Marātib al-kalām: Word’s Multiple States according to the Science of Letters

Abstract

The present contribution is an attempt to investigate the conception of Word’s multiple states of manifestation (and non-manifestation) as stemming from the works of some of the most prominent exponents of ʿilm al-ḥurūf, “the science of letters”. More specifically, it focuses on the notion of marātib al-ḥurūf, “degrees of letters” in order to establish a connection between different marātib al-wuğūd, “levels of existence”, and distinct marātib al-kalām, “Word’s states”. The result is the emergence of a fascinating vision that sees God’s Word originally lying in an unmanifest state before/beyond creation and then passing through the three worlds of manifest existence to eventually take the shape of human language. The study emphasizes the theoretical significance of ʿilm al-ḥurūf for the investigation of some of the fundamental principles that inform the Islamic metaphysics of language and the overall Islamic Sprachanschauung.