The research tells the story of the development of that idea from Ibn 'Arab? to al-J?l? and beyond. It does so through a thematic study, based on close reading of primary sources in Arabic and Persian, of the key elements of the idea, including the idea that the Perfect Human is a locus of divine manifestation (ma?har), the concept of the 'Pole' (qu?b) and the 'Muhammadan Reality' (al-?aq?qah al-Muhammadiyyah), and the identity of the Perfect Human. By setting the work of al-J?l? against the background of earlier Ibn 'Arabian treatments of the idea, it demonstrates that al-J?l? took the idea of the Perfect Human in several new directions, with major consequences for how the Prophet Muhammad - the archetypal Perfect Human - was viewed in later Islamic thought.

Introducing readers to the key Sufi idea of the Perfect Human (al-ins?n al-k?mil), this volume will be of interest to scholars and students interested in Sufism, Islam, religion and philosophy.