Study of the Lataef Sab’a and the seven existential prophets from Attar to Sheikh Ala al-Dawlah Semnani

Sheikh Ala Al-Dawlah (657-736 AH) in his various works, especially Persian epistles, refers to the issue of how the human heart can be a manifestation and a mirror of the manifestation of divine glory and beauty, And through this, he has dealt with "Lataef Sab’a".  Before him, Ibn Arabi briefly had discussed this issue in the treatise of Shaq al-Jayb.  Lataef  Sab’a's theory and its application to the seven prophets of existence has so far been known as Ala 'al-Dawlah Semnani, but whether others have addressed this issue before him or whether this theory was innovation of  Sheikh Ala' al-Dawlah himself remains to be seen. A comparative study of Sheikh Ala al-Dawlah's Persian works with Ibn Arabi's treatise on Shaq al-Jayb has led us to note that Sheikh Ala al-Dawlah was strongly influenced by Ibn Arabi, especially in the matter of the unity of existence, despite his sharp differences. As far as can be said, some of the contents of Sheikh Ala al-Dawlah about Latef al-Sab'a are exactly the translations of the contents of Ibn Arabi's treatise on Shaq al-Jajib. The only new dimension that Ala al-Dawlah has added to Ibn Arabi's discussions, in addition to describing and expanding them, is the application of these subtleties to the prophets of the seven  existence that Attar has mentioned in Mosibat Nameh.  Therefore, it can be said that Sheikh Ala al-Dawla's innovation is that he was able to combine the seven prophets mentioned by Attar in Mosibat Nameh with h "Lataef Sab’a" that Ibn Arabi dealt with in his treatise Shaq al-Jayb. In addition, for the first time, Sheikh Ala al-Dawlah based his interpretive theory on the same Lata’f. This is something that neither Attar nor Najmuddin Razi and Ibn Arabi have used in their mystical interpretations.