My dear children, the light of my eyes, the joy of my heart, my companions on the path of truth: May we love each other, care for each other and learn from each other, for it is easier to listen to the one for whom one cares for and loves, and to accept and do what he says. May we love and care for each other for Allah’s sake, for then it is a preparation and an exercise for true love, His love, and for the love of the one whom He loves, may Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him. May the following words find their place and have an effect on the minds and the hearts of the ones for whom they are destined.

            All praise is due to Allah; there is no knowledge but that which comes from Him. He is the All-knowing, the Absolutely Wise. May all blessings be upon His Prophet, whose teacher He was and through whom He has sent His divine illumination upon the universe, and may all blessings be upon the progeny of the Prophet, his companions, his helpers, the ones whom he loved and the ones who love him.

            All human beings live with the yearning to know their Creator and their place and position in relation to their Creator, and in relation to the rest of creation. That is the meaning of life, which all wish to know, whether believers or non-believers. The difference between the two is that the believers know and the non-believers do not, but imagine. The secrets of their birth and of their being they attribute to the biological formation of the two cells in their mother’s womb, and the chromosomes in them. They explain the events in their life as luck, or worse still, they attribute them to their own efforts. It is the duty of the believer to teach such people the truth and to pray to Allah that they too may be blessed with faith, which is the school of Allah where divine truth is taught.

            Shaykh al-Akbar, Hadrat Ibn ‘Arabi, may Allah sanctify his soul, explains the Creator, the creation, and their relationship thus:

            Allah most High, speaking through His Prophet (saws) in a Hadith Qudsi, declares, “I was a hidden treasure, I loved, I wished, I willed to be known, so I created creation.” If you wish, one may say that Allah the Incomparable, the Most High, wished to see the reflection of His innumerable attributes, His Beautiful Names, upon the realm of al-a'yân ath-thâbitah, the images of the creation within the Divine Total Mind. He wished to see Himself, to divulge His own secret to Himself. Thus Allah first created the universe without a soul, like a corpse. He created it as a mirror that is not yet smoothed, planed, and polished. He blew His divine breath upon it and shined it with the polish of Adam (ra). Thus Adam, may his soul be blessed, became the polish of the mirror of creation and the soul of the images which appear upon it.

            We see the creation in multiplicity, while it is all one and united, as the Creator is One, Wahid, and United, Ahad. One is indivisible; the possibility of division is in the number three. As three is the first odd number that has parts, the universe evolved from the one in three. Allah says in His Holy Qur’an: “...when We will something to be, We say, ‘Be,’ and it becomes.” (Surah Nahl 16: 40)

            Thus in order for something to become, to be created, it is first necessary to have the one Who creates it, that is, the Essence of Allah. Secondly, His will, the will to create, is necessary, and finally His order ‘Be’ is necessary. If the Creator, the Essence of Allah; His will, the will which wills something to become; and His order ‘Be,’ addressed to that which will become, did not exist, that thing could not have become, and could not exist. If a thing exists, its existence contains the three divine elements.

            The three divine elements in the creation correspond to the three divine elements in the oneness of Allah that are responsible for the act of creation. Symbolically, the meaning of Allah’s address to the souls of the potential creation in the realm of the souls, alastu bi-rabbikum, “Am I not your Lord?” and the response of that which was to be created, Bala, “Indeed!” is a proof of this fact. The existence of a thing, prior to its creation, its form, its character, its actions, its birth and its death, the history of its whole life, its destiny within the Divine Total Mind, is contained in Allah’s Essence. That which is to be created must have the potential to receive its attributes. Thus the first of the trinity in man, corresponding to Allah’s Essence, is his self-knowledge.

            The second is the potential of that which is to be created to hear Allah’s order, “Be.” It is the ability to be open, to be receptive to Allah’s will, that His will be done. This is the second aspect of the creation, corresponding to Allah’s will, which encompasses all and everything. The third is the obedience of the created to the order of Allah, “Be.”

            Thus the three-ness in created things is their reflection of the trinity within the unity of Allah, like reflections face to face upon the mirror of creation. A thing’s knowledge of its being is the reflection of the Essence which created it from nothing. Its receptivity to the will of the Creator is a reflection of the Creator’s will. Its obedience to Allah’s order is the reflection of Allah’s order Kun! “Be.” If the created being did not have these qualities, it could not have been created.

            None in the creation, by their very existence, can differ from Allah’s intention, nor are they unreceptive to Allah’s will nor disobedient to Allah’s orders. The sun always rises from the east and sets in the west; no tree ever refuses to bloom and bear fruit unless it is dead. Yet human beings, who have been given intelligence and taught all the Names, choose to forget instead of remembering.  The one who has been given a will, instead of submitting it to Allah’s will, opposes Him. He who has been given faith revolts, and disobeys Allah’s order. For in him is the evil nafs, lower than the lowest of Allah’s creations, the ego that commands. He imagines it to be himself, while he was created as the polish on the mirror of creation, where Allah sees Himself. Allah created him as the supreme creation, in the image of His rahmah, His love, mercy and beneficence; breathed His own breath into him, making him the soul of the whole creation, His deputy. He created all for him and him only for Himself. He created the whole universe in the shape of man, and made him the microcosm. Man has the choice to oppose his ego and find the truth of himself, or to be a servant of his ego and be lost.

            At best we oppose, we fight, that which our egos want, instead of fighting with our egos themselves. Then all they have to do is turn and want something else. Oppose your nafs, educate your nafs, instead of exhausting yourself fighting what it wants. It is the nafs that prevents you from being what you were meant to be. In opposing it, you will cleanse the mirror of your creation and see the truth of the reflection of the divine in you, and know your true self. You will find the wish in you to find Allah’s will. You will have faith and obey Allah’s orders, being as He meant you to be, with Him.

            So know, find, and be. Allah knows best. May He share His knowledge of us with us.

Amin, bi-hurmati sayyid il-mursa1in.