“My entire journey was all within myself, but when I came into the presence of my Lord all I felt was servant hood with no trace of sovereignty left in me.” Ibn ‘Arabi
IT is important to qualify that when Sufis refer to the idea of union, it is not on the level of God’s essence, but only on the level of divine names and attributes. This is an important distinction, which assures that mystical theology remains in the folds of accepted orthodox theology. Union or realization of its already present reality does not mean complete human identification with the absolute God. Mankind only becomes one with God to the degree of divine manifestations in the created order.
In other words, absolute identity with God remains limited by the necessary separation between Creator and creation, assuring that no multiplication is introduced into the divine oneness. What human beings are able to realize however is that they already encapsulate the complete fullness of all the existing manifestations and are therefore uniquely capable of achieving full consciousness of God as He reveals himself in the universe,” writes Deajan Azdajic in ‘Longing for the Transcendent, The Role of Love in Islamic Mysticism.’
Sufism maintains that Allah both manifests Himself through His creation but also at the same time retains His total otherness. To understand fully the reality of being human, we must also fully understand this aspect of our nature as God’s servants. Our ego must realize its full servant hood, which the Sufis call ‘Ubudiyah’ (being a true slave of Allah with humility and love). We must realize that as servants we can never become the Lord. That is why great Sufi masters, as Abul-Hasan al-Shadhili, asserts that the desire for union with God doesn’t lead to distance from him rather the spiritual journey towards his closeness is defined by actively seeking to be close to God remembering him always and aligning oneself with His commands.
Ibn ‘Arabi who spoke so much of the unity of the Real asserts that the servant ‘al-abd’ remains the servant and the Lord ‘al-Rabb’ remains the Lord. However with God’s grace and affirmation that divine spark within humanity, which is identified with the intellect can transcend all dualities, including that of servant and Lord to reach the One, the Divine Essence which is the root of the “I” of the servant.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr, in ‘The Garden of Truth writes, “From the Islamic point of view, therefore, the very raison d’ etre of human existence is to worship God and thereby to realize the perfect state of servant hood, which means to realize what it means to be fully human. Sufism asks us to delve into the deepest meaning of worship in order to realize this nature of our being as God’s perfect servants. It means humbling oneself before the threshold of the Divine Reality and realization of our ‘nothingness’ before God. It is only by passing through this gate of annihilation or what the Sufis call ‘fana’ that we are able to gain subsistence ‘baqa’ in God. Human beings cannot enter the Divine sanctuary but there is within us a reality that is already divine. To be fully human is to realize our perfect servitude and to remove the veil of separate existence through spiritual practices so that God Transcendent and Immanent within us can utter ‘I.’
“How any substantial distinction between mankind and God is to be understood, lies ultimately beyond rational comprehension. What is clear however is that once realization of absolute reality does indeed take place, the need for individuality ceases.” Chittick W in ‘The self-disclosure of God writes, “Humanity has to wake up from their forgetful state and the false illusion that creation is somehow separate from God and pursue the breaking of the veil of separation in order for truth and intimacy to be realized. One of the difficulties with this concept is the seemingly irreconcilable problem of mankind’s ability to know the exact moment when complete annihilation has taken place. This is the veil, which enables separation, ‘tanzih’ to exist although everything inside of human beings longs for nearnes or ‘tashbih.’
Mankind’s greatest test is to transcend this veil and recognize what or who the truth really is.“Overcoming these layers of separation and arriving at a state where one is fully aware of the reality of his own nature becomes the primary aim. Therefore the ‘spiritual realization,’ is the removal of the veils, which separate man from God and from the full reality of his own true nature, which means actualizing the full potentialities of the human state,” This concept of the veil appears to reaffirm the earlier notion that loving God ultimately requires the dissolution of individuality but if that is the case, then how can an individual be certain that he had reached such a state and which part of mankind’s knows how to distinguish reality from illusion, now that all distinctions have disappeared.
One possible way to overcome this conundrum is to place its solution in the Hereafter. In other words, it seems logical that a permanent passing away is not possible in this life and that their bodies necessarily bind human beings to this worldly reality, but they are able to achieve various degrees of realization, that these temporary boundaries are an illusion behind which absolute reality rests. Real and permanent union, however, must await its ultimate fulfilment after death, when humanity finally escapes the bondage of all forms.
In conclusion, it appears that due to the irresolvable proposition, which equates the culmination of love with mankind’s union with God, the Sufi path of ultimately reaching the transcendent through the vehicle of love remains conditional to mortality.
—The writer is author of six books including “Islamic Spirituality and Mysticism, the Path and destination’ & ‘The Philosophy of Rumi and its relevance in the Present Times.
