Metaphysics. Cosmology. Tradition. Symbolism studies in comparative religion

The God Conditioned by Belief

Emir ‘Abd al-Qādir al-Jazā’irī



Say: we believe in that which has been revealed to us and in that which has been revealed to you: your God and our God are one God, and we surrender (muslimūn) to Him.

(Koran 29:46)

What we are going to say comes from subtle allusion (ishāra) and not from exegesis (tafsīr) properly speaking.¹

God commands Muhammadans to say to all the communities who belong to the “People of the Book”—Christians, Jews, Sabeans, and others, “We believe in that which was revealed to us” that is in that which epiphanizes itself to us, namely the God exempt from all limitation, transcendent in His very immanence, and, even more, transcendent in His very transcendence, who, in all that, still remains immanent; “and in that which was revealed to you”—that is, in that which epiphanizes itself to you in conditioned, immanent, and limited forms. It is He whom His theophanies manifest to you as to us. The diverse terms which express the “descent” or the “coming” of the revelation² do not designate anything other than the manifestations (ẓuhūrāt) or the theophanies (tajalliyāt) of the Essence, of His work or of one or another of His attributes. Allah is not “above” anything, which would imply that it is necessary to “climb” towards Him. The divine Essence, His word, and His attributes are not localizable in one particular direction from which they would “descend” towards us.

The “descent” and other terms of this type have no meaning except in relation to the one who receives the theophany and to his spiritual rank. It is this rank which justifies the expression “descent” or other analogous expressions. For the rank of the creature is low and inferior while that of God is elevated and sublime. If it were not for that, there would be no question of descending or “making [the Revelation] descend,” and one would not speak of “climbing” or “ascending”; “lowering” or “approaching.”

It is the passive form [in which the real subject of the action expressed by the verb remains hidden] that is used in this verse, since the theophany in question here is produced starting from the degree which integrates all the divine Names.³ Originating from this degree, the only Names which epiphanize themselves are the name of the divinity (the name Allāh), the name al-Rabb (the Lord) and the name al-Raḥmān (the All-Merciful). [Among the scriptural evidence for the preceding] Allāh has said: “And your Lord will come” (Koran 89:22) and, similarly, one finds in a prophetic tradition: “Our Lord descends. . .”.⁴ Allāh has further said, “Only if Allāh comes” (Koran 2:210), etc. It is impossible for one of the divine degrees to epiphanize itself with the totality of the Names which it encloses. He perpetually manifests certain of them and hides others. Understand!

Our God and the God of all communities contrary to ours are in truth and reality one unique God, in conformity to what He has said in numerous verses, “Your God is one unique God” (Koran 2:163; 16:22; etc.). He also said, “There is no God but Allāh” (wa mā min ilāhin illa Llāhu, Koran 3:62). This is so in spite of the diversity of His theophanies, their absolute or limited character, their transcendence or immanence, and the variety of His manifestations. He has manifested Himself to Muhammadans beyond all form while at the same time manifesting Himself in every form, without that involving incarnation, union, or mixture. To the Christians He has manifested Himself in the person of Christ and the monks, as He said in the Book.⁵ To the Jews, He has manifested Himself in the form of ʿUzayr [Ezra] and the Rabbis. To the Mazdeans He has manifested Himself in the form of fire, and to the dualists in the form of light and darkness. And He has manifested Himself to each person who worships some particular thing—rock, tree, or animal—in the form of that thing, for no one who worships a finite thing worships it for the thing itself. What he worships is the epiphany in that form of the attributes of the true God—May He be exalted!—this epiphany representing, for each form, the divine aspect which properly corresponds to it. But [beyond this diversity of theophanic forms], He whom all of these worshippers worship is One, and their fault consists only in the fact that they restrict themselves in a limiting way [by adhering exclusively to one particular theophany].

Our God, as well as the God of the Christians, the Jews, the Sabeans, and all the diverging sects, is One, just as He has taught us. But He has manifested Himself to us through a different theophany than that by which He manifested Himself in His revelation to the Christians, to the Jews, and to the other sects. Even beyond that, He manifested Himself to the Muhammadan community itself by multiple and diverse theophanies, which explains why this community in its turn contains as many as seventy-three different sects.⁶ Indeed, within each of these it would be necessary to distinguish still other sects, themselves varying and divergent, as anyone who is familiar with theology can confirm. Now, all of that results only from the diversity of theophanies, which is a function of the multiplicity of those to whom they are destined and to the diversity of their essential predispositions. In spite of this diversity, He who epiphanizes Himself is One, without changing, from the eternity without beginning to the eternity without end. But He reveals Himself to every being endowed with intelligence according to the measure of his intelligence. “And Allāh embraces all things, and He is All-Knowing” (Koran 2:115).

Thus the religions are in fact unanimous regarding the object of worship—this worship being co-natural to all creatures, even if few of them are conscious of it—at least insofar as it is unconditioned, but not when it is considered in relation to the diversity of its determinations. But we, as Muslims, as He has prescribed, are subject to the universal God and believe in Him. Those who are destined for punishment are so destined only because they worship Him in a particular sensible form to the exclusion of any other. The only ones who will understand the significance of what we have said are the elite of the Muhammadan community, to the exclusion of the other communities.⁷ There is not a single being in the world—be he one of those who are called “naturalists,” “materialists” or otherwise—who is truly an atheist. If his words make you think to the contrary, it is your way of interpreting them which is flawed. Infidelity (kufr) does not exist in the universe, except in a relative way. If you are capable of understanding, you will see that there is a subtle point here, which is that someone who does not know God with this veritable knowledge in reality worships only a lord conditioned by the beliefs which he holds concerning him, a lord who can only reveal himself to him in the form of his belief. But the veritable Worshipped is beyond all of the “lords”!

All this is part of the secrets which it is proper to conceal from those who are not of our way. Beware! He who divulges this must be counted among the tempters of the servants of God. No fault can be imputed to the doctors of the law if they accuse him of being an infidel or a heretic whose repentance cannot be accepted. “And God says the Truth, and it is He who leads on the straight way” (Koran 33:4).

Translated by a team under the direction of
James Chrestensen and Tom Manning