The world of being

[georgiac]

In the Aqdas, where the Cause is said to exist "...in the arena of insight and detachment, of vision and upliftment, where none may spur on their chargers save the valiant horsemen of the Merciful who have severed all attachments to the world of being..." what is the meaning of the world of being? Thank you for any reply to this question.

[paula]

I'm not fluent in Arabic, so I can't look up the specific passage, but usually the "world of being" as it's translated into English refers to "Nasut" or our physical world. (The earthly realm.)

There are several passages in the Kitab-i Aqdas that refer to the "the world of being". The one that seems to point out the physical world is:
"O people of the world! Build ye houses of worship throughout the lands in the name of Him Who is the Lord of all religions. Make them as perfect as is possible in the world of being, ..."

Warm regards,
Paula

[Edited by brettz9 to correct typo in quote]

[MontanaDon]

This is interesting because in many cases, the Muslims simply used the Greek terms in translation. But in this instance, they quickly developed an alternative cosmology using different terms. What the Greeks called World of Being, the Muslims call Lahut, the world of ideas, a spiritual world. This is of course consistent w/ the Greek description. As Paula noted, the Muslim term Nasut, the material world, is what is translated as World of Being.
For the Greek philosophers, only the world of ideas and ideals was "real", where things really existed. The material world was only a shadow of reality.
For the Muslims, this world, of which God said "Be" and it was, is also real, a somewhat more sophisticated understanding.
If you're interested georgiac, there are a number of papers on this site that discuss the similarities and differences btwn Sufi/Muslim terminology and Shaykhi/Babi/Baha'i terminology.

Don C

[paula]

Hi Don - I'm really interested in the difference between Sufi/Muslim and Shaykhi/Babi/Baha'i terminology. Can you recommend a few papers? I'm also interested in why the Greek language was incorporated into so much of the Persian/Arabic languages. As I study both languages I find Greek references all the time and am puzzled. I can only compare my language (Lakota) which has incorporated English words only because what the Europeans brought to our land had no equivalent . Things like sugar, milk, heaven, hell, money, etc. Is it the same with Arabic/Persian and Greek?