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80 AN INTRODUCTION TO SUFI DOCTRINE

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Divine “ Exhalation” is the ‘““dynamic” and * femi-
nine”’ complement of the Divine Command (al-Amr),
the pure Act expressed by the word “Be” (kun)' and
corresponds, in the symbolism mentioned above, in
some sense to the emitting of simple sound. In his
Futuhat al-Makkiyah Muhyi-d-Din ibn ‘Arabi identi-
fies the Divine ‘Exhalation” with universal Nature
(at-Tabi‘ah) and attributes to the latter a cosmogonic
function analogous to what Hindus call the Shakti or
“Productive Energy” of Divinity. The expression
“the renewing of creation at each breath™, or “by
breaths”’, must be understood through this symbolism.

As for the close connection between the theory just
set out and spiritual realisation, we need only say that
the human soul is part of the “world of the alike”
which includes not only this world but also the formal
paradises and the hells ; the soul is thus constituted by
reflections which succeed one another indefinitely and
without pause so that it has no true continuity and the
identity of the “I” is only a ‘“recollection” of the
 Self,” 2 (al-huwiyah), the possibility of the being which
subsists eternally in the Infinite Essence. That which

1. According to the teaching of the Greek Fathers of the Christian
Church the world was created ‘¢ by the Son in the Holy Spirit.”> The Divine
Commaond corresponds to the Word anc so to the Son. It will be remembered
that the Holy Spirit is also called ‘* The Comforter *’, a term analogous to the
Arabic verb nafassa. This analogy between the ‘° Exhalation of the Merciful >
and the Holy Spirit is valid only as regards the ‘“ economic ** role of the Holy
Spirit and not as regards the hypostatical person.

<

2. The word huwiyah means, literally, ¢  ipseity *’ and is derived from the
pronoun huwa, ‘‘he,” in as much as this is outside the opposition between
s T and** thou %