You are the Proof
All praise is due to You that we have known You. It is by Your favour alone that we have recognised You. How did we come to know You? How did we come to recognise You? It was by Your will that we came to know You, and by Your decree that we came to recognise You. Had You not willed, we would never have known nor recognised You. Do we have any independent proof of Your reality? No—we do not. You Yourself are our proof, and nothing else. All other proofs are but a description of this one proof, all arguments are but an explanation of this one reality.
It is true that the radiant sun is a proof of You, that the moon and the stars declare Your signs. The alternation of night and day, the coming of spring and autumn, of winter and summer—all of these disclose Your mysteries. The heavens and the earth, and everything that exists between them, are Your signs. The birds sing songs of Your attributes; the seas hum hymns of Your grandeur; the mountains bear witness to Your elevation; in the deserts and wastelands, behind the multicoloured blossoms, You alone are hidden. The creation of animals manifests Your power; the very existence of jinn, angels and human beings bears testimony to the secrets of Your knowledge.
Indeed, all of this is true. Yet it is also true that You alone made these signs into signs, these āyāt into āyāt, these manifestations of power and knowledge into witnesses of Yourself. You alone are the proof, and You are the Proof of proofs.
How blind are those who see the sun, but not the Maker of the sun. How foolish are those who acknowledge the earth and sky, seas and mountains, minerals and plants, beasts and birds, and even the very existence of mankind, yet deny their Creator and Master. Surely, they are witless—those who perceive blessings but fail to see the Bestower. Wretched are such corrupted souls, unclean are such tainted minds, and pitiful are such hearts corrupted by satanic impulses and deviation.
How unfortunate was that ignorant scientist who sat meditating under a tree, and when he saw an apple fall, what did he discover? He uncovered the theory of gravity—but he failed to see that the same tree whose fruit falls earthward has branches rising skyward, that its roots are embedded in the earth while its head leans towards the heavens. Alas! He found the answer to one question, but turned away from countless others. If only he had asked: Who created the apple and for what purpose? Who made the tree grow and why? Who placed attraction within the earth and to what end?
Woe to that half-wise man of Cambridge! If only he had taken a lesson in reason from Khalīl (ʾIbrāhīm). The son of Āzar saw the stars, the moon and the sun set. He did not investigate some terrestrial theory, but discovered the loftiest truth. That solitary man reached the Lord of the worlds. He cried aloud: “Lā uḥibbu l-āfilīn”—I do not love those that set. He humbled himself and, publicly and boldly, declared: “Innī wajjahtu wajhī lilladhī faṭara s-samāwāti wa-l-arḍ ḥanīfan”—Indeed, I have turned my face towards the One who created the heavens and the earth, as a pure monotheist. May mercy be upon Abraham and the family of Abraham. Peace and blessings upon that perfected son of Adam, and upon the founder of the ḥanīfī community.
How dim-witted was the “third teacher” (Ibn Sīnā)! He was deceived, nurtured in deviation. How veiled in darkness was the knowledge of the author of al-Qānūn and al-Shifāʾ! He invented the “Necessary Existent” (wājib al-wujūd), and in doing so falsely ascribed to You, O Most Holy and Most Pure, a name without substance. O son of Bukhārā! O magician of East and West! O master of spells and of a mind ensnared! You called “existent and existence” the very Creator of existence and the existent. You failed to recognise the Master of Oneness and Self-Sufficiency. Instead, you coined a terminology that is the root of misguidance and the essence of deviation. Woe to you, and woe to your self-fabricated terms!
And O author of Fuṣūṣ and Fatūḥāt! Your every writing is hadith for the heedless. You unravel nothing but weave puzzles. You say Creator and creation are one, that there is no difference between the worshipped and the worshipper. Do you even know what it means to say “Creator”? You have not known, nor will you ever know, the secret of “Be, and it is.” Do you understand that once there was nothing, and only God was? He is the First and the Last. He created everything from nothing by His mere will. The creation is distinct from Him. The creation is destined for extinction. The Lord of the Mighty Throne has neither likeness nor equal.
What, then, are philosophy and taṣawwuf? Nothing but a game of words and a trickery of terms. Their states and stations are conjuring tricks. Their claimants of “gnosis” are those who mistook Laylā’s camel for Laylā herself, who looked upon her litter and claimed to have attained recognition! Alas, bereft of the head of servanthood! Their heirs today are caretakers of shrines and grave-worshippers.
O Lord of the worlds! Your true knowers are Your chosen prophets and their followers. They alone belong to the group upon whom is no fear, nor shall they grieve. These elect ones called themselves Your slaves, and slavery was their only ornament. Whoever claims to have any “state” before You is without state, and whoever invents any “station” is without station.
O God of all worlds! You are our Lord; besides You we acknowledge no other lord. You alone are our deity, and Your worship is the very purpose of our creation. You have no equal and no partner. Lā ilāha illā anta, subḥānaka, innī kuntu minaẓ-ẓālimīn.
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Disclaimer: This article was translated by AI. Original post: https://t.me/DrAkramNadwi/6912
