Malfuzat – Volume I — Page 111
Malfuzat - Volume I 111 which we cannot even fully comprehend—are engaged in their work. Therefore, Allah the Exalted states: اللَّهُ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّوْمُ Allah-there is no God but He, the Living, the Self-Subsisting and All-Sustaining. This means, Allah Almighty is the only Being that is the compendium of all perfect attributes and who is free from each and every deficiency; it is He alone who is worthy of worship; it is His Being alone that is manifestly evident, for He is Living as an Independent Being and He is Self-Subsisting. Nothing besides him may be characterised as living or existing independently in its own right. What does this mean exactly? It means that with the exception of Allah Almighty, there is no one else that exists or lives independently without an initial cause, nor can there be any other prime cause-except for God of course-which brought about the creation of this universe with all its wise and balanced order. Hence, this discloses to us that besides God Almighty, there is no other being that can change or alter the creations of this universe or which can be described as having been the source or cause of the life and existence of all things. Two Schools of Thought Among the Mystics- Oneness of Being and Oneness of Witnessing A study of this verse also demonstrates that the Oneness of Being (wahdat-ul- wujud) is an ideology that has gone far from the truth and has failed to grasp the attributes of God. This concept is unable to realise the very relationship between servitude (ubudiyyat) and divinity (ulubiyyat). The reason for this, as it appears, is that from among those who subscribe to this ideology there were those blessed with visions and those engaged in spiritual struggle; when they ventured into the depths of contemplation, they were unable to distinguish between the charac- teristic nature of servitude (ubudiyyat) and divine providence (rububiyyat), and ultimately began to hold that the things God created are God Himself. The Holy Quran descends upon the heart before it flows from the t tongue. The heart possesses such a close affinity with the Divine that it became the recipient of God's Word. It is understandable that some could be misled by the deep and subtle nature of this subject. However, the fact of the matter is that when a person 1 al-Baqarah, 2:256