Rahat al-Aql — Rawzat

The Author: Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani

Full name: Ahmad ibn Abd Allah al-Kirmani, given the laqab (honorific) Hamid al-Din — meaning “Praiser of the Religion.”

The Hujja of Iraq: Al-Kirmani held the rank of hujja (proof, representative) — the highest rank of the Ismaili da’wa after the Imam himself. He was specifically the Hujja of Iraq (hujjat al-‘Iraqayn — Representative of Iraq and Fars), the leading Ismaili intellectual of the eastern Fatimid domains.

Historical context: He flourished during the reign of the Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (996–1021 CE) in Cairo. When the followers of al-Darazi began claiming that al-Hakim was divine (the beginning of what became Druzism), al-Kirmani traveled from Iraq to Cairo to combat this heresy. He wrote the Risalat al-Wazi’a (the Dissuasive Epistle) and the Risalat al-Mabahith al-Bishariyya refuting al-Hakim’s claimed divinity and defending true Ismaili doctrine. He returned to Iraq afterward.

Date of death: Al-Kirmani completed Rahat al-Aql in 411 AH (1020 CE); he died shortly thereafter — W. Ivanow estimates his death sometime after 411 AH, probably around 412–413 AH (1021–1022 CE).

His works: Al-Kirmani was prolific — leaving at least 32 known titles including: al-Masabih fi Ithbat al-Imama (The Lamps Proving the Imamate), Tanbih al-Hadi wa-l-Muhtadi (Awakening the Guide and the Seeker), al-Aqwal al-Dhahabiyya (The Golden Words — a refutation of Abu Hatim al-Razi’s anti-philosophical positions), al-Risala al-Duriyya (on tawhid), al-Risala al-Hawiyya (on Night and Day in ta’wil — sent to Kerman in 399 AH / 1009 CE), and the Risala al-Kafiya (refuting the Zaydi theologian al-Haruni).

The Title and Structure

Why “Rest of the Intellect”: The title Rahat al-‘Aql captures the book’s ambition — the intellect, which restlessly seeks ultimate understanding, finds its raha (rest, ease, repose) in the truths this system articulates. After traversing the entire hierarchy from the transcendent divine down to the human soul, the rational intellect has completed its journey and found its home.

The Seven Aswar: The word sur (plural aswar) means a wall or rampart — the book is structured as seven concentric walls protecting an inner truth, each wall containing multiple gates (mashari’, plural of mashra’) through which the reader enters. This architectural metaphor is deliberate: just as a fortified city has walls within walls, the truth of Ismaili cosmology is layered and must be approached carefully, gate by gate.

The Seven Mashari’ per Gate: Each mashra’ (literally: a starting-place, a watering-place, a ford across a river) is a discrete chapter covering a specific aspect of the gate’s topic. The total structure is 6 × 7 + 14 = 56 Mashari’ across 7 Aswar — a comprehensive philosophical-theological encyclopedia.

Cosmological correspondence: The seven Aswar mirror the seven levels of reality in al-Kirmani’s system:

Sura	Topic	Cosmological Level
1	Preparatory / Reader Readiness	— (Introduction)
2	Divine Unity (Tanzih)	The Transcendent Divine
3	The First Existent (al-‘Aql al-Awwal)	The First Intellect / al-Mubdi’
4	The Seven Intellects (Letters)	The Upper World (World of Ibda’)
5	Nature and Celestial Bodies	The Spheres / World of Movement
6	The Four Elements (Lower Bodies)	The Sublunary / Elemental World
7	Kingdoms, Human Soul, Prophecy	The World of Generation and the Soul

Sura 1 — The Preparatory Gate (pp. 15–34)

Seven Mashari’ on how to prepare to receive this book:

Purifying the nafs: The reader must purify the soul and prepare it to receive the book’s truths — like a vessel that must be clean before pure water is poured into it.
On reading religious books: What care is required when reading sacred knowledge; the ethics of following scholars.
Before reading: What observances must be made prior to opening the book.
The arrangement’s purpose: Why the book is organized as Aswar containing Mashari’.
Good news for the devotion-reader: The blessings awaiting those who read this book as an act of worship.
Highest devotion: The good news for those who read as the highest form of religious practice.
What the soul gains: What the nafs acquires through reading, absorbing, and visualizing the book’s contents — the perfection (kamal) attainable.

Sura 2 — Divine Unity: Radical Transcendence (pp. 35–55)

Seven Mashari’ articulating the most thoroughgoing apophatic theology in Islamic thought:

Allah and the refutation of “nafsan”: That Allah is the God besides whom there is no god, and the refutation of the claim that He could be a nafs (self/soul) in any philosophical sense.
Against divine simplicity as “basit”: The refutation of reducing Allah to a Neoplatonic Simple One (basit) — even this risks imposing a creaturely concept on the divine.
Beyond attributes, body, and sensation: Allah cannot be described by any attribute, is not a body nor in a body, cannot be comprehended by any intellect, cannot be sensed by any sense.
No form, no matter: Allah is neither form nor matter, nor is there anything in Him that plays the role of either.
No opposite, no peer: Allah has no opposite and no equal of any kind.
No language suffices: There is no language in existence capable of adequately expressing what is appropriate to attribute to Allah.
The truest praise is negation: The most truthful speech about Allah in tawhid, tasbeeh, and tamjid is the negation of the attributes found in created existents and the removal of those attributes from Allah.

Al-Kirmani’s apophatic theology: This gate presents the most rigorous form of tanzih mutlaq (absolute transcendence) in Ismaili thought. Even to say “Allah exists” risks importing the creaturely meaning of existence. Even to call Him “One” risks reducing Him to the number one. The truest statement is the total removal of all creaturely attributes. This goes beyond Ash’ari bi-la kayf (without asking how) into a genuine silence about the divine essence — only the Imam can mediate access to the otherwise inaccessible divine.

Sura 3 — The First Existent / Al-‘Aql Al-Awwal (pp. 57–93)

Seven Mashari’ on the First Existent — what al-Kirmani calls al-Mubdi’ al-Awwal (the First Originator) or al-‘Aql al-Awwal (the First Intellect):

Proving the First Existent: Demonstrating that there must be a First Originator who is the first existential effect of the divine.
Ibda’, not fayd: His existence from al-Muta’ali (the Transcendent) came not through fayd (emanation, as the Neoplatonists and al-Farabi claimed) but through ibda’ (origination ex nihilo) — a crucial theological point preserving divine transcendence.
He is unity itself: The First Existent is the very act of origination, the very Originator, and the very unity — he is identical with the One-ness that comes from the divine.
His completeness and pre-eternity: He is complete, pre-eternal from the end (not from the beginning — only Allah has no beginning), without anything before him in existence, without equal or likeness, known only through himself.
His quiddity: What he is in essence — unified from one angle, multiple from another — and what necessary attributes attach to him.
His majesty, beauty, and the Greatest Name: His joy in himself and his beauty is too great to be described; his encompassing knowledge of what is outside him is impossible; he is the Greatest Name and the Greatest Named.
He is the First Mover: He is the First Mover of all moving things; he is the cause of all that exists besides himself; he needs nothing outside himself for his action; he is intellect in himself, intellecting through himself, and intellected through himself.

Al-Kirmani vs. Ibn Sina: While Ibn Sina’s Wajib al-Wujud (Necessary Being) grounds existence, al-Kirmani is more careful — the divine is not even the “Necessary Existent” in a creaturely sense; the First Existent (the First Intellect) is the first genuine being, while the divine transcends being entirely.

Sura 4 — The Seven Intellects / The Noble Letters (pp. 95–145)

Seven Mashari’ on what issued from the First Existent through inbi’ath (cosmic deployment/sending):

How inbi’ath occurs: The nature of the cosmic process by which the First Existent generates what is below it.
The Second Intellect / al-Qalam: The first product of inbi’ath — the Second Intellect, called in divine language al-Qalam (the Pen) — and the proof of its existence as the second existent. (The Quran: “The first thing Allah created was the Pen.”)
The Second Product / al-Hayula / al-Lawh: The second product is al-Hayula (Prime Matter), called in divine language al-Lawh (the Tablet/the Preserved Tablet). It is the origin of the world of body and runs through created things in the pattern of three from numbers.
Why existents from the First are not of one genus: The cause requiring that what came from the First Originator is not from a single genus.
The Noble Letters: In the realm of the First Inbi’ath exist noble letters (al-Huruf al-‘Uluwiyya) — the noble principles, their number, and what issued from each, and how each came to exist.
Why Seven Intellects: The cause requiring that the noble letters had to exist from the First Originator as seven intellects separate from bodies, and why the existents stop at seven before no further inbi’ath occurs.
Their nature: The beings from ibda’ have no time in their existence; they are all forms except Hayula; they do not know anything beyond themselves; their lights penetrate bodies and souls; all existents depend on them.

The Seven Intellects vs. Ten Active Intellects: Al-Farabi and Ibn Sina posited ten Active Intellects corresponding to the nine celestial spheres plus the Sublunar sphere. Al-Kirmani argues for seven — corresponding to the seven ranks of the Ismaili da’wa (Natiq, Asas, Imam, Bab, Hujja, Da’i, Ma’dhun) and to the seven day-periods of cosmic Cycles. This is the most distinctively Ismaili element of his cosmology.

Sura 5 — Nature and the Celestial Bodies (pp. 147–191)

Seven Mashari’ on al-Tabi’a (Nature) and the heavenly spheres:

The nature of Nature: Tabi’a’s quiddity — it is one in its essence in the world of body, but multiple from the angle of its expressions in material things.
Nature’s two limits: Nature has two limits — an outer limit surrounding what it is cause of, and an inner limit surrounded by what it is effect of; the inner limit is the center from which all movement radiates.
Nature is knowledge: Nature is ‘ilm (knowledge); it gathers all virtues; its parts are connected to each other providing richness and completeness.
The Kursi: The Kursi (Throne/Footstool) is the Nearest Angel (al-Malak al-Muqarrab) — the First Mover of the First Moving in the sense of the Form of that which is moved, called the Sphere (al-Falak).
The ‘Arsh: The ‘Arsh (Throne) is the First Moving Mover — the Highest Sphere (al-Falak al-A’la) — and what follows it of the noble heavenly bodies, their noble numbers, and they are still as a whole but moving in their parts.
Bodies of the spheres: The spherical bodies, especially the Highest Sphere — they are the simplest of natural bodies, do not change or transform in any of their states, do not accept any form other than their own.
Actions of the upper bodies: The conditions of the celestial bodies, what governs their movements, their divisions and actions which are causes of natural existents.

See also: Al Mulk, Al Jabarut, Al Lahut, Malakut, Al Maqam

Sura 6 — The Lower Bodies / The Four Elements (pp. 193–250)

Seven Mashari’ on the sublunary world:

The First Matter: The primary matter from which all composed bodies are formed.
The Four Elements (Arkan): Their states, natural forms, how they relate to each other, and the difference between them and the upper celestial bodies.
Movements of the elements: The four elements do not shift their centers and have no color; they are the intermediaries in managing the perceptible world.
The elements are preserved: The four elements persist in themselves, change only at their edges into each other, are conserved without increase or decrease in total quantity.
Cause of bodily density: The cause necessitating the density of composed bodies and the multiplicity of their parts.
Earth’s nature: Earth is not perfectly spherical; why; what properly forms its center relative to the encompassing body; its shape; its visible parts have motion by which sea movement is explained; mountains form and their geological causes.
Water: Water does not completely cover Earth’s surface; why; it has tides; the form of what is visible from it is like the form of a human.

Sura 7 — The Three Kingdoms, Human Soul, and Prophecy (pp. 252–400)

The climactic gate with fourteen Mashari’ — al-Kirmani’s treatment of generated existence and the human soul:

The Kingdoms (Mashari’ 1–8):

The second matter / mixture: The material principle from which composite generated things (mutawallidat) form.
Atmospheric phenomena: What exists in the airspace from atmospheric effects.
Minerals as bodies: The three kingdoms (ma’adin, nabat, hayawan) — starting with minerals as physical bodies.
Minerals as natural souls: Minerals are not merely physical — they have natural souls, acts, and a form of ‘ilm (knowledge).
Plants as bodies: Plants are more complex than minerals with more varied instruments.
Plants as growing souls: Plant souls — their existence, states with their body, and their quiddity.
Animals as bodies: Animals as physical organisms — origin, emergence, maximum complexity of organization.
Animals as sensory souls: Animal souls — their sensory knowledge, their instruments for preserving the body.

The Human Soul (Mashari’ 9–14): 9. Human soul as sensory: What the human sensory soul is in its quiddity, what happens in it, the causes of its perfection, what it does in acts like matter and form. 10. Human soul as rational (nafs natiqua): The three levels of soul in the human (vegetative, sensory, rational) — are they three or one? Is the rational soul substance or accident? 11. Acts of the rational soul: Its functions, whether it needs the body, the difference between its acts in the body and independent of it, its first and second perfections, how it becomes a complete permanent intellect. 12. Persistence of the rational soul: What makes it endure; what gives it happiness and what gives it destruction; whether these come from outside or from its nature; what is happiness, destruction, death, life. 13. The soul after leaving the body: What the soul receives after separation from its material composition — ba’th (resurrection), hisab (reckoning), thawab (reward), ‘iqab (punishment), janna (paradise), nar (hellfire), and the condition in all these. 14. The Prophetic Soul (al-nafs al-mubayyadah min al-sama’): The human soul strengthened from heaven — how it connects with the Holy Spirit (ruh al-quds), what revelation (wahy) is and how it comes, its divisions, what miracles issue from it, how it differs from the wonders of jugglers, what virtues the prophetic soul gathers, the rank of those around it (companions and the Imam al-Qa’im maqamaha — the Imam who stands in its place), the number of cosmic Cycles (al-Adwar) and those who complete the new creation in each cycle, and a refutation of the philosophers’ view on how the soul attains virtue through their books.

The Adwar (Cosmic Cycles): The final Mashra’ culminates in the Ismaili doctrine of the Adwar — the seven cosmic periods each presided over by a Natiq (Speaker/Prophet-lawgiver), with the seventh Cycle being the Cycle of Resurrection. This is the esoteric dimension of Islamic sacred history: Adam, Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa, ‘Isa, Muhammad, and the Qa’im al-Qiyama.

Al-Kirmani’s Key Philosophical Contributions

1. Ibda’ against Fayd: Al-Kirmani explicitly rejects the Neoplatonic theory of fayd (emanation) — the idea that the First Intellect overflowed necessarily and automatically from the divine. Instead he argues for ibda’ — a voluntary act of origination that ex-nihilo brings the First Existent into being, preserving Allah’s absolute freedom and transcendence. The philosophers say existence flowed from the divine like water from a spring; al-Kirmani says the divine originated it like an artist creates a work.

2. Seven Intellects: Where al-Farabi and Ibn Sina count ten Active Intellects (one per celestial sphere), al-Kirmani counts seven. This maps onto the Ismaili da’wa hierarchy and the seven days of each cosmic Cycle — every cosmological level has its Ismaili analogue in the sacred hierarchy.

3. Absolute Tanzih: The Second Gate presents perhaps the most radical apophatic position in Islamic philosophy — surpassing even the Mu’tazili tanzih by denying not just anthropomorphic attributes but even the basic ontological categories that Mu’tazila still applied to Allah. The divine transcends being, oneness, existence, and all conceptual categories.

4. The Cosmological Ladder: The book’s trajectory from the divine through the First Intellect → Seven Letters → Nature → Elements → Minerals/Plants/Animals → Human Soul → Prophecy creates a complete philosophical anthropology: to understand what the human soul is (and why it can receive prophecy), one must understand the entire cosmological hierarchy from which it descends.

5. Integration of Islamic Sciences: Rahat al-Aql integrates kalam (theology), falsafa (Aristotelian-Neoplatonic philosophy), Ismaili ta’wil, hadith interpretation, and natural philosophy (‘ilm al-tabi’a) into a single coherent system — a feat of synthesis unparalleled in its era.

Rahat al-Aql — The Rest of the Intellect: Al-Kirmani's Encyclopedic Summit of Ismaili Philosophy