al-insan al-kamil
In Islam, Muhammad is known as uswa hasana, al-insan al-kamil, par excellence.[1] It is an arabic phrase loosely translated, meaning, the 'Perfect Man' and is attributed to Muhammad, in Islamic theology.[citation needed] Prominent Sunni Islamic scholar Muhammad Alawi al-Maliki, has also published a Sirah on Muhammad as the al-insan al-kamil. The Sufis also regard Muhammad as the Perfect Saint, or Universal Man.[2] Al-Jili was also the author of Al-Insan al-Kamil. Muhammad is also identified with the Logos (as in biblical Judaism, the word of God[3]) and the Divine Intellect. [4][5]
The concept of al-insan al-kamil also has some relation to Adam.[6]
See also
External links
- Robert Spencer on al-insan al-kamil
- God and the Perfect Man in the Experience of 'Abd al-Qâdir al-Jaza'iri
- Topics in Islamic Religion: Sufi Texts Contestation and Competition: Sufism and Opposition to Sufism Religious Studies 545
References
- ^ Ibn al-'Arabi, Muhyi al-Din (1164-1240), The 'perfect man' and the Muhammadan reality
- ^ "Muhammad and Sufism" (HTML), Encyclopædia Britannica. (English) “The Mi'raj, or Nocturnal Ascent, of the Prophet is the prototype of all spiritual wayfaring in Islam, and no group in Islamic society has been as conscientious as the Sufis in emulating the Prophet as the perfect saint and what later Sufis were to call the Perfect or Universal Man (al-insan al-kamil).”
- ^ "Logos" (HTML). (English) “2. Judaism a. In biblical Judaism, the word of God, which itself has creative power and is God's medium of communication with the human race. b. In Hellenistic Judaism, a hypostasis associated with divine wisdom.”
- ^ "The Last Prophet" (HTML), ISLAMIA. (English) “The Prophet also possesses this human nature outwardly. But inwardly he has become alchemically transmuted into a precious stone which, although still a stone, is transparent before the light and has lost its opacity. The Prophet is outwardly only a human being [bashar], but inwardly he is the full realization of manhood in its most universal sense. He is the Universal Man [al-insan al-kamil], the prototype of all of creation, the norm of all perfection, the first of all beings, the mirror in which God contemplates universal existence. He is inwardly identified with the Logos and the Divine Intellect.”
- ^ Weismann, Itzchak, Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza. "God and the Perfect Man in the Experience of ’Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza‘ iri" (PDF), p. 14. (English) “Abd al-Karim al-Jili had sought to reinforce their immanent link by apotheosizing the figure of al-insan al-kamil, the hallmark of his entire mystical thought. He asserted that Muhammad's status in the divine scheme was analogous to that of the Qu'ran and, most significantly, that the pole of each generation (qutb) acquired a similar status by taking on the Prophet's Image (al-sura al-Muhammadiyya).”
- ^ Al-insan al-kamil (English) pp 144. The New Encyclopedia of Islam.
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