THREAD:

IBN KHALDUN ON STAGES/KINDS OF SOULS & HOW PROPHETS WOULD RECEIVE REVELATIONS

Ibn Khaldun is a well known historian and philosopher who lived during the time of Mamluks. In his magnum opus "MUQADDIMAH" , he explains how the Prophets would receive the divine revelation by explaining the different stages/kinds of souls

According to Ibn Khaldun, there are three stages , or kinds of souls. The FIRST KIND OF SOUL is the weakest one to arrive at spiritual perception , and can acquire the sense perception. Meaning, they use their senses to develop their rational thinking. This Soul forms ideas...

...through using their memory and estimative power, as it isnt in tune with the cosmic energy and spiritual perception. Nearly all of us layman folks have this kind of soul, or are at this stage of the soul

The SECOND KIND OF SOUL is at a higher stage than the first one, and this soul is present in saints, men of mystical learning . This soul moves in the direction of Spiritual intellection, higher than the sensual perception the First Soul had. The Second Soul not only....

.....gets its knowledge and wisdom from its perceptions obtained from the power of its senses, but also from Intuitiveness (simply known as 6th sense), though it isnt well developed that individuals having the 3rd kind of soul have, or those who are at the highest stage of soul

The THIRD KIND OF SOUL is the highest stage on the level of souls, and it is only present in PROPHETS of ALLAH. The soul is characterised by Pure Perception and Absolute Intellection..
This soul must consequently be prepared to exchange humanity for angelicality( the highest...

....stage of the soul) to receive the divine revelation at a specific moment.
Hence, this soul by nature is suited to exhange humanity for the highest angelic perceptions. According to Ibn Khaldun , Allah implanted and formed in the Prophets the natural ability to slough off....

....humanity in that moment which is the state of revelation.
The Prophets, during the state of revelation, get rid of their humanity to attain the angelic perception to learn all that they can.

When done, they bring back what they have learned back down to the ...

....level of human perception( the first stage of soul, which us laymen have) so that other humans can understand and learn it.

This process causes pain and is burdensome, because the Prophet has to leave his own essense and enter the highest stage to receive the revelation....

For example, when the Prophet SAW received his first revelation , he felt as he was being choked when Angel Jibreel said him to recite "اقرا".
The Prophet would also at times sweat heavily when he would receive the revelation....

...because he would enter the highest stage in tune with Angelicality to receive the message.
Here is an example in the Hadith

Ibn Khaldun further explains it in Muqadimmah (pg.78 of Rosenthal's abridged edition)

Toshihiko Izutsu in his book "God & Man in the Quran" explains brilliantly how Prophets would receive their revelations.
I have brother @LeppIdd to thank for sharing these with me.

Anything good I have written in this thread is because of Allah's grace, if I have made some mistakes, it is because of my faulty nature of being a human , for which I apologise in advance