I mean tawhid (the oneness of God). This station is a very noble station.
Know that even when the cosmos did not exist, it was bearing shahāda (testimony) to the Necessary Existent (Wājib al-Wujūd). For the cosmos, even when it did not exist, its existence was preferred; it was its fixed essence (ʿayn-i thābita), and even when it was in a state of nonexistence, the Real (al-Ḥaqq) had characterized it with listening and obedience. :
For the Real, seeing them in nonexistence was not muḥāl (impossible). Therefore, when any of the possible beings emerged from nonexistence into the realm of existence, none of them ever denied this. However, among all creation, only this insānī (human) being, dominated by the veil of his own nature, denied it and associated some things as partners with Him.
Allah created him in such a way that he was, in reality, to serve only a single Lord to whom he himself bore shāhid (witness), to listen and obey. The Worshipped (Allah) created this veil of nature for him as an unseen (ghayb). Thus, some of them, due to being accustomed to seeing with their eyes under the influence of the veil of nature, took as their lord stars from the celestial realm or elements from the lower realm, or some material entities they could see and observe, and their nafs (lower self) found rest in this. They imagine that this deity they have taken bears witness to the Real and is closer to them than He is. They serve it and worship it, hoping it will bring them closer to Allah. (Futūḥāt, ITIL, 301)
If ten candles are lit in one place
And you look at them as if they are different from each other
There is no difference between their light
Look at their light in the pitch-black night
If you squeeze a hundred apples and a hundred quinces
Once you count them, they become one
There is no division or number in meaning
There is no rank of numbers in meaning
The union of friends with friends is sweet
The opposition of form is strangely attractive
If you annihilate the form
You have attained the treasure of unity
You have no qudra (power) except by the grace of the Real
Souls are sacrificed for His grace
He is the one who grants ʿināya (divine favor) to all
He is the one who grants hudā (guidance) to His servants
We were a single, diffused essence throughout the universe
We were headless and footless everywhere
We were radiant with light like the sun
We were pure from impurities, like water
When that simple light took on form
The shadow of number appeared as a visible phenomenon
If the various shadows were removed
The light would be characterized by unity
Perhaps it would be possible to elaborate further
But I fear the slip of a weak mind
(Masnavi, I, 28)
If ten candles, each different in appearance and form, are brought to one place
If you turn your face to the place illuminated by the candles, it is impossible to distinguish the light of each candle from the others
If you gather a hundred apples and a hundred quinces, then squeeze them all and extract their juice, the number one hundred disappears, and all become one
In meanings, there is no division or number. In meanings, there is no individual enumeration or separation
The meeting of friends with friends is delightful. You too should grasp the meaning and hold onto it; form and appearance are stubborn and rebellious
Wear down the stubborn form and appearance with hardship and discipline, so that you may see the treasure of unity hidden beneath it
If you cannot dissolve that stubborn form, Allah, whom I serve, will dissolve it with His grace and mercy. (Note: O lover of the Real, fulfill your religious and human duties. Do not despair if your inner eye has not opened and you have not escaped the vision of multiplicity. The Merciful and Compassionate Allah will, at an unexpected time, remove your attachment to form and appearance. Shafik Can)
This cannot be seen with the physical eye, but only felt with the eye of the heart. For it both reveals itself to hearts and mends the dervish's heart-tunic torn by worldly events, setting him on the path of love and gnosis. (Note: Those of the Muʿtazilite creed believe that seeing Allah is impossible, while the people of the sunnah, based on the hadith "You will see your Lord as you see the full moon on the night of the fourteenth," believe that seeing the Real is possible. The Real grants His lovers the grace of witnessing Him, thus removing the despair and heartbreak caused by separation from Him, and heals their wounded hearts with His eternal favor. Shafik Can) (Masnavi, I, 46)
We were spread throughout the entire universe as a single essence, all of us headless and footless there. (Note: Mawlana's statement "We were spread as a single essence" refers to the hadith of the Prophet: "The first thing Allah created was a white pearl." This white pearl is called the Reality of Muhammad (Ḥaqīqat-i Muḥammadiyya). All souls originated from this source.)
The Universal Intellect (ʿAql-i kull), the Universal Pen (Qalam-i kull), and the Supreme Pen (Qalam-i aʿlā) are also terms for this. This essence was indivisible. All creatures were created from it. All beings existed in it, without hands or feet, and indistinguishable from one another. (Shafik Can)
The divisions, separations, and distinctions seen in this world did not exist in that world. In that world, we were at the Station of Oneness (Ahadiyya), a luminous essence radiating light in all directions like the sun, pure and clear like water. (Note: The gnostics call the first, unmanifested stage of the Absolute Unseen the ahadiyya (station of absolute oneness). It is also called the Hidden Treasure (Kanz al-Makhfī) and the Unseen of the Unseen (Ghayb al-ghayb). The divine effusion (fayḍ) that manifests in the heart as the thought of Allah is divided into fayḍ al-aqdas (most holy effusion) and fayḍ al-muqaddas (holy effusion). Fayḍ al-aqdas is the self-manifestation of Allah and the bringing into being of the fixed essences (aʿyān al-thābita). Fayḍ al-muqaddas is the manifestation of Allah's names, which causes beings to come into existence. (Shafik Can)
When that beautiful and subtle light took on form and shape, numbers appeared like the shadows of fortress towers
Demolish the towers with catapults so that the differences between the separated and divided are removed. (Note: The fortress towers symbolize human material existence, ego, and pride. Shafik Can)
I would very much like to explain this secret in detail, but I fear that someone with a weak mind might slip and fall into denial. (Masnavi, I, 47)
Everything is perishing except the Face of the Real
To perish in the Face of the Real is truer
Whoever is worthy of the Eternal Face
For him, "Everything will perish" is not a punishment
He has passed from "lā" and reached "illā"
Whoever is in "illā" is not annihilated
Whoever says "what" and "who" at the threshold
Is rejected at the door of worthlessness
(Masnavi, I, 120)
Everything except Allah's Essence is perishing. Since you have not perished in His Essence, do not seek existence
Whoever perishes in Our Essence and reality is saved from perishing and attains baqāʾ (subsistence in God)
Because he is in "illā"; he has passed from "lā". Those whose station is "illā" do not perish, that is, they cannot be annihilated in the Real. (Note: In the phrase of tawhid, "Lā ilāha illā Allah", both negation and affirmation are present. When we say "Lā ilāha", we deny any deity other than Allah. In "illā Allah", we affirm and accept Allah's existence. Some who recite the words of tawhid deny other deities but do not say "Only Allah exists." Such people have passed from "lā" but are stuck at "illā". However, the one who finds the path of salvation denies everything other than Allah, including himself, and considers them nonexistent. (Shafik Can)
That is why whoever claims existence by saying "I" or "we" at the door of the Real is expelled from that door and wanders in the station of "lā". (Masnavi, I, 196)
Tawhid is to distinguish the pre-eternal from the originated. With this statement, Junayd meant that tawhid is to distinguish the Pre-eternal (Qadim) from the originated, the Creator from the created. (al-Furqān, 87)
Tawakkul (reliance upon God) is built upon tawhid. Tawhid has several levels: The first is the qalb (heart) affirming Allah's oneness by saying, "There is no god but Allah, He is One, He has no partner, sovereignty belongs to Him, and all praise is His alone, He is capable of all things." To affirm this without knowing its proof is the belief of the common people.
The second is to see various existents but to know that all of them emanate only from the One Allah. This is the station of the muqarrabūn (those brought near).
The third is when a person's baṣīra (inner sight) is opened so that he sees there is no agent except Allah. He fears only Him, hopes only from Him, and relies only on Him. For, in ḥaqīqa (inner reality), He alone is the agent. He is exalted above all, and everything is under His command. Just as one does not rely on rain for the growth of crops, nor on clouds for the falling of rain, nor on wind for the movement of a ship, so too relying on causes for the occurrence of things is ignorance. Whoever has had the doors of reality opened to him knows that the wind cannot blow by itself, but must have a power to make it blow.
For a servant to attribute his safe arrival on a sea journey to the wind is like someone brought before a king to be executed, then pardoned, and then begins to thank the ink, paper, and pen used to write the pardon, saying, "If it were not for these, I would not have been saved," seeing the pen but not the hand that holds it. This is great ignorance. The one who knows the pen has no role in this matter thanks the writer, not the pen. Allah's dominion over all creation is greater than the scribe's control over the pen in his hand. I declare Allah, who creates causes and has the power to do as He wills, free from all imperfection. (Qudāma, 354)
Generation (tawlīd) is the most particular of the stations of maḥabba (love). For only with it does the Beloved become manifest. It clarifies the ambiguous, determines the obscure, distinguishes the direction of love, and purifies the essence from the husk. (Rawḍa, 414)
Tawhid is to declare Allah free from signs of createdness. Its first subtlety is the tawhid of the common people, which means shahāda (testimony). Its purpose is to eliminate shirk (associating partners with God). The qibla is established upon it. Through it, lives are protected, and through it, blood and property are safeguarded.
Its second subtlety is the tawhid of the khawāṣṣ (elite), which is tawhid established by realities. This is to eliminate apparent causes, to rise above rational debates, and to be concerned with witnessing and direct perception. It is corrected by the knowledge of fanāʾ (annihilation in God) and clarified by the knowledge of jamʿ (union).
The third is the tawhid of the Real as He Himself has willed. Allah has shown some of the secrets of this tawhid to a group among the Sufis. He has rendered them mute in describing Him and incapable of expressing Him. The one who points only points to this: that tawhid is to eliminate createdness and to affirm pre-eternity. He is beyond everything indicated by time and place and limited by causes. (Rawḍa, 497)
Tawhid is to remove all attributions (nisbas). (Bughyah, 6)
The maqāmāt (spiritual stations) continue as the murīd (aspirant, disciple) ascends from one to another, until he reaches tawhid and maʿrifa (gnosis, experiential knowledge of God), which are the ultimate goals sought for felicity. The murīd must ascend in this manner. The foundation of all stations is obedience, affirmation, and, prior to these, iman (faith), which continues alongside them.
If there is any deficiency or failure in reaching the result, let it be known that it is due to something that occurred previously. The same applies to human thoughts and inspirations. Therefore, the murīd needs to examine his nafs (lower self) in his other actions and consider their realities. Just as it is necessary to obtain results from actions, so too is it inevitable that there will be deficiencies due to mistakes. Thus, the murīd finds this (station). (Bughyah, 18)
O noble son! This poor man's belief in his youth was the doctrine of the people of tawhid, namely tawhid-i wujūdī (the oneness of being). My father, outwardly, was also of this path, and inwardly, he was always engaged in it with a quality-less, complete orientation. According to the saying, "the son of a faqīh is half a faqīh," I too, in terms of knowledge, derived much benefit from this path and found great delight in it.
This state continued until Allah, by His pure grace, led me to our Shaykh, our Master, our Qibla, Muhammad Bāqī Billāh, the mine of guidance, the locus of gnosis and realities, the supporter of the religion pleasing to Allah. May Allah sanctify us with his secret. He taught this poor one the Naqshbandi tariqa (Sufi path/order). He granted this poor one abundant and perfect spiritual attention. After beginning to engage with the exalted tariqa, the doors of tawhid-i wujūdī were opened to me in a short time. In this unveiling, I experienced an excess, and many sciences and gnoses of this station manifested to me. Indeed, there remained not a single subtlety of this station that was not opened to me. The subtleties of the sciences and gnoses of Shaykh Muhyiddin Ibn ʿArabi became manifest. I was honored with the self-manifestation (tajallī-yi dhātī) he explained in the Fuṣūṣ.
He believed that this station is the ultimate end of ascension, and that after this station comes absolute nonexistence (ʿadam-i maḥḍ). (Maktūbāt, I, 41)
This manifestation, with all its details as explained by Shaykh Muhyiddin Ibn ʿArabi...