Continuation: Unity of Being and Related Doctrines

وحدت الوجود کا تسلسل

The author continues his exposition of Wahdat al-Wujud (Unity of Being). The following points summarise his teaching:

The divine Being (wujud) is the inner reality of all existing things, and all things from the smallest particle to the entire cosmos are not empty of that Being. The divine Being is in all things in this sense: that the Essence of those things in their real inner nature was that very Being before the manifestation of those things — and that Being, with all its complete and unlimited attributes, is in all existing things. And just as the complete attributes of things are in the source of attributes before their manifestation, so too in this way the complete attributes are in all things. Therefore it is said: 'Kull shay' fi kull shay'' (All things are in all things) — as the Master of Gulshan says in his poetry.

A Persian couplet:

دل یک قطره راگر بر شگانی بروز آید از وصد بحر صانی

'If you tear open the heart of a single drop / from it will pour forth a hundred cleansed seas.' (Persian couplet)

Another Persian couplet:

هستی که بود ذات خداوند عزیز اشیاء همه درو بندو در همه نیز انیست بیان آنکه عارف گوید باشد همه چیز مندرج در همه چیز

'The Being that was the Essence of the Glorious Lord / all things are bound within it, and it within all things / This is not the statement that the mystic makes / That all things are contained within all things.' (Persian couplets)

The author explains that the concept of Wahdat al-Wujud is not achievable by ordinary intellectual inquiry, because the meaning of wujud relates to the source (masdar), and whatever is outside the source is not in existence — whereas Allah's Essence is beyond any intellectual category. His definition of 'outside' is that the Essence alone is its own definition — first, it is its own existence from eternity to eternity; second, all existing things are characterised by the attributes of that Essence. The author further explains this through a discussion of divine attributes, the levels of divine manifestation (ahadiyyah, wahidiyyah, and wahdat), and the chart of descending levels of being provided by Hazrat the murshid.

Diagram of Descending Levels of Being

Hazrat the murshid used to explain these matters to his disciples through the following table of descending levels of being: Ahadiyyah (Pure Oneness) — Negation of all determinations (Salb ta'ayyanat), Outward existence (zahir wa wujud), Divine names (Asma' Ilahi) Wahidiyyah (Oneness in multiplicity) — Conceptual determinations (Mafhum ta'ayyanat), Human reality (Haqiqat insani), Divine names (Asma' Ilahi), Barzakh Wahdat (Unity manifested) — Confirmed determinations (Thubut ta'ayyanat), Outward knowledge (Zahir 'ilm), Creaturely names (Asma' Kiyaniya), Barzakh, Spirits (Arwah), Barzakh, Similitudes (Mithal), Barzakh, Bodies (Ajsam) This diagram maps the descent of divine Being from pure, undifferentiated Oneness into the multiplicity of the created world, each level representing a further stage of divine self-manifestation (tajalli).

Some adherents of Wahdat al-Wujud are known with certainty to say that Allah Most High is the inner reality of all existing things and above all existing things — but the witnessing of this inner reality of the divine Truth is not attained in the creatures. Some people witness the divine Truth in the creatures, and others witness the creatures in the divine Truth. This is of the highest degree — it is the station of the Prophets and those who have truly followed them. In all three stations, no person can attain any of them against the Shari'ah, the Tariqah, and method — but Allah Most High, by His grace, has caused each of these stations to manifest from the foregoing Shuyukh.

The Six Subtle Centres (Lata'if Sitta) — a summary is given in the Khatimah: according to Hazrat Mujaddid (Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi), from the hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him): 'In the body of Adam's child there is a piece of flesh — when it is sound, the whole body is sound.' The piece of flesh is located in the human body in a complex structure relating to the six subtle centres (lata'if sitta) known as: Qalb (heart), Ruh (spirit), Sirr (secret), Khafi (hidden), Akhfa (most hidden), and Nafs (the subtle self). Each of these is associated with a specific location on the body, a specific colour, and a specific spiritual station in the Sufi path.