Origin and End of Creation and ‘Wahdatul wajood’ (1)

                     

We have already seen in the article https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2012/07/ibn-e-arbi-and-quran.html that the concept of man’s union with Allah is older than Islam. This concept is found in various shades of Pantheism in vogue in pre-Christian era in the forms of Hinduism, Taoism, Monoism, Dualism, Stoicism, Epicureanism, and Neo-Platonism. All these philosophies opine that all things are one; God (if exists) is everything and everything is God. God exists in pluralism. In other words, individual and God have shared/unified existence. Ibne-e-Arbi carried forward this philosophy of pantheism by introducing theistic aspect to this philosophy in the form of “wahdatul wajood”. 

According to Ibne Arbi’s theory, existence is only one i.e. the Creator who is present everywhere in this universe, and there is no room for any other existence in this universe. Therefore he concludes this universe exists within the Creator’s existence. The Creator is infinite/ undetermined but universe is finite/ determined. Where the Creator’s existence becomes finite/ determined, it no longer remains the Creator’s infinite/undetermined existence, rather it becomes creation. In other words, in one way this universe is the Creator’s existence; but, in other way, this universe is created one. Briefly speaking, universe is part of the Creator’s Existence because it is lesser degree of the Creator’s Existence so it is not the Creator itself.

We have also discussed in the article https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2012/06/wahdatul-wajood.html that there is another connotation of ‘wahdatul wajood’, which is based on sufis’ spiritual experiences. ‘Sufis’ during meditation/ ‘mushahda-e- zaat’, experience only one existence i.e. the Creator. Therefore many ‘sufis’ believe in only one existence i.e. the Creator; all the rest is either deception/unreal (in view of many ‘sufis’) or finite/determined forms of the Creator’s single existence (in view of many other ‘sufis’).

According to all shades of ‘Theory of Wahdatul wajood’, all creation is to be extinguished one day into Existence of Allah; all creations would be merged one day into Body of the Creator and apparent duality between the Creator and the Creation would come to an end.

In the succeeding lines we would see though all creations would come to an end one day but they would not become a part of the Creator. What is and is made part of the Creator is not the creation; it is Allah’s Idea about the creation, which is and is made a part of the Creator. Allah’s Ideas are never a creation; Allah’s Ideas are as older as Allah Himself and of course Allah’s Existence  is infinite in terms of time; whereas creation is not infinite in terms of its existence.  

In the article https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2011/12/time-travel.html we have seen that time and space are considered as a twin and interdependent phenomenon. Time may be defined as duration to cover a distance between two points in space. Simply speaking, if a person moves from point A to point B, the duration required for space travelled/ covered between points A and B is called Time to reach from A to B. in other words, if space between A and B is expanded, the time to reach from A to B will be expanded; and if the space between A and B is contracted/condensed, time to reach from A to B will be shortened. It means same event (in this case moving from A to B) will require more (expanded) time to happen, if space is expanded; as that event will require lesser time to happen, if space is condensed/ contracted. 

In the article https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2012/11/fina-fillah-and-baqi-billah-scientific.html we have seen  events happening in 211.22 days on earth can be seen happening so in one second in seventh sky, from the same analogy it seems possible that all events happening from beginning to end of this world can happen in a single moment in such a frame of Time and Space which exists separately from frames of time and space of seven skies. Allah is not bound to operate keeping within ambits of Time and Space in seven skies. Quran says about process of creation: “For to anything which We have willed, We but say the word, "Be", and it is” (al-nahl-40).  From this verse it is evident that anything which is willed by Allah happens forthwith. It is possible only in such frame of Time and Space which exists separately from the frames of time and space of seven skies. We can say that Time and space may be contracted/expanded to such a point where all events happening from beginning to end of this world may happen in a single moment of time. This testifies our Nabi’s ﷺ saying that Allah is done with process of creation and its allied matters; it means He is alone as all creatures are already finished. This frame of time and space where all incidents from the beginning to end of all creations may happen in a single point of time may be called Allah’s frame of Time and Space.

In the article https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2013/10/time-and-space-allahs-eternal-qualities.html we have seen that ‘time and space’ are, in fact, eternal qualities of Allah; they are not something created. When CREATION EXISTS, these Allah's qualities (i.e. Space and Time) exist in eight various degrees in terms of contraction/expansion. Each sky, out of seven skies, has minimum and maximum degree of contraction/expansion of Time and Space. What I call Allah’s frame of Time and Space includes degrees of expansion/contraction of frames of Time and Space prevailing in all seven skies in addition to frame of Time and Space where all events from the beginning to end of creation happen in a single point of Time.   When CREATION WILL BE PERISHED, AND ONLY ALLAH's CONSCIOUS WILL PREVAIL, Space and Time (Allah's eternal Qualities) will exist in form of  Allah’s frame of Time and Space which includes seven frames of Time and Space each one prevailing in one sky, and frame of Time and Space where all events happening from the beginning to end of creation happen in a single point of Time. It  mean Allah can observe all events from the beginning to end of creation, even if all creations have been perished. IT MEANS ALLAH AND ALLAH's ETERNAL QUALITIES OF TIME AND SPACE ARE NOT AFFECTED BY THE EXISTENCE OR NON-EXISTENCE OF CREATION.   It is one of the Qualities of Allah.  Similarly Quran has mentioned  that Allah’s Entity cannot be seen through human eyes. Both Time and Space cannot be seen through human eyes; though both may be perceived through human physical faculties other than human eyes. The space which we see is not seen through eyes; rather it is perceived through physical faculties other than eyes. That is why blind people can also perceive  this space.

At Allah’s frame of Time and Space all stages of creation- from its origin to its end- are present and can be seen simultaneously. The origin of whole creation is Allah’s Idea regarding the creation; this Idea is contained in Allah’s Mind. When Allah wants making of a creation, Allah’s Idea regarding that creation is granted self-awareness. This process of granting self-awareness to an Allah’s Idea is called process of creation. In this way Allah’s Idea is given external manifestation. Allah’s Idea once given external manifestation is called creation (it may be appreciated that everything in this universe is alive; every type of creation enjoys life of a different type). The creation does not share existence with Allah’s Existence; it is just like a painter have an idea in his mind and then he paints that idea on a paper in the form of a picture. Even if the picture is granted sense of self-awareness, obviously the picture in its material constitution has nothing to do with material nature of painter’s idea. Similarly the creation does not share its Creator’s Existence/Allah’s Existence in any way. When Allah intends to end a creation, He takes away the sense of self-awareness from His Idea; resultantly external manifestation of Allah’s Idea ceases to exist and the creation expires. Once the creation expires, Allah’s Idea relating to that creation remains in Allah’s Mind. Actually Allah’s Idea relating to a creation is always there in Allah’s Mind, even when the creation is alive/exists. In this way, what is and is made part of the Creator is not the creation; it is Allah’s Idea about the creation. Allah’s Ideas are never a creation; Allah’s Ideas are as older as Allah Himself and of course Allah’s Existence is infinite in terms of time; whereas creation is not infinite in terms of its existence.  

When a sufi’s soul is elevated to Allah’s frame of Time and Space, he can observe as many incidents from the past, present and future as is willed by Allah because at Allah’s frame of Time and Space all incidents from the beginning to the end can be seen simultaneously, and he can also feel single Existence during meditation because of having observation of post annihilation of the creation (for details plz see  https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2012/11/fina-fillah-and-baqi-billah-scientific.html ). 

We may conclude that  ‘Wahdatul wajood’ concept is not correct.  The creation was never a part of Allah’s Existence and it would never be a part of  Allah’s Existence; creation is Allah's Idea which has sense of self-awareness and such Idea having self awareness was never and would never be a part of Allah's Existence. The Idea which is part of Allah's Existence does not have self awareness; therefore Allah's such Idea which does not have self-awareness cannot be called creation.  Similarly creation is not unreal or vanity; creation is what has sense of self awareness and a thing having sense of self awareness cannot be unreal or vanity (continued).