A Comparative Study of the Hierarchies of Existence from the Perspective of Islamic Mysticism and Upanishad Texts

Despite their structural differences, Islamic mysticism and Upanishad teachings are very similar in nature. One of these similarities is their explanation of the hierarchies of existence. The Upanishad assumes three degrees of "awakening", "dream" and "deep Sleep" which can correspond to the levels of the material world, world of image exemplars, world of intelligence and world of unicity in Islamic mysticism. In Hindu doctrines, these three levels are Brahman's constraints, but from the point of view of Islamic mysticism, they are the levels of the emergence of "breath of the Merciful". However, there are two main differences in this regard: the “Breath of the merciful, " extends beyond this level. Secondly, in Islamic mysticism, beyond the "Breath of the Merciful" is "the station of essence", which has a suppositional station and is not mentioned in the Hindu texts. On the other hand, in Hindu sources, Atman, the truth of man, has a considerable similarity with the truth of the "most universal being" in Islamic mysticism. Using the approach of documentive analysis, this paper examines and compares Islamic sources and Upanishad texts concerning the hierarchies of existence in the above two ideologies.