In Islamic philosophy, Sufi metaphysics is centered on the concept of or . Two main Sufi philosophies prevail on this topic. Wahdat al-wujà «d literally means "the Unity of Existence" or "the Unity of Being." , meaning "existence" or "presence", here refers to God. On the other hand, , meaning "Apparentism" or "Monotheism of Witness", holds that God and his creation are entirely separate.
Some scholars have claimed that the difference between the two philosophies differ only in semantics and that the entire debate is merely a collection of "verbal controversies" which have come about because of ambiguous language. However, the concept of the relationship between God and the universe is still actively debated both among Sufis and between Sufis and non-Sufi Muslims.
The mystical thinker and theologian Abu Saeed Mubarak Makhzoomi discussed the concept of in his book Tohfa Mursala. However, the Sufi saint who discussed the ideology of Sufi metaphysics to the greatest depth is Ibn Arabi. He employed the term wujud to refer to God as the "Necessary Being". He also attributed the term to everything other than God, but insisted that wujud does not belong to the things found in the cosmos in any real sense. Rather, the things borrow wujud from God, much as the earth borrows light from the sun.
The issue is how wujà «d can rightfully be attributed to the things, also called "entities" (aÿyÃÂn). From the perspective of tanzih, Ibn Arabi declared that wujà «d belongs to God alone, and, in his famous phrase, the things "have never smelt a whiff of wujud." From the point of view of tashbih (anthropomorphism), he affirmed that all things are wujà «d's self-disclosure (tajalli) or self-manifestation (áºÂohur). In sum, all things are "He/not He" (howa/lÃÂhowa), which is to say that they are both God and not God, both wujud and not wujud. In his book Fusus al-Hikam, Ibn-e-Arabi states that "wujà «d is the unknowable and inaccessible ground of everything that exists. God alone is true wujà «d, while all things dwell in nonexistence, so also wujà «d alone is nondelimited (muá¹Âlaq), while everything else is constrained, confined, and constricted. Wujà «d is the absolute, infinite, nondelimited reality of God, while all others remain relative, finite, and delimited".
Ibn Arabi's doctrine of waḥdat al-wujà «d focuses on the esoteric (batin) reality of creatures instead of exoteric (zahir) dimension of reality. Therefore, he interprets that wujud is the one and unique reality from which all reality derives. The external world of sensible objects is but a fleeting shadow of the Real (al-Haqq), God. God alone is the all embracing and eternal reality. Whatever exists is the shadow (tajalli) of the Real and is not independent of God. This is summed up in Ibn Arabi's own words: "Glory to Him who created all things, being Himself their very essence (ainuha)".
To call wujud or Real Being "one" is to speak of the unity of the Essence. In other terms, it is to say that BeingâÂÂLight in itselfâÂÂis nondelimited (mutlaq), that is, infinity and absolute, undefined and indefinable, indistinct and indistinguishable. In contrast, everything other than BeingâÂÂevery existent thing (mawjûd)âÂÂis distinct, defined, and limited (muqayyad). The Real is incomparable and transcendent, but it discloses itself (tajallî) in all things, so it is also similar and immanent. It possesses such utter nondelimitation that it is not delimited by nondelimitation. "God possesses Nondelimited Being, but no delimitation prevents Him from delimitation. On the contrary, He possesses all delimitations, so He is nondelimited delimitation" On the highest level, wujà «d is the absolute and nondelimited reality of God, the "Necessary Being" (wÃÂjib al-wujà «d) that cannot not exist. In this sense, wujà «d designates the Essence of God or of the Real (dhÃÂt al-ḥaqq), the only reality that is real in every respect. On lower levels, wujà «d is the underlying substance of "everything other than God" (mÃÂsiwÃÂAllÃÂh)âÂÂwhich is how Ibn Arabi and others define the "cosmos" or "universe" (al-ÿÃÂlam). Hence, in a secondary meaning, the term wujà «d is used as shorthand to refer to the whole cosmos, to everything that exists. It can also be employed to refer to the existence of each and every thing that is found in the universe.
God's 'names' or 'attributes', on the other hand, are the relationships which can be discerned between the Essence and the cosmos. They are known to God because he knows every object of knowledge, but they are not existent entities or ontological qualities, for this would imply plurality in the godhead.
Ibn 'Arabî used the term "effusion" (fayd) to denote the act of creation. His writings contain expressions which show different stages of creation, a distinction merely logical and not actual. The following gives details about his vision of creation in three stages: the Most Holy Effusion (al-fayd al-aqdas), the Holy Effusion (al-fayd al-muqaddas) and the Perpetual Effusion (al-fayd al-mustamirr). Waḥdat al-wujà «d spread through the teachings of the Sufis like Qunyawi, Jandi, Tilimsani, Qayshari, Jami etc.
The noted scholar Muhibullah Allahabadi strongly supported the doctrine.
Sachal Sarmast and Bulleh Shah, two Sufi poets from present day Pakistan, were also ardent followers of Waḥdat al-wujà «d. It is also associated with the Hamah Ust (Persian meaning "He is the only one") philosophy in South Asia.
Tashkëk or gradation is closely associated with the Sadrian interpretation of waḥdat al-wujà «d. According to this school, the reality and existence are identical which means existence is one but graded in intensity. This methodology was given a name of tashkik al-wujud and it thus explains that there is gradation of existence that stand in a vast hierarchical chain of being (marÃÂá¹Âib al-wujà «d) from floor (farsh) to divine throne (ÿarsh), but the wujà «d of each existent mÃÂhëyya is nothing but a grade of the single reality of wujà «d whose source is God, the absolute being (al-wujà «d al-mutlaq). What differentiates the wujà «d of different existents is nothing but wujà «d in different degrees of strength and weakness. The universe is nothing but different degrees of strengths and weaknesses of wujà «d, ranging from intense degree of wujà «d of arch-angelic realities, to the dim wujà «d of lowly dust from which Adam was made.
Sufi metaphysics has been a subject to criticism by most non-Sufis; in Al-Andalus, where most of the Muslim scholars were either Zahirites or Malikites preferring the Ash'arite creed, Sufi metaphysics was considered blasphemy and its practitioners blacklisted. Followers of the Ash'arite creed in the east were often suspicious of Sufism as well, most often citing Sufi metaphysics as well. However, it is important to note that Ibn Arabi was influenced by Al Ghazali, who himself was a strong supporter of the Ash'arite creed.
As a doctrine, waḥdat al-wujà «d was also not without controversy or opposition within the Sufi community, some members of which responded to its conceptual emergence by formulating rival doctrines. One example was waḥdat al-shuhà «d, which was formulated by 'Ala' al-Dawla Simnani (1261âÂÂ1336), and would go on to attract many followers in India, including Ahmed Sirhindi (1564âÂÂ1624), who provided some of the most widely accepted formulations of this doctrine in the Indian sub-continent. Sirhindi wrote that one should discern the existence of the universe from the absolute and that the absolute does not exist because of existence but because of his essence.
Some later Sufis, such as Shah Waliullah Dehlawi (1703âÂÂ1762), tried to reconcile the doctrines of waḥdat al-wujà «d (unity of being) of Ibn Arabi and waḥdat al-shuhà «d (unity in conscience) of Sirhindi by downplaying the differences between the two as being based more on terminology than substance.
Sufis in the 19th century, such as Pir Meher Ali Shah and Syed Waheed Ashraf, meanwhile noted that the two concepts only differ in that wahdat-al-wujud states that God and the universe aren't identical.
The term wahdat al-wujud as a critical mystical notion was ascribed to Ibn 'Arabi for the first time in the polemics of Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328), even though he did not employ it in his writings. It is highly controversial among the Wahhabi and Salafi sects of Islam.
They accused Ibn 'Arabi of holding pantheist or monist views incompatible with Islam's pure monotheism. However, according to a number of scholars including al-Sha'rani (d. 573/1565) and 'Abd al-Ra'uf al-Munawi (d. 1031/1621), the books of Ibn 'Arabi have been altered and distorted by some anonymous apostates and heretics, and therefore many sayings and beliefs were attributed to him, which are not true to what he actually wrote.
Proponents of waḥdat al-wujà «d such as 'Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi, 'Abd al-Ra'uf b. 'Ali al-Fansuri, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, and Titus Burckhardt disagree that waḥdat al-wujà «d is identified with pantheism. Nasr, for example, considers the term pantheism and monism as not equivalent to waḥdat al-wujà «d. Ideas similar to pantheism existed since the early stages of Islam. Jahm writes that God is "in heaven, on earth and in every place; there is no place where He is not (...)" and "He is in everything, neither contiguous nor separated.", a position attacked by Ahmad ibn Hanbal.
In Islamic philosophy, wahdat al-mawjud is the concept of the intrinsic unity of all created things. The concept can be viewed as analogous or related to pantheism insofar as it does not account for any separation between the divine and the material world.
Some believe that wahdat al-mawjud originates from Greek philosophy, such as Heraclitus' assertion that "God is day and night, winter and summer, many and little, solid and liquid."
It is sometimes viewed as the opposite of wahdat al-wujud, which frames God as the only true reality, and the material universe as an illusion emanating from God. It is sometimes described as the concept that existence moves towards spiritual oneness, but remains plural. Under this understanding, human beings can become al-InsÃÂn al-KÃÂmil (achieve perfection) and attain the wisdom of God.
Others assert that wahdat al-wujud and wahdat al-mawjud are identical.
Some associate the concept with Mansur al Hallaj's statement "AnÃÂ al-Haqq" (I am the Truth).
Sheikh Siti Jenar or Sunan Lemah Abang is, according to the Babad Tanah Jawi ("History of the land of Java") manuscripts, one of the nine Wali Sanga ("Nine Saints") to whom Indonesian legend attributes the establishment of Islam as the dominant religion among the Javanese.
His teaching of manunggaling kawula gusti (union of man and God) gained opposition from Wali Sanga and the Sultanate of Demak.