Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

It is also necessary to know that the Imam must necessarily exist in all three
kawns, i.e., worlds, - material, spiritual and cosmic, because he is in fact the
"indispensably existent," and every thing besides him is but "possibly existent."

By this latter name anything is called which cannot exist by itself. And as now
all these "possibly existent" objects in fact exist, (it follows that) the Imam is
manifested in their generic class in both worlds (kawn). Where it not so, the
worlds (akwan) could not exist.

If some one says that the Creator (mujid) [1] is an impossibility because the
opposite of the existence (of anything) is non-existence of the equally possible
(mumkinat) thing (i.e., belonging to the same category), and not the non-existence
of the One on whom the existence itself depends; nor will be their
non-existence the counterpart of the "Indispensably-existent" (wajibu'l-wujud);
or if he should say that they exist, but are the cause of the other, - all this is
senseless. Therefore [Fol.5] it is obvious that the Imam must be manifested in
both the worlds, one created and corporeal (i.e., material), and the other
abstract (amri) [2] and spiritual, as all three kinds of existence are based on
(the same) Primal Divine Volition (amr).

[1] In the text there is mawjud, i.e., available, existent. This is obviously
erroneous in the context.

[2] The term amr, i.e. (Divine) command, or the primal creative volition of the
Deity, and what belongs to it. Amri, all deal with those basic principles of
creation which precede the visible world.

In the created, material world the posterity (awlad) of everything are always
similar (in properties) to their progenitors, so that the son takes the place of the
father. The same is true of the spiritual world, and the world of primal realities
(amri), with the adversaries who maintain this on the basis of their Shari'at, the
"people of order" (ahl-I tarattub) from their doctrine (ta'lim), and the "people
of (Divine) unity" (ahl-I wahdat), i.e., the Hujjat, from the Divine assistance
(ta'yid).

And then this also should be noted that the manifestation (of the Imam) in all
these worlds (akwan) is relative (idafi), not absolute (haqiqi). If it were
absolute, it would (have the power to ) rule the world of "possibles"
(mamkinat).

The term "relative" (idafi) is applied to something that resembles something
else (in certain respects), but is essentially different from it, just as a mirage
resembling water, or a reflection in a mirror, and which are different (from
what they resemble). The real, or absolute (haqiqi) is called something that is
the original reality, as water (resembled by a mirage), or the original object
(reflected in a mirror). So Ra'is Hasan says in a poem:-

Thou art a being that appears as a man to men, before the eyes of men, in this world;
In the form of a man thou art and with men thou remainest.
Thou comest amongst men not showing thy real face,
[Fol.5v.] (Because) in thy pure and attributeless essence thou art void of every (form).
If (thou appearest) amongst the men, thou art a man, if amidst spirits-a spirit,
Thou grantest them their existence as well as governest them.

And the same Ra'is says in (another) poem:-

The reason why thou has received the illusory attributes,
And why they became incalculable for the world,
If that every religion, whether it be true or false, bad or good,
Invented its own way (of worship) and calls thee by a different name.
Of all these names and attributes, which appeared,
A garden rose up with young trees of the saying "I was a Hidden Treasure."
Thou art partaking in all these, only from Thee
Comes the existence of all these, inherent in the beings.
But in the eyes of the truth, in Thy real essence Thou art
Really void of all the attributes and all the names.

And Khwaja Nasir says:-

O thou, in whose existence is a possibility of being for the world,
O thou, in whose protection is mankind's safety!
As a person thou art the manifestation of theDivine Light,
And in the view of reason thou art the source of the different kinds of creations of the world.
Thou comest appearing to the eyes of all creatures,
But remainest hidden even from the Universal Reason in thy mysterious power.
All three worlds are with thee, and thou hast been with all of them,
Both (the material and spiritual) worlds come from thee, but thou art from from all of them.[Fol.6]
(Therefore) it is to be understood, that only the manifestation of the Imam in these worlds is their real cause,
not anything else.