Historical Transformation of The Feather of Gabriel in Islamic Culture (up to the End of the Sixth Century AH)

The term “Par-e-Jibril” (The Feather of Gabriel) turned to be one of the most frequent terms in various fields of Islamic sciences in the sixth century (AH). This ontological term, which is the evolved form of the former idea of “Bal-e-Fereshte” (Angel’s Wing), was mainly constructed in texts related to Sufism and gradually changed to a fundamental term for presenting the ontological tenets of Muslim thinkers. From the sixth century onwards, the mentioned term has been employed in other fields of Islamic sciences, including Hikmah and Philosophy. Probing into the historical evolution of the term, “The Feather of Gabriel”, is considered essential for explicating one of the central milestones and turning points in the history of Islamic thought; which is the convergence point of the two fields of Mysticism and Philosophy. This article takes a historical-analytic approach and consists of two main parts. The first part presents an analysis of “Angel’s Wing” image in the primary texts of Islamic culture. The next part describes the evolution and inclination of the term towards the two posterior ideas of “The Feather of Gabriel” and “The Song of the Gabriel`s Feather” throughout a historical process.