A Comparative Review on the Meaning of Barzakh and Mithāl in the works of Muslim Philosophers, Gnostics, and Theologians

The term, “Barzakh” (inter-world) has different literal and technical meanings, and confusing them leads to misunderstanding. This preoccupation was the motive behind this article to sift through to works of philosophers, gnostics, and theologians in order to clarify the exact meanings they invest this term with. The authors conclude that Muslim philosophers use the term “barzakh” to refer to a world between the material and the intellectual worlds, and they divide it into distinct and indistinct ones. Gnostics, on the other hand, divide it into ascending and descending ones. They together form parts of the philosophers’ distinct mithāl. For theologians, however, barzakh represents the intermediary gap between one’s death and the one’s resurrection in the hereafter. It differs, conceptually, from that of philosophers and Gnostics, but it refers to the ascending curve of barzakh in Gnostics.