The Third Matter
Qāf Mountain
As is well‑known, it is one thing to know the nature of something, and another to affirm its existence. The two have to be distinguished between. For there are many things whose existence is certain but then a person is beset by misgivings and deems them impossible, let alone probable. If you like, ask the Seventh Premise; it will reply in the affirmative. Moreover, there are many texts that are incontrovertible, yet doubts have thronged around what they signify. Indeed, confusion has been caused by the answer received to the question: “What does it mean?” If you wish, crack the shell of the Eleventh Premise and you’ll find this pearl.
Reminder It is like this: among certain texts, only the verse Qāf: By the Glorious Qur’an, indicates “Qāf.” But “Qāf” could have been like Ṣād; not in the east of the world, but in the west of the mouth. Such a possibility, however, causes the evidence to cease being certain. Furthermore, evidence that what it definitely signifies is not other than this is that Qarāfi, an authoritative scholar (mujtahid) of the Shari‘a, said that it was baseless. However, you may refer to the Fourth Premise for the well‑known ascriptions to Ibn ‘Abbas. Its relevance will become clear to you. Nevertheless, just as everything Ibn ‘Abbas said did not have to be a Hadith, so everything he related did not have to be acceptable. For in his youth, he used some israiliyat in order to disclose certain truths by means of stories.
If You Ask: “The Sufi verifiers of reality depicted Qāf [Mountain] in many ways, didn’t they?”
I Say in Reply: The renowned World of Similitudes is where they make their peregrinations. They slip out of their bodies as we take off our clothes, and journeying in the spirit gaze on its strange wonders. As for Qāf, it is represented in that world as they describe it. Like the heavens and its stars may be displayed in a small piece of glass, even tiny things in this Manifest World – for instance seeds – become huge trees in the World of Similitudes through the embodiment of meanings and its effects. The laws of the two realms should not be confused. Those familiar with the gist of Muhyi al‑Din ‘Arabi’s ideas will affirm this.
So if you want to learn the worth of what has gained currency among the common people or those who resemble them: that Qāf encompasses the earth and is numerous; that between the two is a five‑hundred-year distance; and that its peak touches the skies; go and light the lamp of the Third Premise, then come back here and enter the darkness. Perhaps you’ll espy it’s eloquence, like the water of life.
If you want to understand my conviction concerning this matter, know that I have decided that Qāf [Mountain] exists, but I’ll pass over what it is in reality. If there is a sound, unanimously reported Hadith explaining this, I’ll believe that what the Prophet (UWBP) meant is right and true and real. But what he intended, not what people imagine. Because sometimes what is understood is not what was intended. What we know about this matter is as follows:
Qāf Mountain is the Himalaya mountain range, which covers most of the East and in olden times divided the civilised peoples from the nomadic ones, and is the mother of the Chamus, the highest mountains in the world. It is said that most of the mountains of the world branched out from this range (lit. from its “roots”). This shows that the famous fanciful idea that Qāf encompasses the world must have originated from this branching out.
And Secondly, the World of Similitudes solves the riddle, since it resembles the Manifest World in form and the World of the Unseen in meaning. Whoever wishes may behold that world to a degree through the window of true visions, the aperture of true dreams, the telescope of transparent objects, or at least beyond the veils of imagination. There are numerous indications that the World of Similitudes exists and that meanings are embodied in it. Hence, the Qāf on the earth may be the seed of the wonderful Qāf on that world.
Moreover, the Maker’s dominions are extensive and not restricted to this lowly globe. As for space, it is Allah the Most High’s world and truly vast, and may contain Qāf with its wonders. But it is not reasonably impossible to touch the heavens, which are “a wave rolled back,” although they are a five‑hundred-year distance from the earth, reckoned in “the days of Allah.” For like the heavens, Qāf may be transparent and invisible.
And Fourthly, why shouldn’t Qāf consist of a mighty mountain‑chain, manifested from the sphere of the horizon? Just as the horizon’s name may be a source of Qāf, for wherever one looks a band of ranges appears like concentric circles. They gradually disappear from sight and hand over to the imagination. Finally the imagination conceives of an encompassing circle of mountain ranges touching the skies. By virtue of the sphericity, even if they are five-hundred-years distant, they still appear contiguous.