““What explanation does Ibn Arabi give for these phenomena ? A first explanation invokes the hierarchical planes of being, the Hadarat, or "Presences." There are five of these Presences, namely, the five Descents ( tanazzulat); these are determina- tions or conditions of the divine Ipseity in the forms of His Names; they act on the receptacles which undergo their influx and manifest them. The first Hadra is the theophany ( tajalli) of the Essence ( dhat) in the eternal latent hexeities which are objects, the correlata of the Divine Names. This is the world of Absolute Mystery ( alam al-ghayb al-mutlaq, Hadrat al-Dhat). The second and the third Hadarat are respectively the angelic world of determinations or individuations constituting the Spirits ( taayyunatt ruhiya ) and the world of individuations constituting the Souls ( taayyunaatt nafsiya). The fourth Hadra is the world of Idea-Images ( alam al-mithal), typical Forms, individuations having figure and body, but in the immaterial state of "subtile matter. " The fifth Hadra is the sensible and visible world (alam al-shahada ), of dense material bodies. By and large, with minor variations, this schema is constant in our authors.19””
