Ideas Inspired by the Qur'an

There is No God but You … or He? (Part 1)

As for the second level, which is to say, ‘There is no god but You,’ it is proper for the servant to utter this on the condition that he is present, not absent. Yet this state only transpired for Jonah (on whom be peace) once he had made himself absent from all forms of self-interest. This signifies that as long as a person does not absent himself from his own interests, he will never attain to the station of witnessing (mushahadah). As for the third level, ‘There is no god but He,’ this is possible even for the absentees [from God]. (Fakhr Al-Din Al-Razi, The Great Exegesis, Book II, Chapter Seven)

The author of this passage, Ar-Razi, may have intended the distinction between la ilaha illa Anta and la ilaha illa Huwa to apply to only this one statement of tawhid (Divine Unity), but his statement about what pronouns are "proper" in remembering AL-LAH (dhikr) has huge ramifications for all Muslims ... and for my faith in particular.

The Qur'an contains two instances of the formal declaration that "there is no god but AL-LAH," and ten verses in which "AL-LAH" is replaced by a pronoun: six of which say "He," three say "I," and one says "You."

Utilizing this preponderance of cases in which "He" is the norm, Ar-Razi is then moved to argue that saying "He" is superior to naming "AL-LAH" or using some other Divine Name, such as "Ar-Rahman," for both the standard testimony of faith and single-word dhikr of the type that Sufis have used in their communal sessions.

In Book II, Chapter Seven, Ar-Razi provides a number of arguments that he entitles "Secrets and Benefits of Saying 'O He (Ya Huwa)'."

1. "He" signifies the absence, unworthiness, and utter humility of the supplicant or invoker," as though he is saying: 'Who am I to know you?'"
2. "He" also signifies that, besides GOD, there is nothing else one could call or refer to, since the existence of anything else would preclude the supplicant from using "He" for fear of invoking the other.
3. "He" lacks all supplementary meaning, unlike, say, 'O Gracious One!' 'O Sovereign!' or 'O Most High!' "However, when he says, 'O He' he acknowledges that He is He," and this relinquishment of meaning frees his heart from the pollution or murkiness of attributing qualities to Him.
4. Ar-Razi states that we have only two ways of praising GOD, by His attributes of Majesty and His attributes of Beneficence. But by saying, "O He!" the servant is implying that
I revere Your Majesty too greatly to praise You by negating the flaws of creation from You or attributing the perfections of creation to You, for Your perfection is loftier and Your majesty is greater. Indeed, I do not praise You except by Your identity (huwiyya) in and of itself. I do not even call upon You with the word 'You' because that would represent the pride and straying of my soul such that it says: 'I have reached the stage of being present, as it were, with the Necessary Existent.' No, I will not go beyond saying 'He' in order to confess that He is the One Who is praised for Himself, by Himself, and that His Majesty is too high and exalted for the creatures to be in His presence.
5. "He" is the pronoun of absence. By using it, the supplicant confesses his remoteness from The Real and his neediness, thus increasing his longing (shawq), which in turn accelerates his ascent.
6. The indefiniteness and abstraction inherent in mentioning "Him" negates all possibility of multiplicity or comprehension involving association of ideas, and is thus the perfect assertion of Divine Unity.
7. There is no mental access to GOD, and so "He" is the best we can do. It represents a turning of the mind without seeing, a direction taken rather than an arrival.
8. "He" is like the expression of a person dumbfounded and awestruck in the presence of his king. It says more about the state of the speaker than the reality of the one addressed. It is what we say when we have no idea left and no sensible word to utter.

When Muslims speak of practising dhikr (remembrance) of AL-LAH, they often a particular ceremonial or exclusive act of supererogatory worship in which one Name of GOD becomes the sole focus of their attention. This may be done singly, or in a group, either sitting, standing, or engaging in some form of rhythmic movement. If saying "He" (huwa or hu) helps achieve a state of ecstasy or a feeling of union or intimacy with GOD, then who am I to deny or disparage it?

As an optional practice, therefore, I see no problem with recommending the repetition of "huwa" or "hu" as a regular dhikr, alone or communally. But when such a practice is presented, not as a permitted preference or a technique with possible advantages for some practitioners, but rather as a superior method in general, as in the following -- "Shaykh Ghazali used to say that 'There is no god but God' is the monotheism of the common people ... whereas 'There is no god but He' is the monotheism of the elite" -- I would respectfully disagree.

In my next post, GOD willing, I will explain why I find this objectionable.

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