T T T e e T .

Vi

UNIVERSAL MAN

TH_E Divine Act, which is one, has only one single

object. From the Divine ‘ point of view” crea-
tion is one and is summed up in a single prototype in
which are reflected all the divine Qualities or “ relation-
ships” (nisab) without their being confused or separat-
ed. “In truth We have counted everything in a clear
prototype (imam)”’ (Quran, XXVI, 11). From the point
of view of the creation on the other hand the Universe
can only be multiple since it is conceived as ““other-
than-God” and God alone is one. Thus the unique
prototype (al-Unmudhaj al-farid) is, from the relative
point of view, differentiated into successive polarisa-
tions such as active and passive, macrocosm and mic-
rocosm, species and individual, man and woman,!
each one of the elements of each of these opposed terms
being endowed with its own perfection. The macro-
cosm, which manifests God in as much as He is “The
Outer” (az-Zahir), is perfect because it includes all
individual beings and thus expresses the divine stability
and power : “Are ye then of a creation stronger than

1. These cosmic polarisations are often brought out at the beginning of
Surats of the Quran, as in Surat XCII, 1-4, *‘ By the night when it covers and
by the day when it unveils and by that which created male and female ! Verily
your tendencies are divergent..."”” Here night and day correspond to reab-
sorption in the unmanifest and to manifestation, male and female to active
and passive, and it is from these polarities that the divergent tendencies of men
arise, tendencies such as the faith and unbelief, the generosity and the avarice
mentioned in the rest of this Surat,