Malfuzat - Volume VII — Page 390
390 MALFUZAT - ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF URDU VOLUME 7 The Mischief of Wahdat-e-Wujūdī [Unity of Being] A calamity has afflicted the ascetics as well; that is, some were ascetics, but they became Wahdat Wujūdīs¹ and laid claim to being God themselves. In our country, people living in Doaba (Bist Jalandhar) are mostly Wujūdīs. And the religion of those who call themselves Wujūdīs, is generally Ibāhati. And, in real- ity, this is precisely what the peculiar nature and effect of this religion should be, since the person who does not believe that Allah Almighty is characterised by the attributes stated in the Holy Quran and fails to make any distinction between him- self and God Almighty-rather, he himself becomes God-if he does not become ibāhati [a person who does not acknowl- edge the lawful and the unlawful], then what else would he be? What is more surprising is that these people even believe in Hell and Heaven, yet believing so, still think that they them- selves are God. Further, there is another egregious error into which these people have fallen, and that is that they attribute their religion to great saints. Wahdat-e-Shuhūdī [Unity of Manifestation] The fact is that there are two doctrines: Wujūdīs and Shuhūdī. Wujūdīs, like philosophers, have understood God to be noth- ing besides man, or that there is nothing besides God. However, Shuhūdīs are distinct from them and they are in the right. They 1. Those who believe that God and the material world are one and the same thing. [Publisher] 2. Ibahiya Sect: That sect which does not acknowledge the lawful and the un- lawful and who think that man does not possess either the power to safeguard against sins or the strength to carry out the commandments, that no one is the master of anything in the world and that all people are partners in wealth and spouses. [Publisher]