A Study of the Concept of the “Vision” of Sublime God and its Reflection in Transcendental Theosophy

The concept of the vision of sublime God according to the verses of the noble Qur’ān is one of the main discussions among Islamic theologists. However, the purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which Islamic philosophers have analyzed this issue in the light of their religious background. Although Islamic philosophers such as Avicenna and Suhrawardi have pointed out the possibility of attaining knowledge of God and having a relationship with Him, they have not given in a distinctive theory about the vision of God. Of course, based on the principles of Islamic philosophy proposed by philosophers such as Farabi and Avicenna, the term “vision” cannot refer to the sensory vision as it is in the material issues; rather, it means a level of intuitive knowledge. However, examining the varied and dispersed opinions of Islamic philosophers such as Suhrawardi and especially Mulla Sadra, it can be inferred that the in his perfection path as well as his move in quality and quantity, the human achieves a station in which he can observe God via his heart. The reason is that the perfected soul will have a perfected representation over reason via the light of heart. This makes it ready to attain levels higher than the pure reason. Thus, vision by heart is a type of knowledge about God and connection with Him. Of course, the conduction of vision via heart means that this type of knowledge and perception is intuitive and immaterial, available for those who have attained the station of Servantship. Therefore, based on some qur’anic verses, reason gets help from heart to enter a station beyond the pure reason station. Of course, everyone can achieve a station of knowledge and perception about God based on his own existential capacity. In fact, the human soul should go through certain stages based on his substantial movement, and in this path, it should perfect its theoretical and practical reason so that after removing the veils, it can finally observe God via intuition and vision by heart, though to the extent of his existential and immaterial capacity.