EXPATIATES ON THE HAQÎQAT

Hadrat Imâm-i Rabbânî says in the  67th letter of the third volume of his Maktûbât:​

This letter, written for Mîr Mansûr, expatiates on the haqîqat (true essence) of the Kâinât (universe) and on the difference between his, (i.e. Imâm Rabbânî’s) kashf and that of Hadrat Muhyiddîn-i-’Arabî:

This Kâinât, which we see as a wide, flat, and long expanse, i.e. all beings, are, in the view of Hadrat Muhyiddîn-i-’Arabî, and also according to his followers, (in the aggregate,) a single being that exists in the outside. And this single being (according to them) is Allâhu ta’âlâ Himself. The Kâinât, they say, is the appearance of this single being. They call this being zâhir-i-wujûd. They say that the various images that are in the knowledge Allâhu ta’âlâ have been reflected on this single being and appear in it in various shapes. They call these shapes in knowledge bâtin-i-wujûd and a’yân-i-thâbita. They say, “That being, which is single and simple, is being imagined as wide, long, and extansive shapes. The various shapes seen by all people, learned and unlearned ones alike, are Allâhu ta’âlâ. Unlearned people suppose these appearances are the ’âlam. The fact, however, is that the ’âlam have never gone out of the ’ilm-i-ilâhî (knowledge of Allâhu ta’âlâ). They do not exist in the outside. The ’âlam, which exist in knowledge in various shapes and images, have been reflected on the wujûd-i-ilâhî, which is like a mirror, and have appeared in the outside. Ignorant people suppose that these appearances are the ’âlam themselves.” Molla ’Abd-ur-Rahmân Jâmî ‘’alaih-ir-rahma’ expresses this as follows:

Of old we have divided creatures

Into many various classes.

Now we have understood perfectly:

All are one. That’s Dhât-i-ilâhî!