From “Allah” to “Brahman”: A Comparative Study of the Manifestations of the Divine Names in Ibn ʿArabī’s Thought and the Manifestations of the Trimurti in Hinduism with a Focus on the Upaniṣads

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Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Associate Professor of Religions and Mysticism. Faculty of Theology. Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Mashhad. Iran

2 Postgraduate of Religions and Mysticism, Faculty of Theology, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

10.22108/coth.2026.147570.2072

Abstract

Relying on a “metaphysical and structural comparative” approach, the present study explores the mode of expansion and manifestation of the Absolute within two independent epistemological horizons: the mystical school of Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi in Islam and the ancient Upanishadic texts in Hinduism. In Ibn Arabi’s intellectual system, “Allah,” as the all-comprehensive Divine Name, serves as the point of connection between the strictly Unseen Essence and the world of multiplicity, and the reality of the Truth permeates existence through three levels of manifestation (Essential, Nominal, and Active) and via the interplay of the Attributes of Jamāl and Jalāl. Parallel to this structural formulation, the Upanishadic texts (particularly the Maitri Upanishad), while insisting on the fundamental principle of the peerless unity of “Brahman,” formulate the Hindu “Trimurti” (Brahmã, Viṣṇu, and Śiva) not as independent entities, but as functional manifestations and instruments of that Absolute Truth’s will for cosmic creation, preservation, and dissolution. The objective of this article is to comparatively analyze these structures to demonstrate how both religions, despite their distinct historical and cultural origins, have resorted to a similar mediatory concept to explain the logic of transition from the “Absolute Unity of Essence” to the “restricted multiplicity of acts.”

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Main Subjects

Comparative Theology

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 18 May 2026

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