This letter, written as a response to Muhammad Taqiy, gives
information about âlam-i mithâl and states that metempsychosis is not true and
that human souls do not transmigrate; it also explains what kuműn and burűz
mean.
Praise be to Allahu ta’âlâ, who is the
creator and owner of all classes of beings, and salâms to Hadrat Muhammad, who
is the highest of His Prophets, and to all his absolutely pure relatives and
Ashâb! We were honoured with reading your precious letter, a work of your good
thoughts and beautiful moral character. May Allahu ta’âlâ protect you against
all faults and defects! You ask about Shaykh Muhyiddîn-i Arabî’s ‘quddisa
sirruh’ quoting a hadîth in his book Futuhât-i Makkiyya. Our Prophet (sall Allahu
’alaihi wa sallam) says in this hadîth, “Allahu ta’âlâ created a hundred thousand Âdams.” Muhyiddîn-i
Arabî ‘rahmatullahi aleyh’ writes a few things which he has seen in âlam-i
mithâl and says, “As I was making a tawaf around the Kâba, there were some
persons by my side. I did not know them at all. While performing tawaf they
recited two Arabic couplets. The meaning of the couplet was:
As you do now, we for years
All visited this residence.
Upon hearing the couplet, it occurred to
me that those persons might be from âlam-i mithâl. While thinking so, one of
them looked at me and said, ‘I am one of your grandfathers.’ I said, “How long
has it been since you died?’ ‘More than forty thousand years,’ he answered.
Being astonished at these words of his, I said, ‘Historians say that not even
seven thousand years have passed since Âdam, the first father of human beings’.
He said, ‘Which Âdam ‘alaihis-salâm’ are you talking about? I am one of the
sons of Âdam, who lived at a time long before than seven thousand years ago’.
When hearing this, I remembered the hadîth-i-sherîf mentioned above.”
[Warning: Ancient astronomers said that
the age of the globe, that is, the duration of time from its creation until its
end, was equal to the number of planets around the sun in terms of thousands,
that is, the earth was seven thousand years old; for they thought that the
number of planets was seven. The seven thousand years that is written in many
history books and that has been transferred into some religious books originates
from this.
Some of them said that the earth’s age was
equal to the number of constellations, twelve thousand years, and some others
said it equalled three hundred and sixty (360, the number of meridians)
thousand years; these three numbers are no more than suppositions and theories.
Hadrat Idris (a prophet) said, “We did not
know the world’s age though we were prophets.”
The earth’s age is written as
(360000x360000), that is, a hundred and twenty-nine billion and six hundred
million years, in the book entitled Mukhtasar, which Abd-ul-wahhâb-i Sha’ranî
(Quddisa sirruh) has outlined from Tazkira by Abű Abdullah-i Qurtűbî, an
Andalusian (old Muslim Spain) savant.
Today’s scientists estimate that the age
of the earth is not less than four billion and five hundred million years,
through a method called “radioactivity dating.” For example, by finding out the
ratios of lead and uranium minerals existing in the ore of pitch-blends in
strata now and estimating the time which is necessary for the formation of so
much lead out of the amount of uranium that has decayed into lead and the
existing amount of uranium, by means of the decay constant of uranium I
scientists can make such estimations.]
My dear son! The information which Allahu
ta’âlâ has bestowed upon the lot of this poor person [Imâm-i Rabbânî refers to
himself] is as follows: The Âdams who lived before Hadrat Âdam, who is the
first man and the first prophet, were all in âlam-i-mithâl. They were not in
âlam-i shahâdat. There was only one Âdam in âlam-i shahâdat, that is, in this
world of matter which we see, and he was a prophet. Angles prostrated in front
of him. Allahu ta’âlâ had made a man’s statue from sticky mud and had changed
it into flesh and bones.
[As we know today, Allahu ta’âlâ changes
earthen substances, nitrates and phosphates, into proteins in the factory of
plants, and changes these vegetable proteins into flesh and bones and limbs in
an animal’s body. Not only science can realize this today, but also with the
help of substances which we call catalysts, we can conduct chemical reactions
quickly, in a second, that normally takes years. While men can do thousands of
years of work in a moment, and as we know that Allahu ta’âlâ changes earthen
substances into substances of flesh and bones in a few years, it is easy to
realize through science that He can do it in a moment as well. Just as Allahu
ta’âlâ changed earthen substances into organs in a moment, attached the soul to
the body and created Âdam,
the first man, so on the Day of Resurrection
He will re-gather these elements in a moment, will make men’s bodies, and will
give these bodies the souls that existed. A person’s dying means that the soul
leaves the body. The soul does not die. On the Day of Resurrection, together
with everything else, the souls will be annihilated and then they will be
recreated. Today, an intelligent person who can realize Allah’s power well
through the branches of sciences, such as physics, chemistry, physiology and
astronomy, can also realize easily as a scientific fact that Hadrat Âdam and
all men and animals will be brought out of the soil on the Day of Resurrection.
A century ago, Muslims believed this without any understanding. But today, we
see it as a simple scientific fact and believe it without needing further
proof.
Allahu ta’âlâ created Paradise and Hell
and declared that He will fill both of them with people. For this reason, since
Hadrat Âdam, who was the first man, the earth has always had on itself
Believers and disbelievers, who have quarreled with each other. The irreligious
have worshipped the things which they have invented, but the Believers have
adapted themselves to the Prophets and books sent by Allahu ta’âlâ. Contrary to
what some historians suppose and what is seen in the motion pictures made up by
the enemies of Islam, our ancient predecessors were not uncouth, wild and naked
people lacking knowledge and science. Yes, among the ancient peoples there were
those who lived ignorantly and simply, as they do today in the deserts of Asia
and Africa. Even in the forests of America savage people live like those of the
Bronze Age. But neither all of today’s people nor all of the earlier people can
be said to be savages just for this reason. Hadrat Âdam (’alaihis-salam) and
those who followed him lived in cities. They knew how to read and write. They
had such crafts as blacksmithing, making threads, weaving clothes, farming and
making bread. Hadrat Âdam, whose age and height could not be known exactly,
lived for a thousand years and became a prophet when he was five hundred years
old according to a report. Allahu ta’âlâ sent him ten books. Hadrat Jabrâil
(’alaihis-salâm) came to him twelve times. In these books, the things to be
believed in, dictionaries in different languages, performing salât one time a
day. (A book by Ibni Âbidîn says this
salât was the morning salât); to make a ghusl abdast; to fast; not to eat a
carcass, blood, pork; many branches of crafts; knowledge of medicine, medicinal
substances, arithmetics and geometry were included. They even minted gold
money, operated mines and made tools. The Qur’ân
al-kerîm communicates clearly that
Hadrat Noah’s ship moved with the force of the steam from its boiler that was
heated by means of fire. Not based on any document or observation but for the
sheer purpose of denying religions and belittling prophets, some historians say
that the people of ancient civilizations were savages and that they did not
know anything. In this way, they want to represent each of the Prophets, such
as Âdam, Shist [Shît] and Idris (’alaihimussalâm) as if they were from a silly
tale or a superstition, and thereby train Muslim children to be irreligious and
devoid of îmân.
Another group of the enemies of religion
pretend to be scientists, and broadcast their corrupt thoughts in the disguise
of science. For example, they say such things as, “The cell, which is the
building stone of all living things, happened incidentally by itself, and then
in the process of time there came into being small plants and animals in the sea,
then those on the land, and finally it evolved into man.” Thus, they mean to
say that Hadrat Âdam was not created from the soil, that the Qur’ân al-kerîm and
other holy books are fairy tales [Allah forbid!] , and that it would be
contrary to science to believe in the existence of the Supreme Power, who
created the first living thing. These kinds of disbelievers are called Dahrî. Those
Dahrîs who present themselves as Muslims are called Zindiqs and Science fanatics.
How wretched these sham scientists are! Yes, the physiologist Haldene suggested the probability that “Millions of years ago, in hot seas, affected by the ultraviolet rays coming from the sun, inorganic gases turned into organic compounds and, at the same time, the first molecule with an equiproductive quality, that is, the cellular molecule that changes food substances into living form like itself, was constructed incidentally by itself.” But, this is a hypothesis, not an experiment, not even a theory. Today there is no information or even a theory showing how a molecule with an equiproductive quality is constructed. Scientific knowledge is the knowledge of observation and examination. A scientific fact is first observed with organs of perception or with the tools which strengthen them, and the causes of this fact are conjectured. Then, this fact is experimented on again, and the effects and roles of these causes are confirmed. If the cause of an event and the way it has happened are known, we believe it. But there are also events the causes of which cannot be understood through experimentation. Many ideas are put forth as their cause. These ideas are not certain. Also, different people may interpret a single
A general idea which can explain all of
the various events that are explained through the same cause is called a
hypothesis. By explaining many events through one or more hypotheses, by
concluding new events and by testing these events and by experimenting and
observing these events, among these hypotheses the ones that are decided to be
correct are called theories. The perfection of a theory is gauged by how few
hypotheses it relies on and at the same time how many events it can explain.
Haldene’s idea is a hypothesis after all, and is very far from being a theory. If
people do not remain in this grade, but acquire correct knowledge about how the
first living creatures were created, it will be useful for Islâm, not harmful.
Everything, living or lifeless, was nonexistent and was created later. Allahu
ta’âlâ declares: “Research how I created everything and see the order, the delicacy
in My work! Thus believe in Me and in the fact that My power and knowledge are
infinite!” Yes, the enemies of religion not only say that the
first living things came into existence by themselves, but they also proclaim
that the solar system, stars, and various physical, chemical and biological
events all came into existence by themselves. Ahl-i Sunnat savants gave them
the necessary answers in thousands of their books, thus silencing them all.
They proved with documents that they are wrong. We have explained in the first
and third chapters of the Second Fascicle how these fake scientists, who look
upon themselves as scientists, are wrong. Our religion declares that Hadrat
Âdam was created from sticky mud. It does not explain in what manner other
animals and plants were created. How can Haldene’s hypothesis harm the religion
then? Whether he says it or Darwin or Ibni Sinâ (Avicenna) says it, Allahu
ta’âlâ, alone, moves, makes and creates everything. All forms of energy are the
manifestations of His power.
What undermines the îmân is to hold the
belief that events happened by themselves and to say that animals evolved from
one another initially from one-celled organisms into higher structures and
finally to man; science does not prove it true, nor do scientists say so.
A passage from the book Tahâfut-ul-Falâsife
by Imâm-i Ghazâlî has been translated from Arabic
into Turkish and has been written on the forty-fifth page of the book Ma’rifatnâma. There,
he says, “Scientists’ words are of three types. Their words of the first type
explain the facts which scientific experiments
have discovered. Though these words of
theirs agree with Islâm, their wording is wrong. For instance, they say,
‘Nothing can move by itself. There is a power which makes everything move. This
power is a natural force. Everything is made by nature.’ On the other hand,
Islâm says, ‘Nothing can move by itself. There is a power that makes every
object move. This power is Allah’s power. Everything is made by Allahu ta’âlâ.’
It can be understood that Islâm and science agree on the same thing; there is
only one difference; appellations. We do not object to these words of theirs.
Only, we admit them only after altering the names. Their words of the second
type are about things which Islâm does not explain, but commands, ‘Research and
find out!’ Whether we believe their words of this type or not, it does not
cause the îmân to be lost. For example, they say that a lunar eclipse is a result
of our earth coming between the sun and the moon, and they can predict its
time, for the moon looks very bright when it is facing the sun. When the
earth’s shadow is cast on the moon, it becomes obscure and indistinct, being
unable to receive any light from the sun. And a solar eclipse is caused by the
moon coming in between the earth and the sun, and thereby obstructing the sun
from being seen from the earth. They say that a lunar eclipse takes place in
the middle of the Arabic months, and a solar eclipse happens on the first or
the last night of a month.” [The sun, earth and moon are spherical-shaped, like
a water melon, and they all move in the first heaven. Ancient physicists said
that each of the seven planets was in one heaven. On the other hand, it is
declared in Sűrat-ul-Mulk that all the stars are in the first heaven, which
also consists of the earth].
“We do not object to either of these views
of scientists, which are of the second type. A person who objects to them by
saying that Muslims should not believe such words as these will have striven to
harm the religion and to demolish Islâm. If one says that they do not agree
with the Sharî’at, while the rules and experiments of arithmetics, physics and
chemistry prove that these words are correct, scientists will doubt the
correctness of the Sharî’at, thinking that Islam disagrees with science,
instead of doubting such a person’s words. It has been experienced that the
harm done by an ignorant person who wants to help Islâm by using illogical methods
is greater than the harm done by those who attack Islâm systematically.” [Also,
Muhammad ’Uthmân Efendi of Medina, in his book Basîrat-us-sâlikîn, printed in 1341 (
saying mawdű’ about sahîh hadîths. He
mislead the youth. In contrast, in many books, Islâmic scholars, for instance
Abű Bakr Râzî in his books Kűriyat-ul-Ard (Kűriyet-ül-Erd) and Sharh-i Mawâqif, has
proven that the earth is a rotating spherical globe. Fiqh ‘ulamâ’ have written
cases on this fact. The sacred meaning of the 22nd âyat of Sűra Baqara is, ‘Your Rabb has made
the earth just like a bed for you.’ Tafsîr-i Azîzî says, ‘ He made it calm
and motionless for you to sit and to sleep on.’ The sacred meaning of the
fifteenth âyat of Sűra Nahl is: ‘I put the mountains on the earth lest it would shake you.’ Tafsîr Sâwî explains
this as, ‘He created the mountains lest the earth could move and cause you
trouble.’ And the book Baidâwî says, ‘Before the creation of
the mountains, the earth was a globe without any rocky areas on its face. While
rotating or during any other movement it would shake. When the mountains were
created, they prevented it from moving, suffering and shaking.’ 64th âyat of
sűra Mumin is, ‘Allah is He who made the earth a resting-place for you.’ Shaikhzâda says,
‘Abdullah ibni Abbâs said that a resting-place means the place of destination,
and station.’ It is seen that the âyats of Qur’ân al-karîm and the tafsîr books
inform us that the surface of the earth is like a saddle, a mattress,
motionless and comfortable. It will not be true to deduct that the earth is
motionless, and, therefore, it does not rotate on its axis and that does not
move around the sun. Today, these two movements of the earth are known for certain
and the prayer times are thereby calculated. Please see the sixty-fourth
chapter of the third Part of the Turkish original of Endless Bliss (Se’âdet-i
ebediyye)]. Imâm-i Ghazâlî goes on and says. “When met with events that are
understood to be certain and true through calculation and experimentation, it
is necessary to interpret âyats and hadîths, that is, to adapt their meanings
according to them. Many interpretations have been done in this way.” Let us
mention also that it is not a job for the ignorant, such as ourselves, to give
meanings to âyats and hadîths. To be a religious savant, that is, to have a say
in the religion, it is necessary to go up to the degree of ijtihâd [see fn.
(17) in article 26]. There is no such exalted savant in the world today. Now
the non-savants write religious books for various purposes, and by giving âyats
and hadîths meanings at random, they say that Allahu ta’âlâ says so, or that
the Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wa sallam’ commands so and so. They change
Islâm into a game. We should not buy or read religious books of this sort. We
should find and read books that contain the unchanged words of religious
savants. But, it is a pity, such religious
books are almost nonexistent today. On the other hand, it is deplorably seen
that most of the books that carry the names of great Islâmic savants and which
are sold as translations from them contain harmful additions, deletions and
changes. What is even more pathetic to realize about these existing books, some
of which are quite well-known, is that a number of ignorant people have been
carrying on this business of writing books for centuries, adapting some âyats
and hadîths to the wrong scientific teachings of their times and thereby giving
them wrong and funny meanings. What pleases the enemies of the religion most is
to see Muslims deny (because of some ignorant do-gooders) facts that are proven
through science and which are evident. For this will help them mislead younger
generations. If scientists say that matter, the cell, the living and the
lifeless came to being later while they had been nonexistent, it does not harm
Islâm whether they came to existence incidentally in the sea or through some
other way; for it is Allahu ta’âlâ who makes everything.
“Their ideas of the third type are those
which disagree with what is declared clearly in the Sharî’at. All of these
things are hypotheses, that is, suppositions or fabrications under the curtain
of science, fruits of sheer bigotry and ignorance. That everything was created
out of nothing, that Hadrat Âdam’s body, which was made from sticky mud, came
to life by changing into flesh and bones, that Allahu ta’âlâ exists with His
Attributes, the things that will happen at the end of the world, and the
Resurrection are all within the principles of îmân. One should not believe in
thoughts that disagree with these or that will ruin the belief in these
realities. A real scientist will not utter words disagreeing with these beliefs
because they are not things which disagree with science. It is necessary to
persuade everybody to believe in them and to refute those who oppose them.”
Hadrat Âdam’s children multiplied and
spread over Arabia, Egypt, Anatolia and India. During the time of Hadrat Noah
(Nűh) ‘alaihis-salâm’, they were all drowned in the Flood; only those on board
the ship were saved. People multiplied from these survivers. As a result of
their numbers increasing in the course of time, they spread over Asia, Africa,
Europe, America and Oceania, that is all over the world. This migration was
both by land and by sea on large ships. Perhaps there were roads from Asia to
America and to the Oceanic Islands in those times.
As science makes progress, facts which
Muslims used to
believe in without seeing or comprehending
are being understood one by one through science. Today, for example, the
following theories are being taught in schools in Europe and in America: “It
has been admitted that there were roads between the southern continents during
ancient geological ages. The famous meteorologist Alfred Wegener established
the theory of “Kontinentenverschiebung’ (the sliding of continents) and said
that the five [six today] continents had been attached to one another formerly,
and later they parted. By relying on zoogeographic experiments, another
professor claimed that there used to be pieces of land between continents like
bridges. According to Wegener, continents were adjacent to one another in the
Paleozoic and Mesozoic ages. Until the end of the Paleozoicum, animals
travelled by land between south America and Africa, between Asia (directly from
India) and Australia; animals that lived in Africa after the Eocene passed over
to south America by land.”
It can be understood scientifically as
well that Hadrat Âdam ‘alaihis-salâm’ was created from soil, and that people
migrated over the earth from Syria, Iraq and central Asia. While some
historians, who write not about facts but about propaganda, and who run not
towards the truth but towards political advantages, are still obstinate in slandering
Islâm and Islâmic superiors blindly, scientists and scientific knowledge can
see and understand the greatness, the correctness of Islâm more closely every
day.]
Allahu ta’âlâ created a sample of
everything in Hadrat Âdam ‘alaihis-salâm’. He has many lâtîfas, forces. Long
before creating him, Allahu ta’âlâ created one of his lâtîfas, attributes, in
his shape for a long time in âlam-i mithâl and revealed all his deeds and all
his descendants that will come until the end of the world together with their names.
They all lived when their time came. When their end came, they were called to
account, and they went either into Paradise or into hell. After a very long
time, as Allahu ta’âlâ wished, another one of Hadrat Âdam’s attributes was
created in âlam-i mithâl like before, and when its time was over, there began
the term of the third one. And when its time was over, the fourth attribute was
put in âlam-i mithâl. When all his attributes and lâtîfas were finished,
finally, Hadrat Âdam, who had accumulated all the attributes and lâtîfas within
himself, was created in âlam-i shahâdat, that is, in the world of matter.
Allahu ta’âlâ made him valuable. The hundreds of Âdams that had come before
were all archetypes of Hadrat Âdam. [It can be compared
with the rays of the sun coming before the
actual sunrise. Its rays, attributes, gradually become visible.].
Muhyiddin’i Arabî’s ‘quddisa sirruh’
grandfather, who died forty thousand years ago, existence in âlam-i mithâl as
one of the lâtîfas, attributes, of his grandfather in âlam-i shahâdat. He
visited the Kâ’ba-i mu’azzama in âlam-i mithâl, for the Kâ’ba-i mu’azzama has a
copy, a likeness in âlam-i mithâl, as everything has. Though this poor person
[Imâm-ý Rabbânî refers to himself] thinks and analyses very much, I cannot see
more than one Âdam in Âlem-i shahâdat. I can see nothing but the shadows in
âlam-i mithâl. The person who said that he lived forty thousand years before
and that “I am one of your grandfathers” was indicating that the Âdams existing
before Âdam ‘alaihis-salâm’ were the shadows (archetypes) of Âdam’s
‘alaihis-salâm’ lâtîfas and attributes. They are not beings other than Âdam
‘alaihis-salâm’ himself. For another of Âdam’s ‘alaihis-salâm’ sons cannot be
the grandfather of this son of Âdam ‘alaihis-salâm’.
Upon hearing of this event and the like,
people with sick hearts and little knowledge suppose that it is metempsychosis.
Thus, they say that beings were eternal in the past, that they were not created
later, and they reject the fact that they will be annihilated again and the end
of the world will come. Some irreligious people, who count themselves as
shaikhs and murshids, believe in metempsychosis. They say that when a soul
leaves its body before reaching perfection it transmigrates into another body.
They believe that souls will not pass through another body any further after
reaching perfection, that they reach perfection through transmigration, and
they fable many stories about metempsychosis. However, it is an act of
disbelief to believe in metempsychosis, which means that a dead man’s soul
passes into another child and comes to life again. He who says that there is
metempsychosis disbelieves in the Islâmic religion. That is, he will cease to
be a Muslim. They never understand; if souls reach perfection through
metempsychosis, for whom is Hell, who will be tormented? To believe it means to
deny Hell, and even, to reject the resurrection after death. For according to
their belief the soul will no more need its body, which has already been a
means for its maturing. Why should it be resurrected together with the body,
then? These false shaikhs’ words are identical with the words of ancient
philosophers [and of today’s spiritualists and mediums]. Ancient philosophers
did not believe that the dead would resurrect. They said that blessings in
Paradise and torments in
Hell will happen only to souls. They are
even worse than philosophers. For, on the pretext of metempsychosis, they deny
the torment in the next world and say that it is taking place only in the world
in order to perfect souls. [It has been witnessed that genies enter statues,
sick people and children and talk. They suppose that those who talk in that
manner are double-souled. This supposition also indicates belief in
metempsychosis.]
Question: According to some reports
coming from the Amîr (Hadrat Alî) ‘kerrem-Allâhu wejheh’ and from some Awliyâ
‘qaddas-Allâhu asrâra-hum-ul-’azîz’, they had done astonishing work years
before coming to the world. If we state that metempsychosis is not true, how
can we believe these events?
Answer: The work that was done by
these great men of religion, was done only by their souls. Allahu ta’âlâ put
their souls into men’s shapes and these shapes did work like men. Their blessed
souls did not enter other bodies. But, metempsychosis means that a man’s soul
has had a connection with another body before it entered his own body. It is
not a matter of metempsychosis for a soul to take the shape of a body. Also,
angels and genies do many things by disguising themselves as men, which is not
transmigration at all. It is not reincarnation. It is not a matter of
transmigrating into another body.
As Allahu ta’âlâ gives angels and genies
the strength to take various shapes, He also gives this strength to the souls
of His born servants whom He loves very much. There is no need for another
body. [Air always contains an amount of invisible moisture. The white steam
coming out of boiling water or out of the pipe of a cauldron is not moisture.
It is only tiny drops of water. Colourless gases are not visible. As colourless
atmospheric moisture condenses into drops in cold weather, which we call dew,
in a similar way souls can take various shapes]. According to what we hear and
read, most Awliyâ have been seen at various places at the same time and have
participated in different activities. Here also, their souls and other lâtîfas
disguise themselves as men and take the shapes of different bodies. Likewise,
for instance, some hadjis said that they had seen a Walî at the Kâ’ba and had
talked with him, others said that they had seen him in Baghdad on the same day,
and some other people said that they had met the same Walî in Istanbul on the
same day. But that particular Walî lived, let us say, in India and never left
his hometown. It was that Walî’s lâtîfas that took various shapes. Sometimes
that Walî does not know of these events. When they tell him that they have seen
him,
he answers them, “You are wrong; I was at
home at that time; I did not go to those countries; I do not know those cities,
and I do not know who you are, either.” Likewise, some people asked for help
from a few Awlîyâ so that they might escape trouble and danger. They would see
that those great people were there immediately and had come to rescue them.
Sometimes these Awliyâ ‘qaddas-Allâhu asrârahum-ul-’azîz’ know of the aid they
have given, and sometimes they do not know of it. [This fact has been witnessed
especially in battles.] It is the souls and lâtîfas of those great men of the
religion that did these useful deeds. Their lâtîfas take shapes sometimes in
âlam-i shahâdat, and sometimes in âlam-i mithâl. As a matter of fact, thousands
of people at the same time every night dream of our Prophet and get something
of value from him. All of what they see are his lâtîfas and attributes taking
shapes in âlam-i mithâl. Likewise, in the past, devotees received help from
their murshîd’s appearances in âlam-i mithâl; with their help they got rid of
their problems.
Ahî-zâde Abdulhalîm Efendi, in his book Riyâdussâdât fî
ithbât-il-karâmât lil-Awliyâ-i hâl-al-hayât wa ba’dal-mamât, has
proven that the Awliyâ have karâmats (miracles) even after their deaths.
It is not metempsychosis for a Walî to do
kuműn and burűz[1].
For in metempsychosis the soul connects with another body to enliven it, to
make it sensitive and active. But in burűz a soul’s connecting with another
body is not intended to do this, but it is to perfect that body and exalt its
grade. As a matter of fact, a genie can also connect with a man’s body and
appear in him. But this type of connection is not intended to enliven that
person, for that person is alive and is able to hear and move before the genie
connects with him. After the connection, some of that person’s actions and
words are the appearances of the attributes and actions of that genie. By
saying nothing about kuműn and burűz, great shaikhs avoided causing those
ignorant to be dragged into wrong beliefs.
To this humble person, kuműn and burűz are
unnecessary. For treating and training those who are ignorant, a murshîd-i
kâmil[2] can make his own high qualities be
reflected on that person with
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[1] The lexical meaning of kuműn is to hide
somewhere, and that of burűz is to reappear from a hiding place.
[2] The fortunate person who has reached the
grade explained in article 37 First volume, 99th letter.
the strength given to him by Allahu
ta’âlâ, without superimposing his will on him (burűz). Through tawajjuh and
iltifât, he can place those high qualities in him. Thus, that low-grade person
will become exalted and will reach perfection. Getting rid of base attributes,
he will attain good attributes. Doing this does not require kuműn and burűz at
all. This is such a great blessing which Allahu ta’âlâ endows upon people whom
He chooses. His blessings and gifts are so many.
Some people say that souls transmigrate.
They say that when a soul reaches perfection, it can leave its own body and
pass into another body. They give the following story as an example: A young
man died who was the neighbor of a person who had reached perfection and who
had acquired this power. That person’s soul left its own body, which was old,
and passed into the young man’s dead body. The old man’s body died and the
young man came back to life. These words are untrue. They are stories about
metempsychosis. A soul entering a dead body in order to enliven it is
metempsychosis. The difference between transmigration and metempsychosis is
that those who believe in metempsychosis suppose that the soul is defective and
it reaches perfection through metempsychosis, while the former considers the
soul perfect and says that it can transmigrate into another body after reaching
perfection. According to this poor person, belief in the transmigration of a
soul is worse than believing in metempsychosis. This is so because they say
that metempsychosis is for perfecting the soul. These words of theirs are
wrong. Moreover, why should the soul pass into another body after reaching
perfection? Why should the person who has reached perfection pass into young
bodies for watching and enjoying the world? The soul that has reached
perfection would not want to enter a body; on the contrary, such a soul would
avoid another incarnation: the purpose of a soul entering a body has been
achieved and perfection has been attained. Moreover, in the soul’s
transmigration the first body dies and the second body comes to life. However,
the first body has to be rewarded or tormented in the grave. If the second body
comes back to life it means that for that body the end of the world has come
while in the world and it has been judged in the world. I do not know if those
who believe in transmigration believe in the torment of the grave and the day
of the Last Judgment? It is a pity, these disbelievers have counted themselves
among religious men and have attempted to teach Islâm to people through their
books and magazines. They are
trying to make youngsters irreligious like
themselves. O our Allah, protect us from believing such writings and from going
wrong! Do not separate us from our dear religion, from our valuable îmân! Only
Thou can protect one from disbelief and aberration!
Appendix: By the way, let me give some
information about âlam-i mithâl. Âlam-i mithâl is the largest of all the
classes of beings. Each of all the things in all the classes of beings has a
copy, an appearance, in âlam-i mithâl. Also, each of the things, meanings, and
thoughts that occur to mind and imagination has a copy in that âlam. Our
savants said that Allahu ta’âlâ does not have an equivalent, a likeness, but He
has an example. To his poor person, as I have written in my letters, as He does
not have a mithl in the grade of perfect tenzîh, the Divine Person (Allah
Himself) does not have an example, either. The âyat-i-kerîma which purports, “Do not give
examples concerning Allâhu ta’âlâ,” in Nahl sűra, implies
this grade. Man is called “Âlam-i saghîr.” Everything in âlam-i kabîr has
a copy in man. And the copy of âlam-i mikhâl in âlam-i saghîr is man’s
imagination. For everything has a copy in our imagination. Also, each of the
states or grades of the devotees making progress in the way of tasawwuf has a
copy in the imagination. It is the imagination which informs the devotees about
their states. If it weren’t for the imagination, or if the imagination did not
do its duty, sofis would not know of their own states. It is for this reason
that those who reach the grades beyond the zils[1] and appearances, become ignorant and
bewildered about their own states, for man’s imagination can represent a copy
of the zils. The imagination cannot go beyond the zils. We have said that the
Divine Person does not have a copy in âlam-i mithâl. Can there be a divine copy
in the imagination which is a copy of âlam-i mithâl? For this reason, what
falls to man’s lot from the Divine Person is only ignorance and unawareness.
Nothing can be said about something which is not known. Therefore, it has been said,
“Those who know Allahu ta’âlâ are incapable of talking.” Something which is
known can be explained. Therefore, many things are said when in the world of
zils. Those who go beyond zils become speechless. So are the states of those
who go up to the zils and origins (asls) of Allah’s Deeds, Attributes and
Names. So it is understood that all the things that can exist in the
imagination originate from the zil. But,
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[1] Shades.
since they are the signs, the symptoms of
the matlűb (the Divine Person), they make up a branch of knowledge called “Ilm-ul-yaqîn.” But
the knowledge called “Ayn-ul-yaqîn” and the knowledge called “Haq-qul-yaqîn” occurs
above the zils, beyond the imagination. To escape the knowledge of the
imagination, it is necessary to pass beyond the way and grades which tasawwuf
calls “Sayr-i
anfusî”[1]
as well as the way called “Sayr-i âfâqî”[2],
and to make progress beyond âfâq and anfus. Most Awliyâ reach there only after
death. It is impossible for them to get rid of the fancy in this world. A very few
selected ones from among the great ones of the awliyâ were bestowed upon this
blessing when they are alive in this world. Their knowledge is not mixed with
fantasy, though they are in the world. They attain the matlűb without the
fantasy, coming in between. Manifestations of the Divine Person, which flash
like lightning for others, are permanent for these great people. They attain Wasl-i uryânî.
May it be to the good health of those who get the blessing,
Let the poor lovers be content with a few morsels!
Question: Some people dream of the
copies of âlam-i mithâl and fantasy, while asleep, and dream that they become
very rich or that they occupy a high-ranking position. Or they dream that they
become a great religious savant and all people gather around them in order to
learn knowledge. On the other hand, none of these happens in âlam-i shahâdat,
that is when awake. Are such dreams true, or are they without a foundation?
Answer: Such dreams are not vain or
without a foundation. It means that the person who dreams so has the tendency
and talents to become a rank owner or a savant. But, this tendency is not so
strong as to become a fact in âlam-i shahâdat. If this tendency become strong
in the course of time, with Allahu ta’âlâ’s blessings, it will take place in
âlam-i shahâdat, too. If it does not become strong enough to happen in âlam-i
shahâdat, it remains as it has appeared in âlam-i mithâl. It appears there as
long as it is strong enough. The case is the same with the dreams of the
devotees on the way of tasawwuf. They dream that they are in
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[1] ‘Sayr’ means ‘to go, to make progress’,
‘Anfus’ means ‘inside man’, ‘Sayr-i anfusî’ means ‘man’s progress inside
himself’.
[2] ‘Âfâq’ means ‘outside man’. ‘Sayr-i
âfâqî means ‘man’s making progress outside himself’.
high grades, the grades of Awliyâ. If this
state falls to their lot in âlam-i shahâdat, it is a very great blessing.
Otherwise, it remains as it was seen in âlam-i mithâl; it is worth nothing.
Dustmen and porters dream of themselves as judges or generals. But they get
nothing when they wake up. Their dreams are of no avail, except that they cause
sorrow and repentance. Then, we should not trust in dreams, but we should be
pleased with that we obtain while awake.
I love the sun, it is my favorite subject;
No business with night, what should I do with a dream.
For this reason, our superiors did not
attach any importance to dreams, and they considered it unnecessary to
interpret the dreams of their disciples. They valued what was obtained while
awake. Therefore, they respected permanent appearances and deemed the state of
feeling Allah’s presence that never fades as an advantage. It was quite common
for them to forget everything except Allahu ta’âlâ and not to remember anything
else. Attaining this spiritual maturity is not too difficult, or it is not too
far away from those who, in the beginning, have tasted the things which can be
attained in the end.