Session: 29 November 1958 / 14–15 Jamadi al-Awwal

۲۹ نومبر ۱۹۵۸ء

Not Allegory but Abstract Derivation (استعارہ نہیں، انتزاعی)

When the great Sufi masters speak of union, effacement (fanāʾ), and subsistence (baqāʾ), they are not using allegory or metaphor. Their expressions are abstract derivations from direct spiritual experience — they speak of realities that correspond to actual states. To treat their language as mere literary device is to fundamentally misunderstand their station and the nature of mystical knowledge.

Kun Fayakun (کن فیکون) — Be! and It Is

The word of divine creation — 'Be! and it is' — encompasses an extended discourse on Allah's creative will. The divine names and attributes, the 'ayn al-thabita (fixed essences of potential things in divine knowledge), and the relationship between what is in eternal time and what emerges in temporal time — all are connected to this single creative act. The fixed essences (a'yan thabita) are not independent existences but are modes of divine knowledge. When Allah wills a thing, His creative word brings it from the realm of pure possibility into the realm of outer existence.

The Means of Intercession (وسیلہ)

وَابْتَغُوا إِلَيْهِ الْوَسِيلَةَ

'And seek the means of approach to Him' (al-Ma'idah 5:35). Prayer and fasting are among the divinely ordained means (wasila) of drawing near to Allah. The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is the greatest intercessor — his intercession is established by the Qur'an and mutawatir hadith. The concept of wasila does not compromise divine unity; rather it is the very path Allah Himself has commanded us to take.

We Cannot Call Them Disbelievers (کافر نہیں کہہ سکتے)

Regarding the disputes among the Companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him), Hazrat Ali (may Allah honour his face) said:

إخوانُنا بَغَوا علينا

'They are our brothers who have transgressed against us.' This statement of Hazrat Ali itself demonstrates that those who fought against him were not declared disbelievers, but brothers who had erred. This is the correct position of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah regarding the disputes of the Companions.