Wahdatul Wujud
In Sufism and mysticism literatures there are some informations about horrible situations faced by sufis and mystics in accordance with deadly violence against conventional religious leader. Some of them death defends about the belief of unity of human and god, called as wahdatul wujud, viz: al-Hallaj, Siti Jenar. Ibn Arabi, who also well-known with the wahdatul wujud concept, was condemned by some order, like Sunni, as heresy. The problem actually is because that concept understood as vague things to the tauhid, the basic Islamic doctrine which believes God as the only.
Hallaj statement “ana al-Haq” is understood, by conventional ulema, as acknowledgement of Hallaj’s Goddess. Whereas, in Sufism concepts, as I see from Ibn Arabi, wahdatul wujud is not lead to diminishing God as the only. God is God, and human are human. God as creator and human are creature. However, between god and human is not really apart each other, because human as creature come up from god, as source of everything. The special concept from Sufism actually says that everyone personally can meet with god trough such methods, like contemplation or follow mystical order that guide someone to reach god by her/his own ways.
I think it will be interesting when we see the concept of wahdatul wujud from the master of Sufism. In bezel of wisdom he explores that the concept of wahdatul wujud or oneness of being means “all-embracing one.” Everything in the word embrace by god, even this understanding come up to pantheism that god is in everything, whatever we see and touch that is god. There are many facets of god light, because he is omnipotence in theological view, so His existence cannot be simplified in human perception as someone or something. God is single and unique, but human also unique in the world. Different ability of human being make human catches various facet of god. The key concept of this view is experience of god. Even in same Sufism there is no similar experience to god as ultimate reality.
Ibn arabi purports that it should be differentiated between God as the ultimate and god as human perception. No one knows what, who, and why the ultimate reality is. God is always wujud in the place of wahdatul suhud or perception. However, that is true for human to justify that thing as God, because God goes to human souls accordance with the capacity of human itself.
Wadatul suhud is human capacity, while wahdatul wujud are god capacity. Human and god meet in imaginative place that calls as maqom muwahidah. In another explanation says that tasawuf in islam is return to the “word alastu,” where god ask to human about who is the illah. Alastu moment is human and god covenant, the true separation between god as creator and human as creature. If the meeting point of human and god understood as muwahidah it probably means return back to “tauhid”, because in that time all human acknowledge that god as the only.
Perhaps, the place of meeting between god and human in Sufism context is imagine concept because no one know where it. In one hand, muwahidah god and human not means human become god, but human cannot separately with god being because he very close in his vision. So, when he accompany with god, no one conduct outside god. all sounds, speaks, and attempts are god’s. in that condition, human awareness and god awareness meet one Being. in ibn arabi concept, god and human is different not because he/his different, but human belief that god and human different. Differentiation of human and god follow the logic of rationality. It is impossible god exist in the time where human make a covenant. The unity of human and god might be in the position of god’s manshut and human’s lahut. Human’s lahut, god dimension, gets closer to God, at vice versa god’s manshut gets closer to human. Thus, meeting point of god and human is the place that god and human is attainable each other.
Human can attain god because god is active being, he is not something or everything who is to be. It is interesting when I see the definition of being proposed by William cittick. He says that that Arabi highlights the expression ahl al-kashf wa'l-wujûd, "the folk of unveiling and finding", or ahl al-shuhud wa'l-wujûd, "the folk of witnessing and finding". It clear that god is finding, go is to be found. Thus, wujud is not to be, but also to alive and to aware.What will human find except wujud, because in arabi’s concept all cosmos all firstly come from god and cannot be separated from him. Qur'anic says that "Everything in the heavens and the earth glorifies God" (57:1). Glorifying is impossible without knowing, thus not only human find god in the sould, but everyone and everthing. However, human are special because human have an awareness to find god, not only god found human.
Yet, consciousness did not produce being, or the existence and being is not come from awareness as logically western philosopher formulated. For Ibn al-'Arabi and much of Islamic theological thinking, “no universe is thinkable without the omnipresence of life and awareness.” Cittik says that the very word that is employed to refer to the underlying stuff of the universe - wujûd - is understood by them to express this.[]
