The Origin of Life in Islam is that man seems to be a small being but in reality is a huge world.

Syed Muhammad Zauqi Shah says in his book Sirr-e-Dilbaran:

Everything in the universe, dissolving into each other, eventually dissolves into man and produces the ability of gnosis whose goal is to invent knowledge. Heat from the Sun turns into steam of the sea. Steam becomes clouds in the sky. When clouds separate, they become rain. The rain falls on earth and becomes moisture. Moisture combines with dust to form flowers. Flowers emerge from the soil as synthetic plants. Plants become part of Animal after they eat them. Then becomes sperm of human after they eat animals. The sperm combines with embryo and becomes a human in the mother’s womb. The human is born and becomes the Universal Divine Man. When lifespan expires, everything returns to its reality, purity to purity and dirt to dirt. Just like how one drop all of this happened, knowledge emerged from one drop of Divine Unity. Despite coming from a drop, every component of existence is a drop itself.  In the sea of Tauheed and every drop of the ocean is the gnosis of the doer. 

Reality 

When we talk about reality, there is the reality of skies, reality of innerself, exoteric reality and esoteric reality, reality of body and reality of soul. Whichever reality we talk about, each one births from a point. So the fact all reality shares is the process of evolution through dissolution into the next stage. This is the origin of life in Islam. Before manifesting in the form of corporeal creation with the grandeur of being the best constitution, man went through an evolutionary phase. And that is the phase of chemical evolution. This phase of man’s creation also indicates towards evolution from unity to multiplicity through dissolution. Allah created man’s primary essence from inorganic matter.

Allah says:

ہُوَ الَّذِیۡ خَلَقَکُمۡ مِّنۡ تُرَابٍ

Translation: He is the One Who initiated (the genesis of) your (chemical life) from clay. (40:67)

Then Allah passed man’s substance through multiple phases. Each phase lead to the next. We can understand the origin of life in Islam through these phases. And then He crafted man’s existence. Into which Allah Almighty breathed His soul which raised man to the level of the best creation.

Fertilization and Origin of Life in Islam

The second major phase in man’s evolution is the fertilized ovum which is related to fertilization. The Holy Quran mentions it in the following way:

Was he not (in his beginning) a sperm drop ejaculated (into the woman’s womb)? Then it developed into a hanging mass. (75: 37-38)

Surely, We created man from a fertilized ovum. (76:2)

Creation of man through the zygote is the proof of this ovum. Allah explains this as:

O mankind! Fear your Lord, Who (initiated) your creation from a single soul, then from it created its mate, and from these two spread (the creation of) countless men and women. (4:2)

He has created all of you from a single life cell, and then made from it a similar pair. (39:6)

If we relate this to the reality of soul and creation of the universe through dissolution, then this is also a great example of journey from unity to multiplicity.

Quranic Perspective of Big Bang

 

 

We come to know from scientific research and teachings of Holy Quran that the universe began after a great explosion from a unit with zero degree size and the universe expanded from unity to multiplicity. Allah says:

The whole heavenly universe and the Earth were (all) joined together as one unit. (21:30)

Beseech: ‘I seek refuge with the Lord of daybreak (or Who brought the universe into existence with an explosion extremely fast) from the evil influence (and harmfulness) of everything that He has created. (113:1-2)

Science has called this great explosion the Big Bang and ever since this explosion, the universe has become wider and wider. The origin of life in Islam is explained through this Big Bang as well.

Steps of Divine Descent

Reality of soul in the universe of command, how it manifested from Divine Essence and then in man after descending in various realms, Sufis call these steps as Divine descent. Its first step is ‘Divine Solitude (Realm of First Manifestation/alam al-YaHoot)’. Sultan Bahoo says regarding this:

Know! When the Divine light of Ahad, coming out of His isolated Oneness, intended to manifest Himself in multiplicity, He graced (all the worlds) with the splendid disclosure of His pure Divine beauty. Both the realms started burning like a moth on the candle of His blazing beauty. Then the light of Ahad (احد) concealed in the veil of M (م) of Ahmad (احمد) and manifested Himself as Ahmad.  (Risala Roohi Sharif)

After this step in the six steps of Divine descent, the second step is Divine Uniqueness (Realm of Divinity/alam al-LaHoot), third is Realm of Souls (Realm of Power/alam al-jabarut), fourth is Realm of Metaphorical Forms (Angelic Realm/alam al-malakut), fifth step is Realm of Bodies (Physical Realm/Alam an-nasut) and the seventh realm and sixth step is man. In other words, we can understand about journey from unity to multiplicity that Allah manifested Himself in man as following. From Mohammadan Soul to Divine soul to kingly soul and from kingly soul to celestial soul to bestial soul. That is, man is soul of the cosmos and main reason of all creation. 

Evolution through Dissolution is a Cycle

 

 

In the perspective of reality of man, evolution through dissolution means the dissolution of everything into each other to end up in the root of man’s existence. And the most thought-provoking point is that this process is a cycle. This cycle is complete and perfect only when all the links come together in one entity. The point where the process of evolution began, becomes the same point at which it ends. And that “entity” which is the real, true goal is called Mohammadan Reality. Sultan-ul-Ashiqeen says in his book “Sufism-The Soul of Islam”:

 Yet the man who got Allah’s ultimate and perfect manifestation and in whom the manifestation of Allah completed absolutely is the Universal Divine Man and the Universal Divine Man means Prophet Mohammad who is the ultimate and absolute manifestation of all the levels.

Shaikh Abu Saeed Mubarak Makhzoomi says about this level:

 And the seventh stage is the level of comprehensiveness of all the realms of physical bodies, angels, power, DivinitCy and First Manifestation. It is the last theophany and the last attire named as human being. (Sufism-The Soul of Islam)

Crux of the Matter 

The gist of the article so far is be it outward reality or inward, universe or the soul, we observe in all that every reality came into existence through evolution by dissolution. And this points to their journey from unity to multiplicity.

The second point of this article is that the process of evolution is through ‘dissolution’ whose completion is ‘man’. And then the process journeys back to its beginning, so it is a cycle and its center is man. Dissolution means dissolving of one thing into another and this process of evolution completely dissolves in man and then starts from the beginning. To understand how this process has dissolution we can again take the example of water vapours which was explained in the beginning. Another example can be used which is the process of decomposition or decay in human.

Decomposition or Decay in Human

When a person dies and is buried in the dust, some gases are released from his body which causes his body to rot and swell. A body made of dirt eventually converts into dirt. And this body serves as food for plants and other terrestrial insects. Then these terrestrial insects become food for other animals and then the halal animals get eaten by humans again. So this journey continues in the form of a cycle. 

The third point is that if the process of evolution through dissolution completes in man then what is “reality of man”? If we understand these points we would understand the origin of life in Islam.

Sultan-ul-Ashiqeen says:

Although everyone is a human, but one becomes worthy of being called a human when his inward manifests Divine Essence.

In fact, the reality of the soul is to become acquainted with the secret of “Hoo”. One who becomes aware of its eternal reality becomes aware of human reality.

The Holy Prophet said:

• “By God! If you tie a bucket with a rope and put it on the lowest earth, it will descend on Allah.” Then he read this verse:

ھُوَ الْاَوَّلُ وَ الْاٰخِرُوَ الظَّاھِرُ وَ الْبَاطِنُ ۚوَھُوَ بِکُلِّ شَیۡءٍ عَلِیْمٌ﴿﴾ (57:3) 

Meaning: He is the One Who is the First (of all) and the Last (of all). And He is the Manifest and the Hidden. He knows everything full well. (57:3)

Imam Tirmidhi has related this Hadith in Tirmidhi.

Hoo

So in the journey from unity to multiplicity, unity is “Hoo” and multiplicity is also “Hoo”.

ہمہ اوست در مغز و پوست

Meaning: Only the Divine Essence Hoo (ھُو) is manifest in the outer as well as in the inner world and in each and everything.  (Ain-ul-Faqr, Nur-ul-Huda Kalan)

The reality of man or perfect man in the journey of evolution through dissolution is “Hoo”. The beginning is Hoo and the end is Hoo.

Sultan-ul-Ashiqeen says:

The real status of man is that Allah seeks him, as Allah says to al-Ghawth al-Azam in ar-Risala tul-Ghausia, “Man is My secret.”

Syed Muhammad Zauqi Shah says in his book Sirr-e-Dilbaran:

• Just as all this happened with one drop, so the whole universe came into being with one drop of the river of Divine unity. Despite coming from a drop, every element of existence is a drop itself in the ocean of Tauheed and every drop is an ocean of knowledge of the.

If the journey from unity to multiplicity began from a drop then in the world of multiplicity, reality of man is that sometimes the drop is in the ocean and sometimes the ocean in the drop. That is to say, the unity and multiplicity merges in the entity in which the reality of man is enlightened. Similar to a drop in the ocean and the ocean in a drop. This is another way to interpret the origin of life in Islam. The real pioneers of human reality are the special people who are at the level of Universal Divine Man. And who the Holy Prophet appointed as his representative and vicegerent. 

Sultan Bahoo says about them:

They are a drop in the ocean and at times the ocean in a drop. They are blessed with the cover of beneficence of “When Faqr is accomplished that is Allah.” Hence they have got an eternal life. (Risala Roohi Sharif)

Furthermore he says:

It is absolutely correct to call them god, and if they are called men of God, it is fine as well. (Risala Roohi Sharif)

Reality of man is a very complex topic in terms of Faqr and mysticism. It would not be wrong to call it the essence of all teachings of Faqr. Readers are requested to read the chapter “Tauheed” of Sultan-ul-Ashiqeen’s book “Sufism-The Soul of Islam” in order to understand this topic.

Conclusion:

Man seems to be a small being but in reality is a huge world. Whatever we see in the physical world is but a glimpse of the spiritual world. Original and exact reality is the inward and whoever understands the reality of inward understands reality of man. And understands every process of evolution, beginning and end, reality of unity and multiplicity of outward and inward, soul and the universe, the world and everything in it. May Allah help us all to become aware of reality of man.

 

Questions:

What is creation according to Quran?

Ans. The Holy Quran mentions it in the following way:

• Was he not (in his beginning) a sperm drop ejaculated (into the woman’s womb)? Then it developed into a hanging mass. (75: 37-38)
• Surely, We created man from a fertilized ovum. (76:2)

Creation of man through the zygote is the proof of this ovum. Allah explains this as:

• O mankind! Fear your Lord, Who (initiated) your creation from a single soul, then from it created its mate, and from these two spread (the creation of) countless men and women. (4:2)
• He has created all of you from a single life cell, and then made from it a similar pair. (39:6)

How did the universe come into being?

Ans. We come to know from scientific research and teachings of Holy Quran that the universe began after a great explosion from a unit with zero degree size and the universe expanded from unity to multiplicity. Allah says:

• The whole heavenly universe and the Earth were (all) joined together as one unit. (21:30)
• Beseech: ‘I seek refuge with the Lord of daybreak (or Who brought the universe into existence with an explosion extremely fast) from the evil influence (and harmfulness) of everything that He has created. (113:1-2)

Science has called this great explosion the Big Bang and ever since this explosion, the universe has become wider and wider.