The Possible existence (Mumkinu’l Wujud)
Love: It is not proper to call this tendency of one’s temperament by the name of love; and it is not correct to call the tree of what i.e., of knowledge) by the name of the tree of Paradise.
“Do not approach the tree, lest you become Zalim”La Taqraba hazi-hish shajarata fa-takuna min az-zalimin. Love is an attraction towards the really beautiful. The observance of the Beautiful in His Own Beauty without the intervention of the objects of the world is called the state of jam. Shaykh-I-Akbar calls this state by the name of jam or the first limitation of the Reality of Hazrat Muhammad (peace be on him). It is love of the essence for essence itself; love of the essence (Dhat) of creator for Dhat itself, love of the Dhat for the world is called Jam’ba Jam’: love of the World for the world, i.e., of individuals for individuals is called jam ba farq.
Allah in His first manifestation was a’yan, His potentialities became manifest in the mirror of His a’yan. Hence Allah was the Father of a’yan; the a’yan were nourished in external manifestation by the wet nurses of asma and sifat.
The manifest comes out of the unmanifest and the unmanifest is born of the manifest. Manifestation is simply taking a form. Lam yalid wa lam yulad”He begets not, nor is He begotten” is the meaning of this. The Dhat is absolute and whatever is derived from it is limited the Prophet (peace be on him) is limited, and whatever is derived from him is unlimited and absolute. The limited existence cannot be otherwise than existence itself. Whatever is derived from a wave cannot be otherwise than the ocean itself, the ink of letters cannot he otherwise than ink absolute, an egg comes out of a fowl and vice versa. In the mirror of the world, no one is observed except God Himself in the second manifestation; and in the mirror of Allah. ‘Other than the world’ is observed in the first manifestation. Thus the world is derived from God and none but Allah is obtained from the world. The seed is manifest in the tree and the tree is obtained from the seed. Whatever comes out in externality is from the internality of the thing itself; and so whatever comes out of the world is better than whatever comes out of Allah. Muhammad is from the light of blessings in both Words: Wa ma arsalnaka illa rahmatan lil-alamin.’ Blessing is the attribute of Jamal (beauty); Iblis is from the fire of Dignity. Jamal overshadowed Jalal in manifestation. We seek protection from the actions of Satan. Do not therefore abuse an evil-doer, but seek protection from his action.
Kullu shayin yarjiu ala aslihi: “All things revert to their original source.” The source of things, in respect of existence, is God from whom they are manifest and to whom they return. Thus Possible Existence is dependent on Necessary Existence. Letters and words are dependent on ink for their existence. The dhat (essence) of things is non-existence, which is ghayr, (the ‘other foreigner’) of existence. Every moment, things borrow their existence from God, and every moment they revert to their dhat (essence), which is nothingness. So far as existence is concerned, they revert to the ‘necessary’ existence; and so far as their own existence is concerned they revert to nothingness: Balhum fi labsin min khalqin jadid.
The ‘possible’ existence has therefore two phases or aspects: one towards God and the other towards itself. In its first aspect it is nothing but Allah; and in the second, it is nothing but absolute non-entity or annihilation itself.
Kullu sheyin halikua illa wajhahu everything is liable or subject to annihilation except its ‘face.’
In itself a thing is an eternal non-entity; but in ‘its face’, i. e., its aspect towards God it is not a non-existence. Secondly, the essences of things are the attributes of Jalal (glory) and Jamal (beauty). Things are then manifestations of these two attributes. Everything whether good or evil comes out of the windows of these attributes and returns through the very same windows.
Everything, in borrowing an attribute, relishes that attribute; and this relishment forms its relationship to the attribute which it has borrowed; and it forms the potentiality of that thing. Everything is a form of some attribute; the a’yan are the forms of attributes. Whatever comes out of an attribute is a perfection of that attribute. Everything will revert from the temporary to the eternal world with the perfection that it has received here. When things divest themselves of their attributes (and this will not be for more than a minute, so that the internal may become the external), Real Unity appears, The ‘ariff appreciates this for a minute in this world. The thing does not revert to the dhat but only to the sifat from which it came out. Sifat from the condition of the next world; hence the necessity for the Judgement day, when the sifat that are still hidden will become manifest.
The ‘created’ is not an addition on the Dhat and vice versa; hence multiplicity does not enter into His Unity. Qul-hu wa-Allahu ahad “Say Allah is one.” When Existence is not more than one, partnership is with what?
Shaykh Muhiyuddin ibn ‘Arabi says: “Haqq is the ‘created’, for the ‘created is the manifestation of the names and attributes of Haqq, and the reflection (buruz) of the Absolute existence in several mirrors. The prohibition to apply the limitations and restrictions of the ‘created’ to Him is on account of gradations (tanuzzulat). Therefore ignore the gradations and limitations and pierce through them to Wahdat).
In the opinion of Gazur, the existence in which effects are manifest and which is called Ordinary Existence is a part of the Absolute Existence, like the water of the waves which is a part of the ocean, and which is called Wujud-I-Mujlaq (absolute existence) and Dhat-i-Bahat (pure’dhat). This ordinary existence is Mumkinu’l-Wujud (possible existence) as named by Mutakallimin (scholastics) and Makhluq-i-Mujid (the created creator) as named by Mushshayin (the followers of Aristotle the Peripatetic); and Mahiyyat (Realities) as named by Ishraqin, i.e., the Realists or the followers of Plato). Since the ordinary existence is really Haqq, the existence of objects is God’s existence La Mauiudu-il-Allah (none is existent except Allah Himself). Do not ignore the ocean on account of the waves.
The ‘possible’ existence is the tajalli of God in the form of ‘ayan with their peculiarities; and this is called Wujud-I-idafi which Alam tara Rabbika kayfa maddaz-zilla,– “Do you not see how your Lord has lengthened His shadow.”