Imagery in Ibn Arabi's View

The world of archetypal images (mithals) is a spiritual world composed of luminous substances. These substances are, on the one hand, similar to physical substances, and on the other hand, to abstract beings. Therefore, it is called the world of spiritualization of bodies and materialization of spirits. Human is able to contact this stage of existence with his faculty of imagination. The term khiyal ('image') is used in a variety of senses in Ibn Arabi's works, among which are the followings: all other than God, the status of Unity, the status of Uniqueness, a intermediary world between matters and abstractions, and the special perceptive faculty existing in human. The present paper uses an analytical approach to seek a comprehensive meaning among all these different meanings, succeeding in that by finding the key word tajalli ('manifestation').