M6:1618 — ضد ضد را بود و هستی کی دهد / بلک ازو بگریزد و بیرون جهد

Translation: How can an antithesis bestow existence upon its antithesis? / Nay, it flees from it and leaps away. Meaning: This verse refers to the nature of the Prime Cause, stating that an antithesis cannot give life to its opposite, as they inherently repel each other.

Here, we encounter a fundamental discussion regarding the nature of absolute existence and the Creator. Mowlana argues in this verse that God, or in a deeper sense, true Existence, is inherently devoid of ḍidd (antithesis or opponent) and nadd (like or equal). These two concepts find meaning only in the realm of multiplicity and creation but are meaningless when applied to an existence that is unique, simple, and peerless.

The verse in question poses a rhetorical query: "How can an antithesis bestow existence upon its antithesis?" How is it possible for something inherently opposed to another to grant it being or to coexist with it? The answer is clear: "Nay, it flees from it and leaps away." Opposites inherently repel each other and flee. This is a self-evident principle in logic and philosophy.

Mowlana clarifies this in his subsequent explanation: "No antithesis or equal does it have in essence or deed / For from it, beings don garments of existence.". From this God, who has no antithesis or equal in His essence and action, all beings have clothed themselves in existence; yet, within these very beings, ḍidd and nadd arise. He poses the same question for nadd: "What is an equal? A like, good and bad / How can a like create its own like?"

The key point lies in distinguishing between 'complete causes' (ʿilal-i tāmmeh) and 'incomplete causes' (ʿilal-i nāqesah). In the world of creatures and incomplete causes, it might appear that an opposite can generate an opposite; for example, the serenity of the beloved creates the restlessness of the lover. Or a factory can produce identical products. However, these instances fall within the framework of merely preparatory and incomplete causes. In the case of the ultimate and singular complete cause, God, such an interaction is impossible. The complete cause must always be superior and more potent than its effect; thus, the effect can be neither its antithesis nor its equal. Existents, from the realm of abstractions and the highest heavens (malakūt-i ʿalā) down to the lowest heavens (malakūt-i asfal) and the sensory world, continuously descend in terms of their existential scope.

To elucidate this truth, Mowlana employs the beautiful metaphor of "foam on the sea": "Like garden leaves are antitheses and likes / Like foam on the sea that is without like or antithesis.". He states that in the natural world, we have ḍidd and nadd as numerous as garden leaves. However, this multiplicity of opposites and equals is merely foam upon a sea that, in its essence, is simple and devoid of ḍidd and nadd. All these 'hows' and 'whys' and qualities of the phenomenal world are like foams that pulsate upon the qualitative and simple sea of absolute existence. Even the human soul, which is the least of the 'playthings' or products of the sea of existence, is itself free from 'hows' and 'whys,' and location; "The least of His playthings is your soul / How and why did this soul truly come to be?" The soul, like God, cannot be confined by 'how' and 'why,' and this very lack of 'how-ness' in the soul is a sign of the 'how-lessness' of its Creator.

Key takeaways

• God, as the ultimate reality, transcends the concepts of 'antithesis' (ḍidd) and 'equal' (nadd).
• True opposites inherently repel each other and cannot fundamentally bestow existence upon one another.
• The apparent existence of opposites and likes in the natural world is merely foam upon the simple, undifferentiated ocean of divine existence.
• Mowlana distinguishes between ultimate, complete causation (God) and secondary, incomplete causation (the created world).
• The human soul, as a 'plaything' of God, reflects the Creator's simplicity and transcendence through its own lack of 'how-ness' and spatial location.