Botanical Self  (Nafs Al-Nabāti)

Source: http://untiredwithloving.org/botanical_self.html
Discussion   Join

The appearance of mankind on this planet, in Qur’an has the botanical verbiage:

71:17. Wa (And) Allah grew you from earth Nabāt-an(botanically)

وَٱللَّهُ أَنۢبَتَكُم مِّنَ ٱلۡأَرۡضِ نَبَاتً۬ا

Specific to Maryam mother of Jesus, peace be upon both:

3:37. Wa(And) (Allah) grew her (Maryam) Nabāt-an(botanically) beautiful (and good)

وَأَنۢبَتَهَا نَبَاتًا حَسَنً۬ا

This is obviously so since the human being is mostly water immixed with the minerals of this earth, grows from a tiny seed-like entity, growth means the gradual development in functionality and size and other attributes. Human being is in symbiotic relationship with other plans, though does not Photosynthesize.

Mufradat
Isfahani

Nabāt-an(botanically) is Hala (State) not Masdar (Verbal Noun).

Remark 1. Masdar (Verbal Noun) is more general than Hala (State), where Masdar is a name either about state or about a happening without passage of time. In this case, Nabāt-an(botanically), i.e. Hala is a single word by itself, rendering the Haqiqa (Reality) of how something is, in this case Mankind is of botanical nature on this planet or it is in botanical mode/state. Masdar would not apply since human being is not doing anything that is plant-like, his growth and genesis is in botanical mode.

In earlier works of Islamic philosophers (and Sufis) we find references to Botanical Self or Nafs Al-Nabāti, some appeared in works of Ibn Sina (Tafsir of Surah Al-Falaq and others) and Rasa’il Ikhwan Al-Safa (The Treatise of Safa Brothers) and in specific Jurjani’s as following:

Ta’rifat
Jurjani

Nafs Al-Insani (Human Self): Topmost perfected biology, insofar as cognition and thought processes.

Nafs Al-Hayawani (Animal Self): Topmost perfected biology, insofar as componentization (having body parts) and motility with full volition.

Nafs Al-Nabāti (Botanical Self): Topmost perfected biology, insofar as being begotten (or giving birth) growth (in size and functionality) through consumption of food.

Remark 2. Imagine Nafs (Self) as a capsule, interior an entity fully encapsulated, exterior all other entities that are not ‘itself’. 

Remark 3. Botanical Self is then such a capsule except is a complex i.e. multiplex of many cells or call it multi-cellular, and this multiplex encapsulation is subject to growth and consumption.

Ishara: Vectorial Noesis

Attempt is made below, to use Ishara (Pointing) to render meaning to the words above. Often pointing at something in a remote position might explain plethora of meanings otherwise words fail to realize.

Ishara 1:

Molecular Self(Membrane Capsule): Liposome

A liposome is an artificially-prepared spherical vesicle composed of a lamellar phase lipid bilayer. The liposome can be used as a vehicle for administration of nutrients and pharmaceutical drugs.

A liposome encapsulates a region of aqueous solution inside a hydrophobic membrane; dissolved hydrophilic solutes cannot readily pass through the lipids. Hydrophobic chemicals can be dissolved into the membrane, and in this way liposome can carry both hydrophobic molecules and hydrophilic molecules. To deliver the molecules to sites of action, the lipid bilayer can fuse with other bilayers such as the cell membrane, thus delivering the liposome contents. By making liposomes in a solution of DNA or drugs (which would normally be unable to diffuse through the membrane) they can be (indiscriminately) delivered past the lipid bilayer. A liposome does not necessarily have lipophobic contents, such as water, although it usually does.

 

 

Clear partition of interior vs. exterior:

 

 

 

Ishara 2:

Development Tree (Graph) and Consumption

It seems how the biological beings consume food, bands them into different categories of development and consequent structures.

 

Ishara 3:

Extraordinary innovation and engineering had gone into complex multicellular life forms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© 2015-2002,  Dara O Shayda