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2023/04/14

** [Let's Talk Religion] The Unity of Being (Ibn 'Arabi) [24min] + Transcript

The Unity of Being (Wahdat al-Wujud)

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215,475 views May 11, 2020 #Mysticism #Sufism #Spirituality

This video focuses on the Sufi doctrine called "Wahdat al-Wujud" (sometimes The Oneness of Being), strongly associated with Ibn 'Arabi (d. 1240) and his school of thought.

If you want to watch a more thorough introduction to Ibn 'Arabi and The Unity of Being, you can watch my longer video on the subject (from which large portions of this video is taken):

• Ibn 'Arabi & The ...

Souces:

Chittick, William (2005). "Ibn Arabi: Heir to the Prophets". OneWorld Publications.

Chittick, William (1998). "The Self-Disclosure of God: Principles of Ibn al-'Arabi's Cosmology". State University of New York Press.

Chittick, William (2005). "The Sufi Doctrine of Rumi". World Wisdom, inc.

Chodkiewicz, Michel (1982). "The Spiritual writings of Amir 'Abd al-Kader". State University of New York Press.

Chodkiewicz, Michel (1993). "Seal of the Saints: Prophethood and sainthood in the doctrine of Ibn 'Arabi". Translated by Liadain Sherrard. The Islamic Texts Society.

Ibn 'Arabi - "The Ringstones of Wisdom (Fusus al-hikam)". Translated by Caner Dagli. Kazi Publications.

Ibn Arabi - "The Interpreter of Desires (Tarjuman al-ashwaq)". Translated by Reynold A. Nicholson. London: Royal Asiatic Society.

Ibn Arabi - "The Universal Tree and the Four Birds (al-ittihad al-kawni). Translated by Angela Jaffray. Oxford: Anqa Publishing.

Mahmud Shabistari - "Garden of Mystery: The Gulshan-i raz of Mahmud Shabistari". Translated by Robert Abdul Hayy Darr. Archetype.

Fakhruddin 'Iraqi - "Divine Flashes (Lama'at)". Translated by William C. Chittick & Peter Lamborn Wilson. The Classics of Western Spirituality Series. Paulist Press.

#Sufism #Mysticism #Spirituality

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Key moments

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Transcript

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0:00

it's quite common to hear people talk about the Western religions like

Christianity and Islam as these quite dry and honestly boring philosophies

where God is this man in the sky he was watching over us in judging us

and by contrast those so-called Eastern religions like Hinduism or Taoism or

Buddhism is often portrayed as these very spiritual and beautiful philosophies they aren't often non-dual and very interesting by comparison

0:31

according to many opinions and with a relationship to God that is a lot more

imminent and often as I said non-dual but not only is this dichotomy very

misguided and narrow it also undermines the incredibly strong and rich spiritual and often mystical traditions within these so-called Western religions

Sufism is often referred to as Islamic mysticism and while this term is rather

problematic there are certainly aspects of Sufism that we could call mystical and one of the most influential widespread and important philosophies or doctrines

within Sufism is something known as what at elbow Jude [?] or the unity of being

[Music]

the unity of being is a philosophy that has been rather controversial in certain circles and in certain times some Muslim scholars in history have viewed it as dangerous or sometimes even heretical but this should not just this should not confuse us into believing that it is some fringe philosophy

the unity of being as a doctrine

has been incredibly important and influential in the wider world of Sufism and Islam in general and
has even sometimes dominated the intellectual environment of the certain regions in Muslim lands and

Sufism itself is of course very entirely diverse with many competing schools of thought and orders and ideas and philosophies

one of these being of course the unity of being or what attitude the unity of being in short terms can be described to use pre simplifying terms as a monastic or even non dual philosophy or school of thought within Sufism

it states that

there is only one reality which is God
and that all creation are or is his manifestation

this philosophy is often strongly connected to the medieval Sufi thinker

and mystic Mohideen Ivn Arabi whom I've made a very long video about that you can find on my channel but this isn't to say that if inaudible was the first to

express these ideas or similar ideas in Sufism

a very famous early example is the Baghdad Sufi man surah al-hajj who

is said to have entered a spiritual ecstasy and proclaimed an al haqq or I am the truth for I am the reality basically saying I am God.

similarly by acid bastami who also lived in the 9th century once proclaimed glory be to me both signify a kind of annihilation of the individual self into the absolute reality that is God.

but the school of a banana bee is the school that is most strongly associated with this idea and that is this school that I will be basing this presentation on.

As I've said I've made a much longer video where I talk about it but not abhi and his thought in a more comprehensive matter.

and I should also point out that much of this video we'll be using parts of that

same script so you want a more thorough introduction to these ideas and to even out of in particular and I suggest you go watch that video

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God is the only being in existence

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so what is what a tell would or the unity of being in short terms

the adoption of the unity of being is based on

taking monotheism to its most extreme and

it not only states that

God is the only divinity in existence
he is the only being in existence

one of God's so-called 99 names in the Quran is al Haq which means the truth or the real or the reality with this in mind

the Islamic Proclamation la ilaha ilallah isn't simply read as

there is no god but God or
there is no divinity but the divinity

but instead as

there is no reality but the real
or thus ultimately there is nothing but God to a banana bee and his followers
there is only one singular reality and that reality is God

a banana be identifies God in his utmost essence

as would or being or existence so God is being he isn't a being he is being itself

and since Islamic theology requires that God not only be the only divinity

but also that he is absolutely one that must necessarily mean

that being or existence itself is one absolutely one

this also means that if anyone says that anything exists except of God

one is actually committing shidduch or polytheism which is the greatest sin in Islam since you are saying that there is a being that isn't God

but being is God and that basically means you're saying that there is another God but if God is the only reality

what are we what is creation there appears to be multiplicity everywhere

what what's that a banana be anything other than God

which is creation basically is utterly non-existent

it's a kind of illusion he writes

quote the world is illusory and has no real existence

this is what is meant by imagination

hi al you have been made to imagine that the world is

something separate and independently real outside the absolute

but in reality this is not so

but it isn't an illusion in the ultimate sense

we do have a certain existence on the physical plane

it's not all a dream like an Advaita Vedanta

and Hinduism for example the illusion is the idea of separation that I exist as a

separate being when in reality only God exists

the only true self is God's self

and ours our only relative reflections of this self

one of the more celebrated scholars for Abu Dhabi schools

Muhammad shall be story or a masterpiece of Persian poetry called the Gulshan Yas in which he xpick AIT's the doctrine of the unity of being and he writes quote

when absolute existence is alluded to people

use the word I as a matter of expression

when reality has taken form through individuation

you refer to it in language with the word I

you and I are accidents of the essence of being like openings and the covering of the lamp of being a banana

be himself loves to use metaphors to describe this relationship between God in the world

one of them is where he describes it almost like a lights a pure white light which is God's being that travels through a prism

and creates a multitude of colors which would be the world

the colors themselves are never the same as the white light

just as the creatures or creation is never the same as God

but at the same time they consist of nothing but the white light

latina Rafi another famous writer in the a banana b-school writes the following in his book a llama at quote

come then into my eyes and look
and you will see a sun shining through a thousand bits of glass
beaming to plain sight through each array of color
why should any difference appear between this one and that

all light is one but colors a thousandfold

if you've read Hindu philosophy or Taoism or Christian mystics like Meister

Eckhart Allah

this will seem very familiar to you

in fact the doctrine of the unity of being sometimes bears a striking resemblance to philosophies like Advaita Vedanta or certain ideas within Taoism

first among many other things

there are differences of course but they share aspects explained thus far

with a single absolute non dual reality being identified with God

and denying the reality of anything beside him

but what creates the forms of the world themselves

what is the world when it is not pure being and

where does multiplicity come from

it will help a bit to try to look at things like the people back then would have viewed the world partly thanks to a benzina or Avicenna philosophically

one had at this time started to separate between existence or being assured on the one hand and essence or what 'no SMAW here on the other when talking about a thing or an object in the world like this table in front of me

we can ask two basic questions about it

we can ask is it and we can ask what is it

the first question is it is a question of existence or being and

the answer to that question would be yes or no

the second question what is it

gives a completely different answer and

this is the question of essence or what Ness

in this case a table

table is independent of whether or not it exists

it is an essence or what Ness that can either exist or not exist

it can either have existence or which would being

or it can have it can not have existence

or being so according to what a turtle was

you would in terms of the existence or the being the was you would of the objects of the world they are God

because remember God is being / he is being itself / is the only being /

and so God is thus our being

he is our being however in terms of our essences

are what nasai are absolutely not God

we are that which by definition God isn't

I as a human being feel if home cannot possibly be God because I am everything that God isn't

I am I am finite I am temporal I am mortal I have a certain form these are all things that God cannot possibly be

so this is the relationship that we have here

we are simultaneously God and not God

we are absolute existence and we are absolute

Nanak systems we are being and non-being all at the same time

but it doesn't end here

these essences or what misses also has a relationship with God even if they aren't God directly

here we will need to have some basic knowledge of Islamic theology again so according to mainstream islamic theology

God is absolutely transcendent beyond any creaturely qualities

so he doesn't have any attributes or qualities that any created things or creatures have

but according to the Koran and mainstream Islamic theology

he still has certain attributes and each of his names like al-haq or the ar-rahman rahim and so on

all these names that he's referred to by corresponds to a certain attribute that he has

so al haqq means the truth or the real he is the real he is the truth and

a man means the merciful he's merciful

Rob means the Lord for some

all these names that he has is also an attribute that he has not traditionally in the Koran

it is thought said that God has 99 names and thus also 99 attributes

but according to a banana

be the names are actually infinite he has an infinite amount of names and an infinite amount of attributes and qualities and these attributes and qualities have a very important role to play

in creation there's a hadith Qudsi a saying of the Prophet Muhammad where God is speaking through him

in which God says

I was a hidden treasure and I loved to be known

so I created the world so that I might be known

in gotta be loves this hadith as he used it frequently

it is the key to understanding creation and the purpose behind it

I was a hidden treasure refers to God's essence and the attributes that are hidden therein I loved to be known

he wants to he wants this hidden treasure to be experienced

and of course he knows his own attributes since he well he is he

but he still wants his essence and attributes to be experienced through someone who is not him

so I created the world so that I might be known

therefore the world is created as a way for God to experience

himself through someone other than himself

but since this hidden treasure is to be own through the world

that must mean that the world contain traces of these

attributes and qualities of God

right

this is absolutely true - banana be

the loci of God's self-disclosure

or God's self manifestation

so everything in the world

every essence in philosophical terms

every particle of this world reflect and reveal God's qualities and attributes

in an indirect sense like in a mirror

this is based partly on a Quranic verse that

a banana be loves to apply

which goes

whichever way you turn

there is the face of God

now remember the things of the world or creation itself is not God

he is absolutely transcendent of them

but in a real sense they reflect everything in the world

the entire cosmos reflects God's attributes

and thus they are God in a sense

- in any case since God is infinite

and so are the possibilities of his attributes

there is no end to the constant self manifestation of God in the world

at every moment at every instant the world is created anew

revealing a new self disclosure

the world in that sense becomes the continuous unfolding of God's manifestation in limited form

it's the unfolding of possibilities inherent in actuality

the essences of the world

the things are contained in God's knowledge

beyond time and space

as something he calls the Ayana Thabet ah

the immutable entities these are non-existent in themselves

but function almost as archetypes that determine what is created in the actual cosmos

and these I Anitha bita are themselves determined by God's attributes

as they in their totality reflect him

so God has these attributes of qualities

and then he has a knowledge of his own attributes or qualities

which are infinite so there's an infinite number of possibilities an infinite number of ways that his attributes can be manifested and

all these ways all these forms in which he can manifest himself are contained in

his own knowledge beyond time and after which when he wants to create something

he simply gives those archetypes those iana Thabet ah

he gives them being and at each instant is a new creation

at East instant is a new reflection of God

that's constantly unfolding before our eyes

I know this is a whole lot to take in

and you may have to watch this a few times if you this is all new to you but

believe it or not that is actually the basic very basic simple explanation of

the adoption of what a Telugu ruled

it is you could see a non dual philosophy

15:30

where reality is ultimately oneness and

nothing exists except for God

he is all of being and he is the one in whose being my being resides

but there are many other nuances to it that make it a lot more complicated as I hope I have shown you

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Not patheism

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some scholars Western scholars especially in the past have referred to

a banana B as a pantheist

and of course well this is understandable

it really isn't that accurate at least from the traditional prosperity

traditional understanding of the word pantheism now if not abhi does in a way affirm that the world is God

since there is nothing but God but at the same time he's very careful to point

out that the world is happened

at the same time absolutely not God and that God completely transcends the world

in fact the world is as I've said the very definition of what God isn't in terms of

itself the world is absolute nothingness

non being who has quote never smelled a whiff of existence

this point is finally expressed by the 19th century figure Amira birth Khadija xiety famous for his defense against French colonialism who was also a follower of banana be on his school he states quote

I am two things according to two different relations

with respect to you I am the eternal for ever and ever

I am the necessary being who epitomizes himself

with respect to me I am pure non being who has never breathed the perfume of existence

the adventitious being who remains non-existent in his adventitious Ness

so as I mentioned earlier

the entire cosmos is a manifestation a reflection of the entirety of God

names are the entirety of God's attributes

while a certain object in the world or a certain thing only reflects one or a certain combination of certain attributes

or names the entire cosmos reflects all of the names

so the creation as a whole is a direct reflection of God's entire nature

his whole all of his attributes

the cosmos is thus often referred to by Manabi as the macrocosm or the great man in san al Kabeer

but the human being also has a central role to play in this scheme and

he is often referred to as the microcosm or the small man in San

elsewhere the human being thus also reflects all the names and all the attributes

but in a contained form

so the human being is a microcosmic reflection of the macrocosm

that is the entire universe and so

everything that exists on the inside access exists on the outside as above

so below and and and so on man in his most perfect and primordial form is known as insanity camel or the perfect or universal man in sanik camel is a designation of god's perfect manifestation in human form

a human being who has reached a state of complete self annihilation

where he recognizes himself as nothing but God's reflection

and acts accordingly in the perfect man

God is finally able to witness and glorify himself like in a mirror

one of the more famous writers and poets from the school of a banana be as a man by the name of father Dean Iraqi who wrote a incredible piece of

was a combination of prose and poetry called LaMotte

which means divine flashes

and in this book he presents this relationship between God and the world through a triad of love lover and beloved which is a rather common theme within Sufi poetry now

love can be seen as the utmost essence of God being itself and lover and beloved are the relationship between the human being and God as he is experienced by the being man is the lover who longs for his beloved

which is God and they gaze upon each other like in in a mirror

in mirrors so in a sense

God sees his own reflection in the mirror of the human being and
the human being sees his own reflection in the mirror of God and
these two these lovers want desperately to be close to each other
they want to unite with each other and so
the human being cleans this mirror of his heart

so that it more and more can reflect more perfectly God's own reflection and

when this process is finally finished and reaches its culmination

the two are finally United

and they reflect each other perfectly

and in this meeting they realized that the difference between lover and beloved was only really an illusion

and the only thing that ever existed was the reality of love itself

which is identical with God's essence of that or being itself as such

then the eye of certainty opens and staring inwardly at himself

he finds himself lost vanished but he finds the friend and

when he looks still deeper realizes the friend is himself

he exclaims

beloved
I sought your hair and there
asked for news of you from all I met
then I saw you through myself and found we were identical
now I blush to think I ever searched for the signs of you

the goal of these while these Sufi practices or the goal of life in general

is to fight against your nafs your ego or your lower self

and finally reach a unity

or you to unite with God

21:04

but to a banana bee and many other Sufis

there is never any uniting with God

this would actually be an impossibility since that would mean that's there was an

imperfection in God if something can be added to him

non-existence can never unite with absolute being

this is just an impossibility

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self-knowledge

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instead if none of it puts a lot of emphasis on self-knowledge

since these the human being and the self is a direct reflection of God as

everything else is the key

to sort of say

enlightenment is actually

to know yourself
to gain knowledge of your own self

there's a hadith where the Prophet Muhammad is thought to have said

know yourself and you shall know your Lord

thus the goal is to realize that

one's own separate existence is a kind of illusion

as we are only the continuous self manifestations of God

thus to know ourselves and to know our soul in a proper way is

to know God so there's no uniting with God

the part of us that is creature

the part of us that is separate from him can never unite with him

the goal is to realize that there is nothing but God and

that our being is his being

put in another way

uniting with God is not a process
it's a realization of what has always been

we don't unite with God

we realized that we in a sense were God all along

that about summarizes it

====

it should be point out that there have been

diverging opinions and understandings within Sufism

regarding details and certain aspects of this idea or this philosophy

but it has been incredibly influential and important in the history of Sufism

and has had effects or influence on many regions of the Muslim world

a banana bee school and the unity of being has had a particularly strong

spread in the Persian and Indian regions

and as you can imagine its meeting with certain Vedanta schools of Hinduism

garnered some incredibly interesting results which I can and probably will

dedicate several videos to in the future

but that's for another day

in any case

the unit of being has also been a very divisive philosophy while it was rather

popular in certain Sufi circles

others have rejected it completely

scholars like Ivn Tamiya or Ivn Haldol and many more have seen it as dangerous and even heretical and there always been a debate even though has been very popular in certain times and places

there has always been a debate about its orthodoxy so to speak

I will be doing more videos about these subjects and about individuals from a banana bee school

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this is one of my favourite subjects to talk about

so be sure that I will be doing more material like

and I hope this video has shown you that

it isn't only in the so-called Eastern religions that

we find deep spirituality or even non-dual understandings of God

but that the same kinds of philosophies or ideas can be found in our own Western

context as well

if you want to support the channel you can like the video or leave a comment and subscribe I'll see you next time

24:13

[Music]

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1,251 Comments

Wren Little

3 months ago

I love your seminars. As an old Christian woman with an open heart I enjoy learning about my brothers and sisters.

How lovely and deep are their thoughts. We are so close but hold ourselves apart.

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Kiru

2 years ago

Peace! I just felt like I should express some appreciation for your work on this channel. As a Muslim, it seems to me to be a great contribution and help in clearing up misconceptions around various people, their thoughts, and movements. I can also learn here about other religions, if they are as well respresented as I find Islam here to be. Keep up the good work!

111

Let's Talk Religion

2 replies

shadowkill546

2 years ago

Many many years ago when I began my spiritual path on my own, I kept meditating on la illah ha il Allah, doing deeper and deeper into it. It was like layers of veils were being peeled off of my mind, and every time that would happen, a deeper meaning of this Divine Statement would come to mind, and I would likewise dive into that. It kept occurring until the meaning came to me that there is no reality except God. And in that moment, I felt real.

395

45 replies

Aaron

2 years ago

You've become my favorite religious YouTuber and I just started watching your videos. Amazing.

174

Let's Talk Religion

5 replies

Cali Caluang

2 years ago

Beautifully explained, please continue making videos on Ibn Arabi(qs) and Muslim gnostics and mystics

136

Let's Talk Religion

9 replies

Heghin Barseghyan

2 years ago

I study Oriental studies and I am very interested in Islam and in religions generally. As a student I find your videos very interesting and informative. When I want to watch one of your videos, I need to grab a pen and a notebook, and I usually end up making many notes. Thank you for the great academic content. I am looking forward to watching all of your videos, and do further reading on the topics that interest me more. I hope one day I will know as much about religions as you do. :) Also thank you for always mentioning the main sources you use.

Much love and respect from Armenia!

Let's Talk Religion

4 replies

2 years ago

The line about God and creation viewing each other in mirrors was awesome

1 reply

Mohamed Barnewi

1 year ago

dude my youth has been centered around contemplating and consuming these things, but you manage to rock my world every time. thank you so much.

5 replies

Miral Abualjadail

2 years ago

One of the best explanations for an often misunderstood concept: "The Akbarian Wahdat al-Wujud (Oneness of Being) transcends duality without denying it: Haqq is Haqq and khalq is khalq. To use numerical symbolism... the number 1,000 gets all its reality from the number 1, without which it is nothing. Even so, one cannot write 1 = 1,000 or 1,000 = 1, which would be to deny the unity of the one or the multiplicity of the multiple. The notion of theophany comes clear in its crucial sense: the three zeroes of the number 1,000 (the word 'sifr,' which designates zero means, precisely, 'nothing,’ ‘emptiness’) in themselves are nonexistent. But preceded by the number 1, they express the series of epiphanies by means of which this principial 1 manifests to itself and by which each is unique: an instantaneous lightning flash of a Name which is not God, but which is not, either, other than God." - Michel Chodkiewicz

135

15 replies

Seekers of Unity

2 years ago

This exposition of Wahdat al-Wujud was so fine, a diamond of a video and gift to the world. Ibn Arabi would be proud to see youtube used to spread and explain ideas of unity like this. Keep em coming.

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Let's Talk Religion

29 replies

Lavida Escorta

1 year ago (edited)

This is my favourite part of Sufism. Especially, the infinite manifestations of god through "A'yan al-thabita" sounds a lot like the multiverse hypothesis in theoretical physics in which we have infinite worlds being created with different or similar laws of physics (either the many world interpretation of quantum mechanics or the multiverse of the eternal inflation theory). I always found the concept of "A'yan althabita" very similar to laws of physics. I absolutely loved the fact that you very correctly used images of the galaxies and the universe while you were talking about these very complex concepts.

One small comment about Macrocosm and Microcosm. As much as I have read in Arabic and Persian texts, they are not translations of "Insan al-kabir" (Great man) and "Insan al-saghir" (small man). They are translations of "the great cosmos/world" (Aalam al-kabir) and "the small cosmos/world" (Aalam al-saghir). And the idea behind it is that the human being is the small world which means that the human being includes all attributes of the world within itself. This idea which surely had existed way before Sufism and even Islam, can again be interpreted via a scientific perspective. It means that all the laws of physics that are valid out there in the world (for particles, planets and galaxies), they are all also valid inside us humans. We are not fundamentally different to the world.

1 reply

Faizulla Khan

2 years ago

Having watched your other videos I feel you enjoyed doing this segment on Ibn Al Arabi the most. The excitement in your voice is unmistakable. Keep up the good work.

Pragya the Polyglot

2 years ago

Bought tears to my eyes. Thank you so much. ‏لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ

8 replies

Rasheda Thaha

2 years ago (edited)

Very impressed with your explanation, thank you for this video. It is indeed good to see someone talk of the real Islam, the Islam that the Prophet (Sal) and the great Saints taught. Today this type of teachings are covered by Wahhabism. Wahhabism does not accept spirituality, neither follow any tradition of the Prophet (Sal), instead divert people from the real teachings of Islam. The real teachings of Islam today can only be found in Sufism and through these teachings one can reach closeness to his/her Lord to the state of saying 'be' and it is, also internal eye can open to see what others cannot see, past present and future. There is no limit to what your Lord can give you when you get close to Him, hence we pray to be among the favoured ones, and favoured are those who become the Saints.

17 replies

Jack Taggart

2 years ago

Absolutely fantastic - I am so glad I found this channel. That was a lucid exposition

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8 replies

Rocco Sisto

2 years ago

Beautifully presented. Thank you for this video and I look forward to more. Your knowledge is vast and yet I can see your ease in and enthusiasm in sharing your passion. Thank you.

1 reply

1 year ago (edited)

A great explanation, even though I'm exploring these topic for years, I've found a lot of new ideas from this video. Another point idk why you didn't even remind about Rumi when talking about Wahdat-al Wujud and Love, when he known as one of the greatest teachers of this concept.

Erick Amador

1 year ago

High respects for your knowledge brother 🙏🏽 you are lighting spiritual flames 🔥💯🧘🏽‍♂️

1 reply

Oatmeal Man

2 years ago

I come back to this video over and over again. To me this is the best description of God that I have yet found.

3 replies

corey hingley

5 months ago

If you could provide links to the wonderful art that is often on the thumbnails that would be fantastic <3

Halal Curb

2 years ago (edited)

Superb presentation. Great work. I’m so glad for the notes, text, illustrations and graphics; especially for such complex and deeply nuanced topics. Furthermore these additions (to the ubiquitous talking head camera shot) are therefore fundamental while adding texture to the presentation thereby cultivating interest to the audience.

Ali T

2 years ago

Omg! Im seriously falling in love with your channel! Thank you for this fabulous content ❤️

3 replies

Trent Brown

2 years ago

Thank you for this beautiful and very clear introduction. What would you recommend for further reading? Would Chittick's book on al Arabi's cosmology (mentioned in your video description) be a good starting point? Are there any of al Arabi's own writings you would recommend to a newcomer?

david de la paz

1 year ago

Excellent video! inspiring and enlightening from beginning to end

Beatnik X

1 year ago

My favourite religious historian. Your work is so valuable, and necessary in contributing to the current movement of intergrating the best of Human knowledge, and endeavour, in the purpose of Human spiritual evolution. In my view anyway, JZK. :-)

2 replies

Everything and Anything

1 year ago

Thank you for taking the time and effort to make this video for us 'the viewers'. Brilliant video as always, well balanced critique and exploration of this difficult topic. mA. May Allah grant us all knowledge, wisdom and success in both worlds.

1 reply

Cesar Bujosa

4 months ago

Thank you so much. I have been wondering about Sufi/Muslim non-duality for some time. It's great to become better acquainted. Truly appreciate your work.

Mona Taher

1 year ago

That is profound wisdom, thank you 🙏🏼

Ribal Haj

1 year ago

This channel is such a gem!! Please keep it up!!

Mohammad Emamiyeh

1 year ago

Really great and simple explanation !about the unity of being !

Love the prism example and table example !!✨

1 reply

Wicked Haris - COC

2 years ago

your Arabic Pronounciation is so good😍

el hadji oumar gueye

7 months ago

Excellent video, I think it’s the first time I saw a profound explanation of this Sufism concept made by a non-Muslim. I discover your channel this week, since then, I watched a lot of your videos.

I don’t know, but if you can also talk about the concept of ‘Haqiqatul Muhamadiyya’ it will be great.

Again, thank you for your videos.

Ricia Rites

1 year ago

Goodness, the longer I listened the more I GOT in my own way. Relistening! But long wanted as 'Naf', grin how very much I appreciate the 'drink of art wk' on my big screen, that also draws me back to your work every time I 'make time' and am changed by doing so. No matter the topic. You are valued and appreciated. Naf melting?

Fire-Toolz

1 year ago

absolutely incredible.

AJ Bella

2 years ago

This is the Truth and it transcends ALL religions. I have came to these same Truths and am just hearing about all of this right now. Pretty amazing

Max Christian Esteffan

1 year ago

Really cool explanations.

You're good. It's because you grasp the concepts you can explain it so clearly.

AAC

1 year ago

I really admire you as your a real researcher. May Allah blessed you

Jenny Geller

4 months ago

Thenk you so much for sharing your knowledge and explaining everything so beautifully. Thank you for showing the connection of the Islamic world to the rest of the religions, as they basically talk about the same, only ecpressed differently, and the Islamic way of expression very clear and beautiful. I live in Israel and it's very important for me to understand this in order to be able to talk about this, you bringing these truths and teachings here makes it possible, so thanks again :) Hope we can bring peace within ourselves by listening to what your'e sharing and stop these unproductive and destructive ways of life.

Mahasti Kia

1 year ago

Beautifully and masterfully presented. Thank you! 🌹

Malcolm Dean

4 months ago

Good job. Also suggested for reading: "Creation and the Timeless Order of Things: Essays in Islamic Mystical Philosophy", by one of Chittick's teachers, Toshihiko Izutsu, 1994. Out of print, altho copies are still around. There are also PDF's available free online. A series of seven essays, including 'An analysis of wahdat- al-wujud'. From the publisher: "Brings together Toshihiko Izutsu's most important essays on Islamic mystical philosophy. Though primarily concerned with Iranian mystics and philosophers, this penetrating group of essays displays Izutsu's unique insights in comparative philosophy by comparing and contrasting Islamic Sufism and philosophy with Vedanta, Mahayana Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, Archetypal Psychology and modern Existentialism. Fluent in over 30 languages, Izutsu's comparative research is based on careful reading of original texts in Persian, Arabic, Chinese, Pali, Sanskrit, Greek, and Japanese. The studies in this volume explore the deep structures of mystical insight and experience."

1 reply

Rosie Begum

2 years ago

You have got a subscriber. You go into the most comprehensive knowledge of Islamic historical past and scholars. Ibn Arabi has become my fav. He’s full of knowledge and the nuanced tolerance that he has shown to practice is astronomical. Enjoy listening to you.

Swat is Quantum

1 year ago

Bro your videos are mind blowing. Omg these quotes are so beautiful 😍

Vladimír Korbel

1 year ago

This is amazing. And it happened to me :)

After He’s taken me through Heaven and Hell,

He manifested Himself as a ray of light of exact straightness;

I felt being one with that ray of light as if it was the only thing which truly existed;

He shined through my mind, paused, turned around, pointed at Himself and asked:

Who am I?

He laughed. I laughed too, bathing in love and tears.

3 replies

ishq noor

2 years ago

Thank you for such a lucid explanation with lots of valuable references. God bless your work - making "wine" for the soul accessible without diluting it.

M A Khan

1 year ago

Love described here is ishq of passionate love

Lover is ashiq passionate lover and beloved is mashooq. Be passionately loved.

Delights

1 year ago

Your videos are the best I've found describing these different religions. Love your content.

deepak arya

1 year ago

You are providing great content through this channel. .commendable work....Thank you

Shekeb ramzi

2 years ago

Watched for the second time and it amazed me. Thanks for the beautiful content.

wejie00

2 years ago

Thank you for an informative video.

I am on the side of such philosophy being "dangerous" since it needs extensive and deeper knowledge and understanding which not every Tom, Dick, and Harry can afford.

1 reply

Marcus Aurelius

1 year ago (edited)

Bro, your Arabic pronounciation is on the spot. I dont speak Arabic but have friends that do, sounds legit to me

Ray Stephens

2 years ago

Thank you. Well sublimed by your oratory presentation, to listen without also thinking. I, myself, natural and contemporary physik look forward to more.

Muhammad Bnu Ümar Al Fazazi محمد بن عمر الفزازي

2 years ago

I absolutely loved it!

mkhodr1

2 years ago

Great information! Absolutely the best religion based channel i've seen so far with unbiased information. Thank you for that

Andy The Dishwasher

2 years ago

I really appreciate that you are making this material digestible for the current generation of youth. The struggle between Aristotelian and Platonic metaphysical frameworks seems to be at the core of many western religious conflicts throughout history. From what I've read, it really came down to differing distribution patterns of the two philosophers' works across Europe and Asia Minor, but the result seems to have been that Platonic monism became far more popular among philosophers in the Islamic world whereas Aristotelian ideas became more deeply embedded into the Christian context. I think the reason that doctrines like Wahdat Al-Wujud were so controversial was the fact that monists, due to the width of their worldview, are rather difficult to control or govern. Dualistic doctrines tend to make social engineering a lot easier because they allow for us/them mentalities to be cultivated and exploited. I would be interested to see counterexamples to this, but I can't envision a monist philosophical framework that would compel one to participate in state-sponsored violence.

1 reply

john smith

1 year ago

Super skeptical of all this, but it’s super interesting.

Nicholas Mixon

2 years ago

This was beautiful

daniel2000

2 years ago

Man! Your channel is really great! Love it! ♥️♥️

1 reply

Ronald Palmer

3 months ago

A gem! Thank you for your greatly informative videos.

Mansoor Lashari

1 year ago

What a great video! I'm so glad I stumbled upon this channel! Keep it up man! Rooting for you and your future videos!

1 reply

azhar noshahi

2 years ago

Great to see a video on a difficult topic of wahdat-al-wajud. To understand this concept one needs to go through functional qulb (spiritual parallel of heart) concept that sufis generally practice and claim that the whole of the universe may not encompass God but He may reside in the instigated qulb of His slaves who selflessly worship Him regardless of any temptation of heaven or fear of hell and seek merely love of God only.

Let's Talk Religion

4 replies

balaji venkatesan

2 years ago

Just when I thought this shares the same concept of Advaita, you said it! Pretty interesting to see similarities!

1 reply

Ozum Asirim

1 year ago

Nice video, very informative and accurate.

Fouad

1 year ago

Fabulous content! Thank you!

Siti Nurlaila bt Jakaria Saimi

2 years ago

Thanks for making this video, absolutely there so many person out here was asking this topic

Waiting for more..

Martin Cooper

2 years ago

Thank you for sharing your great knowledge .

hhfeaky

1 year ago

Absolute a clear explanotion. May Allah bless you. 👌

Maleeha

2 years ago

Oh it touched my heart. Am in tears. Jaxakallah. Jazakallah. Jazakallah. May Allah bless you with the realisation of his eternal nearness. Remember in prayers. Keep it up🙌🏻

5 replies

Life Vibes

1 year ago

Loved this. Thank you 😊

Cartolaia

11 months ago

Love, thank you a million times for this precious work. What is the haunting music in the background?

Cody Wurtz

1 year ago

I've studied religion for years however never knew how diverse and complex Islam was . It would be cool to meet you one day a lot of questions.

1 reply

Tokyo Drift Guy

5 months ago

Anyone know the name of the soundtrack used in this video? I love how eery and mystical it sounds in the background

Telcantor

1 year ago

These talks are so well done, and for me Ill listen to a few times. Very dense. Also how can I get the background music? Thanks

chital_shikari

2 years ago

God is Greater, the Greatest.

I type this with tears in my eyes. Thank you for this video and for this channel. May God bless you and Guide you to Him. Ameen.

31 replies

NABEEL ABDELABGI HA MAD TALHA

2 months ago

Loved it ❤

Muhammad Khan

2 years ago

Amazing 🙏

Konstantine Muradov

1 year ago (edited)

Interesting how did you gain 200K subscribers, targeting such small auditory of interest ? Most likely because of quality of work you do.

Watched original video about Ibn Arabi - you have to do continuation you promised.

I really do enjoy comprehensiveness of information that comes from your videos.

hari priya

1 year ago

I want to be sure I don’t miss it when you publish the video on Unity of Being meets Advaita Vedanta. Is it coming soon?

Haleema Saadia

2 years ago

Beautifully explained

Noorul Soraya

2 years ago

Brilliant....well researched and very clearly presented. Keep up the good work. Stay blessed

Let's Talk Religion

2 replies

Happy Banana

1 year ago

Thank you for helping me make peace with my own birth religion, thank you for unveiling the beauty within it that has been cluttered by nonsense egos ❤️

2 replies

TECH2AUTO

4 months ago

thank you for doing so much research and study of sufism and presenting it in way which everyone can at least understand some of it . u always try make it simpal but occasionally it get in to mind . THANK YOU FOR WORK ON THIS TOPIC

Ali Ahmad

1 year ago

Listening to you moves the flame inside my chest

FRANK TODD

2 years ago

I want to thank you for the making of your many videos. They are quite enlightening. I found the subject in this video distinctly provocative, because it reminds me of the pre-Socratic philosopher Parmenides. I suspect you are familiar with this philosopher, who also advocated for a “unity of being”, and whose ideas also are quite challenging to fully grasp. I am curious to know if there is any connection between these two traditions, if perhaps Ibn ‘Arabi might have come across the dialogue by Plato.

Adam A Karu

2 months ago

Thank you for the presentation I can never have enough listening to you.

Majid Khakwani

2 years ago

Still experiencing the feeling is different from hearing the philosophy May Allah help you to experience it. Sometime you will experience it and it will not be permanent. So at the end you will live with the attribute Allah want you to live with.

2 replies

Janika Mahmud

2 years ago

Very thoughtful. love your channel.

Abu Sayed

2 years ago

Jazakallah khair!one of the best channel I have discovered recently!

Most people(including prominent Maulanas) misunderstand the real concept of wahdat ul wujud, perhaps because it's very very subtle,if you just step up the line, misunderstandings may prevail verily.

Anyway brother,plz make a video or plz explain main difference between wahdat ul wujud and Hindu Advaita principle(by which Hindus verily justify their Idol worshipping is valid which is worst sin in islam!!!)?

I have been in confusion....

1 reply

Mercy

1 year ago

thank you for your post and time you take with this You're a great teacher do note body language, facial expressions.Do we not communicate with our body and our languages are twice removed from the truth. do we not have our own personal dictionaries interpretations but our body languages speak one language.

smiles

Wayne Ramwell

4 months ago

Fantastic video that very neatly summarises this often misunderstood concept within Sufism.

Nima Ghaemi

1 year ago

I appreciate your explanations of unity of being. It was great. Thank you

3 replies

Tahir Abbasi

2 years ago

I am so impressed by this young scholar. He has been blessed by the Divine