PRELIMINARY THIS dissertation is an attempt to work out the conception of Tawhid in the thought of that great Islamic mystic, viz., Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi, who is generally called the Mujaddid-i-Alf-i-Thani * (the *The word Mujaddid can be translated as the Reformer, the Regenerator, or the Renewer. I prefer Renewer. The idea of Mujaddid has its origin in the hadith : " God will, on the eve of every century, raise a person in this nation (Islam) who would renew the religion " : Abu DSud (202-275 A.H.). It is maintained that many persons have accordingly been the Mujaddids of their centuries, e.g., 'Umar b. 'Abdul 'Aziz (d. 101 A.H.) First Century ; Imam h.5fi'I Muhammad b. Idrls (d. 204 A.H.) Second Century; Ibn Suraij (d. 306 A.H.) Third Century; Imam BaqillanI Muhammad b. Tayyab (d. 403 A.H.) or ImSm AsfrSyyini Ahmad b. Muhammad (d. 406 A.H.) Fourth Century ; ImSm GhazzSlI <d. 505 A.H.) Fifth Century; Imam Fakhruddln RazI (d. 606 2 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid Renewer of Islam on the Head of the second thousand of the Islamic Era). The Shaikh himself had the inspired belief that he was a Mujaddid. 1 A.H.) Sixth Century; Ibn Daqiq Al'id Muhammad b. 'All (d. 702 A.H.) Seventh Century , Imam Bulqim Sir2juddln (d. 905 AH) Eighth Century ; Jalaluddln al-Suyuti (d. 911 A.H.) Ninth Century, and others of the subsequent centuries. (Cf AM., Vol. IV, p. 181). However, it is noteworthy that only Shaikh Ahmad has claimed the dignity of the Mujaddid- 1- Alf-i-Thani for himself. Khw5ja Kamaluddln Muhammad Ahsan has quoted two hadithes m &"Z*y?^\ (l) "A man will arise at the beginning of the llth century, who will be a great light and whose name will be the same as mine , (he will arise) amidst tyrant kings ; thousands of men will enter Paradise through his intercession/' >yo (r) 41 There will be a man in my nation who will be called a ' conjomer,' through whose intercession there will enter Paradise so-and-so." It is believed that these predictions were made about ShaikVi Ahmad (See RQ., Part I, pp. 37-38.) 1 The Mujaddid keenly realises the need of a great Reformer MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid 3 It was Mulla 'Abdul Hakim of Sialkot (d. 1067 A.H.), the most illustrious scholar of the day and the Shaikh-al-Islam of India, who wasfche first to apply to Shaikh Ahmad the epithet of Mujaddid-i-Alf-i-Thanl. 1 Indeed all the divines and mystics of eminence have acknowledged him as such. For example, Shah Wali-Ullah 2 and his son Shah 'Abdul in a letter to his son KhwSja Muhammad Ssdiq (1000-1025 A.H.). See M., Vol I, Ep. 234. Further he expressly claims for himself the dignity of Mujaddid-i-Alf-i-Th2nI. See M , Vol. II, Ep. 4. Again writing to his son, Khw5ja Muhammad Ma'sum (1009-1079 A.H.) he says : ? " Praise be to Allah who created me a conjoiner between two oceans and a pacifier between two parties. (See M , Vol. II, Ep. 6.). The reference is perhaps to the last Hadith in the preceding note *KA . Vol. I, p. 614. 'Shah Wall-Ullah (1114-1176 A.M.). He was the most eminent divine of his age, and a mystic too. He belonged to the Mujaddidi Naqshbandi School. He acquired mystic dis- cipline from his father, Sh5h 'Abdur Rahim, and is said to be the ' Mujaddid ' of his time. He is the founder of a school in Hadith and Tafslr. He translated the Qur-3n into Persian and is the author of many famous works on Hadith, Theology and Mysticism. 4 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 'Aziz, 1 among a host of others, always speak of him as Mujaddid-i-Alf-i-Tliani. The latter is also reported to have said that amongst the mystics of Islam, Shaikh 'Abdul Qadir Jllanl (470-560 A.H.) and Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindl are the two greatest, only he could not decide which was the greater of the two. * Shaikh Ahmad is the first and the greatest among the mystics of Islam who expressly and strenuously opposed the Pantheistic concep- tion of Tawhid known as Wahdat-i-Wujud 2 or Tawhid-i-Wujudi. This conception had become almost universal amongst Muslim 1 Shah 'Abdul 'Aziz (1159-1248 A.H ) was the eldest son of Shsh Wall-Ullah. He was the most celebrated scholar of his day and universally respected like his father. He taught Hadlth to the famous mystic Shah Sayyid Ahmad Barelwl, and also initiated him into the Naqshbandi School. He wrote many works on Kal3m and Hadlth. * Wahdat-i- Wujud ( >j s ^5 Oo^ ) or Tawhid-i-Wujudi ( ^J?*}^} ***^5* ) ls umt y of Being. It is the doctrine of very many mystics in Isl5m. The exact equivalent would be Unity ism that is, existent is one. This soon becomes Identy- tsm that it is identical with everything else, which m the end passes on to pantheism, that it is God and God is all. It Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 5 mystics, specially since Ibn * Arabl l who wrote on it extensively and has had enormous influ- ence on the subsequent thought of Islam, and gave it a strenuous push forward. Now the opposition of Shaikh Ahmad to Wahdat-i-Wujud is based not on theological dogma or philosophical argument, but on Kashf 2 or direct religious experience. Con- is also called Wujudiyyat. Hence Wujudiyym or Sufiya-i- Wujudiyya or Mawahidln are those who believe in Unityism. 1 Ibn 'Arabl, Muhayyuddm (560-638 A.H.) was a mystic of great eminence. He is generally styled as Shaikh-i-Akbar, the Greatest Shaikh. He was born at Murcia in Spam, but he shifted to Seville which he made his home for thirty years. In 598 AH he set out for the East from where he never returned home. He visited Mecca and Mosul. His fame went with him everywhere. Finally he settled down in Damascus where he died in 638 A.H. He belonged to the Zahirl School, but rejected Taqlld in doctrinal matters. Ibn 'Arabl's sole guide was inner light with which he believed himself illuminated in a special way. He is said to be the author of as many as 400 books. The most famous of his works are Futuhat-i-Makkiyya and FusUs-ul-Hikam. In the latter he has discussed the pantheistic conception of Tawhld at length. He was denounced as Zindlq in Egypt, and there was a move to assassinate him. Ibn Taimiyya (661-728 A.H.), one of the greatest divines n Islam, criticised Ibn 'Arab! unreservedly. 1 Kasljf (v-x<) : Literally means unveiling ; it is apprehen- 6 MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid sequently it gave rise to burning controver- sies among mystics. Many scholars and mystics of eminence took exception to his position while others emphatically affirmed it. It is worth while to go into the matter at length and try to determine its exact position as best as we can. sion of facts and events as well as truths, mundane and celestial, by inner sight or light : generally it is symbolic. Shuhud (^X"**v is direct apprehension of the being and attributes of God. Ilham (f L$Jl) 1S inspiration ; technically it is confined to mystics ; it is reception of guidance or inspiration from above. The guidance thus received is not absolutely infallible, hence it is not binding on all but only on the recipient of it, provided it is not contrary to any injunction received through the Prophet. Wahl (tj^) is literally communication or command ; technically it is com- munication imparted by God to a prophet, its highest form being communication through the agency of an angel. Guidance re- ceived through it is absolutely sure and binding on all. Generally Revelation may be regarded as an equivalent term to Wahi, but the exact significance of the term is as described above. Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid Biographical Sketch A BRIEF biographical sketch of Shaikh Ahmad, with special reference to his times, would not be out of place here. Shaikh Ahmad is a descendant of 'Umar, the Great. He was born in Sirhind in 971 A.H. Sirhind is really Sahrand, which means the forest of tigers. It is related that in the days of Feroz Shah Tughlaq (752-790 A.H.) once the royal treasury was passing through this forest under the imperial guard. A saint, Sahib-i-Kashf 1 was travelling along with the treasury. When the caravan reached the spot where Sirhind is now situated, the saint had the inspiration that a very great saint will be born at the place. The news reached the King. He ordered the construction of a 1 Sahib-i-Kashf (<^>.*'X< ^A*Lo) i s saint, rather a person who has spiritual illumination. 8 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid town there and entrusted the work to Imam Raff uddm, 1 the ancestor of Shaikh Ahmad, While the construction was in progress, Shah Bu 'All Qalandar 2 came and helped in it, and informed Imam Raff that the great saint of the prophecy would be his descendant. 3 Shaikh Ahmad received his early education at home. He learnt the Qur-an 4 by heart 'Imam Rafi'uddm is the sixth ancestor of the Mujaddid. He was the brother of Khw2ja Fateh-Ullah the prime minister of Feroz Shah Tughlaq and a disciple of the famous saint Sayyid Jalal Bukhari (707-750 A.H.) known as Mukhdum-i- Jahaman. Imam Rafl' was entrusted with the management of the town of Sirhmd where he settled down after its construc- tion. a harfuddm Bu 'AH Shah Qalandar of Panipat was a saint of very great eminence. He came from 'Iraq to Panipat, where he died in 724 A.H. It is related that he helped in the construction of the town of Sirhmd. However the dates do not tally. For Feroz Shah in whose time Sirhind was cons- tructed began his reign in 752 A.H., i.e., 28 years after the death of the Qalandar. RQ., Part I. pp. 22-23. 4 The Qur-an is the book revealed to Muhammad word by word and letter by letter. It is the source of all the teachings of Islam. All other sources must be in harmony with it. It is also called Kit3b(<~>K*) - the Book. Hadith (cLU^X*,) is the second source. It embodies the sayings and doings of Muhammad, Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 9 1 very early. Then he took to the study of Hadith, Tafslr or Exegesis and Ma'qul (J>***) or Philosophy and went to renowned scholars at various places. When he was at Agra, studying Hadith and Tafslr, Abul Fadl and Faidi, Emperor Akbar's right hand men, hear- ing of his brilliance, tried to draw him into their circle. However, this friendship did not last very long, because the Shaikh took serious offence to Abul Fadl's anti-Islamic attitude. It is said that a portion of Faidfs celebrated Sawati'-al-Ilham l was written by and as a source of Isl5m it is next in authority to the Qur-3n. Ijma" ( ^U-^-t ) is the third source of Islam , it means the con- sensus of the faithful on a point which is not to be found explicitly in the Qur-3n and the Hadith. Qiyas ( ^/ ^* ) means inference. By some it is regarded as the fourth source of Islam. In order to be valid it should be based on the Qur-3n and Hadith (and on Ijraa"). 1 Sawati'-al-Ilham ( ^l^J^H l>l^*o ) known as " Tafsir-i-bi nuqat" (iaJu -_> , ^,W.A'J ) is a commentary on the Qur-an in Arabic written by Abul Paid Faidi, the poet-laureate of Akbar,. which has the very difficult peculiarity of containing no letter with a dot. It is noteworthy that the Arabic alphabet has IS dotted letters. 10 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid the Shaikh. 1 After finishing his education at an early age the Shaikh took to mystic discipline under the guidance of his father who was an emi- nent mystic and received Khilafat 2 from him in the Chishtiya and Suhrawardiya orders. 3 When he was 28 he went to Delhi and joined the Naqshbandiya order, and soon received its Khilafat from Khwaja Baqi-Billah (972- 1012 A.H.). 4 The Khwaja is the person from whom this order begins in India. It is said that he was directed in a vision to leave his home, Afghanistan, and go to India, where he had to initiate a very great man into the order. 5 This great man was Shaikh Ahmad, 1 RQ , Part I, pp. 60, 62, 63 ; Cf. HQ., Vol. II, pp. 9-10. 1 Khilafat ( OwU ) : In mystic terminology it is generally the recognition of the spiritual leader that the disciple has com- pleted the mystic journey and has reached such a high stage of development that he can be authorised to guide others on the way. RQ., Part I, pp. 69-70. 4 /tod., pp. 76-81. *lbid., pp. 72-73. Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 11 who quickly went through all the stages of the mystic journey, and became so great at it that even the Khwaja used to sit before him as a disciple, 1 and confessed that it was through Shaikh Ahmad's spiritual help that he got out of the mazes of Wahdat-i-Wujud 2 RQ,PartI, p. 113. J ZM., p. 155. 12 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid HIS TIMES 1. Mystics WHEN the great Mujaddid came to his task of reform, he found that Tasawwuf * had taken complete possession of the Muslim soul. A Pantheistic Deity had been substi- tuted for the Monotheistic, Personal, Trans- cendent God of Islam. 2 Excessive belief in Karamat or miracles of saints was commonly cherished. Many un-Islamic means of the development of occult powers had been intro- duced into Tasawwuf itself. The mystics had gone to the extent of denying the com- mandments of Shari'at 3 or the Law of Islam 1 Tasawwuf ( \*y** ) or Islamic mysticism is an attempt to have the direct experience of what the Prophet of Islam himself is supposed to have experienced. MT.. Vol. II. p. 258. 'S&arl'at (s^U*J^*>) Law, the Code of IslSm which pres- cribes various modes of action and practice. Jarlqat Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 13 as universally binding, and to regard Shari'at itself as something external and superficial; indulgence in Sima 4 * or music hearing had become the order of the day. They were indifferent to the Sunnat or the example of the Prophet. They extolled Sukr 2 or ecstasy above Sahw, or sane rationality. The dia- ls the way towards God through purification of soul, for which some extra ascetic means are adopted by the mystic. Ma'rifat ( <JU*jH*- ) is the knowledge of God acquired through spiritual development, inner purification and illumination. Haqlqat (CXx^Aj*. ) is the truth underlying the Shari'at as grasped through spiritual illumination. According to the Mujaddid the Shari'at is the Code of Islam. Tariqat is the attempt to remove the conflict and a sense of revolt against the injunctions of Shari'at. Ma'rifat is the realisation that man cannot know God directly ; and Haqlqat is the perfect faith in the truth of the actions prescribed by Shari'at. 1 Sim5 t ( '**" ) means music hearing for the sake of bring- ing about ecstasy, prevalent in mystic orders. ' Sukr ( ^-" ) is intoxication. It is that state of a mystic's mind in which he is overpowered by the love or vision or reali- sation of God, and more or less loses control of his self and reason. Sahw (^^^o ) is opposed to Sukr, i.e., sobriety. It is the state of mind in which man has full control of his self and his reason and is not overpowered by emotion. Sahw is regarded as a state higher than Sukr. 14 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid logue 1 between Mahmud of Ghazni and Shaikh Abul Hasan Kharqanl is a pertinent example showing clearly that since long the mystics had practically severed their con- nection with Islam and the Prophet. 2. The Theologians FURTHER, the 'Ulama' or theologians had 1 Sult3n Mahmud (d. 421 A.H ) was once passing by Kharqan. He had heard the fame of Shaikh Abul Hasan Kharq5ni (d. 419 A H ). He wished to see the Shaikh So he sent his messenger to the Shaikh asking his permission to visit him. The Sultan instructed the messenger that if the Shaikh were not willing to grant him an interview he should recite the Quranic verse : j*-=xx> ^xY^^ 3 J>**/^|^*^>^ ^xi|l_^4>l " Obey Allah, obey the Prophet and obey the sovereign from amongst you." The Shaikh did not attend to the Sultan's message. The messenger accordingly recited the verse. The Shaikh said : " I am so busy with ' obey Allah ' that I am ashamed to neglect 'obey the Prophet' how can I obey the sovereign. (See TA., p. 352.) Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 15 taken exclusively to Fiqh or Jurisprudence as the whole of religious learning; they had ceased to refer to the Qur-an and Hadith the genuine sources of Islam. Consequently only the juristic view of Islam was alive, the spirit of Islam had died. Many a theologian was of the type of Makhdum-ul-Mulk who, in order to avoid the payment of Zakat 1 or tax on wealth, transferred his property at the end of the year to his wife and had it retrans- f erred to himself before the time of the pay- ment next year. 3 They were busy in the hair- splitting discussions of the problems of Fiqh ; minutest differences sufficed to cause peren- nial quarrels among them. They were gener- ally full of ambition, always hunting after worldly success. They could be induced to give Fatwa (^^X) or decision of the sacred law, 1 Zakat ( o^J ) : Tax on wealth prescribed \>y Islam which is iV of one's yearly savings. It is one 'of the five injunctions of Isl5m. * ML, Vol. II, p. 203 16 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid permitting the Haram ( f 1^) or the prohibited and prohibiting the Halal (J^L-*.) or the permitted. Makhdum-ul-Mulk is said to have given a Fatwa that the ordinance of Hajj 1 or Pilgrimage was no longer binding, that it had rather become injurious. 2 3. Akbars Policy THE policy of reconciliation which the Mughal Emperor Akbar persistently followed throughout his long reign (963-1013 A.H.) was naturally calculated to hurt and weaken the religious consciousness of Musalmans. In certain of its phases it outraged their feelings. They felt that Islam was undone in India. Mulla 'Abdul Qadir Badayuni, 1 It is binding on every Muslim to go on pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in his life, provided he can afford the expenses of the journey. 'MT., Vol. II, pp.203, 259. Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 17 a contemporary historian and a zealous Musalman, describes the state of things pre- vailing in Akbar's time, and his description mirrors the sore uneasiness under which every religious Musalman of the day was suf- fering. Mulla Badayuni says that the Emperor wanted to win over his Hindu subjects. He, therefore, turned his face against Islam. 1 He started encouraging 'Ulama'-i-Su (^ -Ux), i.e., the worldly divines, who would do every- thing to win his favour. He managed to surround himself with people who really did not believe in revelation and the religious code. To believe in revelation was considered as Taqlid 2 or following authority blindly a low kind of mentality and fit only for the 1 MX., Vol. II, p. 255. * Taqlid ( J~$&* ) literally means to follow ; technically it means acknowledging Ijma" ( ^U-^-0 and Qiyas (^US) of a competent divine as the sources of Islam besides the Qur-5n and the Hadlth. Muqalhd (jJJL*) is one who believes in Ijma* and QiySs of some divine as the sources of IslSm as regards the point not explicitly found in the Qur-Sn or the Hadlth. Ghair 2 18 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid uneducated and the illiterate. Nay, the Emperor went further. He openly opposed Islam. He regarded the injunctions of Islam as temporary and irrational. " In these days, when reproach began to be cast upon the doctrines of Islam and all questions relating thereto, and ever so many wretches of Hindus and Hinduised Musalmans brought unmiti- gated revilings on the Prophet ; and the villainously irreligious 'Ulama' in their works pronounced the Emperor to be infallible and contenting themselves with mentioning the unity of God, they next mentioned the various titles of the Emperor, and did not have the courage to mention the name of the Prophet (God be gracious to him and his followers, and give them peace in defiance of the liars) ; this was the state of things which became the cause of general disgrace, and the seeds of depravity and disturbance Muqallid ( O^JLt j* ) is one who denies IjmS' and QiySs as the sources of Islam and sticks to the Qui-Sn and the Hadith. MujaddicCs Conception of Tawhid 19 began to sprout out in the empire. Besides this the mean people of the higher and lower classes, having put the collar of spiritual obe- dience to the Emperor upon their necks, pro- fessed themselves to be his disciples." * The Emperor had ceased to believe in the Qur-an ; he did not believe in life after death, nor in the Day of Judgment. 2 He had gone further. He had determined publicly to use the for- mula <&\ J^XL j**\ &\ VI *J\ Y " There is no god but Allah, and Akbar is God's Representa- tive." But as this led to commotions, he thought it wiser to restrict the use of this formula to a few people within the precincts of the Haram. 3 Sajda 4 or the form of pros- tration reserved by Islam for God alone, was 1 MT., Vol. II. p. 269. 9 Ibid., p. 273. Ibid. * Sajda (ovXacr.-**)) is a form of prostration reserved by Islam exclusively for Allah and forbidden to anyone else. A distinction was made, viz., Sajda to Allah is Sajda'-i-'lbsdat (O>U OtXaEX**) and the same act if performed before kings is Sajda'-i-Ta'?lml ( 20 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid made compulsory before the Emperor. 1 Wine was declared lawful, 2 and bacon was made an ingredient of wine ; 3 Jizya 4 or the military tax was abolished 5 and beef was declared unlawful. 6 Pigs and dogs were spe- cially reared and regarded as manifestations of God. 7 The Salat (V-) or the prescribed prayers, the Saum ( o* ) or the prescribed fasts and the Hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca were abolished. 8 The Islamic calendar was replaced by the new-fangled Ilahi months and years. 9 Indeed Islam after a thousand years was considered to have played itself out; the study of Arabic was looked upon as if it MT., Vol. II, p. 259. Ibid., p. 301. 3 Ibid., p. 302. * Jizya ( ou fa. ) is the military tax collected from the unbe- lievers to maintain the Army for their protection. 5 MT., Vol. II, p. 276. Ibid., p. 305. J&ui Ibid., p. 306. 9 Ibid. Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 21 were something unlawful; the Law of Islam or Fiqh, Tafsir or the exegesis of the Qur-an and Hadlth or the traditions of the Prophet were ridiculed; and those who prosecuted these studies were looked down as deserving of contempt. 1 The Adhan ( c>W ) or call to the prayers, and the Namaz-i-Jama k at ( ^*U- jUo ) or congre- gational prayers which used to be, as prescribed by Islam, offered five times a day in the state hall were stopped. 2 Such names as Ahmad, Muhammad and Mustafa, the various names of the Prophet of God, had become offensive to the Emperor, and to utter them was a crime. 3 Mosques and prayer rooms were changed in- to store-rooms and into Hindu guardrooms. 4 Islam was in great distress. Unbelievers could openly ridicule and condemn Islam and the Musalmans. The rites of Hinduism were ' MT., Vol. II, pp. 306-307. /W.,p.314. 'Ibid. 4 Ibid., p. 322. 22 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid celebrated in every street and corner, while Musalmans were not permitted to carry out the injunctions of Islam. The Hindus when they observed fast could compel the Musal- mans not to eat and drink in public, while they themselves could eat and drink publicly during Ramadan. At several places Musalmans had to pay with their lives for sacrificing the cow on Id-al-Adha. A number of mosques were destroyed by Hindus and temples erected in their place. 1 Thus the times cried for the appearance of a great reformer. Shaikh Ahmad was a spiritual man and at the age of forty, i.e., in the year 1011 A.H., he felt the call. He had the ins- piration that he was the Renewer of the second millennium of the Islamic era. 3 But the task before him was stupendous. Long he worked, and strenuous and constant were the efforts he made to turn the tide. Some *M.. Vol.II.Ep.92. * Sec foot-note 1, p. 2, supra. MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid 23 of the means he adopted for this purpose were the following : Firstly, he prepared a number of his disciples for the work and sent them in all directions to preach the true Islam, to emphasise the Ittiba'-i-Sunnat (*-* ^USl) or following the example of the Holy Prophet, and to bring the people back to the folds of the Shari'at. This work was effectively done, not only in India but even beyond its borders in the neigh- bouring Muslim countries. 1 Secondly, he started a vast correspondence with men of eminence in various parts of these countries. These epistles were widely circu- lated. They expounded religious truths, and laid the greatest emphasis on Ittiba*-i-Sunnat. a Thirdly, he enlisted the great nobles of the Imperial Court as his disciples and used them to bring about a change in the life of those 1 RQ., Part I, pp. 166-67. For example M., Vol. I, Eps. 25, 36, 41, 42, 44, 75, 79, 114, 152. 165, 195, 249, 254, 255, 272. 24 Mujaddid's Conception of Taivhid circles, and to influence the Emperor towards a change of heart. 1 Fourthly, when Akbar died and Jahanglr succeeded, the Shaikh started a campaign. People had to take a vow that they will not obey any orders contradictory to Islam. This campaign was extended also to army. 2 Asaf Jah, the prime minister, advised Jahanglr to take care of Shaikh Ahmad whose influence was spreading widely in India, Iran, Turan and Badakhshan. He advised him further to stop the soldiers of the army from visiting the disciples of the Shaikh and taking the vow, and still further to imprison the Shaikh. Jahanglr issued the orders and Shaikh Ahmad became a political suspect. Jahanglr also decided to send the Shaikh to prison. But it was not easy to lay hands on him. The great nobles revered him and were devoted to him. 'M., Vol., I, Eps. 23, 25, 43-54, 65-72, 119-21, 191, 194, 195, 198, 209, 214, 228, 231, 238, etc. 'RQ., Parti, pp. 170-74 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 25 So Jahangir sent them one by one to distant places Khan-i-Khanan to Deccan, Sadr-i- Jahan to the East, Khan-i-Jahan to Malwa, Khan-i-A'zam to Gujrat, and Mahabat Khan to Kabul. Having done this he sent for Shaikh Ahmad from Sirhind and accused him of pub- lishing certain un-Islamic ideas in his Epistles. But the Shaikh met the accusations squarely. Jahangir had now to find some other excuse. He demanded Sajda (oix*u*) or prostration of the Shaikh. The Shaikh would not agree to it, because Sajda is exclusively due to God and to no one else. Thereupon Jahanglr imprisoned the Shaikh and sent him to the Gwalior Fort, where he remained a prisoner for two years. 1 This imprisonment of the Shaikh greatly annoyed Mahabat Khan in Kabul and he expunged the name of Jahangir from the Khutba (+~^-) or Friday sermon and the coin in Kabul, and invaded India with his chosen army. It is narrated that 1 RQ., Part I, pp. 175-186. Cf. TJ.. p. 273. 26 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid he virtually took JahangJr a prisoner at Jhelum. Mahabat might have gone further. But the Shaikh sent him instructions to obey the King and to cause no disturbance in the realm. Thereupon Mahabat set Jahangir free. Soon after followed the release of the Shaikh from Gwalior (1028 A.H.). The Emperor wished the Shaikh to see him. The Shaikh would not come unless certain condi- tions were accepted. Firstly, that the Emperor would abolish Sajda-i-Ta l zimi or prostration ; secondly, that all the mosques that had been erased should be erected ; thirdly, that all orders prohibiting cow-slaughter should be cancelled; fourthly, that Qadls, Muftis and censors should be appointed to enforce the Islamic code; fifthly, that Jizya or military tax should be re-introduced ; sixthly, that all bid'at ( OUoo ) or innovations should be stopped and injunctions of the Sharfat or Law be enforced; and seventhly, that all prisoners who had been sent to prison Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 27" in contravention of the above should be released. 1 The Emperor accepted these conditions. 2 When the Shaikh came to him, the Emperor received him with great honour, giving him a Nadhr ( j** ) or monetary offering as well as a Khil'at 3 (cxx^) O r robe of honour. 4 Hence- forth the Shaikh, for the remaining six years of his life, became the special Adviser of the Emperor. 5 1 RQ., Part I, pp. 186-95. 'Ibid., p. 193. TJ.,p.273. * Mirza Hadl, the writer of Tuzuk-i-<Jahangirl is annoyingly brief and curt about this whole episode, and the so-called his- tories too are silent. One has to depend for the details on RQ., which AhsSn-Ullah 'AbbSsi also follows in his " Life of the Mujaddid ". Cf. M., Vol. Ill, Eps. 43. 44 ; RQ., Part I, pp. 199-209. 28 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid HIS ACHIEVEMENTS THUS, in the first place, the Mujaddid brought the Islamic kingdom of India back to Islam. In the second place, be induced the divines of Islam to the study of Qur-an and Hadith, which they had neglected so long. In Tasaw- wuf or mysticism he revolutionised the doctrine of Islamic mystics, questioned their pantheism, and brought them round to Ittiba*- i-Sunnat (following the example of the Prophet). Moreover, he widened the bounds of religious experience, by realising and des- cribing a large number of higher stages yet untraversed and unknown to his predeces- sors. 1 Further he made a fundamental depar- ture from the accepted mystic doctrine inasmuch as he propounded that Wilayat or sainthood is essentially different from >M., Vol. II, Eps. 4, 6. Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 29 Nabuwwat l or Prophethood and not in one line with it indeed qualitatively different. 3 Connected with this is the position which the Shaikh established and which had long been perverted, viz., the Din or Religion and not Suluk-wa-Tasawwuf 3 or mysticism is the 1 Nabuwwat ( dj^o ) means prophecy from which comes the word Prophet. But in Islam it means the stage where a man becomes, in contradistinction to WilSyat by sheer grace of God, the subject of special divme favour and messages for the guidance of man are sent to him by God. Wilayat ( ,_^o^L ) is that stage of spiritual development in which the mystic realises that he has attained to nearness or proximity to God. Everyone can get to it by dint of his continued effort and struggle, though not without the grace of God. 8 M., Vol. I, Ep. 260. 3 Suluk ( viT^X*** ) is the method of spiritual development. The thing has been conceived as a journey or pilgrimage to God, similarly Sair (^**) which means rambling. When Suluk is attained at a certain stage the my&tic begins to experience the adumbrations of Asma'-o-Shuyun (^j^Jl* 3 *U*1 ) i.e. divine names and phases. This is called Sair-ila-'llah ( <ju)| J| _^ J t.e. journey towards Allah. Then he surpasses this stage and enters into the experience of the Being of Allah. This is called Sair-Fi'llah ( &\ g ^ ) f journey inside Allah. After that the mystic returns back in his journey and this is called Sair-'an-Allah ( &\ o _^*o ) journey away from Allah. Then 30 MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid indispensable thing for a Muslim. 1 It is for these great reforms that he was called Mujaddid-i-Alf-i-Thanl the Reformer of the second millennium. Henceforth we shall speak of him in the text as the Mujad- did. he resumes his duties as an ordinary human being in consonance with the teachings of Shari'at and directs his energies like the Prophets to the reformation of his fellow beings. >M., Vol. I, Ep. 48. Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 31 HIS INFLUENCE IT may be added here that the Mujaddid's influence on subsequent development too has been very great. His was really the call " Bach to Muhammad " ; and it had had far-reaching consequences. Besides his conception of Tawhid which shall be considered in the following pages, this call inherently affected the Islamic mind and gave it a new turn in mysticism as well as in theology, -llm-i-Batin and 'Ilm-i-Zahir. 1 Firstly, with regard to mysticism, there arose a new yearning a yearning to purify 1 'Ilm-i-Zahir (y*^^*) is knowledge in general, such as Tafsir, Hadlth, Fiqh and 'Ilm-i-Kal5m. llm-i-Bstm ( a l>L> ^ ) is cognition attained through mystic efforts. Hence the dis- tinction of 'Ulama'-i-Z5hir, those well versed in learning, theo- logians and jurists, who are guided by the word of the Qur-Sn, etc., and not the spirit as the initiated or the mystics who are therefore called 'UlamS'-i-Batin, who try to have the direct experience of God and eternity. 32 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid mysticism from extraneous elements and draw it exclusively from that pure and peren- nial fountain-head from which Islam had arisen ; in other words, a yearning to learn it directly from the Prophet of God. Accord- ingly it happened that Khwaja Mir Nasir 1 who belonged to the Mujaddid's school of mysticism got into a trance which lasted for 3 full week, and Imam Hasan, the grandson of the Prophet himself, appeared to him in his cell and initiated him into a new mystic method, insisting that the method shall be called after the Prophet, 'Muhammadi,' because that was the genuine method of the Prophet 1 Khwaja Mir Nasir 'Andalib (d. 1172 A.H )L was a lineal descendant of the celebrated saint Khwaja Bahauddin, the founder of Naqshbandia order. In the beginning Khwaja Mir Nasir was a soldier in the Mughal Army. All of a sudden he left the army and took to seclusion He became a celebrated mystic. Indeed he founded a new order of mysticism called the Tariqa-i-MuhammadI ( ^J^-a^.^ s&OjJa) or the method of Muhammad. He wrote a voluminous book Nala'-i-' Andalib ( w^J^Xx* v)U ) m 1153 A.H. in the form of a story in which he discussed most of the mystic doctrines. Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 33 of God. When the trance was over the Khwaja came out of his cell, and the first person whom he initiated in the new method was his son Khwaja Mir Dard 1 who met him on the threshold. 2 The father and son have written volumin- ous books on the method which they believe to have been the work of inspiration. 3 The essence of the method is : " Break away from everyone and attend only to your master (Muhammad) and continue to attend on him incessantly." 4 It is, say they, the want of this principle that has created dissensions amongst 'KhwSja Mir Dard (1131-1190 A.H.) was the second son of Khwaja Mir Nasir. At the age of fifteen he wrote a treatise Asrar-us-Salat ( bl^LoJl j\j~>\ ) He is the author of several works on mysticism, e.g., USandat-i-Dard ( >j> ^\>j\j ), "llm- ul-Kitdb ( v-->lX$Jl ^X ), etc. He was held in great esteem and even the Mughal Emperor Shah 'Alam used to visit his Majlis ( ^A*.Xsxxo ) or gathering every month. Khwaja Dard was also a famous poet of Urdu and has a recognised position in the history of Urdu literature. 2 IK., p. 85 /feu*., pp. 91, 95 4 Ibid., p. 87. 3 34 Mujaddtd's Conception of Tawhid Musalmans. Go back to Kitab-o-Sunnat, 1 the Qur-an and the example of the Prophet, and attach yourself exclusively to the Prophet. That is the right course. 2 Similar is it with Shah Sayyid Ahmad Barelwi. 3 He belonged to the school of 1 Kitab ( L_-Ax ) literally means ' book ' Technically it means the Qur-an and the injunction of the Qur-an. Sunnat literally means habit , technically it means the Prophet's mode of habitual actions, or the Prophet's example Hence Kitab-o-Sunnat means the injunctions of the Qur-an and the example ot the Prophet 2 IK., p 87 'Shah Sayyid Ahmad Barelwi (1201-1246 A H ) From early childhood he was mystically minded and felt in himself a strong propensity to follow only the Prophet After some education at Lucknow, he went to Delhi, where he became a disciple of Shah 'Abdul 'Aziz However, he broke away from Shah 'Abdul 'Aziz on the practice of Tasawwur-i-Shaikh ( ^-^** > jy** ), picturing the Shaikh in imagination, which he regarded as idolatry, and pursued his spiritual development single-handed. The progress he made was immense, indeed Shah 'Abdul 'Aziz himself wished to become his disciple m the end Soon his reputation spread far and wide MawlwT 'Abdul Hayy and Sh3h IsmS'Il, two eminent relations of Shah 'Abdul 'Aziz joined him Thousands of Muslims adopted his views, and he was everywhere hailed as the true Khalifa. One of his biographers, Mawlwl 'Abdul Ahad, asserts that more than 40,000 Hindus and unbelievers became converts to Islam through his preach- ings In 1232 A.H. Shah Sayyid Ahmad set out from his native MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid 35 the Mujaddid and has a very high place amongst the mystics of Islam. The Sayyid believed that he had a special affinity to the Prophet and that he got spiritual guidance directly from him or from God. 1 He turns round and sets up a new method, which he city on a pilgrimage to Mec ca, staying a few months at Calcutta on the way. Two years later, on his return to India, he started making active preparation for Jihad or religious war on the Sikhs of the Punjab to rescue the Mubalmans of that province from their tyranny. He made campaign after campaign against the Sikhs and died a martyr fighting at the battle of Bal5kot in the year 1246 A H 1 In mystic terminology to get guidance direct from the spirituality of the Prophet is called Uwaisiyyat ( Ov^*o^l ). The term comes from Uwais It is believed that Uwais got spiritual guidance direct from the Holy Prophet, that he could never meet him The Mujaddid regaids himself to be an Uwaisi ( t^***-?.^ ), and it ib remarkable that after him a large number of mystics have claimed themselves to be Uwaisis In our times too there was a mystic of great eminence, Hajl Sayyid W5nth 'All Shah (d 1321 AH), about whom it is said that he received spiritual guidance directly from a'imma'-i-alil-i-bait (C^o tJ-fcl v/ ^~^)> the grandsons of the Prophet. Prof. F. Krenkow doubts the mysterious personality of Uwais-al-Qaram, which is supposed and claimed as the origina- tion of Sufism, and is convinced that such person never existed in reality. Imam Malik b. Anas (d. 179 A.H.) is the first 36 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid calls, Tarlqa-i-Nabuwwat l or the Prophetical Method. Other methods are according to him only Tarlqaha-i-Wilayat or mystical methods. 2 The peculiarity of the new method is that the mystic should first make all his actions conform strictly to the law given by the Prophet ; s and only then take to * Dhikr and Fikr\ re- membrance and contemplation. The dhikr 4 who heard of him and doubted his real existence. The biogra- phies of Uwais are not convincing at all 'Tariqa-i-Nabuwwat ( O^-o AAO Jo ) is that method of spiritual development which aims at developing only those values which the the Holy Prophet aimed at. Tariqa-i-Wil3yat ( OoM^ vOjl> ) is the method of mystic development, used by mystics of Islam, and aimed at cultivating mystical mode of life. The difference is that of being according to Shari'at or in- different to it 'SM., p 8 'Ibid., p. 144. 4 Dhikr (j* ) is commemoration. In it Asma'-o-Sifat, the names and attributes of God, are recited, which is a help in the progress of the mystic Shughl is the practicing of dhikr. ghughl-i-Nafl ( ^ J^ ) is the dhikr of vAJIM. denial of everything other than God, and Shughl-i-Ithbat (C->L*Jl is the dhikr of dSMI, the affirmation of God. Fikr is distinguished from Muraqiba (*^*^^*). It is in general the Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 37 of the method consists in reading the Qur-an and reciting the prayers which the Prophet used to recite ; 1 while the fikr of the method consists in contemplation on the Goodness and Grace of God which is so profusely spread about us, and in making our will wholly sub- ordinate to His Will, and in realising His omnipresence at every moment, etc. 2 The most beneficial aid to all this, according to this method, is tXat the mystic should take to the service of his fellow-beings. 3 Shah Sayyid Ahmad denies pantheism and believes in theism. 4 He puts Sahw or sobriety above Sukr or spiritual intoxication. He preaches Jihad or fighting in the way of God in place of Sima' ( ^U ) or music-hearing for the sake of ecstasy, and demands social service instead contemplation of the Sifat-I-Ilahl ( ^^^ OU-o ), attributes of Allah. Muraqiba is the concentrated contemplation. 1 SM., pp. 148-149. Ubid., pp. 154-157. /W. t pp. 20-24. 4 /&*., pp. 45-46. 38 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid of solitude. He punctiliously follows Kitab-o- Sunnat, Qur-an and the example of the Prophet, and strenuously and emphatically denounces bid'at or innovations. 1 That is why he rose, organised the Musalmans and raised the standard of Jihad or the holy war against the Sikhs who were subjecting Musalmans in the Punjab to religious persecution. He fought long and fought valiantly and was himself killed in Jihad (1246 A.H.) ; and with him was killed also Shah Isma'll Shahid who was his chief lieutenant. 2 Secondly, the call of the Mujaddid induced theologians, those learned in the religious lore, to turn to the Hadith. Before the Mujaddid religious learning consisted wholly of juris- prudence or Fiqh. But the Mujaddid turned the tide to the Kitab-o-Sunnat or Qur-an and the Prophet. People started learning the Hadith or Tradition, and Shah Wall-Ullah 1 SM., pp. 45-46. 'SA., pp. 142-150. Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 39 1 established the first school of Hadith in India. With Shah Sayyid Ahmad Barelwi the school turned into Ahl-i-Hadith l or Traditionists which yet had room for mystic element in it. Later the emphasis fell against Taqlid or blind following of the authority of the jurists and there arose Ghair Muqallidin or pure and simple Ahl-i-Hadith or strict traditionists. In this connection we may also speak of the reform and High Criticism inaugurated by Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan. 2 Sir Sayyid emphasised the criticism of the Hadith and forcibly direct- ed attention to the Kitab or the Qur-an as the 1 Ahl-i-Hadith ( vjio J^. J-*\ ) : Those who follow only the Hadith or sayings and doings of the Prophet and not the school of Islamic jurists. All great collectors of Hadith really belong to this school of thought. But it became a sect in the hands of 'Abdul Wahhab of Nejd (d. 1201 A.H ) and took its root in India with the followers of Shah Sayyid Ahmad Barelwi (d. 1246 A.H.) and his chief lieutenant Shah IsmS'Il Shahid (d. 1246 A.H.). Ahl-i-Qur-dn : Those who follow only the Qur-an and discard the Hadith also along with Fiqh or jurists. 1 Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1232-1315 A.H.) came of a family connected with the Delhi Court. The fall of the Mughal 40 Mujaddid' s Conception of Tawhid real source of Islam. This in the long run gave rise to the sect of the Ahl-i-Qur-an or Quranists instituted by Mawlwi 'Abdullah. 1 Sir Sayyid was brought up in the school of the Mujaddid. His conception of Tawhid or divine unity is theistic ; a and with reference to mysticism he went further and clearly an- nounced that mysticism is nothing more than a way of purifying the soul and the morals 3 something which was implicit in the teach- ings of the Mujaddid, but which had not come Empire in 1857 A D set him thinking , and he took to the work of the reform of the Musalma'ns of India. At last in 1875 A.D. he founded the present Ahgarh Muslim University. Sir Sayyid, as he is generally called, has exerted a great formative influence ; indeed there is hardly any movement of importance religious, political, social, educational and literary amongst the Musal- m5ns of India which is not directly or indirectly traceable to him. 1 Mawlwi 'Abdullah Chakralwi (d. 1334 A.H ). He was a great scholar of the Qur-an, and in the beginning of the present century of the Christian era founded the sect of Ahl-i-Qur-5n. He maintains that Qur-5n and Qur-3n alone is the genume source for all Islamic dogmatics, and that neither QiySs nor Ijm3' nor even Hadith has any authority 3 TfA., Vol. I, p. 156. 9 Ibid., pp. 78-91. MajaddicTs Conception of Tawhid 41 to clear consciousness. 1 Later Sir Muhammad Iqbal 2 also protested against Wahdat-i-Wujud of the mystics, gave Islamic morality a new spirit and preached life of Effort and Activity. 3 Now, Tawhid is the Problem on which the Mujaddid has deservingly laid the greatest emphasis and made great and original contri- 1 M., Vol. I, Eps. 207, 217. 2 Sir Muhammad Iqbal (1294-1357 A.H ) was a great poet, philosopher and scholar. Since he wrote his Asr5r-i-KhudI about 1333 A.H , he became a force which modified the trend of Muslim thought in politics and morals He attacked mysticism for its doctrines of ' Fana ' or self-annihilation, and substituted 4 Khudi ' or self-affirmation in its place. He also objected to Wahdat-i-Wu]ud or umtyism. 3 Cf. IqbaTs poems Asr5r-i- Khudi ( v3^*- ^j~*\ ) an< ^ Rumuz-i-Bikhudi ( ^>^^ )**}} Asrar-i- Khudi (Secrets of Self) : In this Dr. Iqbal denounces mysticism as un-Islamic in its origin and injurious to the national and political life of Musalm3ns. Rumuz-i-Bikhudi (Secrets of Selflessness) : In it he lays emphasis on the life according to the Qur-Sn and the Sunnat, and preaches such morals as are more positive. 42 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid butions. Thereby he has undermined the whole structure of mysticism in its very foundations, viz., its pantheism. It is this conception in the Mujaddid which I have chosen as the theme of this Dissertation. The Dissertation is divided into four parts : Introduction develops the abstract forms of the Unity of the World-Principle ascon- ceived by the Speculative and the Religious Consciousnesses in their distinctions; and shows how these distinctions tend to be obli- terated in Mystic Consciousness. Chapter I describes the Mujaddid's con- ception of Tawhid in contrast to and criticism of Ibn 'Arabf s Pantheistic conception. Chapter II traces how the conception of the Mujaddid was received amongst the mys- tics of Islam. The Conclusion brings out that the pan- theistic conception of Tawhid is a case of the transformation of the religious unity into the Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 43- speculative unity, or rather the case of the identification of the two unities ; that the MujaddicTs conception of Tawhid is in con- sonance with the religious consciousness, and that the attempts made by the successors of the Mujaddid to re-affirm the pantheistic conception of Tawhid are neither based on direct experience nor are they conclusive as rational arguments. INTRODUCTION Unity of the World-Principle MAN takes different attitudes towards the objects of his experience. These atti- tudes are called different forms of conscious- ness. Theoretic consciousness is the attitude which he takes towards the world of objects in order to acquire its knowledge ; and epistemo- logy or logic is the science that studies the nature and implications of this consciousness. Moral consciousness is another attitude that man takes he takes it towards mankind ; and ethics or moral philosophy is the science that deals with the laws that arise in this field and the implications thereof. Similarly religious consciousness is the attitude that man takes towards ultimate reality ; and k theistic * or 46 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid philosophy of religion is the branch of knowledge that studies the nature and impli- cations of this consciousness. These various forms of consciousness have definite limits, and they are valid only within such limits. But there are cases in which the various forms of consciousness seem to over- lap or conflict with each other. It is for philo- sophy to consider the limits of these various forms with a view to avoid their overlapping and conflict, and to trace the error lying therein. Further it has to determine the exact sense in which each is valid. The unity of the world-principle is a case of this kind. The theoretical and the religious conscious- nesses seem to overlap on this point. The theoretical or the speculative conscious- ness is, as said above, the knowledge-attitude of man. It has an ideal of knowledge. It yearns to realise that ideal. This ideal consists in having a unified picture of the universe. It consists in finding out a unitary principle, out Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 47 of which could spring all the multiplicity of the world from which the multiplicity could be deduced. Such unity has been hovering before the gaze of every metaphysician. The yearning for it is so intense that the specula- tive consciousness is strongly inclined to go forward and assert the existence of this unity ; indeed it would go still further and grasp the essence of it also. The efforts made in this direction have different forms resulting from the different tendencies of the thinkers who have tried to determine this unity. The empirically-minded start from the side of the objects of experience, i.e., the multiplicity. They want to seek some empirical object which may be used as a principle of unity forming the basis of all existence. Thales seeks this concrete unity in ' water ', which he finds to be the principle of all things; Anaximander finds it in ' matter undetermined ' ; Anaxi- menes in * air '. Democritus finds such a unity in particles of physical things, i.e., ' atoms 48 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid and void '. The British school of empiricists finds it in ' ideas and sensations '. Each of them tries to show that the essence of things consists in these entities. Now, these entities, when taken to serve as principles of unity, are really concepts. Each of these attempts is, therefore, an attempt to conceive the unity as a concept from which the multiplicity is deduced. For the unity in each case is not something which exists over and above and beside the multiplicity that is deduced from it, but only as a general idea or concept. The rationalistically-minded thinkers held that thought and being are essentially one ; or that thought is the essence of being. They seek the principle of unity expressly in a concept or a system of concepts from which every- thing could be deduced logically. Parmanides finds that such a concept is 'Being'; Plato finds it in v Ideas ' or ' Idea of the Good ' ; Aristotle in pure ' Form '. Spinoza regards * Substance ' to be such a concept, and Hegel Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 49 * Absolute Idea ' which absorbs the whole system of categories in itself. Both these tendencies agree in the assumption that there is some such principle of unity and that things can be deduced from such a principle. But critical philosophy denies that. Kant comes to the conclusion that Unity is only a 4 Regulative Idea \ We cannot affirm its objectivity we cannot maintain that the principle of the world is one. As a * Regula- tive Idea \ it is only helpful in our attempt to construct a unified system of knowledge ; and as such it consists in this that we should go on making attempt after attempt to discover a law from which all other laws could be deduced or expressed as its modes ; though we know that we can never fully succeed in this attempt. On the other hand a unitary principle is the very mainstay of the religious conscious- ness. The religious consciousness is that attitude of man which he takes towards the 50 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid Ultimate Reality. But how does religious consciousness conceive this principle ? Now, what is the religious situation ? Man finds himself confronted in his course with insur- mountable obstacles. On the one side stands he with his innate yearning after harmony with reality, after moral perfection and happi- ness, after knowledge and after beauty. On the other stands the universe, stupendous, dark and brutal, full of sin and ugliness, unamen- able to harmony with his moral and spiritual yearnings, and unwilling to accede to the demands of his soul. He finds himself help- less forlorn. There must be a Being who has the power, as well as the will, to help him, if he is to be rescued. Hence it is that religious consciousness affirms the existence of such a Being. He can help him in his natural wants and can guide him to the right path. He is Rabb or the Providence, and Razzaq or the Sustainer; and He is Rahman or the Beneficent, for He accedes Mujaddids Conception of Tawhid 51 to his natural wants. He is Hadi or the Guide, for He guides him to the right course; and He is Ghafur-ur-Rahlm or the Pardoner and the Merciful, Who can give him relief relief from the unbearable burden of his sins and sinful nature. But He can truly help him only if He knows all facts open or hidden, past or future. Therefore He is Sami'- um-Baslr or the Hearer and the Seer, and 'Alim-ul-ghaib wash-shahada or the Omnis- cient. Further He must have power to do all He likes ; He is Qadir or the Powerful and Fa"al-ul lima-yurld the Accomplisher of all He might wish : the Omnipotent. But such power He can have only if He is the Creator l of the world and man. Therefore He is 1 Because if things exist or have come into existence indepen- dently of His Will, a limit is set thereby to His Power by their nature ; His control over them and over the events of the uni- verse does not remain complete He thereby ceases to perform the function for the sake of which His existence was postulated. That is, He cannot satisfy the religious consciousness unless He is also the Creator, Khaliq ( o^UL ) an d BSrI 52 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid Khaliq and Ban or the Creator. Moreover He must have the supreme will to lead him to perfection ; He is Dhul-fadl il- 4 azlm, the most Gracious. He must consequently Him- self be perfectly Good, He is Quddus or the Holy. His help is grace. Man cannot claim it as his right. When man realises his own helplessness and the power of this Being, he is filled with awe and devotion, and be- seeches Him for help and guidance. He is Ma'bud or the Object of worship, and Mujib- ud-da'wat or the Answerer of human prayers. The further implication that dawns on Religious Consciousness, in view of the supre- macy of this Being and the exclusiveness of the right of devotion to Him, is that He is One, He is Ahad or the One, and Samad or the Self-sufficient who needs nothing and to whom recourse is had in every need. These are the attributes of the Unity which religious consciousness affirms in relation to us, and which we understand and know. But in Him- MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid 53 self in His entirety and His essence, we do not know Him : UJ> ^ 0^*2*^. ^ by cognition they cannot comprehend Him; nor can we comprehend Him by analogy, for in His essence nothing is like unto Him : cr^ *^* ^~^ there is nothing like unto Him. With this much of positive and negative knowledge of Him the religious consciousness is satisfied. Now, it is of paramount importance to realise the inherent differences between these two unities the speculative and the religious. In the nature of the case it would appear that : Firstly, the speculative unity is unqualita- tive, while the religious unity must necessarily be qualitative, i.e., of a certain nature. The empirically-minded thinkers sought the prin- ciple of unity in " water ", in " matter undeter- mined ", in "air ", in " atoms ", in "ideas ", in " sensations ", in some existent entity. The rationalists found it in " Being ", in " Idea of the Good' 1 , in " Form ", in " Substance ", in 54 MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid "Absolute Idea", in some concept. The critical philosopher sought it in 'Abstract Law '. This shows that the speculative con- sciousness is really indifferent to the nature of the unity. It is satisfied if the ideal of unified knowledge is realised. It is all the same to it whether the unity is water or air, atom or idea, matter or mind, conscious or uncon- scious, mechanical or teleological. It may be of any quality whatsoever, or it may be even qualitiless. The only quality it should possess is that it should be such that from it the multiplicity could be logically deduced. The speculative consciousness is not even keen that it should be numerically one. It may be one in number or it may be many. But the religious consciousness is in dead earnest exactly with regard to the nature of the unity. The unity must be Rabb and Razzaq, Providence and Sustainer, and it must be Rahman or Beneficent; further it must be GhafUr-ur-Rahim or the Pardoner Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 55 and the Merciful, and it must be Hadi or Guide. Moreover, it must be 'Alim-ul- ghaib wash-shahada or the Knower of the Open and the Hidden, and it must be Fa"al-ul lima-yurid or the Doer of whatever He chooses to do. It must further be Khaliq and Barl or the Creator of the Universe, 1 and Quddus or the Holy, and Dhul Fadl or the Gracious. And more, it must have the exclusive right of devotion to itself from man, i.e., it must be the only Ma'bud or the Object of worship ; and it must be one numerically one or Ahad. Indeed, the religious consciousness is so keen 1 Creation means bringing something into being out of com- plete nothing. This conception, however, is a stumbling block for the speculative consciousness, because such a coming into being is absolutely inconceivable. The speculative conscious- ness, therefore, must stop in its logical regress at some being or Wujud, from which it could, by modification, deduce the actual world order. It cannot conceive that a substance can come into being ab novo. About accidents or equalities of the substance it does not seem to be so sceptical, new qualities do come into being as a matter of fact. But in its purity in its rigour, the speculative consciousness does yearn to deduce ^ven qualities from the primordial essence of the substance icf. Scientific Materialism). 56 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid on the nature of the unity that it yearns even for the oneness of the unity only because of its attributes. It is rather the attributes that demand that the unity in question should be numerically one, for then and then alone can it give the satisfaction for which it has been postulated. Secondly, the speculative unity must natu- rally be immanent while on the contrary the religious unity must be transcendent. That the speculative unity is immanent means that it does not exist over and above the multipli- city but only in multiplicity which indeed is only a form and modification of it. Empiri- cally conceived, the unity is some existential being, e.g., ' water ', 4 air ', 4 matter undeter- mined \ * atom \ The unity here is really only of concept. It does not exist over and above existing things. It is wholly exhausted in its denotation. Rationalistically conceived r it is evidently an abstract concept, e.g., the * Being ' of Parmenides. It has only conceptual MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid 57 being: it has no existence of its own. It becomes fact only in things, because they are conceived as its instances. Even critically conceived, the unity is only a conceptual principle, a law. As such it is abstract; it has no being of its own, and it exists only in its applications. Thus the speculative form of unity in all its three kinds is such that it is nothing other than the unity of an abstract concept ; in no case it is the unity of an existent being. The concept however either has no being at all, i.e., in the sense of exis- tence ; or if it has one, it is exhausted in the being of the instances to which it applies. Thus the speculative unity, if it exists at all, is necessarily immanent. On the contrary the religious unity must be transcendent. It must necessarily be over and above the world and man. It must be wholly an other. Because the despair of man amidst the obstacles that originate in his own nature and those that originate in the nature 58 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid of the world around him, demands that help should come from a source which is other than the sources of his troubles, and which has full control over the whole world of men and things. Indeed this succour from the source over and above the world is the very purpose for which religious consciousness postulates the existence of such a Being. That is why religious unity is necessarily transcendent. Thirdly, the speculative unity is necessarily monistic, while the religious unity is dualistic. In connection with immanence and transcen- dence it has in general been brought out above that the speculative unity has no being over and above the multiplicity. This is monism ; for it means that the one and the many have no separate existences. But it means more ; it means that only the one exists, and that the many have no existence by the side of the one. Now the speculative unity is of this nature ; for speculative consciousness is out to con- Mujaddids Conception of Tawhid 59 ceive the world as one or as differentiation of the one. So far it is qualitative monism. But at a certain stage speculative consciousness is not satisfied with mere qualitative monism ; it will also be quantitative monism, the Real is one, single, individual ; it is numerically one. At that stage the unity is conceived either as a whole, or as a substance or as a spirit. But the whole, one single, individual, does not -exist over and above the parts, it is only the organisation of the parts and is incapable of existing in its own right. The position re- mains that of mere immanence. The unity is consequently raised to the dignity of a subs- tance. Now the many become only modes of the substance, its manifestations, its ad- jectives ; they have no being of their own. When the unity is conceived, not merely as substance but as spirit, it is an Infinite Spirit; and finite spirits are conceived as numerically identical with it. They have no being of their own ; while the material 60 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid world is conceived either as expressly unreal, or together with the finite spirits as a re- production or re-realisation of the Infinite Spirit itself. 1 But the religious unity must needs be dual- istic. For the situation, that has given rise to the postulating of the existence of a Divine Being, is that man is disappointed with his own self and the nature of the world. Neither of them is capable of according any help to him in his distress. He postulates the exis- tence of a spiritual Being. To be in harmony with Him alone would enable him to realise his yearnings. This implies that God on the one side, and the universe and man on the other, must be fundamentally different in nature. One is perfect, the other imperfect. 1 It may, by the way, be remarked here that in putting the emphasis on the reality of the one, on its self existence and its supreme value, already the influence of the religious conscious- ness is present, and where it leads further to the apparent affirmation of the many as existent, as in Plato or Green, the affirmation is made most grudgingly and the point is left obscure.. Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 61 Both exist they exist side by side. One is other than the other. On the contrary, if religious unity were a whole, it would only be an aspect or relation of the manifold ; it would not exist in its own right, only the manifold would ; and if it were substance or spirit, the world and man would only be immanent expressions of and hence essentially, identical with it, there would be no room for man as a separate existent and hence for the specific religious yearnings ; for its object would be already a realised fact or will necessarily be realised without any ado and any kind of external help. In that case there need indeed be no religion or religious yearning. That is why the religious consciousness cannot afford to be monistic ; it must be dualistic, it must assert the existence of the imperfect on one side and that of the Perfect on the other. It cannot permit the evaporation of the one, or of the other. Fourthly, the religious unity must be 62 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid Personal, while speculative unity need not be personal indeed it tends to be Impersonal. Personality implies consciousness ; nay it implies more, it implies self '-consciousness \ consciousness of itself as over and above as other than something else, i.e. as transcending them. But we can conceive a being who is self-conscious, and yet it will hardly deserve the name of personality unless it can determine its own action according to the principles of morality, i.e., unless it is free. Again, such a being may be just absolutely just ; it may be holy. But that is not enough ; it would then be only the doctrine of " Karma " hypostatised. We want more. It should be capable not only of justice but also of grace. It is grace which forms the distinctive feature of perso- nality. A man who always gives you but your deserts, neither more nor less, will be regar- ded by you as lacking in personal elements. Now, the religious consciousness seeks a unity which is eminently personal. It seeks that Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 63 the Divine Being should be aware of my actual condition ; and that it should be aware of my yearnings ; more, it should have grace it should be capable of satisfying my yearnings in spite of my shortcomings in spite of my failure to deserve what I yearn for. That is to say, the religious unity must be fully personal. Not so the speculative consciousness. It is not interested in personality. It wants only a unity ; whether it is personal or impersonal is immaterial to it. As brought out above in dis- cussing immanence and transcendence, as well as monism and dualism, speculative conscious- ness has conceived its unity pre-eminently as impersonal. So long as the unity is only a qualitative one, the issue is clear. But when it becomes a quantitative unity the whole, the substance, the spirit, even there the specu- lative consciousness is not inclined to conceive the unity as personal. As a whole, it may be any kind of whole ; as a substance again it may 64 MujadduTs Conception of Tawhid be any kind of substance. Indeed, as such, it is, as in Spinoza and Schelling, something other than self-conscious. Only as spirit it looks like a person. Here it is the religious interest that is at work. However, the attributing of a kind of transcendence to that spirit turns out to be nominal ; it loses itself in the demand, inherent in speculative consciousness, for immanence. The spirit is not other than anything else, or no being is other than the spirit. This makes self-consciousness doubt- ful; hence the idealist is strongly inclined to refuse personality to it. Moreover the speculative consciousness is loath to ascribe freedom to it, or it would interpret freedom as identical with necessity ; for necessity alone satisfies the demand of the speculative con- sciousness ; indeed it yearns for unity and necessity. With necessity there hardly remains any room for grace. Thus all the elements of personality are jeopardised by the require- ments of the speculative consciousness. MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid 65 Fifthly, the religious unity must be Free absolutely free, and it must admit of moral freedom for man ; while the speculative unity need neither be itself free nor need it admit of the freedom of man. Freedom means, positively, the possession of inherent independence in the object called free to determine the mode of its activity ; and negatively, the absence of any kind of external restraint or internal constraint on its action. Religious consciousness conceives the unity as a perfect Being. It must there- fore be morally perfect, have grace, and be self-sufficient. Now, morality necessarily in- volves freedom ; the Divine Being, if He is morally perfect, must be fully free. Further if He is to have grace, which is so inevitably demanded by religious consciousness, He must have freedom ; otherwise, if grace in its various forms, viz., beneficence, sustenance, guidance, mercy, forgiveness and reward, is a necessity of His nature, then it will come to 5 66 MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid us without yearning for it ; and more, it will hardly deserve the name of grace, for it will be from the moral standpoint of a lower kind than the grace which even man is capable of showing. Moreover, freedom is a require- ment of His Samadiyyat or Self-sufficiency. He does not need anything; not even the exhibition of any kind of attitude or action towards other beings. What He does for man is, therefore, absolutely unselfish, and hence absolutely free. And there is room for the freedom of man also, for man must be free, if he is created by Him to yearn for moral perfection and to seek His grace. The speculative consciousness, on the con- trary, yearns exactly for necessity, it would have a unity from which all multiplicity could be deduced rigorously. Hence there can be no freedom in its unity, nor in the multipli- city which proceeds from it. When the speculative consciousness conceived the unity as existent object, e.g., in materialism, etc., the MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid 67 unity is conceived as a cause, from which the whole world process originates and proceeds on the principle of mechanical causality. When it conceives the unity as a rational concept, e.g., the monism of Spinoza, the principle on which it acts and on which the multiplicity is derived from it is the principle of logical ground-consequence. When the speculative consciousness seems to go further and conceive the unity as a spirit, it has then the appearance of affirming freedom in the unity as well as in man. But then what is really meant is only the want of external constraint; and freedom is identified with internal necessity, which in truth is no freedom. Sixthly, Immortality is another point which is bound up for the religious consciousness with its unity, but which is hardly of any consequence from the standpoint of the speculative unity. The religious consciousness yearns for per- 68 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid faction perfection which is wanting in man, and which to all appearances cannot be attained by him in this short span of life ; nor by his own endeavours, unless the whole system of reality is somehow transformed into a new order. It is for this reason that immortality as well as the existence of Divine Being is postulated by it. The two are really two phases of one and the same postulate, the former is the subjective condition and the latter the objective condition of one and the same requirement. But for the speculative consciousness both these conditions are unnecessary. It neither cares for a definite qualitative nature of the unity, nor consequently for the survival of human soul after death. This because it is not the interest of the speculative conscious- ness that the multiplicity, or indeed that the unity, should have a particular nature. Its problem is to find out the unity from which the multiplicity as such could necessarily be Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 69 deduced. Hence it is that all the attempts to determine the speculative unity and trace the growth of multiplicity from it are in- different as to the immortality of the human soul. They are not only indifferent as to the immortality of the human soul, they rather strongly tend to deny it. If the unity is only qualitative one, then too the soul is a transi- tory mode of the substance. Its being is in every case adjectival. Even when it seems to attain to self-subsistence, as in idealism, its survival after death is the survival of its memory (or idea) in God or the survival of the element common to all the souls, i.e., their general idea ; in every case it is re-absorbed in God. Seventhly, the speculative unity must be absolutely knowable, while the religious unity need not be knowdble at all. The speculative unity has its origin in the yearning to know reality. The speculative con- sciousness is knowledge consciousness. It 70 MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid assumes that reality is essentially knowable by us. Hence when the empirically-minded comes to the task of metaphysics, he grasps reality as fundamentally matter, material, physical, as the direct object of immediate perception ; or as sensations and ideas, psychi- cal, mental, again as something which is directly apprehended in introspection. The world-picture that is thereby constructed is materialism or subjective idealism. While if the task is undertaken by the rationalistically-minded, the world is grasped as a system of concepts or categories, of that which is the proper object of thought and can be grasped by the intellect without remainder. The world-picture thus produced is idealism, etc. But if the attempt were to be made cri- tically, i.e., on the principle of Kant, the unity shall have to be conceived as that of a Law from which all other laws could be rigorously derived, law which is again an abstract object and is fully grasped by thought. However, Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 71 for Kant it is only a regulative idea and has no objectivity. Thus we see that it makes no difference what kind of unity is taken as the unity of the world by the speculative con- sciousness, it is through and through known and knowable. But the religious unity need be only partly knowable ; it need not be wholly knowable, indeed it is not wholly knowable, because the demand for it arises in the need of man for a being who could protect and guide and help him in the world-situation in which he finds himself. The unity must therefore have the attributes requisite for the purpose. But they constitute the nature of the unity with regard to in relation with him. They are neither all the attributes, nor need they necessarily define the absolute nature of the unity. And the humility incident to the attitude towards the unity and the immense grandeur of the unity necessarily lead man to maintain that it surpasses the grasp of his tiny faculties and is 72 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid essentially incomprehensible by him. He has to confess that >* ^ <wx*o y no one knows him but He Himself and U-U ^ ctf^H U by cognition they cannot comprehend him. In- deed the religious consciousness in its highest form, viz., revelation seems to hold that the unity is not knowable, even in relation to us, at all, that it is knowable neither in its exis- tence, nor even with regard to its attributes in relation to us ; for its existence and its attributes are beyond experience, only it is con- vinced of and hence believes in the existence of the unity, and in such attributes of it as necessitated the postulate of its existence; there is no question of knowledge. Eighthly, each of these unities engenders a different mode of life. The speculative con- sciousness breeds contemplation, meditation,, quietude ; while the religious consciousness arouses yearning, struggle, activity. The speculative unity, once grasped, brings all activity to end. For if the unity is grasped Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 73> as perfect, the highest activity becomes the timeless activity of thought which is " dialec- tic " for Plato, and " theoria " for Aristotle : and human beings become perfect with the perfection of God the unity of which they are modes (Spinoza) ; and hence there remains- no room for activity. But if the unity is conceived as imperfect, there arise two alterna- tives. In one case, it would be once for all imperfect and determined by its inner neces- sity ; and hence all exertion to make it perfect would be futile. In the other, that is if the unity involves progress towards perfection, it would of necessity grow perfect and no activity on the part of us human beings is required for its perfection. In its very nature the speculative consciousness in knowledge- consciousness. And knowledge in itself pro- duces contemplation and not activity. But it is quite the other way about with the religious unity. The need of the religious unity has arisen in man from the situation that 74 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid there are many yearnings in his soul, and the world around him as well as his own nature raises insuperable obstacles in his way to their realisation. The help and guidance from the religious unity, i.e., God, require and inspire him to active struggle against these obstacles. The struggle aims at bringing his own nature in harmony with the Divine Will, and in bringing the whole order of the world too in harmony with His Will. This struggle to create the subjective and objective harmony is not the means to the realisation of these yearnings; rather the struggle itself is the gradual realisation of them. The task is so gigantic that it must continue till the end of the world, and requires enormous and inces- sant work. Indeed the religious consciousness is yearning it is yearning to become some- thing, to get to something, to bring about something; it is practical consciousness and must needs generate activity. These distinctions between the speculative Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 75 and the religious unities are of paramount importance. They must not be obliterated. Now pantheism, the doctrine of Islamic mys- tics called Wahdat-i-Wujud, seems exactly to do this ; it obliterates these distinctions. It seems to identify the religious unity with the speculative unity. The confusion of these two very distinct unities is not confined to mystics only; it is found also in philosophers. There seems to be an urge in human nature to make of these two one unity. What happens is this. The two unities lie latent in the consciousness of the subject, the thinker or the mystic. Both are descriptions of ulti- mate reality. The primary approach to it is either through the medium of thought or that of intuition, to the speculative unity or to the religious unity. If to the former, the attributes of the religious unity are unawares attached to it, if to the latter, those of the speculative unity. Thus are the ' Substance ' of Spinoza and the 4 Idea ' of Hegel endowed 76 MujaddicTs Conception of Taivhid with Divine attributes ; and thus are the Deity of Plotinus and God of Jarni deduced from the conception of pure Being. More particularly what seems to happen in the case of a Muslim mystic is this. To begin with, he is a Muslim. He believes in God, he believes in His attributes, and he believes in his own responsibility and in life-after- death ; indeed he believes in all that has been given to him by the religious conscious- ness as it manifested itself in Muhammad. Then there happens to arise a yearning in his soul, the transcendental yearning of Kant, to know God. Ordinary experience palpably has no place here. He is led to believe that there is a new kind of experience, a trans- cendental experience which can be acquired. That is, there is something called " Kashf-o- Shuhud " by which one can know God. He takes to it. He now knows-, he realises God and he realises His nature. The reason that he now uses in this connection too is Kasijf- Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 77 o-Shuhud ; it is spiritual reason. Thus both the elements of knowledge, viz., experience and reason get to their rights ; only they are transcendental. In this way the Islamic mys- tic passes over to the speculative conscious- ness to knowledge consciousness. All the inherent requirements of the speculative con- sciousness must now be fulfilled; God must be grasped now as the speculative unity. The mystic knows that He is knowable, that He is immanent, that He is the only existent, etc. The attributes, which he formerly believed in, remain confusedly tacked on to his newly-attained knowledge. Sometimes the mystic himself remains unaware of the con- fusion; sometimes he becomes aware of it, and either throws, such attributes overboard in favour of the speculative attributes, or permits the confusion to remain for fear of "dire "consequences to himself or to the vulgar ^h^, would lose all if they were told what the truth is.* 78 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid But what the Islamic mystics consciously- held is this : Mysticism is an attempt to have a firsthand experience of what the Prophet of Islam is supposed to have experienced. The Islamic mystic believes that the Prophet experienced God and Eternity. The mystic is out to experience them himself. He adopts certain practices called "Mujahida" or spiri- tual exercises. On his way he believes he acquires certain occult powers to work Kara- mat, miracles. With these we are not con- cerned. However it must be borne in mind that in all this he tries to keep to Islam and its spirit. What interests us is the third ele- ment of mysticism, viz. " Kashf-o-Ilham " or intuition of God and Eternity. The mystic believes that he comes to apprehend eternal verities and God directly. This is what is also known as religious experience. The subject comes, so to say, in direct contact with Divine Being. He has immediate vision of God. The result is "Haqq-ul- Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 79 Yaqm " * the infallible certainty of His exis- tence and His essence. The competence and validity of Kashf-o-Ilham as the faculty cognisant of Divine Being is assumed without question; and it is maintained that Kashf is qualitatively different from reason. It is the direct apprehension of ultimate Reality. Now it must be borne in mind that on the principles of Islamic mysticism the reliability of Kashf is to be measured by the criterion of the spiritual experience of the Prophet of God ; for that was the highest and the truest experience. This gives us a standard, so to say, an internal evidence of the truth or 1 Haqq-ul-Yaqm ( ^fc*-^! J^*- ) : Literally absolute certainty. Yaqm or certainty according to mystics has three stages ; ' ilm-ul- yaqln ', ' ain-ul-yaqin ', ' haqq-ul-yaqin '. One finds smoke and is certain that there is fire, this is ' ilm-ul-yeufin \ one sees fire with his own eyes, he is more sure than the first person of the existence of fire, this is * ain-ul-yaqin ' one puts his hand in fire and gets a burn, he realises the existence of fire, this is haqq-ul- yaqin. With reference to the Being of Allah, the mystics believe that one passes through similar stages of certainty and realisation. But on the principle of the Mujaddid none of these- kinds of yaqin is possible in case of the Being of God. "80 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid otherwise of the findings of a mystic. Throwing a glance on the history and deve- lopment of pantheism or Wahdat-i-Wujud in Islamic mysticism, we find that before Ibn 4 Arabi and Haklm-i-Ishraq, 1 there are to be found only accidental utterances of sundry mystics purporting to pantheism. For exam- ple Bayazld Bustami (d. 261 A.H.) is said to have exclaimed, ^yl^ ^\U ^U^^o Holy am I, how great is my Glory ; and Mansur (d. 309 A.H.) J^ Jl l>l I am the Truth ; the implication thereof being that the relation between me and Him is that of identity. It was Ibn ' Arabl who seems to have been the first to interpret his own mystic experience of Tawhid, or unity in such a way as to be intelligible to others, and to have strenuously maintained that Wahdat-i- Wujud is the very essence of Islam. And Ibn 4 Arabl tried to support his interpretation with verses of the Qur-an and the sayings of the 1 Shaikh iShahsb'uddin Suharwardi, the author of Hikmat-ul- Mrocj, (d.578A.H.). Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 81 Holy Prophet. Ibn 'Arabi has had enormous influence on mystic thought in Islam. Conse- quently Ibn Taimiyya had to write a treatise, " >***j)\ OwX_^ Jlk>l ^ " Refutation of Pan- theism in which he strongly criticised Ibn 'Arabi's conception of Tawhid and its impli- cations. But perhaps Ibn Taimiyya's criticism was too early.* At least it had little influence in the Islamic East. Ibn 'Arab! had not yet come to sway the Islamic soul. It was later that his sway became complete. Practically everyone accepted Wahdat-i-Wujud and held it on the basis of mystic experience. 1 It was at this stage that the Mujaddid appeared. He found Wahdat-i-Wujud ram- 1 Ibn Taimiyya (661-728 AH) and Im5m Dhahabi (d. 748 A.H.) as theologians strongly opposed Ibn 'Arabi. Dr. F. Krenkow has kindly enlightened me on the point He writes : " In Syria and Egypt was a similar struggle against sufi Pantheism waged by Ibn Taimiyya and the historian and Muhaddith Dhahabi. In the eighth century *the adherents of Sufism were found in Egypt and Syria only-among emigrants from Persia and India and I fear they had a bad time. A Kh5nq3h in Cairo, Sa'Id-as-Su'ada', generally harboured them." 6 82 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid pant. He himself went through it in his mystic development. And the real point of interest is that he throws it overboard as a mystic, i.e., exactly on the ground of his own advanced mystic experience ; and he seems to have liberated the religious unity from its complication with the speculative unity on that very ground. And his findings apparently bear the test, the criterion of the reliability of mystic experience, namely, it coalesces with the findings of the religious experience of the Prophet as generally formulated by Muslim divines! Describing his internal history, the Mujad- did writes that at first he only believed in Wahdat-i-Wujud; for from early childhood he knew it on rational grounds and was thoroughly convinced of its truth. But when he entered mysticism, it was then that he first realised Wahdat-i-Wujud as a spiritual experience and came to know it first-hand. Long did he remain in that maqam or stage ; Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 83 and all knowledge that is incident to that stage was granted to him. 1 Afterwards a new kind of spiritual experi- ence took hold of his soul, and he found that he could hold Wahdat-i-Wujud no longer. Yet he hesitated to give expression to his new experience, because he had cherished Wahdat-i-Wujud so long. At last he had to reject it definitely, and it was revealed to him that Wahdat-i-Wujud was a lower stage and that he had arrived at a higher stage, viz., Zilliyyat or adumberation. His rejection was now something which he could no longer help, though he was really unwilling to reject it because of the respect for the great leaders of mysticism who all had held it. However, he yearned to continue at the stage of Zilliyyat or adumberation for Zilliy- yat or adumberation has a kinship with Wahdat-i-Wujud. In it he experienced him- self and the world as the zill or shadow of 1 M., Vol. I, Ep. 31. 84 Mujaddid' s Conception of Tawhid God. But the grace of God took him higher up to the highest stage, viz. \Abdiyyat or servitude. Then did he realise that 'Abdiyyat or servitude is very high above all other stages ; and he repented having yearned to stick to Wahdat-i-Wujud and Zilliyyat 1 or adumberation. Naturally enough, one expects that those of the Muslim mystics who have chosen to differ with the Mujaddid and have gone back to Ibn 'Arabi and his Wahdat-i-Wujud, for example Shah Wali-Ullah, should primarily contest the position of the Mujaddid on the basis of mystic experience, and not merely on rationalistic or logical grounds, that they should base their case on the religious consciousness and not on the speculative consciousness. With these introductory remarks, let us proceed to discuss the position of the Mujaddid in detail. >M., Vol. I, Ep. 160. CHAPTER I The MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid HPAWHlD literally means oneness. But -* in Islam, the term denotes the religious unity. As we have seen, the religious unity must be numerically one, and unique in the possession of all the attributes of perfection. This is Tawhid. The conception of Tawhid as developed by the Mujaddid has historically arisen in his mind in close contrast with indeed as a pro- test against Wahdat-i-Wujud or the unity ism. He takes Ibn 'Arabi in particular for criticism, because Ibn 4 Arabl is the great mystic who, for the depth of his insight and compre- hensiveness of his argumentation, may well be called the ' Imam ' or the Leader of pan- 86 Mujaddid's Conception of theistic mystics in Islam ; indeed he is actually called Shaikh-i-Akbar or the greatest Shaikh. It is consequently necessary to give a brief exposition of Ibn 'Arabl's conception of Tawhid and the Mujaddid's criticism. I. Ibn 'Arabics Wahdat-i-Wujudor Unityism and the Mujaddid's Criticism of it IBN 'ARABI'S position with regard to Tawhid is that Being is one, it is that which exists. This Being is Allah. Everything else is His manifestation. Hence the world is identical with Allah. The identity of the world and Allah is conceived on the basis of the iden- tity of His Dhat-o-Sifat 1 or existence and 'The distinction of Dhat ( C->^ ) and Sifat (OU-o) j s very nearly the distinction of substance and attributes. At times it looks like that of existence and essence. It can be rendered as the distinction of Being and Nature, or It and Its Qualities. Asma' ( U~*ol) plural of Ism, means Divine Names with reference to particular Sifat or Dhat as they occur in the Qur-an, e.g.. Majaddid's Conception of Tawhid 87 essence substance and attribute ; the world being only a Tajalli 1 or manifestation of His Sifat 2 or attributes. In other words, the creation of the world is a form of emanation. 3 The theory of emanation as held by Ibn 'Arabi and especially as elaborated by his followers as well as the later mystics, e.g., JamI, is this. Rahim ( fe*>j X the Merciful, as they are the names of Allah in virtue of His qualities or activities, i e , an Ism combines Dh5t and SifSt. 1 Tajalli ( ^^^ ) is really shining forth. The conception underlying it is that God is Light and this Light shines forth as if bodily in many forms Hence it may be translated as eradiation, effluence, emanation, manifestation and in philosophical termi- nology is equivalent to Mode When the Light shines forth on itself it is Tajalli-bi-nafsihl ( AA~AX> ^^ ). As the Light shines forth in various grades to the mystic it is Tajalir-i-Dhatl or Sifdti, etc. , with reference to the mystic it means the vision of the Light or illumination by it. If this vision is that of the attributes of God it is Tajalli'-i-Sifati ( ^isli-o jj^.vi> ), if it is the vision of the Being or Dhat of Allah it is Tajalli'-i-Dhati 2 ShR, p. 8, lines 15-21, and p. 9, lines 6, 11, 15, 16, 21. 3 The act of creation by the word ^ ("Be") is nothing but the descent of the Creator Himself into the being of things. See ShF., p. 178, lines 25-27, p. 183, lines 10, 11; p. 213, lines 11-12 ; p. 152, lines 11-16 ; p. 253, line 22. 88 Mujaddid's Conception of Taivhid The Being is indeterminate ; it is the stage of La-ta'ayyun or Indeterminateness of the unity. In its Descent or Determination it passes through five stages. The first two are ' Ilml or Cognitive and the last three are Kharijl or Existential. In the first descent, the unity becomes conscious of itself as pure being, and the consciousness of Sifat is only Ijmali, i.e.* general, it is implicit. In the second descent, the unity becomes conscious of itself as possessing the attributes ; that is the stage of Sifat-i-tafslli, i.e., attributes in detail, it is explicit. These two descents seem to be conceived as conceptual or logical rather than actual; for they are out of time, and the distinction of Dhat and Sifat or its attributes is only Dhahni or logical. Then begin the real actual descents. The third descent therefore is Ta 4 ayyun-i-ruhi or the determina- tion as spirit or spirits ; the unity has broken itself up into so many spirits, e.g., angels. The fourth of its descents is Ta'ayyun-i-mithall or Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 89 ideal determination, thereby the world of Ideas comes into being. And the fifth descent is Ta'ayyun-i-jasadi or physical determination ; it yields the phenomenal or physical beings. 1 These stages are only gradual realisations of the capacities that were already latent in the attributes. This brings out that for Ibn 'Arabi Dhat or Being is identical with Sifat or atributes, and Sifat express themselves in tajalliyyat, i.e. manifestations or modes which are the world and its objects. This same identity of divine modes with His attributes, and of attributes with his Being, is brought out in another way. Ibn 'Arabi maintains that Asma'-i-Ilahi or Divine Names are identical with the Musamma or the Named, and the Musamma is the very being of Allah ; 3 and that the Divine Names, although they are many, denote the same >M., Vol. II, Ep. 1. ShF., p. 143 text of FH. 90 MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid entity; 1 and that whatever is denoted by each name separately is denoted by all of them together. God can be praised with any name or with all the names together, because all the names denote the same being. 2 Just as He is manifold as regards His Names, and One as regards His Being, so He is Ahadiyyat- i-Ma k qula 3 like Hayula 4 or 'matter' or a conceptual unity as regards His being, and manifold as regards His existence, because the created beings are nothing but He himself in self-emanation. 5 Now this identification of Asma' or names and Musamma the named is only another name for the identification of Dhat and Sifat, i.e., Being and Attributes, 1 ShF.. p. 223 text of FH. 2 Ibid., pp. 226-227. 3 Ahadiyyat (C-o*>^.l)is the quality of being one ; it is a stage in mystic journey where the mystic turns away from multiplicity and sees only unity. Ahadiyyat-i-Ma'qula (<*Jyua-o d^o.^X^l) means conceptual unity unity which is conceptually grasped. 4 Hayulaf V jJ_^ A )is 'Matter 1 in the Aristotelean sense, which has Surat (O^-o) O r ' Form ' as its correlative. ShF., p. 253-text of FH. Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 91 because ' Ism ' or name is nothing but the description of the object in virtue of an attri- bute of the being. As to the relation between the world and God, Ibn 'Arabi holds that it is one of identity. In bringing out this identification he proceeds either from the negation of the world or from the affirmation of God. Pro- ceeding from the negation of the world, Ibn 'Arabi holds that the world as such is merely nominal, unreal, imaginary, objectively non- existent, 1 and that God alone exists. The world or multiplicity exists only as the modes of the unity as His modes ; it has no exist- ence of its own : 1 ShF., p. 117, lines 3-5 text of FH. 2 A'yan (o^t^) ls plural of 'Am (y^*). It means essence in the terminology of Ibn 'Arabi. But essence can be conceived in two ways ; either as the concept of the nature of a thing or as the nature of a thing itself. The latter is something which exists, and may rightly be called the existent nature of the thing. It is in this sense that Ibn 'Arab! uses the term A'y3n. Ibn 'Arabi calls it A'yan-uth-ThSbita (jvJoliJI >U*1). They are Thabita because they are posited as existent , they are therefore existent essences, 92 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid the essences which are existent nature of things have not got the slightest touch of reality about them. 1 Proceeding from the side of God, Ibn 'Arabi maintains that the world is God ; it is the modes in which the unity has differentiated itself ; these modes exhaust the unity wholly ; the unity has no existence over and above them : c >.U - /iX*JV* U* sXsoU there is absolute nothingness beyond these modes ; and the mystic should not take the trouble of seeking God beyond this world. 2 But this experience of identity is not a permanent experience. Hence Ibn 'Arabi comes to speak of a new experience called Farq-ba'd-al-jam' 3 (difference-after-Identity). 4 1 ShF., p. 63, lines 14-15 2 Ibid , p. 33, line 17. 3 Farq ( Jj/*) literally means difference ; in mystic terminology it signifies the state of mind in which the mystic feels the sense of being other than God and separate from Him. Jam' (^.^) means coming together ; in mystic terminology it signifies the state of mind in which the mystic feels one with God Farq-ba'd- al-Jam' (j-*^^*-? <3/*) me ans separateness after unification ; in mystic terminology it is the state of mind in which the mystic has outgrown the stage ot Jam' and feels himself other than God. 4 ShF., p. 91, line 24. Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 93 One may call that which really exists God or one may call it the world, or one ma> express his inability to differentiate between the two. 1 It remains one and the same. Again Ibn 'Arab! denies transcendence, and he denies immanence, because these conceptions impl> duality of existent. He puts it thus : if God is posited either as transcendent or as imma- nent His infinitude would be lost. Hence Tawhid should be affirmed with ' Tanzih ' and * Tashbih ' 2 , i.e., with transcendence and imma- nence both. 3 Again, according to Ibn 'Arab Allah is Asl or the Thing and the world is Hif Zill 4 or adumberation. But zill or adumbera- 'ShF., p 134, lines 22-23, p 147, lines 10-11. 2 Tashbih ( tA< ^*- x ^) literally means likeness. In theology i means attributing likeness of Creatures, i e , the qualities of th< creatures to the Creator. Ibn 'Arab! takes likeness to be iden tity and hence Tashbih comes to mean immanence. Tamil (iAJ>.^ij) literally means to purify. In theology it signifies tha the attributes of creatures cannot be ascribed to God. In Ibi 'Arab! it comes to mean transcendence. 3 ShF , p 45, line 12 text of FH , p. 48, line 31. 4 Asl-o-Zill ( JJi J-ol) means the Thing and its Adumbera tion or shadow. In Ibn 'Arab! zill seems to be usedas equivalen 94 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid tion is the appearance of asl or the thing ; it is asl appearing, manifesting itself. Hence the world is identical with Allah. 1 As to the relation between Man and God, Ibn 'Arab! maintains that the relation between God and man is that of identity, of immanence, 2 of Qurb or nearness. Really qurb or nearness as affirmed in the verse, H J l J**- cx *?. J 1 S-V 51 c***> We are nearer unto him than his life-artery, means nothing other than the fact that God Himself is the very essence of the limbs and parts of man. 3 Again, man is said to be created after the to appearance ; it is conceived as In'ik3s ( c / J ^-*-i ' ) or Reflection, which is well-nigh equivalent to Tajalli or Emanation. But in the Mujaddid zill in the beginning means shadow which signifies resemblance with the Thing But as he advances, 'zill' becomes more and more of a mere shadow and indicates insignificance and unreality. In the end it comes to mean only an effect 1 ShF., p. 113, line 12, and p. 116, lines 10, 11. 13, 14 9 Ibid., p. 77, lines 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 10, 11 and p. 79, lines 9, 13 9 Ibid., p. 128, lines 2-5 text of FH Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 95 image of Allah : *3jy* J>* ^>^ J^ He created man after His own Image. That means that man possesses all the attributes of God. In fact it is His attributes that are manifested in man ; they are bodily there in man. 1 That is why it is said : *o ^f *** **> ^f cx one who comes to cognise his own self comes to cognise his God. 2 That is, knowledge of self is knowledge of God. Ibn 'Arabi's Wahdat-i-Wujud comes out also in connection with his theory of the Purpose of Creation. The purpose of crea- tion, according to him, is the yearning on the part of Allah to know Himself : Uiiu *\^& c^> jxil cxfti^i ^j^l O 1 cuxxaJ.* I was a hidden Treasure ; I wished that I should be known, so created the creatures. The yearning to know Himself is the yearning for self-perfec- tion. This perfection consists in expression or realisation of His own self through the 1 ShF., p. 252 text of FH. 2 Ibid., p. 185, lines 1-5 text of FH. 96 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid temporal and eternal qualities that manifest themselves in the world-process ; in other words in actualising all the qualities that were potentially there in Him. Thus from what- ever side we start, Ibn 'Arabl unambiguously leads to Wahdat-i-Wujud. Now turning to the Mujaddid we find that his mystic progress in general has had three stages, 1 viz., wujudiyyat or pantheism, zilliyyat or adumberation and 'abdiyyat or servitude. At the first stage he has the spiritual experi- ence of Wahdat-i-Wujud. The object of mysticism at this stage is to turn the belief based on faith or reason into sure and certain knowledge based on direct experience with regard to God and His relation to man and the world, that God exists, that He is imma- nent in man and the world, and that His relation with the world is that of identity. This stage lasts for a long interval and the 'M., Vol. I, Ep. 160. Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 97 Mujaddid realises it in all its detail and in all its depth. 1 Then he passes over to the stage of zilliyyat or adumberation. This is a transi- tional stage. At it he finds that the world has a being of its own, though it is only the zill or a shadow, semblance of reality. Allah is the Asl or the Real. A sense of duality arises ; he seriously begins to doubt Wahdat- i-Wujud ; but he does not yet possess the clarity and the conviction to deny it forth- with. Indeed he yearns to stay on in this stage because it has affinity with Wujudiy- yat, the world is seen as zill or adumbera- tion of the Asl or the Real, i.e., of Allah. He finds himself reluctant to outgrow this stage. In course of time, however, he outgrows this stage also, and passes over to the stage of 'abdiyyat or servitude the highest stage. Duality of God and the world now becomes clear to him like the light of the day. The 1 M. Vol. I, Ep. 31 ; Vol. II, Ep. 42. 7 98 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid world and God are two. He is thoroughly convinced of this ; and he must promulgate their duality whatever odds there be against him. 1 At this stage he realises that all his previous mystic experiences were really sub- jective and unreliable ; they did not corres- pond to objective reality. No room is left now for the identity of God and man. His confidence in the objective validity of mystic experience is gardually being undermined. In the end he comes to realise that to speak of an experience of God, which the mystics do, is blasphemy. God is far and far above the grasp of our faculty of reason and of kashf : 2 ^J\ \x ^ .i^Jl AX <&! &\ Allah is beyond the Beyond, and again beyond the Beyond. Neither His being nor His attributes are directly knowable. The only justification for mystic discipline that remains to him now is not the possibility of the experience 1 M., Vol. II, Ep 42. *lbid., Ep. 1. MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid 99 of the Divine, but its trend towards the puri- fication of morals. 1 The Mujaddid expressly realises here that Iman-bil-ghaib or the faith in the Unseen alone is the truth. 2 With these stages of the development of his mystic experience in view, we may now turn to the Mujaddid's criticism of Ibn 'Arabi's Wahdat-i-Wujud. Let it be remembered that the Mujaddid contests it exactly on the basis on which Ibn 'Arabi held it, viz., mystic experience ; 3 though in the exposition of them both rational argument is mixed up with the description of mystic experience. That in God dhat-o-sifat or existence and essence, being and attributes are identical, *lman-bil-ghaib (t^^Jb c>^'): Faith in the Unseen, Ghaib (u r ^^) is opposed to Shahada, i.e., to that which can be seen and observed, faith in entities which cannot be seen and observed, e.g., God, Angels, Heaven, Hell, etc., is Im5n-bil- ghaib. The term is used in this dissertation with particular reference to the Being of God. 1 Cf. M., Vol. I, Eps. 207 and 217. 8 Ibid,, Ep. 31 ; Cf. Ibn 'Arabi, ShF., p. 12, line 24. 100 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid and that the world is the tajalli or emana- tion, or mode of sifat or attributes ; these two premises necessarily involve Wahdat-i- Wujud. The Mujaddid must therefore meet each of these premises. Consequently he holds that each of these premises is invalid. The sifat or attributes are not identical with the dhat or being ; but they are over and above the dhat. This is a truth directly apprehen- ded by kashf-i-sahih or veridical intuition, i.e., by genuine mystic experience. Moreover it is also in harmony with Revelation, because the Qur-an says : * s: iUJl c? ft ^^ ^ o' verily God is wholly sufficient unto Himself, He needs none of the worlds ; (29 : 5) the worlds or the creation being but only the Sifat, in their actuality or realisation according to Ibn 'Arabl. He is perfect in Himself. The attributes, by which He turns to the world and creates it, are other than His Self. Indeed right reason also demands that the attributes 1 M M Vol. Ill, Eps. 26, 100, 110. Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 101 must be other than His being. Nor is the world the tajalli or emanation of the sifat or attributes. For if the world were the tajalli of God's sifat, it would have been identical with them ; but the sifat are perfect while the world is full of imperfections. 1 For exam- ple, human knowledge has no resemblance with God's knowledge, so that one may be called the tajalli of the other. 2 Further Kashf-i-Sahih or true mystic intuition bears testimony to it that the world is not the tajalli or emanation of sifat or attributes. Moreover when we turn to wahi 3 or Revela- tion, which is the criterion of the truth of mystic experience, it bears us out. It says : ^^i^ai U* O^*J! v^ vb^ ^Isy* thy Lord is holier than the qualities which they ascribe 1 M., Vol III, Eps. 113-114 'Ibid., Ep. 100. 3 Wahi (^^'^} is revelation m general but in Islam it is a revelation of specific nature. It is information or guidance communicated to a Nab! (^**>) by / v llah through the agency of an angel or directly. 102 MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid to Him (37:180). That is, there is no likeness whatsoever between the Divine and the human attributes. 1 Now where Ibn 'Arabi starts from the denial of the world as such and maintains that 4 A'yan-uth-thabita ' the existent essences of the world have not had the slightest touch of reality, and that it is God alone that exists, the Mujaddid observes that Ibn 'Arabi is talking at the stage of Fana 2 or annihilation. It is after the mystic passes over to the higher stages, that he realises the error in- volved in this stage. It is then alone that he understands the reason of having formerly regarded the world as non-existent. At the stage of Fana or annihilation the mystic was absorbed in the being of God and utter 1 M., Vol.II.Ep. 1. 1 Fana (^*) literally means self-annihilation. In mystic ter- minology it means the stage at which the mystic turns his face away from everything other than Allah and forgets it totally. The obliviousness leads in certain cases to the denial of every- thing other than Allah. MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid 103 forgetfulness with regard to ma-siwa things other than God had taken hold of him. Hence he could perceive nothing but God. 1 Consequently he began to deny the exis- tence of everything else and affirm the being of Allah alone. Just as when the sun shines the stars disappear in its light and cannot be observed, although they are actually present in the sky and have not ceased to exist ; in the same manner the mystic was so much occupied with the being of God that he was unable to apprehend and affirm other things in spite of the fact that the things were actually there. 2 In fact Ibn 'Arab! does not seem to have realised Fana or annihilation adequately, for he is still aware of the world ; that is how he could identify it with God. 3 Secondly, Ibn 'Arabics position does not satisfy the criterion of kashf-i-sahih or veridical in- 'M.Vol. I. Eps. 122,291 /fcut.Ep.43. 'Ibid., Ep. 272 ; Vol. II, Ep. 35. 104 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid tuition, viz., it is not in accordance with ' Wahl '. It is against revelation. We have been taught by revelation that God is wholly other than the world, and that the world exists. Had it not been so, awamir-o-nawahi or the com- mandments of commission and omission, and the actions in accordance with those com- mandments, should have become meaning- less. The imperatives and the actions according to them can have meaning only if the world really exists. Otherwise reward and punishment cannot rightly follow on them and the Hereafter becomes meaningless. 1 Thirdly, it is scepticism to deny the objective reality and external existence of the world and call it unreal and non-existent; indeed it is a denial of God's attribute of Ibda' or creation and of the fact that He really created a world. 2 Moreover to call it mawhum will not do. For mawhum may mean a a M., Vol. Ill, Ep. 67. Ibid., Vol. II, Ep. 44. Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 105 number of things. In one sense mawhum means that the world is simply the invention of our imagination; it is nothing but our own ideas. In this case it would disappear if our imagination were to disappear. This is downright scepticism and denial of God's attribute of Ibda' or creation, as said above ; and it is wholly untenable. In the other sense, mawhum means that the world does exist objectively, though its existence as compared to God's is as insignificant as the existence of a mere imaginary thing. In this sense it would be wrong to hold that it is identical with God. 1 For the world is contingent, while God is necessary; they can never be identical with one another. The former is temporal, the latter is eternal. One is subject to 4 How ' and * Why \ and the other is above it. Consequently from both the points of view, religious and rational, it is impossible to hold that the world does not exist, or that 1 M M Vol. m, Ep. 58. 106 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid it is identical with God. 1 Further where Ibn 'Arabi starts with the sole reality of God, the Mujaddid points out that Ibn 'Arabi is speaking at the stage of Tajalli'-i-dhati or vision of Being, i.e., the stage at which the mystic feels that he is directly apprehending the being of God. But the mystic discovers the error involved there- in only when he outgrows that stage. Then and then alone he realises that God is wholly other and beyond this world, and that he cannot approach Him, and that the identity of the world and God was a fabrication of his own mind. Ibn "Arabi took the world as identical with God because he did not pass beyond this stage. It was the highest stage of his mystic progress. Had he advanced further, he would have realised that God is beyond all kashf-o-shuhud or intuition and experience. 2 Indeed had Ibn 'Arabi realised 1 M., Vol. I, Ep. 31. 9 Ibid., Vol.111, Ep. 75 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 107 Tajalll'-i-dhatl or vision-of-being fully, he should have talked only of God, and not at all of the world and its identification with God. 1 Further, this mystic intuition of Ibn 'Arabi, unless interpreted otherwise, is abso- lutely opposed to Revelation. According to Revelation it is a heresy of the worst kind. 3 Another aspect in Ibn 'Arabi's exposition of Wahdat-i-Wujud is his doctrine of Farq- ba'd-al-jam' or difference after identity. The objection that the Mujaddid raises in this connection is this : If it is true to say that A 4 yan-i-khariji or existent essences have not had the slightest touch of existence, how is it possible that affirmation of God only bit-tanzih, i.e., as a transcendent Being, can change His infinitude into f initude ? God is existent and the world is non-existent and imaginary, having no objective being. How can an imaginary being set limits to the *M., Vol. Ill, Ep.32. 9 Ibid., Ep. 89. 108 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid existentially real ? It is equivalent to saying that the mere idea of God's equal can destroy the quality of His uniqueness ! * Secondly, if tashblh or immanence must be joined with tanzlh or transcendence, the ma-siwa-llah or things other than God cease to be. Hence it is why that Ibn 'Arabi maintained that worship of any object whatsoever is the worship of Allah;' 2 which is diametrically opposed to wahl or Revelation. The Qur-an teaches: *\y* <wK ^Jl l^Jbo ^UJ\ J*l L J5 o o^- x lj ^ Say : u O followers of the Book ! Come to an equitable proposition between us and you that we shall not worship any but Allah and (that) we shall not associate aught with Him, and (that) some of us shall not take others for lords besides Allah ; but if they turn back, then say : 4 Bear witness that we are 1 M., Vol. Ill, Ep. 74. 'Cf. ShF.,p. 55, lines 4, 9, 10, 11. Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 109 Muslims ' l ". That means that 4 Ahl-i-KitatT or the people of the scriptures worshipped some things other than Allah, and that things and beings other than Allah there are. 2 Thirdly, those who combine immanence with transcen- dence do not know that God is beyond the reach of our reason and comprehension, and that what they regard as immanent are mere fabrications of their own imagination, whom they have raised to the dignity of God. God is high above our kashf-o-shuhud 3 or intuition and experience. Fourthly, the stage which Ibn 'Arabl calls the stage of Farq-ba 4 d-al-jam\ i.e., difference-after-identity, is not the stage of Farq-ba 4 d-al-jam'. That stage is attained only when the world and God are realised as different from one another, while Ibn 'Arabl did not realise them as separate and distinct. In fact Ibn 4 Arabl did not reach this stage ; >Q.,3:64. 2 M., Vol. I, Ep. 272. 8 Ibid., Ep. 9. 110 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid that is why he proposes that one may call the 'real ' God, or he may call it the world, or he may express his perplexity on account of their indistinguishability. 1 The stage of Farq-ba 4 d- al-jam l is realised only when the mystic differentiates between the world and God ; and it is a higher stage than that reached by Ibn 'Arab!. 2 Again where Ibn 'Arabi has based Wah- dat-i-Wujud on the identity of asl and zill, i.e., the thing and its adumberation, the Mu- jaddid contends that the zill or adumberation of a thing can never be identical with the asl or being, the zill is only a copy or a likeness of the asl. In case of God the zill is contin- gent, and the asl Necessary. The essence of the contingent is non-being and that of the necessary being. Hence asl and zill can never be identical. 3 For example, if the shadow of a 1 M., Vol. Ill, Ep. 71 ; Cf . Ibid., Vol. I, Ep. 285. 3 Ibid, Vol. I, Ep. 290. 'Ibid., Vol. II, Ep. 1. MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid 111 person is prolonged, it can never be said that the person is prolonged. Now, firstly, the world is not the zill of God ; and secondly, even if it may be taken as the zill of God, the identity of the two is not proved. 1 As to man and his identity with God, Ibn *Arabl is not right in basing it on the verse : jo.^Jl jxs* cr <^J\ s j / s\ c>*xS We are nearer unto him than his own life-artery. Certainly God is nearer to us than our life-artery ; but the nature of His Qurb or Nearness is beyond our comprehension. 2 Nor is he right in his interpretation of ^^> J* ^>\ "rt ,3)^ God created man after His own image. This does not mean that man is the embodiment of the attributes of the Creator. It only means that both God and the human soul are non-spatial, and that they resemble each other in this respect. 3 Otherwise there is a vast difference 1 M., Vol. I, Ep. 160. 9 Ibid., Vol. II, Ep. 46. 3 Ibid., Vol. I, Ep.287. 112 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid between man and God, as there is, for example, between the spider that warily spins its web and a being who by a single breath can wipe out the whole structure of heaven and earth. God and man simply cannot be identical. 1 Again Ibn 4 Arabi is not right in his inter- pretation of *>j ^J/ ^ *-~^ J>f cr* one who comes to cognise his self comes to cognise God. That knowledge of the self is the knowledge of God, does not mean that therefore the self and God are identical. No. It only means that one who has fully become conscious of the defects and imper- fections in his own nature realises that values and perfections are possible only through God ; and that God is the source and embodi- ment of all values and perfections. 2 As to the Purpose of Creation, the Mujad- did observes that Ibn 'Arabi's position implies that God was not perfect in Himself; and M., Vol. I,Ep.310. /&*., Vol. I, Ep. 234. Mujaddid's Conception of Taivhid 113 that He had to depend on the world for His perfections. But, firstly, this is against reli- gion and against Revelation. According to Revelation God is absolutely independent of the world. c^ il * JI ^ ^^ ^ o l verily Allah is sufficient unto Himself and needs no worlds. 1 Secondly, according to Revelation the purpose of creation is not knowledge at all but 'Ibadat, 2 service. The Qur-an says : o^**^ J ^ ^~ jv ^ o4-^ cuixL U I have not created man and jinn but exclusively for 'Ibadat (51 : 56). However, one may say that 'Ibadat means Ma'rifat, i.e., knowledge of God. All the same, in the knowledge of God consists 1 M., Vol. Ill, Ep 110. 2 'Ib5dat (O^lx*) may generally be called worship but is not exactly that. It is rather the consciousness of one's own in- significance and humility in relation to a being whose qualities are incommensurable, and not the consciousness of the qualities of that being. Hence ' 'Ibadat ' is any action performed with a will to be in harmony with Him. According to Islam Allah is exclusively the Ma'bud (>3*~*\ object of worship. Ma'bu- diyyat is the quality of being Ma'bud. 'Abd (*?*) is the person who performs 'Ibadat. 114 Mujaddid' s Conception of Tawhid the perfection of man and not the perfection of God, who is perfect in Himself and is not affected by the creation of the world. He is as He was before the creation, cA U* o^ He is now just as He was, i e., Perfect. 1 Wahdat-i-Wujud or unityism is not true, wujnd or Being is not one, insists the Mujad- did. The experience of Wahdat-i-W\ijud or identity of being is not objective ; it is sub- jective, it is merely Wahdat-i-S/m/md 2 appa- rent identity the mystic only feels or sees One. And the Mujaddid traces the origin of this mistake in mystic experience. How does 1 M , Vol I, Ep 266 2 Wahdat-i-Shuhud (>^^> C^^X^) or Tawhid-i~Shuhudi C^^X-*** t ^ 3 -^- > ) means unity of appearance It is the Mujad- did's interpretation of Wahdat-i-Wujud The exact translation is difficult. It may be translated as apparentism According to him the experience of Wahdat-i-Wujud is only appearance. It appears to be so but is not really so , it is mere Shuhud or seeming So Wahdat-i-Shuhud or Tawhid-i-Sjiuhudi may be apparentism : however it is generally taken to mean the theory of creation propounded by the Mujaddid (pp. 149, 158, infra) which apparently a mistake Sufiya'-i-Shuhudiyya are the mystics who believe in this theory Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 115 this subjective experience arise ? The Mujad- did points out that the source of the ex- perience is different with different classes of men. With some it originates in cognition; with others in feeling. The former begin with excessive meditation on the Unity of Allah, and come to interpret &l ^ *JI V (there is no object of worship but Allah) as equivalent to <&\ vs ^=^r Y (none exists but Allah). The dawn of this kind of Tawhid on the consciousness of the mystic is due to the dominant cognitive aspect consequent on persistent thinking and medi- tation on the Unity ; by constant repetition it becomes impressed on his mind and he begins to imagine that he directly apprehends Wahdat-i- Wujud OT unity and identity. With others the experience originates in excessive love of the Divine^Being. The mystic is lost in the bbject of his love to such an extent that he loses sight of everything else. He beholds nothing but the object of his love 116 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid and finds nothing other than Him. Conse- quently he comes to believe that none but the Divine Being exists. When he turns to the world he perceives the object of his love in every particle of it, and he comes to regard multiplicity only as a mirror or reflector of the beauty of the Beloved. Some of these mystics who are perfectly lost in the con- templation of the object of their love pray to remain always absorbed m it and yearn that their own existence may never be brought to their consciousness. v /Thcy negS^d i #ny re- ference to their own Wf dl herq|y. .^Their ideal is annihilation.."* yhe^o&aVe^ho lest. Rest requires oblivion,^fo^erfulnes$^ which is impossible when ths ftflfflc IQVC is Cpft^tant- ly consuming them. Yet o' ' Hence they must occ such pursuits as suit their attention diverted getfulness. So some of them, and dancing, and others to Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 117 giving expositions of the implications of their love-consciousness, viz., Wahdat-i-Wujud. But there are others who in course of time go forward in their mystic experience and out- grow this stage. In their case the experience of Wahdat-i-Wujud or unity and identity disappears once for all, and they never get it again. Then they repent of the pantheistic beliets to which their former experience had misled them. 1 . - <-za Taw hid as advance4 by is this. We cannot kashf-o-sIruVucT or experietiG. thence we .evelation *a$d t>XUlama- because thei^ .conception 118 Mujaddid' s Conception of Tawhid is derived direct from Revelation. 1 Conse- quently the Mujaddid discusses dhat-o-sifat or the being and the attributes of God on the principle of Muslim theologians ; and there he follows not the Asharite school but the Maturidite. 2 As mentioned above, the Mujaddid passed through wujudiyyat or unityism and reached zilliyyat or adumberation where the error involved in wujudiyyat was revealed to him ; and after zilliyyat, adumberation, he attained the stage of 'abdiyyat 3 or servitude. At this stage he is so thoroughly convinced of the error of wujudiyyat or unityism that he feels himself compelled to denounce it emphatically. It is at this stage that he clearly realises that mystic experience has no Objec- tive validity with regard to dhat-o-sifat or 1 M., Vol I, Ep 286. ' Ibid , Ep. 266. 3 'Abdiyyat (t^*^**} is the attitude appropriate to man that he takes towards God. MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid 119 the being and attributes of God. Hence he confesses to the following negative attributes or peculiarity of the Divine Being ; God is beyond all such asma'-o-sifat or names and attributes as can be comprehended by us. He is beyond all shuyun-o-i'tibarat l or modes and relations, all zuhur-o-butun or externalisation and internahsation, beyond all buruz-o-kumun or projection and introjection, beyond all mawsul-o-mafsul or realisable and explicable, beyond all kashf-o-shuhud or mystic intuition and experience ; nay even beyond all mahsus- o-ma'qul, empirical and rational, and beyond all ' mawhum-o-mutakhayyal ' or conceivable 1 SJiuyun is plural of Shan (v^)^), literally state, condition rather an exalted condition or state. The word occurs in a verse of the Qur-an o^ <3 3* -J^. J^ everyday He is a new exalted condition (57 : 29) Ibn 'Arab! and others seem to understand by it, Sifat at a phase of theirs, a transverse section of the World-Process, the Universe or God at a certain point of time. But the Mujaddid puts Shan between dhat and sifat. According to him Sh5n is an aspect or phase of the dhat. while sifat are something over and above dhat and denvated from Shan. ' Cf. M., Vol. I, Ep. 286. 120 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid and imaginable, -b> J l*ltf -^ *l Ji *b tj^JI .^ ^ He the Holy One is beyond the Beyond, again beyond the Beyond, again beyond the Beyond. 1 Whatever is known through mystic intuition is merely a subjective experience, without any objective validity whatsoever. In short, God .can never be apprehended through mystic experience, Consequently iman-bil-ghaib or faith in the Unseen is unavoidable. Such a faith is possi- ble only when thought and imagination get tired in their futile efforts, and it becomes evident that God is unapproachable, inex- perienceable, inexplicable and unknowable. 2 Such a faith alone is valid in His case, because it is in keeping with our limitations and His unapproachableness or Beyondness. If it is possible for us to get to know any- thing besides this about God, that is through t 1 M., Vol. II, Ep. 1. * Ibid., Ep. 9. Mujaddi&s Conception of Tawhid 121 Revelation. Therefore we ought to follow the theologians as they derive their conception of the being and attributes of God exclusively from revelation. 1 On that basis, the Mujaddid maintains that God is Khaliq or Creator of earths and heavens, mountains and oceans, vegetables and minerals as well as of human beings with all their potentialities. In short He is the Creator of all things, and He has created them out of 'adam-i-mahad or pure nothing. He alone is the bestower of all blessings, the healer of all ills and the provider of all needs. He is the Sattar 2 or Conniver who overlooks our sins, He is Halim or Forbearing who does not take us hastily to account for our wrongs. He deserves all praise and gratitude for His innumerable benefec- 1 M.. Vol. I, Ep. 287. 8 Sattar (;&**>) literally means concealer. It is a name of God. Because He knows our sins and our secrets and neither divulges them nor takes us to task there and then, but covers at them and graciously tolerates our sinful being. 122 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid tions. Man does not know even how to value His goodness and greatness. He is the Hadl or Guide, who through His Anbiyya' or Apostles l enlightens the ignorant mankind according to their capacity of His existence and essence; and who informs us of what He approves and what He disapproves, and of the useful and the injurious in this world and the Hereafter. He is the Ahad or One, the Wahdahu-la-Sharik, has no equal. 3 He is the only Divine Being; there is no one else who possesses the same sifat or qualities, and He alone deserves 'ibadat or worship. 3 He encompasses or comprehends everything, is everywhere with us, and is 1 Anbiyya' (^^0 plural of NabI (^j*^) ; neither the word ' prophet ' nor the word * apostle ' is a correct equivalent of the term Nab!. It means a person to whom guidance and informa- tion is given through sheer grace of God for the good of mankind. 1 Wahdahu-lS-Sliarik (^.^ V <>Xa^). The term really means the one who has no co-sharer. The conception is that He alone is the master of the universe and the object of worship. No one else shares these qualities with Him. 3 M, Vol. Ill, Ep. 17. Mujaddid' s Conception of Tawhid 123 nearer to us than our own life-artery or habl-al-warid. But the nature of His Ihata or comprehension and Ma'iyyat 1 or co-presence, qurb or nearness is beyond our understand- ing. Hayat or Life, 4 Ilm or Knowledge, Qudrat 1 Ma'iyyat (CX^*x) literally means togetherness. Mystics have taken it from the Quranic verse : j**-> *^V.' j&*** 3^ that He is with you wherever you are (57 : 4). From togetherness Ibn 'Arab! concludes identity of God and man. The Mujaddid takes exception to this conclusion and holds that we do not know the nature of Ma'iyyat (^^* x ) Qurb (S- >/*) literally means nearness. Mystics have taken the term from the Quranic verse . ^.^^ J-^*- ex* ^^ ^/'^ ^-^sxj We are nearer to him than his life-artery (50:16). Ibn 'Arab! holds that Qurb of God is identity with God. The Mujaddid denies this and maintains that the nature of Qurb is not known. Ih5ta (jUjlaJ) is encompassment or comprehen- sion. Mystics have taken the term from the Qur-Sn : L-k^sx.* ^5*** cJ^-? <*-^ O^ Allah comprehends every- thing (4 : 126). Ibn 'ArabI conceives it as inclusion and derives identity of God and man from it. The Mujaddid takes exception to it and holds that the nature of Ih5ta is incompre- hensible, though at a certain stage he was inclined to hold that IhSta is comprehension by knowledge. Siry an (^jb -*o) literally means permeation. Ibn ' Arab! and others ascribe Siry5n to Allah with reference to the world, le. immanence. The Mujaddid rejects this. 124 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid or Power, Irada or Will, Sam 4 -o-Basar or Hearing and Seeing, Kalam or Speech, and Takwln or Creation belong to His attributes, which are like His being bi chun-o-bl chigun i.e., incommensurable and uncomprehensible for us. 1 Reflection on the Mujaddid's description of Divine attributes shows that they are of two kinds, negative and positive. The negative attributes again are of two kinds ; firstly those which are meant to deny all imperfections in God's Being, e.g., that He has no equal and no rival, no parents and no children; 2 secondly those which indicate His beyondness, e.g., that He is not body or physical, is neither substance nor attribute, is not space or spatial, is not limited or finite, has neither dimensions nor relations, i.e., He is above the application of our categories of thought. Again the positive attributes are also of two kinds. Firstly, 1 M., Vol I, Ep. 266. /&id., Vol III, Ep 17. Aiujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 125 relative attributes which are relatively true of Him, e.g., Qidam or Self-Subsistence, Azaliyyat or Eternity, Wujub 1 or Necessity and Uluhiyyator Worshipability. We affirm these attributes of Him only because the attributes opposite to them are signs of imperfections ; and in comparison with these attributes denote perfection ; and not because they adequately describe His nature. Other- wise the Divine essence has nothing to do with necessity and possibility, etc. But human thought is confined to the three fundamental categories of being, viz., necessity, possibility and impossibility : therefore it is proper to attribute necessity to Him. Secondly, essen- tial attributes which adequately describe His 1 Note : According to Islamic thinkers being is of three kinds: Mumkm (c^*-' )' Mumtana' (j^-**), Wajib (u-^-l^). Wajib is that of which the non-existence is inconceivable. Mumtana' is that of which the existence is inconceivable. Mumkm is that of which neither the existence nor the non- existence is inconceivable. Wujub (S-^ 2 "}) is the quality of being Wajib and may well be translated as Necessity. 126 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid nature and are absolutely true of Him. They form part of His essence, e.g. Hayat or Life. 'Ilm or Knowledge, Qudrat or Power, Irada or Will, Sam 4 or Hearing, Basar or Seeing, Kalam or Speech, and Takwln or Creation. As regards the relations between the dhat or being and the sifat or attributes of God on one hand and between dhat-o-sifat and the world on the other, the Mujaddid maintains that His sifat or attributes are other than and in addition to His dhat or being, and that the world is the zill or effect of His sifat or attributes. The problem really is a problem of theology. Hence the Mujaddid follows here the Maturidite school, However, he corroborates the conception on the basis of his mystic experience as well, and maintains that according to it too the attri- butes are not identical with the being and that the being of God is perfect by and in itself and does not stand in need of the attributes for its perfection. God is mawjud, Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 127 has existence ; but he exists by His own being, by His own self, and not in virtue of the quality of wajud or existence which has been added to this being. In the same manner He is Hayl He is Hayi or Living by His own being, He is 'Alim or Knowing by His own being ; He is Qadir or Powerful by His own being : He is Murid or voluntary Agent by His own being ; He is Sami* or Hearing by His own being ; He is Baslr or Seeing by His own being ; He is Khaliq or Creator by His own being. His attributes, viz., existence, 1 life, knowledge, power, etc., are the ta'yyanat or determinations or the descents of His being. Indeed the Mujaddid would avoid the use of the term of tanazzul 2 or ta'yyun be- cause it tends to signify identity. According to him the sifat or attributes are the azlal or effects of the dhat or being ; and the world is 1 M., Vol. Ill, Ep. 26. 2 The Being is conceived as coming down from the high pedestal of Pure-Being down to determinate existence. Hence tanazzul means Descent or Determination. 128 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid the zill or effect of the sifat or attributes. The gradation or order of these tanazzulat- o-ta'yyunat or the azlal in the system of the Mujaddid is that the Perfect Being is the cause of the quality of wujud or existence. Then follows the sifat-i-hayat or the quality of life, because life is not conceivable without existence. After life comes the sifat-i-'ilm or the quality of knowledge ; after knowledge sifat-i-qudrat or the quality of power, and after power sifat-i-irada or the quality of will ; after will the sif at-i-sam 1 or the quality of hearing, after hearing the sifat-i-basar or the quality of seeing ; after seeing the sifat-i- kalam or the quality of speech, and after speech, the sifat-i-takwm or the quality of creation. The sifat-i-takwin or the quality of creation is the cause of the creation of the world; the world is its zill, i.e., its effect, and not its tajalli, i.e., its mode. These attributes of God are over and above the being of God, for the Perfect Being brings Mujadditfs Conception of Tawhid 129 them into existence one by one for the sake of creating the world ; the gradation is logical. It is by means of these attributes which He adds to His being that the Perfect Being who is sufficient unto Himself and needs nothing, turns to the creation of the world and creates it. 1 The Mujaddid's theory of creation is this: God is Wujud-i-Kamil or the Perfect Being, comprehending all sifat-i-kamila or attributes of perfection in His essence. He is sufficient J That the SifSt or attributes are Olw>Jl ^j* >^.'3, i.e., over and above the dhat or being of God and not identical with it is the doctrine of the Maturidites whom the Mujaddid follows. These are conceived as additional to the SifSt or attributes which go to make the essence of God. They are Idsfi or relative. They come to be in relation to the creation of the world and are produced by God in His own Self for that purpose. This is a mode of conceiving which avoids the pitfall of Wahdat-i-Wujud or umtyism of which one premise was that these Sifat or attributes are identical with the Dh5t or being (M., Vol. Ill, Ep. 26) that the Sifat are created and not part of the essence of God was also the doctrine of certain Muta- zilites, but on a different ground. They held unity to be the essence of God, and consequently found the Sif5t to be multi- plicity incompatible. 9 130 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid unto Himself, needing nothing whatsoever besides Himself; not even 'adam or nothing as the opposite of His being. He decides to create the world. For the sake of this He creates the sif at-i-wu jud 1 or the quality of existence in His being; also He creates other sifat or qualities, e.g., the sifat- i-hayat or the quality of life, the sif at- i- 4 ilm or the quality of knowledge, the sif at-i-qudrat or the quality of power, etc., in Himself. These qualities are forms of this sifat-i-wujud. Now opposed to this wujud or existence is * adam-i-mahad or pure nothing, opposed to this Hayat or life is a form of * adam called mawt or death ; opposed to this ' Ilm or knowledge is a form of 'adam called jihl or *Thus the Mujaddid holds that Wujud or existence is an attribute which is produced by God and does not form part of the essence of God. He thereby seems to mean firstly that the being of God is of another kind, and we cannot call it Wujud or existence of the kind we know ; and secondly that Wujud or existence of the things is like a quality inasmuch as it has been given to them by God. Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 131 ignorance ; opposed to this Qudrat or power is a form of 4 adam called 4 ijz or powerlessness, etc. God casts an in'ikas or zill 1 reflection or shadow of this pure wujud or existence of His into its 4 adam-i-mutaqabila or opposed nothing, i.e., into pure 4 4 adam ' or nothing and there comes to be finite existence. He casts a reflection or shadow of this Hayat or life of His into its 4 adam-i-mutaqabila, viz., into mawt or death and there comes to be finite life. In the same manner He casts a reflection or shadow of this 4 Ilm or knowledge of His into its 4 adam-i-mutaqabila, viz., into jihl or ignorance, and finite knowledge comes into existence. Thus the existence, the life, the knowledge, etc., of the finite being is the result of the mixture of 'adarn or nothing and Wujud or existence, etc. The essence of the *Note that this in'ikas ( t /^*-0 or zill of which the Mujaddid speaks is not conceived by him in the sense of Ibn 'Arabi. By these expressions the Mujaddid really means that the wujud or being, etc., of the finite is produced by this WujQd, etc., of God, as will come out later. 132 MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid finite in itself, however, is pure "adam' or nothing, the * wujud ' or existence, the * hayat ' or life, the * 4 ilm ' or knowledge, etc., which are found in it, are pure gifts of God. That is how the finite world has actually come to be, has come into being out of nothing, and has acquired actual, real existence. So also the various qualities of the world and its objects. 1 In truth God alone has real, actual indepen- dent being; and the world has an existence beside God only as a gift of God. In reality the being of the world is not more than appearance, appearance without genuine re- ality. And yet the appearance is not such as to depend on our fancy or imagination ; it exists independently of us. The reality or existence of the world is something like this. Suppose there is a stick of wood. One of its ends is put into fire and catches flame. The other end of the stick is held fast and quickly 1 M., Vol. II, Ep. 1 ; Ibid.. Vol. Ill, Eps. 58, 60. MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid 135 moved round in a circle. This would produce the appearance of a circle of fire. Suppose this appearance is somehow perpetuated, it is made to exist by itself. A circle of fire shall have been produced thereby. The exist- ence of the world is of the kind of the exist- ence of such a circle. 1 / Or suppose a juggler by his magic produces the semblance of a garden ; the garden bears fruit. Forthwith the king who was watching the trick orders that the juggler be executed ; for the king believed that if the juggler were killed instantaneously the garden will continue to exist as a real garden. The story says that the garden of magic still exists and bears fruit. Now the existence of the world is like the existence of that garden. It is not real in itself ; reality has been somehow bestowed on it ; and it is a very unsubstantial kind of reality.* M., Vol. Ill, Ep.58. 'M.,Vol.II,Ep.44. 134 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid The Mujaddid insists that there is abso- lutely no relation between the world and its unique Creator except that the world has been created by Him and is a sign that indi- cates His hidden attributes. All other asser- tions, viz., ittihad or union or identity, ihata or comprehension and ma'iyyat or co-existence are due to sukr or the ecstatic condition of mystics. Those who have reached the higher state of sahw or sobriety are free from such so-called ma'arif or cognitions. True, they too came across suck cognitions in the course of their mystic journey ; but they have left them behind and they criticise them in the light of Revelation. Indeed, to speak of the relations of ittihad or union, *ainiyyat or identity, 6tc., between God and the world is an awful mis- conception. It is a misconception of this sort. Suppose a highly accomplished man invents an alphabet and certain sounds to display his ingenuity and capacity. Some- one comes forward and maintains that the Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 135 alphabet and the sounds are identical with the inventor. 1 As to man, the Mujaddid holds that the essence of man is the soul, and that the soul is the creation of God. However, the soul does not belong to 4 'alam-i-khalq ' or the universe of process, to which material things belong ; it belongs to * 4 alam-i-amr ' or the universe of instantaneous creation. 2 It is bi-chun-o-bl-chigun or incomparable and in- explicable. It is something unique which cannot be explained by something else ; that is, it cannot be derived from anything else. 1 M M Vol. I. Eps. 31,287. J ' Alam-i-khalq (tj^ ^) 1S Universe of process. The distinc- tion is based on the Quranic verse: t^Oy*^ O* ^2/^vJ^ say that the soul is my Lord's command (17 : 85). This is interpreted to mean that the ruh (^ }j) does not belong to 'Slam-i-khalq to which the material universe belongs, but to another 'alam, viz., the 'alam-i-amr, the world of instantaneous creation. The universe of matter is clearly the world of process things in it gradually come to be in course of time. The rOh is therefore not such. It belongs to the world of instantaneous creation. The distinction suggests a rationalistic background, in which the per- ceptual is temporal and the conceptual non-temporal. Cf. M., Vol. I, Ep. 260. 136 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid Now the original inclination of the soul was to seek Divine approval. But the soul has been intertwined with the 'alam-i-khalq it has been given a body. This has aroused in it certain new tendencies, e.g., to sin, to disobey God. This state of things has given rise to the need of purifying the soul and encouraging and strengthening its original inclination. The tendency to disobey God is the fountain-head of all evils and vices. 1 The soul begins to hate virtue and indulges in vice. The state is called nafs-i-ammara or the Evil self. But in spite of sin and dis- obedience the soul preserves the capacity of overcoming vice. 2 So through purification there begins gradually to arise in it a state of repentance. This is called nafs-i-lawwama *MM., pp. 19-20. 9 The Mujaddid emphatically maintains moral freedom in man. For it is kufr (y*0 or heresy to believe in jabr (j**) necessity (M., Vol. I, Ep. 289), firstly, because the Qur-3n says / i5UXi -Ub ^ ^ CX>S xi *^ <>**~~ 80 let him who please believe, and let him who please disbelieve (18 : 29 ; Cf. Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 137 or the Reproaching-self. Having progressed further, it attains to another stage where it achieves perfect harmony with the Divine Will. To act according to any command- ments of commission or omission ceases to be unpleasant to it. This stage of spiritual development is called nafs-i-mutma'inna or the beatified self. This is the zenith of human perfection and the highest end for man ; indeed it is the very purpose of the creation of man. 1 The attainment of nafs-i- mutma'inna or beatified self is called the stage of 'abdiyyat or servitude. * 'Abdiyyat * is attained when man becomes absolutely free from bondage to everything other than MM Vol. I. Ep. 289) ; secondly, because VI x> *3!<JO& Y l^"*^ Allah does not impose upon any soul a duty but to the extent of its ability (2 : 286 ; Cf. M., Vol. I, Ep. 289) ; and thirdly, because Islam and reason conceive actions as subject to approval and disapproval and to consequent reward and punishment (M., Vol. I, Ep. 260). He discusses the question fully on theologico- rationalistic grounds in Epistle 289, M., Vol. I. 1 M.. Vol. II. Ep. 50 ; Cf. Q. 89 : 28-30. 138 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid Allah. Mark that love of God is not the end-in-itself , it is only a means ; it is a means to dissociate oneself from ma-siwa-'llah 1 or things other than Allah and to get to 4 abdiyyat or servitude. The relation between man and God is ac- cording to the Mujaddid that of *abd and ma'bud or the worshipper and the worship- ped. 'Abdiyyat or servitude means that man should change his whole life according to the Divine will and should obey His command- ments of commission and omission simply because they are His commands. 2 There is also another relation between man and God, viz., ma'rifat or cognition. But true ma'rifat or cognition only means that man should realise that he is incapable of knowing God. As Abu Bakr-as-Siddlq said: 4\j>V 4j> &JM)\ ^X iUJ J*AX.-U jj ^r o ^ ^ y^* tiMj>1 o* j?^* ^ ^*~ ) to realise one's 1 M. f Vol. I, Ep. 30. *Cf. M M Vol. I, Eps. 30,160. MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid 139 inability to comprehend Him is the true comprehension ; Holy is He 'Who has not kept any road to Himself open to His creatures except by way of realising their incapacity to know Him. 1 *M., Vol. Ill, Ep. 122. CHAPTER II The Reception of the Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid TpAWHlD or unity of God is a character- - istic tenet of Islam. In course of time the Islamic mystics gave it the form of Wah- dat-i-Wujud or unityism. The influence of mysticism gradually permeated Islamic society. Wahdat-i-Wujud became an accepted dogma. It influenced the whole of Islamic society from top to bottom. It affected its religious attitude, it affected its moral attitude, it affected its deeds; it affected its aesthetic consciousness, it affected its literature and poetry; and it affected its philosophy and outlook. It was the deepest truth to which man could have access, indeed it was the 142 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid real meaning of Islam's teaching. It was revealed to the initiated, to great and holy souls, and was directly apprehended by kashf-o-shuhud or intuition and mystic experience. So it was an epoch-making event that a great personality like that of the Mujaddid, great in religious learning and great in mystic experience, took Wahdat-i-Wujud up for criticism and evaluation, criticised it unsparingly and trenchantly, and exposed its errors in their very foundations and expressly and unremittingly denied the objective validity of the experience on which it was based; and further advanced a conception diametrically opposed to it, and insisted that his conception, and not Wahdat-i-Wujud or unityism, was the genuine Islamic concep- tion the conception which alone is derivable from the revelation granted to the Prophet of God. Thereby the Mujaddid veritably gave a new turn to the Islamic mysticism and brought it nearer to the original teachings of Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 143 Islam. This was a revolution, and his ideas spread far and wide with such speed that the greater part of the Islamic world acknow- ledged him as the Renewer of Islam in his own life-time. Few had the courage to oppose the Mujad- did. No one in Naqshbandiya school contra- dicted him. Other schools of mysticism too kept silent, though they seem to have stuck to Wahdat-i-Wujud. The first important personage who took up the cudgels seems to have been Shah Wali-Ullah a divine of very great eminence and a mystic of the Naqsh- bandiya school. Shah Wali-Ullah flourished about a century after the Mujaddid. About 1143 A.H. he wrote a small treatise *>^<z* >j^^iJ^ jy^Jlo.**.} " Decision on the case of unityism and apparentism ". The gist of his contention is that there is no substantial differ- ence between the ideas of Ibn 'Arabl and the Mujaddid; that both mean really the same thing, viz., Wahdat-i-Wujud or unityism, 144 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid that their differences are in reality only verbal. In his treatise Shah Wali-Ullah begins with the claim that God almighty has granted to him the special gift of synthesis or reconciliation. 1 Further he makes it clear that he was not discussing the problems on the basis of first-hand mystic experience, but simply as an arbiter, keeping the statements of both Ibn 'Arabi and the Mujaddid in view and considering and evaluating them rational- istically. 2 This attempt of Shah Wali-Ullah at a synthesis of Ibn 'Arab! and the Mujaddid led inside the mystic circles, and even outside them to a keen and prolonged controversy which lasted for over a century. In the following pages we shall try to follow it in its main outlines in important mystics. FW.,p.3, lines 9-15. 2 Ibid., p. 5, lines 13-15 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 145 2. Shah Wall-Ullah SHAH WALI-ULLAH holds that Wujud 1 or being is something qa'im-bi-nafsihi and muqawwim-li-ghairihi, existent by itself, and support of the existence of everything other than itself; and that this is an unequivocal dictum of dhawq-i-sahlh or genuine intuition. Wujud or being is wujud-i-munbasit or self- unfolding being ; it takes up the forms of things. It has its tanazzulat or descents. These tanazzulat or descents are of two kinds 4 ilml and 'aim conceptual and existential. The first tanazzul or descent of wujud-i- 1 Wujud C^ 2 *-^) is Being or existence Wujud-i-munbasit aj) is self-unfolding or self-emanating Being. It has had three stages of its descents. The first stage is Wujud l3-bashart-as;h-shai (^f 1 **^ ^j*""? ^ ^^^) indeterminate (concept of) pure Being. The second is Wujud bashart l5-shai (^^ k^-iio >^^^) 1 pure concept, i.e , the concept of deter- minate Being. The third one is Wujud bashart-ash-shai (^*-M l>j--? ^^X determinate existent being, the being of a particular existent object. 10 146 MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid munbasit is tajalll-bi-nafsihl its becoming conscious of itself. As such it is all compre- hensive and implicitly contains in itself all the details. The next tanazzul or descent is tafslll the explicit or the detailed conscious- ness of itself. After tanazzulat-i-'ilmi or conceptual descents come tanazzulat-i-*ainl or existential descents. They in their very nature cannot be implicit; explicitness or detail is necessary for them. Now according to mystics the essence of contingent beings are nothing but modes and differentiations of the wujud-i-munbasit or self unfolding being. Consequently, when it is apprehended in its capacity as mutalabbas or dressed, it is the contingent being ; and when it is appre- hended in its capacity as mutalabbis or dresser, it is the necessary being. 1 For ex- ample, there is a piece of wax; it is moulded into various forms, e.g., man, horse, etc. All the same it remains wax ; it is wax which has 1 FW., pp. 12, 13. Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 147 taken these different forms. These forms- are simply modes ; their being is nothing but the wax. 1 At another place Shah Wali-Ullah says that the wujud-i-munbasit or self unfolding being is the common element of the perceptual and the conceptual. As such it is wujud-i-munbasit or indeterminate being and the opposite of *adam or non- being and is the hayula or matter of all beings. At the second stage it is wujud bashart la-shai or pure concept, i.e., the concept of determinate beings, e.g., man, horse; and at the third stage it is wujud bashart-ash-shai or determinate or existent being, e.g., Aristotle, my horse. 2 This is the doctrine of Wahdat-i- Wujud. The doctrine which is called Wahdat-i- Shuhud or apparentism is this. The asma'- o-shuyun or names and phases of the necessary being reflect themselves in their a'dam-i- ^W.,?. 6, lines 12-18. '/fetd.,p. 7. 148 Mujaddid' s Conception of Tawhid mutaqabila or opposite non-beings, thereby the contingent coming into existence. 1 Now, contends Shah Wali-Ullah, if we leave simile and metaphor aside, it is essentially the same doctrine as that of Wahdat-i-Wujud. 2 To say that the essence of the contingent beings are the asma'-o-sifat or names and attributes of the necessary being differentiated in the conceptual stage, as Ibn 'Arabi holds, or to say that the contingent beings are the asma'- o-sifat of the necessary being reflected in their a k dam-i-mutaqabila or opposite non- beings as the Mujaddid maintains, is practically the same thing. If there be any difference between the two positions, it is so insignificant that the critic need not take it into account. 3 Consequently the assertion of the Mujaddid that Wahdat-i-Wujud or unityism and Wahdat-i-Shuhud or apparentism are different 'FW.,p. 23. '/Znd., p. 7. '/feui.p. 26. MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid 149 from one another is simply an error, Ibn 'Arabi too means the same as the Mujaddid does ; and the controversy of Wahdat-i-Wujud or unityism and Wahdat-i-Shuhud or appa- rentism is only a verbal rather than a real one. 1 By Wahdat-i-Shuhud or apparentism all that is intended is to throw emphasis on the perfection of the necessary and the imperfection and insignificance of the con- tingent being. But even in this respect Ibn 'Arabl meets the Mujaddid; he too holds that the contingent is insignificant and all perfection belongs to the necessary being. 3 2. Khwaja Mir Nasir and Khwaja Mir Dard THIS synthesis or reconciliation, which really 'FW.,p. 29. Ibid., p. 7. 150 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid amounts to a denial of the problem, was however not accepted by mystics who believed in the Mujaddid, e.g., Khwaja Mir Nasir 'Andalib who maintained unequivocally in his voluminous book Nala-i-'Andalib that speaking objectively Wahdat-i-Wujud or unityism is absolutely invalid ; it is not the truth about reality. Objectively Wahdat-i- Shuhud or apparentism alone is valid. But speaking subjectively, i.e., in their bearing on the salik, mystic and his spiritual growth, both the doctrines are directed to the same end, viz., to dissociate him from ma-siwa 1 or things other than Allah. Khwaja Mir Dard discussed the problem first in his UtSaridat-i- Dard (1160 A.H.), and then at greater length in his 'Ilm-ul-Kitab (1172 A.H.) which is intended to be a commentary on the Waridat. It may be noted here that both the father and the son discuss the problem on the basis of kashf or mystic experience. Indeed the 1 NA., pp. 736-773 ; Cf. IK., pp. 183-186. Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 151 latter holds that each and every word of his Waridat and 'Ilm-ul-Kitab is divinely inspired. 1 Khwaja Mir Dard holds that the doctrine of Wahdat-i-Wujud or unityism in its correct and valid significance simply means that God alone is the self-existent being. It does not mean that the essence of the contingent is identical with the necessary and that man and God are identical with one another, or that God, like a kulli'-i-tabi'I or natural universal, is immanent in the individuals. For that would be rank heresy, ilhad-o-zindiqa. To take Wahdat-i-Wujud or unityism in the latter sense is due to sheer want of insight into what eminent mystics meant by it. In the sense that Wujud or being is immanent in multiplicity, Wahdat-i-Wujud or unityism is a doctrine which is of no significance in religion whatsoever. 9 For Wahdat-f i'1-kathrat J IK.,p. 92. * IK., p. 183. 152 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid or one-in-many which is on the lips of the common folk and of every Hindu Yogi is a doctrine for which no iman or faith in God and His Prophet is required. It is a very common-place doctrine which everyone can be made to grasp easily. It cannot be some- thing for which prophets had specially to be sent by God with the mission of teaching it to humanity. 1 The other doctrine is Wahdat- i-Shuhud or apparentism. What it really means is this : The contingent being cannot exist without the necessary being ; 9 they exist only by the light of the necessary being. Ignorant people, who do not understand the meaning of what the Mujaddid meant, wrongly attribute to him the belief that the world is the zill or adumberation of God. This view was taken by him in the course of his progress towards his final position. Most of the immature mystics, who in their self-conceit 'IK., p 465. /&ui M p. 184. Mujaddids Conception of Tawhid 153 regard themselves as having attained perfec- tion, when they go through those works of the Mujaddid in which he has discussed the duality of man and God and the doctrine of hama-az-ust or ' all is from Him ' think that he was ignorant of the truth of the matter ; and that because Wahdat-i- Wujud or unityism is a difficult conception, he could not fully understand or realise it. But they do not see that according to the verse, <&\ ^ cr J^ all is from Allah (4 : 78), the doctrine of hama-az-ust or 'all is from Him 1 1 is corroborat- ed by revelation. 2 Consequently hama-az-ust alone is the truth, and hama-ust or 'all-is- He ' is absolutely false. The net result is that objectively Wahdat-i- Wujud or unityism is false, and subjectively Wahdat-i- Wajud or unityism and Wahdat-i-Shuhud or apparent- ism both bring about the same result, viz., liberation of the qalb or soul from the UK., p. 187. *Ibid., pp. 184-185. 154 MujadduTs Conception of Tawhid bondage of ma-siwa-'llah or things other than Allah. Hence if a mystic realises either of the two states, or both of them, that makes no difference. 1 Indeed neither of these doctrines descends from the Prophet ; 2 both are products of later times. However, the doctrine of Wahdat-i-Wujud or unityism primarily abides by reason ; and only second- arily by the Qur-an and Hadlth, which it turns and twists to make them fit in with the requirements of reason ; while the doctrine of Wahdat-i-Shuhud or apparentism primarily abides by the Qur-an and Hadlth and only secondarily by reason. Says Khwaja Mir Dard : " Most of the suf lya'-i-wujudiyya or pantheistic mystics follow their own reason and intuition, and they rely on the first instance on their own findings. Only in the second instance, they try by the way to follow the Holy Prophet also. They mould J IK,p. 184. 9 Ibid., pp. 609-610. MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid 155 the verses of the Qur-an and the sayings of the Prophet according to their own taste, as if they have nothing to do with the Sharl'at or the law of Islam. That alone is valid which they come to know by their own reason and intuition. It is not their real object to follow the religion of Muhammad. They have the conceit that they apprehend truth directly; their purpose really is to ascertain whether the contingent is identical with the necessary or different from it, or whether the created is identical with its Creator or different from Him. In this quest the reason is their only guide, and they go their way by its light alone ; only they forcibly drag faith and religion along with them . . . while most of the sufiya'-i-shuhudiyya or apparentist mys- tics follow faith and religion in the first instance. They really believe in religion. Only in the second instance and under the guidance of faith do they permit their reason to act ... As if they have nothing to do with 156 MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid reason, but what God and His Prophet have affirmed, that alone is the truth for them. . . They believe in their hearts that the truth is that which is taught by God and the Prophet, and that their object is not to inquire whether the necessary and the contingent are identical or different from each other. They steer their course in the light of faith, and forcibly drag reason along with them. 1 Consequently, urges Khwaja Mir Dard, we should revert to Tawhid-i-Muhmmadl or the unitarianism of Muhammad. God is eternal and self-existent ; He is other than the world of objects. He is not like kulli'-i-tabil or natural universal inside it. The truth is that God exists by Himself with all His attributes which are His qualities of perfection ; and the existence of the contingent beings makes no addition in His being, nor does their annihilation take away anything from it. ^ *** ,* _^J &\ O K God existed and 1 IK., p. 6io. Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 157 nothing existed along with Him ; He is even to-day exactly as He was before. 1 3. Mawlwl Ghulam Yahya THE discourses of Khwaja Mir Nasir and Khwaja Mir Dard are not openly directed 1 IK , p. 186 Note. In 1162 A H. 'Allama Mir Muhammad Yusuf Bil- grsml wrote a treatise CXiUJl J^ot ^ CXjlxH^.R-M (The Growing Offshoot fiom a Firm Root), in which he deals with the controversy without directly entering it. He bases his con- tention exclusively on the Qur-5n and Hadith and rejects Wahdat-i-Wujud, suggesting that the experience of God which unityistic mystics claim is, according to Islam, impossible in this life. His treatise is an exhaustive survey and review of the sources which the two schools claim for their doctrines in Qur-Sn and Haditlj. However the treatise, though able and scholarly, does not seem to have been taken much notice of. There is extant only one copy of it which is in the handwriting of the author himself, in the SubhSn-Allah Section of the Aligarh University Library. 158 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid against Shah Wali-Ullah. Ghulam Yahya, 1 a scholar of great eminence, expressly criticised Shah Wali-Ullah in his Kalimat-ul-Haqq (The Announcement of Truth 1184 A.H.) which he wrote at the instance of Mirza Mazhar, 3 a spiritual descendant of the Mujaddid. Ghulam Yahya emphatically maintains that Shah Wali- Ullah is absolutely wrong in holding that both Wahdat-i-Wujud and Wahdat-i-Shuhud or apparentism hold the same views as to the essence of things and the relation between the temporal and the eternal, and that there is no 1 Mawlwl Ghulam Yahya (d. 1195 A H.) was a scholar of great fame in the philosophical and religious sciences. He used to give lectures (dars) to students at Lucknow. He has written commentaries on many books of philosophy. In the end he entered mysticism under the guidance of MirzS Mazhar and gave up philosophy. * MirzS Mazhar (1111-1195 A.H.), was the fourth spiritual descendant of the Mujaddid. He was the greatest mystic of his time in the Mujaddidi order. Indeed it is in the line of Mirz5 Mazhar alone that the complete SulUk-i-Mujaddidl is preserved. He was a devout follower of the Mujaddid. He was murdered by a fanatic Slji'a in the year 1195 A.H. whom he forgave before expiring Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 159 difference between the two doctrines. Indeed, urges he, the two doctrines can in no way be even reconciled. 1 For Wahdat-i-Wujud or unityism is based on complete identity of the created and the Creator, while Wahdat-i- Shuhud or apparentism is grounded in abso- lute difference between the two. 2 In the first place, says Ghulam Yahya, according to Wahdat-i-Wujud or unityism the essence of contingent being are A 4 yan-i-thabita, i.e., the determinations of the Asma'-o-Sifat or names and attributes of Allah. 3 But according to Wahdat-i-Shuhud or apparentism the essence of the contingent beings are the azlal or adumberations which Asma'-o-Sifat or names and attributes have cast in their a l dam-i-muta- qabila or opposed not-beings. 4 Now there is a world of difference between these two doc- KH.,p.23. '/fcid, pp., 24-26. Ibid., p. 25. 4 Ibid., p. 28. 160 MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid trines. According to the former the contin- gent beings are modes of Asma'-o-Sifat or names and attributes and identical with them ; according to the latter they are the azlal or adumberations of the Asma'-o-Sifat or names and attributes and the zill or adumberation can never be identical with the asl. In the second place, Shah Wali-Ullah is totally wrong in saying that it was a mere oversight on the part of the Mujaddid to oppose the two doctrines. 1 No, the Mujaddid does not do it by the way ; he is emphatic on the opposition. He is absolutely clear on the point. He insists on the difference between the contingent and the necessary over and over again in his epistles, and holds that it is heresy and atheism to identify the two. His epistles are full of such emphatic assertions. 2 In the third place, according to Wahdat-i- Wujud or unityism, change enters in the being *KH M pp. 28,29. Cf. H M pp.26, 28. MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid 161 of God itself, for it is He who modifies Him- self and becomes the contingent world ; l while, according to Wahdat-i-Shuhud or apparent- ism, by creation of the world no change is wrought in the being of God, He remains intact. Any one who would carefully study these two doctrines, urges Ghulam Yahya, would realise that they are so different from one another that neither can we reduce one of them to the other, nor is any reconciliation possible between them. 2 It may further be remarked that Ghulam Yahya's discourse tends to suggest that he had one more objection to Shah Wali-Ullah, namely, that Shah Wali-Ullah had no right to speak on the question and deny Wahdat-i-Shuhud or apparentism, or identify it with Wahdat-i- Wujud or unityism because he was not basing his contention on Kashf or mystic experience. 3 ' KH M pp. 25, 26. /&u*., pp. 24-29. Ibid., pp. 3, 29. 11 162 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid Mirza Mazhar, the spiritual guide of Ghulam Yahya, supports him on the point and wrote a Foreword to KaliYriat-ul-Haqq ; and Shah Ghulam 'All (d 1290 A.H.) who was a great mystic, and who succeeded Mirza Mazhar, expressly says in this connection that Wahdat-i-Wujud or unityism and Wahdat-i- Shuhud or apparentism are two different stages of the mystic journey; and for those who have been through both these stages, it is impossible to synthesise or reconcile the two experiences, the implication thereof being that Shah Wall-Ullah did not pass beyond the stage of Wahdat-i-Wujud or unityism and get to the stage of Wahdat-i- Shuhud 1 or apparentism. MtM.,p.81. Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 163 4. Shah Rafi-uddln SHAH RAFF-UDDIN/ son of Shah Wali- Ullah, forthwith wrote a voluminous book called Damagh-ul~Batil or * Crushing of the False ' as an answer to Ghulam Yahya in the same year (1184). All that is relevant in this book to our argument is briefly this. Wahdat-i- Wujud or unityism is the true doc- trine. 2 It is the truth of Islam. 3 All eminent mystics have cherished it, 4 while Wahdat- i-Shuhud or apparentism is a new doctrine, advanced by the Mujaddid who had not grasped 1 Shah Rafi'-uddm (d. 1249 A.H.). He was a younger son of Shah Wali-Ullah, one of the very first translators of the Qur-5n in Urdu, and a well-known scholar. He wrote Damagh-ul-Batil (JJaUJl ji*>) against Mawlwl Ghulam Yahya to vindicate his father's attempt to synthesise the doctrines of Wahdat-i-Wujud or unityism and Wahdat-i-Shuhud or apparentism. His argu- ment is based on the commentary of Fusus-ul-Hikam written by Sh5h Sharf-uddin, one of his father's pupils. DB., p. 8 (b). 9 Ibid., pp. 10(a)-15(fc). 4 Ibid., p. 4 (a). 164 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid the argument of Ibn 'Arabi and believed that Wahdat-i-Wujud or unityism was alto- gether different from Wahdat-i-Shuhud or apparentism. 1 The right course, therefore, is to take Wahdat-i-Wujud or unityism as the basic doctrine and interpret Wahdat-i-Shuhud or apparentism in its light, as Shah Wali- Ullah had done. Shah Rafi'-uddin does not take the argument any further, and his attempt in this field is mainly a heated apology in favour of his great father. 2 5. Shah Sayyid Ahmad Barelwi SHAH SAYYID AHMAD BARELWI too contri- buted to the controversy on Wahdat-i-Wujud >DB M p. 4 (a). a Cf.ifcd.,pp.3(6),4(a). Note : Shah IsmS'il Shahid (1194-1247A.H.) was a grandson of Shah Wali-Ullah. He too wrote a book called 'Abaqat (O U^) or Perfumes on the reconciliation of Wahdat-i-Wujud or unity- ism and Wahdat-i-Shuhud or apparentism. Shah IsmS'il Mujaaaia s conception of L awma ibD or unity ism. His whole discourse is based on Kashf-o-Shuhud or direct mystic experience, and is to be found in Sirat-i-Mustaqim (1233 A.H.) 1 . He says that when love domi- nates the mystic, the yearning for Taqarrub or nearness and communion with God grows more and more intense in his soul. This state gradually overpowers him. In this connection he attains to the stages of Fana and Baqa, an- nihilation and resuscitation. Thus his condi- expressly acknowledges that his argument is not based on Kasjjf or direct mystic experience (At., p. 33). He holds that Ibn 'ArabI is right and the Mujaddid wrong. The difficulties, which are attributed to Wahdat-i-Wujud or unityism can be, thinks Shah Isma'Il, squarely met on his own theory. His theory is very much the same as Berkeley's later position. It is this. When God chose to rule as an absolute monarch, He created the universe on the best design. The world is for us objectively real ; it is not imaginary or illusive. But in fact it is not outside the mind of God ; it is in it. It exists only as an idea in the Divine Mind (At., /vJL*fr 17, pp. 26, 27). That is what Nicholson would call Panentheisrn, and distinguishes from pantheism. But afterwards Shah Isma'il Shahid became a follower of Shah Sayyid Ahmad Barelwi. That means that Shah Isma'il changed his views and gave up Wahdat-i-WujQd or unityism. Cf. SM., pp. 12-13. 1 SM., p. 95. 166 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid tion becomes that of a piece of iron, which is thrown into the furnace and fire permeates into its very being and to such an extent that it acquires all the characteristics of fire; even its appearance becomes that of fire. One could affirm of it all that could be affirmed of fire. While in this condition, the piece of iron would, if it could speak, claim that it was fire itself. However the fact remains that it has not become fire ; it is still iron as it was before. In the same manner when love of God takes hold of his being and he is completely overpowered by it, the mystic too begins to utter such phrases as ^.1 U\ I am the Truth, and &\ -lr* j^*- 5 * <3 ^^ there is none in my cloak but Allah. 1 But afterwards if he rises to a higher stage, the mystic is blessed with another experience. He feels infinite expansion ; he finds that all the realities of the universe and the contin- gent beings are dissolved in the being of 1 SM., pp. 12, 13. Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 167 Allah, and the relation of identity which he had, at the previous stage realised between himself and God, obtain between God and all other existents. At this stage he begins to utter c^Mj />U^ /^ jyrt^ He is the First and the Last, and the External and the Inter- nal (57 : 3). But, firstly, to adopt the Shughl-i- nafl 1 or exercise of negation never means that really everything ceases to exist, the purpose of the shughl or exercise only is to do away with the consciousness of everything other than Allah. That everything else has thereby ceased to be is a mistaken notion ; indeed it is absurd. 3 Secondly, if after Fana or annihila- tion the mystic attains to the experience of Tawhid-i-SifatI or unison in attributes, he feels that He is the source of all multiplicity, and that he has expanded to the extent that the whole of the universe is accommodated 1 Shughl-i-nafL It is the Dhikr of *Jl V * there is no god,' the practice of which creates the state of negation in the mind of the mystic. 8 SM., p. 107. 168 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid inside himself. Here again arises the ten- dency in favour of the doctrine of Wahdat-i- Wujud or unityism. But he should not be misguided. He should remember that the idea is contrary to the fact and that his con- dition is merely an indication of the stage of Tawhld-i-Sifati ; l and after this will come the stage of Sair-fillah the journey inwards Allah. In short, according to Shah Sayyid Ahmad in whatever manner Wahdat-i-Wujud or unityism is experienced, it is no objective experience ; it is only a subjective experi- ence. That is, thereby everything does not actually become God. 2 Indeed Shah Sayyid Ahmad is absolutely opposed to Wahdat-i- Wujud or unityism and regards it as one of the bid'at or innovations of the pantheistic heretics and not worth discussing. Howeyer, as people talk of it frequently, one must know this much that the creatures are not * SM., pp. 109-110. Ibid.* pp. 12,13,46,107. Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 169 identical with the Creator, though He is undoubtedly their Qayyum or Mainstay. The relation might be conceived on the analogy of sifat or attributes. The sifat or attributes are not identical with the dhat or being nor are they apart from it ; they depend on the dhat. In the same manner, makhluqat or creatures are not identical with the Sifat or attributes, nor independent of the Sifat or attributes ; they are Mazahir or phenomena of the Sifat or attributes. The Sifat or attributes are suffi- cient unto themselves ; they need no Mazahir. Yet in spite of their self-sufficiency, God has in His wisdom chosen to give them pheno- menal expression in the forms of created beings called makhluqat. And that is really what great mystics meant. 1 It appears that after Shah Sayyid Ahmad 1 SM., p. 46. Note : About this time the controversy seems to be taken up also by UlamS'-i-Zahir (y*>U -U-X*), the learned in general. Mawlwi Fadl-i-Haqq of KhairSbad (1212-72 A.H.), who is regarded as the Ira5m-i-Falsafa or chief of philosophers of 170 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid Barelwi no mystic of eminence wrote on this controversy ; while the mystics who belonged to the Naqshbandiya order got into confu- sion on the point under the influence of Shah Wali-Ullah. The present-day mystics gen- erally have taken to silence on the problem. Some of them do make no difference whatso- ever between the two doctrines ; while others do not want to open their lips on the contro- versy because of their allegiance both to Ibn 'Arabi and the Mujaddid. They would give out that each doctrine is vaild in its own place, and that both Ibn 4 Arabl and the Mujaddid are right. the Khatrabadl school of Philosophy in India, too wrote a brief treatise called >j=*>^\ O*> a*} <3 >_>*'^ J 9 ^ m this connection. The argument wherein is purely philosophical and does not concern us here. THE CONCLUSION foregoing discussion brings out that -L those who contradicted or vindicated the Mujaddid, assigned a meaning to the term Wahdat-i-Shuhud as if it were the name given by the Mujaddid to his doctrine of the creation of the world and its relation to the Creator. But that is not correct. What the Mujaddid really meant by the expression was only this that the experience of Wahdat-i- Wujud or unityism which the mystic acquires at a certain stage of his spiritual development is only subjective ; that it is mere Shuhud or appearance ; that the Wahdat or unity which the mystic has experienced is only Wahdat-i- Shuhud or apparent unity. It is not the experience of objective fact; the experience 172 Mujaddid' s Conception of Tawhid is not objective ; objective reality is different from what the mystic has experienced. In fact the Mujaddid has given no name to his own theory of creation. If a name must be given to it, then Tathniyya-i-Wufud or the dualism of being, or perhaps Wahdat-i-Wujub or the unity of the necessary, would be more appropriate terms. Another point worthy of notice is that the Mujaddid's denial of Wahdat-i-Wujud or uni- tyism is not based on rationalistic argument ; it is based solely on kashf-o-shuhud or direct mystic experience. The Mujaddid holds that the experience of Wahdat-i-Wujud or unityism is a stage in a mystic's evolution. If the mystic outgrows this stage and attains to still higher stages, he comes to realise that the experience of Wahdat-i-Wujud or unity- ism was simply a subjective experience, that the Wahdat or unity he experienced was merely Shuhud or appearance ; and that Wahdat-i-Wujud or unityism is not an Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 173 objectively real fact. Consequently those who intended to contradict the Mujaddid on the point, too, ought to have based their case on kashf-o-shuhud, mystic intuition and experience. In other words, Shah Wall-Ullah and his followers should have asserted either that the Mujaddid's statement that there are stages higher than the stage of the experience of Wahdat-i-Wujud or unityism, is wrong ; or that there are still higher stages where the conviction in the objective validity of Wahdat-i-Wujud or unityism reinstates itself. But they keep absolutely silent on the point. Indeed they leave it alone and take recourse to logic and reason. Next, a review of the arguments advanced by Shah Wall-Ullah and others in favour of Wahdat-i-Wujud or unityism shows that all such arguments are untenable ; and further that the arguments suffer from a confusion of the religious unity with the speculative unity which is characteristic of the mystic 174 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid consciousness. Now to start with, they are arguments for a metaphysics of reality, intending to prove that it is one, single, individual, self-identical being. But after Kant, we know that unity of the world is only a " regulative idea " and not a proved fact, and that any further des- cription of reality as self-identical, etc., is absolutely beyond the competence of human reason. Taking the arguments in detail, we find that Shah Wali-Ullah starts with the blank assertion that Wahdat-i-Wujud or unityism is a dictum of all sane rational con- sciousness. But plainly it is not that. Plain unsophisticated consciousness believes rather in pluralism than in monism. It must make a great effort of abstract thought to come even to dualism ; while monism is a requirement only of the speculative consciousness. And even the speculative consciousness does not come to monism so simply as that ; and when it comes to it, it comes to it by a strained Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 175 effort of abstraction and has to affirm it dogmatically. In the case of Shah Wall-Ullah himself let us see what is the Wujud-i- Wahid or unitary being ? It is, in the first instance, Ahadiyyat-i-ma'qula, i.e., that which is com- mon between the conceptual and the empiri- cal, the universal and the particular. Now to conceive that there is something common between two such disparate entities as the universal and the particular, requires the most strenuous effort of abstract thought ; indeed it is hardly possible to grasp what the common element is between validity and actuality. In the second instance, Shah Wall-Ullah speaks of it as Dhat-i-bahat or Wujud-i-Munbasit being which is absolutely without determina- tion. Again, such a being is nothing that can be experienced or imagined ; it can only be conceived by highly abstract thought. And then Ahadiyyat-i-Ma'qula and Dhat-i-bahat both are objects of thought, concepts universals. Whence is it that Wahdat or 176 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid oneness or numerical unity, i.e., actual being, is ascribed to them? Indeed, one may ask, can it be ascribed to them ? Clearly it can not, not so long as they are concepts. Only when the concept, the universal is, by a leap over an unbridgeable chasm, turned into a particular, can numerical unity be ascribed to it. But can a universal be turned into a particular ? Or can we even say this much that the concept has but one individual as its denotation ? Hardly : for taken strictly there is no individual being which it denotes ; and taken loosely it denotes each and every being, actual or possible. What has actually hap- pened is this. The speculative unity was only qualitative ; it did not require to be quantita- tive at all. But under the stress of religious consciousness it has been turned into a quantitative unity and has become the one, a numerically single, individual existent. Then we must ask, how does Ahadiyyat-i- Ma'qula or conceptual unity, Dhat-i-bahat or Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 177 pure being, Wujud-i-Munbasit or being-un- folding itself which is somehow one Individual which is the really real, become Mustajma'-i- sifat-i-Kamal, comprehensive of all perfec- tions ? For in itself it is the barest shred of being ; how can we say that it has all perfec- tions in itself ? Undoubtedly it actually has no perfections in it. What can at best be said of it, and said not as a necessity of thought but only as a requirement of explaining the empirical, is that it has all that potentially in itself which later actually came to be. But what has actually come to be are not perfec- tions, but imperfections. We can therefore attribute only the potentiality of imperfec- tions to it, and not of perfections! Here again what has happened is this. The require- ments of the religious consciousness have un- consciously pressed the thinker dogmatically to ascribe all that is good to this bare imper- sonal being and thereby turn it into Mustajma 1 - i-sifat-i-Kamal, the all-Perfect, i.e., into the "12 178 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid personal Divine Being of religion. Now coming to the Tanazzulat or descents by means of which this Perfect Being comes to be the world, no reason whatsoever is advanced why the Tanazzulat or descents do take place in this being. Taken strictly, i e., as a concept which it is, it is devoid of all principle of movement. But even taken as an actual being which is the common element between the concept and the percept, or even between the mental and the material, it would be difficult to point out a principle of move- ment which is common to all these forms of being and which can therefore be ascribed to it. But what has happened is this. The speculative consciousness demands that the world-process must be explained as a mani- festation of the assumed unity and hence a principle of movement be ascribed to it. This demand is met. A purpose is ascribed to it. It is affirmed that this being wants to know itself. Now the grounds of this Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 179 teleology are at bottom religious. Further characterisation of the process as 4 ilml or conceptual and then *aini or kharijl or exis- tential is again hardly speculative. If any- thing, the motif is religious. It is the religious motif that is at work and has modified the speculative motif. For the unity has been conceived as God; it must therefore be first self-conscious and then produce Wujud-i-Khariji or actual existence out of itself. However the speculative motif reasserts itself, and that with a vengeance. The Wujud-i-Khariji or actual existence is a manifestation of Divine Being; it is that being itself in one of its modes ; it is identical with it. Now begins express conflict with the re- ligious consciousness. The speculative con- sciousness is monistic ; it will have the Primal Being immanent in the world ; and it will have necessity as the principle of its progress. If 180 Mujaddid's Conception of Taivhid so, then evidently I am He and I am acting under stringent necessity; mysticism would hardly deny that. The question therefore arises: whence want and suffering in me, which are the very foundation of the religious consciousness ; and whence duty and res- ponsibility, or whence freedom without which no higher religion can survive for a moment? Moreover, the doctrine produces that atti- tude of mind which is characteristic of the speculative consciousness, viz., the contempla- tive one. The mystic aims at 'Irfan or knowledge, and passes his life in muraqiba- o-mukashifa contemplation and apprehen- sion, having for his ultimate goal Wasl or annihilation or absorption in the Primal Being. There is indeed no room left for immortality, though at times he speaks of it at the stress of the religious consciousness. It may be noted that although here and there important elements of religious unity enter the mystic consciousness, it is the speculative MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid 181 consciousness which holds the sway. 1 And we must inquire further: Is Shah Wali-Ullah right in saying that the position of the Mujaddid is substantially the same as that of Ibn 'Arabi, viz., that it is Wahdat- i-Wujud or unityism and all that makes it look different is only simile and metaphor, which indeed misled the Mujaddid himself to regard it as different? In justice to the Mujaddid, Shah Wali-Ullah should have 1 Attention may here be drawn to the fact that Tasawwuf or mysticism in its various aspects bears too much resemblance to Neo-Platonism to which historically it is indebted. Its doctrine of Wahdat-i-Wujud and tanazzulat unity and its descents, its attitude towards life and society, rahb2myyat-o-mziwa (UjJl ^ s_U>oU.A>^) or asceticism and monasticism, its end of man as 'irfan (c^/*) or knowledge, and wasl (J- ^) or unification and annihilation m the Primal Being, are to all intents and purposes the same as we find in Neo-Platomsm. And more, it is grounded m the same effort of making a religion out of the speculative consciousness m the same identification of the religious with the speculative unity, in which Neo-Platomsm was grounded. It is further interesting to note that Neo-Platonism aimed at becoming a religion to save Hellenism from the onslaught of Christianity ; and tasaw wuf or mysticism too is acting as an inward religion running inside Islam and really supplanting Islam. 182 MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid shown in detail that the difference is only apparent and due to metaphorical language. But unfortunately he makes no such attempt. In truth the difference between the Mujaddid and Ibn 'Arabi is not of mere simile and metaphor ; it is a very real difference. It is as real and as great as that between the speculative unity and the religious unity. It appears that the use of the word zill or adumberation in this connection is at the bottom of Shah Wali-Ullah's assertion. Zill or adumberation is certainly a metaphor. But so is 4 aks or reflection and tajalli or efflu- ence and talabbus or dressing, etc., the terms which Shah Wall-Ullah and Ibn 'Arab! use. Zill or adumberation, however, is a safer metaphor than tajalli or effluence, etc. It indicates otherwise from the asl or the thing, it indicates dependence on the asl or the thing, and it implies insignificance of the zill or adumberation, while tajalli or effluence indicates quite the reverse of it all ; indeed it Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 183 is intended to indicate the reverse. These differences in the implications of zill or adumberation and tajalli or effluence are undoubtedly of fundamental importance. And had the inquiry been carefully pursued, it would have become clear that the Mujaddid really meant by zill or adumberation not only something other than the asl or the thing, but merely an effect of it, indeed only as an act of creation on the part of God. 1 1 Note : A brief note on Asl-o-Zill or the Thing and Adumberation is to be found on page 93 above. But it seems necessary here to trace the meaning of the expression zill in the Mujaddid more closely, as misconception of the term has given rise to confusion. At the first glance, the Mujaddid looks like using the term zill very much in the sense of 'aks ( s< ^^*) 01 partaw (j^j^), i.e., reflection; implying the suggestion that it is, so to say, somehow a part of the asl. While at the stage of Zilhyyat, the Mujad- did tends to think of zill in this sense, though even there zill indicates for him a lower reality than 'aks or partaw (M.. Vol. II, Ep. 1). Later we find that he uses the term zill to indicate the Ghairiyyat ( t ^^^f.*) or otherness of the multiplicity from the asl or God (Cf. M., Vol. I, Ep. 160) ; and that the purpose of mploying it is to express the insignificance of the multiplicity in 184 MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid What the Mujaddid really means is this. The contingent's own essence is nothing but 'adarn or non-being ; that is, by itself the contingent has no being whatsoever. Only Divine grace gives it being and gives it qualities which bear a faint and distant resemblance to the being and attributes of God. In other words, God produces the world, not out of Himself as Wahdat-i- Wujud or unityism would say, but out of nothing. Its being is due to an act of creation, creation out of nothing, which is something absolutely inconceivable for the speculative consciousness and its offshoot, viz., Wahdat-i-Wujud. And He gives it an exis- tence of its own, which is not God's existence contrast to the asl or God, as well as to show that the multipli- city can not exist without the asl (see M , Vol. II, Eps. 1, 11). However in the discussion of takwln (o^^-*) or creation the Mujaddid strongly tends to use the term only in the sense of an effect (M., Vol. II, Ep. 4). In the end the Mujaddid realises the inadequacy of the term, discards it, and speaks, in its place, of the acts of creation which are incomprehensible to man (M , Vol. Ill, Ep. 122). MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid 185 but other than it. So also He gives it certain qualities, consciousness, freedom, etc., which are not God's qualities but its. Thus it becomes an agent in its own right and there- fore responsible for its actions. Being a mixture of Wujud and 'adam of being and non-being, it is essentially finite and limited, though it has a yearning for improvement. Consequently, it needs religion ; and it needs a religious unity with all the attributes of perfection. However, being limited it cannot comprehend the infinite ; it can not see God. It can only believe in Him, if God could be pleased to let it know that He exists and wants him to act in such and such a manner. Revelation performs this function and opens the way to the realisation of the human yearning to live in harmony with Him and in His presence. And revelation prescribes life of action, of struggle, of endeavour, and indeed of Jihad or fighting in the way of God in order to achieve this end, to achieve 186 MujaddicTs Conception of Tawhid the state of mind called Nafs-i-mutma'inna or beatified soul, and to attain to 'Abdiyyat .or servitude. The 4 Abd or servant remains the 4 'abd ' in the end as he was in the begin- ning. He never becomes God. He is never re-absorbed into the being of God ; he remains himself and survives death ; he has immor- tality, though of course God has the power to annihilate him. In life after death he will live, by sheer grace of God, in actual conscious presence of God, and see Him. This is, if anything, the reclamation of the religious consciousness from the bondage of the speculative consciousness into which mysticism had thrown it. The doctrine is^ clearly dualistic and not monistic ; holds to a transcendent, qualitative and personal unity, and not to an immanent, unqualitative and impersonal one ; its unity is free and does not act under compulsion. While the world and the human soul are according to this doctrine not identical with the Primal Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 187 Being ; the souls bound in their action and gazing at it all the while and yearning to be re-absorbed in it. No, they have an existence of their own over against God f however meagre that existence be; the souls being free agents, actively endeavouring to live the life prescribed by Him. Evidently this doc- trine is as near to religion or Islam as Wahdat- i-Wujud or unityism is away from it. And the Mujaddid seems to have successfully brought about this reclamation ; though he is not wholly out of the clutches of rational- istic thought in which his opponents are revelling, which probably is the reason why one had had the courage of questioning the value of his truly revolutionary achievement. However there can hardly be any doubt that the call of the Mujaddid to all Musalmans and Islamic mystics is Away from Plotinus and his host, and BACK TO MUHAMMAD. INDEX Abdiyyat, 84, 96, 137, 138, 186 Abdul 'Aziz, Shah. 1 Absolute Idea, 49, 54 Abu Bakr-as-Siddlq, 138 Activity, 72, 74 'Adam-i-Mahad, 121, 130 'Adam-i-Mutaq5bila, 131, 148 Ahad, 122 Ahadiyyat-i-Ma'qula, 90, 175, *176 Ahl-i-Hadttb, 39 Ahl-i-Kitab, 109 'Alam-i-Amr, 135 Alam-i-Khalq, 135, 136 Anaximenes, 47 Anbiyya", 122 Asl-o-ril. 93, 183-184 Asm3\ 86 Asma'-i-IlShI, 89 Asma'-o-Sifat, 159, 160 Aristotle, 48, 73 A'ySn-i-khanji, 107 A'yan-uth Thabita, meaning of, 91, 102, 159 Baqa, 165 Bid'at, 26, 38 Contemplation, 72 Creation, 55, 105 Creator, 51, 55, 121 Democntus, 47 Dhat-i-bahat, 175 Dhdt-o-Sitat, 99, 118, 126 , distinction of, 86 ' Dhikr, 36 Ditferences. between the Specu- lative and the Religious unities, 53-74 Divine Being, 60, 63 Duahstic, 58, 61 Fana, 102, 103, 165 Farq, 92 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid 189 Farq ba'd-al-jara', 92, 109, 110 Fikr, 36 Forms of Consciousness, 45-46 Freedom, meaning of, 65 Ghair Muqallid, 18 Ghulam 'All Shah, 162 Ghulam Yahy5, Mawlwl, 158, 159,161 ' Hadlth, 8-9 Haqq-ul-Yaqin, 79 Hegel, 48, 75 Hayula, 147 'Ibadat. 113 Ibn 'Arabi, 5, 80, 81, 84-89, 91-96, 99. 100, 102, 103, 106-112, 143, 144, 148, 149, 181, 182 ^311 Taimiyya, 5, 81 Idea of the Good, 48, 53 Ihata, 123 Ij'mS*. 9, 17 Ilham, 6 Ilm-i-Batm, 31 Ilm-i-Z3hir, 31 Im5n-bil-ghaib, 99, 120 Immanent, 56, 57, 109 Immortality, 67-69 Impersonal, 62, 63 Implications of Speculative Consciousness, 46-49 Infinite Spirit, 59, 60 Iqbal, Sir Muhammad, 41 Ismail Shahid, Shah, 164-165 Ittibr-i-Sunnat, 23, 28 Jam', 92 jam!, 76, 87 Jizya, 20 Kant. 49, 70, 71. 174 Kashf, 5, 79, 98, 161 Kashf-o-Ilham, 78. 79 Kash-o-Shuhud, 76, 106, 109, 142, 165, 172 Khilafat, 10 Khwaja Baqf Billah. 10-11 Khwaja Mir Dard, 33, 149-151, 154.156,159 Khvvaja Mir Nasir. 32, 149, 150, 157 Kitdb-o-Sunnat, 34, 38 Kulir-i-Tabri, 156 La-Ta'ayyun, stage of, i Ma'iyyat, 123 Makhluqat, 169 190 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid Ma'rifat, meaning of, 13 MazShir, 169 Mirza Mazhar, 158, 162 Monism, qualitative, 59 quantitative, 59 Monistic, 58, 61 Muhammad, 31, 33, 76, 155, 187 Muj'addid-i-Alf-i-IhSni, 1, 2, 4, 12, 28, 29, 38, 40-43, 79, 81, 82. 84-86,94,96,99,100,102,106, 107,110, 112, 114, 115.117- 119, 123, 124, 126-131, 134- 136, 138. 141-144, 148-150, 152, 153, 158, 163, 165, 170- 173, 181-184, 187 Mumtana', 125 Mumkin, 125 Muqalhd, 17 MusammS, 89 Mustajma'-i-Sifat-i-Kamal, 177 Mystic Consciousness, 42 Personal, 62, 63 Plato, 48, 73 Plotmus, 76, 187 Purpose of creation according to Ibn 'Arabi, 95-96 Purpose of creation according to the Mujaddid, 112-114 QayyHm, 169 Qiyas. 9. 17 Qur-an, 8, 39, 40 Qurb, 123 Refutation of Jabr in Mujaddid, 136, 137 Regulative idea, 49, 174 Religious consciousness, impli- cations of. 49-53 Religious unity, 42 Nabuwwat, 29 Nafs-i-AmmSra, 136 Lawwama, 136 Mutma'inna, 137 Necessity, 66, 67 Pantheism, 42 Parmenides, 48, 56 Perfect Being, 129 Sahw, 13, 37 Saw, 29 k an-Allah, 29 fi'llah, 29 ila-'llah, 29 Sajda, 19, 25 SattSr, 121 Say y id Ahmad Barelwl, Shah, 34, 37, 164, 169 Schellmg, 64 Mujaddid's Conception of Taivhid 191 Self-conscious, 62 Shaikh Ahmad, 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10. 11, 24 ' , life of, 7-27 Shahsb-uddin Suharwardi, Shaikh, 80 Shaikh-i-Akbar, 86 Shari'at, meaning of, 12 Shuhud, 6 huyun, meaning of, 119 Sif5t-i-Wujud, 130 Sims 1 , 13, 37 Sir Sayyid, 39 SirySn, 123 Speculative consciousness, 42 Speculative unity, 43, 57, 58 Spinoza, 48, 64, 73, 75 Substance, 48, 53 Sukr, 13, 37 Suluk, 29 Taqlld, 17, 39 Tariqa-i-Muhammadi, 32 Nabuwwat, 36 WilSyat, 36 Tanqat, meaning of, 13 Tasawwuf and Neo-Platonism compared, 181 , definition of, 12 Tasawwur-I-Shaikh, 34 Tashblh, meaning of, 93 Tathmyya-i-Wujud, 172 Tawhid-i-Sif5tI, 167, 168 Wujudi, 4 Theory of creation, Mujaddid's, 129-133 Transcendent, 56-58 Uwaisi, 35 Uwaisiyyat, 35 Ta'ayyun-i-jasadi, 89 MithSli, 88 Ruhi, 88 Tajalll, 87 , kinds of, 87 Tajalll-i-DhSti, 106, 107 Tanazzul, idea of, 127 TanazzulSt, 178 Tanzih, meaning of, 93 Wahdat-fil-Kathrat, 151 Wahdat-i-ShuhQd, 114, 147-149, 152-154, 158, 159. 161-164, 171, Wahdat-i-Wujub, 172 Wujud, 4, 5, 11, 41, 75, 80-86, 95-97, 99, 100, 110. 114, 115. 117, 141-143. 147-149, 151, 153. 154, 157-165, 168, 171-174, 181, 184, 187 192 Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid Wahl, 6, 101. 104, 108 WujUd-i-Munbasit, 145-147. 175, Wajib, 125 177 Wali-Ullah, Shah, 1, 84, 143-145, , descents of, 147, 148, 158, 160-162, 170, 145 173-175, 180. 182 Wujudiyyat, 97, 118 Wilayat. 29 Wujub, 125 Wujud, 130-132 Zakat, definition of. 15 Wujud-I-Kamil, 129 Zilhyyat, 96, 97, 118 Khanji, 179 , stage of, 83
Thursday, 31 May 2012
The Mujaddids Conception Of Tawhid (1940)
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