Sufi metaphysics

Major ideas in Sufi metaphysics have surrounded the concept of Wahdat or "Unity". Two main Sufi philosophies prevail on this controversial topic. Wahdat al-Wujud literally means the unity of existence. Wahdat al-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.

Wahdat al-Wujud
Wahdat al-Wajud (Arabic: persian: ) 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 `adam ( 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 falsehood. Arabic: (Batil). Ibn Arabi is most often characterized in Islamic texts as the originator of the doctrine of wahdat al-wujud, however, this expression is not found in his works and the first who employed this term was perhaps, in fact, the Andalusian mystical thinker Ibn Sabin. Although he frequently makes statements that approximate it, it cannot be claimed that "Oneness of Being" is a sufficient description of his ontology, since he affirms the "manyness of reality" with equal vigor. In his view, wujd is the unknowable and inaccessible ground of everything that exists. God alone is true wujd, while all things dwell in nonexistence, so also wujd alone is nondelimited (mutlaq), while everything else is constrained, confined, and constricted. Wujd is the absolute, infinite, nondelimited reality of God, while all others remain relative, finite, and delimited. Since wujd is nondelimited, it is totally different from everything else. Whatever exists and can be known or grasped is a delimitation and definition, a constriction of the unlimited, a finite object accessible to a finite subject. In the same way, wujd's selfconsciousness is nondelimited, while every other consciousness is constrained and confined. But we need to be careful in asserting wujd's nondelimitation. This must not be understood to mean that wujd is different and only different from every delimitation. The Shaykh is quick to point out that wujd's nondelimitation demands that it be able to assume every delimitation. If wujd could not become delimited, it would be limited by its own nondelimitation. Thus "He possesses nondelimitation in delimitation" Or , "God possesses nondelimited wujd, but no delimitation prevents delimitation. Rather, He possesses all delimitations, so He is nondelimited delimitation, since no single delimitation rather than another rules over Him.... Hence nothing is to be attributed to

Him in preference to anything else" . Wujd must have the power of assuming every delimitation on pain of being limited by those delimitations that it cannot assume. At the same time, it transcends the forms by which it becomes delimited and remains untouched by their constraints. On the highest level, wujd is the absolute and nondelimited reality of God, the "Necessary Being" (wjib al-wujd) that cannot not exist. In this sense, wujd designates the Essence of God or of the Real (dht al-haqq), the only reality that is real in every respect. On lower levels, wujd is the underlying substance of "everything other than God" (m siw Allh)which is how Ibn Arabi and others define the "cosmos" or "universe" (al-'lam). Hence, in a secondary meaning, the term wujd is used as shorthand to refer to the whole cosmos, to everything that exists. It can also be employed to refer to the existence of each and every thing that is found in the universe. For the creatures, Being is not part of their essence. So a creature does not own its being, that it can never be independent in itself . In this sense, the created does not deserve the attribution of Being. Only God is Being, and all the rest is in reality a possibility (imkn), a relative, possible non-existence. 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. Sachal Sarmast and Bulleh Shah two Sufi poets from Pakistan, were also ardent followers of Wahdat-ul-Wujood. 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.

Pantheism, Panentheism, and Wahdat al-Wujud

The English word Pantheism means All is God while 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.

Tashkeek
Tashkeek or gradation is closely associated with Sadrian interpretation of wahdat alwujud. According to this school, not only there is gradation of existents that stand in a vast hierarchical chain of being (maratib al-wujud) from floor (farsh) to divine throne (arsh), but the wujud of each existent maahiya is nothing but a grade of the single reality of wujud whose source is God, the absolute being (al-wujud al-mutlaq). What differentiates the wujud of different existents is nothing but wujud in different degrees of strength and weakness. The universe is nothing but different degrees of strengths and weaknesses of wujud, ranging from intense degree of wujud of arch-angelic realities, to the dim wujud of lowly dust from which adam was made.

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. Some, however, will counter that the two concepts differ in that wahdat ul-wujood states that God and the universe aren't identical. They hold real existence to be for God only and the universe to have no existence on its own (without God).

Salafi criticism
Some Salafis criticize the concept of wahdat al-wujud on the grounds that it was a product of Arab interaction with Hindu philosophy, and is not a purely Islamic concept. However, this is highly improbable simply because Muslims did not begin their interactions with the Hindus of India until the 12th century whereas prominent Sufis had already openly published some of their writings as early as the 6th century, including AlHallaj, Dhul-Nun al-Misri, and so on. Although Salafis cite similarities with Kabbalah as a criticism, even a cursory study of the history of Kabbalah would indicate that the formulation of Kabbalah was based on Sufi doctrines as espoused through secret publications by the Brethren of Purity.. For example, Brethren of Purity discussed the doctrine of emanations which mention there being eight sephiroth, whereas in Kabbalah it is mentioned that there are ten sephiroth. However, the writings of the Brethren of Purity did not reach the Jews until during the time of the Muslim rule of Spain and the time of the Crusades. Before then however such doctrines already existed and were well established.

Sufi criticism
Some Sufis, such as Ahmad Sirhindi (Mujaddid Alif Sani), have criticised wahdat ulwujood. 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.

Wahdat al-Shuhud
Wahdat al-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", "unity of perception" or "unity of appearance".. Out of those who opposed the doctorine of wahdat al-wujood, there were those who substituted the pole of subject for the object, formulating the doctorine of Wahdat ulshahood. This school was formulated by `Ala al-Dawlah Simnn, was to attract many followers in India, including Ahmed Sirhindi who provided some of the most widely accepted formulations of this doctorine in the Indian sub-continent. In his opinion this whole universe has also self (nafs) as an individual person has a self, which is called the Universal Soul (an-Nafs-ul-Kulliyah). The multiplicity of the whole universe has originated from it. When Ibn Arabi says that everything is God, he thereby means the Universal Soul. This Universal Soul, or the Self-unfolding Being (al-Wujud-

ul-Munbasait), subsists by itself. This existence pervades the whole universe, both the substance and the accident, and accepts the form of everything. It is both immanent and transcendental. Beyond this existence (al-Wujud-al-Munbasit : Universal Soul) towards the original existence (God) none has access to. In other words, man's progress ends with the Universal Soul or the Self-unfolding Being. He cannot move a step further. The Universal Soul and God are so intermingled that the former is often taken for the latter." As for the question of the relation that this existencen (al-Wujud-ul-Munbasit) has with the essence of God itself. This relation is, however, known only in its reality (anniyyah : I-ness); its quality is unknown and can never be known. Thus when Ibn Arabi says that the realities of the existing things are the names and the attributes of the Universal Soul (Self-unfolding Being) in the stage of knowledge (Fi Martabat-il-'Ilm, in the Divine Consciousness) or when Imam Rabbani asserts that the realities of existing objects are sheer nothingness on which the lights of the names and attributes of the Universal Soul (al-Wujud-ul-Munbasit) are reflected is exactly the same thing. The difference in their language is so little that it needs no consideration.

See also
Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi (11531191). Emanationism Illuminationist philosophy Ibn Arabi

References
God Speaks, The Theme and Purpose of Creation. Meher Baba, Dodd Meade, 1955. (second edition, p. 280)

Further reading
Thaqq al-haqq fi'l kalamat al-haqq a book by Peer Mahr Ali