Mabmod Shebisteri, eli, and Jami “"That God, which ever lives and loves, ‘One God, one law, one element, And one far of divine event, ‘To which the whole creation moves.’ His appeal to the philosophers of religion, epistemologists, and metaphysi cians is as grest as his appeal to the mystics of all religions. Neither modern philosophy nor modern science has left him behind. For about a century now the entire philosophical and scientific thought has been dominated by the concept of evolution, and it isthe exolutionary concept that has been mainly responsible for sabotaging ancient theologies and views of ereation, resulting jn almost universal ecepticiam and agnosticiam. Theology everywhere has ‘een making an attempt to eave the abiding realities and values of religion bby accepting universal evolotion as an indubitable fact and recasting old beliefs and dogmas. Rimi performed this task six conturies ago in a manner that can offer guidance to all who want to reconcile religion with philosophy ‘and science, BIBLIOGRAPHY Mathnavet,lithogeaphed edition, Laboro; English translation by R.A. Nichol, London; Fihi ma fib, lithogrephed edition, Lahore; Khalifsh Abdal Hakim, The Metaphysics of Rumi, Lahore, 1960; Te. A. Nicholwon, Selected Poems from the Dione Shamei Pabris, London; Rami: The Myatc, London; Afsel Iqbtl, The Life and ‘Phought of Rai, Bazi Tqbil, Lakoo. Chapter XLII MAHMOD SHABISTARI, AL-JTLI, AND JAMI A MAHMOD SHABISTART Mabmid Shabistari co called after the name of Shabistar, a village near ‘Tabris in Adharbaijan, was born about tho middle of the seventhjthirtoenth, century and died about 720/1320. Little is known of his life. His Qulghan-i Faz (The Garden of Mystery) is a poetical exposition of the doctrine of the Unity of Being. Tt was written in 710j1311 in response to certain questions about mystical philosophy asked by one Amir Hussini from Khurisdn. ‘The exposition of the doctrine of the Unity of Being in the book adds nothing to what had earlicr boon said by ibn ‘Arabi. Mahmid, however, is ‘much eleacee and much more precise than his spiritual teacher. Being, by it very definition, he says, is existent, and Non-Being, non-existent. ‘There is 839A istory of Maslim Philosophy nothing in existence except the One. The contingent and the nesessary were never separate; they existed from ctemity as one. If you look at one side of, the One, itis one, and if you se the other side, it becomes many-—the only Aiffevence being that the aspect of unity is real, while that of plurality is fs one but ita names are many, and itis this plurality which of multiplicity.” Ezsence as such is beyond our knowledge oF comprehension. But, according ‘0 Shabistri this inability on our part to know Goil'seatence arses because of| His nearness to us. Bosence as absolute ight i as invisible to the eye aa Non- ‘Being which is absolute darkness. Nobody can look at the sun directly. But it can be seen aa reflected in water. Relative non-being is ike water. It serves ‘as a mirror of the Absolute Light in which is reflected the illumination of ‘agg (truth). Tis relative non-being isthe latent reality (‘ain al-thabitah) of ibn ‘Arabs system, which reflects the divine light in accordance with aatural propensities. Tho divine light as pure light was « hidden treasure, Dut when it was reflected in the mirror, the treasure became manifest. But, in this process, the essence that was One became many.* Shabistari then describes the process of descent of the One after the manner of ibn ‘Arabi. The first manifestation of the essence is the universal reason (ql a-kuli), tho stage of unity (ahadiyyah) ; the socond is the universal soul (najs al-kuli). Then come Throne ('arsh), the heavenly Chair (kursi), seven heavenly spheres, four elements, the three kingdoms of minerals, vogstablar, anc atimale: The leet in tho series is man who is the seme of creation. Though temporally the lat ia the series, man is logically the fist, fs tee is potentially prior to the seed, All the world was created for Jhim while he was created for himself, as the embodiment of God's highest ‘manifestation. But he possess certain baser elements which, however, are essential for his moral progress, A mirror, to be able to reflect things, must have one side totally blackened. I¢ it were al erystal, it would cease to serve AAs man is the final cause of ereation, everything is made to obey his com. mand. All things are manifestations of the different names of God, bat, being the reflection of the Named, man comprises within himself all the names therefore, all the creation is within him. He is the most marvellous creation of the Tord and owes everything to Him; his power, knowledge, and will are all God Reason is perfectly useless, according to Shabstar. Tts is a long, winding, ‘and arduous path. A philosopher is like « eross-eyed man who sees duality everywhere. He starts with the objects of the world eonocived as real. On this basis he argues the existence of the Necessary, as distinct from and other than the contingent. Arguing on the basis of a continuous series of causes and + Gulshan-i Ras, Question Ibid 0.2. 840 Mabimid Shabistri, li, and Jai effects, Shabistari asserts that the Necessary Being is the Primal Cause of the proves! of ervation. The whole process of reasoning, acconding to him, is wrong. ‘There is no possibility of the knowledge of God through the category of contingency as the latter does not possess any similarity to the former. “It ‘amounts to discovering the burning sun with the help of the dim light of « tiny candle.” ‘The best method, therefore, is to give up logical reason and enter the valley of gnosis.? Knowledge gained throngh disoursive reason leads ‘one to sleep, while gnosis awakens one from slumber. Like Abraham, one must {go beyond the divinity of the stars, the sun, and the moon which, according ‘to him, represent sense-perception, imagination, and reason, respectively.* In the sixth question of Gulshan-i Ra: the Shaikh explicitiy rejects the use fulness of reason in the mystic scarch for truth. He holds that there is way" beyond reason by which man is able to know tho secret of reality ‘This intuitive power of man is hidden within him as fire is implicit in the stone. When this fire blazes forth, all the world bocomes bright and illumined, Discussing the value of knowledge in the tenth question he says that by knowledge he does not mesn the device by which people gain worldly power ‘and prestige; for that is contrary to the spirit of a trac mystic. Knowledge is useful only when it Ieada one to right action, action that springs from the heart. Shabistari also suggests a study of both the sources of knowledge ‘mentioned in the Qur'dn-—the external world (faq) and the internal world of selfconsciousness (anus). But in practice the mystics’ study of the internal ‘world has elwaye led them to emphasize the illnaary character of the external world, "The account of moral qualities given by Shabistari is a more reproduction of Platonic and Aristotelian theories. Wisdom (Aimah), moral parity (“ifah), bravery (shaj@'ah), and justice (‘adalak) are the main moral qualities, He discusses briefly the Aristotaian principle of the mean. Paradise is the result of, following this middle path, while adopting either of the extremes would lead to hell. When moral purification is attained, man is vouchsafed divine light (lajalli) which illumines his soul and raises him to the highest level. Saints ‘and propheta are the perwona who fall in the eategory of the illumined souls, ‘This manifestation (tajali) of God is not only in things that are good but alco in things which, in common usage, wo cal evil. As God is the only being fand the only cause of everything, so all things without distinotion manifest His light. The logical position of pantheism is that good and evil are all alike and, as manifestations of God, stand on an equal footing. But when we come to the ordinary comanon-sense view, we distinguish between them and attri- ‘bute good to God and evil to Satan > Like all other pantheists, Shabistari is completely deterministic. Te holds ‘that the s0-called sense of freedom possessed by man is due to his consciousness * Tid, @. 1. + Wide, Q. 2: 9» Tid’, @. 10. aaA History of Maalim Philosophy of selfhood as an entity distinet from God. Man is by nature non-existent ‘and, therefore, it is meaningless to attribute freedom to him. Believers in freedom of choice are Zoroastriana who make a distinetion betweon the god of good and the god of evil. To attribute power, will, and action to man is ‘wrong and in this matter, acconding to him, both the Mu‘tasilites and the Aah‘avtes have gone astray—the former in saying that man is free in his choice and the latter in making man responsible for his deeds due to the power of “acquisition” attributed to him. ‘According to Shabiatari, man is not ereated for exercising moral respon- sibility, but for some other purpose. He does not explain what that other purpose is. His commentator, Lahiji, however, adda that it is to serve aa a polished mirror for the manifestation of God's essence, atteibutes, and names. Can we ascribe any freedom to the mirror in reflecting objectat For everyone of us, actions were predetermined. God's actions are inscrutible. “Can you explain,” he asks, “why one man is born Mubaramad and another aba Jahil?” Man’s dignity lies In being under complusion and not in having a share in freo-wil, ‘But, then, why is man held responsible for his doods Ts it not injustice ¢ ‘The Shnikh thinks that it is not injustice but an argument in favour of God's absolute power and arbitrariness. Again, the object of making man responsible for deeds over which he has no control is to compel him to renounce this world for ever, aa he is elementally incapable of fullling the obligation of following the right path and obeying God's Law, ie, Shartah.® ‘What are the steps by which an individual reaches the stage of perfection? He ia born, according to him, as the acme of creation, the purest of the pure, tnd the highest of the high. But due to his descent into the phenomenal world, ‘he comes down to the lowest level. His state at this stage is direotly opposite to the stato of unity. But due to illumination which he receives through his intuitive powers or his rational capacity, man realizes his weakmeas and then sets on a journey backward. It is travelling from contingenoy to necessity, {from plurality to unity, from evil to good, ‘There are threo stages in this journey. Th fist is called absorption. Here ‘the light of God shines through his actions so that the mystio regards the actions of everything as illusory. Nothing besides God possesses any causal power. At the second stage the divine light shines through God's attributes And so the Sufi regards the attributes of everything else as merged in Ghd. ‘The last stage comes when the mystic reeeives iMlumination from the very cexoence and sees the real state of affairs. For him nothing is existont except He and the being ofall things is derived solely from Him. When he reaches this stage, he becomes porfect and attains a state of union with his Lord ‘so ‘much so that neither angole nor prophets can equal him. The whole circle of existence is covered and man reaches the point from where he started. * Tod, @.9. + id @:« ue Mabmid Shabistari, al-Ji, and Jani ‘The religious Law (Shariah), the mystio Path (Tarigah), and Truth (Hagigah)—all go to form the perfoct man. Shariah, according to the Shaikh, i lke the protecting shell of the almond. Tt is usefal to a certain stage. When the stage of perfection is reached, the shell becomes useless and is etter thrown away. Nevertheless, » perfect Sufi needs rligion—not for himself but for others. ‘Shebietari follows the general trend of mystio writers in describing the nature of saintship (wiléyah) and prophethood (nubucaah). Saintship is a ‘more general category than prophethood. Saints so called and propheta are all saints in the fret instance, In » mystio saintahip is hidden, while in a prophot it is manifest. A saint is a follower of the prophet in Law and in this he ‘attains the highest position and becomes equal to the prophet in realizing ‘union with the Lord. With the death of the Holy Prophet the first eyclo of saintship, a oysle in which prophethood and saintship were both manifest in the world, came to an end. After the Final Prophet, saintship continued and ‘the new ycle began to take ite shape. One day the seal of saints will appear, ‘who shall be the acme of saintship and, with his appearance, the oycle of the two worlds will come to an end. He will be the whole, of which all the previous aaints were parts. Like the “Seal of the Prophets,” he shall bo blessing to the whole world. He will euooeed in bringing peaoo and security to man; justice and equity will rign.* The word “seal,” according to ibn “Arabi, doce not signify a mystic with whom saintship will como to an end, but with Shabistort, the seel of sints, like the “Seal af Prophets,” wold terminate saintchip for ever. The last of the aainta is tho “seal” with whom ‘the world will come to an ond. ‘This world of matter, however, being the locus of God's manifestation (tajalli) cannot come to an end at all. There shall be no time when the ‘manifestation of Fagg can be said to have ceased. The present world and the world to come will meet and there is no dividing line between the two. The next world is something ever in the making. What we usually call this world and the next are mere names for what Shabistari, following ibn ‘Arabi, calls the ‘ever-new process of ereation, an unending eyele of annihilation and re-creation. Tn the life to come, man would be without body but it would be some- ‘thing subtle and transparent. Our deeds and mental dispositions of the present life would take concrete shape and become materializad in some tangible form, Good disposition will take the shape of light (paradise) and bad the shape of fire hell)” ‘After death, the individuality of man shall vanish at last and many shell bbe dissolved into One. Man shall be vouchaafed the beatifie vision, but it will not be something external; it will be a manifestation within himself. a3AA History of Muslim Philosophy B AL-JILE ‘Abd Kavim b.Trthim al was bom in 76/1968 and died in about 552/126. Bacept forthe fw reference in hs bol, alow nothing is known bout is fo Me was the docile of Shik Seca al-Din aber! and Irv in Zaid (Yemen) Me ae visite Toda dng his trevea, Me las thot he recived. mystic ilumination which led him to wet howell owe enka Toa al ml fi Maal al Athi wel ea sheet to Cepound and exprem tho erat To bolds that Abeolote Beng is one and that ll multiplicity ie ory. “-Abmlate Being isthe esonce (ain) of what we eal the Phenomenal word (daly) ao Col (Haq Toe Atwclte Being mane tn tro decent realities, khalg and Hagg.” “Fone, Arius, aed Nomes—Absolte Faenc is that to which names, and aterbates aro eeibod Tew Sel (nfo) which exate by Tele. Te diserves evry name which Tis perfection demons, No deserption in words can fully convey Ita eatc, A thing can be undreteed by another thing Sich rated to pouvely or megtively, but Dore fe othing nthe Universe whic aso rlted tothe Atwlat. Iie Pare Beng which equa to Non Beings sum of contradictions Ie sto contdetes gathered i ty and hss of Sontadistins i not ponte" ato te, Baten ey ta einen, Cen ree: (og) nhc orl (ial): two decripione: early (dam) a seated (Qh) Go fame! Ral aa (Lord and sa) It bas two facs, outward (ae), ree presnt word ad inward (amiable, Lor the wor to ome Te he two predicates: neomsity and pont: two pinta of view: acorn to tte its vb nomenbten for Heel ond exbtet for oder wie eoring tote second eh oxtent for Tel ap nonelatet fo tres wo mores (mariah) according to the one, Tt i postive (wu) in one pla rd tegative inthe other, wh, according to tho othe, the postion is reversed With regard to Tie Sal (no) Tie simpe; with regard to Te form, Tis Compounds with regard oie emence, Ten unigee wit rpard toe Cmanntion Ten igh an with roar oT iniviity, 10 darko; tha tl Tis Bey what we hove sid about Te Tis clor that according to aI realy son and belongs to divioe Substance fjauhr) which ba to diferent sopet: God at te wer. Aa in eb ho an Kn ay ining by Pu Man wt Taig se Ba Naat ttaoe ec Awl to Toa af Kaa ere to thes Wee elaine ao * Ta 0-92 © Teds PPA ao aye dat Boing i of to Kinds One ie Pu ing and that sth exer res Ra wa ce enone ats ‘Mahundd Shebister, al Jt, and Jani Multiplicity is only eubjective and relative. “You can say what you like. You are at liberty to say that the circle [of reality] is God and its inside is the ‘world or that the citoleis the world and its inside is God. Tt is God as well as the ‘world.""* “You should know that knowledge of that lofty essence is that you should realize through mystic experience that you aro He and He is you. ‘This is neither union (ittihid) nor incarnation (buldl), for the slave is slave and the Lord is Lord: the slave does not become Lord, nor the Lord slaye.""” A true mystic or the perfect man is ablo to realize in his super- sensuous experience that multiplicity is only a subjective way of looking. at ‘things, otherwise reality that underlice it is one.1 What we call the world is nothing but the manifestation of God. In another place, he says, ‘Just as Goa was present in eternity in the Dark Mist (‘Ama') which is also called Reality of realities, Hidden Treasure and White (Pure] Chrysolite, so is He present now in all the things of the phenomonel world without incarnation (bull) and mixtare (imticdj). He ia manifested in the parts and atoms of the phenomenal world without becoming many.” Tike ibm ‘Arabi, he deals with the problem of transcendence and jmmanence as differentiating’ attributes of the easonoe which correspond to the twin characteristics of God and the world. Immanenee (laihbih) is the form of divine beauty which i manifested in all the things of the phenomenal world ‘without any distinetion** The Christians are right when they say that Christ, Mary, and the Holy Ghost are all manifestations of God, but they are wrong when they limit this manifestation to threo persons only. As a matter of fact, God is immanent in the whole world* Any belief about reality that jgnores any of these two characteristics, transcendence and immancnoe, is defective and wrong as is the case with Christianity for instance. Transoondence (lansih), when applied to God, implies that, in spite of Hlis manifestation in all things, Ho is above and beyond all of them. But this sort of transcendence, according to ali, is related to immanence and, therefore, does not fully represent the true casonce which is characterized by what he calls essential or eternal transcendence, as He is in Himself, which Ho slone can know and which none can claim to understand. He is, therefore, above even the tran- seendence which is asterted of Him in correlation with His immanence* ‘Name (ism) is that which speoifia the named in tho understanding, pictures 88) ie usually translated a “Teverything is inble to ata Interpret the word wahaku panthelstioally thing's) esence,” thereby iaplying that one realty subsist in all multiplicity; id, p. 86. m Toi, chapter 62, pare I. ‘Bid, chaptor 11, pp. 60-70. 1 Ho quotes several Qur'inio vera (xv, 85; xl 3, ele.) to prove this point; ‘ti, p. 158. Seo aloo p. 14, Ibid. pp. 7-08. osA History of Muslim Philosophy it in the mind, brings it in imagination, arranges it in thought, preserves it in memory, and prosenta it to the intellest. A man who does not know the pamed gets its knowledge through the namo. ‘The namo and the named are related to each other a6 outside to inside (thir to bafin) but in fact both are identical. Thore are some names the named of which do not exist in actual reality, a3, for instance, ‘angi’ which exists only ia name, ‘Anga’ and Allab stand at opposite poles; while the object of ‘angi’ ie Non-Being, the object of Allah is Abeolute Being. We can reach knowledge of God through divine ‘names and attributes or through the name Allah which comprises in iteelf all names and attributes. Names are of two kinds: (1) of the eaeenoe, e.g, cone (akad), single (wibid), unique (Jard), ete., (2) of the attributes, e.g, knowledge, power, merey, eto An attribute of a thing is that which leads one to the knowledge of its state. This distinction between attributes and easence is operative only in the sphere of the phenomenal world. “Everything in the phenomenal world which is qualified by an attribute demands that the attribute should be other than the thing, bocause itis subject to division and multiplicity. At the same time it demands that the attribute should be idential with it, We say that man is a rational animal, 1é means that animality is a separate entity and sos rationality & thing diferent from man, But it alo means that rational- ity and animality axe both identical with man, because he is composed of both and is nothing beyond them. With regard to division, the attributes of ‘4 creature are dillerent from ite essonce, while with regard to arrangement, (larkié) they aro identical with it. But in God, this otherness disappesrs, for division ‘and multiplicity do not apply to Him. His attributes are His essence and the two are identical." ‘Thus, according to ali, the material world is not an uncelity, « maya, Dut a reality which expresses the outward form of the Resl. Plurality end division in tho external world are the manifestations of the divine essence as attributes which arein the last analysis identioal with it If we donot acoopt this view of identity, the universe would not, aooording to him, Ieed to the essence. In tho fifty-soventh chapter of Inain-i Kamil, ali says explicitly that thought or idea is the material of tho universe. “Thought is the life of the spirit of the universe... Existence is nothing but a thought. Thought is the origin and the source of Being (wujid) and ie the essence in which God is completely manifested. Don’t you see your belief about God as having names and attributes which partain to Him? Where is the locus of the belief (ic. the universe) in which God hae manifested Himself for you ! Tt is nothing Dut thought.” Later on, he asserts that Being (wid), as a matter of fact, is nothing bat “a thought within a thought within a thought.” Thus, by bid. pp. 334% Tod, pp. 120-21, © Thi, pp. 214-15, Did pp. 216-17 36 Mabmid Shobistar, al Ji, and Jai identifying attributes and essence, he is able to give reality to the physical ‘world of natare which to the mystic becomes « source of the direct knowledge of God. a ‘Among the important divine atteibutes he mentions divinity (ilaAiyyah), rmerciflness (rabmdnfyyah), and lordship (rubibiyyah). Divinity is the sum of all the realitiea (i.e, all individualitica) of Being and their maintenance in their respective positions (maritib) within the whole, It ia the rank of God a Necessary Being. “You should know that Being and Non-Being are two ‘opposites, and the sphere of divinity compris both. Tt is « sum of two pairs of| contredictories: eternal and created (hidith), God and the workd, Being. and [Non-Being. At this stage God appears in the form of the world and the world in the form of God."*" Divinity isthe highest manifestation of the essonce and ia invisible, while ite effoote in the form of nature are visible overywhore. ‘Kosence is visible to the aye but its locus is not fixed or visible; we ace it ‘manifested but cannot describe its quality. Tako the example of man. Tle is characterized by some attributes, all of which never come within tho compass cof our comprehension, though we see man all right, It means that ewenco it ‘visible while its attributes aro not. Of the latter we soe nothing but effects. For instance, we eee the marching forward on the part of a brave man. Similarly, ‘wo aee giving of alms to the poor on the part of a generous man. “Marching forward” and “giving of alms" are not bravery and generosity respectively, Dat only the effects of these attributes * Mereifulness (rafmaniyyah) is the manifestation of the essence in the realities of names and attributes. It refors only to the creative and not to the creaturely attributes, while dahiyyah rofers to both. In this respect morcifulnes appears to be higher in scale than divinity, as sweetness of sugar does with regard to the sugareane. If you profer sweetness to sugareane, mereifulness it better than divinity, but if oking at the generality and comprehensive charac- ter of the sugareane, you prefer it to swootness, then divinity will be prior in rank."The name that manifests tse inthis rank is that of Rahman (theMereifal) which includes both the attributes of the essence ae oneness (abadiyyah), ‘uniqueness (waldiyyah), eternity (samadiyyah), ete., ancl attributes of His Self ‘which are seven, viz. life, knowledge, power, will, speech, heating, and sight. ‘The fir mercy of God was the creation of the wniverse from His own Self. His manifestation permeated all existenta and His perfection appeared in every atom and particle. In spite of manifestation in the many, He does not become many but remains One as His nature demands, The nature of His permeation is that He created the world out of His Self which is not divisible Ti, pp. 48-4. 2 Tid, pp. 87-82. % Bide p08. 2% He ofers to the Queinio verso (xiv, 12) in wich the words jam ‘an mink ‘are interpreted by hira to moan se ll (eeated) foun His own sell” oarA Hibtory of Muslim Phitosophy God is the substance (hayila) of the universe. In order to clarify his position, alli gives the example of water and ice. God is like water which is the reality of ice and the world is like ioe which ie nothing but water (ie., God) in a congealed form. The use of the term “ice” is only metaphorical and secondary, and not real. For the world and God are ilential. “The world is nothing but ice, and ice, according to our opinion, is nothing but water. Our belief is that ico and water are identical.”*# God permeates the whole of existence through His name Rakmdn and this permeation is neither incarnation (hull) nor contact, for both these eon- ceptions imply duality; as a matter of fact, He is consubstantial with existents (‘ain al-maujadat). Lordship (rubibiyyah) ia the name of the rank which demands those names that require the being of the existente and comprehends such names as the Knower (‘alim), the hearer (sami), the seer (bagir), the self-subsisting (qayyim), and the willing (murid). Bach name under this eategory demands its logical correlate. The knower implica the object known and willing implies the objects towards which the will is directed. 2 ‘There aro four kinds of attributes: beauty (jamdl), perfection (kamél), majesty (jaldl), and essence (dt). Every divine name and attribute has ite effect which reflects one of the ‘three: ‘beauty, majesty, or perfection. All existenta absolutely reflect all ‘the names and attributes of beauty and some of the namos and attributes of majesty as well es those of perfection. Paradiso is the manifestation of absolute beauty, while hell is the manifestation of absolute majesty. ‘The perfect man alone is the complete manifestation ofall theee divine names and attributes. AL-Jili then deals with the ten main atteibutes: life, knowledge, will, power, speech, hearing, sight, beauty, majesty, perfection, even though they are so jnmumerable that: none ean comprehend them in their entrety.2* 1, Life-—Complete life isthe existence of a thing for itself, while incomplete or relative life is its existence for another. God exists for Himself, is living (ayy) and, therefore, His life is complete and not subject to death. Allereatures live for God and, therefore, their life is relative and hence subject to decay and death, Life of God as manifested in erented beings (BBalg) is one and ‘complete and yet the creatures receive it in diferent degrees. In some, this life appears in its complete form as, for instance, in the perfect man and the exalted angels and thoso things which are not composed of material elements, as the Exalted Pen, the Preserved Tablet, ete. In others, this life appears in % He refers to tho Queinie verso (ele, 3) for the phrase bi al-Hagg which interpreted by him to mnean thet everything was croated out of Hag, Ly Hay sorved at matter for th world, SAL-Inean al-Kami,p. 0. 8 Tid, poh % ide pT, eB Mabrmid Shabistavi, alii, and Jami eal form but is incomplete, as, for instance, in animal, man, lower angel, and jinn, bocauso though cach of them lives for his own aelf and knows that he exists and possesses different attributes, yet his existence is not real, for he is far removed from the source of life. In others, asin animals, life does not fappesr in ita real form. There are athers for whom life has lost its real signifi- cance and, therefore, they live for others and not for themselves as, fo in stance, plants, minerals, ete. Everything existent is alive, for existence by itself implies life, though