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Halaal to a man while his sister is Haraam?” He said: “Both of
them to us are Halaal, but he who is veiled says, Haraam! And so
we say Haraam for you.’ The Shaikh further mentions, ‘This
person, aside from his blatant belief (Kufr), has also contradicted
himself! If all existence is one, who is the veiled one and who is
the one who veils? Thus, one of their Shaikhs said to one of his
followers: ‘Whoever tells you that there is anything other than
Allah in the Universe has lied.’ The student then asked him: ‘Who
then is the one who lied?’ They said to another student: ‘These are
nothing but appearances.’ He said to them: ‘Are these
appearances other than that, you have introduced relativity (no
unity of existence!) and if they are the same, then it is as I said.’
The Concept was something to be hidden
A question arises, if the concept of Wahdat al-Wajood is the
lifeblood of Sufism and most scholars of Deoband consent with it.
Then why is this concept not propagated and popularized to the
masses of people?
The secret cult of the Sufi masters seem to have decided that the
belief of Allah’s Presence everywhere is enough for a common
man to believe in, without referring to the details of this concept.
The concept of Wahdat al-Wajood is supposed to be the Tawheed of
the Spiritually Elites, as Abu Bakr al-Kalabadhi mentioned in his
book that al-Junaid said to al-Shibli, “We studied this science
deeply, and then concealed it in the vaults, but you have come
and displayed it above the heads of people.” Al-Shibli replied: “I
speak and I listen, Is there any other in the world but I? 150
We mentioned earlier, Ashraf Ali Thanvi mentions his Pir’s (i.e.
Imdadullah Makki’s) infatuation with Wahdat al-Wajood.
Thereafter, he comments, “But to express these sayings or to
relate them is not for everyone.” 151
150 The Doctrines of the Soofis (Kitaab al-Ta’arruf li-Madhhab Ahl al-
Tasawwuf) (Eng. Trans.) p.145.
151 Malfoodhat Hakeem al-Ummat (a biography of Ashraf Ali Thanvi by
Muhammed Iqbal Quraishi) vol.1, p.244.
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