In the history of Islamic thought, the conflicting views of the believers of “UNITY of BEING” have led to different interpretations, in as much as, some of these believers have claimed the novelty and uniqueness of their own theories. As a prominent example Ibn Sab‘in, a controversial Andalusian mystic, regards his theory of “absolute UNITY of BEING” as an essentially distinguished theory in the history of Islamic thought. Examining this claim, this article has arrived to the conclusion that it is not true. In fact, his theory is the continuation of the tradition of Muslim mystics.

The UNITY of BEING is one the most important doctrines of mystics that provoked many challenges in area of religious belief and philosophy. Mulla sadra as a founder of philosophical system called transcendental philosophy claims that he has much success in explaining this mystical doctrine. But his followers disagreed over his meaning. Some of them claimed that the theory of equivocal UNITY of BEING was the only rational explanation of mystic’s doctrine of UNITY of BEING. Other claimed that mystic’s doctrine means the individual UNITY of BEING that negates plurality of BEINGs. In this essay, after brief indication of history and development of mystic’s doctrine, different interpretations of Mulla sadra view concerning this doctorine are examined. semantical examination is used to show which interpretation is defensible.

The Theory of the UNITY of BEING has often been considered :a paradoxical and contradictory issue. However, the Sufis proclaim that they have experienced this paradoxical issue. But have they been able to illustrate this issue for others as well? This article points out to the fact that the theory of the UNITY of BEING cannot be intellectually or philosophically explained, and the Sufis have to resort to allegory. This article first studies the relationship between the experience and the explanation of the UNITY of BEING, and then deals with the reasons for the inexpressibility of the mystical experience. The appropriateness of mystical experience with the imaginal world is, then, examined, and finally, some well- known allegories used by Sufis to refer to the UNITY of BEING have been analyzed.

The theory of the individual oneness of BEING represents the most sublime level of intuition and the peak of the ascent of Muslim gnostics concerning the issue of God's UNITY. It is also the most accurate philosophical theory regarding UNITY and plurality.This theory has a long history in its unsystematic form; however, it has appeared in a systematic form in the works of such prominent gnostics as Ibn Arabi, Kashani, Qaysari, Jami, Seyed Heydar Amuli, and Ibn Turkeh Isfahani. Mulla Sadra has also explained this theory in al-Asfar and presented two arguments in order to demonstrate it. Moreover, he has considered it to be higher than the theory of the graded UNITY of BEING. After him, some gnostics and philosophers such as Aqa Muhammed Reza Qumsha'i, Seyed Ahmed Karbala'i, Mirza Ali Aqa Qadi, Imam Khwneini, and Allamah Tabataba'i were among the thinkers who believed in this theory and defended it. According to the theory of the individual oneness of BEING, true BEING is exclusively limited to the Holy Essence of Almighty Truth, and all other than God are among the modes, manifestations, and epiphanies of that One BEING and Single Truth.The application of the term "BEING" to His numerous manifestations is by accident and metaphorical. Some scholars, including Mutahhari, believe that this theory, due to denying plurality, is against rational and sense-related evident issues and accuse it of sophistry and idealism. This paper presents a critique of Mutahhari' s view in this regard.

Essentiality of existence, established on stable demonstrations in Sdra's transcendent philosophy, led to a deep transformation in theology and philosophy. This paper, having explained the problem of essentiality of existence, has sought to prove its relationship to the UNITY of existence. The main question, therefore, poses itself as: does the proved relationship lead to the UNITY of Necessary BEING? The author has concluded that after proving the essentiality and UNITY of existence, one can prove the UNITY of the Necessary BEING.

UNITY of BEING as a doctrine that says no other entity unless God can be described by BEING, has been scattered all over the writings on Ayn ul-Quzzat. In Commenting this Quranic verse: "How! Are they still in doubt about the meeting with their Lord? Lo! Is not He surrounding all things?" (Quran, 01:10) he describes those who are in doubt about the meeting with the Lord, as blind. The blind men are who can not see God's sovereign encompassment over all existents including His BEING, because in doing so, can undoubtedly observe that they, themselves, are among the numerous Divine manifestations. For him, God by His sovereign encompassment over the manifestations can be regarded both as centre and periphery. Therefore, God possesses BEING truly not like the creatures that are of it metaphorically. They, i. e. creatures, are the various modes of the Unitary BEING that from time to time, Hamadani calls them as temporal advents. God is eternal, to say, He is beyond the time, so that one can say as in the beginningless eternity God existed with no other thing accompanied Him, He exists in the present time and will exist in the endless eternity, too.

The problem of UNITY and multiplicity and the way of explaining it always has been considered by philosophers as an important subject. In this relation, approaching the UNITY by reducing multiplicity to it, is one of the important characteristic of philosophical thought. Meanwhile, Ibn Sina tries to justify and explain the generation of multiplicity form UNITY. His philosophical principles and presuppositions is such that we cannot find his philosophy consistence with the theory of Oneness of BEING (Wahdat al-Wujud).      

The present article is concerned with the study of the most important mystical allegories in order to delineate what Muslim mystics mean by the UNITY of BEING. According to Muslim mystics, truth consists in one simple whole, which is identified with God. These BEINGs are existent in one sense and non-existent in another. It is not the case that other BEINGs are absolutely nonexistent; nor is it the case that God is identified with other BEINGs. In fact, by ‘BEING’ we mean the BEING of God with other BEINGs as His manifestations.As is pointed out by Imam Reza (PBUH), they can be compared to reflections in the mirror, waves arising from the sea, or the lights, which appear in different colors in different colorful glasses.

Some of the researchers who have studied Ibn Arabi' s works have said that the term "UNITY of BEING" has not been used in them, and that he himself did not believe in this theory, either. They have also added that this term has been used by the commentators and interpreters of Ibn Arabi.In this paper, the writer has criticized this view and demonstrated that not only has he used the term "UNITY of BEING" in his works, but also he was a gnostic, believing in this theory by referring to three different pieces of evidence. They include the following:1. Stipulations of Ibn Arabi: He has directly referred to the "UNITY of BEING" in two of his books, namely, Risalah fil tasawwuf and Kitab al- marifat. In some of his works, instead of the UNITY of BEING, he has used the term "ontological oneness" (tawhid wujudi).2. Stipulations of Ibn Arabi' s opponents: Some of his opponents, such as Ibn Taymiyyah Hanbali and Ala al- Dawlah Simnani have, introduced him as an advocate of the UNITY of BEING and, thus, excommunicated him. 3. The meaning of the UNITY of BEING in Ibn Arabi' s works: There are several propositions in his works from which his commentators and even opponents inferred the concept of the UNITY of BEING. In this paper the propositions referring to the UNITY of BEING in his Fusus al -Hikam have been demonstrated through the following ways:a) assimilation and illustration;b) ontological propositions;c) anthropological propositions;d) cosmological propositions;e) propositions entailing the theory of manifestation and epiphany

Ibn-e Arabi’s universal concept of personal UNITY means that BEING has an objective concrete reality and that its objective denotation is God and all BEINGs are His true manifestations. This view has its own requirements, which are discussed in the present article.