(Sura). The outer form of an entity or thing is what conceals its inner meaning. Revelation is the outer form whose meaning is Allah's Knowledge of Himself and His creation. Tearing away the veil of form to reveal the meaning within is the work of the higher teaching. The Holy Prophet Muhammad al Mustapha (May the Salutations of Allah be upon him and Peace) prayed, 'Oh, Allah, show me things as they are in their reality'.
(Khayal). Imagination indicates a reality that becomes manifest in three different places. Firstly, the Khayal is manifest within the cosmos where existence is the same as imagination. Secondly, the Khayal is manifest within the macrocosm where the isthmus between the spiritual and corporeal worlds is imaginal. Thirdly, the khayal is manifest within the microcosm where the human self is the reality between the body and the spirit. Khayal is synonymous with images. The Realm of Imagination is the isthmus between the World of the Unseen and the Visible World and it is within this khayal that man is given the clearest expression of the 'He, not He' (Huwa, la Huwa) mystery of existence. The human faculty of imagination (khayal) is purely passive with regard to the active conjectural faculty of illusion and with regard to the Spirit which may imprint upon it heralding visions.
(Barzakh). Barrier or isthmus or separating partition. The barzakh is the symbol of an intermediate state. It is something which separates two other things while never going to one side. It is the barrier between the known and the unknown, the existent and the non-existent. Imagination is the most excellent barzakh in that it is 'neither this nor that', or 'both this and that', or the realm of 'He/not He' (Huwa/la Huwa).
"It is He Who has let free the two bodies of flowing water: One palatable and sweet, and the other salt and bitter; yet has He made a barrier between them, a partition that is forbidden to be passed" (25:53) .
(Ma'ana). Everything in creation has an outward form. These forms are the manifestations of their essential inner meanings. The meaning of everything is Allah. Within imagination all meanings become clothed in substratum and take on form. No meaning is able to hold itself back from imagination.
