Fatemeh Sadat (Mahnaz) Tavakoli; Fatemeh Abedini
Abstract
Al-Faṣṣ al-Yūsufī of Ibn ʿArabī is regarded as one of the most distinguished sections of Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam, in which luminous wisdom (al-Ḥikmah al-Nūriyyah) is attributed ...
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Al-Faṣṣ al-Yūsufī of Ibn ʿArabī is regarded as one of the most distinguished sections of Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam, in which luminous wisdom (al-Ḥikmah al-Nūriyyah) is attributed to Prophet Joseph (Yūsuf, peace be upon him). In this Faṣṣ, Ibn ʿArabī, relying on the ontological foundations of the unity of existence (Waḥdah al-Wujūd) and the theory of manifestation (Tajallī), interprets the story of Joseph not merely as a historical narrative but as an allegory of the spiritual journey of the human soul-from darkness to light, from form to meaning, and from multiplicity to unity. In this interpretation, Prophet Joseph is presented as the locus of manifestation of the divine Names of beauty and light, such as al‑Nūr (the Light), al‑Muṣawwir (the Fashioner), al‑ʿālīm (the All‑Knowing), al‑Jamīl (the Beautiful), al‑Ḥakīm (the Wise), and al‑Ḥaqq (the Real), since in him are united both the knowledge of dream interpretation and intrinsic beauty and luminosity. Through luminous wisdom, Ibn ʿArabī explicates the relationship between the imaginal realm (al-ʿālam al‑Mithāl), imagination (khayāl), and the knowledge of interpretation (taʿbīr), demonstrating that Joseph, as the Perfect Human (al‑Insān al‑Kāmil), is a mirror in which the divine Names are manifested at different levels of being. Employing a descriptive‑analytical method and drawing upon the text of al-Faṣṣ al-Yūsufī and the commentaries of major figures such as al‑Jandī, al-Qayṣarī, al-Khwārazmī, Pārsā, and other commentators, this paper analyzes the manifestations of the divine Names and the symbolic meaning of the Yūsufī spiritual journey, and on this basis proposes a Yūsufī model of the Perfect Human. Among the findings of the research is that al-Faṣṣ al-Yūsufī depicts a system of luminous and hermeneutical knowledge in which knowledge and beauty, imagination and reality, and the outward and the inward are unified in the light of the Manifestation of the divine Names-such as Light, Wise, Fashioner, All‑Knowing, Beautiful, Guardian (Walī), Manifest (Ẓāhir), Hidden (Bāṭin), and other Names-and by focusing on this innovative insight, the Yūsufī paradigm of the Perfect Human is introduced.
