Fruit of Paradise - Creation within Creation

Creation within Creation

Creation within creation means the succession of the act of God in which God perpetually creates one thing from another without there being an absolute beginning or an end. This is ascertained by every wise person when he observes the creation of the personal world in the illumination of the Qur'an and the light of Imamat. As is mentioned in a noble Hadith: “When God created the Intellect, He interrogated it and said to it: Come forward. It came forward. Then He said: Go back! It went back. Then He said: By My honour and majesty! I did not create a creature more loved by Me than you. And I will not perfect you except in those whom I love. You alone will I command and you alone will I forbid, and you alone I will punish and you alone I will reward.” From this magnificent and wisdom-filled Hadith appear some clear realities:

The Intellect speaks at the highest degree of the spiritual station, but in the language of wisdom.
The Intellect has seen a great cycle of progression and regression.
The Intellect is the most beloved creature of God.
Perfect Intellect is created in the one who recognises God and whom God loves.
Divine commands and prohibitions are applicable only to the Intellect.
Both the greatest punishment and greatest reward are in intellectual form.

You can see in this luminous teaching that this is the description of the creation of the personal world, which is a perpetual succession and which here is called creation within creation. The Prophets and the Imams are examples of such creation. Thus when God creates one Perfect Man after another then He makes creation within creation. This means that God continues to create personal worlds one after another and in each one of them happen the same things mentioned in the above Hadith. This is why the Wise Qur'an invites all people to travel within themselves (i.e. in their personal worlds), for as it is said; “Say (O Muhammad): Travel in the earth (sīrū fi'l-ard) and see how He started creation; and then God will bring forth another creation.” (29:20). If we restrict the meaning of this wisdom-filled command to travel in the external and material world, certain questions such as these arise:

If we accept that here by the “earth” is meant “planet earth” and that by “creation” is meant the external world, how will we by travelling discover the secret of how God started creation?
If it is said that this command relates to the physical aspect of the world of humanity, how will the secret of the creation of Adam be disclosed? And how is it possible to ascertain that God will bring forth another creation again?

It is clear from this explanation that “travel in the earth” means travel within ones own self (personal world). Travelling in the earth is mentioned in the Qur'an 14 times, (7 in the imperative form (sīrū) and 7 in narrative form (yasīrūn), in addition to some other forms from the same root. There is no doubt that the recognition of the universe and the existents is obtained by the recognition of the human self and through which is obtained the recognition of God, the Lord of Honour.

Another example of “Creation within creation” is verse (39:6): “He creates you in the wombs of your mothers, creation after creation, in three darknesses.” When man is in the state of sperm in the womb of the mother he is in three darknesses, namely the physical, the spiritual and the intellectual. In such a state God creates him through creation within creation and brings him forth to physical perfection. That is, he creates sperm from the quintessence of clay, and from the sperm a clot, from the clot a lump of flesh, from the lump of flesh bones, which he clothes with flesh, and then He creates another creation (23:12-14). This noble verse addresses humans in the language of wisdom and tells them that when they were in the womb they were devoid of three kinds of light, bodily, spiritual and intellectual. This precisely resembles the descent of Hazrat Adam from the Supreme Paradise to the earth. Had this not been so then the three darknesses would not have been applied to him whilst in the womb, for Qur'anic words are not without actuality and reality. That state of man which is called death and that state which is called life and all the things that are related to these states together make a complete circle. It is obvious that a circle has neither a beginning nor an end. Wherever you start on it is its beginning metaphorically. If we have to interpret reality we have to use metaphors for without this it is not possible to explain reality. Reflect well on this noble verse: “He Who made all things created (them) excellent; and began the creation of man from clay.” (32:7). This sacred verse needs ta'wil to explain it, because in this world there are both good and bad things. The ta'wil is that God is He Who raised everything in the world of creation to the world of command creating it through creation within creation and there gave it an excellent form and began the creation of the True Man from the rank of mu'minhood. Thus you can see from this that there were mu'mins before every Adam.

Every Perfect Man in himself is a complete subtle universe (personal world) and this is a succession which never ends. In this succession, with respect to the personality each of the personal worlds has a separate beginning. That is, this beginning is an individual beginning and not the collective one. This means that universally or collectively there is no beginning and no end. And this is a very great secret.

In the Divine kingdom there are two kinds of things. One is the “thing mentioned” which God has mentioned and the other is the “thing unmentioned” which is what God has not mentioned. Both these things apply to man as stated in verse (76:1); “Has there ever come over man a hin (movable time) from the dahr (immovable time) in which he was a thing unmentioned (i.e. he was, but was not mentioned)?” This alludes to a time that has not yet come, but it will definitely come. This Divine teaching sheds light on the concept of creation within creation and it is clear that the creative act of God is eternal and has neither a beginning nor an end.

Both “mentioned” and “unmentioned” things are of two kinds, good and bad. Among the bad unmentioned things are those things which are considered as non-existent, such as an infidel who is considered as being nothing or dead, and good things such as a perfect `arif (he who has recognised God) who can be called “unmentioned” because he is incomparable and who is given the rank of “annihilation in God”, but is not mentioned in the Godhead. However, both the infidel and the `arif do exist. Thus with respect to approximation and relationship to the dahr we can say that here being unmentioned is praiseworthy, because it is a proof that man's reality is always merged in its origin. When God Who is the One and Overwhelming (40:16) brings about a revolution in the personal world by enfolding scattered space and time in His hand (39:67) and demonstrates all realities in the Reality of realities, then not only dahr, but also the concepts of azal (pre-eternity) and abad (post-eternity) become one. For the most fundamental, final and greatest treasure which exists there contains all realities and recognitions. This treasure is both beginning and end of both worlds. Beginning in the sense that everything in the external and internal world is created from it and end in the sense that it is the quintessence of all spatial and temporal things. One special name of this priceless treasure is the kingdom of God, for as it is said: “Blessed is He in Whose hand is the kingdom and He has power over all things.” (67:1). In this verse it is alluded that at the place of spirituality where the kingdom (mulk and malakut, i.e. the treasure of the Pearl of Intellect) is in God's hand, are centred all blessings and powers of knowledge and recognition. This shows that the light of intellect which is the Reality of realities, represents every most sublime and most difficult concept. Because it is the Divine Pen, the Hidden Book, the Fountainhead of Light, Mount Sinai, Noble Rock and the Mine of knowledge and wisdom.

Another example of “creation within creation” is that when a Perfect Man comes into being by the command of God, then in due course he has spiritual birth, then passes through the stage of spiritual death during his lifetime and finally when his inbi`ath takes place, he becomes proof of verse (10:4): “Verily it is He Who begins the creation and repeats it.” Here it is necessary to mention the Perfect Man because it is only he who is the model of the final and consummate creation of God both physically and spiritually, just as Hazrat Adam was perfectly created by God. God has continued to repeat this, His pure and wisdom-filled law (sunnat) (17:77; 40:85) in the chain of Prophets and Imams.

You should not forget the key wisdom that God's attributive names and accordingly His acts are all included in His supreme law, which has passed in His chosen servants, the Perfect Men and which continues without any change (33:62; 35:43). This therefore means that the creative act of God has neither a beginning nor an end. He continues creation within creation and by this act the oceans of His mercy and knowledge surge all the time.

Khanah-i Hikmat/Idarah-i `Arif,

Particle of dust,
Nasir al-Din Nasir Hunzai,
27th January, 1985.

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