Parabel (Fiction) Universe in Islamic Mysticism

Believing in parable universe, or the intermediate world, between the senses world and the logical one, began before the Islamic period in Iran, and was introduced by well known philosophers of Iran including Sheikh Shahabudding Sohrevardi, Sadrolmoteahhelin Shirazi, Molla Hadi Sabzevari, and the like. Other mystics such as Ibn Arabi, Mowlana Jalaleddin Mohammad Balkhi, Seyyed Heydar Amoli, Sheikh Mahmood Shabestari, Lahiji, Abdurrahman Jami, Mirfenderski, and so on also emphasized the necessity of such a universe in mystical journey. It is endeavored in this paper that a summary of the ideas and beliefs of the above scholars to be presented and further details of the parable universe to be analyzed.Mystics slightly differed on the hierarchy of the world of existence; however, all of them admit to an intermediate world of parable world, i.e. limbo. They have divided the parable world into the 'dependent attached world' and 'independent detached world'. Mohyeddin Ibn Arabi, the ancestor of theoretical mysticism, attempted to design the fiction universe after Sohrehvardi and his mystical principle had a great impact on the sublime philosophy.