The Role of Imagination in the Istikmal (Perfection) of the Soul from the Perspective of Sayyid Haydar Amoli

Document Type : Scholary

Authors

1 Student of Al-Zahra University (peace be upon her),Qom, Iran

2 Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Theology, College of Farabi, University of Tehran, Qom, Iran

10.22059/jcis.2025.385098.1399

Abstract

The human soul represents an expanded reality from earth to heaven, capable of mirroring the Divine. Imagination plays a crucial role in connecting with distinct archetypes, significantly contributing to the evolution of the soul. These distinct archetypes serve as external realities and mirrors reflecting spiritual truths, allowing individuals to perceive and engage with abstract concepts through their imagination. Sayyid Haydar Amoli is a distinguished Shiite mystic whose insights into soul perfection resonate with the revitalization of archetypes and their attainment. His perspective on imagination's role and its potential to guide the soul toward happiness or despair can be understood through an ontological lens within his writings. This study utilizes a descriptive-analytical approach alongside library-based research to examine Sayyid Haydar's views on imagination's role in perfecting the soul, underscoring its importance. Imagination serves as a philosophical bridge between both tangible and intangible realms, where abstract concepts are interpreted through sensory experience and vice versa. The perfection of the soul via interconnected imagination unfolds across three dimensions: perceptual understanding through observation and reflection on reality; emotional engagement by shaping desires, clarifying goals, and intentions, and pursuing new heights; and manifesting entities in the external world through Hemmat or focused imaginative effort.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

Al-Hurr al-Amili, M. (2001). Al-Jawāhir al-Sunnyah fī al-aḥādīth al-qudsiyyah (3rd ed.), Dehghan. (In Arabic)
Al-Raghib al-Isfahani, Ḥ. (1991). Mufradat qlfaz al-Quran (1st ed., Vol. 1). Dar al-Qalam. (In Arabic)
Amininejad, ʻA. (2011). Introduction to Islamic mysticism. Publication of Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute (RA). (In Persian)
Amoli, Ḥ. (1989). Jāmiʿ al-asrār wa manbaʿ al-anwār (1st ed., 1 Vol.). Scientific and Cultural Publishing Center affiliated with the Ministry of Culture and Higher Education. (In Arabic)
Amoli, Ḥ. (1994). Asrār al-sharī'ah wa aṭwār al-tarīqah wa anwār al-haqīqah (s. J. Hashemi Aliya, Trans. & Narr.). Qader. (In Arabic)
Amoli, Ḥ. (2003). Anwār al-ḥaqīqah wa aṭwār al-ṭarīqah wa asrār al-sharīʿah (1st ed., Vol. 1). Noor Ala Noor. (In Arabic)
Amoli, Ḥ. (2004). Anwār al-ḥaqīqah wa aṭwār al-ṭarīqah wa asrār al-sharīʿah. Noor Ala Noor. (In Arabic)
Amoli, Ḥ. (2005). Jāmiʿ al-asrār wa manbaʿ al-anwār (‘U. I. Yaḥyā & H. Corbin, Ed.). Arab History Foundation. (In Arabic)
Amoli, Ḥ., & Mousavi Tabrizi, M. (2006). Al-muhit al-a'zam wa al-bahr al-khadham fi ta'wil kitab Allah al-aziz al-muhkam (Vols. 2 &3). Noor Ala Noor. (In Arabic)
As’adi, ʻA. R., & Moalemi, Ḥ. (2012). Avicenna on the process for soul’s development. -Religious Anthropology, 9(27), 57-80. (In Persian)
Azarnoosh, Ā. (2001). Contemporary Arabic-Persian culture. Nashr-e Ney. (In Persian)
Bustani, F. E. (1996). Farhang Abjadi (2nd ed., Vol. 1, R. Mahyar, Trans.). Islami. (In Arabic & Persian)
Farghani, S. (2000). Mashāriq al-darārī sharḥ tā'iyyah Ibn Fāriḍ (2nd ed., Vol. 1). Center for Publications of the Islamic Propagation Office. (In Arabic)
Fayyūmī, A. (1993). Al-Miṣbāḥ al-munīr fī gharīb al-sharḥ al-kabīr li al-rāfiʿī (2nd ed., Vol. 2). Dar al-Hijrah Institute. (In Arabic)
Gorjian Arabi, M. M., & Yousefi Souteh, R. (2019). The role of purifying imagination in achieving divine unity from the perspective of Tabatabai and Javadi Amoli. Theosophia Practica, 11(98), 49-72. https://doi.org/10.22081/pwq.2019.67895. (In Persian)
Hassanzadeh Amoli, Ḥ. (1999). Momedd al-himam fī sharḥ faṣūṣ al-ḥikam. Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. (In Arabic)
Hassanzadeh Amoli, Ḥ. (2004). The perfect human from the perspective of Nahj al-Balagha (1st ed., Vol. 1). Alif-Lam-Mim. (In Persian)
Hassanzadeh Amoli, Ḥ. (2005). A Stroll in movement.
Hassanzadeh Amoli, Ḥ. (2006). ‘Uyūn masā’il al-nafs wa sarh al-‘uyūn fī sharh al-‘uyūn. Amir Kabir. (In Arabic)
Homaei, J. (1999). Molavi name (Vol. 1). Agah. (In Persian)
Ibn Arabi, M. (1991). Faṣūṣ al-ḥikam (Vol. 2). Al-Zahra. (In Arabic)
Ibn Sina (1983). Kitab al-shifa’ (S. Zaed, Ed.). Marashi Najafi Library. (In Arabic)
Ibn Sina (2006). Al-Nafs al-shifa’ (H. Hassanzadeh Amoli, Ed.). Bustan-e Ketab. (In Persian)
Isma'il Sini, M. (1993). The contemporary Arabic lexicon (1st ed., Vol. 1). Lebanon Publishers. (In Arabic)
Jāmī, ʻA. (1991). Naqd al-nuṣūṣ fī sharḥ naqsh al-fuṣūṣ (2nd ed., Vol. 1). Printing and Publishing Organization, Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. (In Arabic)
Javadi Amoli, ʻA. (2007). Rahigh makhtom (Vol. 3). Asra’. (In Persian)
Javadi-Amoli, ʻA. (2014). Tajaddud al-amthāl. Isra Hikmat, 6)2(, 5-17. (In Persian)
Jili, ʻA. (1975). Al-Insan al-kamil fi ma'rifat al-awakhir wal-awail (Vol. 2). Dar al-Fikr. (In Arabic)
Mansouri Larijani, E. (2001). The divine realm in explaining the treatise naqd al-nuqūd fī maʿrifat al-wujūd by Sayyid Haydar Amoli. Ayeh. (In Persian)
Mansouri Larijani, E. (2002). A strange traveler. Amir Kabir Publications. (In Persian)
Misbah, M. T. (2012). Teaching philosophy (Vol. 2). Publication of Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute (RA). (In Persian)
Mortezaei, B. (2012). Study of states and characteristics of the soul in the station of imagination and its consequences for the transcendent philosophy. Wisdom and Philosophy, 8(29), 1-168. https://doi.org/10.22054/wph.2012.5835. (In Persian)
Motahhari, M. (2006). Collected works (Vol. 23). Sadra Publications. (In Persian)
Ibn Arabi, M. (2015). Naṣ al-nuṣūṣ fī sharḥ al-fuṣūṣ li-muḥyī al-dīn ibn ʿArabī, Amoli, Haydar ibn Ali (Vol. 2., M. Bidarfar, Ed.). Bidar. (In Arabic)
Murtada al-Zabidi, M. (2004). Taj al-arus min jawahir al-qamus (1st ed., Vol. 14 & 20). Dar al-Fikr. (In Arabic)
Nataj, M. I. (2014). The Role of Imagination in Formal Unveilings from Suhrawardī’s and Mulla Ṣadrā’s Point of View. Sophia Perennis, 11(26), 183-204. (In Persian)
Sabzavari, H. (2004). Asrar al-hikam fi al-muftatah wa al-mukhatam (K. Feizi, Ed.). Religious Publications. (In Arabic)
Ṣadr ad-Dīn Shīrāzī, M. (2004). al-Asfār al-Arbaʿa (S. M. Khamenei, Ed.). Islamic Wisdom Foundation Sadra Publications. (In Arabic)
Ṣadr ad-Dīn Shīrāzī, M. (1981). Al-Hikmah al-muta'aliyah fi al-asfar al-'aqliyyah al-arba'ah (3rd ed., Vol. 2). Dar Ihya al-Turath. (In Arabic)
Ṣadr ad-Dīn Shīrāzī, M. (2002). Al-Mabda' wa al-Miʿād. Islamic Wisdom Foundation Sadra Publications. (In Arabic)
Sajjadi, J. (2000). Dictionary of philosophical terms of Mulla Sadra. Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. (In Persian)
Sharāni (2009). Translation and commentary on tajrid al-i‘tiqad. Hermes. (In Persian)
Suhrawardi, Y. (1996). Majmūe mosannfāt (2nd ed., Vol. 2). Institute of Cultural Studies and Research. (In Persian)
Vafaeian, M. Ḥ., & Qaramaleki, A. F. (2016). Clarifying the position and function of the imaginative faculty in the issuance of rational behaviors and actions from humans with emphasis on Mulla Sadra’s psychological foundations. Divine Ethics, 6(2). (In Persian)
Classical and Contemporary Islamic Studies
Volume 7, Issue 2
July 2025
Pages 199-210

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics