Abd al-Kader Quotes on Unity (3 Quotes)

... The divine Reality, when it 'combines' with the creatures in a strictly conceptual mode, is hidden to the eyes of the spiritually veiled, who see only the creatures. Conversely, it is the creatures that disappear in the eyes of the masters of the Unity of contemplation (wahdat al-shuhud), for they see only God alone. Thus, both God and the creatures hide the other.... ... In the same way, when there is the state of extinction (fana') which the men of the way also call 'union' (ittihad) the worshipper and the Worshipped, the Lord and the servant, disappear together. If there is no worshipper, there is no Worshipped and if there is no servant, there is no Lord. For, when two terms are correlative, the disappearance of one necessarily brings about the disappearance of the other, and therefore they disappear together.

The first 'station of separation' corresponds to the state of the ordinary man who perceives the universe as distinct from God. Starting from here, the initiatic itinerary leads the being first to extinction in the divine Unity, which abolishes all perception of created things. But spiritual realization, if it is complete, arrives afterwards at the 'second station of separation' where the being perceives simultaneously the one in the multiple and the multiple in the one.

But, in conformity to His wisdom it was right that afterwards the Prophet should be sent back from the vision of pure Unity and that he should return ... toward the separative vision. For, He created man and jinn only that they should worship Him and know Him and, if they remained at the degree of pure Unity, there would be none to worship Him. In this separative vision, the Worshipped and the worshipper, the Lord and the servant, the Creator and the creature are again perceived.