3.1 The Intended Meaning of the Doctrines of Absorption and Unity
Know that, there exist those who are extreme in their affirmation of Divine Lordship. Since there are uncountable evidences in the universe that support it, some have arrived to this false belief like the wayward Sufis who witness the Truth (i.e. Allah) in all of creation in that He is united with everything. If one of them was to look upon any manifest cosmic phenomenon, he would believe that he is looking at Allah the All Glorious and Exalted. If they were asked regarding this universe they say: nothing exists except Allah.
Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah-may Allah show him mercy-explains that essence of this false belief with his words:
“What these people are really saying: that the existence of entities is an actual fact, is the essence of Allah’s existence and nothing else, and there is nothing like Him. For this reason those who call them absorptionists, or identified them as prescribing to the doctrine of Absorption perceive them as being veiled from the knowledge of their claims and outside of the inner meaning of their claims; because whosoever says: Allah is absorbed in creation have said that the absorbed is not the dissolvent and this is dualism and affirmation of two existing entities.
As regards the means for which they claim unity; there are two methods:
• First
• Second
3.1 The Intended Meaning of the Doctrines of Absorption and Unity
They are not satisfied with it; because unity is on the same linguistic meter as comparison and comparison requires two things that need to be compared one against the other and they will never affirm two existing entities.
The correctness of this based on their belief that many equate to one according to what I will explain of their state of confusion. This method either accords to the school of Ibn Arabi for he considers existence not to be established, saying: the existence of truth governs the establishment of possibilities and therefore it is permissible to unite between existence and establishness. And as for those who do not distinguish between the two they say: the imaginative plenty becomes one after divine unshrouding.
The First Statement:
“Statement of Ibn Arabi the author of ‘The Bezels of Wisdom’”: and although it is disbelief (kufr), it is the nearest to Islam by virtue of the plentiful good found in his words; and because he does not affirm over unity anything else but rather that he was confused. He exits with his expansive imagination sometimes imagining truths and other times falsehoods. Allah alone knows upon what state he passed away. His statement is founded upon two principles:
3.1 The Intended Meaning of the Doctrines of Absorption and Unity
First: The non-existent is established in non-existence which conforms to those who claim such beliefs from among the Mu’tazilites and Raafidites (المعتزلة والرافضة). The first to have claimed such beliefs in Islam is Abu Uthman al-Shahhaam, the Sheikh of Abi Ali al-Jubbaa’I which was followed by groups of Fatalists from among the Mu’tazilites and Raafidites who claim: all things non-existing can possible exist as its reality and matter and essence exists in non-existence; because if it was not established (in non-existence) it would not be possible to distinguish between the reported existence and non reported existence.
As for the author of ‘The Bezels of Wisdom’ and his followers, they say: the essence of its existence is the essence of the existence of truth. It is therefore distinguished by its essence that is established in non-existence and is one with the true existence. In general, his teachings are constructed on this which is known to those who contemplate and give it a thought. Know that this school although in itself false a person criticizing, it would not present it according to it in its true and proper form as this only takes place with regards to things that are true. As for falsehoods, when it is explained, its explanation presents its falsity in that it is said: how can this be obscure to anybody? They are surprised by their subscription to such beliefs. It is not befitting for man to be surprised in such ways as there is no unimaginable falsehood except that some group has prescribed to it. For this reason Allah describes the people of falsehoods as dead and that they are صُمٌّ بُكْمٌ عُمْي deaf dumb and blind, and that they لا يَفْقَهُونَ understand not, and that they are يَعْمَهُونَ... blinded. These are the two fundamental principles of Ibn Arabi.
3.1 The Intended Meaning of the Doctrines of Absorption and Unity
Second: The existence of the prototypes is but the existence of realities and their essence. They are completely independent in this claim different from all those who affirm the existence of the Creator from among the Muslims, Jews, Christians, Magians and Polytheists. Verily it is the prescription of Pharaoh and the Qaramitah (القرامطة) who deny the existence of the Creator as we will explain-by the Will of Allah. Whosoever was to understand this has understood all of Ibn Arabi’s sayings both poetry and prose and his claims that truth is fed by creation; because the existence of actual entities is derived from the established prototypes existing in non-existence. Because of this he claims unity in respect to all existence, and disunity in respect to essences and substances claiming that this is what is meant by divine predestination. Contemplate his words and how included therein are two things: the denial of the Creator, and denial of His creation of all creations. He (Ibn Arabi) denies the Lords who created thus doesn’t affirm a Lord or the act of creation; a complete rejection of the Lord of the Worlds. For him these is no lord and none who are nurtured from among the ‘Alamoon, no nurtured existence, no created essences and finally no existence of creation.” Here ends his remarks.
3.1 The Intended Meaning of the Doctrines of Absorption and Unity
Sheikh Hafiz al-Hakami-may Allah show him mercy-said while counting the atheists prescribing to the unity of knowledge and establishness: “The third party: the Unitarians (الاتحادية): claim that all existence is the truth and that the idea of multiplicity or neumerical variety is nothing but imagination, but rather that all opposites and conflicting entities are but in all truth one which according to them is the object of worship. They are the followers of Ibn Arabi al-Taa’I author of ‘The Meccan Revelations’ and ‘The Bezels of Wisdom’ among others in which he distorts the meaning of words and jests with the meaning of Qurainc verses. And for which he brought a form of disbelief (kufr) unlike the disbelief of the Jews who claimed: Uzair is the son of Allah, or the Christians who claim: the Messiah is the son of Allah nay but claimed he is god. And with their doctrine of trinity the Christians and their likes specified absorption and unity in a particular person while the others (Ibn Arabi and his followers) rendered all existence with all its variety which is the complete opposite of God as their object of worship.
3.1 The Intended Meaning of the Doctrines of Absorption and Unity
No one has ever before committed this form of kufr. This is the school founded by Ibn Arabi and later structured and organized by Ibn al-Farid in his ‘Poem of the Sufi Way’. The origins of this cursed school first drafted by Ibn Sab’een who was born 614 h. and who occupied himself with the study of the earliest philosophers through which he was influenced by atheism. He had stayed a period in Mecca and spent some time in the cave of Hira waiting for revelation to descend upon him as what happened to the Prophet (SAW) based on what he believed from his corrupt convictions that prophecy is earned and is an effusive overflow that permeates the mind when pure. Nothing happened to him except disgrace in this life and the next if he indeed died with this conviction. If he saw pilgrims performing the tawaaf around the Kaa’bah he would say of them: they are like donkeys circulating the house but if they were to circulate around him that would be better then to circulate around the Kaa’bah.” Here ends his remarks..