Wahdat al-Wujud: How And Why I Became Believer In Tawheed Al-Wujud.

[MuhammedAli]

Introduction:

A brother contacted me mentioned he has read my account of how and why I became orthodox Muslim, here, but he noted account regarding Wahdat al-Wujud has not been mentioned. He enquired if I believe in Wahdat al-Wujud and if I did believe in it what is Wahdat al-Wujud according to my research. I informed him that when it is appropriate I will try to write brief account. And after thinking I have decided both the account and what my current position regarding Wahdat al-Wujud is should be written separately. This article will briefly mention my Wahhabi era understanding regarding Wahdat al-Wujud and then why and how it changed.

Background That Lead Me To Question My Initial Position:

After years of being on anti-Wahdat al-Wujud band wagon and branding it Shirk and Kufr. Denouncing believers of Wahdat al-Wujud as Kafirs/Mushriks and branding those who believe in Wahdat al-Wujud as followers of Hindu doctrine pantheistic (i.e. everything is God). My conversion to orthodox Islam lead me to learning doctrine of Tawheed/Shirk it became apparent to me; one who understands Tawheed/Shirk in such great detail cannot fall into polytheism. Not unless one completely abandons Islam knowingly and willingly for another religion. It occurred to me then why would prominent scholars of orthodox believe in pantheistic doctrine of Wahdat al-Wujud? If someone like of my intellect and understanding of Tawheed/Shirk cannot accept it how can they?  Rather then resorting to: O because they were idiots and I am obviously smart. And they didn’t know Kitabullah and Sunnah of RasoolAllah (sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi was’sallam), and I am just on another level, the greatest Muffasir, Muhaddith on planet. Instead I laid the blame upon n my own door: It is my fault. The current tradition cherished by folks is: Everything is their fault, I can never be wrong, they had/have no sense, I am smart and I have IQ level 250. Why did I lay the blame because after knowing what I knew. I realized; I am following the principles of Tawheed/Shirk of group of scholars who pioneered them and know one who knows these cannot and will not ever fall into Pantheism of Wahdat al-Wujud. And it seemed highly improbable and infinitely impossible; that they would believe Wahdat al-Wujud if it was Pantheism. Then I started to research the subject in earnest.

Studying Pantheism And Panentheism Its Types:

The very first step was to study Pantheism. The very first book on topic Pantheism read was written by Paul Harrison, Pantheism: The Spirituality of and the Universe. And this was followed by another book of same author: Pantheism: Understanding the Divinity in Nature and the Universe. Note there is no religious text, or structure of Pantheism, rather is how a philosopher evolved the idea. And this process is continuous hence Pantheism is evolving. As an uninitiate of subject I believed Pantheism was only of one type. Commonly known termed as everything is God. Or more accurately all the material of universe is essence of God - the very material composing - by definition this is Monistic Pantheism. This main branch divides into two, a group believes the universe is God without soul of God, the other believes universe is essence and His soul unites all. The other main branch is Logostic Pantheism acknowledges God being a distinct being within Universe and His spark/soul is absorbed by His creation. There are other types but these two are popular with philosophers. End. Panentheism is belief that God exists within the universe and outside of universe. There are many versions of Panentheism and at the very least one is Pantheistic. Every major religion has some form of Panentheism except Islam. Western intellectuals purpose likes of Shaykh Ibn Arabi (rahimullah) had Panentheistic view of Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala). Yet orthodox Islamic scholarship has completely rejected this notion and its ascription to Shaykh Ibn Arabi (rahimullah). After equipping my self with foundational knowledge required to understand the subject. I ventured to read first Sunni book on this topic.

Writings Of Ala Hadhrat, Allamah Kazmi, Pir Mehr Ali Shah Golarvi:

My first book on subject of Wahdat al-Wujud was: Tehqeeq ul-Haq Fi Kalamat il-Haq, by Pir Mehr Ali Shah (rahimullah), here. This book is not for weak hearted because the Urdu is Grand Master class. Note this book was written in response to Deobandi Maulvi Abdul Hayy Lakhnavi’s Takfir of a Sunni Aalim. It was very difficult read and even more difficult to grasp what the author is actually saying. At the end of first attempt I was no better educated about the topic then when I started. Second attempt helped but its difficulty put me off from finishing it second time. Searching for a replacement book I stumbled upon: Wahdat al Wujud, by Allamah Syed Ahmad Saeed Kamzi (rahimullah), here. My first major error was that I had like Khawarij assumed word wujud in Wahdat al-Wujud to Urdu equivalent of jism (i.e. body). When I read Allamah Kazmi Sahib’s (rahimullah) explanation of Wujud it became apparent he used it in meaning of Existence. And then explained that Wujud (i.e. Existence) Zaat (i.e. Essence). If there is existence of Zaat then it has to exist in essence at the very minimum. He said to believe there is Wujud of others beside Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) that would mean Shirk in Zaat. There would be charge; we believe in existence of creation of Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) therefore we cannot escape charge of major Shirk. And he responded to it by saying that Allah’s (subhanahu wa ta’ala) Wujud is Haqiqi Existence of His creation’s wujud is Majazi. This was the point when I started connect Wujud of Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) with Haqiqi, Qulli, Bi-Ghayr Izni, Mustaqil, Ghayr Muntahi … Then it clicked; if we believe a creation beside Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) or all creation, exists in this sense we indeed would be Mushrik. Allamah Sahib (rahimullah) went to state and explain; nothing beside Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) exists in Haqiqi sense and all that exists for creation is illusory existence. There after I looked for Sayyidi Ala Hadhrat’s (rahimullah) material but I was unable to find anything substantial. In Malfuzaat of Sayyidi Ala Hadhrat (rahimullah) only one reference to Wahdat al-Wujud was found. He was asked: What is definition of Wahdat al-Wujud? To which he responded: One Existence and Existence of the One. And went on to imply that all other are illusory existences. Thinking there was nothing written on this topic by Sayyidi Ala Hadhrat (rahimullah alayhi ta’ala) I abandoned the search for it. But Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) provided me opportunity to talk to a senior work colleague who said Sayyidi Ala Hadhrat (rahimullah) had written a pamphlet on it. He promised he will make an effort to acquire it. He didn’t quite manage to get the Risala but from some where managed to get photo copies of pamphlet it was titled: Al Qaul il-Masood il-Mahmood Fi Mas’ala Wahdat al-Wujud, here. In this Risala he defines meaning of Wahdat al-Wujud as: Existence of the One and the One’s Existences. All others are images and shadows. And explains with an example that just as reflections in mirror are dependent for their existence upon the body creating reflection in the same fashion creation is dependent upon Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala). In other words; image, reflection, shadow is dependent upon the objection which creates it. In the similar fashion creation of Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) is dependent upon Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) to create them and to bring their existence into being.(1)  And stated Wujud of Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) is dependent upon nothing. Hence His existence is Haqiqi. End. Some the doubts and questions that remained unanswered were cleared by Sayyidi Ala Hadhrat (rahimullah alayhi ta’ala). After few months same brother brought me a Risala on Wahdat al-Wujud but warned it is written by Shia. This was enough for me to put it down.

Returning To Pir Mehr Ali Shah Sahib (rahimullah):

Years of brainwashing wasn’t to be eliminated due to weeks of effort. I had few nagging doubts about the concept and issues of trust. My judgment was: If Wahdat al-Wujud is as defined then I don’t have problem but there are things written by Sufis which are questionable. So I wasn’t entirely satisfied if it was Wahdat al-Wujud or not. I eventually decided to re-read Pir Mehr Ali Shah Sahib’s (rahimullah) book again in the hope that it will clear some doubts. Major doubt was Sufis have made statements which give meaning they see Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) in His creation or as His creation. Pir Sahib (rahimullah) explained it but I will give an example to illustrate his explanation. A person is stationed in a house. The walls of house are solid, with glass windows. Etc. … Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) granted this person special power to see through the walls just as he sees throw glass windows. Inside the house in front of a wall there is a decorative piece and the man’s son is standing on other side of the wall (i.e. out side of the house). The man looks at the decorative piece and points at it saying that is my son. In similar fashion a Wali of Allah who has reached to a stage due to Taqwa that Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) counts his Wali as beloved and then grants him supernatural powers of seeing, hearing, traveling, and ceasing/granting. This is established from Hadith Qudsi recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari. Then the Wali when he wants to sees through the walls and material and creation he does so. And directly he maybe looking at creation and says that is my Lord but reality is he sees through all and sees Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala). Just as the man saw through the wall and pointed to his son and people may deem him insane and mentally unstable. Even though people may consider it a defect but in reality it points to his merit. Of course not all those who claim this station have earned it but those who have genuinely achieved this status are known in the Ummah and Ulamah have pointed them out including the pretenders. This explanation allowed me to reconcile some statements. Other statements were explained by the fact that some of the Awliyah lost their mental balance and never regained consciousness. They are exempt from Shar’ri judgment because of their insanity but what they uttered are judged in accordance with Shari’ah. If these statements are Kufr/Shirk then they are declared to be so but the Takfir of person is not made due to mental instability nor punishment is given.₍₂₎ This put in perspective everything that I had against the Muslims and I found their understanding of Tawheed to be sound and problematic statements either explained or disavowed due to their Kufria nature. This was the lost hurdle after jumping over it and realising a balanced and systematic approach is taken by orthodox Muslims. I became believer in Wahdat al-Wujud.

About Leaving Wahhabism And Deobandism:

This was one of last subjects I studied and it was not the reason for which I left Wahhabism or Deobandism. And it was for this it was not mentioned in the account of how and why I was misguided and then guided. The decision to leave both was made on other aspects. I was just trying to find a place to fit, and part of this attempt to fit, was to study Ahle Sunnat's teaching. Praise be to Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala). I naturalised into Ahle Sunnat’s methodology over the period of about three years. And ever since I have strived to undo the damage I did, in my Wahhabi and Deobandi days, by putting my struggle into pen so others can benefit from it.

Pantheism, Panentheism And Tawheed Wahdat al-Wujud:

Pantheism assumes whole or part of God is in universe and polytheistic Panentheism (i.e. Christian Trinitarianism) assumes part of God as a god is in the universe. Heretical Panentheism – from Islamic teachings perspective – is where a God is not part of Christian but resides with in creation. Wahdat al-Wujud teaches Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) is not part of His creation but He is unique and His Existence is absolutely unique and Haqiqi. Where as all which Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) created is Majaz (i.e. Assumed, Illusory).

Wama alayna ilal balaghul mubeen.
Muhammed Ali Razavi

Footnote:

- [1] Some idiots do not understand how tashbih (i.e. comparison) works. They assume tashbih in every detail when in reality tashbih is always in a single characteristic, or action, or quality. Ulamah of old used words such as; shadow, image, reflection, to denote dependence upon Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala). Where as the enemies of Islam have used these words to demonise them. Sayyidi Ala Hadhrat (alayhi rahma) explains the terminology in his mentioned book. In Urdu words, Zill e Illahi (shadow of god), is used to mean king. Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) is King of Kings, and being His shadow implies king. Just as Isa (alayhis salam) being Ruhullah does not mean Isa (alayhis salam) is part of Ruh of Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala).

- [2] This does not mean that someone utters Kufr and claims to be Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) and we say: He is mad. Or accept the claim of madness without verifying it. If someone is insane or has lost mental balance then the people around him will testify if it is so.