I was a Hidden Treasure…
“Kuntu kanzan makhfiyyan fa ahbabtu an urafa fa khalaqtu al-khalqa fa bi arafuni – (I was a hidden treasure and loved to be known so I created the world that I might be known.)” — Sacred Hadith Kudsi
He wanted to be known and so He sent His Grace to us, Mashallah! Our purpose is to discover the Grace He granted!
“O Prophet! Truly have we sent thee as a witness, a bearer of glad tidings and a warner and as one who invites to Allah’s Grace by His leave and as a lamp spreading light.” — Quran 33:45, 46
Our Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, appointed Imam Hazrat Ali to continue this Grace after his passing so that this Covenant would remain with us until we meet in eternity at the Hawd, the Fount in heaven. And so the Chain of Imams has continued and our Imam-e Zamaan, Imam of the Time, Noor Mowlana Shah Karim Al-Hussaini Hazar Imam, is the 49th Imam in this succession, Mashallah! Did you know that Prophet Muhammad passed on the same day as he was born? For me, this is more reason why Allah ordained this continuation via heredity as we celebrate Imamat Day as the new Imam assumes his position as the Imam of the Time, on the same day that the previous Imam passes, and this is the Sacred Covenant!
Mowlana Hazar Imam said in his speech to the Canadian Parliament:
“…today the Ismailis are the only Shia community who, throughout history, have been led by a living, hereditary Imam in direct descent from the Prophet.”
This year June 2022, we have entered into 1,400 solar years since Hijra in June 622 when the Muslim calendar started when Prophet Muhammad left Mecca and moved to Medina. This marked the start of the Muslim calendar, pure lunar years of 354 days. See Eid ul Fitr — End of Ramadan
Islam means Surrender, that is, the complete trust in and acknowledgement of the One Supreme God, Who is both the creator of the world and its Judge. His commands are to love our neighbors, to do justice and to act honestly.
Mercy to the World:
Sura 4:80 To obey him means to obey God.
33:21 Uswa Hasanaa. Beautiful Model.
21:107 Rahamatan lil-Aalamin. Mercy to the world.
33:56 Salwaat. And Bayat.
Muslim Greats mentioning Kuntu kanzan makhfiyyan — I was a hidden treasure!
- “Ibn al-‘Arabî explains the creation of the world by the fact that God wanted to escape from isolation. This idea is inspired from the famous hadîth: “I was a hidden treasure and I desired to be known, so I created the creation in order that I might be known.” Creation is thus the manifestation of the One in the plurality of all creatures. As an entity, God is absolutely undifferentiated and unknowable.” The Mystical Visions of Ibn Arabi – Diana Steigerwald
- “According to a famous holy utterance, a hadith qudsi which Ibn ‘Arabi often cites, God says: “I was a hidden treasure and I loved to be known, so I created.”Here the purpose of creation is explicitly tied to God’s desire to be known; He wished to manifest His inner perfections; and this is one way of becoming known, that is, knowing Himself outwardly, as distinct from knowing Himself inwardly.” Jesus in the Quran: an Akbari Perspective by Reza Shah-Kazemi
- The whole universe, including God, is one interrelated entity.
God’s existence is the Existence in Power which is rendered complete by the Existence in Action (the human existence), and by the establishment of the link between these two tapes of existence, because the establishment of this link is the true Monotheistic knowledge.This was explained very clearly by the Prophet in his Heavenly Tradition (Hadith Qudsi): “I was a hidden treasure; I wanted to be known; I created creatures; I made them know me; Through them I am known”. Introduction to Ismailism by Dr. Sheikh Khodr Hamawi
- “The term “relative” (idafi) is applied to something that resembles something else (in certain respects), but is essentially different from it, just as a mirage resembling water, or a reflection in a mirror, and which are different (from what they resemble). The real, or absolute (haqiqi) is called something that is the original reality, as water (resembled by a mirage), or the original object (reflected in a mirror). So Ra’is Hasan says in a poem:-
Thou art a being that appears as a man to men,
before the eyes of men, in this world;
In the form of a man thou art and with men thou remainest.
Thou comest amongst men not showing thy real face,
[Fol.5v.] (Because) in thy pure and attributeless essence thou art void of every (form).
If (thou appearest) amongst the men, thou art a man, if amidst spirits-a spirit,
Thou grantest them their existence as well as governest them.
And the same Ra’is says in (another) poem:-
The reason why thou has received the illusory attributes,
And why they became incalculable for the world,
If that every religion, whether it be true or false, bad or good,
Invented its own way (of worship) and calls thee by a different name.
Of all these names and attributes, which appeared,
A garden rose up with young trees of the saying “I was a Hidden Treasure.”
Thou art partaking in all these, only from Thee
Comes the existence of all these, inherent in the beings.
But in the eyes of the truth, in Thy real essence Thou art
Really void of all the attributes and all the names.” The Manifestation of the Imam is essential for the Existence of the World