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ABD AL-KARIM AL-JILI: Tawid, Transcendence and Immanence – Dr Nicholas Lo Polito [University of Birmingham] - The Cave and the Inscription

SECTION 14

(78) You [should] know that the name for God consists of six letters, and they are:

" _ _ _ _. Because Alif is composed of three parts, and they are  " _ . The first [letter] Lam is composed of three parts ("  _); the second Alif  is like the first one – the first and the last Lam. The Ha’ is composed of two parts. The whole phrase is [then] made of 14 letters. Of these luminous letters the repeated ones have been dropped, so the remaining ones are  " _ _ _ _ .

The Alif has three worlds: the hidden world that cannot be perceived or seen at all; the gap world that may and may not be witnessed and seen; the perceivable world. These are three worlds and, as far as what is present and what exists as a whole is concerned, there is nothing but these three worlds.

(79) Don’t you see that at the beginning [of the word Allah] there is the Alif, which starts with Hamza [pronounced] from the very depth of the chest that is never visible? And in the middle [of the Alif] is the Lam, [pronounced] from the centre of the palate and the mouth, hidden but that can be seen and perceived. And it ends with the labial Fa’, which is totally visible. So it is evident that the Alif proceeds from the very hidden to the visible. The Lam belongs to the hidden world and descends into the world of the very hidden because in the middle it contains the Alif, but becomes manifest at the end in the visible world because of the visible labial Fa’ which is like the Mim at the beginning and very hidden at the end. The Mim has a visible start, a hidden middle and a visible end. The Ya’ originates from the hidden world and ends in the very hidden world. It has no way out of where it is and has no horizon behind it. Then look to God the Collector when He emerged from the very hidden into the hidden and then manifested Himself from the hidden into the visible like the Alif [does]; and when He emerged from the hidden that can be perceived into the visible world like the Lam [does]; and when He disappeared from the visible world into the hidden but perceivable and returned to His place in the visible world like the Mim does; and when He descended from the hidden world into the very hidden like the Ya’ [does] even though still in the hidden world like the Ha’. All this is the essence of the nature of God and the divine truth according to the provident care of the divine order.

Understand and see how wonderful is the complexity of the structure of this Name in its various worlds [that constitute it]. And how wonderful its form. And if we want to say more about it we would not have enough space. And this limited [work] is not the place for it.

You [should] know that the world that we referred to as “the very hidden” is a detail of the perfection of divine nature and to comprehend it is not at all possible. And the world that we referred to as “hidden” is the hidden divine world by which the All Compassionate is worthy to be called by [His] fair names. And the visible world is the world of the kingdom – and by “kingdom” I mean all that is included in the throne in spirit, corporality and conceptual significance (Ma_na).

You [should] know and understand how the secret of all this is about the Name of God and how He manifests Himself according to His Name. You [should] know that the absolute Being is contained in God but God is greater than the being outside [Himself].

Because the many manifestations of being are not God and have nothing divine in them.

But every manifestation of God is the perfect Being. This provided that you understand not to separate between God and Being. Never imagine that I numbered [them], separated [them], prevented [them], compared [them], or made [them] corporeal. I am innocent of this wrong impression; it is rather your understanding that cannot contain what I said. And I seek refuge in God if you understand but you don’t have acceptance and knowledge of the divinity. We seek refuge in God from this and we ask for His help to lead us on His straight way which He Himself travels.