<![CDATA[Scholars commonly understand the creation of artworks through images and imagination as creative processes that transform sensory experience. However, previous studies have discussed the concept of the imaginal primarily in the context of mystical experience and have rarely connected it to artistic creation. This study analyzes the role of imaginal experience in the creative processes of three salik of the Qudusiyah Sufi Order and explains how the imaginal differs from images and imagination in the formation of artworks. The study employs a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach combined with a Sufi perspective. The researchers collected data through in-depth interviews with three salik of the Qudusiyah Sufi Order who created artworks through imaginal experiences while practicing self-emptying and spiritual discipline. The findings show that images function as records of sensory experience, whereas imagination actively transforms various images into new artistic forms. In contrast, imaginal experience emerges in a receptive state in which the salik does not actively construct images but instead receives phenomena that arise within an ego-decentered consciousness. This study concludes that artistic creativity in a Sufi context operates not only through active imaginative construction but also through the reception and interpretation of imaginal experiences that emerge during self-emptying and spiritual discipline. This study contributes to the literature by positioning the imaginal as an analytical category distinct from images and imagination while expanding interdisciplinary scholarship on art, religious experience, mysticism, and creativity.]]>
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