The Handful of Light
He took a Handful of His Light (qabaḍa qabḍatan min nurih).
Know, may God grant you success, that the majestic and sublime Essence of the Real precedes all relations and disclosures. It is above all verbal expressions, hallowed beyond all allusions. There is no way to say anything about It in any respect, for It ... is not associated with any ontological relationship. It is the object of silence because the vital breath of the letter cannot violate its sacred precinct. Thus, it cannot be qualified by an attribute nor characterized by a description.
Know, moreover, that God’s glorified Essence is not divisible into parts, nor dividable into portions, nor does it take on qualities. Whoever believes any such thing is in grave danger, and it is for this reason that the association of the Handful with God’s Light is an association of honor (idafatu tashrif), not an association of distinctly divisible parts (iḍafa tajziʾ).
What then is meant by the “Handful” (qabḍ)?
Anyone who has the least familiarity with this intellectual discipline knows that the meaning of the verb “to take a handful” (qabaḍa) denotes the first manifestation of the secret of the two opposites (sirr al-ḍiddayn). For the Essence’s nondelimitation (al-iṭlaq al-dhati) only became nondelimited when delimitation (taqyid) became manifest. Thus, nondelimitation becomes evident through delimitation, and light manifests through darkness, and the Lord is evidenced by the servant, and the Creator by creation. However, this opposition is not one of incompatible difference (didd mukhalafa). Rather is it an opposition of compatibility, love, and servanthood.
Know, dear seeker of truth, that the Handful of Light was a hidden treasure, and that the entities were absorbed in its inmost hidden center. They were nonmanifest within it just as waves are nonmanifest within the ocean. But when the tidal ebb of passionate love (ʿishq) within the unseen realm poured forth by the [treasure’s] “loving to be known”, then what was concealed became manifest and what was unseen disclosed itself. Thus the Handful became evident through the sovereignty of love, and the entities and possible things [that were absorbed in the hidden center of the Handful of Light] … called out with the tongue of yearning: “a Messenger has indeed come unto you from among your own" (Q Tawba 9:128) and each recognized itself through the Handful’s own self-recognition.
Love is therefore the fountainhead of the first descent of the all-inclusive effacement (al-ṭamas al-aʿamm). [Love descends] from the oceans of God’s exclusive oneness (aḥadiyya) and from what lies beyond the veils of His exaltedness. Love is at the root of existence...everything else is a secondary branch [in relation to it]. Moreover, it is due to its primacy that love is superior to knowledge. This is why God exalted says on the tongue of His blessed Messenger (ṣ), “Say, ‘if you love God, follow me, and God will love you and forgive you your sins. And God is Forgiving, Merciful.’” (Q al ʿImran 3:31)
Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi Al Karkari (Kaf al-astar)
