Everything signifies. The Qur'ān vividly proclaims: Sa-nurīhim āyātinā fī 'l- āfāq wa fī anfusihim (‘We shall show them Our signs on the horizons and in their very souls [or selves]’). Colour itself, of course, signifies in a very real and dynamic way. In this final chapter we shall draw together the semiotic threads of our previous discussions by highlighting three realms of signification which have been of particular importance in many of our mystical authors. These are: (1) the Realm of Mystic Colour; (2) the Realm of al-Khaḍir/Elijah and the Mystic Journey; and (3) the Realm of the Mystic Telos. Together, these realms constitute our Anthropology of the Way.

The Realm of Mystic Colour

Physically, ‘the colour of many natural objects derives from transformational shifts happening within their atomic structures’. Literary historians have noted how colour might be used by their objects of study ‘to encode the authorial intent of [the] narratives. The symbolic use of color, as a component of medieval visual imagery, takes on an emblematic importance in heraldry as it does in religious representation.’ Such symbolism could have a sacral, mystical and/or alchemical significance. It is no surprise, therefore, that certain colours might be associated with certain mystics, as, for example, in the taxonomy of the Iranian Kubrāwī sufi ‘Alā’ al-Dawla Simnānī (AD 1261–1336): here, the seven prophets Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus and Muhammad are associated, respectively, with the colours grey-black, blue, red, white, yellow, luminous black and emerald green.