(The world of creation; the world of sensory perception; the world of mulk; the world of shahāda)
The angelic world (ʿālam al-malakūt) and the unseen world (ʿālam al-ghayb) are hidden from most people. The world of sensory perception is the world of shahāda (witnessing), for everyone sees this world. The world of sensory perception is a step toward the rational world. If there were no connection or relationship between them, we would not be able to act correctly on the path of ascent to it. If this were impossible, then the journey to the station of rubūbiyya (divine lordship) and nearness to Allah would also be impossible. (Mishkāt, 70)
The world of shahāda is the step to the world of malakūt. The journey (sulūk) on the straight path (ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm) consists of this ascent. This state has been described as the stations of religion and hudā (guidance). If there were no relationship and connection between these two worlds, ascent from one to the other would be unthinkable. Divine mercy created the world of shahāda to balance the world of malakūt. (Mishkāt, 71)
The world of creation (ʿālam al-khalq) is the world that comes into existence through causes. It is used as the counterpart to the world of shahāda.
Mulk is the world of shahāda. (Iṣṭilāḥ, 540; Jāmiʿ, 99)
May Allah have mercy on you and illuminate your insight! Know that the world of malakūt moves the world of shahāda, and as one of Allah's ḥikma (wisdoms), it is under His own dominion. This is not because it is inherently deserving of this. From the world of shahāda, no stillness, eating, drinking, kalām (speech), or silence arises. These only issue from the world of the unseen (ghayb).
According to us, the world of shahāda is, as a rule, everything we perceive with our senses. The world of the unseen is, as a rule, that which is not apparent to the senses but which we perceive through a report from the sacred law (sharʿī) or through intellectual contemplation.
We say: just as the world of shahāda is perceived through the vision of the eye, so the world of the unseen is perceived through the eye of basīra (inner sight). Just as the eye cannot perceive unless the veils, like dark curtains, are lifted from before it, so too, when the obstacles are removed and lights are cast upon the perceptible things, the eye perceives all that can be seen. The perception of the eye depends on its own light and on the light of the sun, lamp, or similar sources. The eye of basīra is the same. The veils of the eye of basīra are desires, shahawāt (passions), and the consideration of things other than Allah, and similar matters. Because of these, a veil comes between it and the malakūt, that is, the world of the unseen.
When a person turns to the mirror of the qalb (heart) and polishes it with forms of spiritual discipline (riyāḍāt) and struggle (mujāhadāt), all veils are removed from it. Its light then unites with the light that opens onto the world of the unseen. Thus, the people of malakūt begin to appear gradually. This is like the sun in the world of the senses. Alongside this, the light of the eye of basīra joins with the light of discernment (tamyīz), and then the knowledge of the unseen is unveiled as it truly is. (Tadbīrāt, 170)
According to him (Ibn ʿArabī), the source is the intellect (ʿaql), while mulk is khayāl (imagination). Imagination is subordinate to the intellect. According to his claim, the intellect is derived from the essence of imagination. The Messenger (rasūl) receives from imagination. For this reason, according to him, the Messenger is superior to the Prophet (nabī). If the characteristics of the Prophet were as they say, and if, far from being superior, he were not even of the same kind as the Messenger, how could what they say be attainable for every one of the muʾminūn (believers)? Prophethood (nubuwwa) is a state beyond this. (Furqān, 80)