I’atabaar (Relative)

In Sufism this word is used to define meanings opposed to reality. Everything that is not real is relative (I’atabaari), imaginative (zanni) and supposition (farzi).

As an example, take a piece of rope, and tie a glittering bject to one end and swing it rapidly; you will seen hundreds of bright circles in the air. These circles are not real. What is real is only the bright end of the rope. The circles thus created are called relative (iatabaari).

The Real Being is God’s Being. All else is relative (iatabaari).

Thou art Real, the universe is imagination; It is since long

that I have been seeing the Real in the unreal

Every descent, (tanazzul) every determination (taayyun) and every limitation (taqayyua) is iatabaari. The whole universe is nothing but a collection of imaginary beings (iatabaaraat).

All created things have relative existence;

In reality it is He who is flourishing in every field

Relative beings do not exist;

It is the One Who exists in numerous Forms

The universe is pure imagination;

Absolutely non-existent and a plaything

If you look upto the skies you will find many deceptions. Your own instruments tell you that the stars are much bigger than what they appear to be, and that the light which you see in them is not their light. It comes from somewhere else. You think the stars are no more there during the day, but scientists tell you that they are always there. You can go on multiplying examples, which will convince you that things are not what they appear to be, and further development of scientific knowledge will provide you with many more surprises. This is the state of your erroneous knowledge about the nature of the things of the physical world. In the domain of spirituality, the spiritual masters of Islam have given indication of more astounding deceptions, misconceptions and misunderstanding under which mankind has been laboring.

Whatever acts the intelligent do, the foolish also do, But after many trials and tribulations.

Our division or concept of time also is not free from deception. We have divided time into three parts: past, present and future. The past is over and the future is yet to come. What we have is just a fleeting moment of the present having no length and breadth. Thus time is entirely the creation of our brain and does not really exist. It is pure imagination:-

My existence is nothing but a deceptive mirage; Surely I am not

What I appear to be. I am just the product of imagination (Niaz).

An example: If you are a visionary, and have a powerful imagination, close your eyes and create a new world. Draw a mind picture of a city, a garden and a palace, full of people walking, talking, laughing, crying, eating and drinking. These people have been created in your imagination, by your own power. Your thoughts can grant them being or non-being. Your thoughts can grant them joy or sorrow, honour or disgrace. No one can intrude into your imagination, which can assume any direction it wills. It can flash like lightning, pour down like rain, and ignite like fire. Sometimes a rose, sometimes a nightingale, sometimes beauty, sometimes love. It can be a lover or a beloved. No one can stop you not interfere. You did not bring out anything from this imaginary world. You looked for and found yourself in everything. You reveled blissfully within yourself, not suffering any loss, nor being drenched in rain, nor burnt by fire, nor polluted by filth, nor upgraded nor degraded. You were as you always were. You are not merged in that world, nor is it merged in you. It has no being al all, except in your imagination. You can keep it or destroy it at will. But, inspite of this there is nothing closer to it than you. You are as close to yourself as you are to your imagination and its variations. It is said:

He who knows himself knows his lord

Now come out of this little creation and look at God’s wonderful creation.

What connection can lowly man have with

the Highest Being- Allah?

You are a limited being; He is Limitless. You are finite, He is Infinite. You are powerless, He is Powerful. There are some things you wish to do but cannot. He does what He wills. Your creation remains limited to your brain and you could not create the consciousness of being alive in the people of your world, but He has the Power to do so. What you created, is the product of your limited power, imagination and talent. What god has created is the outcome of His Limitless Power, Talent, Imagination, Beauty, Majesty and Perfection. Your world is the mirror that reflects your imperfection. His world is the mirror in which His Limitless Perfection is reflected His world is the mirror in which His Limitless Perfection is reflected.

The river I exist in is such, that neither I remain nor the river.

No one can understand this secret except the one who is drowned

Another significance of the word iatabaar:- There is another use of the word iatabaar found in Sufi literature. When a Gnostic (arif) comes across a verse (ayah) of the Holy Quran or a hadis of The Holy Prophet, he attaches to it a higher meaning other than commonly recognized. This way of intellectual reasoning is known as iatabaar (which may be called a ‘point of view’).

For example, a lover reads the story of Laila and Majnun (lovers) and starts weeping, although he is neither Majnun not does be love Laila, while there may be others who are not affected at all.

The lover weeps because he sees or connects the story with his own inner state.

Or, when a Sufi hears the hadis that “The angel of blessings does not visit a house having a dog or a portrait (taswir),” he arrives at the conclusion that a heart full of the ‘dog’ of lust for wealth and poetraits of other than God, does not receive blessings. This sort of interpretation is perfectly justified in Sufi circles. Examples of this type of reasoning are abundantly available in Sufi literature.

For example if someone reads the Quranic ayah:

Kings, when they enter a city spoil

It, and abase the mightiest of its

People. (Al-Naml, 27:34)

A seeker (salik) interpreted it to mean that when a certain spiritual state (Sultan-e-Zikr) enters the domain of the body, it devastates and annihilates it, and humiliates the proud nafs. Or the ayah: “When the earth with her quaking shall quake” Al-zalzaal (99:1) could be quoted to describe the state of Sultan-e-Zikr. Or in the Quranic story of the prophet Suleiman and Bilqees, the hoopoe is given the power of reasoning, the city of Sheba is the centre of the body Hazrat Suleiman is the heart Bilqees, the hoopoe is given the power of reasoning, the city of Sheba is the centre of the body Hazrat Suleiman is the heart Bilqees is the nafs, and “he who had the knowledge of the scripture said” (27:40) is the active ingredient, and Bilqees’s throne is the central disposition.

Shah Waliullah Mohaddis of Delhi has said in his book Altaf-ul-Quds:- matter of tafsir (exegesis), e.g. Arais-al-Bayan (of Shaikh Ruzbahan Baqli), Haqaiq of Salmi, most of Ibn Arabi’s works and of the grand Shaikh, Shahabuddin Suhrawardi.”

In Sufism this word is used to define meanings opposed to reality. Everything that is not real is relative (I’atabaari), imaginative (zanni) and supposition (farzi).

As an example, take a piece of rope, and tie a glittering bject to one end and swing it rapidly; you will seen hundreds of bright circles in the air. These circles are not real. What is real is only the bright end of the rope. The circles thus created are called relative (iatabaari).

The Real Being is God’s Being. All else is relative (iatabaari).

Thou art Real, the universe is imagination; It is since long

that I have been seeing the Real in the unreal

Every descent, (tanazzul) every determination (taayyun) and every limitation (taqayyua) is iatabaari. The whole universe is nothing but a collection of imaginary beings (iatabaaraat).

All created things have relative existence;

In reality it is He who is flourishing in every field

Relative beings do not exist;

It is the One Who exists in numerous Forms

The universe is pure imagination;

Absolutely non-existent and a plaything

If you look upto the skies you will find many deceptions. Your own instruments tell you that the stars are much bigger than what they appear to be, and that the light which you see in them is not their light. It comes from somewhere else. You think the stars are no more there during the day, but scientists tell you that they are always there. You can go on multiplying examples, which will convince you that things are not what they appear to be, and further development of scientific knowledge will provide you with many more surprises. This is the state of your erroneous knowledge about the nature of the things of the physical world. In the domain of spirituality, the spiritual masters of Islam have given indication of more astounding deceptions, misconceptions and misunderstanding under which mankind has been laboring.

Whatever acts the intelligent do, the foolish also do, But after many trials and tribulations.

Our division or concept of time also is not free from deception. We have divided time into three parts: past, present and future. The past is over and the future is yet to come. What we have is just a fleeting moment of the present having no length and breadth. Thus time is entirely the creation of our brain and does not really exist. It is pure imagination:-

My existence is nothing but a deceptive mirage; Surely I am not

What I appear to be. I am just the product of imagination (Niaz).

An example: If you are a visionary, and have a powerful imagination, close your eyes and create a new world. Draw a mind picture of a city, a garden and a palace, full of people walking, talking, laughing, crying, eating and drinking. These people have been created in your imagination, by your own power. Your thoughts can grant them being or non-being. Your thoughts can grant them joy or sorrow, honour or disgrace. No one can intrude into your imagination, which can assume any direction it wills. It can flash like lightning, pour down like rain, and ignite like fire. Sometimes a rose, sometimes a nightingale, sometimes beauty, sometimes love. It can be a lover or a beloved. No one can stop you not interfere. You did not bring out anything from this imaginary world. You looked for and found yourself in everything. You reveled blissfully within yourself, not suffering any loss, nor being drenched in rain, nor burnt by fire, nor polluted by filth, nor upgraded nor degraded. You were as you always were. You are not merged in that world, nor is it merged in you. It has no being al all, except in your imagination. You can keep it or destroy it at will. But, inspite of this there is nothing closer to it than you. You are as close to yourself as you are to your imagination and its variations. It is said:

He who knows himself knows his lord

Now come out of this little creation and look at God’s wonderful creation.

What connection can lowly man have with

the Highest Being- Allah?

You are a limited being; He is Limitless. You are finite, He is Infinite. You are powerless, He is Powerful. There are some things you wish to do but cannot. He does what He wills. Your creation remains limited to your brain and you could not create the consciousness of being alive in the people of your world, but He has the Power to do so. What you created, is the product of your limited power, imagination and talent. What god has created is the outcome of His Limitless Power, Talent, Imagination, Beauty, Majesty and Perfection. Your world is the mirror that reflects your imperfection. His world is the mirror in which His Limitless Perfection is reflected His world is the mirror in which His Limitless Perfection is reflected.

The river I exist in is such, that neither I remain nor the river.

No one can understand this secret except the one who is drowned

Another significance of the word iatabaar:- There is another use of the word iatabaar found in Sufi literature. When a Gnostic (arif) comes across a verse (ayah) of the Holy Quran or a hadis of The Holy Prophet, he attaches to it a higher meaning other than commonly recognized. This way of intellectual reasoning is known as iatabaar (which may be called a ‘point of view’).

For example, a lover reads the story of Laila and Majnun (lovers) and starts weeping, although he is neither Majnun not does be love Laila, while there may be others who are not affected at all.

The lover weeps because he sees or connects the story with his own inner state.

Or, when a Sufi hears the hadis that “The angel of blessings does not visit a house having a dog or a portrait (taswir),” he arrives at the conclusion that a heart full of the ‘dog’ of lust for wealth and poetraits of other than God, does not receive blessings. This sort of interpretation is perfectly justified in Sufi circles. Examples of this type of reasoning are abundantly available in Sufi literature.

For example if someone reads the Quranic ayah:

Kings, when they enter a city spoil

It, and abase the mightiest of its

People. (Al-Naml, 27:34)

A seeker (salik) interpreted it to mean that when a certain spiritual state (Sultan-e-Zikr) enters the domain of the body, it devastates and annihilates it, and humiliates the proud nafs. Or the ayah: “When the earth with her quaking shall quake” Al-zalzaal (99:1) could be quoted to describe the state of Sultan-e-Zikr. Or in the Quranic story of the prophet Suleiman and Bilqees, the hoopoe is given the power of reasoning, the city of Sheba is the centre of the body Hazrat Suleiman is the heart Bilqees, the hoopoe is given the power of reasoning, the city of Sheba is the centre of the body Hazrat Suleiman is the heart Bilqees is the nafs, and “he who had the knowledge of the scripture said” (27:40) is the active ingredient, and Bilqees’s throne is the central disposition.

Shah Waliullah Mohaddis of Delhi has said in his book Altaf-ul-Quds:- matter of tafsir (exegesis), e.g. Arais-al-Bayan (of Shaikh Ruzbahan Baqli), Haqaiq of Salmi, most of Ibn Arabi’s works and of the grand Shaikh, Shahabuddin Suhrawardi.”