Saturday, April 17, 2021

What is Islam?

Some people speak of it with particular reverence but the fact remains that Wahdat al-wujud is just an understanding of how the universe relates to the "names and attributes" of God. God is infinitely apophatically transcendently absolutely One, this is not the number one as in counting (as that would amount to being a polytheist with one deity) but rather in terms of Unity. Since EVERY single thing in existence according to the Qur'an, is a Sign (Ayat) of God, this means that everything is manifest of and reflective of the Unity of God. This is Tawhid. (the Qur'an is a microcosm of this idea as every verse and every letter is also an Ayat, and in terms of the verses we literally call them ayahs too followed by the number). The thing that separates Tawhid, and Abrahamism itself, from other more metaphysical abstractions like Brahman, is that there are inner processes within this Unity of God which bring it's manifest "creation" to the knowledge of it's source. This is marked by the concept of Revelation and Angelology (seeing that there is an Angel attached to everything as well, which should not be taken as a physical belief). In one awesome Hadith from Imam Ali which has always stuck with me, Ali separates three different categories and how they relate to each other, these all relate to typical questions of a "meaning of life" et al. Ali says (paraphrasing) "God gave the Angels 'Aql but no desire, God gave the Animals desire but no 'Aql, in the Humans (or sons of Adam etc) God gave both. So who strives towards his 'Aql and overcomes his desire is greater than both the Angels and the Animals". The 'Aql itself also does not connotate just intellect in the common sense used in english, it connotates a mode and organ of consciousness. Sufis explored the terminology of Qalb (heart) and Qtub (axis/pole) to further get at this word ('Aql) as taught by the Ahl al-Bayt and early Sufis. Anyway in the Islamic view of existence, it's all about Gnosis ('ilm, Ihsan, Marifa, Irfan). Something you may find interesting if you've ever noticed it, but the Qur'an (and Islam in general) prioritizes the word Truth (Haqq) over all others. Whereas the Christian prioritizes the word Love. Truth is absolute and eternal, whereas Love is conditional and relational, also indicating dependency (which is obviously something antithetical to God, but then Christian theology is a literal intentional paradox). Aside from that, Haqq itself is an even higher name for this IT than the word "God" itself. Interestingly Imam Sadiq comments upon the same thing himself in several Hadith where he points out that stating the word "God" itself points towards nothing without knowing the meaning of the word. The Ahl al-Bayt were very spiritually and intellectually sharp. Imam Sadiq says the meaning of the word points towards God, not the word "God" which could point to things that are very much the polar opposite of God (as evident in the anthropomorphism that tends to lurk within Salafi and Athari Theology). As the Qur'an affirmatively states page after page, God is beyond what people ascribe to God, but what "God" Reveals about God through Revelation are signs and symbols which are the path to the knowledge of God. The practice of ritual, of prayer, of meditation etc are all essential on the practical level with this. As the Qur'an also says multiple places, there is NOTHING like God, there is no likeness that can be found among "creation" that can even begin to analogously appropriate God, for "creation" is that which is manifest and conditioned, and God is that which is unmanifest and unconditioned. Also, as the Qur'an repeatedly mentions throughout, in different variant phrases "all things originate from God and to God is the return of all things" (this means everything not just some things).

The function of Revelation and the station of Prophethood though  is a particular mark, in accordance with the profound apophatic theology of the Oneness of God, is something that makes the Abrahamic religions so radically anathema to the history of religion itself. I really do find it highly remarkable this aspect, in ways which the average follower of the three Abrahamic religions does not think deeply enough about. While the early Gnostics may caricature and adversarialize it, the notion of Prophet after Prophet throughout history receiving some kind of 'supernatural' (I find that word distasteful tbh) messages consistent throughout history, which teach the system of enlightenment which doesn't merely just cover the mystical but covers all aspects of human life (as a truly holistic system should), which not only does this but chastises and makes an example of the failures of followers of past receivers of the 'supernatural' messages, is just profound to me. Compared to the non-Abrahamic traditions, the Abrahamic tradition is not idealistic (in the colloquial sense, not the philosophical position) but rather it rather has a very strong grasp on human nature and all of our deepest neurosis'. Just as with anthropomorphism/polytheism, it very strongly banishes all of our negative influences and enjoins awareness of consequence and responsibility. The response is then upon the followers/believers ourselves and what we do with what we've been given in this tradition. As the Qur'an points out about Jews and Christians, we are not to be holding onto our Deen like an object we own or as a method of usurping God to control others (which is the basic idea of the Dajjal prophecy, which would apply to figures like Umar, Muawiyah, Yazid, Hitler, many governments and any religious terrorist organizations, all of whom I very openly despise).