The Difference Between the Creator and the Creation and the Concept of Fana

Shaykh ul-Islâm ibn Taymiyyah rahimahullaah
Translated by Nasir ud-Deen al-Khattab

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Ibrahim and his believing family, i.e. the Prophets and those who believed 
in them, knew that there had to be a difference between the Creator and His 
creation, and between obedience and sin. The more the slave realises this 
difference, the more he increases in love and servitude towards Allâh, so he 
turns further away from worshipping, loving and obeying anything except 
Allâh. Those misguided mushrikin, on the other hand, view Allâh and His 
creation as equal. Ibrahim said:

“Do you then see whom you have been worshipping – you and your fathers 
before you? For they are enemies to me; not so the Lord and Cherisher of the 
Worlds.” [Sűrah Al Shu’ara: Ayah 75-77]

But they use as evidence the ambiguous words of their shaykhs, just as the 
Christians did the words of their priest.

An example of this is the concept of fana’ (extinction of individual 
consciousness, recedence of the ego, obliteration of the self). Fana’ is of 
three types:

The fana’ of the Prophets and awliya’ who have attained perfection.
The fana’ of the awliya’ and righteous people who are striving in the right 
direction even though they are not perfect.
The fana’ of the hypocrites and heretics who liken Allâh to his creation.
The first type of fana’ means the obliteration of the desire for anything 
except Allâh, so that a person does not love anyone or anything except 
Allâh, he does not worship anything except Him, he does not rely on anyone 
except Him, and he does not ask from anyone except Him. This is the sense, 
which should be understood from the words of Shaykh Abu Yazid:

I want not to want anything except what He wants what pleases the Beloved 
(i.e. Allâh)

This is what is meant by the religious will of Allâh. Perfection means that 
a man does not want, love or like anything except what Allâh wants, loves 
and likes, which is what He has commanded and made waajib or mustahabb. He 
only loves those whom Allâh loves, such as the angels, Prophets and 
righteous people. This is what is meant by their interpretation of the ayah:

But only he (will prosper) who brings to Allâh a sound heart. [Sűrah Al 
Shu’ara: Ayah 89]

They said: it is sound and safe from everything except being a slave to 
Allâh, or everything except wanting what Allâh wants, or everything except 
loving Allâh. The meaning is the same and whether it is called fana’ or not, 
it is the beginning and end of Islam, the focus of the entire religion.

The second type of fana’ is oblivion towards others, which is attained by 
many of those who follow the path, because their hearts are strongly 
attracted to remembering, worshipping and loving Allâh, and distracted from 
noticing anyone or anything else. Nothing crosses their minds except 
thoughts of Allâh; they are not even aware of anything else, as was said in 
the interpretation of the ayah:

But there came to be a void in the heart of the mother of Musa: she was 
going almost to disclose his (case), had We not strengthened her heart (with 
faith) … [Sűrah Al Qasas: Ayah 10]

They said: Her heart was oblivious to everything except thoughts of Musa, 
which is a kind of thing that often happens to those who are overwhelmed 
with some concern, whether it be love or hope or fear, the heart is 
distracted from everything except that which is loved or hoped fro or 
feared, so that it is unaware of anything else.

If this kind of fana’ overwhelms a person, his focus on Allâh becomes so 
intense that he is no longer aware of anything else, not his own existence 
or the dhikr he is doing, and everything diminishes in his senses, every 
created being, the person himself and everyone else, and there remains only 
the Lord. What is meant is that everything is diminished in a person’s 
perception, so that he no longer notices or remembers anything, and is quite 
oblivious to what is going on around him. If this feeling becomes so strong 
that the person becomes confuse and can no longer make proper distinctions, 
he may think that he is his beloved, as it was said that a man fell into the 
water, and the one who loved him himself in after him. The former said, “ I 
fell by accident: what made you fall?” and the later replied, “ I was so 
overwhelmed with love for you that I thought I was you.”

This idea has caused many people to stumble, so that they thought in terms 
of physical unity whereby there is no longer any difference between a person 
and the object of his love. This is incorrect, for the Creator cannot be 
united with anything at all. Indeed, nothing can be totally united with 
anything else without becoming something else altogether; the essence of two 
things is lost when they unite, and they become a third thing, neither this 
not that, as is the case when water and milk are mixed together, or water 
and wine, and so on. But what is loved and wanted by both becomes one, and 
what is hated and loathed by both becomes one, so they love and hate the 
same things. One loves what the other loves, hates what the other hates, 
befriends those whom the other befriends and takes as enemies those whom the 
other takes as enemies.

This kind of fana’ is far from perfect.

The greatest awliya’, like Abu Bakr and Umar, and the earliest muhaajireen 
and ansaar, let alone the Prophets who are above them in status, did not 
experience this kind of fana’. This emerged after the time of the Sahabah.

The Sahabah never experienced this type of fana’ or any loss of their 
faculties because of the strength of their eemaan in their hearts. The 
Sahabah, may Allâh be please with them, were too strong and firm in their 
faith to loos their minds in this fashion, or to experience any kind of 
swooning, loss of consciousness, intoxication, oblivion, rapture or ecstasy.

These things began to emerge at the time of the Tabi’in, among the 
worshippers of al-Basra, among whom were some who would swoon or even die 
when they heard the Qur'ân, such as Abu Juhayr al Darir and Zararah Ibn 
Awfa, the qadi (judge) of al-Basrah.

Some of the Sufi shaykhs experience a kind of oblivion and intoxication 
where they are unable to make proper distinctions, and when they are in this 
state, they may say words which, when they come round, they realise are 
wrong. Such stories are reported about (ascetics such as) Abu Yazid, Abu’l 
Hasan al-Nuri and Abu Bakr al-Shibli, and so on and so on, unlike Abu 
Sulayman al-Darini, Ma’ruf al-Karkhi, and Fudayl ibn Ayyad, let alone 
al-Junayd and so on, who remained of sound mind through out all their 
experiences and who never fell into states of oblivion or intoxication etc. 
those who have reached a level of perfection have nothing in their hearts 
except love for Allâh and the desire to worship Him alone. They have vast 
knowledge and proper discretion, so they see things as they really are, and 
they see that created beings exist only by the command of Allâh, and are 
controlled by Him, submitting to His will and turning to Him. This increases 
their faith and insight, and whatever they see of His creation supports and 
enhances the sincerity and submission of their worship of Him alone, with no 
partners or associates.

This is the reality to which the Qur'ân calls. This is the basis of the 
perfect faith of those who truly know Allâh, of whom our Prophet (saaw) is 
the leader and most perfect. Hence when he was taken up into the heavens 
(the mi’raj), and saw the signs and wanders that he saw, and received 
Revelation there, the next morning no trace of his experience could be seen 
on him, and he did not look any different, unlike Musa who had lost 
consciousness (when he spoke to Allâh). May the peace and blessings of Allâh 
be upon them both.

The third type, which may be called fana’, is where a person affirms that 
nothing exists except Allâh, and that the existence of the Creator and the 
existence of His creation are one and the same, so there is no difference 
between the Lord and the slave. This is the fana’ of misguided heretics who 
think that Allâh is part of the universe. This ides was disowned by the 
shaykhs, one of who said: “I do not see anything except Allâh” or “I do not 
look at anything except Allâh” and so on. What was meant by this was: I do 
not see any Lord except Allâh, or any Creator or Controller except Him, or 
any God except Him, and I do not look to anyone but Him with love and fear 
and hope. For the eye looks towards that to which the heart is attached. 
Whoever loves a thing, or has hope in it or fears it, will turn towards it. 
If there is no love for it in the heart, or hope or fear or hatred, or any 
other emotion that ties the heart to it, then the heart will not turn 
deliberately towards it or look towards it. If it accidentally glances at 
it, it will be like a man who happens to glance at a wall or anything else 
that means nothing to him.

The righteous shaykhs, may Allâh be pleased with them, mentioned something 
about true Tawhid and sincere submission, whereby the slave does not turn to 
anything except Allâh and does not look to anything other then Him, whether 
in love, fear or hope; the heart is empty of every created being and does 
not look at them except with the light of Allâh.

So he hears with the truth, sees with the truth, strikes with the truth and 
walks with the truth. He loves that which Allâh loves and hates that which 
Allâh hates; he takes as friends those whom Allâh takes as friends, and 
regards as enemies those whom Allâh regards as enemies. He fears Allâh with 
regard to His creation, but he does not fear created beings with regard to 
his duties towards Allâh. He places his hope in Allâh with regard to His 
creation, but he does not place his hope in created beings with regard to 
his duties toward Allâh. This is the sound, believing Muslim heart, which 
has perfect faith in Allâh alone and truly understands the message of the 
Prophets and Messengers.

This third type of fana’, which believes that Allâh is what one can see 
(pantheism), is the idea, belief and “Tawhid” of the people of Pharaoh, and 
of other similar types such as the Qaramitah (“Karmathians”) and so on.

On the other hand, the kind of fana’ experienced by the followers of the 
Prophets is the praiseworthy kind of fana’, and the one who experiences it 
is one of those whom Allâh praised by calling them His pious friends 
(awliya’), successful supporter and victorious troops.

These shaykhs and righteous people did not mean “what I see of the created 
beings is the Lord of the heaven and earth.” No one would say such a thing 
except those who are totally misguided and corrupt, whether the fault is in 
their way of thinking or in their beliefs. Such people are in a state 
between madness and heresy.

All the trustworthy shaykhs agree with the consensus of the early 
generations and imams of this ummah, which is that the Creator, may He be 
glorified, is distinct from His creation; there is nothing of His essences 
in His creation, and nothing of His creation in His essence. It is essential 
to distinguish the Ancient and Eternal One Who has no beginning from the 
finite event of existence, and to distinguish the Creator from His creation. 
The shaykhs have said much more on this topic then we can discuss here.

They have spoken about the diseases and doubts that may affect people’s 
hearts and minds. Someone may see creation, and think that it is the Creator 
of the heavens and the earth, because he cannot distinguish between them in 
his mind. This is like the one who sees a ray of sunlight and imagines this 
to be the sun itself

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