Allah The Almighty has distributed his knowledge to his creation, from the inanimate creatures to the human beings � the ultimate creation. This state of knowledge actually determines the predisposition of His created beings. Through that knowledge each creation is in a certain disposition to obey Divine Commands and praise and worship Allah. Human beings praise Allah in a different way than the angels and the rest of the creation. They have the knowledge of the Divine Names and Attributes. Angels did not understand Divine Names, so they did not realize the �form� of Ibadah (praise & worship) of human beings. They also do not possess the universality of the Adam. Allah is all knowledge, but angels are not.
Ibn-Arabi has explained in Fusus al Hikam, �When Allah - glory be to Him! - willed that the source of His most Beautiful Names - which are beyond enumeration - He willed that they be seen in a microcosmic being (Insaan-i Kamil) which contained the entire matter endowed with existence, and through which His secret has been manifested. For a thing sees itself through itself is not the same as how it sees itself in something else acting as a mirror. So He manifests Himself to Himself in a form (Insaan-i Kamil) which is provided by the place (Qalb) in which He is seen. He would not appear thus without the existence of this place and His manifestation (Tajjali) to Himself in it.� Learn more about Tajjali ....Click for Detail....
Hence the divine names are the attributes or qualities that are reflected in man�No other creation is such a true mirror in reflecting these attributes as is Man. Ibn-Arabi has explained in Fusus al Hikam, �Knowledge is as distinct from life as life is distinct from knowledge. So we say that Allah has knowledge and life, and that He is the Living, the Knowing. The reality of knowledge is one thing and the reality of life is another, and their relationship to the knowing and the living is the same relationship. We say that the knowledge of Allah is in non-time and the knowledge of man is in-time.� Therefore, seeking the ultimate knowledge is to travel from time to non-time. Allah communicates to us knowledge of Himself through contemplation of the in-time. He tells us that He shows us His signs in the in-time, so we draw conclusions about Him through ourselves. (Qu�ran 41:53, "We will show them Our signs on the horizons and in themselves...")
If Allah had willed so, He could have provided this knowledge to Angels, endowing them with the capacity now entertained by Insaan-i Kamil. He Himself declares in the Holy Qu�ran (17: 94-96):
�What kept men back from belief when Guidance came to them, was nothing but this: they said, "Has Allah sent a man (like us) to be (His) Messenger. Say, "If there were settled, on earth, angels walking about in peace and quiet, We should certainly have sent them down from the heavens an angel for an apostle. Say: "Enough is Allah for a witness between me and you: for He is well acquainted with His servants, and He sees (all things).�
Then He openly questions, "What prevented you prostrating to what I created with My two Hands?" (38:76) That is none other than the union in Adam of the two forms - the form of the universe and the form of the Real. Iblis is only a fragment of the universe and does not possess this comprehensive quality. According to a Hadith, "Allah created Adam on His form." This khalifate is only valid for the Perfect Man, whose exterior form comes from the realities of the universe and its forms, and whose inner form is based on His form, may He be exalted! For that reason, Allah has said of him, "I am his hearing and his sight." According to hadith quds� via Abu Hurayra:
"My slave does not draw near Me with anything I love more than what I have made obligatory for him. My slave continues to draw near me with superogatory actions until I love him. When I love him, I am his hearing with he hears, his sight by which he sees, his hand with which he strikes, and his foot with which he walks." (Sahih al-Bukhari, 81:38:2)
Ibn-Arabi has explained in Fusus al Hikam, �Allah has described Himself as the �Outwardly Manifest� and the �Inwardly Hidden� (Qu�ran: 57:3). He brought the universe into existence as a �Visible world� and an �Unseen world� so that we might know the Hidden by the Unseen and the Manifest by the Visible. He described Himself with pleasure and wrath, and so He brought the world into existence as a place of fear and hope � so we fear His wrath and hope for His pleasure. He described Himself with majesty and beauty, so He brought the universe into existence with awe and intimacy. It is the same for all that is connected with Him, may He be exalted, and by which He calls Himself. He designates these pairs of attributes by the two hands (Qu�ran 38:75, "What I created with My two hands�) which He held out in the creation of the Perfect Man. Man sums up all the realities of the universe and its individuals.�
We are certainly numerous as individuals and species, yet we are based on a single reality which unites us. So we certainly know that there are distinctions between individuals. If there were not, there would be no multiplicity in the One. Man is a microcosmic reality�a unit of life�.and not a complete whole in itself. Allah The Almighty sees the whole human race as ONE�as we see blood as one though�many platelets are running through it, but still we see blood as one�similarly other elements and compounds have many compositions �variations, still we view and witness them as ONE. That is why when He says �Man� it is whole human race. �Ya Aayy-o-ha. An- Nas�.�
Ibn-Arabi has explained in Fusus al Hikam: �Man� has been called both a human being (ins�n) and khalif. As for his humanness, it comes from the universality of his organism and his ability to embrace all of the realities. He is in relation to Allah as the pupil being the instrument of vision, is to the eye. This is why he is called �insan�. It is by him that Allah beholds His creatures and has mercy on them. So he is a human being, both in-time [in his body] and before-time [in his spirit], an eternal and after-time organism. �Insan� is the word which distinguishes and unifies. The universe was completed by his existence.� Hence each human being is an �insan� and not �hkalif�. To acquire this supra-status �Man� would have to prove a better disposition in knowledge and Divine attributes. |
