An Addendum to the Answer to Your Question about

Muhyiddin al-‘Arabi (  Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi )

Q u e s t i o n : Muhyiddin al-‘Arabi considered the Unity of Existence (Wahdat al-Wujud) to be of the  highest  level.  Likewise,  some of the  great  saints  who  took the  path  of  love followed him. However, you say that this matter is not of the highest level and is not real; that it  is rather  the  way, to  a degree, of those who  become intoxicated and immersed in the divine, and of the people of love and ecstasy. So what, briefly, is the high level of the affirmation of divine  unity pointed out by the clear verses of the Qur’an, through the mystery of the legacy of prophethood? Can you explain it?

T h e   A n s w e r : It is a hundred  times beyond  the ability of an utterly powerless unfortunate like myself to judge those elevated stations with his limited thought. I  shall just explain one or two extremely brief points proceeding from the effulgence of the All-Wise Qur’an. Perhaps they will be useful in understanding the matter.

FIRST POINT

There are numerous reasons for becoming embroiled in the way of the Unity of Existence (Wahdat al-Wujud) . One or two of them may be described as follows:

The  First  Reason:  Because  they  could  not  squeeze  into  their  brains  the maximum degree of the creativity of dominicality, nor entirely establish in their hearts the idea that everything, through the mystery of divine oneness, is held directly in the grasp of dominicality and that all things have existence through divine power, choice, and will, those who took that way were obliged to say that everything is either Him, or does not have existence, or is imaginary, or is His manifestation or emanation.

The  Second  Reason:  The  mark  of  passionate  love  is  to  want  never  to  be separated from the beloved and to flee desperately from such separation; to tremble at the thought of parting, to fear distance from the beloved as though fearing Hell, and to abominate transience; to love union with the love of one’s own spirit and life, and to yearn  to  be  near  to  the  beloved  as  though  longing  for  Paradise.  Thus,  through adhering to a manifestation of divine immediacy in all things, those who took the way of the Unity of Existence ( Wahdat al-Wujud ) disregarded  separation and distance; supposing union and meeting to be permanent, they said: “There is no existent but He;” through the intoxication of love and as demanded by the ecstasy of permanence, meeting, and union,  they imagined that in the Unity of Existence (Wahdat al-Wujud) was a most pleasurable way of illumination whereby they could be saved from the dreadfulness of separation.