Discourse on Subsistence (baqa) and (fana) Annihilation
Khwaja Muzaffar said, “Annihilation means ‘not-being,’ while subsistence refers to ‘being’: each term negates the other. Essences are not capable of annihilation. Attributes, however, can be annihilated, and so can secondary causes.
Annihilation and subsistence have one meaning in science and the other in mysticism. Subsistence in its scientific and etymological acceptation is of three kinds:
- A subsistence that begins and ends in annihilation, e.g., this world that had a beginning and will have an end, is now subsistent.
- A subsistence that came intelligent beings and will never be annihilated, viz. Paradise and Hell and the next world and its inhabitants.
- Subsistence is something that always was and always will be, viz., the subsistence of God and His eternal attributes.
Accordingly, knowledge of annihilation lies in knowing that this world is perishable, and understanding of subsistence lies in knowing that the next world is everlasting.
Subsistence and annihilation of a State (hal)
The subsistence and annihilation of a state (hal) denotes, e.g. that when ignorance is annihilated knowledge is subsistent, and when sin is annihilated piety is subsistent, and that when a man acquires knowledge of his piety, his forgetfulness (ghaflat) is annihilated by remembrance of God (dhikr/zikr), i.e.; when anyone gains knowledge of God and becomes subsistent in knowledge of Him he is annihilated from forgetfulness; he becomes subsistent in remembrance of Him, and this involves discarding of blameworthy attributes and the substitution of praiseworthy attributes.
However, let it be clear that this explanation is not always used for “knowledge” (ilm) or “state” (hal) by the elect Sufis. They apply the terms “annihilation” and “subsistence” to the degree of perfection attained by saints who have become free from the pains of self-mortification and have escaped from the prisons of “stations” and the vicissitudes of “states, and whose search has ended in a discovery of ‘The Truth’, and they have seen all things visible, and heard all things audible, and have discovered all secrets of the heart; and who, recognizing the imperfection of their own discovery, have turned away from all things and have purposely become annihilated in the object of desire, and the very essence of desire have lost all desires of their own, for when a man becomes annihilated from his attributes he attains to perfect subsistence. He is neither near, neither far, neither stranger nor intimate, neither sober nor intoxicated, neither separated nor united; he has no name, sign, brand, or mark.
Subsistence and annihilation have nothing to do with personal likes or dislikes.
Therefore, real annihilation from anything involves consciousness of its imperfection and absence of desire for it, not merely that a man should say, when he likes a thing, “I am subsistent therein,” or when he dislikes it, that he should say, “I am annihilated from there”; for these are characteristic of one who is still seeking. In annihilation, there is no Love or hate; in subsistence, there is no consciousness of union or separation.
Annihilation is of Attributes and not of Essence.
Some wrongly imagine that annihilation signifies the loss of essence and destruction of personality and that subsistence indicates the subsistence of God in Man; both these notions are absurd. Many ignorant Sufis cannot distinguish the Eternal from the phenomenal and consider that total annihilation (fana-yi-kulliyat) is possible, but this is a manifest error, for the annihilation of the different parts of a material substance (tinati) can never take place.
Annihilation of Essence is a Christian Dogma
The Nestorians of Rum and the Christians hold that Mary annihilated by self-mortification all the attributes of humanity (awsaf-e-nasuti) and that the Divine subsistence became attached to her so that she was made subsistent through the subsistence of God, and Jesus was the result thereof, and that he was not originally composed of the stuff of humanity, because his subsistence is produced by realization of the subsistence of God. Consequently, he and his mother and God are all subsistent through one subsistence, which is eternal and an attribute of God. Ali Hujwary has strongly condemned such views held by anthropomorphist sects of the Hashwiyya, who maintain that the Divine essence is a locus of phenomena (mahall-e-hawadith) and that the Eternal may have phenomenal attributes.
Annihilation and subsistence may be independent of each other.
Annihilation is the annihilation of one attribute through the subsistence of another attribute. However, one may speak of an annihilation independent of subsistence and a subsistence independent of annihilation. In such a case, annihilation means “annihilation of all remembrance of other,” and subsistence means “subsistence of the remembrance of God.” (baqa-e-dihkr-e-haqq).
When one follows one’s own will, i.e., by negating or challenging Divine Law, he stands by annihilation because human will is perishable. When one follows God’s will, i.e., by following Divine Law and sacrificing personal will, he stands by subsistence because Divine will is Eternal.
Ali Hajveri would advise you to let yourself be completely controlled by Divine Will.
Abu Ali Juzjani would say, “ The saint is annihilated in his own state and subsistent in the contemplation of The Truth.” (p.216)
In contemplation, it is impossible to regard only God. He cannot be at peace with anyone but with God because a man only knows his own state, and when all his states are annihilated, he cannot tell anything about himself. He cannot relate it to any other human being because to tell of one’s hidden state to another is betrayal, revealing secrets of the Beloved, and no one can hold that but The Beloved Himself.
Abu Sa’id Kharraz has said, “Annihilation is annihilation of consciousness of manhood (ubudiyyat), and subsistence is subsistence in the contemplation of Godhead (ilahiyyat)”. One should not be conscious of one’s actions as a human being but rather contemplate the actions of God; only then can one attain real manhood (bandagi). When man devotes all actions to God, he is inclined towards perfection, leaving his personal choice to take God’s course.
Aby Yaqub Nahrajuri has said, “A man’s true servantship (ubudiyyat) lies in annihilation and subsistence.” Here, annihilation requires denouncing self-interest, i.e., selfishness for collective benefit (falah), as Ibrahim b. Shayban has said, “The Alchemy of annihilation turns on ‘sincerity’ (Ikhlas) and unity (wahdiyyat) and true servantship; all else is error and heresy.”
When the Omnipotence of God overpowers one and realizes His might, he is humbled by it, confesses his weakness, and sees no alternative but to serve God by obtaining His gratification (rida). Ali Ibn Talib said, “I cognize Allah for contravention of my personal plans.”
Annihilation of Annihilation
Ali Hujwary himself, in the end, hath declared, “annihilation comes to a man through vision of the Majesty of God and the revelation of Divine omnipotence to his heart, so that in the overwhelming sense of His Majesty this world and next world are obliterated from his mind, and “states” and “stations” appear contemptible in the sight of his aspiring thought, and what is shown to him of miraculous grace vanishes into nothing:
He becomes dead to reason and passion alike, dead even to annihilation itself, and in that annihilation of annihilation, his tongue proclaims God, and his mind and body are humble and abased, as in the beginning when Adam’s posterity was drawn forth from his loins without admixture of evil and took the pledge of servants to God. (Qur’an, 7: 171)
Surah 7. The Heights (trans. Abdullah Yusuf Ali)
171. When We shook the Mount over them as if it had been a canopy, and they thought it was going to fall on them (We said): “Hold firmly to what We have given you, and bring (ever) to remembrance what is therein; perchance ye may fear Allah.”
172. When thy Lord drew forth from the Children of Adam – from their loins – their descendants, and made them testify concerning themselves, (saying): “Am I not your Lord (who cherishes and sustains you)?”- They said: “Yea! We do testify!” (This), lest ye should say on the Day of Judgment: “Of this, we were never mindful”:
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