Turning Religious Experience into Reality

The Spiritual Power of Himma

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3315218
AutoresIsmail Lala (0000-0002-1089-7478, Gulf University for Science & Technology, autor de correspondencia)
Año2023
Volumen14
Número3
Páginas385
Fecha de publicación2023-03-14
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaReligions (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
EditorialMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel14030385
OpenAlexW4324151721
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4
Referencias citadas13

The extremely influential mystic, Muḥyī al-Dīn ibn 'Arabī (d. 634/1240), believes that the most advanced gnostics are imbued with a special power that turns their religious experience into reality. This is the power of himma-the power of existentiation that elite gnostics derive from God's absolute power of existentiation. Ibn 'Arabī and his followers assert that this power, which is exercised by the gnostics through an intense and unremitting concentration, actually shapes and forms external phenomenal reality as long as the concentration of the gnostic persists. This paper explores the different types of himmas that can exist, what kind of reality they allow the gnostics to perceive, and what relationship the objects created by himma have with the gnostic who exercised this power

Aesthetics · Elite · Epistemology · Gnosticism · Mysticism · Physics · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Theology · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Medieval and Classical Philosophy · Philosophy