Lecture B

In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate

The verses of the ascension (Mi’raj)

1. Exalted is He who carried His worshiper (Prophet Muhammad) to travel in the night from the Sacred Mosque to the Furthest Mosque which We have blessed around it so that We might show him some of Our signs. He is the Hearer, the Seer. (17/1

2. Indeed, he saw him in another descent (53/13)

3. at the Lote Tree (Sidrat tree) of the ending (53/14)

4. for indeed he saw one of the greatest signs of his Lord. (53/18)

THE VERSES OF THE DESCENDING

1. But Satan made them slip there from and caused them to depart from that in which they had been. 'Go down,' We said, 'be enemies to each other. The earth will provide your dwelling place an enjoyment for a while.' (2/36)

2. Go down, all together,' We said, (2/38)

B) The composition of the human in the world and his analysis

1-HIS COMPOSITION

Before we explain descending and ascension and the degrees and phases of the Mi’raj, we will try to make clear how human being -who passes through these phases- come to the realm we are in, i.e. to the physical phase. We accept that the subject gets wider and wider, we deem it necessary for the tranquility of minds.

Human beings are composed of the below cited components as seen at first sight.

Human = Physical structure body + metaphysical side (Inner self, soul, intellect, heart, mind, analytical thinking, imagination, memory)

Here we used mathematical expression (formula) to make the subject easy to understand.

We can modify the formula and produce its different versions such as.
Human = external side + mystic side. The Qur’an supports this reasoning.

“He is the First and the Last, the Clear and the Hidden. He has knowledge of all things.” (57/3)
On the other hand, human beings are created as the caliphs of Allah (c.c).

“He is the First and the Last, the Clear and the Hidden. He has knowledge of all things” (2/30)

This verse indicates the abovementioned reality. Therefore human has EXTERIOR and INTERIOR. If we try to explain his two sides in a detailed manner….

We come across TWO SEAS. The truths these seas show are the scientific expression of the structure of EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL sides of human.
The types of sciences concerning his EXTERIOR as comes to my mind are (Biology, Medicine, Mathematics, Geometry, Cybernetic, Chemistry, Physics, Law, Economics, Cosmology, Astrology, Astrophysics…). Among these only the science of medicine has science branches at second level. (Anatomy, Biology, Oncology, Psychotherapy, external diseases, internal diseases, Gynecology, Urology, Orthopedics, Pharmacology…). The scientific explanation of solely the structure of brain and eyes astonishes the mind and its branches. Here we only mentioned the medicine regarding the structure of human beings. There are the types of medicine branches that deal with the lives, health and diseases of other living creatures. Because there are a lot of different medical sciences dealing with innumerable creatures which live in macro or micro spheres, and if we write down everything about them in the books, we get colossal amounts of knowledge which can fill a sea. The following verses in the Qur’an are related to this:

“He has let forth the two seas; they meet together, (55/19)
And between them is a barrier which they do not overpass. (55/20)

The Qur’an was sent down as SEVEN wholes and contains SEVEN DIFFERENT MEANINGS one within the other. This information is taken from a hadith. Our Sultan, the venerable Visali expressed this from time to time in his speeches. He also explained in one of his speeches SEVEN DIFFERENT MEANINGS OF SURAH HUMAZAH (THE BACKBITER). It is said that in the official opening ceremony of the Great Masjid, the sheikh of the venerable Hajji Bayram Veli, HAMIDUDDIN AKSARAYI who is known as SOMUNCU BABA, gave three mystic different meanings of the SURAH FATIHAH (the Opener).

The idea that ‘there is a branch of medicine science for each living being in the universe’ should not be found strange. Every living being is BORN, GROWS UP and DIES. They are born, live and die as per the scientific rules designed specifically for them. Their living and death happen due to this science. Muhyiddin Ibn’ul Arabi says KNOWLEDGE IS DEPENDENT ON THE KNOWN. In our example, the living and the death of creatures will be known (apparent) after they put into practice de facto the KNOWLEDGE THAT DESCRIBES THE REALITY OF THE LIVING AND DEATH. For instance, let’s assume we have the knowledge that white whales live at minus temperatures in the poles and their life expectancy IS AVERAGE … YEARS. By seeing personally the lives of white whales in the poles, we learn it and get the knowledge through experience. This knowledge about whales was there before we have learned it. Therefore we get the knowledge from what is already known. We can get the knowledge about all creatures by comparison to this fact. It would be clear that there is a medicine science for every creature from mosquitoes to moles, i.e THE EXISTENCE OF A POTENTIAL KNOWLEDGE.

“He has let forth the two seas; they meet together, and between them is a barrier which they do not overpass”. If we apply this verse to our life as human beings, all knowledge in our physical body coexist with the knowledge in our immaterial side- INTELLECT, IDEAL, MEMORY, IMAGINATION, ANALYTICAL THINKING, and SPIRITUAL HEART ETC-. Even though the knowledge in our immaterial side is also AS WIDE AS SEAS, the two coexist and take care of their jobs as their nature necessitates and they do not mingle with each other due to THE GOVERNING OF ALLAH TAALA whose PERFECT ATTRIBUTES, ART AND POWER enables them to do so.
“He directs the affair from heaven to earth” (32/5)

2- THE ANALYSIS OF human beings

We need first to know the truths of his all parts and organs that constitute his physical and spiritual structure to be able to know the truths of human beings that came to this world by passing from a period to another period within large time divisions. We should have said here as a human as far as our capacity and abilities permit to do so. As per the rule that THERE IS A GREATER SCHOLAR ABOVE THE LEVEL OF EVERY SCHOLAR, the level of knowledge of spiritual guides is above ours, the ordinary muslims. The knowledge of wises (areef) is above the knowledge of spiritual guides, above theirs is the knowledge of the prophets. Above the knowledge of prophets, is of five great prophets (Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Mohammad, peace be upon them). The highest level of knowledge on top of the knowledge of other prophets is the knowledge of our prophet Hadrath Muhammad (peace be upon him), and finally above all of them is the knowledge of Hadrath Allah. He is the main source of everything, including the knowledge. The centre of knowledge is his Unity of existence.

Our great spiritual master venerable VISALI explains the following hadith as below: WHOEVER KNOWS HIMSELF, KNOWS HIS GOD.

GOD CAN NOT BE KNOWN UNTIL SELF IS KNOWN
SELF CAN NOT BE KNOWN UNTIL SOUL IS KNOWN
SOUL CAN NOT BE KNOWN UNTIL LIFE IS KNOWN
LIFE CAN NOT BE KNOWN UNTIL DEATH IS KNOWN
DEATH CAN NOT BE KNOWN UNTIL HEARTH IS KNOWN

Therefore, in order to be informed of the explicit and inferred meanings of aforementioned hadith, we need to be aware of the knowledge about:
1. The reality of self
2. The reality of soul
3. The reality of life
4. The reality of death
5. The reality of heart

Grasping the realities of these five charming building blocks of our spiritual structure will show us the reality of the sustainership of Allah.

A- THE REALITY OF NAFS (NAFS an-NATIQAH) (INNER SELF WITH RHETORIC TALENT / Discerning Soul)

The term ‘nafs’ means self, the essence of something. Nafs an-natiqah is described in the VISALI ANTHOLOGY, in the commentary on THE EULOGY OF MUNFERICE:

Nafs an-natiqah, is a light from Allah’s lights, exists by itself, having no place, came from Allah and will turn unto Him.

In his speech on explaining this subject to the brethren, he said:

Nafs an-natiqah has been honored by the love, the light and the shadow of Allah. Nafs is antecedent and past eternal. It is favoured by ALLAH’S SELF ATTIBUTES, which are His special attributes.

The attributes of the self of Allah is six

1) Existence (al- Wujud): Allah exists; the existence of all objects is from Him.
2) Eternity (al-Qidam): There is no beginning of his existence.
3) Everlastingness (al- Baqa’): There is no end for his existence.
4) Oneness (al- Wahdaniyyah): He is only One, there is no other that exits.
5) Non-neediness of others (al-Qiyamu Bin- nafs): His existence is from himself.
6) Non-resemblance to the creatures (al- Mukhalafatu Lil Hawadith): He does not look like those who are created.

Nafs natigah has honour of having these attributes. But it does not mean it has these attributes fully. It only has the shadow (i.e. small amount) of these attributes.

As there is a big discrepancy between the existence of the owner of a shadow and the existence of the shadow itself, and the shadow continues to exist by the Existence of THE OWNER OF THE SHADOW, in the same manner, nafs continues to exist because of the existence of the wajib-ul wujud (the unity of existence). As the existence of God is eternal, having no end, nafs continues to exist, too, as the shadow. The shadow is not the same with the owner of the shadow; however, it is not somebody else, either. Nafs, too, is not the same with the existence of God, but it is not another being, either. One should think this cautiously and seriously. IT IS NOT GOD, BUT DUE TO ITS ATTRIBUTES, IT IS FROM GOD AND WITH GOD.

The venerable Visali in his EULOGY OF TESBIH-I KAMILE (PERFECT ROSARY) says

YOU MADE ALL NAFS EXIST O ALLAH
BUT YOU ARE EXEMPT FROM THEM O ALLAH

The opinions of earlier Sufis about nafs

Nafs is an attribute that satisfies only with what is false
Bayezid Bistami (Kasful Mahcub pp.313)

The foundation of kufr (blasphemy, denying the truth) is to act always in accordance with what your nafs likes. (Cuneyd-i Baghdadi)

Nafs is something ungrateful and also an obstacle. The best thing is to act on the contrary of what it likes. (Abu Suleyman Darani, the same book)

It is understood from these remarks that THE ESSENCE OF NAFS is assumed the same with ITS ATTRIBUTES, and its attributes are given to its essence. In other words, THE ESSENCE OF NAFS is not separated from THE ATTRIBUTES OF NAFS. This attitude has continued up to now in different structures and expressions. The only exception is being the spiritual guide and wise men that belong to the School of IBN’UL ARABI. Our Sultan Venerable VISALI, as one of the last representatives of this school, gives satisfying and detailed information about the reality of nafs.

However, there are some views claiming that nafs is an essence, its attributes being various and many. For instance:

(… These sagas show that nafs is not an attribute, it is an essence and this essence has some attributes. We see the attributes of nafs clearly.. So the fight against nafs is not to get rid of it.) (Kasful Mahcub, pp:321)

“In his book Kut ul Kulub, Sheikh Abu Talib Al-Mekki talks about SOUL AND NAFS as essences in the body and says the following….”

The servant always must seek God’s consent, and want whatever he wants for his Sublime God. He should choose his friends for Allah and once he chooses some one as his friend in the name of Allah, he should help him in everything that will make it come closer to Allah.
Allah gives a special ability (knowledge) to know his nafs and see its faults to the ones who respect to divine rights. God also gives him good ethics and manners and enables him to fulfill the duties watchfully, and gives him a deep comprehension in these matters. Nothing is concealed from him about the rights of people and Allah.

Therefore, all deficiencies and faults emanates from the ugliness of the nafs and its being not purified and remaining with its deficient attributes. If a nafs with this attribute becomes one’s friend, it will act oppressively to him by swinging between two extremes. It will run over the duties related to God and the public. Admonitions, advices and the like do not arouse any effects on it. Under such a situation, nafs looks like a well that water is poured down from above into it; however the water does not stay in the well.
On the other hand, if nafs cling to piety and does not love the world and live in ascetism (devoting oneself to prayer and trying to stay away from worldly and physical pleasures), with the help of Allah Taala, he gets a deep comprehension ability and turns to be a spring of life (water). He knows what the truth is, fulfills the duties and can fully protect the manners.

(Avariful maarif, Suhreverdi, pp-571)

Explanations about Nafs in the anthology of Visali:

The explanations about THE REALITY OF NAFS occur four times in the anthology on which we try to write a commentary:

1-The first one is in the EULOGY OF TESBIH-I KAMILE (PERFECT ROSARY), which was mentioned a couple of paragraphs above.

2- The second explanation is THE EULOGY OF COGNIZANCE OF NAFS. Here we will give only three lines and later in the book, we will give it in full.

THE PROPHET SAID KNOWING ONE’S NAFS IS TO KNOW ALLAH
MEN ARAFA NAFSAHU, FEKAD ARAFA RABBAHU

THE REALITY OF NAFS IS ONE, BUT ITS ATTIBUTES ARE SEVEN.

3- THE EULOGOY OF DEATH, the first six lines:

O HUMAN BEING,
WHY ARE YOU AFRAID OF DEATH
THOSE WITH FEAR OF DEATH SHOULD KNOW SEVEN THINGS
ONE: HE DOES NOT KNOW NAFS, SUPPOSING IT AS BODY
I.E. HE SUPPOSES NAFS, TOO, DIES WHEN BODY DIES
TWO: IGNORANCE, DID NOT KNOW ITS ORIGIN
NAFS IS AN ESSENCE, EXEMPT FROM DEATH

4-THE EULOGY OF THE REALITY OF NAFS

The essence of nafs is the breath of Rahman (All-Merciful Allah) o real wise man
The divine love came into existence from that breath
That love fell from father’s spine to mother’s womb
The form of human being came to the world with that love
That love turned to be Sultan nafs in the body
That love plunged into a multitude of imaginations with fankihu
That love get married to Wahime (fancy) in the city of love
Greed, covetousness, lust and anger became nafs al-ammarah (The nafs that urges evil)
Trade, contentment, honesty became nafs al mulhimah (The inspired nafs)
Eating, drinking and sexuality became nafs al Lawwamah (The self-reproaching nafs)
Precautions of mind make mistakes in everything
Definitely, the mystery of fate carries out its verdict
Vain flurry with precautions of mind is useless
Obey to the messenger of Allah, makes your deeds easier
That love gets married to intellect in the city of love
Got knowledge and wisdom and became nafs al mutmainnah (the nafs at peace)
That love got married to the soul in the city of heart
Having trust in God, content, surrendered,
That love got married to Ruh al Qudus (the spirit of holiness) in supreme dominion of God,
Brought the dead people back to life as Jesus did
Granted from his nafs to Sitki, and the breath of all-merciful is his place
And the light of God, the post of the mysteries of the Qur’an

What is the truth in the mysticism of the self of nafs is THE BREATH OF ALL-MERCIFUL? .. We can think through reflection and reasoning by mind like this:
Allah Taala wanted to create the universe (hence the divine will), and looked at the stable record and he created the first the whole nafs with his Qadir (almighty) and qudrah (powerful) attributes, all other selves (nafs – plr. nufus) are branched out it. This explanation is based on reason and even though, according to the sufist it is flawed. They only agree on the proposition that all nafs emanated from one whole nafs.

The strength, capacity and qualification of the mind to sort the problems out are limited and its competence is not enough to grasp the reality of nafs, the breath of all-Merciful.

The subject is directly related to the concepts of THE DEGREES OF EXISTENCE (AL-WUJUD), ITS DEIGNING AND MANIFESTATIONS. As per the sufist, CREATION AND HUDUTH (COMING INTO EXISTENCE AFTERWARDS) are as per the realms of this world we live in and its objects which are called the physical realm.

The absolute existence of Allah first was inclined to appearance of nafs with its self spiritual magnetization, and first THE WHOLE NAFS appeared and out of the whole nafs all other nafs emerged. In other words, the existence of Allah deigned and manifested and all nafs came into existence. That is THEIR EXISTENCE is by THE PERSONAL NEED of the absolute God. Here is the truth of the word that THE SELF OF NAFS IS THE BREATH OF ALL-MERCIFUL ALLAH. These are the things about the reality of nafs one can express by GENERAL concepts. Beyond this, our mental structure that constitutes our ability to understand and to think is not enough. For further information please see FUSUSUL HIKEM TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY by AHMET AVNI KONUK (Volume 1, pp: 9-13). Allah Taala knows the best and all details of the issue.

SELF OF NAFS IS THE PLACE OF THE BREATH OF ALL- MERCIFUL

At the end of the eulogy, it is said the self of nafs is the stable place of the breath of All-Merciful. That is after anfas’s (the selves) coming into existence THROUGH APPEARANCE, the phases they underwent, and the places they appeared are showed and the attributes it has owned are given.
Let us continue our commentary by following the order in the Eulogy.

The first appearance is the love which is from the self of Allah and being special to Himself.
As per the author’s oral explanation in one of his speeches there are four kinds of love.

1) LOVING HIMSELF
2) LOVING HIS ATTRIBUTES
3) LOVING HIS ACTS
4) LOVING HIS WORK

As a matter of fact, the general classification for spiritual guides is accepted as consisting of three stages as per this limitation.

The saints that love the Self of God are called:
1) The saints of Zatiyyum (loving his Self): They are at the highest level.

The ones that allocate their love to the divine attributes and stay there, namely unable to reach to His Self are called:
2) Saints of sifatiyyum (loving his attributes). They are at the second level.

The ones that allocate their love to Allah’s acts due to their faith and sincerity in the absolute God are called
3) The saints of af’aliyyum (loving his acts). They are ranked the third.

Each level has many sub-degrees whose number is only known by Allah. The corpses of the saints of af’aliyyum decompose in the grave whereas the corpses of the saints of sifatiyyum do not. The corpses of the saints of Zatiyyum remain for 15-20 days in the grave and then ascend to the mode of soul body. These are expressed by venerable Visali and I heard them. Allah knows the truth.

As it is understood from the above classification regarding the levels of saints, the highest ranking love is the one to the Self of God. The second and third levels are also praised in Shari’ah, the fourth level is blamed as the people at this level allocate their love to the world and the objects in it, hence inattentive to God. These are not considered as saints.

The transition from father’s spine to mother’s womb
The second phase of nafs: Its place of appearance is its advent to the womb of mother by the sperm of the father.

In the eulogy above it is expressed as ‘THAT love fell from father’s spine to mother’s womb’

Actually, in human’s coming to the world, sperm enters the mother’s womb through the father; this is only a deceptive cause. The real cause, namely the real motive and incentive in transferring the nafs to the womb of the mother is the sexual desire which is the shadow of the love of the Self. A wise person said the following about this subject:

Sexual desire is something praised as it is the shadow of love of the self of Allah which spread to the body of nafs. Because of this sexual desire the human beings become eternal.

Our eulogy uses the expression of FELL TO THE MOTHER’S WOMB BY LOVE. There are two points here.

1-Its referral to the unity of af’al (acts, deeds)

The first point is that the act and initiative of the father is dismissed and it is accepted as the act of God by referral to the love. As we expressed above, LOVE IS FROM THE SELF and BELONGS SPECIFICALLY TO THE SELF.

A verse in the Qur’an says:

“It was not you who threw at them. Allah threw at them” (8/17)

This verse was sent down because of an incident that took place during the war of Badr. Our prophet (peace be upon him) was told spiritually to take a handful of sand and throw it towards the pagan Quraysh. The sand hit the eyes of the non-believers by Allah’s help, and at the end the non-believers lost the war. The above verse was sent from on high down due to this incident. The act of THROWING which was happened by the hands of our prophet (peace be upon him) is attributed by God to Himself and God inform us that it is Af’alullah, (the act of God). THE REASON FOR THE VERSE HAVING SENT DOWN MIGHT BE A SPECIAL INCIDENT, BUT THIS DOES NOT HINDER THE PURPORT OF THE VERSE BEING A GENERAL ONE AND BEING APPLIED TO SIMILAR INCIDENTS. Therefore, all deeds happened in the universe and the acts of human beings are directed to Allah and they are His acts.
Likewise, the sperm that has been transferred to the womb of the mother by the father stay there as an act of Allah. In harmony with above expressed reasoning our venerable Sultan Visali said: THE LOVE EMANATING FROM THE DIVINE SELF, FELL FROM FATHER’S SPINE TO MOTHER’S WOMB BY ACT AND COMMAND OF ALLAH.

2- The superiority of the sexual desire and wish of intercourse to other pleasures

The pleasure of sexual desire and wish of sexual intercourse are the shadows of the love of the Self.

As mentioned above, the love of the Absolute God is superior to other loves. This means that, if one person has the love of Allah, it means the dismissal of other loves and lovers for that moment. For instance, let us assume a person has the desire of sexual intercourse to which you offer the foods he likes most, or a car tour, beautiful scenes whatever he likes, he rejects all of them at that moment. This rejection does not happen by will power, it is only THE OUTCOME OF THE LOVE OF THE SELF. This is an example only. But the knowledge about the characteristic, degree and strength of love to Allah and love from Allah should be given.

The biggest and most virtuous achievement will be seeing Allah Taala in afterlife. The community of Sunnah believes that seeing Allah is true. Scholars may have different ideas about the way it will take place, but they have consensus that it will happen in afterlife.

Allah knows the best, but when the believers observe the BEAUTIFUL DIVINE FACE in the paradise, they will keep away all other pleasures and wishes other than Seeing Allah. This will not be by will power, but as a result necessitated by the love of the Self. The pleasure of sexual intercourse and of looking at Allah in paradise is basically the same in their nature, only their levels are different. They are fed by the same source at different degrees.

“THAT LOVE BECAME THE SULTAN OF THE NAFS IN THE BODY”

In our eulogy, it might be understood that the words of LOVE and NAFS are used as synonyms. Actually the synonymy is not for sure here. It should be more appropriate to say its appearance from the Self means the first manifestation which should be LOVE where the second manifestation is NAFS. Here the issue resembles to the changes in water- a combination of OXYGEN AND HYDROGEN, namely its turning to be steam, rain, snow, hail or ice (as per the climatic conditions). The climate must be the name of the form of ELEMENT- STATE and LIFE in the initial formation of our bodily structure. Here it is possible that body is called country.

The word SULTAN is synonymous with (King, Sovereign, Lord, Khan, Ruler, Kaiser). These words show sovereignty attributes. Sovereignty means that every word of the Sultan and his all deeds are valid without any objections. If we evaluate the words of sufistic terminology that are used in the above line (of eulogy), nafs an-natiqah, in its synonymous version the love of the Self of Allah Taala is the absolute king and ruler of our bodily structure. All organs of the structure obey its commands. In execution of these commands our metaphysical structure (our heart, intellect, imagination, memory, fancy etc) is also included.

As the will of Allah occur in all realms and creatures in the whole universe, Nafs is, too, sovereign over the body structure.

It is impossible that we can comprehend thoroughly and explain the will of Allah, who is supra-super power, in the universe. Yes, it is impossible. But we can reach to the level to understand this impossibility.

The verse says in the Qur’an:

“He governs all that exists, from the celestial space to the earth” (32/5)

“It is Allah who has created the seven heavens, and of the earth their like, and the Command descends between them so that you know Allah is powerful over all things, and that Allah encompasses everything in knowledge.” (Surah the Divorce, 65/12)

The governing of all affairs from heavens to the earth belongs to Allah. As human beings live and dwell in the world, they are included in those who are governed. Allah governs human beings through the nafs an-natiqah, the shadow of the love of the Self. Therefore, in the eulogy the reality of being the Sultan of nafs is that it is the highest ranking ruler in the country of body.

Kings do not do themselves their compulsory things needing to be done. They have deputies, officers, servants at various levels. The top ranking officer is the head of the execution power, hence the prime minister. He commands ministers, governors, municipal administrators and others according to their levels. The administration of the country is done by aforementioned people. Likewise, in the army, there is the chief of the general staff and a ranking system exists. Commands are given by a higher ranking officer and executed by the lower ranking ones. Chain of command ASCENDS to the lowest ranking one AND DESCENDS where the things to be done are divided according to the ranking system. This is how the army works. Our aim is not to explain the working system of the state or the army. Actually this is outside our expertise. We try to highlight as far we know the governing system, type, method and level in the structure of the body.

All religious realities exist in the Qur’an in summary. The detailed explanation of abridged realities is transferred by the will of Allah the muslim INTELLECT which is also an endowment from Allah. The ones who want to learn THE REALITIES IN THE QUR’AN, which exists in essentials and summary, can do it by using their muslim intellects.

Even though we, the muslims, are RESPONSIBLE beings due to the divine proposal, unfortunately we are unaware of the mystic realities in the Qur’an. The verse saying DO NOT BE AMONG THE UNMINDFUL seems not to affect us.

Likewise, we have not put into practice properly the hadith that says “in the Qur’an exists the apparent and spiritual (internal), limiting and extending meanings”. This should be kept in mind that, the attacks to destroy Islam used to come from the uneducated people in the past and the apparent meanings in the Qur’an were enough to expel their attacks. However, in our time, the attacks come from a class that they assume they are intellectuals with the influence of the fact that they are superior to the muslims and some other people in terms of technology. These people know the material sides and apparent images of the worldly life, but they are totally IGNORANT and UNAWARE of the MYSTIC realities.

Their material technological superiority resulted in the formation of IDOLS in their hearts.

Therefore, the muslim of our century first must remove his personal shortcomings that obscures him to get closer to mystic realms and then must break the idols in the hearts of the enemies of Islam. If one asks what these idols are, some of them are explained above in general terms and in summary. The special and more comprehensive idols are every kind of thoughts that prevents people from accepting Islam as a religion and practice its teachings. There are a number of idols in this size.

The spiritual illness that captures person with the effects of the idols in the heart and removes his freedom of thought and limits his room for maneuver emanates from INATTENTION AND IGNORANCE. The inattention is obvious; there are two types of ignorance according to our Hajji Mehmet Ruhi Sultan. One is composed ignorance, the other simple ignorance.

1- THE COMPOUND IGNORANCE
The ones with compound ignorance do not know the Islamic truths. They are also unaware that they do not know. They do not want to know, either. It is impossible to teach, educate and guide the ones with this attribute. You can even not talk to them; they stay alone with their destiny.

2- THE SIMPLE ignorance
The ones with simple ignorance do not know the Islamic truths, but are aware that they do not know and wish to learn them. These accept being guided, taught and educated. It is hoped that they find the right path.

The fighting is made through knowledge and idols in the heart are removed. First basic muslim religious instructions and external sciences are taught according to the capacity of the seeker, then mystic realities are explained as per THE SUFISM OF THE COMMUNITY OF SUNNAH.

Teach them by soft words through mutual dialog as conversation, not discussion, by following the logic in the Qur’an that says “Dispute with them in the best manner”. Use wisdom and a nice style.

“Call to the Path of your Lord with wisdom and fine admonition. Dispute with them in the best manner. Your Lord is well aware of those who have gone astray from His Path and He is well aware of those who are guided” (16/125)

The right words show their effect if Allah will enable them to embrace the true faith. Idols are destroyed and the heart, from which the idols are evacuated, is filled with the light of faith. Heart is a curtain between our external structure –the body-, and our mystic side just like grave which is a curtain between the world and afterlife. Heart is the head-quarter of faith and the palace of the nafs An-Natiqah, the king of the country of body. The books about basic muslim religious instructions describe the faith as: FAITH IS APPROVAL BY HEART AND CONFIRMATION BY TONGUE (VERBALLY). The approval of the heart belongs to the NAFS AN-NATIQAH which stays in there. It believes and the signs of faith –saying the ritual word of Islamic faith, and then doing good deeds will turn to our physical structure to prayers and actions.

Our frequent mention of mystical realities is due to their importance and the fact that we should not neglect their cognizance. Its being the central administration place of the county of the body is solely enough to show its importance. Consider the importance of the capital city for a country and its superiority over other cities as in the capital city the government exists; the same is valid for the heart and the nafs an-natikah which dwells in the heart.

All our acts done by our material –external- side comes from the hearth and the nafs whose palace is in the heart. Our material being decomposes and disappears after death, while nafs an-natiqah does not. Actually it has not been affected by death whatsoever. Its existence goes on. It wears the sperm clothe in the father’s spine, passes through various phases in the womb of the mother and becomes a FETUS and then a baby. Upon its birth, it wears the body garment. Upon the death of the body, it wears the garment of imagination. There are stations and places it dwells temporarily before and beyond the ones cited here. Detailed information will be given in the DEGREES OF WUJUD (EXISTENCE). Even only this amount of information is enough to express the importance of the mystic realm.

The reality is that before one learns and completes the external sciences, explaining the mystic realities is even risky and dangerous. The competent scholars would give priority to externals realms and sciences and calculate the dose of the mystic knowledge in a balanced manner in accordance with the principles of the Community of Sunnah.

GOVERNING THE COUNTRY OF BODY THROUGH THE SOUL AND WAHM (VAGUE thoughts and fears)

Nafs does not administer the country of the body by itself, makes the things done through its associates. The governing passes to the SOUL.

The soul has been favoured by the Positive Attributes of God- LIFE (AL- HAYAH), KNOWLEDGE (AL-‘ILM), WILL (AL-IRADAH), POWER (AL-QUDRAH), HEARING (AS-SAM’), SIGHT (AL-BASAR), SPEECH (AL-KALAM), it is a shadow of the synthesis form of these attributes. Among these 7 attributes, the KNOWLEDGE (AL-‘ILM) transforms to the intellect and commands as the president the ones who constitute the synthesis.

To the heart of every person come memories and thoughts in his life. Memories and thoughts are about the things we have done or we plan to do. They do not come by the initiative or desire of the person. They have many kinds. We dislike some memories and thoughts and wish not to remember. If it were us to choose which memories to remember, we would have not chosen the memories we dislike. Their visit to us contrary to what we like shows that they emanate from THE WILL OF ALLAH.

A hadith says:
(APPREHENSION IS FROM THE FAITH). This hadith contains many mysteries.

1- First it proves that the faith of the one who are exposed to apprehension is firm. As explained above, the creator of everything is Allah Taala. As far as the act of creation is concerned, it comes from THE WILL OF ALLAH. However, as it is dropped into the heart by the satan, it is considered being from the satan. Since the attributes of the satan are lying, spreading corruption, seduction and the like, it targets annulling the faith and letting deviate from the true path, hence going astray.

Here what is important is the reaction of the heart to the apprehension that comes to the heart to remove the faith. The heart of a believer gets sad due to apprehension and tries to get rid of it, seeking a solution. Therefore the owner of this heart has faith.

2- It is seeing personally the truth of the sixth principle of the Islamic creed, i.e. FATE, GOOD AND EVIL ARE ALL FROM ALLAH TAALA. The believer indeed observes in his own inner world within scientific limits what the Islamic creed tells verbally and theoretically. Another expression of this is its relief to the degree of AYN AL YAQIN (THE EYE OF CERTAINITY). He hears the voice of another being in his hearth other than his own voice.

He thinks as YUNUS EMRE (May Allah be pleased with him) does “THERE IS A SELF IN ME, WITHIN MYSELF”. His arrogance and ego wane slowly. He accepts consciously the existence of Allah.

3- On one hand the apprehension is something good when it proves the existence of faith in the heart, on the other hand because it aims at removing the faith it is blamed. For that reason, it is obligatory to fight against the apprehension and the satan and wahm that use it as a weapon.

To succeed in this fight, the strength of human is not enough. As he understands his weakness (unable to defeat) and the need of seeking refugee with Allah whose power above everything comes out. Thus, we understand the mystery of the reason for revealing of the last two surahs of the Qur’an.

The first surah in the Qur’an says:

“Thee alone do we worship, and unto Thee alone we turn for aid” (1/4)

Thus, the Qur’an starts with the decree of prayer, and ends with THE DECREE OF SEEKING REFUGEE WITH ALLAH, ITS NECESSITY AND THE WAY IT WILL BE MADE.

“I have not created mankind and jinn except to worship Me”. (Surah 51, verse 56)

According to the Qur’anic verse above the aim behind the creation of human beings is to worship. The first Surah in the Qur’an, too, decrees our obligation of prayer (Thee alone do we worship). The decree of worshipping was included in all surahs in the Qur’an. The names of prayers, the types of prayers, the aims of prayers, everything about the prayers – their requisites/, what is fard (obligatory) for and within the prayer, what is sunnah (not obligatory but strongly recommended as the prophet did so) etc.

If we say, the Qur’an starts with the decree of worshipping and ends with the DECREE OF TAKING REFUGEE WITH ALLAH, it would be correct. The fact that the first verse in the Qur’an after basmalah “In God’s name” being “Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds,” does not change the proposition of the first decree being the decree of WORSIPPING. Because in the first verse Allah shows He is the right God. This will be mentioned in the section of the ways of escaping from the deviations caused by the Satan.

“and inspired it with its sin and its piety”. (91/8)

The memories that come to the heart came across the WAHM which has the FAVOUR of the soul and the nafs who make sovereignty fight with each other in there. If the memories and thoughts coming to the heart are related to PIETY they are praised, if related to SINS they are considered as evil. As the Soul has the duty of inviting to the right, it orders prayer and piety, while the Satan invites to wickedness, discord, corruption, lying and other things against God. Thus, a fighting starts within the heart. As a matter of fact, the hadith that refers to this truth says:

“We returned from the small war to the bigger war”. He said this hadith while returning home after they defeated non-believers in a war. The companions of the prophet asked what the bigger war was. He answered IT IS THE WAR AGAINST YOUR NAFS and repeated this three times.

If the soul wins this war, the person becomes a believer, pious, even ascends up to the degree of sainthood. If the Satan- wahm wins, he lives as a non-believer, or polytheist, hypocrite or sinner.

The following hadith expresses this fact: “THERE IS A PIECE OF FLESH IN THE BODY. ITS AMELIORATION CAUSES THE AMELIORATION OF THE WHOLE BODY, ITS CORRUPTION LEADS TO THE CORRUPTION OF THE WHOLE BODY”. The hadith also involves the spiritual heart. The spiritual heart is also located as our physical hearth beneath our left-hand side breast. They together constitute one heart. The two hadith relating to this subject as follow:

1-“When a baby is born, a Satan, too, is born with it. I made the satan who was born with me convert to Islam”
A. Avni Konuk FUSUS SERHI v.1, pp-30

2- “When a believer sleeps, the satan ties three knots on his neck. If he wakes up and remembers Allah by dhikr , one of the knots unties, and if he makes ablution the second knot unties and if he performs two cycles of prayer, the last one, too, unties.
Bukhari and Muslim

A verse in the Qur’an also shows the satan as an open foe:

“Children of Adam did I not make you a covenant with you, that you should not worship Satan- He is surely a clear enemy to you- and that you worship Me? Surely, that is the Straight Path” (36/60-61)

The things we understand from the above verses and the hadith:

1- The satan is an open and ferocious enemy. Allah Taala cursed it. For that reason humans are in constant danger due to the satan.

2- The Satan makes his seductions in outer realm by himself, i.e. as the Satan, while in the inner realm, namely in our material plus spiritual structure, he tries to make humans go astray through his servant WAHM.
FUSUSI HIKEM SERHI A. Avni Konuk v.1, pp-30

Satan is a soul who deserves the name of the perfect and most complete deviator. This type of doubts is the act of the wahm force. The prophet (peace be upon him) says: “When a baby is born, a Satan, too, is born with it. I made the satan who was born with me convert to Islam”. This hadith refers to the wahm in the HUMAN NAFS.

3- The fact that Satan exists constantly in our inner world- in our heart is true and confirmed by some hadith. For that reason, every human being is born together with his or her satan. When he sleeps the satan ties him with three knots. Here three knots refer to the fact that the morality of human being towards the right path –Islam- starts not working any more.

We understand now better the importance of sleeping with ablution, reciting AYAT-AL KURSI (the throne verse), and 21 basmalah (the invocation) and performing two cycles of prayer. These untie THE THREE KNOTS. Otherwise, the person is exposed to the effects of the general or a particular lust. This state is the easiest time for satan to SEDUCE and CORRUPT through sexual desire. It should be kept in mind that the first awakening is the closest time to the arousal of sexual desire. A hadith that is recorded in the Abu Dawood says:

If a person sleeps with ablution, his soul ascends to Arsh (the throne, the seat of power) and if he dreams it will come true. When he sleeps without ablution, his soul can not ascend; his dreams will be in a mess and does not come true. The mystery of the last two surahs in the Qur’an having been put at the end of the prayer (short) surahs is to show the importance of taking refugee with Allah.

Unless human being saves himself fully from the seduction and captivity and the evil temptations of the Satan, in other words unless he defeats the Satan, it is impossible that he can attain freedom and relief. This has priority over performing other Islamic orders, namely must be performed first. The success is achieved by the help of a spiritual guide depending on Allah’s grant of Hidayah (embracing the true religion).

We understand the following word of the great sheiks better now: THOSE WHO DO NOT HAVE A SHEIKH, HAVE THE SATAN AS THEIR SHEIKH.

4- The first signs of the Satan being active in inner world are:

He shows what is right and just as wrong and absurd, while he shows what is superstitious as right and correct. He tells lies under any conditions and puts EGO- DISCORD-CORRUPTION-DIVISIVENESS into the muslim community, gives apprehension to the heart of muslims. Whenever memories, thoughts, sinful things, and blasphemy that are contrary to what Allah decrees appear, it means that the activity of the satan and his servant Wahm has commenced. First we should undo what they suggest by doing the exactly opposite of their suggestion and the counterattack them by performing fard (obligatory), sunnah, wajib or extra prayers.

The fight between the soul and the satan happens to own NAFS An-NATIQAH in the county of the body. For the reason that the winner owns and dominates the WHOLE structure of human being.
The things we express here are THE IMPROVISATIONS that came in general and in summary to the heart of our spiritual guide the Venerable Visali through inspiration.

The verse says: “The (Prophet') (mind and) heart in no way falsified that which he saw” (53/11)

Fuad (an Arabic word) is the name of the branch of the heart that gets inspiration. The high community accepts it as true and evidence. However, scholars have conflicting views about it.

Improvisations through inspiration sometimes appear as TRUE DREAMS AT NIGHT or sometimes as while AWAKE BY DIVINATION AND OBSERVATION. However, it is a prerequisite that the heart should be cleansed from the things other than God and should be filled with the light of God. If the heart has not been polished, namely worldly preoccupations and businesses have not vanished from it totally; it can not have the attribute of being ABSOLUTE KNOWLEDGE AND EVIDENCE. The conflict of scholars occurs at this point.

According to the venerable MUHYIDDIN ARABI:

-Saints get their knowledge from the source, from which angels take the revelation and bestow upon the Prophet.

We finish the section of the realities of nafs by the eulogy of our author called THE MYSTERY OF HUMAN BEING:

THE EULOGY OF THE MYSTERY OF HUMAN BEING:

I pondered a lot to know my origin
I would have not known my nafs if I had not gOt inspiration from the Self
I was the same of the Self at the eye of the Self,
I would not have appeared if my origin had not been past eternal
I had the same attribute of being past eternal
The knowledge would not have appeared if it had BEEN already known to me
I said to my Sustainer Allah in the realm of the souls
With no ability to understand, I would not have said yes to the question of ‘Ain’t I your God?’
I completed the tour of horizons with my Sustainer
I would not have worn the garment of elements, if I had not have the soul
Allah decreed to worship to find my origin
Would he have not ordered me to perform prayer if I were not his servant?
The nature of the prayer is to have the cognizance of Allah o wise man
The nature of prayer would not have been known if the surah Opener –the conquest of the existence- had not been sent down
The prayer of the corporeal being is ascetizm o worshipper
The prayer of the body would not have been known if the twelve conditions have not existed
The prayer of spirituality is the ascension and seeing the divine beauty
The prayer of spirituality would not have been known if I have had no nafs an-natiqah
If familiarity would not have been favorable to Sidki from the past eternal onwards
This love comes from the blood, if the previous seeing have not been the case.

It is explained here that the cognizance of the reality of nafs is from divine inspiration and it is confirmed that nafs is PAST ETERNAL. We have already conveyed his saying in one of his oral conversations: NAFS IS THE LIGHT OF THE SELF OF ALLAH AND THE SHADOW OF HIS LOVE….. NAFS IS IMMEMORIAL, EVERLASTING AND ETERNAL.

We stated the reality of nafs due to its importance as well as three other reasons:

First, nafs and its attributes should not be separated. It may have bad attributes, especially nafs al-ammarah (The nafs that urges evil) nafs al Lawwamah (The self-reproaching nafs) and nafs al mulhimah (The inspired nafs) should not be given to the nafs itself. In reality, the nafs is our most esteemed thing. Death does not fall on it; and it enjoys the paradise for ever.
Second, nafs helps us as human beings know our origin and essence.

Generally our origin is explained in terms of birth via parents. This is actually correct according to what our physical eyes see. However, the material eyes are not enough to see the truth. Knowledge exists in the eyes of our brain and heart.

Our origin is as expressed in the following verse:

“….There are signs of God’s existence in yourselves. Can you not see?” (51/20-21)

The oneness of the self of Allah is not in need of the worlds as per the degree of La Taayyun (indefiniteness). He is totally different from them; he can not be compared to them. Abdulkadir Geylani (May Allah exalt his mystery) said:

Allah Taala manifested and deigned from his Self to his attributes

Allah Taala manifested and deigned from his attributes to his names

Allah Taala manifested and deigned from his names to his acts

Allah Taala manifested and deigned from his acts to his art work

His art work means all the creatures and all that exists. As the venerable person clearly explains that Allah Taala after his Self deigning from his existence and manifested in all he created. Actually, thinking the opposite means accepting the existence of another God besides the God and is the biggest sin, i.e. shirk- ASCRIBING DIVINITY TO AUGHT BESIDE HIM is ranked the first among the great sins.

Those who exist- wujud (existence) all belongs to Allah.

“Say: 'O Allah, Owner of the Kingdom” (3/26)
“To Allah belongs the Kingdom of the heavens and the earth”. (Surah Al-Fath, 48/14)

Allah Taala says HEAVENS AND THE EARTH BELONG TO HIM. We, as human beings, live in the WORLD- EARTH. Can we say we live outside the World? So we live within his dominion as per the clear expression of the verses above. Another verse confirms this truth:

“Verily, unto God we belong and, verily, unto Him we shall return” 82/156)

Here what leads people to irresolution is the proposition that all heavens, the earth and human beings are created out of the existence of the unity of existence. This emanates from the fact that since they move quickly to the idea of regarding objects as the same with THE SELF and find this contrary to the doctrine of the exemption of Allah. However, this does not hurt or get rid of the exemption of Allah. This doubt arises from not thinking or incomplete knowing of the deigning of the divine existent at each manifestation.

THE MANIFESTATION AND DEIGNING OF THE SUN

Let us refresh our scientific knowledge about the relation between the sun and our world.

The distance between the sun and the earth is 150 million km. The sun constantly sends his light and heat through that distance to the world and affects the lives of plants, animal, human beings and all living beings.

The deigning passes through various layers and phases during the descent time.

The Sun.. It provides LIGHT and HEAT in a measure to enable to life in the world to continue.

The sun is a GIANT BALL OF BLAZING FIRE and the temperature on its surface is 6000 ºC, at its center it is 20,000 ºC.

The waves of Ultraviolet lights that cascade from the Sun are absorbed to a large extent by the ozone layer which is 20 km above the earth and only the necessary quantity reaches to the world.

Only ONE TWO-BILLIONTH OF the energy that comes out of the Sun reaches to the world and this quantity is enough to the continuation of the life in the World.

(The technical information above is taken from the book THE SECRETS OF THE SPACE BY TASKIN TUNA, pp-67-68)

Now let us ask ourselves, what is the origin of the light and heat that come to the crust of the earth in a balanced measure and we try to answer this question in the light of the information given above about the Sun.

In summary, the temperature on the surface and at the centre of the Sun and other conditions can not be comparable to the heat and light that reaches to the world. In their proportion, images, heats, the existence of the ultraviolet lights and other rays, shortly in everything, there is no symmetrical sameness.

However, the light and heat in the world originates from the Sun. The Sun being at a great distance and having its own other conditions sends down its reality, its power at its center, and its beneficial sides to the world with the (GOVERNING AND POWER OF ALLAH) so as to form the environment to meet the needs of the World, i.e. lowering the heat and light to enable us to survive and carry out our biological needs. The origin of the light and heat in the surface of world is from the Sun, but we say they are not like the ones at the centre of the Sun. This diagnosis is true and conforms to the scientific truths of the day.

THE MANIFESTATION AND DEIGNING OF THE ABSOLUTE GOD

The venerable Visali said in one of his speeches: IF ALLAH TAALA MANIFESTS FROM HIS SELF-ONENESS TO THE WORLD AS SMALL AS THE HEAD OF A NEEDLE, ALL UNIVERSE WOULD BE BURNED AND COLLLAPSED IN A SECOND.

The same comparison is valid for the Sun, too. If the sunlight has reached to the world with the levels of temperatures at the centre of the Sun, the world would be burned and destroyed in a short time.

Thus, Allah Taala created us to inform us about his existence, about the fact that HE IS THE ONLY ONE THAT EXISTS, and as venerable Abdulkadir Geylani says he MANIFESTED AND DEIGNED from the degrees in order to decrease the severity at the first appearance. This deigning happened at final stage on the surface of the world which is also called the Physical Realm. We are only able to know the EXISTENCE and ONENESS of Allah after all conditions for living are here. We can not find this environment at higher degrees and it is impossible that we can adjust to the conditions at those degrees. If we try to experience this, we are just annihilated. This information, though being detailed, tells us the reality and necessity of THE DEIGNING.

The conditions for knowing the absolute God have been created, all the materials human beings need given to them for free for SAFE-KEEPING. If one asks what these TRUSTS are, the answer is obvious. Everything we have for the continuation of our life is included in THE TRUST. We are informed about this as compulsory knowledge. For instance, when a baby is born, it must suck its mother’s breast and gets its needs via crying, this is the compulsory knowledge for the baby.

The trust which is given by birth will be returned at death. human beings who are responsible for knowing the Islamic truths, deserves the trust by doing good deeds and will be rewarded by paradise, and whoever abuses the trust will enter the hell as the penalty for his betrayal.

The Venerable Allah Taala, the owner of the divine order which means the flawless working of the structure of the universe, will bring who violate the order to account for their deeds. The regulations of the order of Allah are the Qur’anic rules. One of the names of the Qur’an is the Qadim Kalam, meaning the word past eternal. Obeying to the Qur’anic teachings and applying them in life results in eternal happiness, doing the opposite brings forth awesome suffering in the afterlife.

“On that day you will most surely be called to account for (what you did with) the boon of life” (Surah at- Takathur, 102/89

To sum up, the verse of Allah as I AM IN YOUR NAFS, IN YOUR INNER WORLD, is about the NAFS AN-NATIQAH. The existence of Allah deigned from the degrees that are called the five venerable and manifested in the mystic side of human being. This is his deigning, manifesting and representation in human beings.

The perfect saints that have the honour of the manifestation of the Self, and all wise scholars expressed this fact at the same broad terms but with different dispositions and allusions (veiled references). Niyazi Misri (may Allah exalt his mystery) first asks the following question to know his origin and reality:

“O Men of Truth, O saints of Truths,
Give me a sign, where is that sign?
I have sought the sea and earth, but could not find that secret
Where is the secret Sultan whom I value more than myself?”

and answers his question himself:

O heart, do not cry and do not moan
I got the news from the saint, thE signLESS is IN you
Do not wander around the sea and earth, ask the secret from yourself
The secret sultan is IN you that rules the body and soul
If you understood me and know the soul and body
No more worrying, the life of lover IN you
The body is the throne of this soul, life for lover
O Niyazi, make sure thE placeLESS is IN you
Niyaz-i Misri- Mustafa Kara, pp-92

UNDERSTAND that your Self is from the Self of God
His attributes are of your attributes
Knowing yourself is your salvation
Do not seek outside, look at yourself and find at you
A wise Man

In the three eulogies of the Anthology of Visali on which I am writing this commentary there are three places where the origin of human being is mentioned.

1- The eulogy of the Perfect rosary (Tesbih-i kamile)… O ALLAH, YOU MADE ALL NAFS EXIST WITH YOUR NAFS.
BUT YOU ARE EXEMPT FROM THEM WITH YOUR NAFS O ALLAH
While it is notified that nafs is created out of the existence of THE DIVINE SELF, at the same time, his exemption from all NAFS is also clarified, nafs is not the same with God and thus the level of the SELF is made exempt.

2- IN THE EULOGY OF TWELVE IMAMS (RELIGIOUS LEADERS)…WE ARE THE FAVOUR OF IMAM KAZIM
WE ARE FIVE VENERABLE CIRCLING (DAWWARS).

Dawwar means circling, revolving, advent–descent to the world. Here the line of ‘we are five venerable dawwars’ refers to the coming of from the five degrees and points to the deigning from these degrees.

3- THE EULOGY OF THE DIVINE LOVE
With your wisdom I completed watching the tour of horizons
I was imprisoned in the elements of THE blood sediment

The tour of horizons expresses the same fact as dawwar above. I was imprisoned in the elements of blood sediment expresses the same truth clearer.

The expression of the elements of blood sediment is the name of THE FOUR ELEMENTS (SOIL, WATER, AIR, and FIRE) in the sufism terminology. By referring to our bodily structure which is composed of these our elements, it is told that nafs an-natiqah whose essence is light dwelled in the body of the human who was born, and came to the world and the body is showed as PRISON.

THE EXEMPTION OF THE SELF OF GOD AT LA TAAYYUN (indefiniteness) DEGREE

The verse in the Qur’an says:

“There is nothing like unto Him, He alone is all-hearing, all-seeing” (42/11)

Allah Taala can not be known at the degree of SHEER EXISTENCE, because our judgments and knowledge are based on comparison. If we want to know about something, we look for a similar thing and we try to learn only by comparing it to the one we want to know about. As per the verse (102/4) “and there is nothing that could be compared to Him”, there is no similar thing or COMPEER whatsoever to Allah Taala. Since comparison is not possible, at the degree of oneness which the venerable Muhyiddin Ibn’ul Arabi (may Allah exalt his mystery) calls the degree of LA TAAYYUN (indefiniteness), it is ABSOLUTE JUDGEMENT that he can not be known at this degree.

We are not responsible for knowing this degree.
As per the hadith “ DO NOT CONTEMPLATE ABOUT HIS SELF” we are banned from thinking about the Absolute God at his one SELF degree. Allah is only known through his NAMES, ATTRIBUTES AND ACTS AND WORKS and at his creation degree.

Another hadith quoted from the messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says:

“I remember by dhikr you and exempt you from any imperfection and any similarity. O known Allah I have not been able to know you thoroughly.”

This hadith was interpreted as I could not know THE SELF AND VERY ESSENCE OF YOU and said it points out the degree at which Allah can not be known. Undoubtedly, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was the one who know the best and the most about Allah, the venerable unity of existence. Our Effendi (peace be upon him), the sheikh of the universe, the most esteemed creature was at the zenith of cognizance of, closeness to and friendship with Allah (c.c.)

If it is asked what the aim is at giving the example of the Sun. We say it is KNOWING THE KNOWN DEGREES OF ALLAH, UP TO THE LEVEL HE INFORMS US ABOUT.

We can not even know or inevitably face difficulty in knowing the reality and self of the Sun without acquiring cognizance of its degrees.

As in the example of the Sun, to be able to know some realities and the known aspects of the absolute God, we should first establish the existence of the degrees of the Unity of Existence as a method and system. The most convenient degree at which we, as responsible muslims, can be aware of the existence, the names, the attributes and the acts and all creatures of Allah Taala, is the level at which we live now and named as PHYSICAL REALM which contains our world, the solar system, the Milky Way Galaxy, and all other galactic systems.

B- THE REALITY OF THE SOUL
About the soul, the Qur’an says the following:

“They question you about the spirit. Say: 'The spirit is from the command of my Lord. Except for a little knowledge you have been given nothing.” (17/85)

THE ESSENCE AND ORIGIN OF THE SOUL

Knowing the reality of the soul is possible by knowing first its essence and origin. In many of the Sufism books and the sufistic terminology books the subject of the soul is mentioned, albeit in summary and short forms.

Our author said in one his oral preaching:

THE SOUL HAS BEEN FAVOURED BY THE POSITIVE ATTRIBUTES OF ALLAH. There is also information about the soul in four eulogies in the Anthology.

THE EULOGIES ABOUT THE SOUL

I sought a sign to my origin; my origin is Muhammad Mustafa,
I also used to seek my soul; my soul is from the Self of God

All your wishes are with you; find your treasury o heart
Enter the inner world and be the soul of the sultan o heart.
The Eulogy of Heart, lines 10-11
You made all nafs exist with your Self o Allah
You made the souls exist with your life o Allah.
The Eulogy of Perfect Rosary, lines 14-15)

O our Effendi, O Ahmed, O Mahmud peace be upon you in the number of all souls.
You created the souls from the light of your soul, O the self-Sufficient, O affluent Allah”
The eulogy of The Sultan of Salawats – lines 3-4

As far as we understood from the contents of his private speeches and from the eulogies, the essence of the soul is from the absolute God. Even thinking the opposite of this is dangerous, as it may end up with sirkh (ascribing divinity aught beside Allah) which is the biggest wrongdoing and greatest sin. Since the absolute Self has no compeers and no similar being. Therefore the soul has the honour of a new manifestation of Allah who deigns from a degree to another degree where the soul becomes condensed at each degree passed. As a matter of fact, by saying my soul is from the Self of God, the venerable Visali pointed out this fact. However, he states that the soul ORIGINATED from the SELF by His deigning. The condensation of the absolute God at the degree of soul is as per the previous degree of PAST ETERNAL KNOWLEDGE and its synonym being the degree of THE REALITY OF MUHAMMAD. In reality the realm of the souls is also unfathomable. By pointing out the degree of subtleness, condensation is mentioned.

Allah manifested in past eternal knowledge by deigning to the third degree which is called THE REALM OF SOULS, or its synonymies THE REALM OF GOD’S SPIRITUAL DOMINION, OR JABAROOT. This is the degree at which the first appearance of the souls took place.

These degrees of their names as stated SELF- ATTRIBUTE, NAMES, ACTS and WORKS. As per this designation, Allah while he was in a state of ecstasy in his self, and all realms and creatures are being made use of in his eternal knowledge, he manifested to his attributes from his attributes to his names, from his names to his acts and finally he manifested to his works. The works, that is the matters that are created as creatures are the degree that is composed of objects, galaxies an all other matters. Namely, the world of human beings and other living beings belong to the family-degree of WORKS.

As stated in the section of the degrees of the existence (Al-wujud), the wise spiritual gudies having degrees at cognizance of Allah made established the degrees of SIX OR SEVEN layers and considered THE PERFECT HUMAN as the last of these degrees.

What we know for sure is that, the souls are created and come into existence at the degree of THE REALM OF SOULS.