A115
Surah: 002 - Ayah: 115
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2:115
The vision in the form of intellect and knowledge is a Qur'anic reality. God willing, if you reflect on this verse, you will have abundant happiness. It is: "Unto Allah belong the East and the West, and whither soever you turn, there is Allah's Face. Lo'. Allah is All-Embracing, All-Knowing". (2:115). The tawil of this verse is that the entire world of the Qur'an belongs to Allah. Therefore, in the esoteric aspect of whichever verse you want to see, you will have an intellectual manifestation and a vision of knowledge of Allah's Face. For God, the Wise has adorned His Mighty Book with the miracles of knowledge. Indeed, He is the Owner of all-embracing knowledge.
One of the prominent and comprehensible examples, used in the Holy Qur'an is the tree, to whose trunk two things are attached. That is, the branches are attached visibly and the roots in a hidden way. Similarly, every subject in the Wise Qur'an is like an extremely huge fruit- bearing tree, the words and meanings of which are like its branches and roots. Thus when a true lover looks at the Qur'an with Divine love and studies it, without any doubt he has the didar (vision) of knowledge at every place in the Paradise of Qur'anic knowledge and wisdom ("Wherever you turn, there is the Face of Allah", 2:115).
Chashm bikusha kih jilwah-i dildar
Mutajalhst az dar-u diwar
Uboh pish tuistadah chusarw Sar fur u burdah-i tu nargiswar
Open the eye so that the manifestation of the beloved Is resplendent from door and wall;
He is standing before you like a cypress tree, but You have bent your head like narcissus.
Thamma (There)
In the wisdom-filled words of verse (2:115) God says: "And wherever you turn, there is the face of Allah." From this Qur'anic law it is evident that although God is beyond and free from spatial and non-spatial worlds, yet by His omnipotence He is present everywhere. And what a clear and blessed allusion there is that He truly dwells in the heart of His servants too. This is the reason that one's own recognition is considered necessary and essential (for the sake of the recognition of God), so that by offering the sacrifice of dying before (physical) death, the hidden treasure of His vision and recognition may be attained. (see Wajh cAliyy).
Wajh Allah (Face of God)
It is said in verse (2:115): (Exoteric translation) "And Allah's is the east and the west; therefore wherever you turn, there is the face of Allah." Ta'wili meaning with respect to the personal world: O carifs! in the personal world, wherever you have open didar without any veil, that is indeed didar. In addition, there is no place where His face and His vision from behind the veil is not found. So reflect carefully on all miracles one by one.
Wajh cAliyy (Face of cAli, vision of cAli, vision of the Imam of the time)
The holy Prophet has said: "To look at the face of cAli is worship (cibadat)." (Sara'ir, p. 116). Why is it so? Because cAli is the Face of God, as he himself says: "I am the Face of God which He has mentioned by saying: Wherever you turn, there is the Face of God." (2:115). (Ibid.)
Sciences (macarif) of the Surah of Ikhlas (Purity, Sincerity)
“Qul huwa’llahu ahad = Say (O Muhammad)! Allah is One (Monoreal);” Allahu’s-samad = Allah (Monoreal) in His physical and spiritual manifestations of His attributes is everything; “Lam yalid = He has not begotten”. For the Monoreal Himself is an eternal and ever-pervading reality, therefore, He does not need children. Children are the need of an existent, which is mortal and not ever-reaching. That is, Monoreal does not give birth to another monoreal.
“Wa-lam yulad = And He has not been begotten”. For the Monoreal Himself is eternal. That is, He has always been there and will last forever. Therefore, it is impossible to think that this Monoreal has been created by anybody else. "Wa-lam yaku’l-lahu kufuwan ahad = And there is none equal to Him". For this Monoreal in His essential attributes, diverse manifestations and colourful splendours, is extremely consummate and perfect.
In order to elucidate this, let us present a mathematical example. If we accept that all numbers are the manifestation of number “one”, then it is true to say that in the world of numbers, number “one” is everything, for there is no number, which does not depend on number one for its existence. Thus it is evident that in counting and reckoning, the number “one” in reality does not depend on any other number. Nor has there been in reality any other number created from number “one”. Nor has the number “one” been created from any other number. Nor is there any other number equal to number “one”. For all numbers, in reality, are the different forms of number “one”.
Thus the different examples of this number or Monoreal are described in the entire Qur’an, such as: “Wherever you turn there is Allah’s essence (wajh)” (2:115). This all-embracing reality applies not only to directions, but also to the essence of things, as there is a manifestation of this reality in the essence of everything. For this wisdom-filled verse alludes to the infinity of the Monoreal and the word “wherever (ayn)” indicates infinite time, spacious universe and the essence of innumerable existents. Further, the “one who turns his face (mutawajjih)” is also related to time, space and the one who resides in the space. This means that there is a special manifestation of unity in the essence of everything. In other words the name of the essence of essences is Monoreal (wahdat al-wujud) or Allah.
This reality can be further elucidated by what the Qur’an says: “Everything is perishable except His essence” (28:88). Here what we have to reflect on is the use of the particle “except (illa)”, which is used in a sentence when someone wants to exempt one thing from the things of the same genus. That is, the thing because of its homogeneity is counted among other things, but because of its specific characteristic is exempt from the rest. This is the example of the essence of God or Monoreal that it is not separated from the inner subsistence of things, but their external annihilation cannot be applicable to it, therefore it is exempt from them. Nor do things perish at the same time and even the things that do perish, their luminous form and eternal figure abides in the Monoreality. Therefore, nothing decreases in this Monoreality at all. However, contrary to this, if we believe that in pre-eternity (azal) there was the essence of God, but there were no creatures, this would mean that there was a Creator, but without any creation and after billions of years, He created the creatures. In this case God would be contingent. That is, He changed from one state to another. That is, first He created nothing, then He created so many creatures.
Q149 Would you kindly explain the universal realities and recognitions mentioned in verse (2:115): “Wherever you turn, there is the face of Allah.”
A149 The (ta’wīlī) wisdom of this verse is that the light or luminous manifestation of the mazhar (locus of manifestation), whom He has granted the rank of “His face” (wajhu’llᾱh), is everywhere. This is because in the kingdom of God, certain things are whole (kull), certain things are universals (kulliyyᾱt) and one is the universal of universals (kull-i kulliyyᾱt), just as the light of the sun is everywhere in the domain of its system and the light of God surrounds the heavens and the earth and is present everywhere and observes everything.
This verse has been referred 11 times.