The Spiritual Understanding of the Big Bang

The Spiritual Understanding of the Big Bang 

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Suhbat by: Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani

a`udhu billahi min ash-shaytan ir-rajeem
bismillahir-Rahmanir-Raheem

To delve into the spiritual understanding of the Big Bang is to penetrate something of the Muhammadan Reality (s). In issuing the command, “Kun!” Allāh was giving form to a sound, the very vibrations of which constituted the Prophet (s). It is the Divine Speech emanating from Essence to Existence or Reality. Existence, in turn, has been formed from the very Reality that instantiates physical being. The creation of the Muhammadan Reality took place even before the creation of the angels and the reality of that event is something that remains in Allāh’s knowledge.

Yet at that station of reality, all prophets took up their inheritance.[1] For according to the hadith transmitted on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbās, the Muhammadan Reality goes from prophet to prophet (min nabīyyin ila nabīyyin) until the moment when Allāh (swt) causes it to emerge (akhraja) as the historical Prophet Muhammad.[2],

In explaining this tremendous aspect of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (s), Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qādir Jilānī, (d. 561) in his book Sirr al-asrār fi mā yahtāju ilayh al-abrār said:

Know that since Allāh first created the soul of Muhammad (s) from the light of His beauty, as He said: I created Muhammad from the light of My Face, and as the Prophet said: The first thing Allāh created is my soul, and the first thing Allāh created is the Pen, and the first thing Allāh created is the Intellect - what is meant by all this is one and the same thing, and that is the haqīqa muhammadīyya. However, it was named a light because it is completely purified from darkness, as Allāh said, “There has come to you from Allah a Light and a manifest Book.”

It was also named an intellect because it is the cause for the transmission of knowledge, and the pen is its medium in the world of letters. The Muhammadan soul (al-rūh al-muhammadīyya) is therefore the quintessence of all created things and the first of them and their origin, as the Prophet said: I am from Allāh and the believers are from me, and Allāh created all souls from me in the spiritual world and He did so in the best form. It is the name of the totality of mankind in that primordial world, and after its creation by four thousand years, Allāh created the Throne from the light of Muhammad himself, and from it the rest of creation.[3]

However, what Allāh I created and gave to the Prophet (s) at that time no one knows. He said:

اللَّهُ نُورُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأرْضِ مَثَلُ نُورِهِ كَمِشْكَاةٍ فِيهَا مِصْبَاحٌ الْمِصْبَاحُ فِي زُجَاجَةٍ الزُّجَاجَةُ كَأَنَّهَا كَوْكَبٌ دُرِّيٌّ يُوقَدُ مِن شَجَرَةٍ مُّبَارَكَةٍ زَيْتُونِةٍ لا شَرْقِيَّةٍ وَلا غَرْبِيَّةٍ يَكَادُ زَيْتُهَا يُضِيءُ وَلَوْ لَمْ تَمْسَسْهُ نَارٌ نُّورٌ عَلَى نُورٍ يَهْدِي اللَّهُ لِنُورِهِ مَن يَشَاءُ وَيَضْرِبُ اللَّهُ الأمْثَالَ لِلنَّاسِ وَاللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ

Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The similitude of His light is as a niche wherein is a lamp. The lamp is in a glass. The glass is as it were a shining star. (This lamp is) kindled from a blessed tree, an olive neither of the East nor of the West, whose oil would almost glow forth (of itself) though no fire touched it. Light upon light. Allah guideth unto His light whom He will. And Allah speaketh to mankind in allegories, for Allah is Knower of all things. (an-Nūr 24: 35)

“Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth,” means He is the Creator of everything other than Himself. Whatever is other than Allāh is called mā siwa-Allāh. Allāh created everything: the Pen, heavens, earth, paradise, angels, universes, galaxies, stars, planets and the smallest objects. “And the similitude to His light,” is given by Allāh as an example for us to understand as, “a niche wherein is a lamp.” Mishkāt is usually translated as niche, but in fact it is a bundle like those in which garlic comes, tied together. “Mathalu nūrihi ka mishkātin,” can be translated, “the example of His light is like a bundle.” Within the bundle there is a misbāh. Misbāh comes from sabah, meaning an instrument that produces light, as in His saying to the Prophet Lūt (as):

أَلَيْسَ الصُّبْحُ بِقَرِيبٍ

Is not the light of dawn near? (Hūd 11:81)

K‘ab al-Āhbar (r) makes the entire verse refer to Muhammad (s)―it is a metaphor of the light of Muhammad. The Messenger of Allāh (s) is the niche, the lamp is prophethood, the glass is his heart, the blessed tree is the revelation and the angels who brought it, the oil are the proofs and evidence which contain the revelation.[4]

True scholars and awlīyā’ say that this verse refers to the Prophet (s). ‘Alī al-Qārī in commenting upon the Prophet's title:

سِرَاجاً مُّنِيراً

a Lamp spreading Light, (al-Ahzāb 33:46)

Muhammad... is a tremendous light and the source of all lights, he is also a book that gathers up and makes clear all the secrets... sirājan munīran means a luminous sun, because of His saying:

تَبَارَكَ الَّذِي جَعَلَ فِي السَّمَاء بُرُوجاً وَجَعَلَ فِيهَا سِرَاجاً وَقَمَراً مُّنِيراً

He hath placed therein a great lamp and a moon giving light (al-Furqān 25:61).

There is in this verse an indication that the sun is the highest of the material lights and that other lights are outpourings from it: similarly the Prophet is the highest of the spiritual lights and other lights are derived from him by virtue of his mediating connection and pivotal rank in the overall sphere of creation. This is also inferred from the tradition, “The first thing Allāh created is my light.”[5]

Allāh is giving an example of His Light―not of His Essence. Allāh here is not describing Himself; for nothing can describe His Essence. Rather, He is describing one of His Attributes - an-Nūr ― a name that reveals His Light. Here the light of the Prophet (s), which was the source of the Big Bang, the source of the light of the heavens and earth, is compared to a lighted bundle holding an instrument that gives light and that light is the Prophet (s). “The lamp is in a glass.” That light is contained inside the form of glass. “The glass is as it were a shining star.” That is not ordinary glass. Rather it is like a star created from ad-durr, a very expensive gem, or lu’lu’, which is a type of pearl. This description is used to accentuate the greatness of that light. He said, “the lamp is in a glass,” the lamp is shining in the glass, and “the glass is as it were a shining star.” It means that the light within has not yet emerged. Still, that reality of the Prophet, the haqīqat al-Muhammadīyya, illumined, pearl-like, a veritable constellation glowing, “as if it were a shining star” remains within. That light of the Prophet (s) is the light of Muhammadun rasūlullah. That is al-haqīqat ul-Muhammadīyya, the Muhammadan Reality, whose internal character signifies that it reflects the Heart of the Essence, since the Prophet’s heart moves without restriction in the orbit of the ninety-nine Names and Attributes. He has been blessed by being adorned by the ninety-nine Names inside of which is a glowing pearl not yet come forth. So the Muhammadan Reality has never appeared―it is still hidden and it is not emerging. But what is manifested in this life is Muhammadun rasūlullāh.

Thus Lā ilāha ill-Allāh in the testimony of faith, represents the Creator and Muhammadun rasūlullāh symbolizes the entirety of creation.

The kāf in kun of Allāh’s Order represents Lā ilāha ill-Allāh and the nūn represents Muhammadun rasūlullāh in Allāh’s Order which lies between the kāf and the nūn. Allāh’s Order for creation proceeded from the Divine Essence and resulted in the creation of the Muhammadan Reality. Allāh is the One who caused it to expand in the way that He liked. Thus the Prophet’s light exists in everything for which Allāh (swt) said:

وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ فِيكُمْ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ

And know that within you is Allah’s Messenger. (al-Hujurāt 49:7)

Al-Khātib Abū al-Rab‘i Muhammad ibn al-Layth in his book Shifā’ al-sudūr says:

The first thing Allāh created is the light of Muhammad (s) and that light came and prostrated before Allāh. Allāh divided it into four parts and created from the first part the Throne, from the second the Pen, from the third the Tablet, and then similarly He subdivided the fourth part into parts and created the rest of creation. Therefore the light of the Throne is from the light of the Prophet (s) the light of the Pen is from the light of the Prophet (s), the light of the Tablet is from the light of the Prophet (s), the light of day, the light of knowledge, the light of the sun and the moon, and the light of vision and sight are all from the light of the Prophet (s).[6]

عن ابن عباس: إنّ قريشا (في بعض النسخ: روحه يعني الرسول صلى الله عليه) كانت نورا بين يدي الله تعالى قبل ان يخلق آدم بألفي عام. يسبّح ذلك النور، و تسبّح الملائكة بتسبيحه، فلما خلق الله آدم ألقى ذلك النور في صلبه (ابن أبي عمر العدني في مسنده)

Ibn ‘Abbās (ra) said:

Verily the spirit of the Prophet (s) was a light in front of Allāh two thousand years before he created Adam. That light glorified Him and the angels joined in its glorification. When Allāh created Adam, he cast that light into his loins.[7]

وفي أحكام ابن القطان فيما ذكره ابن مرزوق عن علي بن الحسين عن أبيه عن جده أن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال كنت نورا بين يدي ربي قبل خلق آدم بأربعة عشر ألف عام‏.‏

‘Alī ibn al-Husayn (ra) related from his father, who related from his grandfather said that the Prophet (s) said:

I was a light in front of my Lord for fourteen thousand years before He created Adam.[8]
It is this light, which was sent to this earth, which became manifest when the Prophet was born.

Al-Qurtubī says:

“Kindled from a blessed tree, an olive,” can be taken to refer to the Prophets, in which case Adam would be the blessed tree, or Ibrahim because Allāh called him “blessed.”
It is that blessed familial tree from which its most blessed fruit, our master Prophet Muhammad (s) was born.

Imām as-Suyūtī said in al-Riyād al-aniqa:

Ibn Jubayr (ra) and K‘ab al-Āhbar (ra) said, “What is meant by the second light [in “light upon light”] is the Prophet (s) because he is the Messenger and the Expositor and the Conveyor from Allāh of what is enlightening and manifest.” K‘ab, referring to “whose oil would almost glow forth (of itself) though no fire touched it” said, “Its oil well nigh would shine because the Prophet well nigh would be known to the people even if he did not say that he was a Prophet, just as that oil would send forth light without a fire.”

ورؤيا امي التي رات حين وضعت انه خرج منها نور اضاءت له قصور الشام وكذلك امهات النبيين يرين‏.

In that regard the Prophet (s) said:

I am the fulfillment of the vision of my mother when she witnessed a light emerging from her at the time of my birth, which illuminated the palaces of Syria…[9]

The light of the Prophet (s) is the source of the light of all believers, for while all things were created from his light, the believers were created in a special way. Al-Qurtubī relates in Jam‘ li-ahkām al-qur’ān from Anas (ra) who said that the Prophet (s) said:

Allāh created me from light and He created Abū Bakr from my light, and He created ‘Umar and ‘A'isha from the light of Abū Bakr, and He created the male believers of my community from the light of ‘Umar and He created the female believers of my community from the light of ‘A'isha, Whoever does not love me or love Abū Bakr, ‘Umar and ‘A'isha has no light.

This hadith explains the tremendous love the Prophet (s) bore towards Abū Bakr as-Siddīq (ra), who was his sole companion when he migrated from Makkah to Madīnah and who was his companion in the cave, for which Allāh revealed:

إِلاَّ تَنصُرُوهُ فَقَدْ نَصَرَهُ اللّهُ إِذْ أَخْرَجَهُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ ثَانِيَ اثْنَيْنِ إِذْ هُمَا فِي الْغَارِ إِذْ يَقُولُ لِصَاحِبِهِ لاَ تَحْزَنْ إِنَّ اللّهَ مَعَنَا

If ye help not (your leader), (it is no matter): for Allah did indeed help him, when the Unbelievers drove him out: he had no more than one companion; they two were in the cave, and he said to his companion, “Have no fear, for Allah is with us.” (at-Tawbah 9:40)
This magnificent reality applies to those who have no blood relation with the Prophet (s) but indicates how close the believers are to him by virtue of their love for him. Through these hadith, the Prophet (s) demonstrated his love for those with whom he had no blood connection, but whom he loved for their link to him through spirituality, their piety and their sincerity towards God.

On the other side, in the station of self-sacrifice, was the Prophet’s son-in-law to be, and future father of his grandchildren, Sayyidinā ‘Alī (ra). For during the migration from Makkah, when the unbelievers were conspiring to kill the Prophet (s) , Sayyidinā ‘Alī (ra) took the Prophet’s place in his bed. Sayyidinā ‘Alī (ra)willingly accepted to lie down in the Prophet’s place­­—expecting to be killed by the ferocious Quraysh. On that occasion a Qur’anic verse was revealed in regard of Sayyidinā ‘Alī (ra), which reads:

وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يَشْرِي نَفْسَهُ ابْتِغَاء مَرْضَاتِ اللّهِ وَاللّهُ رَؤُوفٌ بِالْعِبَادِ

“And among men there is he who would sell himself to seek the pleasure of Allah, and Allah is Compassionate to His servants.” (al-Baqara, 2:207)
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[1] Behold! Allāh took the covenant of the prophets, saying: “I give you a Book and Wisdom; then comes to you an apostle, confirming what is with you; do ye believe in him and render him help.” Allāh said: “Do ye agree, and take this my Covenant as binding on you?” They said: “We agree.” He said: “Then bear witness, and I am with you among the witnesses.” (āl-‘Imrān 3:81)
[2] See Ibn Sa‘d Tabaqāt (Leiden: 1909) voll. I/1, page 96; Cf. Tabarī, Tafsīr, (Cairo: 1323 AH) vol. xxi, page 79.
[3] p. 12-14 of the Lahore edition. This book has now been translated by Shaykh Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi as The Secret of Secrets (Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 1994).
[4] Al-Qurtubī: Jam' li-ahkām al-qur’ān
[5] Sharh al-shifā’ (1:505).
[6] Cited in Ibn al-Hajj al-Abdarī’s (Muhammad ibn Muhammad d. 736) book al-Madkhal from 2:34 of the edition published by Dar al-kitāb al-‘arabī, Beirut.
[7] Suyūtī said in Manāhil al-safa (p. 53 #128): “Ibn Abi ‘Umar al-‘Adanī relates it in his Musnad.” In Takhrīj ahādīth sharh al-mawāqif (p. 32 #12) Suyūtī cites it with the wording: “The Quraysh were a light in front of Allāh.”
[8] Cited in al-Mawāhib al-ladunnīyya of al-Qastalānī as related in Ahkām ibn al-Qatān from ibn Marzuq. Something similar is narrated by Imām Āhmad in his Fadā'il al-sahāba (2:663 #1130), Dhahabī in Mīzān al-i’tidāl (1:235), and al-Tabarī in al-Riyād al-nādirā (2:164, 3:154).
[9] Related in Ibn Sa‘d, at-Tabarānī, Ibn Hibbān, and al-Hākim in al-Mustadrak from ‘Irbād b. al-Sārīyāh al-Sulamī.