QUESTION:
What exists through Him”, “what exists upon Him,
or something along the lines of that.
- What’s the difference between them?
- Regarding waḥdat al-wujūd and waḥdat al-mawjūd, they’re forbidden, correct?
- What is the meaning of the two terms?
And secondly, for those who belong to Shi’ism and believe in them,
- What is prescribed for them in this life and in the afterlife?
- What is a useful short answer to them in simple language?
- And how do you deal with them?
ANSWER:
In the Name of Allah, the All-Beneficent, the All-Merciful.
May Allah bless Muhammad and his Family and damn their enemies.
What exists through Him,
i.e. that which has a branched existence of Him.
What exists upon Him,
i.e. whose existence is valued by His existence.
Waḥdat al-wujūd implies that the reality of the wujūd (existence) in all of the mawjūdāt (existing things) is one, like electricity in the lamps.
Waḥdat al-mawjūd implies that all of the existing things are one unit.
We have mentioned that those who say there is a “unity of existence” are not just outside of Shi’ism, but rather outside of Islam, and they are destined to hellfire. As for their ruling in terms of dealing, purity, and impurity, you should refer back to al-Sayyid al-Marja. The brief response to those deviants is what our master al-Ṣādiq (peace be upon him), said:
Allah is distinct from His creatures and the creatures are different from Him. Whatever could be called a thing is a creature except for Allah Who is the Creator of all things. Holy is He for Whom there is no similarity and He is all-hearing and all-aware.
Al-Kāfī, vol. 1, p. 82
The Office of Sheikh al-Habib
