Wahdat-ul-Woujoud

Wahdat-ul-Woujoud is a state of mind and not a conception. It is a state of mind where a person does not perceive the world around him. He feels the presence of Allah Ta’ala everywhere. It is like someone whose gaze is so fixed on his beloved, that he does not feel the presence of anything else around him. To illustrate this, a poet says: “I saw only my beloved in an assembly which is filled with many people just as a person sees only the sun despite there also being the presence of stars in the sky”. Just like the stars disappear in the light of the sun, in the same way, everything else disappears in the existence of Allah Ta’ala. This is a very advanced stage in Deen which is experienced by the great scholars. It is something that needs to be experienced to know. It is like something whose taste can only be known by tasting it.

Everything has a time to understand it. A small child cannot understand what an adult experiences. At times he may find the action of that adult to be strange and absurd. This is because it is too early for him to understand it. He is not yet mature. His mind is not yet open and he is still very naïve. He must just understand that he should accept that which those elder than him, have understood. This will be better for him instead of/rather than rejecting the realities that are difficult for him to understand because the existence of realities does not depend on the comprehension of anyone to exist.

Wahdat-ul-Woujoud is a state of mind and a stage that requires maturity in Deen to understand it. Those who are ignorant of this stage cannot criticise those who are experiencing and going through it. If I am consuming something and I say that it is sweet, then how can you say that it is not sweet without tasting it? Thus, one should not act like small children.

[English version of "Wahdat-ul-Woujoud" – Al Jamiat – Vol.5 No.2]