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;

1. Itself
2. Its meanings
3. 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”! 

As I explained before, based on the hadith al-qudsi ‘Dahr’ is Allah. So ‘instant’ is the time unit in the sight of Allah. Only those who can reach the stations of the Absolute Essence and Attribute may know this. It is not possible to understand this through the five senses and the concept of time shaped by mass conditioning.

The masses conceive time as a linear concept at the level of acts, the determinant of the position of one event in comparison to another.

There are no acts or activity at the level of Allah. It can only be explained as the absolute knowledge observing itself, perhaps this is the closest way to express it. This self- observation can be divided into three stages: observing itself, observing its existence, and observing it meanings.

Observing Itself is to observe the absolute essence, to observe the attributes is to become aware of these attributes, observing its meanings pertains to the level of acts which is the natural and mandatory by-product of the level of names.

All meanings spawn actions that are based on its own meaning.

This process of outputting action as the natural product of inherent meanings marks the beginning of the process of “creation”.

This is the point at which the worlds are created.

This is the point at which multiplicity is formed.

This is the point at which the meanings of existence and non-existence, creator and creation, Rabb and servant begin to manifest at the level of acts.

The meanings of the actions bring about the activity at the level of acts. Depending on which meaning the One wants to manifest and which He chooses not to...

Life that is present at the core of the dimension of names belongs to the Grand Spirit! It is the Grand Spirit not the “big” spirit as such concepts, i.e. big, little, full, part, etc. do not apply to spirit. The Spirit is one and single, it permeates the entire existence and hence it has been referred to as the Permeating Spirit, Single Spirit and the Grand Spirit. 

Since the Grand Spirit encapsulates all of the meanings of the names and pervades and penetrates through the entirety of existence, all of the meanings within the Grand Spirit are present in all the forms and manifestations throughout existence.

In this light, all of the animate and inanimate beings and creatures in the universe are simply the meanings of the Grand Spirit observing each other from different angles. 

Since existence is fully comprised of these meanings, then in this light, the realm of acts is rendered invalid! For, the existence of the realm of acts is relevant and is based on an observer. The realm of the bees is different to the realm and world of humans or to the realms of the subatomic particles.

There are species that are born, that grow, multiply and die all in a millionth of a second. There are species that are born and reach their maturity in ten million years then begin to debilitate and die in another ten million years. All of these exist in their own dimension, their existence is relative. In respect of the latter, the prior may seem inexistent!

So, what am I really saying?

Allah, the Rabb of the worlds, is present with His Absolute Essence (dhat) in all the dimensions of life!

In every iota, there is nothing other than His existence, and it is Him observing Himself!

The act of creation is the process of meanings becoming manifest at the level of acts. Thus, any activity that becomes observable at this level is ‘created’.

Creation takes on various names. Human, mineral, animal, etc. Despite the fact that they are ‘created’ they derive their life entirely from the One. They exist and subsist with the name Qayyum within their essence. And they each know exactly what to do as the name Aleem is also present within them.

Of course, their strength of manifestation depends on the individual make-up. 

Every action is expressed based on the meaning it is manifesting. And all of this nothing other than the will of Allah.

Your Rabb is Allah. You are the servant of your Rabb! If you fulfill your servitude to your Rabb you will be fulfilling the commands of Allah. But in any case, you are accountable of fulfilling all of the commands of Allah, besides those of your Rabb. If you fail to do this you will be doing wrong to yourself and hence be subject to suffering. 

The essence of yourself is the essence of Allah…

Self is the being of something, and the being of existence is Allah.

By doing wrong to yourself you are not giving the due of Allah as you are unable to observe your essential reality. 

If you know the different aspects of your being, your servitude, your Rabb, and how Allah comprises your essence, and give its the due, then you will reach divine bliss and unite with Allah and be of those who enter paradise while still on Earth!