The Unity of Being (Wahdat al-Wujud) 

Many many years ago when I began my spiritual path on my own, I kept meditating on la illah ha il Allah, doing deeper and deeper into it. It was like layers of veils were being peeled off of my mind, and every time that would happen, a deeper meaning of this Divine Statement would come to mind, and I would likewise dive into that. It kept occurring until the meaning came to me that there is no reality except God. And in that moment, I felt real.

This exposition of Wahdat al-Wujud was so fine, a diamond of a video and gift to the world. Ibn Arabi would be proud to see youtube used to spread and explain ideas of unity like this. Keep em coming.

I love your seminars. As an old Christian woman with an open heart I enjoy learning about my brothers and sisters. How lovely and deep are their thoughts. We are so close but hold ourselves apart.

The line about God and creation viewing each other in mirrors was awesome

One of the best explanations for an often misunderstood concept: "The Akbarian Wahdat al-Wujud (Oneness of Being) transcends duality without denying it: Haqq is Haqq and khalq is khalq. To use numerical symbolism... the number 1,000 gets all its reality from the number 1, without which it is nothing. Even so, one cannot write 1 = 1,000 or 1,000 = 1, which would be to deny the unity of the one or the multiplicity of the multiple. The notion of theophany comes clear in its crucial sense: the three zeroes of the number 1,000 (the word 'sifr,' which designates zero means, precisely, 'nothing,’ ‘emptiness’) in themselves are nonexistent. But preceded by the number 1, they express the series of epiphanies by means of which this principial 1 manifests to itself and by which each is unique: an instantaneous lightning flash of a Name which is not God, but which is not, either, other than God." - Michel Chodkiewicz

I am Persian. I'm living now in the UK but I know many Sufis in Iran. This video was amazing and it's just incredible how accurate and beautiful you explained Wahdat al-Wujud! Thank you so much for this. Such videos make man drunker than any wine! When we define something, we distinguish it from other things by showing its attributes. But the concept of "Nothingness" cannot be described with a certain number of characteristics, otherwise, "Nothingness" would become "something", and therefore, it would be not "Nothingness" anymore and it would be limited to those characteristics of a thing. Therefore, when Nothingness cannot be defined, it means that it cannot be distinguished. Therefore, "Nothingness" must have all the characteristics and attributes at the same time and consequently, Nothingness is in fact Everything! and it means Nothingness is the very Being and has infinite attributes. and when we say God is infinite, then, God seems like "Nothingness" for the mind while it is also everything at the same time but it is not a certain limited thing because it is infinity! I want to add a Persian poem from Maulana Jalaluddin Muhammad, known as Mowlavi in Iran, who is the Persian poet known as Rumi: مرد و زن چون یک شود آن یک تویی ** چون که یک جا محو شد آنک تویی‌‌ این من و ما بهر آن بر ساختی ** تا تو با خود نرد خدمت باختی‌‌ تا من و توها همه یک جان شوند ** عاقبت مستغرق جانان شوند مثنوی ۱ از ۱۷۸۶ تا ۱۷۸۸ When man and woman become one, Thou art that One; when the units are wiped out, lo, Thou art that (Unity). Thou didst contrive this “I” and “we” in order that Thou mightst play the game of worship with Thyself, That all “I's” and “thou's” should become one soul and at last should be submerged in the Beloved. Masnavi 1 (1786 - 1788)

dude my youth has been centered around contemplating and consuming these things, but you manage to rock my world every time. thank you so much.

I study Oriental studies and I am very interested in Islam and in religions generally. As a student I find your videos very interesting and informative. When I want to watch one of your videos, I need to grab a pen and a notebook, and I usually end up making many notes. Thank you for the great academic content. I am looking forward to watching all of your videos, and do further reading on the topics that interest me more. I hope one day I will know as much about religions as you do. :) Also thank you for always mentioning the main sources you use. Much love and respect from Armenia!

your Arabic Pronounciation is so good😍

God is Greater, the Greatest. I type this with tears in my eyes. Thank you for this video and for this channel. May God bless you and Guide you to Him. Ameen.

I come back to this video over and over again. To me this is the best description of God that I have yet found.

Bought tears to my eyes. Thank you so much. ‏لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ

I am so impressed by this young scholar. He has been blessed by the Divine

This is the Truth and it transcends ALL religions. I have came to these same Truths and am just hearing about all of this right now. Pretty amazing

Absolutely fantastic - I am so glad I found this channel. That was a lucid exposition

Having watched your other videos I feel you enjoyed doing this segment on Ibn Al Arabi the most. The excitement in your voice is unmistakable. Keep up the good work.

This is my favourite part of Sufism. Especially, the infinite manifestations of god through "A'yan al-thabita" sounds a lot like the multiverse hypothesis in theoretical physics in which we have infinite worlds being created with different or similar laws of physics (either the many world interpretation of quantum mechanics or the multiverse of the eternal inflation theory). I always found the concept of "A'yan althabita" very similar to laws of physics. I absolutely loved the fact that you very correctly used images of the galaxies and the universe while you were talking about these very complex concepts. One small comment about Macrocosm and Microcosm. As much as I have read in Arabic and Persian texts, they are not translations of "Insan al-kabir" (Great man) and "Insan al-saghir" (small man). They are translations of "the great cosmos/world" (Aalam al-kabir) and "the small cosmos/world" (Aalam al-saghir). And the idea behind it is that the human being is the small world which means that the human being includes all attributes of the world within itself. This idea which surely had existed way before Sufism and even Islam, can again be interpreted via a scientific perspective. It means that all the laws of physics that are valid out there in the world (for particles, planets and galaxies), they are all also valid inside us humans. We are not fundamentally different to the world.

You are amazing man. I’m learning about my religion and heritage from you. I’m a believer in god (Allah) but not practising Muslim. Your videos are impartial detailed, yet easy to understand and follow. You are enlightening me about the philosophy of islam. Please, keep up the great job and your informative videos.

What is interesting is that Theoretical Physics in the subatomic Quantum reality realm is defining & new debating the concepts of matter energy & conscious in these SAME TERMS

Watched the first half of the video, thinking all the while, "so, basically Advaita Vedanta?" Pleasantly surprised that the final half illuminated a primary difference, namely that of the universe being merely a reflection of Gods attributes, and this being both God and not God, as opposed to Vedanta's belief that the universe is entirely illusory. The Sufi concept seems to me to be more logical, more beautiful, more believable.

Peace! I just felt like I should express some appreciation for your work on this channel. As a Muslim, it seems to me to be a great contribution and help in clearing up misconceptions around various people, their thoughts, and movements. I can also learn here about other religions, if they are as well respresented as I find Islam here to be. Keep up the good work!

The best short explanation, of whadathul wujeed, may Allah teach us more 🤲🏻

This is all important to me as my brother died a shaheed in a car accident st the age of 20 on october 1st. He was truly a special person and i csnnot undertand why he was chosen.

sufism is the purest form of islam..sadly nowadays nobody talks about it often. i am so glad to have stumbled upon this video..and i hope more people understand that this is the real islam and not what media portrays.tq for this amazing video

It is realy amazing that the great mystics of all traditions came to so similar conclusions, even if they express them using diferent metaphors o a diferent cultural reference and language, in essence they are quite the same. Great explanation, thanks for it.

I've studied religion for years however never knew how diverse and complex Islam was . It would be cool to meet you one day a lot of questions.

Great to see a video on a difficult topic of wahdat-al-wajud. To understand this concept one needs to go through functional qulb (spiritual parallel of heart) concept that sufis generally practice and claim that the whole of the universe may not encompass God but He may reside in the instigated qulb of His slaves who selflessly worship Him regardless of any temptation of heaven or fear of hell and seek merely love of God only.

This is amazing. And it happened to me :) After He’s taken me through Heaven and Hell, He manifested Himself as a ray of light of exact straightness; I felt being one with that ray of light as if it was the only thing which truly existed; He shined through my mind, paused, turned around, pointed at Himself and asked: Who am I? He laughed. I laughed too, bathing in love and tears.

This presenter has done a very good job. Proving that he has a perfect grasp of the subject matter that many who experienced found difficult to verbalize . I am impressed .

Spiritual enlightenment is the ultimate highest state that people should pursue because in the end after death we face and enter the spiritual world so we should prepare and know as much as possible while we are alive.

Incredible video discourse on a seemingly complex doctrine. Kept coming back to this for years now. Deeply resonates at a level that is hard for most content creators to reach. Well done sir!

Beautifully presented. Thank you for this video and I look forward to more. Your knowledge is vast and yet I can see your ease in and enthusiasm in sharing your passion. Thank you.

Soo young and soo wise. Beautiful. Thanks.

Omg! Im seriously falling in love with your channel! Thank you for this fabulous content ❤️

It's fascinating how modern cutting edge physics is reaching similar conclusion, just using different language to do so.

I really admire you as your a real researcher. May Allah blessed you

You have got a subscriber. You go into the most comprehensive knowledge of Islamic historical past and scholars. Ibn Arabi has become my fav. He’s full of knowledge and the nuanced tolerance that he has shown to practice is astronomical. Enjoy listening to you.

I don't know your beliefs but I am so thankful you led me back to Allah through these fun type of informative videos!! May Allah grant you a great life in this dunya and the hereafter :)

Man I literally conceived of God almost in the exact same way prior to hearing about this guy.

Having deconstructed a fundamentalist variation of Islam, you have no idea how much your videos help me reclaim the traumatized parts of my spirituality. It’s such a refreshing take in comparison to the dogma I was exposed to. Thank you so much.

One thing you missed out I think is that, this idea is derived from the idea of "That Tvam Asi" or "That art you", which is a Hindu trantric phrase, as mentioned in the Chandokya Upanishad. This idea is so welcoming and one of unity. There are similar ideas in other Indian spiritual ideologies. Therefore, many Islamic scholars declare this idea as heretic and blasphemous and often decried the whole cause of Sufism thus.

This is beyond brilliant and he explains it all so simply. I have been after this concept for the last 10 years . I am looking at the shadow of the blinds on my fall and can’t help but see the divine. Thanks to this video. There is so much light in this. I wish everyone could see this.

💚 From Syria.... We are all One pure Love and One pure Consciousness 💚

What a wonderful, deep appreciation of Sufism. Listening to your enlightening narration a thought kept recurring to me…. Yes, it is worth noting: Nothing combats ignorance, and its offspring, racism, like knowledge of the hitherto unknown. Imagine if, in a course on comparative wisdom traditions, high school students were exposed, at their level, to this remarkable appreciation of this branch of Islam. What we’re bombarded with on the Consumer News, with the express purpose of dehumanizing the owners of the resources we covet, are blanket stereotypes, mostly visual parodies of caricatures, that serve to “other” the Islamic world. This enlightening video reinstates, in those of us so unfortunately brainwashed, the dignity which is rightfully owned by those we seek to denigrate And ALL OF HUMANITY stands to gain Wahdat al Wujud

Still experiencing the feeling is different from hearing the philosophy May Allah help you to experience it. Sometime you will experience it and it will not be permanent. So at the end you will live with the attribute Allah want you to live with.

Thank you so much. I have been wondering about Sufi/Muslim non-duality for some time. It's great to become better acquainted. Truly appreciate your work.

This is probably my favourite video of the chanel. One of the first I saw, and I keep coming back to it. It is not just informative/academic, it is so much more than that. Thank you 🙏🏾

Alhamdulillah this video is a very beautiful explanation of the Shaykh, May Allah Bestow abundant mercy and blessings upon the Shaykh al- Akbar!

I’m a Christian and I APPROVE OF THiS ViDEO. His opening statement SLAYS mediocrity in some Religions. Gotta love it.

This is an incredibly wonderful video. It explains what science has not been able to explain. It is a much better alternative to Solipsistic philosophy.

Superb presentation. Great work. I’m so glad for the notes, text, illustrations and graphics; especially for such complex and deeply nuanced topics. Furthermore these additions (to the ubiquitous talking head camera shot) are therefore fundamental while adding texture to the presentation thereby cultivating interest to the audience.

Mushallah brother, I thought this stuff was too esoteric for the general public. You explain it so much more eloquently than I ever could.

Imam Ali was Insan al Kamil besides the prophet. As apparents in his sermons and saying when he says things like "Ask me ask me before you lose me" or "Why do you consdier yourself so small man when the universe is enfolded within you"

Enlightenment is finding God standing in your shoes. I Am Thee Sweet One, if You say, "I Am." Eheihe is Thee I Am. Great Work by the way, keep it up!

My favourite religious historian. Your work is so valuable, and necessary in contributing to the current movement of intergrating the best of Human knowledge, and endeavour, in the purpose of Human spiritual evolution. In my view anyway, JZK. :-)

This is an amazing breakdown and sounds similar to the views of the Gnostics

You are a special gift from The Creator for Humanity I pray for your well being and long life

MAN....... MY FIRST INTRODUCTION TO THIS TOPIC.. OTHERWISE I WOULD KEEP AWAY FROM THIS READINGS AND TALKS.. IT WAS WONDERFULL.. AS I DIDN'T FELT LIKE I AM FORCED TO ACCEPT OR REJECT... NEITHER DID THE USER SEEM TO CLAIM HIS VERSION IS CORRECT.. IT PERFECTLY SEEMED NEUTRAL.. THAT IS WERE LIES QUALITIES OF YOUR OTHER PRESENTATION.. VIEWERS HAVE CHOICE TO REJECT OR ACCEPT.. WHILE AT SAME TIME ENJOY PRESENTATION.. SUPERB

This is by far one of the best channels on RU-vid and this is a fantastic explanation of Wahdat al-Wujud. Amazing work, wish you all the best Filip!

This is really wonderful. The whole perspective actually means alot

Really great and simple explanation !about the unity of being ! Love the prism example and table example !!✨

You’re doing an excellent work by covering these topics

That is profound wisdom, thank you 🙏🏼

It's impressing how mysticism in every religion says almost the same thing.

Just when I thought this shares the same concept of Advaita, you said it! Pretty interesting to see similarities!

Listening to you moves the flame inside my chest

This is a high quality video

Thenk you so much for sharing your knowledge and explaining everything so beautifully. Thank you for showing the connection of the Islamic world to the rest of the religions, as they basically talk about the same, only ecpressed differently, and the Islamic way of expression very clear and beautiful. I live in Israel and it's very important for me to understand this in order to be able to talk about this, you bringing these truths and teachings here makes it possible, so thanks again :) Hope we can bring peace within ourselves by listening to what your'e sharing and stop these unproductive and destructive ways of life.

Great channel indeed ! Thank you for your meticulous explanations . It is a real pleasure to hear these gems of spirituality . For me , as an orthodox christian THIS mystic Islam is a revelation.

Thank you for such a lucid explanation with lots of valuable references. God bless your work - making "wine" for the soul accessible without diluting it.

A great explanation, even though I'm exploring these topic for years, I've found a lot of new ideas from this video. Another point idk why you didn't even remind about Rumi when talking about Wahdat-al Wujud and Love, when he known as one of the greatest teachers of this concept.

Great information! Absolutely the best religion based channel i've seen so far with unbiased information. Thank you for that

This is so deep and beautiful

The best thing through which one can know Allah is through His creations that He perfectly brought to existence and all the bounties.

Another awesome analysis. Well done mate. Keep it up 👍🏾

Deja vu!!!! All the questions I used to think about are on this channel. glad to have found this channel ....

“If there is God, he is one God”; not, “there is only one God”.

I'm really enjoying this series of videos, and they have brought new life to my interest in early islamic literature. Your channel is and has always been fantastic.

Beautifully explained. Make a video on comparison between Judaism and Islam and how did these two religions forked from the primary Abrahamic religion

This is what I have experienced. There is one necessary being and all other beings are existential. Peace.

10:08 Fantastic my friend. Thank you ☯

Just brilliant, as usual Philip, second to none !!! ❤️❤️❤️

Min 19:30 St Augustine spoke of God as the Lover, the Logos as the Beloved, and the Spirit as the Love itself. St Palamas similarly discussed the Spirit as the Eros between God and His Logos.

Thank you for an informative video. I am on the side of such philosophy being "dangerous" since it needs extensive and deeper knowledge and understanding which not every Tom, Dick, and Harry can afford.

Thank you, I am so very grateful to you for this teachings. Blessings!,

Ibn Arabi is extremely interesting to me, though I have to be very careful when considering his views. Your video, as usual, is quite excellent.

Bro, your Arabic pronounciation is on the spot. I dont speak Arabic but have friends that do, sounds legit to me

Allah is the one and only existence, the rest(we), are just the manifestations of Allahs attributes and names, his reflection. We exist only in the knowledge of Allah. Unity of existence is not pantheism. ALLAH IS AHAD(unbrakeable One) not composed of parts.

I'm an American revert, and I can't tell you how much this series would have meant to me when I started my journey with Islam 10 years ago, when I was I so very thirsty for this. But late is better than never, and now is perfect as ever. Thank you so so very much!!!🙏🫶🙏

Your videos are the best I've found describing these different religions. Love your content.

Drink a shot (of kahwa) everytime he says “this is rather problematic”

Religion is for bringing people together, Spirituality is real.

Great video and beautifully explained. What a unifying sufi philosophy!

Great Video. Such a beautiful philosophy, thank you for making this.

Wow this is very consistent with the teachings in Sikhism too, we say that god is everything, he’s immanent in the universe whilst also being transcendent. We are capable of being reflections of God through achieving enlightenment and recognising him and his oneness. A Sikh poet by the name Bhai Nand Lal actually talks of Mansoor al hallaj, it’s recognised that the truth has always been here, before the Gurus certain people had found the truth. It’s interesting the hadiths you spoke of also further support the idea and go hand in hand with concepts in sikhi. A beautiful explanation, thank you for this video.

Thank you for your incredibly interesting content. It's literally the best channel about religions I've seen.

Im Muslim and readimg scriptures pf every religiom, i can see that in terms of scripture theres much more mystic basis in buddhist and hindu texts. I would say that the notion you mentioned in the beginning has somw truths to it too

This is so deep talk, even as Arab it’s normally hard to be understood without going deeper into the philosophy. I am expecting something if you continue reading such Muslim literature.

Wonderful, although I am an orthodox christian, this teaching resonates deeply and wholly in me. I could say that it's actually my real belief. In listening to the description of this godly teaching I am moved within... The "trinity" of love, beloved and lover is actually quite similar to the actual Trinity, while Jesus being the lover of the Father while the Spirit is love itself. I deeply believe that we ought to be like Jesus in this matter and that's how we become divinized, one with God. Ibn Arabi presents these thoughts wonderfully

Thank you, I am a Baha’i and have enjoyed seeing the Islamic and Sufi roots to of which the Baha’i Writings often refer. The discovery has been illuminating. Best!