HEARTS OF THE ARIFIN (I)

Question: When something of which a ‘yaqîn’ occurs in the heart has a ‘sûrat’ in the ’âlem-i-mithâl, won’t this lead to the conclusion that Allâhu ta’âlâ must have a sûrat, an appearance.

Answer: “Allâhu ta’âlâ does not have a mithl (equal). Yet He has a mithâl. A sûrat will be seen in the ’âlam-i-mithâl,” they have said. As a matter of fact, the blessed author of the book Fusûs, [Muhyiddîn ’Arabî,] ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’ stated that the event of seeing (Allâhu ta’âlâ) in Paradise would take place in a manner of seeing the ‘sûrat’ in the ’âlam-i-mithâl. The ‘sûrat’ in the ’âlam-imithâl is not the ‘sûrat’ of Allâhu ta’âlâ in the ’âlam-i-mithâl. It is the ‘sûrat’ of the thing that occurs in the heart. And the thing that occurs in the heart, in its turn, is attained by way of ‘kashf’; it is not the Dhât-i-ilâhî (Allâhu ta’âlâ Himself). It is one of the nisbats and i’tibars[1] of the Dhât-i-ilâhî. Since the ’ârif’s business is with the Dhât(-i-ilâhî), such fancies appear. No sûrat or mer’î (observation, vision) takes place. For, the Dhât-i-ilâhî does not have a sûrat in the ’âlam-i-mithâl. What they have taken for granted as the sûrat of the ru’yat (seeing Allâhu ta’âlâ) is the sûrat of the yaqîn.

The ‘âlam-i-mithâl does not contain the sûrats (appearances) of substances and dhâts (persons). It contains the sûrats of meanings. The ’âlams (creatures) are the appearances of the Names and Attributes of Allâhu ta’âlâ. They do not have their own persons and beings, which in turn means that the entire ’âlam consists in meanings. [The ’âlam does not contain any matter.] Therefore, there are no ‘sûrat’s in the ’âlam-i-mithâl. Since the Names and Attributes of Allâhu ta’âlâ stay on with the Dhât-i-ilâhî (Allâhu ta’âlâ Himself), they are like meanings. The ’âlam-i-mithâl may have their sûrats. Yet it can never have the sûrat of the Dhât-i-ilâhî.