RT Article
T1 Al-Ghazālī on Experiential Knowing and Imaginal Mediation
JF Islam and Christian-Muslim relations
VO 33
IS 1
SP 1
OP 17
A1 Richmond, Joel
LA English
YR 2022
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1793973407
AB This article examines al-Ghazālī’s conception of experiential knowledge and imaginal cosmology with special attention to his Kitāb sharḥ ʿajāʾib al-qalb (Marvels of the Heart) and other relevant works. In the process, it demonstrates how, for al-Ghazālī, unseen forces – benevolent and malevolent – insinuate, inspire and communicate to the human being on a subtle level through incoming suggestions or thoughts (khawāṭir; sing. khāṭir). Key to his understanding of this idea is the heart’s receptivity to influences that emerge from the hierarchical realms that descend from God all the way down to the human soul. According to later theoretical Sufism, the imagination is a faculty of the soul’s psychology, but it is also considered an external and subtle aspect of creation. This article argues that al-Ghazālī explained the teaching in a distinct fashion before the theory of imagination was elaborated by later Muslim writers.
K1 angels and demons
K1 Sufi psychology
K1 Sufi epistemology
K1 imaginal world
K1 al-Ghazālī
DO 10.1080/09596410.2022.2025562