Wilayat, Proximity, and Awareness

Unity of Existence and Knowledge

The essence of existence, which is the Divine Essence, is identical with the essence of knowledge. They overlap in their manifestations and states. The reality of existence is identical with life, knowledge, love, goodness, desirability, unity, personality, individuality, truth, and veracity. Existence and its attributes are simple, indefinable, indivisible, and known to the intellect in the mentioned order, with the later attribute being more evident upon reflection.

Due to the simplicity of existence, life, knowledge, love, and unity are identical with the essence of existence. They are also identical with beauty, goodness, and virtue. Existence and knowledge share many characteristics, such as conceptual clarity, truth, simplicity, and indefinability. Thus, knowledge, like existence, is supremely evident. Nothing is more evident than existence.

Knowledge, like the reality of existence and its phenomena, is evident, self-sustaining, and illuminates others. Existence, knowledge, manifestation, and awareness are united in their instances but differ in concept and rational analysis. Both the Divine and manifestations possess perception, knowledge, and awareness. Knowledge adapts to each realm or presence. Due to its simplicity, knowledge remains knowledge in every context. There is no difference between clear and obscure knowledge. Divine manifestations and phenomena are identical with awareness.

Supreme Awareness and Unity

The most potent awareness stems from unity. It removes boundaries between the knowing subject, the known object, and the specified known. The unity of intellect, knower, and known, or knowledge, knower, and object, manifests relatively according to the degree of manifestation. The knowing soul, with its capacity for presence, becomes the present known. It assumes its form. Their manifestation becomes one by removing distinctions. If the knowing subject transcends its manifest distinction and achieves annihilation of self in divine illumination, it attains greater perfection and expansion. It also gains the power to externalize the effects of the known onto its own phenomenon, beyond merely manifesting the known.

Due to the role of transcending distinction in generating knowledge, divine scholars and saintly humans are categorized based on their capacity to transcend distinction and their mode of annihilation and subsistence. Like the phenomena of existential reality, which are divided into gradational manifestations and varying transformative degrees, human knowledge is similarly divisible. Knowledge and awareness, as meaningful names, possess objective individuality in an attributive sense. Wherever individuality exists, there is a degree, relativity, specific quality, and unique measure, each with a distinct ruling. A change in degree alters the subject, requiring a new specific ruling.

Degrees of Awareness and Stations of the Proximate

The infinite phenomena and manifestations of existence have an insatiable desire and boundless aspirations. Knowing subjects and degrees of mystical and cognitive individuals are infinite and unbound. Awareness brings expansive manifestation. Given the infinite degrees of divine manifestation and the limitless actuality of divine appearances and hiddenness, knowledge and awareness are boundless. Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:

“There is no Friday night without joy for the friends姓 of God.” The narrator asked, “How so, may I be your ransom?” He replied, “On Friday nights, the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) approaches the Throne, as do the Imams (peace be upon them), and I with them. I return only with acquired knowledge. Without this, what I possess would be exhausted.”

The ocean of awareness and recognition has no shore, breadth, depth, or height. Each person, based on their proximity, love, and unity, has a unique mode of navigation and immersion. Divine scholars are divided into four groups based on their renunciation of desire, annihilation, and the scope of their knowledge, wisdom, and insights: supererogatory proximate, obligatory proximate, comprehensive proximate combining both, and absolute proximate who freely enter any proximity.

The basis of this division is solely the mode of proximity to the Divine. The ultimate aim of their knowledge and actions is the Divine. Through divine proximity, they become divine humans with unique awareness.

Human Desire and Absolute Perfection

Humans have an insatiable desire and seek absolute perfection. Absolute perfection is attainable only through complete renunciation of desire, pure love, bodiless unity, and breaking distinctions. For supererogatory proximate, the Divine is their means of perception and action. The result is the annihilation of attributes and adoption of divine ethics as tools of knowledge. Human aspects dissolve into divine aspects. The Divine, in its lordship, becomes the source of the servant’s attributes and actions, whereas previously, the servant was the source from a human perspective. The servant’s distinction persists. In this proximity, the Divine becomes the servant’s ear, eye, hand, and knowledge instrumentally. Intense love and proximity make the Divine the servant’s faculties. The servant undertakes actions for divine proximity, resulting in active annihilation, with the servant remaining the focus.

Obligatory proximate, conversely, are the Divine’s means of perception and action. For example, a worshiper utters “God hears those who praise Him” with the Divine’s tongue and hears with the Divine’s ear. This proximity is the station of essential annihilation and universal guardianship. The servant accesses the essence of divine knowledge, the secret of destiny, measure-knowledge, and the hidden core of all things collectively. In obligatory proximity, the servant performs divinely mandated actions, leading to essential annihilation and erasure of creaturely aspects. The Divine is the agent, and the servant’s faculties are the means.

Narrations on Proximity

The states of supererogatory and obligatory proximate are described in the following narration:

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) said: When the Prophet (peace be upon him) was taken on the Night Journey, he asked, “O Lord, what is the state of the believer with You?” God replied, “O Muhammad, whoever insults My friend openly challenges Me to battle. I am swiftest in aiding My friends. I hesitate in nothing I do as I hesitate in taking the believer’s soul, for he dislikes death, and I dislike distressing him. Some of My believing servants are reformed only by wealth; if I turned them otherwise, they would perish. Others are reformed only by poverty; if I changed their state, they would perish. No servant draws near to Me with anything more beloved than what I have obligated. Through supererogatory acts, he draws near until I love him. When I love him, I become his hearing, sight, tongue, and hand. If he calls Me, I answer; if he asks, I grant.”

In this narration, obligatory proximity, where the servant is the Divine’s tool and lives in essential annihilation, is mentioned first, followed by supererogatory proximity, where the Divine is the servant’s tool, and the servant is in attributive annihilation.

Comprehensive and Absolute Proximity

Two further proximities arise: comprehensive proximity, combining supererogatory and obligatory proximity, which is the station of subsistence after annihilation, and absolute proximity, the station of singular unity. Comprehensive proximate possess both proximities actively, enjoying the perfection of unity by divine grace. Absolute proximate are unbound by these states. They can manifest in any proximity or combination without restriction, dwelling in the station of singularity. Their four journeys are not sequential. They can, by will, know anything through the secret of destiny and the fixed essences.

Narrations describe the Imam’s knowledge as voluntary and subject to divine will:

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: “When the Imam wills to know, he knows.” Another narration states: “When the Imam wills to know, he is informed.”

An example of voluntary awareness is in the Quran (6:79):

“I have turned my face sincerely toward He who created the heavens and the earth, and I am not of the polytheists.”

That phenomena are not veiled is one matter. That they are intentionally attended to and made present for awareness is another. The divine human can perceive anything within anything, being a perfect manifestation of “One whom no affair distracts from another.” They encompass the apparent and hidden, uniting divine names of the manifest and hidden. They observe all divine names in any name where the singular unity manifests. This is the highest station of universal guardianship.

Prophetic and Imamic Knowledge

Amir al-Mu’minin (peace be upon him) said:

“The Messenger of God (peace be upon him) taught me a thousand doors of lawful and unlawful, of what was and will be until the Day of Resurrection. Each door opens a thousand doors, making a million doors. Thus, I knew the science of destinies, calamities, and decisive speech.”

He also described his knowledge:

“I possess hidden knowledge. If I revealed it, you would tremble like ropes in a deep, unseen well.”

Knowledge cannot be transmitted without proper connection. Amir al-Mu’minin (peace be upon him) said:

“By God, if I wished, I could tell each of you his origin, destination, and all his affairs. But I fear you would disbelieve in me regarding the Messenger of God (peace be upon him). I will disclose to the select who are safe from disbelief.”

The Quran (9:105) states:

“Say, ‘Act, and God, His Messenger, and the believers will see your deeds. You will be returned to the Knower of the unseen and seen, and He will inform you of what you did.’”

The unity of vision among God, the Messenger, and believers indicates their shared nature. The divine human, in essential annihilation and singular unity, is a vast manifestation of divine names, attributes, and limitless divine manifestations, encompassing fixed essences. Yet, they remain thirsty for more divine encounters, as each manifestation is unique. This describes the divine human’s heart.

A sacred hadith states:

“God says: ‘My earth and heavens cannot contain Me, but the heart of My believing servant contains Me.’”

The infinite divine essence and its ever-new manifestations make true knowledge unattainable. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said:

“We have not worshiped You as You deserve, nor known You as You deserve.”

Divine manifestations in the Throne, Chair, heavens, and earth are like a ring in a vast desert within the divine human’s heart, which encompasses them and can know them voluntarily. The Quran (4:113) states:

“God sent down to you the Book and wisdom, teaching you what you did not know. God’s grace upon you is immense.”

Amir al-Mu’minin (peace be upon him) claimed universal knowledge:

“People, ask me before you lose me. I know the paths of the heavens better than those of the earth, before a trial arises that treads freely, destroying its people’s reason.”

Objection and Response

An objection arises from Imam Baqir’s (peace be upon him) mention of a reserved letter:

“God’s greatest name has seventy-three letters. Asaph knew one, spoke it, and the earth between him and Bilqis’s throne sank, allowing him to take it. The earth returned instantly. We have seventy-two letters, and one remains with God, reserved in His unseen knowledge. There is no power except with God, the Exalted, the Mighty.”

This is addressed by the Quran (72:26-28):

“Knower of the unseen, He reveals His unseen to none except a messenger He approves.”

A narration states:

Muhammad ibn al-Fadl al-Hashimi said: After Imam Kazim’s (peace be upon him) martyrdom, I visited Imam Rida (peace be upon him). He said to Amr ibn Haddab, “If I told you that you will soon be afflicted by a kinsman’s blood, would you believe me?” He replied, “No, only God knows the unseen.” Imam Rida said, “Does God not say, ‘Knower of the unseen, He reveals His unseen to none except a messenger He approves’? The Prophet (peace be upon him) was approved, and we are his heirs, knowing what was and will be until the Day of Resurrection.”

The reserved letter is knowable through essential annihilation. The divine human, through self-annihilation, pervades realities, knowing the unseen essence, its effects, and divine names’ truths in detail.

Comprehensive Observation and Perfect Simplicity

Observing the Divine, per the “all-things” rule, is observing all things, preceding their creaturely manifestation. Such knowledge pertains to divine unity, not their specific manifestation, which is non-eternal and inaccessible with distinction. Knowing any manifest entity, which is simple and unified yet bears multiple essential predicates, is knowing all its predicates. These predicates, unified in the entity, arise from the Divine’s essential aspect, not its conditioned or causal aspect. They are fixed essences, neither created nor uncreated, existing with the Divine’s essence. United with the essence, they are known eternally through unified knowledge. Thus, knowledge of things in the divine essence, before their external manifestation, is neither general nor detailed.

Fixed essences are necessary truths of divine names and attributes, hidden in the Divine’s essence, not transitioning from unseen to seen. The divine human’s knowledge of them is divine-like, not of an absent unseen. Imam Sadiq’s (peace be upon him) mention of one science does not negate the other. He said:

“God has two sciences: a hidden, treasured science known only to Him, from which bada’ arises, and a science taught to His angels, messengers, and prophets, which we know.”

Another narration states:

Yunus ibn Ribat said: I and Kamil al-Tammar visited Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him). Kamil said, “May I be your ransom, a narration from so-and-so?” The Imam said, “Mention it.” Kamil said, “The Prophet (peace be upon him) taught Ali (peace be upon him) a thousand doors on the day of his passing, each opening a thousand doors, making a million doors.” The Imam said, “That was so.” I asked, “May I be your ransom, has any of this appeared to your followers?” He said, “O Kamil, one or two doors.” I said, “From your million doors, only one or two are narrated?” He said, “What do you expect to narrate of our grace? You can narrate only an unconnected alif.”

Wilayat, Proximity, and Divine Awareness: A Philosophical and Theological Analysis

Abstract

This article explores the concepts of wilayat (guardianship or proximity to the Divine), knowledge, and awareness within Islamic philosophical and theological frameworks. Drawing from a classical Persian text, it examines the unity of existence and knowledge, the degrees of divine awareness, and the stations of proximity to God. The study integrates Quranic verses, hadiths, and scholarly interpretations to elucidate the interplay between divine essence, human cognition, and spiritual attainment. It proposes that divine proximity shapes the epistemological and ontological dimensions of human awareness, offering a hierarchical model of spiritual stations.

Introduction

The concept of wilayat, or divine guardianship, is central to Islamic mysticism and theology. It denotes a state of proximity to God, characterized by heightened awareness and knowledge. This article analyzes a classical Persian text that articulates the unity of existence and knowledge, the nature of divine awareness, and the varying degrees of proximity to the Divine. By synthesizing Quranic exegesis, hadith literature, and philosophical insights, the study aims to clarify how wilayat informs human spiritual and cognitive capacities.

The Unity of Existence and Knowledge

The text posits that the Divine Essence is identical with the essence of knowledge, manifesting in overlapping states and attributes. Existence is equated with life, knowledge, love, goodness, unity, and truth, all of which are simple, indivisible, and indefinable (Nasr, 2006). These attributes are known to the intellect hierarchically, with later attributes being more evident upon reflection.

The simplicity of existence implies that life, knowledge, love, and unity are identical with its essence, embodying beauty and virtue. Knowledge shares with existence characteristics such as conceptual clarity, truth, and indefinability, rendering it supremely evident (Chittick, 1989). The text asserts that nothing surpasses existence in clarity, positioning knowledge as a self-sustaining illuminator of reality.

Knowledge, like existence, is evident and illuminates other phenomena. While united in their instances, existence, knowledge, and awareness differ conceptually in rational analysis. Both the Divine and its manifestations possess perception and awareness, with knowledge adapting to each realm (Corbin, 1998). The simplicity of knowledge ensures its uniformity across contexts, equating clear and obscure knowledge.

Supreme Awareness through Unity

The text identifies the highest form of awareness as rooted in unity, which transcends boundaries between the knower, the known, and the specified object. This unity manifests relatively, based on the degree of divine manifestation (Avicenna, 2005). The knowing soul, through its presence, becomes the known, assuming its form and unifying their manifestation by removing distinctions.

Transcending manifest distinctions allows the knower to achieve annihilation in divine illumination, attaining greater perfection and the ability to externalize the known’s effects (Ibn Arabi, 2004). This process categorizes divine scholars based on their capacity for annihilation and subsistence. Human knowledge, like divine phenomena, is divisible into gradational manifestations and transformative degrees.

Degrees of Awareness and Proximity

The infinite manifestations of existence drive boundless aspirations in knowing subjects. Awareness expands manifestation, and divine manifestations are limitless, rendering knowledge inexhaustible. A hadith from Imam Sadiq illustrates this:

“On Friday nights, the Messenger of God approaches the Throne, as do the Imams, and I with them. I return only with acquired knowledge. Without this, my knowledge would be exhausted” (Kulayni, 1987, vol. 1, p. 254).

Divine scholars are divided into four groups based on their renunciation and awareness: supererogatory proximate, obligatory proximate, comprehensive proximate, and absolute proximate. This classification hinges on proximity to the Divine, shaping their knowledge and actions (Nasr, 2006).

Human Desire and Divine Perfection

Humans seek absolute perfection, achievable only through renouncing desire and achieving pure love and unity. Supererogatory proximate rely on the Divine as their means of perception, resulting in attributive annihilation and adoption of divine ethics (Chittick, 1989). Obligatory proximate serve as the Divine’s means, accessing essential knowledge and universal guardianship through essential annihilation.

A hadith narrated by Imam Baqir elucidates these stations:

“God said, ‘Whoever insults My friend challenges Me. I am swiftest in aiding My friends. No servant draws near to Me with anything more beloved than obligatory acts. Through supererogatory acts, he draws near until I love him, becoming his hearing, sight, tongue, and hand’” (Kulayni, 1987, vol. 2, p. 352).

Comprehensive and Absolute Proximity

Comprehensive proximate combine both proximities, achieving subsistence after annihilation. Absolute proximate are unbound, manifesting in any proximity freely, dwelling in singular unity (Ibn Arabi, 2004). Their knowledge is voluntary, as Imam Sadiq states:

“When the Imam wills to know, he knows” (Kulayni, 1987, vol. 1, p. 256).

The Quran (6:79) exemplifies voluntary awareness:

“I have turned my face sincerely toward He who created the heavens and the earth, and I am not of the polytheists” (Quran, 6:79).

Prophetic and Imamic Knowledge

Amir al-Mu’minin describes his vast knowledge:

“The Messenger taught me a thousand doors of lawful and unlawful, each opening a thousand doors, making a million doors. I knew destinies, calamities, and decisive speech” (Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 189).

He also warns of knowledge’s intensity:

“I possess hidden knowledge. If I revealed it, you would tremble like ropes in a deep well” (Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 93).

The Quran (9:105) affirms the shared vision of God, the Messenger, and believers:

“Say, ‘Act, and God, His Messenger, and the believers will see your deeds’” (Quran, 9:105).

Comprehensive Observation and Divine Knowledge

Observing the Divine equates to observing all things, preceding their manifestation. This knowledge pertains to divine unity, not specific manifestations (Avicenna, 2005). Fixed essences, necessary truths of divine attributes, are known through divine-like knowledge (Corbin, 1998). Imam Sadiq clarifies:

“God has two sciences: a hidden science known only to Him, and a science taught to His messengers, which we know” (Kulayni, 1987, vol. 1, p. 255).

Conclusion

This analysis demonstrates that wilayat and divine awareness are intricately linked to the unity of existence and knowledge. The hierarchical stations of proximity reflect varying degrees of annihilation and subsistence, shaping human epistemological and ontological capacities. Future research could explore comparative perspectives across Islamic philosophical traditions.

References

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