ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books A History of Muslim Philosophy Volume 2, Book 4 Chapter 43: Mahmud Shabistari, Al-Jili, and Jami A. Mahmud Shabistari Mahmud Shabistari, so called after the name of Shabistar, a village near Tabiz in Adharbaijan, was born about the middle of the seventh/13th century and died about 720/1320. Little is known of his life. His Gulshan-i Raz (The Garden of Mystery) is a poetical exposition of the doctrine of the Unity of Being.

It was written in 710/1311 in response to certain questions about mystical philosophy asked by one Amir Husaini from Khurasan. The exposition of the doctrine of the Unity of Being in the book adds nothing to what had earlier been said by ibn ‘Arabi. Mahmud, however, is much clearer and much more precise than his spiritual teacher. Being, by its very definition, he says, is existent, and non-Being, non-existent. There is nothing in existence except the one.

The contingent and necessary were never separate; they existed from eternity as one. If you look at one side of One, it is one, and if you see the other side, it becomes many – the only difference being that the aspect of unity is real, while that of plurality is illusory. Reality is one but it names are many, and it is this plurality which becomes the cause of multiplicity.[^1] Essence as such is beyond our knowledge or comprehension.

But according to Shabistari, this inability on our part to know God’s essence arises because of His nearness to us. Essence as absolute light is as invisible to the eye as non-Being which is absolute darkness. Nobody can look at the sun directly. But it can be seen as reflected in water. Relative non-being is like water. It serves as a mirror of the Absolute Light in which is reflected the illumination of Haqq (truth).

This relative non-being is the latent reality (‘ain al-thabitah) of ibn ‘Arabi’s system, which reflects the divine light in accordance with its natural propensities. The divine light as pure light was a hidden treasure, but when it was reflected in the mirror, the treasure became manifest. But, in this process, the essence that was One became many.[^2] Shabistari then describes the process of descent of the one after the manner of ibn ‘Arabi.

The first manifestation of the essence is the universal reason (‘aql al-kulli) , the stage of unity (ahadiyyah) ; the second is the universal soul (nafs al-kulli) .