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Sublime Realities - Veil and Mazhar (Locus of Manifestation)

Veil and Mazhar (Locus of Manifestation)

Tags: Veil, Manifestation, Mazhar, Light, Ma`arij, Fifty Thousand, One

Although there is the sway of only one law, called the Divine law or the law of nature in the book of the universe and existents, yet in this variegated and colourful workshop, namely the universe, there are many laws working together, which can be considered as its different forms or manifestations. Among these laws there are two extremely important laws: the law of veil and the law of manifestation. When these laws are specifically related to God, they come with all the felicities and blessings of religion in their wake and as the fountainhead of elegant and beautiful manifestations of Divine knowledge. Thus, those who believe in the veil and mazhar of God as their Ka`bah of soul and qiblah of faith, are indeed very fortunate.
The absolute light is veil as well as veiled, mazhar as well as zāhir (manifest), lover as well as beloved. A bright example of this reality is the sun which is everything in materiality. Thus winter is a name given to the lack of its heat and remoteness from it, in which the earth becomes dead. But how great is the feat of the light of the sun and how great is its favour that in bringing back the spring, it revives the dead earth. It manifests as a bride of vegetation clad in green from the veil of the earth, to show the manifestation of the beauty of the emerald colour. Similarly, the buds of the rosarium are not only the veils of beautiful flowers, but also their mazāhir (pl. of mazhar). Thus the sun, granting a moderate temperament to the breeze of spring, says to it: Tickle all the buds of the garden and make them smile, so that the colourful flowers which are the Divine feats appear from the veil of seclusion and spend the wealth of colour and fragrance unsparingly. And it is the same light of the sun which invites the melodious birds to the assembly of music of the garden and rosarium, which had disappeared and become veiled due to the intensity of the cold.
If a bud is the veil of the flower, then the flower is the veil of the unripe fruit and it is the unripe fruit in which the complete or ripe fruit ripens, and in the ripe fruit is hidden the stone, in which is hidden the kernel and in the kernel the oil and in the oil is the veil of light, as well as its mazhar. What is the meaning of this description? It is a beautiful example of a veil within a veil. Also think for a while about how the mountain is made up layer upon layer and how behind their numerous veils are hidden precious gems. Similarly, how is it possible to obtain the precious pearls of the ocean without dangerous veils? In short, nothing in this world, whether precious or cheap, exists without a veil. Indeed, veils are of various kinds: for instance, the intervention of material things, distances of time and space, all kinds of obstacles, difficulties, unawareness, negligence, ingratitude, ignorance, etc.
Study carefully the wisdom of verse (42:51) that God, not only has a veil, but also a mazhar and a zuhūr (manifestation). There are also many veils of His supreme veil. This law should be remembered that it is the supreme veil which also performs the sacred duty of being His mazhar. It is also necessary to know that God is light, therefore, His immediate veil, namely the supreme veil, is also nothing but light, just as the sun is material light and its outer part is the veil and representative of its inner part. Otherwise, in this material world there is nothing powerful enough to be able to remain in front of the stormy luminous waves of the world-illumining sun and act as its immediate veil or cover.
In the above-mentioned verse (42:51) are mentioned three levels of the entire spirituality. The supreme level consists of luminous manifestation, vision, observation and comprehensive allusions, in which are included ibdā`, inbi`āth, azal, abad and other extremely great miracles; the second level is the one, the miracles of which are heard from behind the veil and the third level which is the lowest, is the one in which are observed all the miracles of souls and angels.
Approximately fourteen hundred years ago, during the revelation of the Qur'ān, alluding to the physical and spiritual revolutions, it was said that the ta'wīl of the Qur'ān is going to come in the future (7:52-53). This means that the ta'wīl of the Qur'ān which was confined to some higher ranks, will be common to all. Thus in this regard, it is my firm conviction that just as there is a storm of material progress in the present age, a great revolution has also come in spirituality and that is the ta'wīl. Now, looking at verses (7:52-53) tell us what should we do in this respect? You will definitely say that whenever and wherever the ta'wīl may be, it is wisdom and abundant good (2:269), to accept it with gratitude and appreciation, as the proof of the ever-lasting glories of the Qur'ān and Islam.
There is a bright world of recognition and certainty in verse (24:35), in which God has mentioned the simile and parable of His light in a wisdom-filled way. In addition to other realities, the laws of veil and mazhar also shine in it. That is, the light of the lamp is in a glass. Is the glass also not light, so that both the veil and the mazhar of light are also full of luminosity? Indeed, it is so, because that glass cannot be a lifeless, irrational and material thing. It is a blessed and holy personality and undoubtedly, it is the Perfect Man, because when he has attained this highest rank of closeness and union with the light of lights, then automatically he has to be light and remain luminous forever.
Dear friends! Have you ever thought deeply about "light upon light" (24:35)? It has great secrets, such as:
1. Light upon light, that is, after one light there is another light. By this light are meant the Prophets and Imams, who in their respective times are mazāhir and lights of the light of God, while God Himself is the light of lights and according to "light upon light" there is unity of lights in the Imam of the time.
2. Write number one on the tablet of your imagination, then repeat exactly the same shape on it, a thousand times. Where is the number thousand in the imagination? There is nothing except the number one. This is the unity of light upon light.
3. There are four levels of light: light of Divinity (24:35), light of Prophethood (33:46), light of Imamat (57:28) and light of mu'mins (57:12), but light upon light indicates that all lights become one¹.
Q. What was the reality of the tree from which Hazrat Mūsā had seen the light of God?
A. It was the blessed personality of mazhar and veil, i.e. the personal world of Hazrat Mūsā, as well as the pure personality of the Imam, for in many places in the Wise Qur'ān, the Prophet and the Imam are compared with a tree. Therefore, their pure personality is that pure tree which is mentioned in verses (14:24-25). That is, it is the evergreen tree of the paradise of spirituality, which always gives fruit by the command of its Lord.
Q. What is the shadow of veil cast upon? What is this veil? Visual or auditory, or both? What kind of veil is mentioned in verse (42:51)?
A. The shadow of veil is cast not on light, but on the disobedient people. The shadows of the earth and clouds are not cast upon the sun, but on the people of the world, because no material darkness reaches the sun. It is true that each of the external and internal senses has a veil. In verse (42:51) there is mention of a visual veil, because above it is mentioned the vision.
See verses (70:1-9) and first of all, let us take the word ma`ārij (pl. of mi`rāj), which means staircases and ranks, and God is called "Dhi'l-ma`ārij", which means the Lord of ranks. This is so because in order to reach His court of closeness, men and angels have to traverse many ranks (Qāmūsu'l-Qur'ān). According to this verse, on the one hand there is a single day and on the other there are fifty thousand years. By the allusion of stairways it becomes certain that by the fifty thousand years are meant fifty thousand ranks and veils without passing through which, no human being or angel can reach the special presence of God. But the Qur'ānic wisdom says that one day of God has gathered the fifty thousand years and encompassed them within itself and that day of God (70:4) is the Imam of the time, as according to the principle of ta'wīl the six Natīqs are the six days of God and the seventh day is Hazrat Qā'īmu'l-qiyāmat. You are aware of the fact that God, by His perfect power unfolds and enfolds distances and vastnesses of time and space (21:104; 36:12; 39:67), just as He counts all things by making them one. That is, God counts all people and things in the sense that He enfolds them in His hand and keeps them by uniting them in the number one (19:94; 72:28).
The holy Imam is physically God's supreme veil and spiritually His mirror. He is the last day and the day of Resurrection and all those verses related to the Resurrection in the Qur'ān are his ta'wīlī names, of which each name acts as the door, lock and key to the treasure of knowledge and wisdom of the related verse, because every such verse is specifically full of the secrets of Resurrection. You certainly know that the spiritual rank of the Holy Prophet is the city of knowledge and the house of wisdom, in which are preserved the spirit and spirituality of the Qur'ān and whose gate or door, i.e. the veil or mazhar, is the Imam of the time. And you must not forget the Qur'ānic law that it is this door through which, by the command of God, one can enter the bātin, the esoteric aspect, from the zāhir, the exoteric aspect (57:13), so that on the day of Resurrection, nobody should have the excuse that in his time there was no such means to solve the difficulties of the Qur'ān and contemporary issues.

Nasīr al-Dīn Nasīr Hunzā'ī,
London, 15th December, 1986.

Endnote:
^1. As there is the concept of annihilation in God and survival with God.

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