Color in Islamic Theosophy:

An Analytical Reading of Four Scholars:

Kubr, Rz, Simnn, and Kirmn
Zahra Abdollah

heosophy in medieval Iran could be considered a synthesis

of Islamic philosophy (peripatetic, illuminative, and
transcendental philosophy), Islamic theology (Mutazil,
Ashar), and Islamic mysticism (Sufism in all its aspects).1 To provide
this profound and outstanding integration, several great ambitious
scholars have perused Islamic principles and the underlying
doctrines. Some of these manipulations rely heavily on the crucial
concepts of light and color.
The phenomenon of color, emanating from light, as in the
physical realm, already impressed a number of prominent intellectuals. The inspiration is best observed in the commentaries of
some influential scholars, such as Najm al-Dn Kubr (540618 ah),
Najm al-Dn Rz (570654 ah), Al l-Dula Simnn (659736 ah)
and Muammad Karm Khn Kirmn (12251288 ah). The present
article aims to excavate and compare the doctrines of these sages
to decipher the implications of color in Islamic theosophy. As the
eminent Ab mid al-Ghazl2 attests, the key source of this
inspiration is the Light Verse (Q 24:35):
God is the light of the heavens and the earth; the likeness
of His light is as a niche within which is a lamp, the lamp
is in a glass, the glass as it were a glittering star kindled
from a blessed tree, an olive [tree] that is neither of the
east nor of the west, whose oil well-nigh would shine,
1
2

For further reading on this integration refer to HIP, Corbin.

Refer to chapter 1 of Ab mid Muammad al-Ghazl, The Niche of Light,
trans. David Buchman (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1998).

Journal of Islamic Philosophy 7 (2011): 3552.

2011 by the Journal of Islamic Philosophy, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN: 1536-4569

36

Zahra Abdollah

even if no fire touched it; light upon light; God guides to

His light whom He will. And God strikes similitudes for
people, and God has knowledge of everything.
The stated hierarchy of light in this verse, the interpretation of light
upon light, and the theme of the light and darkness3 resulted in
several hypotheses about the hierarchy of being.
The concept of the hierarchy of being originates in Greek
philosophy. In the Republic and Phaedo, Plato argues that the world
is divided into lower (chaotic material) and higher (forms) realities
and that the higher is the genuine source of truth and beauty. During the Roman era, Neoplatonists expanded Platos dualism into a
sophisticated chain of being, according to which God is the most
real and out of Him all other things emanate. Material reality is most
distant from the plenitude of God and, in a sense, the least real. As
a composite of different levels of reality, human beings, standing at
the middle, are both material and spiritual.
Both Platonic and Neoplatonic doctrines and their Christian
counterparts (particularly in St. Augustine) are dualistic. The Muslim
theosophists initiated the concept of an intermediary world to
dissolve the banal dualism between spirit and flesh. The idea of the
body is progressively sublimated until it comes to denote a body
belonging to a superior universe: there are the subtle bodies of the
intermediary mundus imaginalis, perceived not by the senses but
by the active imagination.4
Mundus Imaginalis
Sophists envisage two extreme worlds for the universe: purely
intellectual (aqliyya l-maiyya) and purely sensual (issiyya
l-maiyya), between which exists a world of formalized but matterless embodiments. This is truly a medium realm, measurability
3
4

He has established darkness and light (Q 6:1).

Henry Corbin, The Realism and Symbolism of Color in Shiite Cosmology,
in Color Symbolism, the Eranos Lectures, ed. Klaus Ottmann (Putnam, CT:
Spring Publications, 2005), 53.

Journal of Islamic Philosophy / 2011

37

brings it in conformity with the material world and nevertheless

abstractness makes it commensurate with intellectuals. Besides, all
beings in the spectrum of these two extremes have a self-contained
insignia in this bridging realm. This includes even states, motions,
situations, tastes, smells, and other qualities. In other words, through
a descending motion, an abstract being from an upper realm takes
on measure and shape, whereas an inhabitant of a sensual world
ascends to mundus imaginalis, withdrawing the matter and some
of its requisites.5 Briefly, the mundus imaginalis (lam al-mithl) is
where spirit embodies and body spiritualizes.6
While the represented discourse corresponds to macrocosm
(lam al-fq), medieval Islamic theosophists proposed a similar
agenda for microcosm (lam al-anfus). The former resembles the
outer universe, whereas the latter is associated with the inner realm
of human rational soul (al-nafs al-niqa). In accordance with the
affinity between these cognate realms, every phenomenon in one
realm has an imprint in the other. Moreover, given the hierarchy of
worlds in macrocosm, a similar classification applies to the microcosm. Here the rational soul possesses a variety of faculties,7 among
which imagination power (animus imaginalis) is a medium between
subject (inside) and object (outside). In this context, inside refers
to the manself relationship, whereas outside is an interpretation
of the manother correspondence. Hence the animus imaginalis in
lam al-anfus is analogous to mundus imaginalis in lam al-fq. To
manifest these cosmological accounts, a visual scheme is affordable:

5
6
7

Bah Lhj, Rislt al-nriyya f lam al-mithl, ed. S. J. Ashtn (Tehran:

Hozeye Honari, 1973), 30.
Henri Corbin, Terre Celeste et Corps de Resurrection de lIran Mazdeen a lIran
Schiite, trans. Z. Dehshiri (Tehran: Tahuri, 1995), 295.
For more about these faculties, see A. Lahj, Gohar-i Morad, ed. S. Movahed
(Tehran: Golshan, 1985).

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Zahra Abdollah

In this two-dimensional model, the adjacent bold sides of the square

indicate macro and micro cosmos, otherwise ostensibly irreconcilable. These two realms are divided by their substantial bisectors
to two relevant subsets of exotericesoteric, and outsideinside,
respectively.
The model has the potentiality of schematizing diverse fields.
Thus depending on the context, each of the cells A to D promotes a
relevant stage. Here, A deals with the objective concrete which has
sensual and tangible manifestations, whereas D involves the subjective abstract in its intellectual and virtual sense. Likewise, B and C
are deemed accordingly. Note should be taken that subjectobject
is not invariably in conformity with esotericexoteric, neither is
sensualintellectual with actualvirtual. There could even be other
conventional pairs to be employed, like manifestedconcealed,
outwardinward, ghaybshahda, and significantsignifier. This is
to say that the underlying context is to determine the corresponding
terminology.

Journal of Islamic Philosophy / 2011

39

Likewise, the horizontal and vertical sides could indicate other

domains or realms. In particular, each layer of the macrocosmic
spectrum or each faculty of the microcosmic gamut could give
rise to a new model. In this way, the model is capable of analyzing
diverse yet related issues such as selected themes in the Qurn, the
artist versus artwork, and light versus color.
Another critical issue is the indefiniteness of the cells boundaries and dynamism of the bisectors. For instance, an esoteric aspect
in one domain could happen to be exoteric in another, or more
specifically for the subject of the present debate, a color which
appears to be decorative in one instance could well be symbolic
somewhere else. This in turn endows the intermediary lines of
mundus imaginalis and imagination power with a dual efficacy. To
appreciate this dynamism, one could note that from a static point
of view, mundus imaginalis merely detaches the sensible world of
physical bodies from the realm of subtle souls, whereas the dynamism of its transmittal mode allows a qualitative body from inferior
realms to progressively sublimate until it comes to denote a body
inhabiting the superior spheres. Conversely, a supra-sensible body
intensifies and elevates through this transitional phase to manifest
a corporal entity. A similar dynamism applies to the faculties of the
rational soul. Although a robust line may suggest virtual separation
of the inside and outside extents, by a ubiquitous human principle,
mans interaction with external objects and situations deeply alters
his inner states and vice versa. The interactive confluence of these
zones is to be accomplished through an intermediary, which is the
very same realm of animus imaginalis. So far the versatility of the
proposed model consents to schematizing a wide spectrum of entities,
from the theosophical theorems to hierarchical concepts, like color.

40

Zahra Abdollah

Color in Islamic Theosophy

Ab mid al-Ghazl wrote his book Mishkt al-anwr (The Niche
of Light)8 as an intellectual support for Muslims who want to practice
their religion with greater honesty. The short monograph has three
parts. In the first and longest part, Ghazl explains the metaphysics
of light, as declared in the Light Verse (Q 24:35), based on the teaching that real light is God and the whole of creation is nothing but
the manifestation of this light. One important aspect of Ghazls
approach is his clear denial of the claims of some philosophers
that color receives its existence from light; he reassures his readers
that only the manifestation of color relies on light. Some recent
commentators on the Mishkt al-anwr suggest that later illuminist philosophers such as Shihb al-Dn Suhraward were partly
influenced by this book.
Suhraward, best known for his pioneering work in illuminative
philosophy, alludes, at the end of his kmat al-ishrq,9 to gnostic
light experiences, but does not deal specifically with color and
its symbols. The phenomenon of color is well elaborated in the
teachings of some later Sufis and notably in some discourses of the
Kubrwiyya order.10
Najm al-Dn Kubr (from his name the title of the order is
extracted) based his interpretation of the spiritual journey of the
wayfarer (slik) toward perfection on a symbolism of color. He
assigned seven colors to the seven stages of this journey: white
(surrender, islm), yellow (belief, mn), gray (beneficence, isn),
blue (certitude, imnn), green (certainty, yaqn), red (gnosis, irfn),
al-Ghazl, Niche of Light.
Suhrawardi, The Philosophy of Illumination, trans. John Walbridge and Hossein
Ziai (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2000).
10 Preliminary theories of color in Islamic philosophy are well established by
early intellectuals such as al-Frb, Ibn Sn, Ibn Haytham, Ibn Bjja, and
so on. However, there is still a basic divergence, possibly an abyss, between
the statements of these philosophers and those of theosophists like the four
sages of the present article. See Corbin, Realism and Symbolism.
8
9

Journal of Islamic Philosophy / 2011

41

and finally black (wonder, ayrat).11 According to Kubr, as long as

the wayfarer is striving with internal states (awl), he is in the stage
of coloring (talawwun), and he could rest in the status (maqm) of
dwelling (tamkn) only when he went beyond all colors to the rank
of colorlessness.12
As for the physical senses that give us access to comprehension
of natural color, Najm al-Dn Kubr provides an analysis of the
anatomy of subtle organs capable of comprehending supernatural
colors. He mentions the soul (nafs), intellect (aql), heart (qalb),
and two more organs in the subtle body which are centers of ultraconsciousness, responsible for grasping the colors of the unseen
world (ghayb). This transcendental epistemology of color is based
on a meta-principle13 which states that each entity could only be
comprehended by one of its own genus.14
Najm al-Dn Rz (Dye) was a pupil of Kubr, whose Mird
al-ibd is quite famous and well read in Sufi circles. He taught about
the colors of the attributes of beauty (jaml) and grandeur (jall) of
God, who gives existence to all things. Due to the veil (ijb) of the
human attributes (ift al-insniyya), these colors are grasped only
through the imagination (khyl). For those who have torn the veil
of their attributes, the light of Truth is perceived in a colorless and
boundless manifestation without quality, similitude or opposite.
At this stage the wayfarer (slik) would be in the status of dwelling
(tamkn) and prosperity (tamakun).15
For Dye the unseen light could emanate from different sources,
ranging from the spirituality of the wayfarer, the authority of the
11 Henry Corbin, Man of Light in Iranian Sufism, trans. F. Javaheri Nia (Tehran:
Golban, 2000), 95135.
12 Fritz Meier, Die Fawi al-aml va Fawti al-all des Nam ad-Dn
al-Kubr (Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1957), 7.
13 Different variants of this intellectual rule could be traced in the West from
Meister Eckhart to Goethe.
14 Meier, Die Fawi, 132.
15 Najm al-Dn Rz, Mird al-ibd, ed. M. A. Riahi (Tehran: Ilmi Farhang,
1986), 307309.

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Zahra Abdollah

sage, and the prophethood of the nab, to the reminder (dhikr),

worship (ibda), and obedience (ia); and each source has a particular color.16 As the wayfarer struggles with the nafs al-lawwma,
he sees the gray color, which is a result of the mixture of the light
of reminder (dhikr) and the darkness of the self (nafs). If the light
surpasses the darkness, the color turns into red, and as the light of
the soul overrides the darkness of the self through the reminder,
yellow appears, which turns to white as the darkness of the self
vanishes. Later, as the light of the soul mixes with the heart of purity
(af) the wayfarer sees a green color. Finally, when the heart is fully
pure, a light as that of the sun arises.17 The interplay between light
and darkness as treated by Dye is based on the adth of the veil,18
which was alluded to by Ghazl in the Mishkt al-anwr.
Dye, like Kubr, associates a color to each stage of sulk from
islm to ikma (wisdom), and he distinguishes the seventh stage of
ecstasy (wajd) with black light.19 Theosophists open a special account
for the black light, which they correspond to Gods color (ibghat
Allh), as described in the Qurn.20 At this stage, the absolute light
is so intense that eyes lose sight, and the color becomes black. This is
the light of pure essence, which is unique in its independent, covered,
and destructive essence, and can only be comprehended by one who
has reached the stage of perfect deprivation (faqr) and annihilation
in Truth (fan f l-aqq). One who is showered by the black light
would cease his being in itself, to be capable of subsistence in God
(baq bi-Llh). This stage is saved for those who are firmly rooted
in the spring of certainty (ayn al-yaqn), are not agitated by the

16 Rz, Mird al-ibd, 300.

17 Ibid., 306308.
18 God has seventy veils of light and darkness; were He to lift them, the august
glories of His face would burn up everyone whose eyesight perceived Him.
19 Corbin, Man of Light, 157158.
20 [We take our] coloring from God and whose coloring is better than Gods (Q.
2:138).

Journal of Islamic Philosophy / 2011

43

appearance of worldly authorities, and have gone beyond change,

deceit, and treachery.
The idea of black light has emerged in other mystic treatises
such as the Golshan-i rz (The Garden of Secret) of Shaykh Mamd
Shabistar,21 as best elaborated in the commentary of Shams al-Dn
Lahj.22 He describes it so realistically that one wonders if he has
touched it through a personal illuminating experience. In a metaphorical allegory, Shabistar talks about black as the light of essence,
an inspiring imagery, he notes, as the water of eternal life (b-i ayt,
in Persian) is hidden in the darkness. He reminds his reader that
here is no place of seeing, as the pure night of selflessness is chaste
from all colors as it is sheltered in seven thousand veils of light. He
highlights the paradoxical state of the situation by alluding to the
imagery of a bright night hidden in a dark day!
The imagery of the black light is designated as the colorless
light by Ibn al-Arab, who urges us to ponder the principle that the
epiphany of Truth in existing forms is according to their potentiality.23 This leads him to the similitude that the Light is the Truth
and the Essence, and the world is a crystal that perceives light and
proliferates it into colors, namely, the various forms of beings. Thus,
he concludes, the Essence is beyond color, as the Truth is far from
any characteristic or relation, and only shows such attributes when
it is seen through the beings.
This is the reason Rm urges us to become accustomed to
seeing light without glass (i.e., the self), in order not to be blind as
we strive to break the glass and go beyond our selves.24 For Rm, the
glass is also a similitude of the intellect, which confines perception

21 Shaykh Mamd Shabistar, Gulshan-i Rz, ed. S. Movahed (Tehran: Tahuri,

2007), 88.
22 M. Lahj, Maft al-ijz f shar Gulshan-i Rz (Tehran: Mamd, 1958).
23 Abolala Afifi, Shar Fuss al-ikam of Ibn Arab, trans. A. A. Hekmat (Tehran:
Ilham, 2001), 163.
24 Rm, The Mathnawi, ed. R. A. Nicholson (Tehran: Hermes, 2005), 764.

44

Zahra Abdollah

to its capacity. It colors the beings with its flush and detains the
colorlessness in its taut cubicle.
With regard to the theosophical interpretations, Al l-Dula
Simnn relates the seven layers of the Qurnic inner or esoteric
(bin) meanings to seven spiritual faculties of man, called the
subtle (laf) substances, each of which corresponds to one of the
prophets in the Qurn.25 This could be best understood in the light
of the connection between the worlds of horizons (fq) and souls
(anfus) in the Qurnic verse 41:53. This correspondence becomes
more significant when the stories of prophets (qia al-anby) are
applied as lessons for ones spiritual struggle toward perfection.

In order to appreciate the lucidity of the overall picture presented by Simnn, his reciprocal discourse between the worlds of
horizons and souls needs to be examined in more detail. Scheme
1 provides a framework to put the ghayb and shahda side-by-side.
Scheme 2(a) summarizes the detailed analysis presented in his
teachings.26 The echelon of observation and perception is schematized in scheme 2(b). For Simnn, this is not merely an abstract
25 A. Simnn, Muannaft-i Frs, ed. Najb M. Hirav (Tehran: Ilm Farhang,
1990), 302303.
26 Ibid.

Journal of Islamic Philosophy / 2011

45

classification, as he deems the utility of proper observation as an

indispensable prerequisite for the wayfarer.
In Simnns physiology of the subtle body, each substance or
center has a color.27 These colors help the wayfarer to realize his status
in the path of sulk. The subtle substances and their corresponding
statutes are summarized in table 1. In each case, the corresponding
prophet (which is at the same time the Qurnic prophet in fq
and the inner prophet of the wayfarer in anfus) and the indicating
color is given.
Subtle substance

Statute

Prophet

Color

body (qlibiyya)

man (insn)

Adam

gray

soul (nafsiyya)

citizen (madan)

Noah

blue

heart (qalbiyya)

submitter (muslim)

Abraham

red

secret (sirriyya)

believer (mumin)

Moses

white

spirit (riyya)

friend (wal)

David

yellow

mystery (khafiyya)

prophet (nab)

Jesus

black

reality (aqqiyya)

seal (khtam)

Muammad

green

Table 1. Seven subtle substances, according to Simnn

The outcomes of prophetology in Simnn are best understood

via the cosmological model (scheme 3). Note that the Prophet
Muammad embraces the entirety of all the ranks.
A comparison between schemes 2(b) and 3 provides interesting
correspondences between the characteristics of the prophets and
the observations of the wayfarer in different steps of the sulk, as
summarized in table 2.

27 Corbin, Man of Light, 175182.

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Zahra Abdollah

Shaykh Karm Khn Kirmn is a pupil of the Shaykhiyya master,

Amad I. Kirmn, who received the honorific title of the
Iranian Goethe by Henry Corbin, composed a short treatise called
al-Yqt al-amr on the esoteric hermeneutics of the color red.28
He gives a phenomenological interpretation of the presence of color
in various realms of existence. He based his analysis on the Qurn,29
in which God declares that all treasures (khazin) are with Him.
For Kirmn, these treasures are archetypes (muthul al-al) in the
upper world of which every being of the lower world has a trace
(thr). The support of this trace is the subtle component, whose
strength is measured by the luminance of the being.
Kirmn consciously clarifies his discussion by pinpointing the
principles of his light-color phenomenology. He starts by distinguishing between the existence and the manifestation of color. Color exists
in all beings in sensual and supra-sensual levels (first principle)30
but its manifestation rests on light and the subtle component of
28 Corbin, Realism and Symbolism, 47108.
29 Especially Q 15:21.
30 Corbin, Realism and Symbolism, 51.

Journal of Islamic Philosophy / 2011

47

the being. Color gets closer to light and its presence (not existence)
becomes more manifest as the trace of the archetype and delicacy
of the subtle component amplifies.
Light is the subtle faade of color (the guardian angel of color)
and color is the opaque face of light (second principle).31 This is best
understood in the light of the duality between exoteric (hir) and
esoteric (bin) that explains why color without light could exist,
but as body (jism) without soul (r), is inactive and dormant.

Prophet

Prophets
characteristic

Wayfarers
observation

(scheme 4)

(scheme 3(b))

Correspondence

Adam

living in
Paradise

physical lights

direct perception of
reality (ilm al-asm)

Noah

surviving flood

attributes of
nafs
alammra

trespassing animus
(najt)

Abraham

meeting angels

bodies of
angels and
jinn

supernatural
dialogue (ilm alyaqn)

Moses

observing Gods
epiphany in
mountain and
tree

attributes of
nafs albarzakhiyya

direct observation of
truth (ayn al-yaqn)

David

conquering
metals,
mountains, and
birds

spirits of
objects

prevailing objects
(ghalaba)

Jesus

resurrecting
dead

souls

life (r al-qudus)

Muammad

entirety

light

Truth (aqq al-yaqn)

Table 2. Prophetology of Simnn

31 Ibid., 62.

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Zahra Abdollah

To epitomize the mechanism in which the archetype signs its trace on

the lower world (third principle),32 Kirmn employs the metaphysics
of the four elementary qualities: fire, air, water, and soil, which
parallel the four temperaments of the body. The first movement of
the archetype signifies the closest trace, which is fire (hot and dry)
and emanates the red color; as we proceed, air (hot and humid,
yellow); water (cold and humid, white); and soil (cold and dry, black)
appear. Kirmn alludes to a verse (Q 4:35) to symbolize water as
the anima face of fire and air as the animus face of soil.33
A comparison between quadruple modality in Kirmn and the
prophets of self in Simnn is edifying. This is elucidated through
the cosmological model, as illustrated in scheme 4. It is instructive
to note that Adam was tested by taste (forbidden fruit) and sent
down to earth; Noah experienced the passage from soil to water
and back (the flood); Abrahams first trial was by fire (by Nimrod);
Moses, Kalm Allh, was trapped between fire and water (escaping
from Pharaoh); David had a miraculous heavenly voice (intoxicating
birds); and the fiery breath of the spirit (r al-qudus) was bestowed
upon Jesus.
Abraham, red
water, touch

Jesus, black
fire, color

Adam, gray
soil, taste

David, yellow
air, sound

Noah, blue

Moses, white

Scheme 4. Correspondences between modalities according to Kirmn

and the prophetology of Simnn
32 Ibid., 67.
33 This is rather an odd interpretation of the content of the verse, which primarily
talks about family quarrels.

Journal of Islamic Philosophy / 2011

49

The colors of the qualitative modalities show the level of presence

of the archetype, as in soil whose opaqueness (black color) is due
to its extreme detachment from the archetype. The ultimate sources
of these colors are the colors of the four poles of Gods throne (arsh
Allh). This allusion leads Kirmn to ponder Ibn al-Arabs notion
of the interplay between the divine lord (rabb) and his earthly knight
(marbb):34 in the absence of light, color remains in an inert state,
whereas without color, light would not be manifest, in the same
way that a vassal (knight) is maintained in being by his lord, yet the
latter would remain imperceptible without his vassal.
The imagery of the lord-knight relationship explains why pure
light cannot be comprehended unless it becomes opaque through its
manifestation as color. Kirmn employs this imagery to embark on
the exegesis of the divine words: I was a hidden treasure (kanzan
makhfyan) willing to be known, so I created. Kirmn concludes
that the six days of creation are the six traits of the created: position,
time, space, rank, quality, and quantity. He goes on to tell us that
taste is the trait of soil, whereas touch, sound, and sight (color) are
traits of water, air, and fire. Kirmn grants fire an indispensable
role in his phenomenology, as it is the fiery nature of things that
furnishes them with light and color. This color, however, is not
comprehensible by our senses, when things appear to us in their
subtle bodies, as the subtle bodies are equipped with subtle colors
(fourth principle).35
Kirmn presents us with a hierarchy of eight levels of universe, adding the world of the hidden deity at the summit to the
seven worlds of mystical theosophy, a world that transcends all the
theophanic universes concentrated in the Temple of Mercy (arsh
al-Ramn). To emphasize the distances separating these worlds,
we are reminded that every superior world is of a light seventy times
more intense than that of the inferior world. Table 3 summarizes
the hierarchy of worlds in Kirmns cosmology. Each world has its
34 For details about this relation, see HIP, Corbin, 96.
35 Corbin, Realism and Symbolism, 69.

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Zahra Abdollah

intrinsic color, and utilizes a certain quality to differentiate between

the colors of its inhabitants. In table 3 the worlds are organized
according to their level of subtlety.
World

Differentiation of
Colors

Color

Light of God (nr Allh)

no plurality

none

Cherubic intelligences (aluql)

inner plurality

white

Subtle Forms (uwar albarzakhyya)

inner and exterior

plurality

yellow

Souls (malakt)

exterior plurality

green

Nature (jismiyya)

nature and genus

red

Clouds (hib)

form

ashen

Mundus Imaginalis (mithl)

individual differences

dark green

Matters (mddiyya)

observable differences

black

Table 3. Configuration of worlds according to Kirmn

From here, Kirmn undertakes the consummation of a fullfledged theosophy which pivots on the phenomenology of the sacred
book. The starting point is a narration of the Prophet proclaiming
the seven esoteric meanings of the Qurn. Kirmn then fixes his
vocabulary by carefully defining the key terms, such as tawl (literally,
bringing back to the origin), hir (exoteric dimension), and bin
(esoteric dimension). For tawl, he reassures the reader that the act
of referring is indeed returning an object to its archetype. The route
one has to traverse to bring back the outermost appearance of an
object to its innermost meaning could be recapitulated in scheme 5.36
36 Corbin, Realism and Symbolism, 90.

Journal of Islamic Philosophy / 2011

51

The journey from the surface (hir al-hir) to bin al-hir, bin
al-tawl, and finally to the innermost kernel of truth (bin al-bin)
is achievable by transition through the hermeneutics of tawl. The
cosmological model illustrates this transition in scheme 6(a)(b).

Interpretation of the natural, though mysterious, phenomenon

of color has provoked in depth debates among scholars of diverse
traditions. The elaboration of extant resources and comparative,
analytic study of their doctrines provide a deeper comprehension
of the concealed enigma of the concept and elucidate the path for
future research.