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Cosmology and Architecture in Premodern Islam
Combined with the vertical ray of the spirit, which stands at its center, the quadrature of the Throne constitutes the three-dimensional cross, the pattern of the human presence. The spirit is represented by a vertical ray since it is “the affirmation of Unity in all the degrees of universal Existence,” the vertical link that ties all beings to their originator.71 Numerically, the octagonal order of the Throne corresponds to the number 8, the order of the divine presence: the Essence and the seven principal names—Living, Knowing, Willing, Powerful, Speaking, Hearing, and Seeing. Eight is seen as the first cubical number, which, as previously discussed, corresponds to the three dimensions of length, breadth, and depth. Hence the octad of the Throne also corresponds to the triplicity of the human presence. The triplicity of the three dimensions is the pattern by means of which Universal Matter becomes the Absolute Body, which then receives the forms of the Throne and the Footstool.
The Celestial Gardens Within the realm of the Throne and Footstool, Ibn Arabi locates the celestial Gardens (al-jinan, singular janna), the faithfuls’ promised abode of eternal happiness. Premodern Islamic sources reveal an interesting debate concerning whether the Gardens are already created or are part of God’s scheme of the second creation. The point of the debate is why God would create something useless that he will have to destroy and recreate again at the time of resurrection. Ibn Arabi articulates a sophisticated view with regard to this debate, arguing for the existence of hierarchically structured Gardens located in a cosmic domain that will not be subject to destruction and recreation. This domain is bounded by two spheres that God created within the Footstool: the sphere without stars (atlas), its upper limit, and the sphere with fixed stars (falak al-kawakib althabita), its lower limit. The convex surface of the latter sphere forms at once the ground of the Gardens and the upper limit of the planetary skies, the domain that will be consumed by the fire of Hell in the hereafter. The atlas sphere is a “circular, transparent body” that God divided into twelve sections, buruj, as alluded to in the following verse: “By the heaven, holding mansions of the stars (buruj)” (85:1).72 It is the sphere of the constellations. The Arabic term atlas means “effaced” or “obliterated,” denoting the idea of perfect homogeneity without any distinguishable features. The atlas sphere thus forms the homogeneous background onto which the configurations and movements of the planets and the stars are projected. In “The Anatomy of Spheres,” the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century astronomer Baha al-Din al Amili considers the atlas sphere and the sphere of the fixed stars to be the scientific terms for the Throne and the Footstool respectively.73 This might have been so, but as we will see, this does not work with Ibn Arabi’s cosmological