Now let’s talk about you… Your existence is a composition of the meanings of the divine names… That is, different compositions of the divine names at different times manifest to comprise your existence. 

There is also a ‘you’ that is observing these meanings that are manifesting as you.

When you dive into your own depths and ask yourself, “Who am I?” you can’t really find a definitive answer… You can say “I have this quality, or that quality” but you can’t say “I am this” …

You can’t say ‘I am this’ regarding your absolute essence. This is not possible. But you can define your qualities and attributes and you can claim, based on your qualities, that you will not become non-existent with death, that you will live forever…

Based on your attribute of knowledge you have the ability to cognize and comprehend all of this…

Based on this comprehension certain desires and wants bring out the attribute of will in you. 

Then to turn these wants into action you exercise power… Using power, you fulfill your wants. Even if you can transform one of your wants out of a thousand into action, you have the attribute of power…

You can talk about your qualities; you can articulate them. Hence you have the attribute of speech.

You can perceive your environment and observe the meanings around you. Based on all of these you continually turn meanings into action throughout your life…

Therefore, all of the qualities and attributes we’ve been discussing at the universal level are all present within you! If, to the best of your capacity, you don’t give the due right of all of these faculties, you will be doing wrong to yourself.

If and when you can give each of these faculties their due right, then you will have done justice to yourself.

Every level, aspect and dimension of yourself that you deny, means you are doing injustice and wrong to yourself.

When you can do right by your absolute essence, your Names, attributes and acts, you will be doing right by your existence.

Only by knowing Allah and divine nearness can you truly attain this.

The extent to which you reach divine nearness you will know yourself, and the extent to which you know yourself you will know Allah!

Let us remember the words of Rasulullah (saw):

“Where is Allah? On earth, or in the heavens?”

“Allah is within the hearts of the believers.” 

(Imam Ghazali – Ihya-u Ulumuddeen)

You may unite with Allah, but can you comprehend Him? No!

There is nothing that resembles Him![1]

Vision (sense perception) perceives Him not but He perceives (evaluates) all that is visible.[2] 

And they found a servant from among Our servants to whom We had given (gifted) grace (enabling him to experience his reality) and had disclosed through him Our Knowledge (the manifestation of divine attributes as the pleasing self [nafs-i mardiyya]) from Our ladun.[3]

Let us know this truth with certainty… If you have accessed this knowledge, this is due to the grace of Allah, who has disclosed this knowledge to us. One can’t acquire this knowledge with effort. It is only with divine grace that it is disclosed to us, for it is His Knowledge!

If He so wills, he will disclose it to you, with His grace, not because of your comprehension! For nobody has the capacity to comprehend the entirety of Allah’s meanings. Allah is infinite and thus knowledge is infinite and endless.

Essentially, knowledge is the observation of Allah.

One may only observe Allah with and through knowledge!

Any other observation is illusory!

For all other observations of a ‘god’ entails the concept of a deity that is created. The Divine cannot be created!

And the non-created One cannot be physically observed! 

Man is created, we’ve already discussed this. 

The created cannot encompass and see the Creator!

Only Allah can see Himself! Any time you claim to have ‘seen’ or ‘heard’ Allah; you have been deluded! It is the Rabb in your imagination that you have seen!

Thus, to unite with Allah means nothing other than the manifestation of Allah’s knowledge through the composition called ‘you’!