Bismillahi rahmani Raheem, assalamu alaikum.
I was asked a series of questions by a new student of Tasawwuf in which they asked me about the nafs and the last level of Ihsan a person achieves, when the heart reaches the Arsh of Allah;
“Level 7? to my understanding is what I call ‘man-god’…..one who has found rooh-qudsi (muhammadean spirit) and has developed all 99 attributes, shaitan has annihilated ego and what is left is a human who is ‘one with Allah’. Like our revered prophet, but NOT like the prophet since he IS the archetype of the perfect man. This person IS the universe.”
What things sound like when you hear or learn about them and what they are when you reach them are very different things, you associate descriptions with what you are already familiar with in your inexperience and so over time meaning is corrupted because it has changed into the new understanding of language that each new generation of mankind develops for itself.
You don’t speak like your grandfather and they don’t speak like theirs, this is the nature of history and language.
This is a problem with language the scholars of Islam recognised at the start and did their best to preserve the Arabic language in its original meaning at the time of the prophet Muhammad (saws).
The term “man-god” is entirely modern since a Muslim would never dare compare themselves to Allah, the Questioner was young and used it because they learnt it from the western society they lived in, but it exists in western society because of the idiocy of freemasons trying to figure out the depths of spirituality and describing it in terms of things they are chasing after.
Even if you have the power to control the universe and change it however you like you are still a spec in comparison to Allah, if you don’t know why then you may think this is just exaggeration or reverence, but you would be a fool who acts and accuses without knowledge.
The answer is right in front of you but you have never put any effort into thinking about Allah so you can’t even imagine. Allah is a being who knows the thoughts of every creature in existence at the same time, He sees every reality at once, interacts with every reality at the same time and who He is as a God, His character, is built upon that basic knowledge and capacity to see and act on everything at once.
While you are drunk on wishing to control the universe, who Allah is lies in understanding His capacity to Know everything, you will only see Him after seeing that first and indeed the prophet (saws) said no one will see Allah before the Dajjal is killed because his fitnah is clouding your judgment from thinking higher and higher.
In reality this statement is aimed at Sayyidinah Isa (as) telling us what He (saws) will achieve when He (saws) returns and finishes His (saws) lifespan/tariqah on earth using what the prophet Muhammad (saws) taught to help Him (saws) achieve it.
Putting aside the error of using the term Man-god, the short answer is that whoever reaches this level Allah asks them to work with the Mala’ikah in guiding people and the universe, so while the descriptor is in the ballpark its exaggeration is not even close, you are a servant serving and that isn’t a god.
In reality servant is not even how you see yourself, you are someone helping Allah and He places you on an equal footing with His Mala’ikah.
“one who has found rooh-qudsi”, a purified spirit, this is why the term servant is wrong, even though it is often used, because to say servant means you see a self that serves but when you purify yourself to this level you are a walking Quran it is part of your nature and not a thing you put on and take off, it is you.
The prophet Muhammad (saws) said “I am a Slave (abd)” often but He (saws) was talking about the reality of man in the universe being subservient to its laws against His will because things affect man from the hands of others even if he has done nothing wrong and he is forced to take care of that to fix his situation in life.
“shaitan has annihilated ego and what is left is a human who is ‘one with Allah’”, this is again is exaggeration in language, all due to modern descriptions falling short of reality. I am going to lower what this means a level so you can understand its scope, you can’t see Allah with your eyes until the Dajjal (Allah’s curse be upon him) is killed, this is more like living life with a feeling of Allah in your heart at all times that guides you, that is being at one with Allah, but because we are talking about people who have reached the Arsh in their heart it means Allah Himself has placed a Light in their heart that is present at all times so that they “see” (sense) Him and His will.
You are at one with the light of Allah and because that is His will, Him, you are not literally at one with Allah directly.
“since he (the prophet) IS the archetype of the perfect man”, this is absolutely correct, mankind was created on the form of Adam but their Ihsan (perfection) its archetype is our prophet (saws), despite the mistakes in language I am pointing out if you can look past it you will see wisdom in the paragraph, not many understand this about our prophet (saws).
“This person IS the universe.” Yes, but not in the way you think, every person is the universe because they have the entire spectrum of the universe in them from the subatomic to the physical playing out in their body and when you control your nafs to the level of the Arsh you control the universe because the Arsh controls the universe and you are connected with it and working from this level.
This is not true for any other creature except man because Allah’s other creations given intelligence don’t have physical bodies and so they are missing a large portion of the universes spectrum, the Angels having bodies of light, the photon particle, and the Jinn created from a smokeless fire, electricity or the electron particle. Imam Rumi who understood this said “Don’t feel lonely, the entire universe is inside you.”
Shaykh Rami Al Rifai.