Based on an analysis of unique medieval sources, the famous Russian orientalist Alexander Ignatenko traces the influence of the Mirror category on the formation of Islamic speculative thought - philosophy, theology, theoretical mysticism, ethics. This category, which began to take shape in the Koran and Hadith (Islamic Tradition) and was in constant dynamics, became system-forming for Islam - determining not only one or another solution to specific philosophical and theological problems, but also the general direction and final results of the evolution of speculative thought in culture, in which there was a taboo on the depiction of living spiritual beings. Thanks to the analysis of the Mirror category, Alexander Ignatenko’s book reveals the differences between the special Islamic way of thinking - its retrospectiveness, looking to the past, backward - from the prospective, forward-looking mentality of Western culture.