Temple and Contemplation brings together for the first ... - ImagoMundi

SABIAN TEMPLE AND ISMAILISM
Temple exemplifies for them the structure of the astral world: "Just as the
Seven (stellar) Temples are the Seven members of divinity, so our Seven
human members are the Seven Temples of God: God speaks with our
tongue, sees with our eyes, hears with our ears, grasps with our hands,
comes and goes with our feet, acts through the intermediary of our arms
and legs." 50
Thus is made articulate the transition leading to the conception of
spiritual Heavens which, although constituted according to the same
model as the physical Heavens, are beyond the reach of sensible experience.
Yet they are not on this account merely an allegory of subjectivity: they
possess a reality of their own, of which the organ of apprehension par
excellence is the metaphysical Imagination. The possibility of imagining
them presupposes a modification in the structure of the angelology postulated
initially by the Sabians. The celestial hierarchies are elevated by the
introduction of a hierarchy of supreme Archangels, in relation to whom
the Angels of the celestial Spheres are merely an intermediary hierarchy, 51
and who possessed a typification, which is no less perfect and legitimate,
in the Angels of the esoteric Heavens that make up the sacred mesocosm of
the Ismaili esoteric Church. The supreme archangelic universe is composed
of Ten Archangels who emanate one from the other; of these, the Person of
the First {Sabiq, the "Preceding One") is so totally the epiphany of the
hidden divine Ipseity that all religious statements relating to God, to the
Adored (Al-Lah), are understood as referring to this Archangel.5 2 Corresponding
term for term with this hierarchy of Ten are, on the one hand,
the hierarchy of the Angels who govern the heavens of our physical
universe, and, on the other, the Ten levels or grades of the esoteric
religious hierarchy, from the Annunciator (Natiq) of each new religion,
and the Imam, guardian of its esoteric meaning {ta'wil), down to the
Mustajib or new initiate, whose rank corresponds in the physical cosmos
with that of the active Intelligence which governs our Earth. 53 This
50 Chwolsohn, op. cit., II, 444; lith. Tehran, p. 158.
51 Cf. the triple hierarchy of the Logoi or Words (Major, Intermediate, and Minor) in
Suhravardi's treatise, 'Bruissement des Ailes de Gabriel', in L'Archange Empourpre
. . . op. cit., VII, pp. 234 ff.
52 Cf. Strothman, Texte III, 4-6, VII, 10, XII, 2, Ism 2 in fine, etc.
53 These correspondences receive detailed treatment from Hamiduddin Kirmani
(died c. 408/1017, Iranian), in his Rahat al-'Aql, Ismaili Society, series C, no. 1
(1953). and from Idris Imaduddin (died 872/1468, Yemenite), in his Zahr al-Ma'ani,
chaps. X and XIX. Cf. also Strothmann, Texte IX, 5, p. 82.
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SABIAN TEMPLE AND ISMAILISM
typification of the supreme celestial hierarchy in the esoteric hierarchy
makes it possible to call the dignitaries of the latter (hudud, lit. "limits"),
from the greatest to the most humble, by the name of "Angels" (ashkhas
ruhaniyah, mala'ikah) , 54 All together, they form the Temple of Light of the
Imamate, in a series of heavens which rise one above the other and which,
from the "limited Heaven" (mahdud) to the "Heaven as limit" (hadd), are
infolded with each other like those of the physical Cosmos.
In the physical Cosmos, each Heaven is set in motion by the aspiration
of its Angel towards the Angel of the Heaven which constitutes its Heavenlimit;
and this aspiration brings into being the Angel and soul of another
heaven. In the same way, each hierarch, from the greatest to the least,
brings into being the Angel of the esoteric Heaven or the grade that comes
after him (his Tali, follower). 55 Indeed, Ismaili authors 56 return tirelessly
to this idea of the human condition as transitory and intermediate: the
human being is nothing other than a potential angel or a potential demon.
The ascension from one heaven to another of the sacred cosmos is each
time a "resurrection" (qiyamah); each time it constitutes a growth of the
potential angel. Angelomorphosis is achieved from Temple to Temple,
from Angel to Angel of those who rule the Heavens of the Temple of the
Imamate. Hence the esoteric meaning of the famous formula (a variant of
that which Mas'udi was able to read on the threshold of the great Temple
of the Sabians): "He who knows himself (his "Anima" or nafs) known his
Lord. To know oneself (one's Anima) is to know at every stage the Angel of
the heaven which is the Heaven-limit of that stage, and which, by bringing
4 Cf. my 'Livre du Glorieux' . . . {supra, ch. II, n. 3), p. 58.
55 This is the esoteric meaning of the words of the Fatimid Imam al-Mu'izz: "A
believer is not a true believer as long as he has not raised up (or 'resurrected')
another believer like himself', Strothmann, Texte VI, 3 (p. 61 1.3-4), XII, 6 (p. 114
1.11).
56 For example, the Brothers of Purity, Rasa'il IV, 244: "Knowledge of the angelic
operations is not possible for someone who belongs to the terrestrial world, unless he
has first acquired knowledge of the essence of his own Anima (jawhar nqfsihi). If he
knows this, he can know all there is to know about Angels in the entire universe . . .
By means of this knowledge, he is endued with the capacity to be moulded by the
spiritual angelic Form, so that his actions may become the actions of the Angels."
IV, 309: "When you exemplify, in the form of your being, the Testament which was
left to you, the angelic Form will be perfected in you, and at the time of your Great
Return (ma'ad) you will possess within you the ability to attain to this Form and
dwell in it." IV, 165: The souls of gnostics "are Angels in potentiality; when they
separate themselves from their bodies, they become Angels in actuality." This is the
exact doctrine expounded by Nasir-i Khusraw in Jami' al-Hikmatayn (see note 7),
chap. XI. Cf. also Kalami Pir p. 92 of text 1.8 (see note 17).
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