Divine Evidences
By Mulla Sadra
Exhibition Four,
Observation Two
Discussion
Join
Enlightenment
One: On Explaining the Reality of Death
You ought to know that death is a justified and an imminent affair.
Because it is a natural happening and its very source is Nafs’ (Self’s)
turning away from the realm of observables (senses),with full
receptiveness and acceptance for Allah and
Allah’s
realm.
Death is not a happening that
will destroy you completely; instead death is what separates between
you and what is not you and removing all attributes that are not you.
Full cognizance by our mental faculties indicate that the place/space
for knowledge, Ma’refa (Divine Gnosis) and wisdom can never be
destroyed as was indicated by the Prophet, peace be upon him: You are
created for everlasting-ness not for evanescence. (Dara: Not
found as a Hadith (Prophetic Narration) but as a saying of Abu Zar'a)
البداية
والنهاية ابن كثير
وقال أبو زرعة الدمشقي
وقال أيضاً: أيها الناس إنكم لم تخلقوا للفناء وإنما خلقتم للبقاء، ولكنكم
تنتقلون من دار إلى دار، كما نقلتم من الأصلاب إلى الأرحام، ومن الأرحام
إلى الدنيا، ومن الدنيا إلى القبور، ومن القبور إلى الموقف، ومن الموقف
إلى الجنة أو النار.
And again in
another noble Prophetic Narration: The earth devours not the place for
faith. (Dara: Not found as Hadith but as the saying of Hassan, and
'place for faith' means heart)
فيض
القدير، شرح الجامع الصغير، الإصدار 2.15 - للإمامِ المناوي
الجزء السادس. >> [تابع حرف الميم]
كما أشار إليه الحسن بقوله:
التراب لا يأكل محل الإيمان، والمراد هنا من القلب اللطيفة الصالحة
المدركة من الإنسان لا اللحم الصنوبري كما مر،
الإنصاف
الباقلاني
وأن محل الإيمان القلب،
As Allah
said in [3:169-170] (They are) Alive with their Lord, happily enjoying
what was
given
to them by Allah
بَلْ
أَحْيَاءٌ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ يُرْزَقُونَ (169) فَرِحِينَ بِمَا آَتَاهُمُ
اللَّهُ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ
Enlightenment Two: On Explaining the
Nature of the Grave, the Torment of the Grave and Requital of the Grave
Know that for the human being during his biological life there are four
life-forms, first two are worldly dealing with this life and the last
two
are spiritual and dealing with the Hereafter:
1. Botanical Life
2. Carnal Life
3. Conversational Life
4. Sanctified Life
A good example related to the above four categories is the human
speech. Since human speech also has four life-forms:
1. Botanical Speech: Stomatic and respiratory
dealing
with the gas exchanges necessary for the generation of sounds through
the breathing and its related organs (short-lived)
2. Carnal Speech: Similar to the chirping or braying
or yelping (short-lived)
3. Meaningful Speech: Could be short-lived or lasting
4. Spiritual Speech: Lasts and crosses many realms
and universes (ever-lasting)
When the speech leaves the space and the realm of the speaker, and thus
it enters the space and the realm of the listener, wherein the heart is
the inner-core facing the corporeality of this world. First the speech
is within the space of Sadr (First-most outlet of
the heart, bosom) and then it enters into the (deeper) space of the
Qalb (Heart). Through the traversing of the two realms i.e. first the
realm of the conversing speaker and second the realm of the biological
acoustics of the listeners’ ears, the first two life-forms of the
speech cease (the Botanical and Carnal speech lives do die/expire after
the
speech reaches its target bosom).
When the breath and its sounds cease there are only two alternatives
left for the life of the speech:
1. The speech enters and lives within a meadow from
many unnumbered meadows of the Paradise i.e. within the Sadr (First-most outlet of the
heart, bosom) of the listener which is the place for the
illumination of the Tajalli (Lucent
Manifestations) of Ma’refa (Divine
Gnosis) and spiritual Ilham (Inspiration).
And this place, the dwelling space of
Ma'refa (Divine Gnosis) and the mausoleum, is the frequent rendezvous
place for the angels and pious slaves of Allah.
2. The speech enters to live within a hole from many
unnumbered cavities of the Fire i.e. within the darkling opaque bosom
brimful with evil concealed plagues, the frequent rendezvous of the
Shayatin (All that which places distance
between the slave and Allah),
the central place for the Zulumāt (Darkness(s)) and corrupting
behavior, the target for Allah’s curse and anger everlastingly exposed
to Allah’s torment and wrath.
Note: The term Mausoleum indicates that even
after the
person dies still the angels and the pious visit his/her Sadr and
heart.Darkness is the space wherein the people collectively or
individually love some other beloved than that of Allah.
Some bosoms and some inner-most cores are the place the angels,
prophets, and Aulia (Friends of Allah)
rendezvous, again and again as
if these bosoms were the meadows of the Paradise, and there are other
bosoms and inner-most cores that are daily frequented by thousands of
evil whispers, lusts, lies, shame and enmity with people. The latter is
nothing but the reservoir for suffering and never ending pain, a
darkling place like unto the flames of the Hell: He who exposed
some/his
Sadr(First-most outlet of the heart, bosom)
to disbelief for them is wrath/anger from Allah and for them painful
torment [Al-Nahl: 106].
وَلَكِنْ
مَنْ شَرَحَ بِالْكُفْرِ صَدْرًا
فَعَلَيْهِمْ غَضَبٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ
Based upon the above example, similarly the human being has four
life-forms. Whenever the human being biologically dies then only the
two immaterial lives continue living and that is if the human being
belongs/welcomed to Hereafter. We say the two Botanical life and Carnal
life are Qata'a (cut-off) of him in place of saying the two lives were
destroyed, since the
philosophical realizations indicate that whatever
entered the realm of the Wujud (Being) can
never be destroyed (only
transferred from one form to another, from one realm to another).
Since
if destruction of some entity is possible then it should be erased off
the Divine Records and Allah has
mentioned that being impossible: And
nothing escapes or is distanced from your Lord even a tiny entity (dust
speck), in earth or in sky, not even smaller or larger than that except
in a
clear book/records [Yunis: 61]. In conclusion, as for every
physical entity there is a Wujud (Being-ness) so
the same is true for
Nafs (Self)
i.e. Self has also Wujud (Being-ness),
and as for every
biological entity there is a molecular matrix/mold the same is true for
the Qalb (Heart). (i.e. there are structures and spaces which the heart
comes into existence by and within)
وَمَا
يَعْزُبُ عَنْ رَبِّكَ مِنْ مِثْقَالِ ذَرَّةٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلَا فِي
السَّمَاءِ وَلَا أَصْغَرَ مِنْ ذَلِكَ وَلَا أَكْبَرَ إِلَّا فِي كِتَابٍ
مُبِينٍ
Therefore for each four of the human lives there are specific graves
custom-tailored for that life-form! The grave of the two Botanical and
Carnal Lives are the molecular and biological processes and
transformations e.g. oxidation of the corpse and its biological use as
food for other living organisms. These graves form the tomb for all the
transient and temporal life-forms that entered into this world,
predestined and pre-assigned by the Divine Knowledge of their lives and
deaths processes. The Divine Knowledge about these transient lives and
deaths and corresponding graves, be it Ijmali (Compressed and
indivisible i.e. subject to no explanation) or Tafsili (Expanded and
divisible i.e. subject to explanation), prior to the entrance of these
living temporal entities into this world or their transient departure
through the processes of dying out of this world, (their lives and
deaths) were known and pre-existent as has been said by the Prophet:
The Souls were created two thousand years prior to the corporeal
bodies (Dara: Could not find this Hadith or even as someone's saying).
This Prophetic Narration points to the above said antecedence
of the Divine Knowledge about the lives, death and graves prior to
their creation and entrance within this world. And again Allah said:
‘And towards Allah returns all affairs’ [2:210], and again: ‘As you
were created you will return [Al-‘Araf:29].
وَإِلَى
اللَّهِ تُرْجَعُ الْأُمُورُ
كَمَا
بَدَأَكُمْ تَعُودُونَ
تفسير جامع البيان في تفسير القرآن/ الطبري (ت 310 هـ)
حدثنا ابن بشار، قل: ثنا عبد الرحمن، قال: ثنا سفيان، عن الأعمش، عن
سفيان، عن جابر، أن النبيّ صلى الله عليه وسلم، قال: " تُبْعَثُ كُلُّ
نَفْسٍ على ما كانَتْ عَلَيْهِ .
On the other hand, the graves of Nafs (Self) and
Soul, are the ascent
of Nafs (Self)
to her Ma’wā (Abode for eternal habitation) and upwards
glide of the Soul to the realm of Souls indeed each returning to their
own place/space of origin, as the Qur’an said: We belong to Allah and
we (collectively) (in perpetual) returning to Allah [2:156]. (Dara: The
graves for the Selves and Souls are their actual act of ascent and
gliding upwards! Upwards towards their places of origination and
upwards closer and closer to Allah. So their graves are these glides
and motions upwards through myriad of universes perhaps that is what is
meant by the Seven Heavens. As the soil is the body’s grave and the
oxidization one of the processes of the death, space of the heavens the
grave of our Selves and Souls and the act of ascent or gliding the
process assigned to them as their death.)
إِنَّا
لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ
Allah by
means of ITs/His
Complete and Perfect Knowledge made/formed
the
circumference of the ‘Arsh (Divine
Throne) by the chain of entangled
‘Uqul (Intellects) and Nufus (Selves) and ordained the ‘Arsh (Divine
Throne) to be the space and the Ma’wā (Abode for eternal
habitation)
for the return of the Selves, Hearts and Souls.
Allah’s
Ever-Reaching Ever-penetrating (Bāligha) wisdom created the
outpost of the earth as the residing place/space for the constitutions
of the Nature and the corporeal bodies. And as required by ITs/His
Qadha (Primordial
Decision) and Azali (Sempiternal) Will and by means
of the Sūr-Isrāfilieh (?), the realm of Qadha (Primordial
Decision,
Qidam)
communicated/commanded the souls and hearts to enter/entangle
within the terrestrial (molecular) Qalib (Mold, Matrix) and then as
required by ITs/His
Qadar (Immutable
Destiny) commanded the terrestrial
(molecular) Qalibs (Molds, Matrices, bodies) to accept the souls and
hearts within, according to their ‘Isti’dad (Appetition, Capacity).
(Dara: The body of an ape accepts (is receptive to) the heart and
spirit of an ape, the body of human being accepts and receptive only to
the soul and heart of a human being, even if the two are molecularly
quite similar. Therefore Allah gave
Isti’dad (Appetition and Capacity)
to these molecular structures to accepts certain souls and hearts and
reject others in spite of similarities).
And these bodies accept and contain the souls and hearts until such
time Allah
wishes them to and when the Book of Creation 'inescapably'
marks the end of the corporeal life and the ‘Ajal (Stipulated
End) is
reached, then the moment of death and the de novo time of Haqiqi (Real)
life/living arrives when the souls and the hearts due to the edict of
the noble verse: We belong to Allah and we (collectively) (in
perpetual) returning to Allah [2:156] rush back to return their
places/spaces of origin and the corresponding bodies return to their
corpuscular origins i.e. minerals of the earthly dust: From her (Earth)
we Created you and within her we shall return you [Taha: 55].
However for those darkling opaque souls and treacherous Selves who
denied and rejected the blessings of Allah, there
are only the garment
of hunger and deprivation sewn in absence of the spiritual nourishments
found within the Hereafter and the garment of denial of the Divine
Knowledge(s) and Divine Ma’refa (Gnosis) and the garment of fear and
dread about everything, as was versed in Allah’s book: Allah shall make
them taste the Libās (Garment, Torment) of hunger and fear
[Al-Nahl:112]. They carry heavy loads of depravity, and their gliding
wings clipped by the scissors of veils (against the Nur (Divine
Light)), with hearts completely rusted through, and with tied hands
by
the ropes of bodily desires, dragging slow feet enchained by the chains
of lusts and foul proclivities of the Nafs (Self),
fallen from the
lofty Maqam (Stationary
State of the Heart) of the ‘Arsh (Divine
Throne) and Qurb (Divine Nearness) to the terrestrial lowliness and
to
the Bu’d (Incurable farness from Allah): An evil Kalimat (Word) like
unto an evil tree uprooted off the crust of the earth no stability for
her (Kalimat word, female) [Ibrahim:26]. Like rutted plants and
shrubbery they are lost between the sky and earth i.e. between the
realm of the Souls and this terrestrial world, as was rendered by the
Qur’an: And if you could see the criminals collectively tilt/bow their
heads near their Lord [Sujda: 12] i.e. in full sorrow of regrets.
تفسير
الجامع لاحكام القرآن/ القرطبي (ت 671 هـ)
{ فَأَذَاقَهَا ٱللَّهُ } أي أذاق
أهلها. { لِبَاسَ ٱلْجُوعِ وَٱلْخَوْفِ } سماه لباساً لأنه يظهر عليهم من
الهزال وشحوبة اللون وسوء الحال ما هو كاللباس.
Therefore the above shows that death pushes away the extrinsic
attributes of the humanity not the intrinsic(s) of humanity. Death is a
partition between the Nafs (Self)/Soul
and the body not the nullifier
of the Wujud (Being).
(Dara: In Western thinking there is such a thing
as non-existence and complete destruction of entities, in spite of
their magnificent scientific discoveries that all forms of existence
are in perpetual transference from one form/state to another, and the
preservation/symmetry
laws of the Physics have shown them that nothing
can be destroyed. However, there is a lingering industrial thought that
we the humans can be destroyed to a nil to abject nothingness. This is
so because their Physics has always been financed by the militaries and
the military language and thought has often overridden the physicists’
philosophical senses. So they say things like ‘Laws of Physics’ like
‘Colonial Laws’ and the end result of wars being only destruction has
tainted the philosophical thoughts.)
Some return to the abode of the souls and some will stay within the
lowly terrestrial dusts, some tryst within the meadows of the Paradise
and some rendezvous within the deep holes of the Hell and this is the
meaning of the verse: “Some group guided and some group realized for
them (justifiably so) misguidance [Al’A’raf: 30]. And the latter is
indicated by the Hadith (Prophetic Narration): First most entity Allah
created was Jauhar (Essence). (Dara: Cannot find
this Hadith but the alternative can be found at: http://www.untiredwithloving.org/aql.html
for Aql (Intellect), Qalam (Divine Pen), Hut (Fish) and other terms)
End
Sharh Sadr
Sadr
The early/front part of anything is also called Sadr e.g. Sadr Islam
means the beginning times of Islam or Sadr Majlis means the top of the
gathering, book or speech’s top or beginning or introduction.
Shar-h
Originally it means to slice and open something up i.e. dissecting.
However in junction with Sadr, Sharh-Sadr means to (open up to) expand
the bosom to accept more of the intellect and more of other attributes
like anger or lusts or healings.
صدر
-
الصدر: الجارحة. قال تعالى: }رب أشرح لي صدري{
[طه/25]،
وجمعه: صدور. قال: }وحصل ما في الصدور{
[العاديات/10]، }ولكن تعمى القلوب التي في الصدور{ [الحج/46]،
ثم استعير لمقدم الشيء كصدر القناة، وصدر المجلس،
والكتاب، والكلام،
- الصدر: الجارحة. قال تعالى: }رب أشرح لي صدري{
[طه/25]، وجمعه: صدور. قال: }وحصل ما في الصدور{
[العاديات/10]، }ولكن تعمى القلوب التي في الصدور{
[الحج/46]، ثم استعير لمقدم الشيء كصدر القناة، وصدر المجلس، والكتاب،
والكلام،
، قال بعض الحكماء: حيثما ذكر الله
تعالى القلب
فإشارة إلى العقل والعلم نحو: }إن في ذلك لذكرى لمن كان له قلب{
[ق/37]، وحيثما ذكر الصدر فإشارة إلى ذلك، وإلى سائر القوى من الشهوة
والهوى
والغضب ونحوها، وقوله: }رب اشرح لي صدري{
[طه/25]، فسؤال لإصلاح قواه، وكذلك قوله: }ويشف صدور قوم مؤمنين{
[التوبة/14]، إشارة إلى اشتفائهم، وقوله: }فإنها لا تعمى الأبصار ولكن تعمى القلوب التي في
الصدور{
تفسير البحر المديد في تفسير القرآن المجيد/ ابن عجيبة (ت 1224 هـ)
{ ولكن من شرح بالكفر صدرًا } أي: فتحه ووسعه، فاعتقده، وطابت به
نفسه،
Māhiyat,
Jawhar & Hayūlā
Māhiyat (What-ness) is the Haqiqat
(Reality) of any object as Allah created
it not as we perceive it. It
is also the Dhāt (Innate Essence) of any object. It is made up of two
intellectual components:
1. Kamālāt
(Perfections): The manifold boundaries of the object’s perfection as it
extends to the other universe
2. Fa’liyat
(Actualizations): In case Māhiyat (What-ness) can be objectified, all
its actualities (actual as in an actual object) are also a part of its
What-ness
Jawhar is a Māhiyat (What-ness), if
objectified, it is totally independent of the rest of our physical
universe e.g. ‘Aql (Intellect) when objectified into the human
cognitive faculties it is in and of itself and needs nothing else. You
may say Jawhar is an objectifiable independent What-ness.
Hayūlā is a Jawhar that requires
space to reside within e.g. Jism or physiology requires spatial
physicality.
©
2008-2002, Dara O. Shayda