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limitations and all multiplicity, is the Real (al-Haqq). On the other hand,
viewed in His aspect of multiplicity and plurality, under which He
displays Himself when clothed with phenomena, He is the whole created
universe. Therefore the universe is the outward visible expression of the
Real, and the Real is the inner unseen reality of the universe. The universe
before it was evolved to outward view was identical with the Real; and the
Real after this evolution is identical with the universe."
Phenomena, as such, are not-being and only derive a contingent existence from the
qualities of Absolute Being by which they are irradiated. The sensible world resembles
the fiery circle made by a single spark whirling round rapidly.
Man is the crown and final cause of the universe. Though last in the order of creation he
is first in the process of divine thought, for the essential part of him is the primal
Intelligence or universal Reason which emanates immediately from the Godhead. This
corresponds to the Logos--the animating principle of all things--and is identified with the
Prophet Mohammed. An interesting parallel might be drawn here between the Christian
and Sufi doctrines. The same expressions are applied to the founder of Islam which are
used by St. John, St. Paul, and later mystical theologians concerning Christ. Thus,
Mohammed is called the Light of God, he is said to have existed before the creation of
the world, he is adored as the source of all life, actual and possible, he is the Perfect Man
in whom all the divine attributes are manifested, and a Sufi tradition ascribes to him the
saying, "He that hath seen me hath seen Allah." In the Moslem scheme, however, the
Logos doctrine occupies a subordinate place, as it obviously must when the whole duty of
man is believed to consist in realizing the unity of God. The most distinctive feature of
Oriental as opposed to European mysticism is its profound consciousness of an
omnipresent, all-pervading unity in which every vestige of individuality is swallowed up.
Not to become like God or personally to participate in the divine nature is the Sufi's aim,
but to escape from the bondage of his unreal selfhood and thereby to be reunited with the
One infinite Being.
According to Jami, Unification consists in making the heart single--that is, in purifying
and divesting it of attachment to aught except God, both in respect of desire and will and
also as regards knowledge and gnosis. The mystic's desire and will should be severed
from all things which are desired and willed; all objects of knowledge and understanding
should be removed from his intellectual vision. His thoughts should be directed solely
towards God, he should not be conscious of anything besides.
* * *
So long as he is a captive in the snare of passion and lust, it is hard for him to maintain
this relation to God, but when the subtle influence of that attraction becomes manifest in
him, expelling preoccupation with objects of sense and cognition from his inward being,
delight in that divine communion prevails over bodily pleasures and spiritual joys; the
painful task of self-mortification is ended, and the sweetness of contemplation enravishes
his soul.
When the sincere aspirant perceives in himself the beginning of this attraction, which is
delight in the recollection of God, let him fix his whole mind on fostering and
strengthening it, let him keep himself aloof from whatsoever is incompatible with it, and
deem that even though he were to devote an eternity to cultivating that communion, he
would have done nothing and would not have discharged his duty as he ought.
"Love thrilled the chord of love in my soul's lute,
And changed me all to love from head to foot.
'Twas but a moment's touch, yet shall Time ever
To me the debt of thanksgiving impute."
It is an axiom of the Sufis that what is not in a man he cannot know. The Gnostic--Man
par excellence--could not know God and all the mysteries of the universe, unless he
found them in himself. He is the microcosm, 'a copy made in the image of God,' 'the eye
of the world whereby God sees His own works.' In knowing himself as he really is, he
knows God, and he knows himself through God, who is nearer to everything than its
knowledge of itself. Knowledge of God precedes, and is the cause of, self-knowledge.
Gnosis, then, is unification, realization of the fact that the appearance of 'otherness'
beside Oneness is a false and deluding dream. Gnosis lays this specter, which haunts
unenlightened men all their lives; which rises, like a wall of utter darkness, between them
and God. Gnosis proclaims that 'I' is a figure of speech, and that one cannot truly refer
any will, feeling, thought, or action to one's self.
Niffari heard the divine voice saying to him:
"When thou regardest thyself as existent and dost not regard Me as the
Cause of thy existence, I veil My face and thine own face appears to thee.
Therefore consider what is displayed to thee, and what is hidden from
thee!"
[If a man regards himself as existing through God, that which is of God in
him predominates over the phenomenal element and makes it pass away,
so that he sees nothing but God. If, on the contrary, he regards himself as
having an independent existence, his unreal egoism is displayed to him
and the reality of God becomes hidden from him.]
"Regard neither My displaying nor that which is displayed, else thou wilt
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