Coolness of the eye - Divine Vision
Divine Vision
Tags: Divine Vision, Inner Eye, Hazrat Musa
With utmost humility and indigence, I seek success, courage and help from God, the Blessed, the Exalted. May He guide and help me through the light of guidance of His Wali of the time, the progeny of the Prophet. Because without His help and succour, no work can be completed. In particular, to write on one of the most difficult subjects such as Divine vision, is not less difficult for me than passing through the minor Resurrection. I believe the supreme bounty of the Divine vision is the sovereign of all external and internal bounties, and therefore, we can say with certainty that this is the most exalted and greatest bounty of religion. It is available, with its unprecedented grandeur and glory, at the very apex of the spiritual and intellectual height.
Proof 1: God has created two kinds of creatures - visible and invisible, and He Himself is free from and above their attributes. That is, it is not His attribute to be visible, nor is it His attribute to be invisible. Because these two attributes belong to His creatures mentioned above. Thus, God does not have any limit, as He says: "He is the First and the Last and the Manifest and the Hidden." (57:3). This is the proof of the fact that He is not confined within any limit. He does what He will (85:16). Therefore, it is not far from His benevolent nature to enrich His chosen servant with the wealth of His vision.
Proof 2: God is the light of the heavens and the earth. (24:35) The subject of this verse is related to the inner eye, not to the external eye. That is to say, this light can be seen with the inner eye, but not with the physical eye. For, Divine light is the sun of the world of intellect and soul. Those who possess the inner eye and see the spiritual world, can see this sun of light.
Proof 3: When the Benevolent Sustainer removed the offspring of the children of Adam (Perfect Men) from their loins and presented them before their "higher I" and asked them: Am I not your Sustainer? They all answered: Why not, we all witness (7:172). This event took place not in the Hereafter, but in this world. This is the description of the Divine vision in the personal world of every Perfect Man. For, the true children of Hazrat Adam saw the Sustainer and how He sustains and they said that they witnessed this. Otherwise, it was not possible for them to answer as they did.
Proof 4: God created Hazrat Adam in His image. This is in fact the mention of the spiritual form. And it is mentioned in a Hadith that God in His luminous form is extremely handsome. Also a famous Hadith-i qudsi is that He was a hidden treasure. He created the creature for the sake of His recognition. All such allusions are directed towards Divine vision, so that the everlasting and imperishable wealth of recognition may be attained.
Proof 5: The fruit of the Shari`at is the Tariqat and that of the Tariqat is the Haqiqat and that of the Haqiqat is the Ma`rifat. It follows logically therefore, that there is Divine vision in the stage of Haqiqat, the result of which is Ma`rifat. For Ma`rifat means recognition which is not possible without seeing the Divine vision.
Proof 6: The Holy Prophet has said: He who saw me, indeed saw God. That is, he who saw the beloved of God, namely, the Holy Prophet at the rank of spirituality, it was as if he saw God. This shows that the Divine vision is also in representation, as are many other matters of religion.
Proof 7: In the Noble Qur'an, where annihilation in God is mentioned clearly, the Face of God is also mentioned. For Perfect Men are annihilated in their lifetimes only by His manifestation and vision. See verses (55:26-28).
Proof 8: Annihilation in God is exemplified in many ways. As such we should also accept that what had happened to Hazrat Musa by the Divine manifestation, was one of these examples, because humanity cannot last in front of the beauty and majesty of the Divine vision. And this is the bright proof of annihilation.
Proof 9: Mawlana Habil (May peace be through him) had attained the glorious bliss of Divine vision and annihilation in God, in which his humanity is compared to a sheep and Divine vision to the sacred fire. Indeed, Divine vision is the fire of love and love before the Divine vision is the blessed heat of this far-reaching fire.
Proof 10: Hazrat Isma`il Dhabihu'llah had also attained the rank of annihilation in God. In his case, his animal soul is compared to the lamb brought from Paradise and the Divine vision and love functioned as the knife for the lamb or the animal soul (37:107).
Proof 11: Love, Divine vision and annihilation are compared with the martyrdom of martyrs. Indeed, such martyrs are alive both physically and spiritually and they attain light in this world too (57:19).
Proof 12: The renewal of all those miracles of the Prophets mentioned in the Glorious Qur'an take place in the Imam-i mubin (manifest and speaking Imam). The Imam of the time is that living and speaking sun of spirituality and luminosity, which rises in the personal world. Thus, it is also a representative vision which contains everything.
Proof 13: Were Hazrat Musa not graced with the Divine vision, he would not have taken seventy selected men from his community for the Divine vision to Mount Sinai (7:155). In reality, this was the appointment of the physical hudud. Thunder (sa`iqah) is the voice of the sur of Israfil (2:55), due to which they began to see (tanzurun) the scene of the personal Resurrection and thereby their spiritual death took place while they were still alive. Then God raised (inbi`ath) them so that they could give thanks for the great spiritual bounties (2:56). They succeeded in seeking Divine vision therefore, thanksgiving became incumbent upon them.
Proof 14: All the secrets of the Wise Qur'an are veiled, particularly those secrets which are related to Divine vision in the spirituality of the people of ma`rifat in their worldly life. Since God speaks from behind the veil (42:51), then why should not the Qur'anic secrets be veiled in words?
Proof 15: In connection with Divine vision, one key word is "tajalla" (7:143), which means: He became manifest, manifested Himself, He came to light (92:2?). That is, the Lord of honour manifested Himself and shone. Now the question to ask here is: Who had requested this manifestation, Mount Sinai or Hazrat Musa? It is evident that this manifestation was for Hazrat Musa, God's interlocutor. Thus he saw the Sustainer, but not as ought to be seen.
Proof 16: The most amazing thing is that there is a Divine vision in the form of knowledge too. For, knowledge in its spiritual and intellectual form, is the Divine light and the light has a myriad manifestations by which the Paradise of knowledge becomes prosperous and luminous.
Proof 17: Read carefully the subject of "darajat (ranks)", which is mentioned in eighteen places in the Qur'an. It is obvious that with respect to knowledge and deeds, people are in different ranks. For instance, think about the spiritual rank of the Awliya' and their state? Indeed, God has granted them the hidden treasure of His vision, and they are satisfied by being annihilated in God, otherwise God would not have said: "Lo! verily the friends of God have neither fear nor do they grieve" (10:62). It is a different question as to who the friends of God are!
Proof 18: The straight path and the rope of God mean the same thing. Those who hold fast to the rope of God (3:103) hold fast to God (3:101). Then they, in this sense, reach the desired destination of the straight path. That is, they enter the treasure of the Divine vision. It should be remembered that the vision of God and His pleasure are higher than even the supreme Paradise (9:72). Study this and reflect upon it and ask why this is so? Is it not an invitation to you to go even higher than the supreme Paradise?
Nasir al-Din Nasir Hunzai, London,
28 Dhu'l-hijjah, 1411/11th July, 1991.
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