BB00098: Tafsir-i-Hadith-i-Ma’rifati Nafs

Part 1: “He said, may God preserve him: What…”

“He said, may God preserve him: What is the meaning of the tradition transmitted from ʿAlí (peace be upon him):”Whoso hath known his own self hath verily known his Lord’?”

Know, O brother—may God have mercy upon thee—that I counsel thee, before commencing the explanation, with counsels which, if thou accept from me, will make attainment easy for thee; otherwise, the matter will be difficult for thee, and there is no path to knowledge except through knowing these counsels:

First, thou must purify thy heart from every principle thou hast received from thy scholars, for they have drawn from turbid springs flowing one into another, some rejecting others. Hast thou not seen those who have changed God’s bounty—that is, knowledge of Him—into disbelief and caused their people to dwell in the abode of perdition—Hell, wherein they burn; how evil a resting place! Soon they shall meet with destruction though they reckon they are doing good. Nay! From their hearts flows the abyss upon their tongues—the fire of polytheism and the poison of unbelief—yet they perceive not. If thou art fair to thy Lord, fearful of His station, and restrainest thyself from vain speech, thou wilt know that I am among the truthful ones. By God, I am indeed solicitous for thee and loving.

Second, compare not the words of thine Imams with the speech of creation, for speech is a manifestation among the manifestations of the speaker’s action, mirrors reflecting what is in his heart. Just as their souls are conclusive proofs and decisive signs from God, glory be to Him, unto all worlds, so too are their words. Just as if all creation were to gather to produce the like of a single verse of the Qur’an they would be unable, so too are their words God’s proof upon creation, and they are the perfect gatherer, for they issue from the source of purity. From a single one of their words emerges all religion, nay all existence is but the trace of a letter of His Word.

Behold in truth that God, exalted be He, is eternally One, none beside Him, never changing from His single state, now as He was, His Self His Self, and creation dwells in the plane of His dominion. When He willed—and God’s Will is His bringing into being, not from anything—He did not beget anything but rather created things through Will, and created Will through itself. Will is the first point mentioned in contingent existence, and it is the First Remembrance whereby God remembered Himself:

“Verily I am God, there is no god but I. I was a hidden treasure and I loved to be known, so I created creation that I might be known.”

And God, glory be to Him, created from the evidence of this Word, which is the final degree of the Point, the water whereby all things live—though with its Creator it is but a letter, and its Creator is from God’s Manifest Self that gleamed forth. Were it eternal, change would be necessitated, but He, exalted be He, never changes from His single state. Will exists in the station of thingness, which is the realm of absolute contingency, while pre-existence is His Self alone, His Self alone—no remembrance here, no trace here. The remembrance and trace we have described is His Will, which is an attribute of inference, not an attribute uncovering Him. His evidence is His signs, which are Will, and His existence is His proof, which is the sign of Oneness.

After Muhammad there is no limit to His Will, no end and no finality. All things point to Him, and He alone points to God, for in this station there is no direction for Him, and because they are the Self of God—whosoever knows them knows God—meaning the knowledge possible in the contingent realm. To them belongs creation and command, and unto them do all affairs return, for command and creation are both contingent and return not to the Ancient One, but rather return from attribute to attribute, while sovereignty endures in sovereignty. The created ends with its like—the path to eternity is barred and the quest rejected. His proof is in His signs and His existence in His confirmations.

Indeed all actions from them are from God, glorified be He, as clearly stated by the Proof in his visitation to Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Amri: “Your striving in God possesses God’s Will.” Similar statements abound in verses and traditions. Everything from them is from God, for they speak not from desire—it is naught but revelation revealed. Their words are the words of God. Whoever asks why’ or how’ has disbelieved, for His word encompasses all things, flowing through all worlds according to the languages of their people. In His word there is no simile, for the likened would be identical to that which it is likened to, no metaphor and no allegory, for metaphor and allegory are devices of the powerless, while He is the All-Powerful, the Mighty.

God taught Adam the names of all beneath his station, and this Adam, our father Adam, is a thousand thousand Adams removed from the First Adam, yet he cannot know the names of the Imams, for even Jesus, noblest of prophets, admitted this, as God relates his words: “I know not what is in Thy Self.” What is related in traditions that God taught Adam the names of the Five for his repentance—Muhammad, Ali, Fatima, Hasan and Husayn—such that none calls upon God through them but God must answer, that knowledge was at Adam’s station, and nothing surpasses its source. Let this suffice you in not comparing speech.

And third, interpret not the words of the Infallible Ones as deficient, but rather as sublime and noble—“Houses which God has permitted to be raised, wherein His name is remembered.” To remember from inability is lies and fabrication against God. The Imam said: “Has God permitted you, or do you fabricate against God? The fabricators—their abode is the Fire and they have no helper.” Accept my counsels, and God is thy Guardian. As for the meaning of Ali’s words, know and plant firm thy feet upon the Path.

God the Exalted said:

“We shall show them Our signs in the horizons and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that it is the Truth.”

And God the Exalted said in the Gospel:

“Know thyself and thou shalt know thy Lord—thy outward is for annihilation and thy inward am I.”

And the Messenger of God said: “He among you who best knows himself best knows his Lord.”

And Ali, when asked by a bedouin about the higher realm, said:

“Forms devoid of matter, free from potentiality and capacity, upon which He shone forth and they became illumined, and which He beheld and they became radiant. He cast into their essence His image, and thus His acts were manifested through them.”

Husayn, peace be upon him, said in his prayer on the Day of Arafah:

“Has any other than Thee a manifestation that Thou lackest, so that it would be that manifestation that revealeth Thee? When wert Thou ever hidden, that Thou shouldst need proof to lead to Thee? And when wert Thou ever distant, that created things should lead us to Thee? Blind be the eye that seeth Thee not!”

Ali ibn Husayn said in his dawn prayer, known as the Prayer of Abu Hamzah:

“Through Thee I knew Thee, and Thou didst direct me unto Thee and called me to Thee. Had it not been for Thee, I would not have known what Thou art.”

as-Sadiq said:

“Servitude is a substance whose essence is Lordship. What is lost in servitude is found in Lordship, and what is hidden in Lordship is attained in servitude.”

The Imam said in his prayer for the month of Sha’ban:

“O my God! Grant me complete devotion to Thee, and illuminate the vision of our hearts with the light of their looking toward Thee, until the sight of the hearts penetrates the veils of light and reaches the Source of Grandeur.”

Part 2: “The Proof said in the prayer…”

The Proof said in the prayer for the month of Rajab, indicating this station:

“There is no difference between Thee and them, save that they are Thy servants and Thy creation. Their analysis and synthesis are in Thy hands. Their beginning is from Thee and their return is to Thee. They are supports and witnesses, manifestations and opposites, guardians and pioneers. Through them Thou hast filled Thy heaven and earth until it became manifest that there is no God but Thee.”

Look, then, with the eye of thy heart upon what hath been imparted to thee, and know with certainty that God, exalted be He, is eternally One, having neither name nor form. His Essence is His Essence, and no wings of hearts can soar to His presence, nor can any mind conceive of His holy might. He is as He Himself hath said: “No vision can grasp Him.” He is One, alone, with none beside Him. There is no God but He.

When He desired to create all contingent beings, He created them in the image of His action, creating them from nothing by His power. His Will was their origination, nothing else. When He created contingent beings by His Command—and the contingent is unable to reach or ascend unto Him, and the Truth, glorified be He, is too glorious and great to be known by anyone, for knowledge is contingent upon conjunction, which is an attribute of contingency, while He, the Truth, is far more exalted and mighty than this—divine wisdom necessitated that He describe Himself to contingent beings, though His description is His origination from nothing.

This description, which nothing in creation resembleth, God made the way to know Him and the sign of His oneness, that the contingent might reach the ultimate outpouring possible in the contingent realm. God made this description the reality of the servant, and it is the Lordship of the Lord, exalted and glorified be He. It is His self [nafs] and heart [fu’ad]. God described Himself to everything through everything, and cast into the essence of everything His own likeness, until He became known; and in all things there is a sign indicating that He is One. That description is the sign of the Lord and the reality of the servant. And this description has as many stations as there are breaths of the creatures. All souls are as mirrors, and He is manifest to the mirrors through the mirrors. He is the One, the sign of God and His description. And for all things this soul exists—whoso knoweth it hath known his Lord.

The meaning is that there is no way unto God except through recognition of this soul, which is the same as the recognition of the Lord, for a thing cannot be comprehended beyond its source. Whoso knoweth his own self through the attributes of his Creator knoweth Him, and that description is the description of the Lord—there is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Most Exalted, the Most Great.

Therefore did the Imam say:

“Know God through God, the Messenger through his Message, and those endued with authority through their bidding to what is right and their forbidding what is wrong.”

This description from the Truth, from God to the servant, hath four stations through four manifestations:

First, the description of the indication of God, the One, the Single, the Eternal, Who begetteth not nor is begotten, and there is none like unto Him. This is the station of pure unity and absolute oneness—its beginning is identical with its end, and its manifestation identical with its concealment. There is no way unto Him save through what He hath described of Himself. He is the sign of God, the Ancient, Who is the Knower but hath no known thing, the Hearer but hath no heard thing, the Seer but hath no seen thing. The way unto Him is barred and the quest rejected. Second is the manifestation of His attributes, which is Prophethood. Third is the manifestation of His names, which is Divine Authority. Fourth is the manifestation of His deeds, which is the followers.

The expression of manifestation through four descriptions is outward, and God the Most High hath no description save through His deeds. Though the way of knowing Him is through the breaths of creation, it is confined to eight worlds in succession, and these are their universals: First, the world of the Point, the Alif, the Letters and the Word—this is the world of Muhammad and his household. Second, the world of the Prophets and Trustees. Third, the world of man. Fourth, the world of the jinn. Fifth, the world of angels and devils. Sixth, the world of animals. Seventh, the world of plants. Eighth, the world of minerals.

The description of each subsequent world describes the nature of the world before it unto the end of its station. Therefore it is related in the tradition that the ant claims for God two lordships, and that description which is in everything is God’s lordship over it thereby. “Is it not enough that thy Lord is witness over all things?”—meaning, present in thy absence and presence. This is the pillar of light which the Imam beholds and turns toward, and through which he becomes aware of the deeds of creation. Were he to desire, he could manifest it in everything from everything, just as He manifested from Moses’ staff what He manifested, and the Imam pointed to the image of the lion and it became a living creature.

Through this door are opened the difficulties of most traditions, such as the saying of the Imam in the visitation prayer for the supporters of Husayn (peace be upon him): “May my father and mother be sacrificed for you.” For the vision of the Imam is a sign of God within him—he sees naught but the light of God and hears no voice but His voice. There is no difference between this description of the servant and the declaration “There is no god but God”—both are created signs that point to God, for temporal existence and its attributes, insofar as they are effects of God’s action, are signs of God Almighty in consciousness, without regard to their individual identity and temporal nature, meaning they are lifted up by God’s leave.

At this stage, the tree of essence has no mention—it is an evil tree, uprooted from above the earth with no stability. Indeed, this description is God’s judgment upon essence as it truly is, and He is not unjust to His servants. Know the essence as He made it, as Ali (peace be upon him) indicated in the Sermon of the Camel’s Foam, that the tree of unbelief—meaning essence—should know that my position in relation to it is like that of the axis to the millstone. Through knowledge of itself it denied and disbelieved, yet the description is not unjust to the servants.

This tree has an effect from its shadow through the existence of light—look at the sun: when it rises its light shines upon everything, and when it falls upon the tree it creates a shadow. When the shadow rises in the shade, the shadow has neither mention nor portion before the sun. Thus does denial find its limit before recognition.

I seek God’s forgiveness for excessive definition. When the Sufis reached this station they claimed they had reached God, and they wrote in their books mighty words at which the heavens almost burst and the earth split asunder. In our school this was considered unbelief—I seek refuge in God from Satan’s stain. Glory be to God, far exalted is He above what the wrongdoers say!

Here the pen has stopped, yet we do not fall short in explanation. He who knows has known, and he who is ignorant remains ignorant. Give not to the foolish your wealth. Indeed, we belong to God and to Him we shall return. And praise be to God, Lord of all worlds.