Mishkat Al Anwar -The Third Chapter

Concerning the meaning of the Prophet’s words:
“God has seventy veils of light and darkness;
were He to lift them, the august glories of His face
would burn up everyone whose eyesight perceived Him”

(1) One version [of this hadith] has “seven hundred veils” while another has “seventy thousand.” I say:

(2) God discloses Himself to His Essence in His Essence. Without doubt, the “veil” is understood in relation to the thing that is veiled. The veiled among the creatures are of three kinds: those who are veiled by darkness alone, those who are veiled by sheer light, and those who are veiled by light along with darkness.

(3) The types of these kinds are many, and I will verify their multiplicity. With difficulty, I could probably confine them to seventy, but I put no confidence in the delineation and confinement that appear to me, since I do not know whether or not this is what is meant by the hadith. As for confining them to seven hundred or seventy thousand, only the prophetic faculty can do that, although it is apparent—it seems to me—that these numbers are mentioned to indicate multiplicity, not to delineate. It is 15 often customary to mention a number not with the desire to confine, but rather to indicate multiplicity. And God knows best the verification of this, for that is outside human capacity. The only thing I can do now is to acquaint you with these kinds and with some of the types of each kind. Hence, I say:

The first kind

(4) They are veiled by sheer darkness. They are the atheists, those who do not have faith in God and the Last Day. They love life in this world more than the next world because they do not have faith in the next world at all. These people are of two types.

(5) One type look [for their fulfillment by] searching for the cause of the world. Hence, they turn it over to nature. But nature consists of a quality firmly embedded and adhering in bodies. Bodies arc dark, because they do not have knowledge and perception. They have no awareness of themselves and of what proceeds from them, and they have no light perceptible to outward eyesight.

(6) The second type arc occupied with themselves and do not attend to searching for the cause [of the world]. Rather, they live the life of the beasts. Their veil is their murky souls and dark appetites, there is no darkness more intense than caprice and the soul. I hat is why God said, “Hast thou seen him who has taken caprice to be his god?” [25:43]. And the messenger of God said, “Caprice is the most hateful god worshipped on earth.”’

(7) The second type are divided into groups. One group supposes that the ultimate end of searching in this world is to achieve washes, to obtain objects of appetite, and to attain bestial pleasures by means of women, food, and clothing? These people are the servants of pleasure. They worship it, search for it, and believe firmly that obtaining it is the highest felicity. They are pleased for their souls to lx on the level of the beasts— or, rather, more debased than the beasts. What darkness is more intense than that? Hence, these people have been veiled by sheer darkness.

(8) Another group [of the second type] sees the highest felicity in domination, taking control, killing, capturing, and imprisoning. This is the path of the nomads, Kurds, and many stupid people. They are veiled by the darkness of the predatory attributes because these attributes rule over them and because, when these attributes attain their goal, that is the greatest of pleasures. These people are satisfied to be at the level of ‘ predatory animals, or even more debased.

(9) A third group [of the second type] sees the highest felicity in the abundance of property and the extension of ease. After all, property is an instrument to achieve the object of appetite. Through it, the human being attains the ability to achieve wishes. Hence, these people aspire to gather property; to increase estates, land, valuable horses, cattle, and farmland, and to hoard dinars in the earth. Hence, you will see one of them striving throughout life—embarking on great dangers in the deserts, on journeys, and in the oceans to gather possessions with which he is niggardly toward himself, to say nothing of others. These are the ones meant by the words of the Prophet: “The slave of the dirham is miserable; the slave of the dinar is miserable.” What darkness is greater than that which deceives the human being? Gold and silver are two stones that are not desired in themselves. When wishes are not achieved through them and they are not spent, then they are just like pebbles, and pebbles are just like them.

(10) A fourth group [of the second type] climbs from the ignorance of these people and pretends to possess the rational faculty. They suppose that the highest felicity is the expansion of honor and fame, the spread of reputation, a multiplicity of followers, and the influence of the command that is obeyed. Hence, you see that their only concern is eye service and cultivation of the things upon which observers cast their glance. One of them may go hungry in his house and suffer harm so that he can spend his wealth on clothes with which to adorn himself so that no one will look at him with the eye of contempt when he goes out. The types of these people are beyond count. All of them are veiled from God by the sheer darkness that is their own dark souls.

(11) There is no sense mentioning each and every one of the groups after calling attention to their [general] kinds.

(12) Included among these people is a community that says with their tongues, “There is no god but God.” However, it may happen that fear causes them to say this, or they do so to show off and adorn themselves to the Muslims, or to seek provisions from their wealth, or to be zealous in helping the religion of their fathers. If this saying does not cause these people to do good works, then it does not bring them out of the darknesses into light. Rather, “their protectors are idols, that bring them out from the light into the darknesses” [2:2571]. As for one in whom the saying has an effect so that his ugly act is ugly to him and his beautiful act makes him happy, then he comes out from pure darkness, even if he performs many acts of disobedience.

The second kind

(13) They are a company of people veiled by light along with darkness, and they are of three types: a type whose darkness grows out of the senses, a type whose darkness grows out of the imagination, and a type whose darkness grows out of corrupt rational comparisons.

(14) The first type are those veiled by sensory darkness. They [comprise] several companies of people, none of whom fails to pass beyond attending to his own soul to strive at becoming godlike and to look forward to knowledge of his lord. The first of their degrees is the worship of idols; the last of them is dualism; and between [these] two are many degrees.

(15) The first company of people [just mentioned] are the worshippers of idols. They know in a general way that they have a lord whom they must prefer over their dark souls. They believe firmly that their lord is mightier than everything. However, the darkness of the senses veils them from passing beyond the world perceived by the senses. Hence, they make from the most precious of substances—like gold, silver, and rubies—figures formed in the most beautiful of forms, and then take them as gods. These people are veiled by the light of might and beauty. Might and beauty are among the attributes of God and His lights. However, they affix these attributes to bodies perceived by the senses. The darkness of the senses blocks them from [knowing] this because— as was said earlier—compared to the spiritual, rational world, sensory perception is dark.

(16) The second company of people are a community of the furthest Turks. They have neither a religious creed nor a revealed law, and they believe firmly that they have a lord and that he is the most beautiful of things. When they see a human having the utmost degree of beauty—or a tree, or a horse, or something else—they prostrate themselves before it and say, “This is our lord!” These people are veiled by the light of beauty, along with the darkness of the senses. They are more able to enter into observing light than the worshippers of idols because they worship beauty that is not limited to a specific individual. They do not single out any specific thing for beauty. Moreover, they worship natural beauty, not what is made for them and by their own hands.

(17) A third company of people say, “Our lord must be luminous in his own essence, splendid in his form, possessor of authority in himself, awe-inspiring in his presence, and unbearable to be near.” However, he must be perceived by the senses because, in their view, what is not perceived by the senses has no meaning. Then they find that fire has this quality and they worship it, taking it as a lord. They are veiled by the lights of ruling authority and splendor, which are among the lights of God.

(18) A fourth company of people suppose as follows: “We take control of fire through lighting and extinguishing flames, so it is under our free disposal and is not fitting for divinity. On the contrary, that which is [fitting for divinity] has these attributes and [yet] is not under our free disposal, though we are under its free disposal; and it is also described by highness and elevation.” At the same time, the sciences of celestial bodies and of the influences ascribed to these bodies are well known among them. Hence, some of these people worship Sirius, some worship Jupiter, and some worship other stars, in keeping with the many influences that they firmly believe to be in the celestial bodies. All of them are veiled by the lights of highness, radiance, and taking control, which are among the lights of God.

(19) A fifth company support the approach of those people but say, “Our lord must not be branded by smallness and largeness in relation to the many luminous substances; rather, he must be the greatest of them.” Hence, they worship the sun, saying, “She is greater!” They are veiled by the light of magnificence, together with the remaining lights, and with the darkness of sensory perception.

(20) A sixth company climb beyond these people and say, “The sun does not possess all light alone, since others also have lights. And it is not appropriate that the lord have a partner in his luminosity.” Hence, they worship unlimited light, which brings together all the lights of the world, they suppose that this is the lord of the world and that all good things arc ascribed to it. Then they saw that there is evil in the world, [and] they did not consider it beautiful to ascribe it to their lord, declaring him devoid of evil. Thus, they set up a struggle between their lord and darkness, and they turn the world over to light and darkness. Sometimes they call the two Yazdan and Ahriman. These are the dualists.

(21) This amount is sufficient to alert you to this first type, who are many more than these.

(22) The second type are those veiled by some lights along with the darkness of imagination. They are those who ha١’e passed beyond the senses. They establish something beyond sensory things, but they are not able to pass beyond imagination. Hence, they worship an existent thing that sits upon the throne.

(23) The most debased of them in level are the Mujassima Then comes every type of Karramiya.،، It is not possible for me to explain their doctrines and paths, so there is no benefit in listing them. The loftiest of them in degree are those who negate corporeality and all its accidental qualities except the direction specified as “up.” This is because something that is not related to directions and is not described as outside or inside the world is not, in their view, an existent thing, since it cannot be imagined. They do not perceive that the first degree of rational objects is to pass beyond ascription to the directions.

(24) The third type arc those who arc veiled by the divine lights along with dark, corrupt, rational comparisons. They worship a hearing, seeing, speaking, knowing, powerful, desiring, living god who [cannot be described] with directions. But they understand these attributes in keeping with how they stand in relation to their own attributes. One of them may say explicitly that his [god’s] speech is sounds and letters like our speech. ‘Another may climb higher and say, “No, rather it is like the speech of our own soul—there are neither sounds nor letters.” This is why, when the reality of hearing, seeing, and life is demanded from them, they fall back on declaring similarity in respect to the meaning, although verbally they deny the reality, since in no way do they perceive the meanings of these ascriptions in respect to God. This is the reason why they say about His desire, “It is temporally originated, like our desire; it is a seeking and an intending, like our intending.” These are well-known doctrines, and there is no need to go into their details.)’

(25) These people are veiled by a certain amount of the lights together with the darkness of rational comparisons. All of them are types belonging to the second kind, who are veiled by light along with darkness. And God alone grants success.
The third kind

(26) They are veiled by sheer lights. They are of many types, and it is not possible to enumerate them. I will, however, allude to three of their types.

(27) The first is a company of people who come to know the meanings of the attributes through verification. They perceive that ascribing the names “speaking,” “desiring,” “powerful,” “knowing,” and so forth to His attributes is not like ascribing them to human beings. They avoid making Him known through these attributes and come to know Him in relation to the creatures, just as Moses made known in answer to the words of Pharaoh: “And what is the Lord of the worlds?” [26:231]. They reply, “The Lord, who is too holy for and incomparable with the meanings of these attributes, is the Mover and Governor of the heavens.”

(28) The second type climbs beyond these people in the respect that it becomes manifest to them that there is multiplicity in the heavens and that the mover of each specific heaven is a different existent thing called an “angel,” of whom there are many. The angels’ relationship with the divine lights is that of the stars. Furthermore, it appears to these people that these heavens are inside another celestial sphere that moves all of them by its movement once in a day and a night. Hence, the Lord is the mover of the furthest celestial body that envelops all the celestial spheres, since plurality is rejected as pertaining to the Lord.

(29) The third type climbs beyond these and says, “Putting bodies into movement by means of direct contact necessitates that there be a service rendered to the Lord of the worlds: worship of Him, and obedience toward Him by one of His servants, called an angel. The angel’s relationship with the sheer divine lights is the relationship of the moon among the sensory lights.” They suppose that the Lord is the one who is obeyed in respect of this mover and that the Lord is a mover of everything by means of command, not direct contact. Then, in the classification and quiddity of that command, there is an obscurity before which most understandings fall short and for which this book does not have the capacity.

(30) All these types are veiled by pure light.

(31) “Those who have arrived” are only the fourth type. To them it has been disclosed that the one who is obeyed is described by an attribute that contradicts sheer oneness and utmost perfection. [This] belongs to a mystery which is beyond the capacity of this book to unveil. [It is also disclosed] that the relationship of this one who is obeyed is that of the sun among the lights. Therefore, they have turned their faces from the one who moves the heavens, from the one who moves the furthest celestial body, from the one who commands moving them, to Him who originates the heavens, originates the furthest celestial body, and originates the one who commands moving the heavens. They have arrived at an existent thing that is incomparable with everything that their sight had perceived. Hence, the august glories of His face—the First, the Highest—burn up everything perceived by the •sights and insights of the observers. Thus, they find Him too holy for and incomparable with all that we described earlier.

(32) Then they are divided into groups. Everything the sight of one group perceives is burned up, effaced, and annihilated. But they remain, observing the beauty and the holiness while also observing their own essences in the beauty that they attained through arriving at the divine presence. Hence, the objects of vision arc effaced, but not the person who sees.

(33) Another group, who are the elect of the elect, pass beyond this, the august glories of His face burn them up, and the ruling authority of majesty overcomes them. In their essences they are effaced and annihilated. They become extinct from themselves, so that they cease observing themselves. Nothing remains save the One, the Real. The meaning of His Words, “Everything is perishing except His face” [28:88], becomes for them a taste and a state. We already alluded to this in the first chapter, where we mentioned how they applied the word “unification” and what they thought of it. This is the ultimate end of those who have arrived.

(34) Another group does not climb and ascend according to the details we mentioned. For them the path is not long. At the very beginning they come to know holiness and the declaration of lordship’s incomparability; with everything its incomparability necessitates. What dominates over the others at the end dominates over them at the beginning. The revelation of Himself rushes upon them at once, and the august glories of His face burn up everything that sensory sight and rational insight are able to perceive. It is likely that the first path is that of the Friend [Abraham], while the second path is that of the Beloved [Muhammad].20 God knows best the mysteries of the steps of these two, and the lights of their station.

(35) Thus have I alluded to the various types of those who are veiled. It is not unlikely that if writings were set forth in detail and the veils of the travelers were traced, their number could reach seventy thousand. But if you investigate, you will not find a single one of them outside the kinds we listed, because people can only be veiled by their human attributes, senses, imagination, comparisons of the rational faculty, or sheer light, as was said earlier.

(36) This is what readily came to mind in answer to these questions, even though I was asked unexpectedly while my thoughts were divided, my notions diverging, and my concerns turned to a discipline other than this. My request to the questioner is that he asks God to forgive wherever my pen has transgressed and my foot has slipped, because delving into the flood of the divine mysteries is dangerous, and seeking to penetrate the divine lights from behind human veils is arduous, not easy.