O lord, who is worthy to hear this subtle secret,
She’s witnessed everywhere, but she has never shown her face!
Words of Hafez, the famous Persian poet who is also given the title “tongue of the unseen”
The veil is meant to protect something from “seeing”. The veil can be thought of as a barrier that limits your sight. What is intended to be seen is hidden. Something prized and something worth waiting for is usually hidden behind the veil and when the time is ripe, it is lifted. Just like a startling stage performance, first the anchor announces and gives a signal to lift the veil, and when proper hype is created, audience see what they came to see. All cannot be “staged” at once, for time is important, but isn’t time itself a veil? Good question! I would say. (lol)
This universe is a veil, and so is everything in it. Just like God’s beauty infuses in every form, His face is hidden behind every veil. The paradox of mercy and wrath would vanish if we start to peep behind the veil, there is no driving force but mercy and there is no beloved, but Him.
“There is nothing real, but the Real!” – Every veil displays His presence; every veil unfolds His signs according to its faculty.
All Veils are He, but no veil is Him. There is no way to see God, but through the veil, and veil always conceals.
In simpler words, He is present in everyone and everything, but no one is Him and nothing can glorify to the level where it can match even a single divine attribute.
He is one, and of every other creation He has created pairs, “Who has created all the pairs of that which the earth produces, as well as their own, male and female, and of that which they know not “– 36:36.
Right and wrong, day and night, cold and warmth, pain and pleasure, happiness and grief, yes and no, ME and HIM, face and the veil, body and soul, brain and heart…and there would be other countless pairs in different forms and interpretations, mercy and wrath, love and hate, peace and war, 0 and 1 (this concept of 0’s and 1’s gave birth to computers, try to find out the story behind its discovery yourself), life and death, this life and hereafter…. And the list goes on.
All of these pairs arouse this paradoxical mentality. They are inseparable to an extent that the other extreme wouldn’t exist or hold a meaning if it weren’t for the other half. What would be days if there weren’t any nights, what pleasure joy would bring if we hadn’t tasted woe. And just like that, self and Lord are intertwined like veil and the face.
Veil is translated as “hijaab” or “ghita”. And in the Holy Book, unveiling “kashf” is mentioned 14 times. 2 times the Almighty used “veil” to separate human beings from Him (42:51, 83:15). The most commonly cited Hadeeth that refers to the veil is “God has 70 veils of light and darkness”. Another occasion, a more reliable Hadeeth says “God’s veil is light”. Here, the paradox is born again. Isn’t light something that enables us to see, e.g you are sitting in a dark room, you wont even be able to see an elephant if it were present there, unless some “light” would illumine your sight.
Paradox is disturbing. It yearns to be discovered, you flip pages of books and try to find what you seek, and here it is. “God is the light of heavens and earth” – 24:35.
If God is the light of heavens and earth, and this light is a veil. Then God makes himself noticed through this light, or the veil. This proves what I said above, He is present in everything and everyone, but nothing and no one is Him.
Mustamli classifies the types of veils as being four: This world, its people, the self and the Satan. This world is a veil to the next, its people are a veil to obedience, self is veil to the Real, and Satan is veil to the religion. As long as these four veils are not lifted, the light of Gnosis will not find a way in.
Bastami cries out “Even if in paradise, something veils me from the vision of Him, I will scream and moan so much that the denizens of hell would feel compassion for me!”
Ali Hajveri, the famous Sufi whose shrine is in Lahore, in his “kashf al-mahjub” – “Unveiling of the veiled” classifies veils as two. One is essential and will be not be lifted, because it is servant’s fundamental inadequacy. Second, is the one that can be lifted. When the prophet says “Die before you die” he refers to the veil which will be lifted “on death” which is mentioned in the Quran.
Seeking to lift the veil, itself is a veil. Niffari points out “O my servant, what are you seeking from me? If you seek what you know, then you are satisfied with the veil. But if you seek what you don’t know, you are seeking the veil!”
And the most compassionate says in the Quran “Where ever you turn is the face of God” – 2:115. Everything that veils Him is in fact His face. All are He, and there is only God’s revelation of Himself, so nothing really exists but Him.
And when the Prophet himself, asks us to pray “ Lord, show us things are they are “ He refers to the veil and the veil that ought to lifted, so that Divine light illumines our existence and things/creations/cosmos micro or macro, start unveiling as His face.
When Lord speaks through Muhammad’s (pbhu) tongue and says “ I was hidden treasure and I LOVE to be known, therefore, I created the universe “. It means the reason for which this universe was designed, the stage set and the veil drawn was to find the hidden treasure.
– Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi
This is beautiful !!! :)) keep up the good work… All the best 🙂
😀 Hansnay wali kon c baat hai ? 😀
Ma sha’a Llah (Y)
That’s how to do justice to a topic.. Really Beautiful!
Interesting depiction of the word veil…it is very true that every moment is a veil in itself…you never know wat lies around the corner… And that is Life..it is constant discovery