Everything might not have existed: Look at anything in the world — a tree, a human being, a planet. Every existing thing you observe shares one feature: it exists, but it might not have existed. Trees can be destroyed, they had a beginning, and they will have an end. Philosophers call this being contingent (Mumkin al-Wujud) — possible, not necessary.
A chain of maybes explains nothing: A contingent being cannot cause its own existence — because to cause itself, it would have to exist before it exists, which is a contradiction. And a chain of contingent beings cannot explain itself, because no matter how long the chain is, every member is still contingent. Therefore there must be a being that exists necessarily — whose existence needs no outside cause, and whose essence is its existence. That is the Wajib al-Wujud, the Necessary Being.
Existence itself is the reality: Mulla Sadra made the most revolutionary move in Islamic philosophy. The Greeks started from essence — what a thing is. Mulla Sadra reversed this: Wujud (existence, Being) is the primary reality, and essence (Mahiyya) is only a mental abstraction. When you see a rose, what is real is its existence, its being, its presence. "Roseness" is a concept your mind forms by abstracting from the experience of being.
One reality, many intensities: Mulla Sadra's Tashkik al-Wujud (gradation of Being) says Wujud is one reality, but it appears in infinite degrees of intensity — like light. A candle, a lamp, the sun, and the divine light are all light, but in vastly different intensities. In the same way, a stone has weaker Wujud than a plant, a plant weaker than an animal, and a human can ascend toward the infinite intensity of divine Wujud through 'Irfan.
The God of revelation, not of philosophy alone: The Necessary Being is not a cold, distant idea. Allah is Al-'Alim (the All-Knowing), knowing every soul and every leaf. He is Al-Sami' (the All-Hearing) and Al-Mujib (the Answerer of prayer). He created the universe from nothing, by His free will — not from eternal matter, and not because He needed anything. This is the God of the Quran: personal, knowing, loving, and near.
Example
Imagine a long row of dominoes falling, one knocking the next. Each domino falls because the one before it pushed it. But what pushed the first domino?
A chain of falling dominoes cannot explain itself — someone had to push the first one. In the same way, a chain of contingent things cannot explain why anything exists at all. There must be a first reality that exists by itself, needing no push — the Necessary Being.
Key Terms
- Wajib al-Wujud (واجب الوجود) — the Necessary Being, whose essence is its existence
- Mumkin al-Wujud (ممکن الوجود) — a contingent being, which exists but might not have existed
- Asalat al-Wujud (اصالۃ الوجود) — the primacy of existence; Wujud is the primary reality
- Tashkik al-Wujud (تشکیک الوجود) — gradation of Being; one reality in infinite degrees of intensity
Quran or Hadith
Quran 6:101 — "He is the Creator of the heavens and the earth." — to be checked. Allah creates from nothing, by His free will — the universe had a beginning.
Fresh diagram to be drawn: A row of falling dominoes with an arrow pointing back to a single shining hand that pushes the first one, labelled "The Necessary Being — needs no push".
- Every ordinary thing is contingent — it exists, but it might not have existed.
- A chain of contingent beings cannot explain itself, so there must be a Necessary Being.
- Mulla Sadra taught that Wujud (existence) is the primary reality, in many degrees of intensity.