The Absolute Truth & Certainty
in Cognition
of
The Lord
of the Universe
Chapter 2
On Zuhur (Emergence) of the
Divine Sifāt (Attributes)
&
The Description of the Maqām
(Station) of Knowledge
Section 2
Apercu
Discussion
Join
Reality (Haqiqa) [1]
The nature of the Fitra-Idrāk
(Human’s Innate Perception & Comprehension) [3] is that of the
Basit (Vast, Indivisible & Pure) Ma’refat (Gnosis) [3] and thinking
processes do not apply neither they
are achieved
(by any efforts or thoughts). Indeed thoughts veil this form of
Ma’refat (Gnosis) and that is why (Prophet?) has said that, “Do not ponder about the Essence of Allah”
(Hadith?). The place for thoughts is the Human-Mind-Idrāk (Human Mind’s
Perception & Comprehension) for this reason the thinking processes
are deferred to Āya (Nature’s Paragon Wonders), “and contemplate the (wonders of) creation
in the heavens and the earth” (Koran [3:191]) and “Say: "Behold all that is in the heavens
and on earth"” (Koran [10:101]).
Reality (Haqiqa)
The Segmented-Idrāk (Segmented
Perception & Comprehension) is Ma’refat (Gnosis) and it is not the
same as the Human-Mind-Idrāk (Human Mind’s Perception &
Comprehension). The first one its knowledge is Basit (Vast, Indivisible
& Pure) and the latter the knowledge is composite, “You will see them looking at thee, but
they see not” (Koran [7:198]).
End.
Apercu
In the first Reality you read
that deep within the human essence far below the hierarchy of the mind
& the reasoning, there is a form of comprehension that is Ma’refat
(Gnosis). This Ma’refat is a
reality, like your lung is a reality. What is peculiar about
this form of cognition is that it is a unit with no discernable parts.
In contrast, the surface human cognition is compartmentalized e.g.
memory, intelligence, computation, learning and so on.
In the second Reality Sheikh
Shabestari talks about a segmented comprehension i.e. a form of
cognition that is a part of a much lager collective not of this world
but of another realm i.e. the Divine Realm. The origin of this form of
cognition is a reality i.e. within us there is a cognitive faculty that
is a part from another universe.
Adding the two realities we
conclude: The indivisible cognition deep with the human essence and the
cognition that is a part from the collective of the Divine Realm, are
indeed one and the same! “The person who knows his Nafs (Psyche) indeed
knows his Lord” is the hint pointing at this conclusion.
In other words, Ma’refat
(Gnosis) deep within us is the same Divine Ma’refat (Gnosis) that is
emanated from the Divine Realm. However muse & pondering blocks
this form of cognition! Therefore the thoughts are deferred to musing
the nature. If you apply these thoughts to the Divine matters you will
not understand anything. Therefore you need to learn when to apply your
thoughts and that is exclusively for dealing with life and this world.
In order to be cognizant of
anything in the Divine Realm you need to use the deep burrowed Ma’refat
(Gnosis). For example, people were not able to understand what the
Prophet told them, “You will see them
looking at thee, but they see not” (Koran [7:198]) because they
only used their worldly cognition. (The second ‘see’ in the verse could
mean ‘understand’, Allah knows best)
Sheikh Shabestari is teaching
you how to use your intellectual powers i.e. when to apply your
reasoning & rationalization and when to apply the Ma’refat
(Gnosis). These two forms of comprehension
& cognition are indeed the obverse faces of the same coin.
[1] Haqiqa is the awareness
& consciousness that you are subsisting & facing the Al-Haqq
(The True & Absolute Divine Reality, The Lord). Jonaid said,
“Haqiqa despises anything remaining within the heart subject to the
explanation or interpretation”. Meaning the truth of Haqiqa is a
reality e.g. gazing upon the sun or moon. It is there with no
ambiguities or misinterpretations. And like glancing upon the moon soon
your entire awareness is consumed into a reality that has no
ambiguities. Before each section Sheikh Shabestari placed a tag e.g.
Haqiqa or Natija (Inference) and so on, this was done in order to make
clear which sections are dealing with Reality from the other world and
which sections deal with human rationalization. More than often the
Morid (Seeker) mixes these up and applies what belongs to this world to
the other world and vice a versa.
[2] Idrāk means to grasp,
attainment, perception and comprehension. However if this comprehension
is exhausted and unable to comprehend something, the recognition of
that exhaustion is also Idrāk of some form. Fitrah-Idrāk (Human’s
Innate Perception & Comprehension) should be read as “Human’s
Innate Perception & Comprehension” and the Arabic/Koranic word
Fitra means the deep innate essence of Mankind or the underlying design
of his creation which the mind and the rest are built on top of it.
[3] The Arabic word Basit
means vast, indivisible i.e. no discernable components and pure. This
form of Gnosis or comprehension comes from another universe. In that
universe there is no way we can discern components in objects like we
can do in this world e.g. in a bird we can observe wings, beak, claws,
feathers and so on. This discernable componentization is not possible
in the other universe where the Ma’refat comes from.
© 2004-2002,
Dara O. Shayda
