I’m having a very interesting discussion with Brother Ibrahim. Yes? We came across a verse of the Holy Qur’an and the question arises. The verse is كلُّ شيءٍ هَالِكُنْ إِلَّا وَجْحًا Everything vanishes except your face. The question was we know that the attributes of Allah are everlasting and at no interval that they would be suspended. So everything vanishes except his face. Does it mean that at a certain interval everything would cease to exist?
No. Or that the cessation of existence can be while something else is there? Or it is transformation from one form to another? Well, I understand it’s neither of the two. The fact is that the Holy Qur’an is very, very choosy in the choice of the words it uses. Here Allah could have simply stated كلُّ شيءٍ هَالِكُنْ إِلَّا وَجْحًا Why wajh? Wajh is particularly chosen to express a different connotation altogether from the self of God. Wajhun, in fact, can also be translated as favour of God, his attention.
And wajhun can also be translated in many other ways, grace and, you know, the honour and so many things. Here I understand the word wajhun is used because everything vanishes and disappears except that on which Allah has focused his attention. And only because of the blessings of Allah’s attention that could continue, not by itself. So times may come when everything would be destroyed that is worthless in the sight of Allah. So the destruction or non-existence or return to the state of non-existence would only apply to those things which Allah has discarded, which are not fit enough to receive Allah’s wajh.
And those which are under Allah’s wajh, they would live by Allah’s wajh, by his attention here. The word wajh means attention, special favour of Allah. So the souls of all the prophets, I mean, they are also shared. And so many other universes which are in the formative stage, which have not yet reached the point where they have served their purpose and got ultimately protected. So those which have served their purpose and are worthless, which have served their purpose and have been rejected and so on, they would be destroyed.
But those which still enjoy the special attention of Allah’s favour, they would continue. So there can’t be a time of total non-existence. Because the moment we believe in that, the question which you initially raised would come into operation. That in fact means total non-existence of Allah’s attributes. The attribute is an outer part. And without the outer part, just the attribute by itself, which is not operative, means nothing.
