The Muhammadan Reality Pt.5

[He has complete knowledge of their lives, He is the Span of Time while man’s existence is limited to his own lifespan], while they encompass nothing of His knowledge (that complete picture) save what He will” (2:255) which is given to them through revelation and inspiration by those who witnessed it and can reveal it in the form of wisdom, the Angels.

There are two kinds of beings this kind of knowledge is intended for, the Angels who are immortal and will witness all of it, and the prophets, saintly men and those Allah inspires besides them without them knowing, will be given this knowledge in condensed form (summation) as revelation and inspiration in their hearts, by simile a feeling can tell you what a thousand words can’t and many of our feelings are guidance from Allah through His Mala’ika.

The 99 qualities of Allah cannot be known properly except over the span of time, but because of what the prophet (saws) achieved Allah revealed to Him (saws) all His qualities which no prophet (saws) before Him had received in their entirety. For example His quality of the being al Latif, the subtly aware, its role in the universe could not be known properly until the modern age when man began to study how the universe was constructed, understanding subatomic space is being subtly aware of what is happening around you at the most finite levels.

These new perceptions on life we are given is the result of the maqaam (station/rank) of the Muhammadan Reality and because of it Allah wrote the prophets (saws) name on the Arsh as proof since it is the only other thing that knows Allah properly (through the span of time).

Besides the things we have quoted and written in this work already, what else have the scholars said, what else did the prophet Muhammad (saws) himself say?

“The Messenger of Allah (saws) Himself said: ‘None of you truly believes until I am more beloved to him than his child, his father and all the people.'” (Ibn Maaja)

Abdullaah ibn Hishaam said: “We were with the Prophet (peace be upon him), and he was holding the hand of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab. ‘Umar said to him: ‘O Messenger of Allah, you are dearer to me than everything except my own self.’ The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: ‘No, by the One in Whose hand is my soul, until I am dearer to you than your own self.’ ‘Umar said to him, ‘Now, by Allah, you are dearer to me than my own self.’ The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: ‘Now), O ‘Umar.’” (Bukhari).

This is one of the meanings behind Allah writing the prophets (saws) name on the Arsh, He (saws) is tied to belief and as a result reality itself. This is because love is a form of sight and no person will see the way of the true path except through the prophet (saws). This isn’t about your self interest or the prophets (saws) its about the reality Allah created in the universe and how to arrive at a destination. When your nafs is gone you see others more than you see your own self, and when you begin to see the prophet (saws) more than you see your self you have learnt how to see, this work explains why Allah made this the reality of the universe and why the prophet (saws) was given this.

If a person or prophet is to be granted access to unique knowledge from the past and future, at his point in time through revelation and inspiration, and the nature of that knowledge is only known through the complete span of time because it is revealed over that time, such as all the qualities of Allah, then nothing from his past or from his future can be in the way, He needs to be faultless and sinless through all time so that nothing hinders the spirituality of this coming to Him from any perspective or direction, because to understand a picture that is seen by grasping the span of time in your perception you need to be deserving of every perspective and direction on life.

All the prophets achieved this to varying degrees which is why they where made Prophets before they came into life and received portions of its revelation like the partial list of Allah’s qualities, but the prophet Muhammad (saws) was the only one to entirely fulfill its requirements and receive every name of Allah.

“Allah tasketh not a soul beyond its scope. For it (is only) that which it hath earned, and against it (only) that which it hath deserved” (2:286) this verse is why the prophet Muhammad (saws) is deserving of every respect, what He (saws) received is proof of the work He (saws) did and what He (saws) earned as a result.

Al-Mughira (ra) Narrated: The Prophet used to offer night prayers till his feet became swollen. Somebody said, to him,” “Allah has forgiven you, your faults of the past and those to follow (the future, so why do this).” On that, he said, “Shouldn’t I be a thankful slave (of Allah)?” (Bukhari)

Imam Ibn Arabi and His main student Imam al Qaysari said on this subject (the translator’s commentary is also included):

“Ibn ‘Arabi begins chapter 27 of the Fuṣuṣ by saying that the Prophet possesses the wisdom of singularity (fardiya, uniqueness) since he is the most perfect being in existence. It is through the Prophet that the matter of creation began and ended.”

The Imam Said: His is the wisdom of singularity because he is the most perfect existent of this human species, which is why the matter begins and ends with him, for he was a Prophet while Adam was between clay and water (the souls of prophets are then given prophet hood after this). Then, in his elemental form, he became the Seal of Prophets (after Allah asked the souls of every prophet to take the oath of prophet hood by the light of Muhammad).

Imam Qaysari Imam Ibn Arabi’s main student comments on his words by breaking down the components of the universe; “It is the wisdom of singularity because of his singularity (uniqueness) in the station of Divine All-Comprehensiveness (al-jam‘iyya al-ilāhiyya), above which is nothing except the level of the Essence (to be free from matter, sub atomic or otherwise) of Exclusive Oneness (al-dhāt al- aḥadiyya, Allah is exalted above everything in the universe). This is because it [the station of Divine All-Comprehensiveness] is the locus (center) of the Name Allah, which is the greatest, All-Comprehensive Name (al-ism al-jāmi. The name that combines all of Allah’s qualities) amongst all the Names and qualities.”

(The prophet (saws) was the closest in reaching the oneness, singularity, of Allah that is represented in the Name Allah, which in its meaning encompasses all of Allah’s other names. Just like your name when calling you also embodies who you are, the qualities people remember about you when they see you. Allah gave mankind a shortcut to connect spiritually with all His qualities by revealing to us His name, Allah, which in its meaning is the totality of all His qualities, it is His personal name that sums up everything He is. “Say: Call upon Allah or call upon, the Beneficent One (Al Rahman); whichever you call upon, His are all the attributes of perfection” (The qualities you should acquire) (17:110)).

Imam Qaysari continues; “Thus, the Prophet possesses the wisdom of singularity because he is the being who best embodies the Name (qualities of) Allah—which is at once the All-Comprehensive Name and the solitary or singular Name (al-ism al-mufrad)—but also because, in the descent of Being (from the spiritual to the physical aspects of a being), he (saws) stands alone at the top of the cosmic hierarchy of Allah’s Self- Disclosures (things Allah revealed to His creatures about Himself).”

“In order to illustrate this point further, Qaysari cites a well-known ḥadith in which the Prophet is reported to have said, “The first thing Allah created was my light” (The first thing Allah created was an aspect of the prophets (saws) character, His light, and the light shinning from any person’s face tells you his nature, qualities and who He is. Thus from the prophets (saws) light Allah created every thing the universe relies upon to exist, “every excellent thing”). (end quote)

The light of prophet hood came into existence from Allah directly, from His “essence,” thus giving the prophet Muhammad (saws) the ability to know everything that was created from it, the ability to understand the complete span of time. All things have their reasons (causes/asbab) for being the way they are and this is the reason why the prophet Muhammad (saws) could Know all of Allah’s qualities properly above other prophets, because we all benefited from His (saws) reality, this is why mankind excelled above other creatures the reality of Mankind created the universe and every other reality exists within ours, therefor we can know them all but they can’t know all we know, we can understand the life of every animal but they can’t understand ours, this Haq extends to every intelligent creature Allah created, spiritual and physical.

It is our breadth of understanding that gives us uniqueness, from which we draw the most complete picture of life in our selves, this is where wisdom comes from and vision of Allah, it is not our depth and who has the most knowledge about any one subject, which Allah’s spiritual creatures surpass us in.

Allah explains in the Quran this unique ability of mankind; That his heart can know things vast in nature in a single moment and sum them up with a feeling or moment of inspiration so his consciousness can understand what he is experiencing and then put it into words.

This is why Allah began a surah about the balance He created in the universe by first saying He created man and taught Him speech, the purpose of his speech is to describe the universe from his reality, a reality created to understand everything.

“The Merciful, who taught the Quran, He created man, and He taught him speech. The sun and the moon move according to a fixed reckoning (obeying the forces of the universe); the stars and the trees bend in prostration (Their ecosystems obey His laws). He raised the heavens and set up its balance, so that you should not transgress the measure (all of these ecosystems are connected right down to mans psychology and spirituality). Always measure with justice (in society) and do not give short measure (to people)”. (55:1-8)

Allah created mankind, therefore this next verse is not an accusation against them but a declaration about what Allah created;

“Man is made of haste (ultimately a reference to his heart which quickly sums up information about many things with a single feeling that represents them). I shall show you My portents (Hand in the universe), but ask Me not to hasten (let them come to you naturally so you can know their asbab/causes in the universe).” (21:37)

Imam Ali (ra) said about this, “the vision of the eye is limited but the vision of the heart transcends all barriers of space and time,” the heart can encompass the universe and many large things in it with its vision, regarding all this Allah said in a hadith Qudsi “Neither My Earth nor My Heavens can contain Me, but the heart of a Believing Servant, contains Me.” This is the breadth of man’s capacity, what His heart can encompass and understand surpasses every other creature.

Man’s is unique because of His heart which is completely focused on his soul, that is always reading the sub atomic spiritual world taking input from what is happening around us. Because of this the heart is the center (loci) of manifestation of Allah’s qualities, this is its vision that Imam Ali mentioned. Our prophet (saws) was given the complete picture of Allah and it is Allah’s reality that manifests itself in all the prophets in a complete way, rather than as individual or multiple qualities seen in lessor humans who can’t encompass every kind of issue and creation in the universe over the span of time as well as them.

“The Muhammadan Reality therefore marks the beginning of existence and is brought to its completion and its totality in the Prophet. It is for this reason that Ibn Arabi states that “the matter begins and ends with him.””

Imam Qaysari explains that the levels of Divinity (al-darajāt al-ilāhiyya) bring about the cosmos (in stages because some of Allah’s qualities take priority over others. Like Allah’s saying, “my mercy overshadows my wrath”).

Imam Ibn Arabi says: “He (Allah) observes the levels (darajāt) which are with the Real (Haq of the universe) when He says, “Raiser of levels, Possessor of the Throne” (40:15) (Here Allah combines the stages of creation with the Arsh, in a single verse), because of His establishing Himself upon it with the Name the All-Merciful (al-Raḥman). So, there is no one under the Throne whom the Divine Mercy shall not reach, which is why He says, My Mercy encompasses all things (7:156). The Throne encompasses everything while the One established upon it is the All-Merciful. Through its reality does the cosmos receive the diffusion of mercy (sarayān al-raḥma), as we have elucidated elsewhere, both in this book and in the Meccan Revelations. (These are the mechanisms, asbab, behind creation receiving rahma or mercy from Allah, it comes to us from the subatomic to our world, hence baraka in life originates from here).”

This is how the scholars described the universe from the sub atomic world down to us on earth;

“According to Qaysari from these levels of Divinity (the qualities of Allah manifest in stages in the universe until we reach the Arsh where we can see their totality, Allah), the First Intellect is brought about (into existence from the first particle) and, from it, the Universal Soul is existentiated (“I created you from one soul”). From the Universal Soul come about all of the rational souls (other souls), bodily matter, universal substance (the first particles everything else originates from), and the starless heaven (falak al-aṭlas), which Qaysari identifies with the Throne (the universe of stars we see in our night sky ends at the Kursi, beyond it inside the Kursi and Arsh, stars don’t exist, this is something the prophet described in ahadith). Then the Footstool (kurs) is existentiated, followed by the elements (particles) from the heavens and the earth (that we know). This process therefore accounts for the intermediate world (Barzakh (veil) between our world and the spiritual world or ghayb) or the world of imagination (malakūt, basically the subatomic world whose particles create the images we see in our mind) as well as the phenomenal world (mulk, physical world).” (Imam Qaysari as Imam Ibn al Arabi is describing the universe from the sub atomic world and the first particles that exist at the deepest depths, the universal substance, to the physical world with its varied particles and elements).

“Through the descent to the ranks of matter (from the deepest subatomic depth to our world), the establishment of mercy comes about. (Allah in the Quran says “I am the light/particles of the Heavens and the earth”, and “He guides (through) His light/particles Whom He wills”, 24:35) So the Muhammadan Spirit (in the old language it is His spirit because that is the world of spirit), which is the locus of manifestation of Allah’s mercy, establishes itself upon the Throne (Allah wrote His name there to indicate the prophets (saws) association with everything the Arsh does) so that His mercy may permeate the worlds (the entire universe), just as He said (about the prophet), And we sent you not, save as a mercy to the worlds (this is its proof)(21:107) (these are the asbab, reasons behind that verses existence, this is how the prophet (saws) was a mercy to all the worlds, not just in name but in reality).”

“If you want, you can say that, through the reality of the Throne, this permeating [of mercy] exists in the world. And it (the Arsh) is the fixed entity through which the All-Merciful (al-Raḥmān) is manifest in the world, just as He is manifest through the First Intellect in the world of spirits (sub atomic) and through the outermost sphere in the world of bodies (the physical that was created from the spiritual world).”

Insha Allah you have benefited from these two Imams words and understand how much of the universe they comprehended, how ahead of their time they were, unfortunately today they are being attacked and tarnished by those wishing to turn Muslims away from their greatest scholars, their history and true heritage.

The name Allah is a gift given to the prophet Muhammad (saws) for His entire community because by saying the name, we are connecting our self spiritually with that singularity of Allah. We benefit from it because we spiritually connect ourselves through this name with the totality of what Allah is, revealed over the span of time regardless of which point in time we exist in becouse He is timeless and does not change.

Each quality of Allah created different parts of the universe, so when you say Allah you open your heart to the universe to receive from it through Him, each person makes different kinds of connections because they are unique, which is why Allah says to people who call on Him, He provides help, assistance, aid, support from unexpected places they do not think of. Like other prophets (as) the prophet Muhammad (saws) was a truly unique individual, so when He (saws) said Allah He received from places no one else had ever received from before.

The mercy Allah granted the universe through Him (saws) reached the entire universe because of the Arsh, His (saws) reality helped every other reality come into existence and helped every creature know Allah.

“Say: “Invoke Allah, or invoke Al Rahman (the Most Gracious): whichever name you invoke Him by, His are all the qualities of perfection (Asma al husna).” (17:110)

 

Notes: The Hadith Of Jabir

1) “He was Abu Abdallah Jaabir ibn Abdallah ibn `Amr ibn Hiram as-Salami al-Ansaari al-Khazraji. He was a notable Companion of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, a traditionist, mujtahid and Imam in knowledge. He was born in Abyssinia when his parents emigrated there. He was among those who gave the Oath of Fealty beneath the tree. He was present at all the battles between the Muslims and the disbelievers except the battle of Badr. He related 1500 hadith and was the mufti of Medina in his time. He lived to be 94 and died in the year 78 A.H”

2) Source of the Hadith: Ta’leem Al-Anaam by Shaykh Abdullahi ibn Muhammad Fuduye’ ibn Uthman Famous as Ibn Fuduye (b.1179H) who quotes it from Imam Abdul Razaq the narrator of the other Hadith of Jabir we quoted. The Imam was “A highly respected scholar of the eighteenth century, the brother of this scholar was a well known mujaddid and wali of the Sokoto Khalifah, Uthman ibn Fuduye, the scholar himself went on to become sultan of the Khalifa. The book was concerning the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and served as an abridgment to the Shifa of Qadi ‘Iyyad”.

3) Some in our time thought the use of the word Maqam in the hadith is strange saying the word wasn’t known by the prophet (saws) or first generations (rah). This is incorrect because the word comes from the Quran and was used by the prophet (saws), we have Maqam al mahmoud mentioned in the Quran that the prophet (saws) was promised. He (saws) used the word in the dua He taught His Umma about this Maqam, the dua “Maqam al Mahmoud alathi wa adta” has been recited after every call to prayer (adhan) by Muslims around the world for the past 1400 years.

Our present work on the Muhammadan Reality and the previous one “Allah Is Reality” establish this narration is scientifically sound, something an inventor of ahadith could never stumble upon by mixing words together, moreover most of what it states is found in smaller ahadith by various narrators showing it’s contents are not isolated statements. The hadith is an example of the prophet Muhammad (saws) speaking in the scientific terms of His (saws) time. This is rare, and these kinds of ahadith are rare, because as He (saws) explained He (saws) only spoke in such terms to the few companions that could handle science. Because they where limited in number these kinds of narrations are more isolated and come from unique places as they are transmitted through history.