ALMIGHTY Allah’s reason for the creation of this cosmos and humankind is the “manifestation” and “recognition”
of Himself as it is stated in Hadith-e-Qudsi “I was a hidden Treasure; I desired to be recognized so I created the creature”. We can describe the Divine descent, the creation of Universe and humankind in these stages: Noor-e-Ahadi (Light of One), coming out of His self-isolated oneness, intended to manifest Himself in multiplicity. These stages are also termed as “Tanzalat-e-Satta. Many saints have explained these Tanzalat-e-Satta in their books. Abu Saeed Mubarak Makhzoomi has discussed them in his Arabic book called Tohfa-e-Mursala. These are also discussed in the exegesis of Fusoos-ul-Hikam, a book by Sheikh-e0Akbar Mohiuddin Ibn ul Arabi.
Alam-e-HaHoot (Realm of He-ness): The level of HaHoot refers to HaHooiyat (The Unknowable and Incomparable world). It is an Arabic term which pertains to the Divine’s Essence prior to manifestation. The spiritual stage related to it is called Ahdiyat (Alonehood). This is the Realm of pre-existence and a level of non – creation. This state of Ahdiyat is incapable of being conceived, incapable of interpretation and is beyond all logical bounds. At this stage Allah is all alone, hidden in His own veil and cannot be exemplified with anything. Nothing exists here, neither the Universe nor the creation. Here, the Zaat (Divine essence) and His attributes are revealed or manifested.
Alam-i-Yahoot (Realm of First Manifestation): The spiritual stage pertaining to YaHoot is referred to as Wahdat (Oneness). YaHoot is the first level of manifestation of “Hoo”. When the Divine Essence desired to manifest, He manifested Himself in the form of Noor-e-Muhammad (PBUH)(Light of Muhammad). Since YaHoot is a world of Oneness, it clarifies that Noor of Muhammad(PBUH) is a manifestation of Allah’s Essence and is not a separate entity. This is the first step towards Divine descent. The creation has not started yet. Here, “Hoo” is called Allah which in Arabic means “the worshippable one”, because there is a being in the form of Noor of Muhammad ( PBUH) who worships Allah. And the level is called YaHoot because there is an entity who would address”Hoo” as “YaHoo” (O’Hoo).
Alam-i-LaHoot (Realm of Absolute Unity): The world of LaHoot is related to the level of Wahdiyat (Unity). Here, the soul of Muhammad(PBUH) is manifested from the Noor of Muhammad(PBUH). Since this is a world of Unity so at this level Noor of Allah and Noor of Muhammad(PBUH) are in the same form. Therefore, the soul of Muhammad(PBUH) is infact the soul of Allah called Rooh-e-Qudsi (The Divine Soul). At this level the whole Universe and its creation is hidden in Noor-e-Muhammad( PBUH) and is anxious to manifest itself. The above three levels are the levels of Unity and non-creation. The presence of “Hoo” in “HaHoot”, “YaHoot” and “LaHoot” indicates Absolute Unity. The creation takes place in the coming levels of “Jabrut”, “Malakut” and “Nasut”.
Alam-e-Jabrut (Realm of Power): “Jabrut” is an Arabic term which means ‘bridge’ or anything that connects two things. It is called “Jabrut” because it connects the above three levels of non-creation and the coming levels of creation. The level of “Jabrut” is related to the level of creation of souls of human beings. Here, Allah created the souls of human beings from Rooh-e-Qudsi. The soul of human beings created from Rooh-e-Qudsi is called “Rooh-e-Sultani” (the Kingly soul) .The Divine attributes like knowledge, wisdom etc. which were present totality in “Rooh-e-Qudsi” at the above non-creation levels got divided into human beings. “Rooh-e-Sultani” has attributes of angels because angels were created at the same level. Here, “Rooh-e-Qudsi” got concealed in the “Rooh-e-Sultani”.
Alam-e-Malakut (Realm of Intelligence): This level refers to the world of symbolic forms. At this level the souls took a recognizable but immaterial and intangible form for the first time. Here, “Rooh-e-sultani” got concealed in the cover of “Rooh-Noorani” (the soul of celestial light). The souls of animals, plants and all non-living things were also created at this level. Due to the creation of souls of animals at this level the human soul adopted beastal qualities like lust, greed, covet etc. Alam-e-Nasut (Realm of Physical bodies): The level of “Nasut” refers to the physical world of material bodies. The stage where foundations of the tangible world of matter are laid. Here, “Rooh-e-Noorani” got concealed in the cover of “Rooh-e-Hewani” (the soul directly related to the physical body) which was breathed into the physical bodies of flesh and bones and non-living things.
The process of human creation got completed here and Allah manifested Himself completely in Humans by concealing in the covers of “Rooh-e-Qudsi”, “Rooh-e-Sultani”, “Rooh-e-Noorani”, “Rooh-e-Insani” and “Rooh-e-Hewani”. Great philosopher and poet of East Allama Muhammad Iqbal had very rightly said, “Qahhari – o, Gaffari – o, Quddusi – o, JabrutYe chaar anaasr hon to banta he Musalman”. To understand Allama Muhammad Iqbal’s thematic poetry we need to understand Realm of Creation first. Today we are suffering because we have lost understanding of Realm actually.
— The writer is book ambassador, columnist, political analyst and author of several books based in Islamabad.
