Reframing Religious Experience through ‘Ālam al-Mithāl: A Philosophical and Mystical Perspective in Islamic Thought
Kholid Al Walid, Waode Zainab Zilullah Toresano, Rosmaria Syafariyah Widjayanti, Nurul Ain Norman
Teosofi June 15, 2025 DOI: 10.15642/teosofi.2025.15.1.148-171 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mysticism Mystical experience |
| Keywords | Cognitive reframing Islam Perspective graphical Religious studies Epistemology Theology |
| Key points | Argues that ‘Ālam al-Mithāl, grounded in Mullā Ṣadrā’s ontological and epistemological principles, provides a rational framework for affirming the objective reality and transformative capacity of religious experiences. |
Abstract
This paper investigates the philosophical and mystical concept of ‘Ālam al-Mithāl (The Imaginal World) in Islamic thought as analternative framework for understanding religious experience. Despite the acknowledgement of its importance, contemporary discourse has yet to undertake a systematic philosophical inquiry into how ‘Ālam al-Mithāl, as a spiritual epistemology, provides rational grounds for affirming the objective reality and transformative capacity of religious experiences, surpassing interpretations that reduce such experiences to merely subjective or psychological interpretations. This research addresses this gap by analyzing how Mullā Ṣadrā’s ontological principle of Aṣālat al-wujūd (fundamentality of existence) and epistemological principle of Ittiḥād al-‘Āqil wa al-Ma‘qūl (union of the intellect and the intelligible) substantiate the objective reality of experiences within ‘Ālam al-Mithāl. The study further examines the essential role of ta’wīl (esoteric interpretation) in unveiling the deeper meanings of symbolic encounters in this realm. By integrating these philosophical principles, the paper demonstrates how ‘Ālam al-Mithāl offers a rigorous framework for validating religious experiences as genuine perceptual events within an objective, intermediate reality. This framework challenges reductionist modern paradigms and highlights the imaginal realm’s significance in self-realization and the acquisition of divine knowledge.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mysticism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The mystical mind: probing the biology of religious experience | 2000 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis | 1983 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Problem of Pure Consciousness: Mysticism and Philosophy | 1993 | Edited collection of essays | |
| Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mysticism and schizophrenia: A phenomenological exploration of the structure of consciousness in the schizophrenia spectrum disorders. | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cites 11
- The Varieties of Self-Transcendent Experience Review of General Psychology May 1, 2017
- Mystical and Other Alterations in Sense of Self: An Expanded Framework for Studying Nonordinary Experiences Perspectives on Psychological Science February 13, 2020
- Hallucinations Beyond Voices: A Conceptual Review of the Phenomenology of Altered Perception in Psychosis. Schizophrenia Bulletin February 1, 2019
- From Generative Models to Generative Passages: A Computational Approach to (Neuro) Phenomenology. Review of Philosophy and Psychology 2022
- Taking subjectivity seriously: towards a unification of phenomenology, psychiatry, and neuroscience. Molecular Psychiatry 2023
and 6 more in the library