Shah Wali Allah’s

Cosmology
Sources: The Conclusive Argument from God
By Marcia Hermansen, Islamic Research Center, Islamabad, (2003)
Religion and Thought of Shah Wali Allah Dihlawi 1703-1762,
By J.M.S Baljon, Brill, Leiden (1986)
‘Alam al-Lahut, ‘Alam al-Jabrut, ‘Alam al-
Malakut, ‘Alam al-Nasut
Marcia Hermansen, who translated the first volume of Hujjat Allah al-Baligha into English,
explains the above in a footnote of her translation.
• She writes, “Shah Wali Allah, following Ibn 'Arabi's school, incorporated a descending schema
of four worlds: Lahut, Jabarut, Malakut, and Nasut in his cosmology.
• Lahut would be the level of the divine existence
• Jabarut (the World of Domination) represents the level of God's divine command (amr) and
determination, and
• Malakut the level of the World of Images and the angels where the order of God takes shape
before being translated into physical manifestation at the level of
• Nasut or human existence.
• AI-Ghazali had a similar conception of Malakut although he sometimes placed the World of
Domination (Jabarut) between it and the level of human existence (Nasut).”
Shah Wali Allah’s Cosmology: Not in Favour
of 'aql al-fa’al [active intelligence]
Baljon makes the following observations concerning Shah Wali Allah’s Cosmology:
• Shah Wali Allah deems the assertion that the existence of the universe rests upon the 'aql al-fa’al [active intelligence] a
not very felicitous way.
• In general, he is not in favour of assuming the existence of intelligences as being a kind of creative and regulating powers
that govern the universe, as is affirmed by the same philosophers.
• "To be frank'', so he declares, ''there is no need of an intermediary, consisting of intelligent substances in which the forms
of things would be stamped. Such substances are merely hypothetic matters, existing only in the mind of the person who
has invented them"
• It is obvious that Shah WalI Allah's cosmological theories show many points of similarity to the well-known teachings of
the Ikhwan al-safa about evolutionary developments in the universe. Still there are some differences. Thus, according to
the latter, the final issue of the evolutional process is not the human individual but the class of angels
• "The relationship of the universe to its Maker (bari) is not like that of a building to its architect, who constructs
something of cement and then takes his hands off it ... No, it is to be compared to (the relation of) the sun (to the earth)
which illumines the earth with its light without ceasing
• Shah Wali Allah maintains that the universe with everything it contains passes through a cycle: everything emanated from
al-Rahman and is ultimately absorbed again into al-Rahman.
Shah Wali Allah’s Cosmology (contd.)
• [Shah Wali Allah] also rejects the view of the 'common man' who is under the erroneous belief that the
world subsists on its own and is established as an isolated item. On the contrary, the world is to be
regarded as an exemplary representation (timthal) projected from the side of the Self-existent and an
illustration of His perfection. God created it like He is Himself, i.e., purely good. Thus, it enables Him to
display His beauty.
• Baljon further states that, Shah Wali Allah plainly states, everything that could possibly emanate from the
divine Essence emanated all at once (dafatan wahidatan)
• Similarly, the universe passes through three ontological levels.
• Necessitated by God, it is first at the level of the divine Mind, i.e., the stage of thubut
(transcendental determination).
• Next, it enters an intermediate level, called al-nafs al-kulliyya, i.e., the stage of wujud. Arriving at
this level, it can neither be described as properly 'eternal' because it has left the divine Mind, nor can
it be regarded as 'created' because it has not yet acquired existence in fact. Consequently, at this stage
of development it has to be qualified as 'eternal in time' and 'transient' (as it is to be particularized).
• After that, the universe descends into the realm of matter (nasut) and becomes manifested in bodily
forms.
al-Shaks al-Akbar (the Most Large Person)
• Among the various designations Shah Wali Allah uses for the universe, the most characteristic one
is certainly al-shaks al-akbar (the Most Large Person). The idea that the universe is to be regarded
as an enlarged version of man is far from original. At most the term itself could be called original.
Muslim philosophers and mystics prefer to qualify the universe as al-insan al-kabir (the Large
Man).
• The 'alam al-mithal functions as the intellectual centre (khayal) of this 'Most Large Person’;
• the hazira al-quds serves as the faculty by which It is enabled to participate in the knowledge of
Its Lord; on Its mind falls the tajalli azam (i.e., reflections of Its creator) so that divine notions
enter Its brain;
• the nafs kulliyya, the animating principle of the sensible world, stands for Its ruh (vital principle)
while the celestial spheres, elements and three kingdoms of nature represents the organs of lts
body.
al-Shaks al-Akbar: the Most Large Person
(contd.)
• The shaks akbar consists of the following two component parts:
1. a receptive one styled as 'Breath of the Merciful' (nafas Rahmani), i.e., the substratum
(mawdu’) and place of abode (mahall)
2. an active one qualified as 'universal Soul' (nafs kulliyya), i.e., the determiner (muhassil) and
the one taking an abode (hall). Or to put it more explicitly: when the nafs kulliyya descends
into the nafas Rahmani, it operates as a hidden formative power that endows things with
their specific and individual traits.
• The 'Most Large Person' may exhibit remarkable human features, but Its likeness with the Divine
is even more striking.
• Does not a tradition beloved by the sufis mention that man is created in the image of al-Rahman?
• So Shah Wali Allah thinks himself justified to advance the daring statement: "with God the
universe has a cohesion (ittisal) of a rather esoteric (wijdani) nature so that in a state of rapture
one may judge that the universe be identical with God“.
Third Method of Expounding Cosmological
Processes: ibda', khalq, tadbir and tadalli
The third method Shah Wali Allah pursues in expounding cosmological processes is the classification in the
categories of ibda', khalq, tadbir and tadalli.
• As in the case of the evolutionary process of elemental, vegetative, animal and human forms, these four
phases are direct continuations of each other; each of them builds on the previous one: "lbda has khalq as
complement, while tadbir is the completion of khalq‘’
• Khalq (creating), the final issue of ibda, "denotes a free disposal over matter and form so that many forms
materialize''. As a result, the celestial spheres, elements and all species endowed with their characteristics and
effects came into being
• Tadalli the complement to divine creativity is God's coming to the rescue when universe or mankind have run
into trouble. It results in disclosure of knowledge, right guidance and perfection of souls, and presupposes
the establishment of patterns by which people's welfare is insured. Tadalli is based on matters accepted
unreservedly (musallamat) and easily verifiable (mashhurat). Hence the Messenger of God was not an angel,
the Holy Book not written in a language foreign to the Arabs, and the Ka'ba not built of light.
• "Tadalli is actually a means of facilitating men's spiritual evolution"