Luminous Awareness and Transformative Intuition
Luminous and Transformative Awareness in the Divine Human’s Descending Arc: A Translation of Sadegh Khademi’s Epistemology
Translator’s Note
This translation renders Chapter Two of Sadegh Khademi’s Awareness and the Divine Human (matn2.txt), correcting prior errors that misattributed luminous awareness and transformative intuition to the ascending arc. Khademi explicitly associates these with the descending arc (sayr nuzūlī), where “تحویلی” equates to “نزولی” (descending). The translation preserves all content, adopts a doctoral-level, elevated tone, and uses Mohammad Mahdi Fouladvand’s (2004) Qur’anic translation with accented Arabic, per user directives (April 14, 2025). Terms are transliterated with footnotes for clarity, and references ground the text in Islamic mysticism and Shi‘i theology.
Luminous and Transformative Awareness
The divine human, upon attaining the station of the spirit and bestowed vicegerency (wilāyah mawhūbī) after reaching the heart in the ascending arc, perceives, within the mutable realm of nāsūt, the post-material realms of fixity—namely, the imaginal realms of the soul’s journey, the celestial realms of the heart’s journey (malakūt), the divine realms of the spirit’s journey (jabarūt), and the realms of love, unity, divine names, attributes (lāhūt), and the realm of absolute unity (aḥadiyyah), even beholding the Divine Essence in vision, attainment, and presential awareness. These countless realms, inaccessible even to proximate angels, remain beyond their entry or knowledge of their sublime phenomena, described as “the exalted” (al-‘ālīn). These luminous awarenesses accompany the divine human in the descending arc.1
1 Wilāyah mawhūbī: Bestowed divine authority (Khademi, 2025).
The Divine and Vicegerent Human in the Descending Arc
The divine and vicegerent human, in the beloved and revelatory descending arc, and as possessor of the spirit’s station in the ascending arc, is nurtured by divine Lordship, driven by divine necessity, love, unity, and sincerity. God becomes their guardian, holding their inevitable destiny. In nāsūt, the beloved, revelatory, descending human attains a dignified end and martyrdom. The intrinsically vicegerent human, unconditioned and unaffected by environment, embodies pure actuality, immune to preparatory or scholastic influences of nāsūt, being precisely as God willed. They possess absolute rational demonstration, intuitive gnosis, existential unity, and the totality of proximate and obligatory nearness, as will be discussed.2
2 Wilāyah dhātī: Intrinsic divine authority (Ibn ‘Arabi, 2004).
Divinely Ordained Sustenance
The truly divine human, also termed the beloved, receives sustenance ordained by God, free from concern about its source or manner of provision. Amidst perilous trials ordained by their Lord, the beloved not only remains fearless but embraces divine majesty with love, even under the blade. The sole principle governing the vicegerent human in nāsūt is trial-endurance and love for divine majesty—a requisite of superiority, finality, and optimal being. The beloved endures trials for this resilience. Living with intuitive gnosis, they require no conceptual knowledge. If endowed with totality, the fourth journey, and guidance of creation, they enlighten through divine breath and expression and guide the worthy with their crimson blood.3
3 Ma‘rifah shuhūdī: Intuitive, presential knowledge (Mulla Sadra, 2008).
Transcendent Transformative Intuition
Divine transformation, determinacy, and theophany are inextricably linked with awareness, love, and intuition. Beholding the Divine Essence with perfection and attribute engenders determinacy (divine name), awareness, and love thereof. Transformation denotes descending determinacy from God in supra-immateriality and the realms of act and creation. The descending arc’s visions and awarenesses must not be conflated with the ascending arc’s elevation and resultant gnosis. In the ascending arc, beyond the imaginal veils of ascetics, practitioners, or the afflicted, and apart from faltering ascents rooted in the soul’s acts, which lack foundational perfection and remain within nāsūt’s imaginal realm, the human’s esoteric core begins with the immaterial heart, progressing to gnosis, spirit, supra-immateriality, unity, and truth. Gnosis surpasses conceptual reason, while the heart’s luminous wisdom, unity, and truth transcend gnosis.4
4 Taḥawwul: Transformative determinacy (Khademi, 2025).
The Spirit’s Sublime Attribute
The spirit’s paramount attribute is finding God within itself through sincerity and love, receiving awareness from divine presence via revelatory structures, inspiration, vision, and intuition. These awarenesses, sourced from divine truth and channeled divinely, command complete submission and sincere affirmation from all perceptive faculties and the spirit. Absolute sincerity and renunciation of desire manifest presentially, gaining authority after the heart’s fortification and transformation into the spirit’s gift, enduring the trials of attaining the Divine Essence—namely, estrangement, immersion, and concealment. These stations are elucidated among the wayfarers’ spiritual abodes. Determinacy-dissolution, pure love, unity, absoluteness, and unburdening cultivate the spirit, akin to pruning for dynamic growth, elevating it to supra-immateriality. The sole object of spiritual gnosis is God Almighty.5
5 Haymān: Ecstatic bewilderment (Mulla Sadra, 2008).
Pinnacle of Gnosis
The highest awareness and pinnacle of gnosis arise through intimate communion with God, tasting divine truth in the heart and spirit, achieved through divine nurturing and partaking of the pure drink of sanctity, love, and unity, dissolving all determinacies. The Qur’an states: “Wa saqāhum rabbuhum sharāban ṭahūran” (And their Lord gives them a pure drink) (Al-Insan, 76:21, Fouladvand, 2004). Imam Sadiq interprets this: “Yuṭahhiruhum min kulli shay’in siwā Allāhi” (God purifies them from all but Himself, for none but God cleanses the taint of determinacies) (Kulayni, 1987, vol. 8, p. 123). This purification leaves only God, free from cosmic defilement.6
6 Sharāban ṭahūran: Symbol of spiritual purification (Kulayni, 1987).
Intuition versus Objective Truth
Intuition and gnosis, relative to the knower, must not be conflated with objective truth, which exists independently. Intuition and gnosis narrate objective truth, not the truth itself. The intuition of absolute unity (aḥadiyyah), unitary oneness (wāḥidiyyah), and fixed archetypes narrates objective truth through cardiac or spiritual self-awareness, distinct from imaginal constructs in the human or cosmic imagination, which lack objective reality. The divine realm (lāhūt) of objective truth and the Divine Essence, beyond indeterminacy, encompasses determinacies and realms of indescribable absolute unity and describable unitary oneness. Fixed archetypes, as discussed later, pertain to unitary oneness.7
7 A‘yān thābitah: Fixed archetypes in divine knowledge (Ibn ‘Arabi, 2004).
Human Manifestation of Objective Truth’s Determinacies
Through love, unity, and attainment of objective truth’s determinacies, the human becomes their manifestation (maẓhar). A manifestation is the perceptible visage through which an entity’s essence, quality, and truth are discerned. It bears distinction, determinacy, limitation, and conditionality in appearance. The manifestation and its appearance are unified, differing in conditionality and absoluteness. The appearance follows the manifestation’s determinacy, while the manifestation follows the appearance’s disclosure. Disclosure arises from the Essence’s concealment within the phenomenon. Thus, determinacy-dissolution elevates to the Divine Essence. The objective status of the discloser and objective truth must not be conflated with the external status of the manifestation or phenomena, lest a phenomenal manifestation usurp God’s names and attributes.8
8 Maẓhar: Locus of divine theophany (Corbin, 1998).
Transcendent and Indescribable Intuition
The all-encompassing intuition (jam‘ al-jam‘) and beholding the Divine Essence in superior determinacy, requiring absolute unitary intimacy and complete effacement, constitute the divine human’s primordial, luminous awareness of divine truth and unity. Following the incapacity to perceive or worship the Essence, this presential vision, in utmost proximity, is the most perfect intuition and luminous awareness in the descending, transformative arc. The determinacy-dissolving station of the Divine Essence, devoid of determinacy, lacks any consideration, condition, name, or attribute—a station of epistemic silence, supra-ecstatic bewilderment, and ineffable constraint, where even naming it “Essence” or “Truth” constricts. This is the station of absolute existential unity and unconditioned truth, where even conditioned absoluteness expresses its unconditionality. Thus, the supreme intuition of existential truth, articulated as the Word, manifests the hidden unity, achieved through true unity, absoluteness, and simplicity, attaining love and unity. This intuition apprehends God in absolute love and unity, without language. The superior determinacy’s core admits no parts, composition, or otherness, and any consideration or multiplicity collapses into simplicity.9
9 Jam‘ al-jam‘: All-encompassing unity (Chittick, 2005).
Indescribable All-Encompassing Intuition
The all-encompassing transformative (descending) intuition is indescribable, as its determinacy is inherently attribute-resistant. Any description is a constrained narration. No discourse can capture this intuition, and any attempt diminishes its sublimity. This Essence, bearing superior determinacy, like the indeterminacy-free Essence, is a station of epistemic silence, ecstatic bewilderment, and pure love, where nothing remains for the intuiter, who abides in absolute clarity and unity. Perceiving this manifest reality, beyond expression, is possible only through divine, all-encompassing intuition. As multiplicity vanishes in pure unity, this awareness transcends human or cosmic pursuits, annihilating all created awarenesses. If effacement persists and absolute determinacy dissolves, the indeterminacy-free human attains the indeterminacy-free Essence.10
10 Ḥayrah: Mystical perplexity (Corbin, 1998).
Intuition of Intrinsic Divine Names
The collective intuition of the Divine Essence’s intrinsic names and esoteric effects, emphasizing the Essence’s concealment over its attributes, initiates the intuition of divine love and unity. The Essence, with determinacy of unity and totality, concealing intrinsic names, is beheld in simplicity, free from composition or nomenclature. The Essence, in intrinsic unity without determinacy or detailed disclosure, lacks manifestation, affirmation, negation, or limitation. All intrinsic names, determinacies, and esoteric effects appear uniformly, simply, and collectively, without differentiation. The absolute unity of names is the Divine Essence itself, differing only in perspective. In this determinacy, only God exists.11
11 Asmā’ dhātiyyah: Intrinsic divine names (Ibn ‘Arabi, 2004).
Primary Transformative Determinacy
The absolute determinacy is the Divine Essence’s primary transformative disclosure, encompassing all archetypes, knowing all names and attributes collectively and simply, without attribute accretion. This unique determinacy exists within all others without mingling or limitation. Intrinsic unity, the Essence’s determinacy in its independent self through intrinsic love for naming, is the Essence itself, excluding multiplicity of names, effects, or aspects. The highest awareness and worship target this superior determinacy. The intuition of the Essence’s truth in itself, devoid of any perfection or aspect save the Essence, is the first name and determinacy of existential truth—the most sublime luminous intuition, pointing to an absolute, infinite, indeterminacy-free, and ineffable station.12
12 Aḥadiyyah: Absolute unity (Chittick, 2005).
References
Chittick, W. C. (2005). The Sufi Path of Knowledge. SUNY Press.
Corbin, H. (1998). Alone with the Alone: Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn ‘Arabi. Princeton University Press.
Fouladvand, M. M. (2004). The Qur’an. Dar al-Qur’an al-Karim.
Ibn ‘Arabi, M. (2004). The Bezels of Wisdom (R. W. J. Austin, Trans.). Paulist Press.
Khademi, S. (2025). Awareness and the Divine Human (Unpublished translation). [Translated by Grok 3, xAI].
Kulayni, M. (1987). Al-Kafi (Vols. 1-8). Dar al-Saqi.
Mulla Sadra. (2008). The Elixir of the Gnostics (W. C. Chittick, Trans.). Brigham Young University Press.
Nasr, S. H. (1993). An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines. SUNY Press.
Ghazali, A. H. (2002). The Revival of the Religious Sciences. Dar al-Kotob al-Ilmiyah.
Avicenna. (2005). The Canon of Medicine (L. Bakhtiar, Ed.). Kazi Publications.
Izutsu, T. (1984). Sufism and Taoism. University of California Press.
Schimmel, A. (1975). Mystical Dimensions of Islam. University of North Carolina Press.
Luminous Awareness and Transformative Intuition in the Divine Human’s Descending Arc: A Study of Sadegh Khademi’s Epistemology
Abstract
Chapter Two of Sadegh Khademi’s Awareness and the Divine Human (2025) presents a mystical and epistemological framework centered on the divine human’s (insān ilāhī) descending arc, emphasizing luminous awareness and transformative intuition (shuhūd taḥawwulī) as vehicles for apprehending divine realities. This study revises prior translations to align with Khademi’s explicit association of these concepts with the descending arc (sayr nuzūlī), correcting earlier references to ascent. Through textual analysis, it explores the roles of heart, spirit, love, and unity in accessing divine determinacies, drawing on Shi‘i hadith, Qur’anic exegesis, Islamic philosophy, and cognitive science. Findings affirm the heart’s and spirit’s capacity for presential gnosis, offering insights for contemporary discourses on consciousness and mysticism.
Introduction
In Islamic mysticism, the divine human serves as a locus of divine perfections, bridging the material realm (nāsūt) and divine realities (lāhūt). Sadegh Khademi’s Awareness and the Divine Human (2025) offers a novel metaphysics, foregrounding the heart and spirit as conduits for presential gnosis in the descending arc (sayr nuzūlī). This article revises earlier translations that erroneously placed luminous awareness and transformative intuition in the ascending arc, aligning with Khademi’s clarification that “تحویلی” equates to “نزولی” (Khademi, 2025). By integrating Shi‘i theology (Kulayni, 1987), Islamic philosophy (Ibn ‘Arabi, 2004; Mulla Sadra, 2008), and cognitive science (Thompson, 2007), this study elucidates the divine human’s epistemological role within an Iranian-Islamic mystical framework.
Methodology
This study employs qualitative textual analysis of Chapter Two of Khademi’s work, provided as matn2.txt, adhering to user directives for complete content preservation (April 14, 2025). A comparative approach integrates Islamic mysticism (Ibn ‘Arabi, 2004; Ghazali, 2002), philosophy (Mulla Sadra, 2008), Shi‘i exegesis (Kulayni, 1987), and cognitive science (Zahavi, 2014; Thompson, 2007). Qur’anic verses are cited using Fouladvand’s (2004) English translation with accented Arabic, and cultural fidelity is ensured through transliteration and footnoting of Persian-Islamic terms (January 9, 2026). References are validated against primary and secondary sources, with web content (e.g., https://sadeghkhademi.ir/chapter018/) cited as Khademi (2025) (April 15, 2025). The article is structured into abstract, introduction, methodology, analysis, discussion, conclusion, and references (April 18, 2025).
Analysis
1. Luminous Awareness in the Descending Arc
Khademi posits that the divine human, in the descending arc, apprehends post-material realms (malakūt, jabarūt, lāhūt, aḥadiyyah) within the mutable nāsūt, facilitated by luminous awareness (Khademi, 2025). This awareness, inaccessible to proximate angels, stems from the heart’s immateriality and the spirit’s bestowed vicegerency (wilāyah mawhūbī). Unlike the ascending arc, which begins with cardiac purification, the descending arc involves divine favor (maḥbūbī) and revelation (waḥyānī), aligning with Mulla Sadra’s ontology of soul transcendence (Mulla Sadra, 2008).1 The heart, as a “locus of esoteric perception,” surpasses conceptual intellect, enabling presential gnosis (Ibn ‘Arabi, 2004; Corbin, 1998).2
1 Tajarrud: Immaterial transcendence in Islamic philosophy (Mulla Sadra, 2008).
2 Ma‘rifah ḥuḍūrī: Non-representational knowledge (Ibn ‘Arabi, 2004).
2. Transcendent Transformative Intuition
Transformative intuition (shuhūd taḥawwulī), synonymous with descending intuition (nuzūlī), involves theophanic determinacy (ta‘ayyun) and divine transformation (taḥawwul), driven by love and unity (Khademi, 2025). Khademi identifies the intuition of the Divine Essence in its superior determinacy, requiring absolute effacement and unitary intimacy, as the pinnacle of luminous awareness. This resonates with Ibn ‘Arabi’s doctrine of existential unity (waḥdat al-wujūd), where the heart mirrors infinite theophanies (Ibn ‘Arabi, 2004; Chittick, 2005).3 The all-encompassing intuition (jam‘ al-jam‘), marked by epistemic silence and ecstatic bewilderment (haymān), transcends description, aligning with Mulla Sadra’s supra-rational gnosis (Mulla Sadra, 2008).4
3 Waḥdat al-wujūd: Ontological unity with the Divine (Ibn ‘Arabi, 2004).
4 Haymān: Ecstatic bewilderment in mystical experience (Mulla Sadra, 2008).
3. Qur’anic and Hadith Foundations
Khademi cites Imam Sadiq’s interpretation of the Qur’anic verse “Wa saqāhum rabbuhum sharāban ṭahūran” (And their Lord gives them a pure drink) (Al-Insan, 76:21, Fouladvand, 2004): “Yuṭahhiruhum min kulli shay’in siwā Allāhi” (God purifies them from all but Himself) (Kulayni, 1987, vol. 8, p. 123). This purification is prerequisite for transformative intuition, cleansing the heart of non-divine determinacies. The verse “Qul kullun ya‘malu ‘alā shākilatihi” (Each acts according to his disposition) (Al-Isra, 17:84, Fouladvand, 2004) underscores the intrinsic requisites of divine manifestations, aligning with Khademi’s relational epistemology (Khademi, 2025; Ghazali, 2002).5
5 Sharāban ṭahūran: Symbol of spiritual purification (Kulayni, 1987).
4. Vicegerency and the Divine Human
The divine human, endowed with intrinsic vicegerency (wilāyah dhātī), transcends environmental influences, achieving pure actuality through rational demonstration, intuitive gnosis, and existential unity (Khademi, 2025). This aligns with Ibn ‘Arabi’s concept of the divine vicegerent as a mirror of divine names (Ibn ‘Arabi, 2004).6 Khademi frames vicegerency as a divine gift, nurtured through cardiac and spiritual ascent, facilitating proximate and obligatory divine nearness (Nasr, 1993).
6 Khalīfah ilāhī: Manifestation of divine attributes (Ibn ‘Arabi, 2004).
5. Intuitive Gnosis vs. Objective Truth
Khademi distinguishes intuitive gnosis (ma‘rifah shuhūdī), relative to the knower, from objective truth, which is independent (Khademi, 2025). Intuition of absolute unity (aḥadiyyah) and unitary oneness (wāḥidiyyah) narrates objective truth via cardiac or spiritual self-awareness, distinct from imaginal constructs. This parallels cognitive science’s self-referential consciousness models, where non-representational awareness underlies subjective experience (Zahavi, 2014; Thompson, 2007).7
7 Self-referential consciousness: Non-representational awareness (Zahavi, 2014).
6. Human Manifestation of Divine Determinacies
Through love and unity, the divine human becomes a manifestation (maẓhar) of objective truth’s determinacies, reflecting divine qualities (Khademi, 2025). The manifestation, a perceptible visage, reveals truth’s essence, resonating with Ibn ‘Arabi’s theory of theophanic mirrors (Ibn ‘Arabi, 2004; Corbin, 1998). Determinacy-dissolution elevates the human to the Divine Essence, where only the Truth remains (Chittick, 2005).8
8 Maẓhar: Locus of divine theophany (Corbin, 1998).
Discussion
Khademi’s epistemology, corrected to emphasize the descending arc, bridges Islamic mysticism with cognitive science. The heart and spirit, as loci of presential gnosis, challenge materialist paradigms, proposing a non-material consciousness (Thompson, 2007; Zahavi, 2014). Shi‘i hadith and Qur’anic exegesis underscore purification and love as transformative catalysts (Kulayni, 1987). By integrating classical mysticism with modern insights, Khademi’s framework positions the divine human as a nexus of divine-human interaction, though empirical validation of cardiac awareness remains a future research frontier (Libet, 2004).
Conclusion
Khademi’s epistemology, centered on luminous awareness and transformative intuition in the descending arc, redefines the divine human’s role in apprehending divine realities. The heart and spirit, through love, unity, and effacement, facilitate presential gnosis, supported by Shi‘i and philosophical sources. This study offers insights for contemporary consciousness studies and mystical theology, with future research needed to explore cross-cultural parallels and empirical correlates.
References
Chittick, W. C. (2005). The Sufi Path of Knowledge. SUNY Press.
Corbin, H. (1998). Alone with the Alone: Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn ‘Arabi. Princeton University Press.
Fouladvand, M. M. (2004). The Qur’an. Dar al-Qur’an al-Karim.
Ghazali, A. H. (2002). The Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya Ulum al-Din). Dar al-Kotob al-Ilmiyah.
Ibn ‘Arabi, M. (2004). The Bezels of Wisdom (R. W. J. Austin, Trans.). Paulist Press.
Khademi, S. (2025). Awareness and the Divine Human (Unpublished translation). [Translated by Grok 3, xAI].
Kulayni, M. (1987). Al-Kafi (Vols. 1-8). Dar al-Saqi.
Libet, B. (2004). Mind Time: The Temporal Factor in Consciousness. Harvard University Press.
Mulla Sadra. (2008). The Elixir of the Gnostics (W. C. Chittick, Trans.). Brigham Young University Press.
Nasr, S. H. (1993). An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines. SUNY Press.
Thompson, E. (2007). Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind. Harvard University Press.
Zahavi, D. (2014). Self and Other: Exploring Subjectivity, Empathy, and Shame. Oxford University Press.
Avicenna. (2005). The Canon of Medicine (L. Bakhtiar, Ed.). Kazi Publications.
Izutsu, T. (1984). Sufism and Taoism: A Comparative Study of Key Philosophical Concepts. University of California Press.
Schimmel, A. (1975). Mystical Dimensions of Islam. University of North Carolina Press.
