Unity and multiplicity
idea · 2 works · 2 mentions · 3 anchored passages
multiplicity · al-kathrah · density and multiplicity · dhāt al-waḥdah · distinguishing · the essence of unity · the sheerness of its immateriality · unity · الكثرة · ذات الوحدة
in the texts
Kitāb al-Zawrāʼ wa-al-taʻlīqāt ʻalayhi
The correlation of unity with immateriality and multiplicity with density, so that a reality multiplies as it descends with the soul to sense and becomes one as the soul ascends.
So it is as though it descended along with the soul from the sheerness of its immateriality and its unity to density and multiplicity;
So the distinguishing which is the forge of multiplicity is only by the soul and in the soul.
And by it and in it the Breath of the All-Merciful (*al-nafas al-raḥmānī*), one in its own right, becomes multiple.
Risālat al-Wāridāt
The relation of unity to multiplicity: one essence and one knowledge, with all plurality confined to the world of self-disclosures, and a warning that the many can veil the seeker from the one if he does not look closely.
” So look closely, and beware lest multiplicity veil you from the essence of unity;
So just as His essence is one in itself, multiplicity having occurred only in the world of the self-disclosures, so too His knowledge of the whole is one in itself, its multiplicity being in the world of the self-disclosures.