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In Islamic theology, al-Insān al-Kāmil (الإنسان الكامل, also rendered as Insan-i Kamil انسانِ كامل - in Persian and Turkish), is a term used as an honorific title to describe Muhammad. Muhammad is known as uswa hasana, al-Insān al-Kāmil, par excellence.[1] It is an Arabic phrase loosely translated, meaning, the 'perfect human'. Prominent Sunni Islamic scholar Muhammad Alawi al-Maliki, has also published a Sirah on Muhammad as al-Insān al-Kāmil. The Sufis also regard Muhammad as the Perfect Saint, or Universal Man.[2] Al-Jili was also the author of a Persian text entitled al-Insān al-Kāmil. Muhammad is also identified with the Logos (as in biblical Judaism, the word of God[3]) and the Divine Intellect.[4][5] Ismailis believe that each Imam is a perfect man.[6] According to Twelvers view all of The Fourteen Infallibles including Fatima Zahra are perfect individuals.[citation needed]
The concept of al-Insān al-Kāmil also has some relation to Adam.[7]
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- ^ Ibn al-'Arabi, Muhyi al-Din (1164-1240), The 'perfect human' and the Muhammadan reality
- ^ "Muhammad and Sufism" (HTML), Encyclopædia Britannica. (English) "The Mi'raj, or Nocturnal Ascent, of Muhammad is the prototype of all spiritual wayfaring in Islam, and no group in Islamic society has been as conscientious as the Sufis in emulating Muhammad 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-Insān al-Kāmil, 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)."
- ^ Corbin (1993) pp. 97 and 98
- ^ al-Insān al-Kāmil (in English). The New Encyclopedia of Islam, pp 144. ISBN 0759101906.
[edit] References
- Corbin, Henry (1993 (original French 1964)). History of Islamic Philosophy, Translated by Liadain Sherrard, Philip Sherrard. London; Kegan Paul International in association with Islamic Publications for The Institute of Ismaili Studies, p. 167-175. ISBN 0710304161.
