A Sufi Reflection on Existence (Wujud)

A Sufi Reflection on Existence (Wujud)

On the Unity of Existence (al-Wahdat al-Wujud)

In the Name of AllaaHu, the Elixir of Love, the Source of Love

AllaaHu, AllaaHu, AllaaHu Haqq....

Hu has no partner in Beauty, Hu alone is Present. There is no reality, but Hu.

A Sufi is but a flower quivering in the wind... After having been held in the night's silent possession, he allows himself to pass the first motions of thought to the day's infinite forms, even as the Ocean passes her waves to the countless shores.

Allow me here to speak the inner silence that pervades existence.

There is no inherently existing form in Existence (Wujud) save al-Haqq, since Existence (Wujud) manifests Hu's Self through Hu's Essence (Dzat) which is Being, and Being is al-Haqq. Hu alone transcends interdependence and origination because Hu simply IS. Or, in the words of al-Hallaj (who was drunk with the Essential Unity of Being, making himself non-existent before his Beloved, and hence perceived by many as an anomaly)... "Hu is Hu." It was his inner silence that caused him to say:

Ana al-Haqq!
Maa Fil Jubbati Illa-AllaaHu!

I am the Truth!
There is none inside or underneath the cloak except AllaaHu!

The Primordial Entity (al-'Ayn al-Awwal) is that which is singularly coessential to the reflection of the Whole in the mirror of Hu's Self, and That is One, but the Attributes (al-Ahkam) are many, countless. Since the Whole is intrinsically shoreless, boundless, these Attributes represent pure motions in the Reality of Existence pervaded by Hu's Singular Oneness (Ahadiyya). For this reason, AllaaHu SWT is said to be al-Wahid al-Wujud (the Primary Existence).

Through Hu's Self, Hu perceives Hu's Self; and through Hu's Self, Hu recognizes Hu's Self. None sees Hu save Hu, none precedes Hu save Hu. Hu's ultimate Veil upon which a continuum of Attributes (Names) is spanned is the manifestation of Hu's Singular Oneness (Ahadiyya).

As such, none veils Hu save Hu, and that ultimate Veil is that which hides Hu behind the perception of Hu's Singular Oneness, naked without attributes. Hu's Light is Hu, that which recognizes Hu's Self even in the void of infinite silence and darkness. Hu's First Prophet (Rasul) is Hu's highest qualitative manifestation whose reality covers the Universe of all graded existences, as such the Holy Prophet Muhammad SAW is said to be the Manifestation of the Greatest Name, and hence all the Names, of AllaaHu SWT. Know that between "Ahad" and "Ahmad", there is none save the Seal, "Mim", which is the Reality (al-Barzakh) between Pure Singularity and Perfect Humanity. This is the Reality of the Perfect Man (al-Insan al-Kamil). This Perfect Man, the Holy Prophet Musthafa SAW, is the Love, Beloved, and Lover of AllaaHu SWT. As such, Hu's Word is Hu and Hu's revelation of the Essence of Being to the Universe of graded manifestations is Hu. Hu sends Hu's Self to Hu's Self as a process witnessed by the mirror of Hu's attributes, called the Universe (al-'Alm). This is the secret hidden in the Primordial Initials A.L.M. (Alif-Lam-Mim). Alif represents AllaaHu as the Opener (Originator), that which spans countless realities by Hu's Infinite Potential or Power (Qudrat), Lam represents that which encompasses the hidden and manifest realities, and Mim represents the Prophet Muhammad SAW, the Principle of Perfect Humanity, who "sees things as they really are", in whose Reality the display and experience of the Singular Presence (al-Ahadiyya) takes place, which leads to the feeling of Annihilation in Boundlessness, Fana' fi AllaaHu.

The Hidden Intelligence or Intellect (al-'Aql) is that which sees Hu's Self as Real both in the inward and outward universes (worlds). As such, realities are but passing forms or the waves of the Self-Sustaining Oceanic Reality, the Absolute, al-Haqq. As such, "Huwa" and "la Huwa" ("Hu-is" and "Hu-is-not") are united in the Reality of al-Wajib al-Wujud. Hence, graded existences possess no discontinuity with regard to their progression towards the realization of the Absolute, al-Haqq.

Listen now to the Song of the Breath...

Huwa... Huwa... Huwa al-Haqq!
Fa'alam AnaHu la ilaha illa Huwa!
Subhaani!

Hu (alone) is... Hu (alone) is... Hu (alone) is the Truth ("That")!
Nothing exists above, below, in front, behind, and beyond Me, there is only Hu!
Glory be to Me!

O Thou Who veils Thine Own Face
And displays Thy Power without entering the worlds
Nor stepping outside of them,
All creation is lost in Thy Presence.

That-which-is-not is simply that-which-is-not Thou,
And Thou alone IS,
So where is the space for that-which-is-not, a shadow trembling
Before the Radiance of Thy Face?

Everything is within That-Which-Is
Simply because everything cannot be part of that-which-is-not.
One may speak of the existence of non-existence,
But who can speak of the non-existence of existence?
Hu alone IS.

Thou hath appeared to Thy Self without the necessity to do so,
In the Form of Breath and Awareness,
Causing the 18,000 universes to appear
In the Primordial Light,
And veiling Man with the illusory intensity of his exoteric separation.

But when the Singular Presence is realized,
The Primordial Light, which is Nur Muhammad, appears
And fashions the elements with Beauty's Unity
And Diversity's Capacity.
And there Thou art, appearing as the Mystery
And none veils the Mystery save itself.

Unveiling Thy Self for the sake of Thy Self
Is the Grand Symphony without a beginning and an ending,
A story none can begin or end!
And at once infinite breaths are dissolved
In the state of eternal IS.

O Thou Whose Hidden Side is the Beloved,
Whose Manifest Side is the Lover,
Whose State beyond attributes is Love!

None perceives Love unless he stands
On the horizon of events and appearances
And beholds Life naked,
With the Eye that sees none save Reality's Nakedness.

None seeks Love and begins the Journey
Unless his rapturous amazement has blinded himself from the world of dualities.
This is the birth of Longing.

A lover is he who has found Love's sole reason which is herself,
And Love's goal which is Beauty,
And Love is sufficient unto Love,
Even as Beauty is sufficient unto her own days and nights.

A dervish is he who readily enters the realm of dissolution
When the Naked Mystery arises from within his inner silence.

Ishq,

{Dani}