science."
escapes us, since it should be inscribed in the part of the commentary that It is therefore necessary that everything that has just been said concerning
has remained unfinished. And yet we discern very well the peak of his the Cherubinic Intelligences as “Perfect Verbs” also relates in one way or
imamology. another to the Imams. Hence Molla Sadra prepares for a decisive development:
On the one hand, the Treasures of divine knowledge can only be intellective "Now, to show that the persons of the Imams are the Treasures of God's
Essences, entities of light, exempt from any mixture with “material” matters, science (that is to say that by being what God knows in and through their act
perfectly in action as far as knowledge and intellection are concerned. of knowing Him, they are the Treasures and the Treasurers), it is something
that requires two higher sources, or better said: two sublime oceans from
They are therefore necessarily neither forms imprinted in bodies, nor even between the ocean of knowledge of mystical divination "... And the momentum
souls, since the soul is still in power with regard to perfect intellection. Then breaks here; the sentence begun was never finished. But we are allowed to
330
“it is established, writes Mollâ Sadra, that there exist spiritual entities, catch a glimpse of the metaphysical summit to which the imamology
Sadra was ofto
Mullâ
inteliective Essences, in which all the existing ones are in act in a spiritual reach, because time was given to other Shiite theosophists to approach it,
and intellective way, by which the hearts are completed and become subjects and to say what is possible. to say, following step by step the allusions of the
which intelligent in action, after having been receptive, potentially intelligent Imams. All of the above here have attempted to build upon their teaching. In
subjects. what way what is said of the "Perfect Verbs" also relates to the Imams, this is
already what gives us to understand what they themselves have declared
These entities are intermediaries between God and man for the uninterrupted about the A'râf.
emanation and descent of spiritual goods and influxes. They are the perfect
divine Verbs (Kalimat tammat), which have neither beginning nor possible
annihilation. They are designated by very many different names, according
to very many points of view: they are the Words of God (Kalimat Allah), the
world of the divine Imperative ('âlam al-Amr), the keys of the divine Mystery
Our sketch of certain essential aspects of Shi'ism can thus be completed
(Mafâtîh al ghayb). They are the Witnesses of God and of his existence.
by finding at its provisional end what had been its point of departure, and all
There is nothing whose treasures are not with Us (2:21)”
that has been said in the course of the preceding pages is, compared to the
329
.
monuments of Shiite theosophy, a drop of water compared to the ocean. I
have mentioned several times here a small private circle of Shiite studies in
When we say of these "perfect Words", Intelligences or beings of pure
Tehran, and to close this part of the present work, I would like to refer again
light, that they are the Treasurers, we say at the same time that they are the
to a memorable evening of a recent autumn (1964). The session had been
Treasures of divine science (this is the identity marked in the words of the
devoted to the leitmotif of Shi'ite theology, the theme that guided us ourselves
Imam). They are simultaneously, under two different points of view, Treasurers
during the preceding chapters, namely Tawhîd and the Imam: how the
and Treasurers. The difference and the identity are the same, observes Molla
Sadra, as in the cases previously considered: the case of the subject who accomplishment of Tawhîd in its truth (it' that is to say by escaping the double
trap of ta'tîl and tash bîh) is it possible only by the existence of the Imam?
314. Everything was in place so that in the next page, metaphysics of knowledge
and metaphysics of testimony would culminate at the summit of imamology.
Unfortunately death did not leave Mollâ Sadra the leisure to complete his text, And we listened, at the end of the evening, to the revered shaykh
which is interrupted like that of JS Bach, in the Art of the fugue, in full swing.
330. It is on these words that Molla Sadra's commentary is interrupted and
329. Ibid. On the Kalimât tammât or "Perfect Verbs", cf. again Penetrations,
p. 197. remains in suspense... See also Penetrations, p. 237, no. 126.
MHT, deep connoisseur among all of the philosophy of Molla “The Imam, that 's what it is, isn't it? 'Certainly, that's it. And if
Sadra, to conclude a kind of meditation aloud: "All the Names there was not the Imam, if it was not the Imam, then all that
and Attributes that we give to God, or rather that God gives remained was to sink into mystical intoxication, finding its
himself to himself by revealing himself to us , only this figure of expression in the famous exclamation of the Sufi al-Hallâj: “
the eternal Imam who combines them in himself makes them Anâ'l-Haqq! I am God "...
possible. At the height of our spiritual states, it happens that We have seen above how the feeling of walayat makes Shi'ism
these Names and Attributes are absorbed into the inner man. in its essence a religion of love. Perhaps we sense again here
The man is no longer himself. The Imam becomes this man. But how the Imam preserves the mysticism from wavering in an
God in himself remains unknowable and inaccessible. ecstasy whose paradoxical cry retains, despite all the repentance,
The Imam is the living, eternal reality, hidden immaterial a Luciferian resonance. What the mystic can say is with the
splendor, our immaterial link with the immaterial. He is that Face believer of the Gnostic book of “Acts of Peter” ; Talem eum vidi
of God of which the Qur'anic verses (55:26-27) declare: All that qualem capere potui; I saw Him as I was able to grasp Him: He
is on earth will be annihilated, while the Face of your Lord is showed Himself to me as it corresponded to the capacity of my
enshrouded in splendour. being 332. Nothing less nor more. But this this, the immense
And our shaykh to evoke to conclude the famous final episode grace of this correspondence, is this itself the Shiite vision of the
of the pilgrimage of the Birds in the great mystical epic of Imam.
Farîdoddîn 'Attar (Mantiq al-Tayr, 12th century), one of the We can thus understand how the hiatus which has bothered
masterpieces of the mystical epic in Persian language . The many speculative mystics in Christianity does not make itself
mystical pilgrims, the birds, have gone by the thousands; they felt in Shiite spirituality, the hiatus between the idea of the eternal
have traveled for years and years, overcoming peaks and chasms. Christ and the fact of the historical » (exinanitio) of the divinity...
Almost all disappear during dramatic episodes. until « God is dead ». The same shaykh that evening said, “Glory
Only a small number, thirty in all, reach the sublime goal, in the to God! In our Shiite Islam, the Imams have reflected the eternal
presence of the mysterious bird Simorgh, symbol of the distant Imam (they are its mirrors, the mazahir, its epiphanic forms). It is
divinity. Its name goes back to the Avesta, the Holy Book of not to the consciousness of this world that they have to awaken
Zoroastrian Persia; he reappears in the heroic and mystical epic us; their walayat is not an institution of this world; they are our
spiritual connection to the spiritual universes. They clear the way
of medieval Persia ( infra book II) . morgh, meaning thirty birds.
for us to rise, so that the veils fall... these veils that they have
At the end of their long and painful quest, Simorgh is then the
voluntarily maintained, so that the weak do not misunderstand
mirror revealing to the thirty surviving birds the mystery of their the meaning of their divine qualification. »
being.
We must remember all these teachings in the final book of this
work, devoted to the twelfth Imam, the hidden Imam, in whom
When they turn their gaze towards Sîmorgh, it is indeed Sîmorgh some of our Shiite authors have recognized the Saoshyant or
that they see. When they contemplate themselves, it is still Si- hero savior of Zoroastrian Iran, of others the Paraclete announced
morgh, thirty birds, that they contemplate. And when looking in the Gospel of John.
simultaneously from both sides, Sîmorgh and Sî-morgh are one
and the same reality. There are indeed twice Sîmorgh there, and
yet Sîmorgh is unique. Identity in difference, difference in identity
331. "The gaze by which I know Him is the very gaze by which
He knows me", said Meister Eckhart for his part.
At the end of the famous verses of 'Attâr, I asked the shaykh:

331. See in our book Avicenna and the Visionary Story, I, pp. 229-235, the
summary and the context of this episode of Simorgh in the great mystical epic
of 'Attâr, Mantiq al-Tayr (The language of the birds). See above p. 196, no. 154 332. Ibid., pp. 107-108. Actes de Pierre, 20-21 (M. Rhodes James, The
and t. II, book. II of this book, chap. v. Apocryphal New Testament, pp. 331-323).
TABLE
Prologue X
Transcriptions XV
Arguments from Books I and II XXVI
Prime Book
ASPECTS OF TUEDECIMAN SHÎ'lSM
I, Shi'ism and Iran 1. 3
Difficulties of the investigation, 3. — 2. A spiritual universe to understand, 9. —

3. Certain prejudices with regard to Shi'ism, 15. —
4. Problems to overcome together, 22.
II. Notion of Twelver Shi'ism 39
1. The fundamental idea of Imamism, 29. — 2. Prophetic philosophy and initiatic

religion, 43. — 3. The Pleroma of the Twelve
Imams, 53. — 4. The paradoxes confronted by Ismailism and by the
Shi'ism duodécimain, 74.
III. The Spiritual Warfare of Shi'ism 86
1. Situation of Shiite Spirituals, 86. — z. The divine deposit entrusted

to man, 94. — 3. The conversations of the first Imam with Komayl ibn
Ziyad, 110. — 4. The invisible spiritual hierarchies, 118. —
5. The challenge of the spiritual combat of Shi'ism and its topicality, 127.
IV. The Phenomenon of the Holy Book 135
1. Holy Book and Hermeneutics, 135. — 2. Spaces and Perspectives

spiritual hermeneutics, 138. — 3. Historical awareness and
Gnostic consciousness, 151. — 4. Historicization or interiorization? 159. — 5-
Spiritual intelligence and the forms of temporality according to Semnânî and Qâzî
Sa'îd Qommî, 176.
V. Esotericism and hermeneutics 186
I. The secret of the Imams or the four levels of esotericism, 186.

— 2. The epiphanic descents of the Holy Book, 199. — 3. The
esoteric her meneutics of the Qurân, 212.
VI. Prophetology and imamology 219
1. Necessity of the prophets and necessity of the Imams, 219. — 2.

The categories of prophets and the walayal, 235. — 3- The prophetic
heritage and the Imamate, 251. — 4. The science inherited from the
prophets phètes, 262. — S- The cycle of prophecy and the cycle of FROM THE SAME AUTHOR
vialûyat, 271.
VII. The Meaning of Irnam for Shiite Spirituality 285
1. Shiism as a religion of spiritual love initiating self-knowledge, 285.

— 2. Irnam as Guide and as Pole, 303.
— 3. The Imam as A'raf, 310. — 4. The Imam as Witness to God HISTORY OF ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY , I. From the origins to the
and Witness to Contemplation, 321. death of Averroës (1198).
II. In. ENCYCLOPEDIE DE LA PLEIADE, History of Philosophy, T. III,
Gallimard, 1974.
From other publishers:
AVICENNA AND THE VISIONARY NARRATIVE (Iranian Library, 4-5).

Paris, Adrien-Maisonneuve, 1954. THE CREATIVE IMAGINATION IN IBN
'ARABI'S SUFISM. 2nd ed., Paris, Flammarion, 1976.
ISMAELIAN TRILOGY (Iranian Library, 9). Paris, Adrien Maisonneuve, 1961.
HEAVENLY EARTH AND RESURRECTION BODY: FROM IRAN MAZDEEN TO

IRAN SHI'ITE. Paris, Buchet-Chastel, 1961.
Molla Sadrâ Shîrâzî: The Book of Metaphysical Insights, text, intro. and
trans. French (Iranian Library, 10).
Paris, Adrien-Maisonneuve, 1964.
THE MAN OF LIGHT IN IRANIAN SUFISM. 2nd ed., Paris, Librairie de
Medici, 1971.
SOHRAVARDI. THE PURPLE ARCHANGEL. Fifteen mystical treatises translated
from Persian and Arabic, presented and commented on.
(Spiritual Documents, 14). Paris, Fayard 1976.
IRANIAN PHILOSOPHY AND COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY. Tehran,
Iranian Imperial Academy of Philosophy. Distributor: Paris, Buchet-
Chastel, 1978.
Within the Islamic community, the Iranian world formed from the
beginning a whole whose characteristics and vocation can only be
elucidated if one considers the Iranian spiritual universe as forming
a whole, before and since the 'Islam. Islamic Iran was par
excellence the homeland of the greatest philosophers and mystics
of Islam; for them, speculative thought is never isolated from its
fructification and its practical consequences, not as regards the
social environment, but as regards the concrete totality that man
nourishes with his own substance, beyond the limits of this life,
and who is his spirit world.
The monument that Henry Corbin presents here in four volumes
of seven books is the result of more than twenty years of research
carried out in Iran itself. His method is essentially phenomenological,
without being attached to a specific school. It is for him to
encounter the religious fact by letting the religious object show
itself as it shows itself to those to whom it shows itself. The
phenomenologist must therefore become the spiritual guest of
those to whom this object shows itself and assume its responsibility
with them. Any historical consideration will therefore remain here
immanent in this object, without imposing on it from outside some
foreign category, dialectical or other consideration.
The first volume (book I) endeavors to show some essential
aspects of Twelver Shi'ism or imamism, strongly established from
the origins in Iran, and since the sixteenth century has become
the official
and
religion.
proposed The"the
to call analysis starts from
phenomenon what
of the the author
revealed has
Book",
as it shows itself to those whom the Qurân designates as Ahl al-
Kitâb, this "community of the Book" which encompasses Judaism ,
Christianity and Islam. The second volume (book II), which appears
at the same time, studies Sohrawardî and the Platonicians of the
erse.
In press: volume III: The Fidèles d'amour (book III).
Shi'ism and Sufism (Book IV); the School of Isfahan (book V);
Volume IV: The Shaykh School (Book VI); the Twelfth Imam and
Spiritual Chivalry (Book VII); general index.

(En Islam Iranien) Henry Corbin - in Iranian Islam, Spiritual and Philosophical Aspects. Volume I, Twelver Shi'ism.

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(En Islam Iranien) Henry Corbin - in Iranian Islam, Spiritual and Philosophical Aspects. Volume I, Twelver Shi'ism.

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Machine Translated by Google

This work does not pretend to give a general history of the

But it is no longer unknown in the West. Anyone who wants

XII In Iranian Islam XIII

XIV In Iranian Islam XV

XVI In Iranian Islam Prologue XVII

XVIII In Iranian Islam Prologue XIX

XXII In Iranian Islam Prologue XXIII

Technical and economic needs have forced us to give up characters with

We apologize to the Orientalist philosophers, whom these inevitable

XXVI In Iranian Islam

emphatic station, a bit like Descartes becoming Cartesius in Latin).

The Qur'anic references are given according to the type of edition

The Islamic world is not a monolith; its religious concept is

XXVIII In Iranian Islam Argument from books 1 and II XXIX

Shi'ism and Iran

I. - Difficulties of the investigation

If someone asks me to specify a certain aspect of the theory of

On the other hand, if the same interlocutor, determined to get out

4 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Shi'ism and Iran 5

6 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Shi'ism and Iran 7

Shi'ism and Iran 11

12 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Shi'ism and Iran 13

14 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Shi'ism and Iran 15

A saying that the Imams of Shi'ism have repeated one after

16 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Shi'ism and Iran 17

18 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Shi'ism and Iran 19

22 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Shi'ism and Iran 23

24 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Shi'ism and Iran 25

26 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism

classically called "Gnosticism", becomes a particular case within a universal religious

4. See our study Comparative Spiritual Hermeneutics: I. Swedenborg. II.

28 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Shi'ism and Iran 29

Our questionings, our “contestations”, are then themselves called

30 Shi'ism and Iran 31

32 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Shi'ism and Iran 33

13. See the interview published by Max Olivier-Lacamp in Le Figaro of

34 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Shi'ism and Iran 35

36 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Shi'ism and Iran 37

38 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism

Notion of Shi'ism of the Twelve Imams

I. - The fundamental idea of Imamism

Let us first try, in an overview, to situate the axis of Shiite

The first period is that of the holy Imams themselves.

40 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Notion of Shi'ism of the Twelve Imams 41

Notion of Shi'ism of the Twelve Imams 43

44 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Notion of Shi'ism of the Twelve Imams 45

A prophetic philosophy is, of course, the type of philosophy that

46 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Notion of Shi'ism of the Twelve Imams 47

48 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Notion of Shi'ism of the Twelve Imams 49

50 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Notion of Shi'ism of the Twelve Imams 51

52 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Notion of Shi'ism of the Twelve Imams 53

54 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Notion of Shi'ism of the Twelve Imams 55

56 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Notion of Shi'ism of the Twelve Imams 57

58 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Notion of Shi'ism of the Twelve Imams 59

6o Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Notion of Shi'ism of the Twelve Imams 61

Moreover, Shiite theosophy is fundamentally a "theophanism"; this is why it so quickly

62 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Notion of Shi'ism of the Twelve Imams 63

As a corollary, if we consider the twelve celestial Imams in their primordial

64 Notion of Shi'ism of the Twelve Imams 65

66 Aspects of Twelver Shi'ism Notion of Shi'ism of the Twelve Imams 67

68 Notion of Shi'ism of the Twelve Imams 69

In total, His honorific nicknames apart, the proper names of the