Sufi metaphysics
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Major ideas in Sufi metaphysics have surrounded the concept of Wahdat or "Unity with God". Two main Sufi philosophies prevail on this controversial topic. Wahdat-ul-Wujood (Unity of Being) essentially states that in God lies everything and God lies in everything. Wahdat-ul-Shuhud (Apparentism, or Unity of Witness), on the other hand, holds that God and his creation are entirely separate. Some Islamic reformers have claimed that the difference between the two philosophies differ only in semantics and that the entire debate is merely a collection of "verbal controversies" which have come about because of ambiguous language. However, the concept of the relationship between God and the universe is still actively debated both among Sufis and between Sufis and non-Sufi Muslims.
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[edit] Wahdat-ul-Wujood
Wahdat-ul-Wujood or Wahdat al-Wajud (Arabic: وحدة الوجود) the "Unity of Being" is a Sufi philosophy emphasizing that 'there is no true existence except the Ultimate Truth (God)'. Or in other phrasing that the only truth within the universe is God, and that all things exist within God only. All of his creations emerge from `adim (عدم non-existence) to wujood (existence) out of his thought only. Hence the existence of God is the only truth (Haqq), and the concept of a separate created universe is a fallacy (Batil).
Wahdat-ul-wujood is considered a formulation of Ibn Arabi (Muhyi ad-Din al-Shaykh al-Akbar) since he is considered the originator of this idea[citation needed], however this term is not used in any of his writings. Wahdat-ul-Wujood spread through the teachings of the Sufis like Shaikh Abu Ali Sindhi and Bayazid Bistami. Sachal Sarmast and Bulleh Shah two Sufi poets from Pakistan, were also ardent followers of Wahdat-ul-Wujood.
Ibn Arabi was of the opinion that being in reality is to be one with God. All other actual and possible beings in the universe are manifestations and states or modes of his Divine Names and Attributes.[citation needed]
This mystic sufi philosophy found conducive soil in many parts of South Asia as most of the saints and sages became dedicated disciples of Wahdat-ul-Wujood. It is also associated with the Hamah Ust (Persian meaning "He is the only one") philosophy in South Asia.
Today, some Sufi Orders, notably the Bektashi sect and the non-traditional sects of Universal Sufism, place much emphasis on the concept of wahdat-ul-wujood.
[edit] Pantheism, Panentheism, and Wahdat-ul-wujood
The English word Pantheism means All is God[1] but the Arabic word wahdat ul-wujood emphasizes that there is just a single being in existence and this single being is God. However, wahdat ul-wujood maybe closer to panentheism, because it states that while the Universe is part of God or God's mind, God is still greater than his creation.
[edit] Criticism of the concept
Some Muslims, including both Sufis and Salafis, have made comparisons between wahdat ul-wujood and Pantheism, the concept that all is God. This criticism has come both from Salafis and from Sufis as well.[citation needed]
Some, however, will counter that the two concepts differ in that wahdat ul-wujood states that God and the universe aren't identical.[2] They hold that the real existence to be for God only and the universe to have no existence on its own or without God.
[edit] Salafi criticism
Some Salafis criticize the concept of wahdat ul-wujood on the grounds that it was a product of Arab interaction with Hindu philosophy, and is not a purely Islamic concept.[citation needed] Others also cite similarities with Kabbalah.[citation needed]
[edit] Sufi criticism
Some Sufis, such as Ahmad Sirhindi (Mujaddid Alif Sani), have critcised wahdat ul-wujood. Ahmad Sirhindi wrote about the sayings that universe has no existence of its own and is a shadow of the existence of the necessary being. He also wrote that one should discern the existence of universe from the absolute and that the absolute does not exist because of existence but because of his essence.[3]
[edit] Similarity to other belief systems
It is also speculated that the concept of wahdat ul-wujood could be product of Arab interaction with Hindu mystics and literature, specifically in reference to the non-dualistic teachings of the Upanishads, which preaches very similar concepts in regards to reality being an illusion and the only true existence being Brahman. The Upanishads were translated into Arabic during Muslim rule of South Asia. However this concept was developed in Spain during the Muslim rule, much before Muslim rule in India.[citation needed]
[edit] Wahdat-ul-Shuhud
Wahdat-ul-Shuhud (or wah-dat-ul-shuhud, wahdat-ul-shuhud, or wahdatul shuhud) has often been translated into English as Apparentism. In Arabic it literally means "unity of witness".
One of the main proponents of Wahdat-ul-Shuhud was Ahmad Sirhindi of South Asia. According to his doctrine, any experience of unity between God and the created world is purely subjective and occurs only in the mind of the believer; it has no objective counterpart in the real world. The former position, Shaykh Ahmad felt, led to pantheism, which was contrary to the tenets of Sunnite Islam.[citation needed]
Ahmad Sirhindi, another exponent of the doctrine of wahdat al-shuhud, held that God and creation are not identical; rather, the latter is a shadow or reflection of the Divines Name and Attributes when they are reflected in the mirrors of their opposite non-beings (a'dam al-mutaqabila).[citation needed]
Abu Hafs Umar al-Suhrawardi, Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi and Abd-al-karim Jili were also proponents of apparentism.
[edit] Shah Waliullah's view of Wahdat
Shah Waliullah made the first attempt to reconcile the two (apparently) contradictory doctrines of wahdat al-wujud (unity of being) of Ibn al-'Arabi and wahdat al-shuhud (unity in conscience) of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi.
Shah Waliullah neatly resolved the conflict, calling these differences 'verbal controversies' which have come about because of ambiguous language. If we leave, he says, all the metaphors and similes used for the expression of ideas aside, the apparently opposite views of the two metaphysicians will agree. The positive result of Shah Wali Allah's reconciliatory efforts was twofold: it brought about harmony between the two opposing groups of metaphysicians, and it also legitimized the doctrine of wahdat al-wujud among the mutakallimun (theologians), who previously had not been ready to accept it.
In his books Lamahat and Sata'at, he discusses stages of being, the perceptive faculty, the relation of the abstract with the universe, the universal soul and the souls of man, after death, essence, miracles, the scope of man, the soul of the perfect, universal order, source of manifestation, and the transformation of mystics from quality to quality. He also demonstrated that the long-standing assumption that Sufi doctrine was divided between Apparentism and Unity of Being was a difference of expression alone, the latter doctrine being seen as merely a less-advanced stage of projection.
[edit] References
- ^ pantheism derives from Greek: πάν ( 'pan' ) = all and θεός ( 'theos' ) = God
- ^ Tehqiq ul Haq fi Kalamat ul Haq a book by Pir Meher Ali Shah
- ^ Maktoobat Rabbaniyah
- God Speaks, The Theme and Purpose of Creation. Meher Baba, Dodd Meade, 1955. (second edition, p. 280)
[edit] Further reading
- Thaqīq al-haqq fi'l kalamat al-haqq a book by Peer Mahr Ali Shah
- A Salafi refutation of the concept
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Wahdatul Wajood Kiya Hai by Sayyed Ahmad Saeed Kazmi (In Urdu)
- Index of articles related to Wahdat-ul-Wujood
- What is Wahdat al-Wujood
- Wahdat-al-Wujud and the politics of polytheism
- Marefat Allah by Allame Tehrani (In Arabic)
- Tawhid Elmi va Eini by Allameh Tabatabaei and Allame Tehrani (In Persian)
- Wahdat Wujud by Ruhollah Khomeini(In Persian)
- Wahdat al-Wujood clarified
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