CIRCLES OF REALITY

Tzvi LangermannBar Ilan UniversityHaifa, July 2011

Circle as line that closes in on itself

Circle as locus of points defined by their equal distance from a center

Circle as “bubble” for caption in flow-chart (Teheran, Majlis MS 3925)

LatinCalcidius TraditionAstronomy

…and this is the diagram of the division of all real things; it is like a circle whose beginning comes in contact with its end, and that which is in its beginning is found in its end; as the saying goes, their beginning flows into their end.

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Circles of the Four Realities (from Rāḥat al-‘aql)

Chain of seven prophetsIsmailism, Shiite imamology

Circle of Reality in a Druse text

Al-Shaykh al-Akbar

Ibn ‘Arabī’s Circles of Reality

Haydar Amoli, MS Majlis 1714twelve imams, chain of prophecy

Haydar Amoli Ibn ArabiMS Majlis 1714 MS Majlis 3925

H. Nyberg, Kleinere Schriften des Ibn al-’Arabi detailed explanation of the diagram that he could not print