Ibṣār , a form IV (wazn al-ifʿāl) Arabic verbal noun (maṣdar) derived from the triliteral root b-ṣ-r (‘to see’), meaning ‘vision, visual perception’. As a technical term in Islamic philosophy and science, it refers to one of the five outward faculties of sense (al-ḥawāss al-ẓāhira). Vision, and the means by which it occurs, was discussed by Muslim philosophers and scientists in different aspects in general metaphysics, natural philosophy, the science of the soul and optics.

Although the discussions on vision can be traced back to ancient Greek philosophy, for Muslim ph…