Identity and Otherness

عینیت وغیریت

Part One: Identicalness and Otherness (عینیت وغیریت)

'Ayniyyat (identity/identicalness) is the real and complete. The Lord and the slave are both purely and jointly themselves. If both of them are jointly in one kind — yet there is no distinction of authority between them — then it would seem as though one were the other; and the same faults and deficiencies as are found in created beings would be affirmed of the Creator. In exactly the same way, if a created being's authority is also the Creator's authority — then the Creator would become the creation, and the creation would become the Creator. And the same imperfection as is the creature's would become the Creator's. This would be the inkār (denial) of the most fundamental fact — and the kalimat (declaration) issued from such a mouth: 'Is there any doubt in the existence of Allah, and His being the Originator?' — would be a denial. Such a person, by his vision or his blindness, would fall into manifest error. For the whole of humanity is a sensible being — it knows and understands itself. It thinks and acts through the feet, goes and comes through the hands. Yet the ruler is above it and the subjects below — and the proofs of all truths are before the eyes.

No sensible person can deny this. If one denies it, then one is a heedless non-rational being. This is the limit of one's imperfection — 'And Allah, He is the All-Knowing.' It is not only a violation of the laws of the Shari'a (Sacred Law) — but its natural laws also rebel against it. And the stubborn rebel returns in a bruised state; and the faint-hearted, seeing the state of another's eyes, becomes even more burdened. One who looks down on others with arrogance — then this arrogance of his will come back upon him. Truly there is a difference between right and wrong — and wrong is nothing. And Allah's right alone is the truth. He commanded: 'And We enjoined upon the path — what the truth is between right and wrong.'

إِنَّ عَلَيْنَا لَلْهُدَىٰ

"Indeed, upon Us is guidance." (Qur'an 92:12)

[Verse:] "By Allah, with this heart the spirit breathed over us — and the companion of the senses is not a muffler of the soul." (Mawlana 'Ali al-Raha, peace be upon him). These laws — violations of the Shari'a must first be rectified before the natural laws can also be corrected. If the opposition to law is cured by punishment — what will come when the eyes of this rebelliousness are drowned — then in water — or in fire — all certainty will come about. Every deed according to law — there is salvation and worldly and eternal happiness: that is the manifest truth.

Otherness and Identicalness as Cognitive Categories (غیریت وعینیت علمی)

Now the conclusion is before us: what is the reality of 'ayniyyat (identicalness) and ghayriyyat (otherness)? The final point is: that 'ayniyyat leads to shirk (polytheism) on one side, and to violation of the Shari'a on another. On one side to violation of rational nature and īmān (faith) — and to muʾāyanat (sense perception). On one side: folly — and on one side: perdition.

The matter is this: that wujūdī (existential) ḥaqīqat (reality) is truly incapable of being denied. Its opposite — if there is no denial — then it is purely non-existence. And the existence of being-in-itself (mujarrad, pure existence) is a term of philosophy — and the pure being of simple existence is its meaning — wujūd (existence) is everything. Nothing is outside the sphere of existence. He is the same wujūd — He is the same dhāt — He is the same ḥayāt (Life) — He is the same 'ilm (Knowledge) — He is the same qudrat (Power) — He is the ancient, the exalted Wājib-ul-Wujūd (Necessarily Existent).

هُوَ الْأَوَّلُ وَالْآخِرُ وَالظَّاهِرُ وَالْبَاطِنُ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ

"He is the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden — and He is, of all things, Knowing." (Qur'an 57:3)

وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

"And praise be to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds." (Qur'an 1:2)

Ontological Identity and Otherness (عینیت وغیریت وجودی)

With existence, if existence is obtained, then all contradictory attributes are negated. After this, knowledge also turns — and all that is in it is simply a kind of unity and oneness. Look at the sphere — it is one complete body — from a point, a circumference, a surface, an arc, and from many other things — disputes arise. These disputes do not extend beyond the point of a circle. The circumference is bigger than the point by three times — so from one direction, from one aspect, from the same body — many different rulings of dispute have been set out.

[Verse:] "The sun is continually in the centre — the point, circumference, and orbiting planet — alike a mark of existence." (Hasrat Haydarabadi)

Are these disputed matters errors? Never. Are they arbitrary matters? Never — for these are matters in our history and in our thoughts. Can we imagine the circumference from the point? Can we imagine the point from the circumference? Never. Truth and falsehood and right and wrong — the scope of a single person's understanding is this. But the implication of these different rulings for different subjects — it is the basis of their dispute. And in this way, from the perspective of existential reality — life, knowledge, and power — disputes arise in these matters. These are the attributes from the perspective of the essential self — and from these the dispute arises from an attributional perspective.

In knowledge — what can be said? Everything is something — some reality, some concept. Nothing is beyond some perspective — either aʿyān (entities), or iʿtibārāt (perspectives), or ḥaqāʾiq (truths), or māhiyyāt (quiddities, essences), or ḥaqāʾiq manṣiyyāt (existential realities), or ẓuhūr (manifestations). These are the exalted level of the most holy sacred unity — are called by this name. This level is called 'al-ḥadra al-qudsiyyat al-aqdas'. And the compound reality — in this — the names (asmāʾ) and the attributes (ṣifāt) — are ancient. Their aggregation, by means of established knowledge, produces things in existence. Look at the body — it is the simplest entity, beyond which there are compounds. More complex than the simple comes the compound. And the compound is more complex than the simple — and in it are bodies of non-material (rūḥ). These non-material bodies are older than the material ones — ancient in the non-material. These are their...

لَا يَعْزُبُ عَنْهُ مِثْقَالُ ذَرَّةٍ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ

"Not even the weight of a particle in the heavens or the earth is hidden from Him." (Qur'an 34:3) — both personal and comprehensive knowledge belong to Allah the Exalted.

Do these manifestations contain some personal (dhātī) power or a personal will? No — for the power belongs to the Supreme Being. The will is mine — the will of the Supreme Being — through which I display these manifestations as it wills. And this too is the maqṣad (purpose) of these manifestations — and their purpose is also a necessity. Because my will cannot exceed the will of the Supreme Being — never.

In the same way, every created being has need of the Supreme Being — no power — no Supreme Being has will — no motion, no might. This is the magnificent display of Dhū al-Jalāl — 'Lā ḥawla walā quwwata illā billāh' — all things together have His irāda (will). The result of this is a beautiful spectacle — that all things together will perform it.

Otherness and Cognitive Self-Evidence (غیریتِ مُحَقَّقی وعینیتِ علمی)

At last — the question is: what is meant by 'ayniyyat (identity) here? The conclusion is that 'ayniyyat leads to shirk (polytheism) — on one side it is an usurpation of the Shari'a — on another a violation of reason and faith — a declaration of muʾāyanat — and on one side folly — and on one side perdition.

This is that wujūd-e-ḥaqīqī (true being) which is truly incapable of denial. Its opposite — if there is no denial — is pure non-existence. And the existence of mujarrad (pure) being — that is entirely simple, and called by the name of absolute meaning — wujūd is everything. Nothing exists outside the sphere of wujūd. He is the same dhāt — He is the same ḥayāt — He is the same ʿilm — He is the same qudrat. He is the ancient — exalted — and wājib-ul-wujūd. Both dhāt (Essence) and aʿyān (entities) and ḥaqāʾiq (realities) are accessible to two forms of knowledge: (1) Dhātī ḥaqq — the true Reality from the perspective of the Essence; (2) Dhātī mumkin — possible from the perspective of the Essence. In terms of outward reality — the very same is both manifest and present. He is the 'Awwal (First) and He is the manifest — and He is the Hū'l-Awwal (the First He).

[Hasrat's verse:] "Every object — look at its face — the most truthful is the kalimat of the Arabs: / 'Surely every thing shall perish except the face of Allah.' (Qur'an 28:88) — Rabbī (my Lord)."

[Verse:] "The claim of falsehood will last only until I find it — / False will last only until the moment I find it / To yourself, shirk, and unbelief — how long will they last? / All that is manifest, and right is also manifest." (Hasrat Haydarabadi)

قُلْ هَلْ يَسْتَوِي الَّذِينَ يَعْلَمُونَ وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ

"Say: Are those who know equal to those who do not know?" (Qur'an 39:9)

Some surprise is this: that some people in Hazrat's presence have the perfection — as if a jewel in the hand — of ḥubb (intimacy) and some state (ḥāl). Towards the time of death, for the sake of proximity — something wrong occurred. An imagined compound came and caught fire in the valley of 'Anā al-Nār' ('I am the Fire'). That compound — it was like iron in the midst of proximity to wujūd — burning bright red, making everything black with dust, the visible sight — a compound that is more visible and blinking red. But still this is indeed the crime and the darkening of proximity to one's own eyes in one's own dhāt — hiding one's eyes from one's own wujūd. And if there is wājib-ul-wujūd (Necessary Being), then it was possible formerly — and the return — so the question is: Was it non-existence? Or did it become being? Then the transition happened — and it seems that this is possible only through manifestation — and wujūd emerged through manifestation — though Allah is the Possessor of the attributes of wujūd. When...