Observing Allah Throughout Existence
Regarding the observation of Allah…
Based on the instruct, “Do not contemplate on the Absolute Essence (dhat) of Allah” I will not make any claims regarding His Absolute Essence.
Yet we know that the qualities of life, knowledge, will, power, speech (expression), hearing and sight pertain to Allah.
These seven qualities bring us to the eighth-quality referred to as “Taqween”.
‘Taqween’ means to create or form existence…
That is, the Hayy and Aleem, uses His attribute of will (Mureed) to manifest existence, thus displaying the attribute of ‘Taqween’…
Some translate the word ‘Taqween’ simply as ‘to create’ but it is ‘to create existence’, to manifest the worlds, not randomly or through any external source, but from within Itself!
Since there is nothing besides Its existence, clearly the manifestation and creation of the worlds (taqween) must take place from Itself!
It outputs an act, which carries a meaning. Now take care to understand this well:
This Being with certain qualities outputs a particular act based on His Knowledge. This act carries a meaning. Based on this meaning we give it a name. Hence even though we are giving this name to the act, essentially we are naming the meaning it carries. So, this meaning pertains to the doer of the act, but it does not in any way restrict its doer or creator!
How does this work?
He creates and forms the meaning, but He is not bound or restricted by it!
That meaning belongs to Him. He outputs the meaning just as He expresses many other meanings. He does as He wills!
This means that it’s all about the divine will. That is, He wants and wills and then displays the power to manifest His will, which expresses the quality Taqween.
“Indeed, Allah will admit those who believe and fulfill the requirements of their faith to Paradises underneath which rivers flow... Indeed, Allah does as He wills (He forms what He wills to manifest from His knowledge with Power; Knowledge – Will – Power).”[1]
“Indeed, Allah does what He wills.”[2]
These verses notify us of the presence of the qualities of will and power.
Through narrating these verses to us, the Rasul of Allah (saw) is telling us that Allah has the power to do as He wills…
Such a being, who has the power to do as He wills, cannot be bound or constrained by anything! It’s impossible!
If He is, then He can’t have the power to do as He wills. If he has the power to do as He wills, then he can’t be restricted in any way!
Whether we say the world, the universe, or the multiverses… all of it is created!
How were they created?
They were created by the One who does as He wills, from “nothing”, they were brought into existence from ‘non-existence’.
What does this mean?
Remember the verse:
“Has there not been a time, when man was not a thing even mentioned? (Man was not yet manifest; he was the unmanifest within the dimension of the Names)!”[3]
That is, the meaning referenced by ‘man’ was not yet existence at that time.
At which time? Is this talking about time as we know it, or a different dimension?
The verse is talking about a dimension, not time! It is talking about the dimension of attributes, the dimension of wahidiyyah (unity) which is he unmanifest state of the divine qualities, there are no names or meaning at this level and hence no manifest ‘beings’!
The dimension of attributes is not where creation takes place, this is where the divine qualities are known by the Divine but not yet expressed.
Knowledge at the level of the attributes is Allah’s knowledge of Himself! His knowledge regarding his existence, attributes and qualities…
Knowledge at the level of the names on the other hand, is about the observation of the meanings of His names. There is a difference of dimension between the two!
What does ‘difference of dimension’ mean?
It is the difference between the divine knowledge observing;
- Itself
- Its meanings
- The actions formed by these meanings.
These are the differences of dimension.
Time is a relative concept that applies to the dimension of acts. The differences between these stations is not about time, it’s about dimension.
The process of condescension of Allah from the Absolute Essence to the Dimension of the Attributes, to the Dimension of Names and so on, is about the dimensional differences, and all of this is a matter on an instant!
Instant should be understood as time!
Essentially, the time zone referred by the word ‘instant’ belongs to the being called “Dahr”!