[11

THE ARCHETYPES

HE “ Principial Possibilities”” or *‘ immutable essen-
ces” (al-a‘yan ath-thabitah), though they are
contained in the Divine Essence where there is no dis-
tinction, are also, in so far as they are reflected in the
universal Intellect, the “Ideas’ or archetypes which
Plato compares, in his parable of the cave, to real
objects of which the prisoners in the cave perceive only
the shadows of the images.

In this sense—inasmuch, that is, as Sufis adopt the
theory of archetypes—they are all necessarily * Plato-
nists.”” The doctrine of archetypes is, moreover, integ-
rally connected with that of Divine Omniscience. This
isshown by the Persian Sufi Nirad-Din ‘Abd ar-Rahméan
Jami1 in his treatise Lawa’ih.! *...The true essence of
everything always abides, though unmanifestin the inner
depths of very Being, while its sensory qualities appear
outwardly. Foritisimpossible that the Divine ‘Ideas’
included in the intelligible world should be evanescent :
(to pretend that the content of Divine Science is evanes-
cent) would imply atheism...” (Chapter XXII)

1. English translation by E. H. Whinfield and Mirza Muhammad
Kazvini in Oriental Translation Fund, N.S., vol. XVI. In large part this trea-
tise is a commentary on the Fusws al-Hikam of lbn ‘Arabi and it can be
considered as a summary of Sufi metaphysic. In the English translation ‘ayn
(plural, a‘yan) is sometimes translated as ‘‘ substance’’. Since this canlead to

great confusion the word is here translated as “‘esserce” or as “‘principial
possibility,”” ‘Ayn can also mean “‘eye,” “‘spring’’ and individual essence.,