The Eighteenth Letter

 

 

Unsound geographical claims • The Doctrine of the Unity of Being • Divine purposes for the amazing, incessant activity in the universe

 

In His Name, glory be to Him.

There is nothing that does not glorify Him with praise.

 

Three important matters

 

FIRST IMPORTANT MATTER: SUCH FAMOUS SAINTS AS MUHIY AL-DIN ibn al-‘Arabi, author of Al-Futuhat al-Makkiya (The Makkan Conquests), and Sayed ‘Abd al-Karim al-Jili, author Al-Insan al-Kamil (The Universal Man), discuss Earth’s seven layers, a place after Mount Qaf (the White Earth), and a strange thing they name Mashmashiya.34 Geographers and geologists do not recognize such places, and no places on this planet bear such names. If these assertions are false, how can they be considered saints and people of the truth?

ANSWER: They are both saints and people of the truth. What they saw has a reality, but they may have erred in interpreting and naming their visions. People of vision cannot interpret their visions while in a trance-like state, just as people cannot interpret their dreams while dreaming. Their visions can be interpreted only by pure people of truth and verification who are true heirs of the Prophetic mission (Asfiya). When such people of vision attain the rank of people of pure truth and become aware of their mistakes in the light of the Qur’an and Sunna, they correct them.

Consider the following parable: Two pious shepherds milked their animals and collected the milk in a wooden bowl. After a shepherd laid a flute across the bowl, one of them went to sleep. While he was sleeping, the other noticed that something like a fly flew from his friend’s nose and, after buzzing around the milk for a while, went through the flute and disappeared into a hole at the foot of a gum-tree. Shortly afterwards, the fly-like thing came out of the hole, passed through the flute, returned to the sleeping shepherd’s nose, and caused him to wake up.

After he woke up, the shepherd related his strange dream. “May God turn it to goodness,” his friend said, and asked him what he had seen. The man replied: “I saw a milky lake across which stretched a strange covered bridge with windows. Passing along the bridge, I saw a place covered with tipped bushes, at the foot of which was a cave. I went into the cave and found a treasure therein.” His wise friend interpreted the dream: “The milky lake is that wooden bowl, and the strange bridge is the flute lying across it. The bushes are that gum-tree over there, and the cave is that small hole. Now fetch the ax so I can show you the treasure.” They dug up the tree and found the treasure, which made them both happy in this world.

Although what the sleeping shepherd saw is not unreal, he cannot make his vision correspond literally to reality, since he might confuse the nonmaterial world with the material one. The shepherd who stayed awake can interpret the dream, because he can distinguish between the two worlds. Thus in order to reach the reality, one must distinguish between the material and spiritual worlds. Imagine yourself in a small room with a mirror on each wall. Entering it, you will see multiple images of it, just as if it were a whole neighborhood. You can say that you see your room as being as big as a whole neighborhood, but claiming that your room really is that big is wrong, for you can do so only if you confuse the World of Ideas with the material world.

Descriptions given by some discerning, pious people about Earth’s seven layers or strata should not be considered only in geographical terms. For instance, they speak of the stratum of jinn, which is thousands of times as vast as Earth. This is unrealistic. But if we consider Earth to be like a pine tree’s seed, the ideal Earth “tree” growing from it in the World of Ideas or Spirits would be like a huge pine. For this reason, during their progress on the spiritual path some people of spiritual vision see some of Earth’s strata as very vast in the World of Ideas. Since that world and the material world resemble each other in appearance, visionaries confuse them and record their visions as material facts. Thus their descriptions are considered unrealistic. Just as a huge palace or garden is reflected in a mirror, the World of Ideas or Spiritual Realities, when reflected in Earth’s domain, appears to be thousands of times larger than Earth.

In conclusion, this reveals that the rank of spiritual vision is lower than that of belief in the Unseen. Thus a saint’s conclusions reached through spiritual discovery carry little weight when compared with those witnessed by pure people of truth and verification, who rely on the Qur’an and Sunna. In other words, all spiritual states, visions, and conclusions reached via contemplation, intellectual intuition, or spiritual discovery should be judged according to the principles of the Qur’an and the Sunna, and the standards derived from them by pure people of truth.

SECOND IMPORTANT MATTER: Most people regard the rank of those who assert the transcendent Unity of Being as the highest and most perfect. But no Imams descending from the Prophet’s Family, no Companion, or Imams of the following generation (the Tabi‘un), including the founders of the four schools of jurisprudence,35 ever mentioned this. Is this view correct?

ANSWER: God forbid that anyone could be greater than those pure scholars who are “the nearest stars to the sun of Prophethood.” Besides, the way of the Prophet’s pure successors is the most perfect and the safest. The transcendent Unity of Being is only an assertion made by some saints while in a state of spiritual ecstasy. Its followers, although their way is imperfect, go into spiritual ecstasy when they attain this rank and regard it as the highest. If they enter the spiritual state in which they can discern some hidden truths, attribute every occurrence solely to God, ascribe nothing to causes either in their lives or in the universe’s operation, and discern God’s direct manipulation of affairs, then they can attain some degree of perfection by accepting the transcendent Unity of Being.

However, this acceptance should depend on their spiritual state and not on scientific knowledge. They may go so far as to deny the universe’s existence in God’s name, because they see everything as annihilated in God. However, those who believe strongly in causality, and so see the universe as subject to this law and are immersed in materialism, they may incline to monism or pantheism (denying God in the name of the universe). The safest and broadest way is that established by the Companions and followed by their followers. They taught that each thing has a definite, objective reality and that nothing resembles God: Nothing is like Him (42:11).

God is above being divided or included in space, for He is the Creator Who created everything. Existence is not an illusion, as asserted by the transcendent Unity of Being, for everything is a work of the Creator. Existents are not God Himself, but are all from God. All natural phenomena or all of existence cannot be eternal, for they are created over time and so contained in time and space. Two comparisons will clarify this.

FIRST COMPARISON: Picture a just ruler whose role of dispensing justice is manifested in his government’s department of justice. In his role as caliph, his function of administering religious affairs is manifested in the department of religious affairs and sciences. As the supreme commander of the imperial armies, he is represented by the department of military affairs. If someone claimed that he is only a just ruler and thus limited to dispensing justice, this would involve denying the actual existence of the government’s other departments. The departments of religious and military affairs would be seen as “ideal” or “nominal” instead of “actual,” or as being nominally represented by some officials therein.

This assertion also means that the monarch is “the just,” with his rule restricted to the department of justice, and holds his other names (caliph, supreme commander) only nominally, ideally, or theoretically. But the nature of monarchy requires real names, and these should show themselves in real departments. By way of analogy, the Divine Kingdom should have such real holy Names as the All-Merciful, the All-Providing, the All-Bestowing, the Creator, the Ever-Active, the All-Munificent, and All-Compassionate. These Names, in turn, require real mirrors in which they are reflected. Thus the Unity of Being, which is based on the assertion that only God exists, reduces things to illusions.

However, if those asserting the Unity of Being concentrate on the Divine Existence together with His Names, the One and the Unique but ignore the manifestations of the One and the Unique regarding them to be imaginary or illusory, this may not be harmful. For the “illusory” manifestations of the these Names will not add to or reflect on the mirror of the Divine Existence a shadow of actual existence, thus causing this mirror to be brighter. But according to the Unity of Being, manifestations of such Names as the All-Merciful, the All-Providing, the All-Overwhelming, the All-Compelling, and the Creator are also illusory, whereas in fact they have substantial reality and must manifest themselves through their actual operations in the universe. As a result, their manifestations are also actual.

The Companions and pure jurists and Imams descending from the Prophet’s Family were convinced that things have a definite, objective reality. This means that God really manifests Himself through His Names and that everything has an accidental (non-substantial) existence as the result of His creation. This existence, no matter how weak, unstable, and temporary when compared with the Necessarily Existent Being’s existence, is not an illusion. The Almighty confers existence by manifesting His Name the Creator and causes His creation to subsist.

SECOND COMPARISON: Imagine a four-walled room with a full-length mirror on each wall. The room is reflected separately in each mirror and, accordingly, assumes the mirror’s quality and color. Two people enter this room. One looks in a mirror and says that everything is in it. Although the other explains that other mirrors contain different reflections, the first one insists that there is only one mirror and one reflection. Furthermore, in his view, the other reflections—if they really exist—can be no more than insignificant and secondary ones visible in a corner of the mirror into which he is looking. He adds: “This is how I see it, so this is the reality.” The other responds: “I admit what you see. But you see only an aspect of the reality, for there are other mirrors resembling yours, and none of them is as small and insignificant as you claim.”

Likewise, each Divine Name demands a special mirror in which it will be reflected. The Names the All-Merciful and the All-Providing, being essential to God, require the existence of creatures needing mercy and provision.

Just as the All-Merciful demands the existence of real creatures needing mercy and provision, the Name the All-Compassionate requires the existence of Paradise. So if one regards the Names the Necessarily Existent Being, the One, and the Unique, as the only essential and really existent ones, and all other Names as nominal or theoretical, one must hold these Names in very low esteem.

This is why the way of the Companions and their followers, and of the pure scholars, the Imams descending from the Prophet’s Family, and the leading jurists is the safest and the most perfect. These most prominent students of the Qur’an have attained the highest rank of sainthood.

 

Glory be to You. We have no knowledge save what You have taught us. You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. Our Lord, do not cause our hearts to swerve after You have guided us. Bestow us the gift of mercy from You, for You are the Bestower of Gifts. My God, bestow blessings on him whom You sent as a mercy for all worlds, and on his Family and Companions.

 

THIRD IMPORTANT MATTER: This cannot be grasped by reason and philosophy.

 

Every (moment of every day) He is in a new manifestation. (55:29)

One Who freely and incessantly does whatever He wills. (85:16)

 

QUESTION: What is the Divine purpose for the universe’s incessant, amazing activity? What is the reason for the whirl of creation, for its constant renewal?

ANSWER: It would take almost 1,000 pages to elaborate this matter adequately, but I will be brief and hold the explanation to a couple of pages. If someone enthusiastically performs a natural or social duty, an observer may infer two reasons: the ultimate cause (what can be obtained from doing so) and the motive or necessary cause (one’s yearning to do it and subsequent enjoyment in doing it). For example, eating when hungry gives some satisfaction [necessary cause], while food nourishes the body [ultimate cause].

Likewise, this incessant, amazing activity is caused by two kinds of Divine Names and is done for two comprehensive purposes or results. The first purpose and cause is that God’s Beautiful Names manifest themselves in countless ways and kinds. This causes multiplicity in creation. Further, the Divine Names manifest themselves incessantly and seek to display their works continuously. This causes the Book of the Universe,36 with all its “sentences, words, and letters” to be renewed constantly. Each part of this Book, which is the manifestation of the Divine Names, is a sign or indication of the Sacred Divine Essence so that conscious living beings can know Him.

The second cause or purpose is that every creature is active because it yearns for and takes pleasure in activity. There is a definite pleasure in all activity, rather all activity is some sort of pleasure. Likewise God, the Necessarily Existent Being, in conformity with His essential independence of creation and absolute perfection, has infinite sacred affection and love. Such affection and love cause an infinite sacred enthusiasm, which engenders a limitless sacred joy that is the source of infinite sacred pleasure. Due to this pleasure special to His Divine “Essence,” God has infinite compassion. In turn, this compassion causes His creatures to attain their relative perfection by enabling them to realize their full potential. The perfection and the pleasure they find in attaining it pleases God so much that His infinite sacred pleasure requires the whirl of creation.

I am amazed at the followers of materialistic philosophy and secular natural sciences. Unaware of this delicate Divine wisdom, they attribute such activity, which displays perfect knowledge, wisdom, and insight, to unconscious nature, blind coincidence, and causality. And so they fall into the dark pits of misguidance.

Say: “God,” and leave them alone to play their game of plunging. Our Lord, do not cause our hearts swerve after You guide us. Bestow us the gift of mercy from you, for You are the Bestower of Gifts. My God, bestow peace and blessings, as many as the particles of the universe, upon him who solved Your creation’s mystery, and upon his Family and Companions, so long as Earth and heavens exist.

The Everlasting: He is the Everlasting.

Said Nursi

34 Muhiy al-Din ibn al-‘Arabi (1165-1240): A celebrated Muslim Sufi– philosopher famous for the doctrine of the Unity of Being; Sayed ‘Abd al-Karim al-Jili (1365-c.1424): A Sufi whose doctrines of the “perfect, universal man” became popular throughout the Islamic world. His ideas were influenced strongly by al-‘Arabi. (Ed.)

35 The founders of Islam’s four legal schools are Abu Hanifa (c.699-767), Malik ibn Anas (712-95), al-Shafi‘i (767-820), and Ibn Hanbal (780-855). They agree on all fundamentals of Islamic belief, and differ only in minor matters related to practice. (Ed.)

36 See footnote 5. (Ed.)