THE NIRGUN-SARGUN CONUNDRUM

INTRODUCTION

In Islam, the purpose of life is clear. It has been concisely put by the Creator of all things known and unknown that:

"I have not created jinn nor humankind except that they worship Me (alone)." (Qur'an 51:56)

The purpose as found in Islaam is not only clear, but also consistent for all humans irrespective of time and locale to follow. From the very first to the very last, their purpose was, is and will always be one and the same.
The great scholar of Islaam - Ibn Taymiyyah posed a rhetorical question:

If one does not have knowledge of what one is worshipping, then what is one worshipping?

The equally famous Ibn Abil-'Izz summarised the importance of this knowledge:

The need of the servants for this knowledge is greater than every other need; and it is the most necessary of all things for them, since there is no life for the hearts, nor any delight, nor any tranquillity, except through knowing their Lord, the One to be worshipped, their Creator - with His Names, His Attributes and His Actions, and that He - along with all that - is more beloved to the person than anything else. So man's striving is with regards to everything that will draw him nearer to Allaah, to the exclusion of the creation.

Hence, knowledge of a worshipped deity is a necessary prerequisite and must be compatible with the sound and unblemished intellect.

Concerning this purpose, Allaah has ordered Muslims to have knowledge of His Self and to strictly worship Him in accordance to what He has divinely revealed through His designated Prophets and Messengers:

"Have knowledge of Laa ilaaha ill-Allaah (the first pillar of Islaam and the testification of faith - None has the right to be worshipped in Truth except Allaah) and (then) seek the forgiveness of Allaah all you believing men and believing women." (Qur'an 47:19)

In the Qur'an, Allaah highlights the inseparable relationship between revelation, language and intelligence when he says: 

"The Most Merciful, taught the Qur'an, created humankind, and gave them 'bayaan'." (Qur'an 55:1-4) [1]

If we begin with the following criteria:

1.     Understanding and knowledge of God must come from God. It is not intellectually deducible.

2.     Revelation cannot be incompatible with the sound human intellect.

In other words, it would be unjust of God to provide us with intelligence that was incompatible with revealed knowledge of His Divine Self. Surely the all-Wise, who has established for us this purpose of worshipping Him, would not make things difficult, let alone impossible, by instilling in us an intellect and rationale insufficient in comprehending the revelatory knowledge of His Divine Self.

And yet, the question standing is: 

What if revelatory knowledge of His Divine Self is found to be contradictory?

We intend to show here that the Hindu-inherited and slightly altered concept of God in Sikhi theology is illogical, contradictory and irrational.
From this we contend that if Sikhism intends to believe in contradictions related to God, which any healthy and rational minded person would, if all things were equal, necessarily reject, then at least two dire consequences transpire: 

• Sikhi theology is irrational and illogical, and thus, errant.
• God is unreasonable and unjust if He reveals contradictions and demands that Sikhs accept it unquestionably.

EXAMINING THE THEOLOGY-PROPER OF SIKHISM

Nirankaar aakaar aap nirgun sargun ayk.
He Himself is formless and also formed; the One Lord is without attributes and also with attributes.
(Guru Arjan Dev pg.250)

Aap akaar aap nirankaar
He Himself is formed, and He Himself is formless.
(Guru Arjan Dev, pg.863)

Raaj joban prabh thoon dhhanee, thoon niragun thoon saragunee

O God, You are my power, authority and youth. You are absolute, without attributes, and also related, with the most sublime attributes.
(Guru Arjan Dev, pg.211)

The above is confirmed and agreed upon by the following authors:

In the Sikh Scripture, the concept of the supreme reality is not only dynamic and reverberating but many pluralities such as nirguna-saguna and transcendent immanent are subsumed in it. He is nirguna or without attributes. Yet He is saguna or with attributes, too, because in the manifested state all attributes are His.

With this urge, from apparent nothingness, the Formless assumes form, "The unattributed becomes the Attributed - nirgun te sargunu thia" (GG, 940) and thus this world of a myriad colours takes shape. [bold ours] [2]

And:

God is manifest in its creation and has 2 forms Nirgun (without attributes) and Sargun (with attributes). Having created this creation, God is manifest within it in all forms and at the same time is at a distance in its formless form. [bold ours] [3]

However, the Nirgun-Sargun duality, respectively, is often rendered and interpreted by various oft-repeated descriptive terms, such as: transcendent-immanent or absolute-personal or formless-manifest: 

As per Gurbani our soul is the part of the Nirgun form of God, while our body is the part of the Sargun form of God. Clearly, God is both the forms resides within us. Our body is the temple of Lord. [bold ours] [4]

God is described as both nirgun, or absolute, and sargun, or personal There was only the Formless One Himself; creation was not then-When God became sargun or manifest, he became what is called the Name, and in order to realize Himself He made nature where in He has His seat and is diffused everywhere and in all direction in the form of love. [bold ours] [5]

God is both Transcendent and Immanent does not mean that these are two phases of God one following the other. God is One, and He is both nirguna and sarguna. "Nirguna sargunu hari hari mera, (God, my God is both with and without attributes)," sang Guru Arjan (GG, 98). Guru Amar Das also had said, "Nirguna sarguna ape soi (He Himself is with as well as without attributes)" (GG, 128). Transcendence and Immanence are two aspects of the same Supreme Reality.
In the teaching of Sikhism God is conceived as being without form (nirankar/nirakar)-All existence is God's visible form, but no part of it is a substitute for God. God is also Nirguna (unattributed) as said earlier.

It was the One and the Only God, the Lord of Universes who was at once transcendent (nirguna) and immanent (saguna). Although immanent in His Creation He was yet apart from it, being its Creator.

Sikhism does recognize the traditional categories of transcendent and immanent as also of nirguna (without attributes) and saguna (with attributes, sarguna in Punjabi), pertaining to God, but not the Sankarite distinction between higher and lower Brahman. The emphasis here is on the unicity of Ultimate Reality, the "1 Onkar". The term Parbrahma (Sankara's Para Brahman) appears frequently in the Sikh Scripture but Aparbrahma or Apara Brahman never.  For the Sikhs the same Absolute is both nirguna and sarguna (GG, 98, 128, 250, 287, 290, 862). The nirguna Brahman manifests himself as sarguna Brahman, in relation to His attributes. [bold ours] [6]

An emphasis has been given to these terms in order to show a general acceptance of interpretation within the academic circles that sans creation God was Nirgun (attributeless, formless, transcendent), but at the onset of creation became Sargun (attributed, personal, immanent, diffused in creation, manifest). However, it is still insisted that He is ONE (ik onkar): Nirgun as well as Sargun.

INSURMOUNTABLE PROBLEMS

"Say: Truth has come and falsehood has been vanquished, indeed falsehood by its very nature is bound to be vanquished." (Qur'an 17:81)

PROBLEM ONE

This Nirgun-Sargun duality must be recognised a priori as nothing but a contradiction in terms.

We recommend those unfamiliar with the Law of non-Contradiction to read the following article refuting those who ignorantly claim that this law is neither self-evident nor a priori; or those who assert, based on the erroneous claim that this law is man-invented, that God cannot be limited or restricted to these alleged man-invented laws: The Universal Law of non-Contradiction

In the Qur'an Allaah establishes that something and its opposite cannot both be accepted as true at the same time and in the same respect:

"And such is your Lord in truth. Then what is there after Truth except falsehood. How have they then turned away?" (Qur'an 10:32)

If something is accepted as true, all things to the contrary must be rendered and taken to be false. 

Hence, according to the universal Law of non-Contradiction - (P and not-P) is false - if:

Nirgun (unattributed) is taken to be proposition P, then its negation Sargun (attributed) is not-P.

Since the Sikhi concept of God affirms Him to be both Nirgun and Sargun at the same time and in the same respect, we must conclude that (P and not-P) is false, a contradiction and must be rejected by the rational mind.

BELIEF IN THE IMPOSSIBLE

To illustrate the clarity found in Islaam, we will very briefly look into why contradictions and impossibilities cannot co-exist with true belief. In doing so, the reader will begin to recognise the gulf of difference between the religion of Truth, and those religions established upon an empty claim of this.

Is it firstly possible to equate opposites?

Allaah demonstrates this in no uncertain terms by drawing upon opposites to emphasise to the seeker of Truth the importance of recognising the exclusivity of two opposite things and the impossibility of a sound intellect accepting both equally.

"The blind and the seeing are not alike;
Nor the darkness and the light;
Nor the shade and the heat;
Neither are the living and the dead alike. Surely Allaah makes whom He pleases hear, and you cannot make those who are in the graves to hear." (Qur'an 35:19-22) 

A rhetorical question asks: 

"What! Shall We then treat those who are Muslims (who submit their will to the Will and commandments of Allaah) as criminals? "What is the matter with you? How do you judge?" (Qur'an 68:35-36) 

"Not equal are the dwellers of the fire and the dwellers of Paradise. It is the dweller of Paradise that will be successful." (Qur'an 59:20)

"And not alike are the good and the evil." (Qur'an 41:34)

"Is one who is obedient to Allaah, prostrating himself or standing (in prayer) during the hours of the night, fearing the Hereafter and hoping for the Mercy of his Lord (like one who disbelieves)? Say: "Are those who know equal to those who know not?" It is only men of understanding who will remember." (Qur'an 39:9)

"Say: 'Are equal those who know and those who do not know? It is those who are endued with understanding that receive admonition. Are those who know equal with those who know not? But only men of understanding will pay heed." (Qur'an 39:9)

 "Or do those who earn evil deeds think that We shall hold them equal with those who believe (in Islaam) and do righteous good deeds, in their present life and after their death? Worst is the judgement that they make." (Qur'an 45:21)

"And not equal are the blind and those who see, nor are (equal) those who believe (in Islaam), and do righteous good deeds, and those who do evil. Little do you remember!" (Qur'an 40:58)

"They wish that you reject Faith, as they have rejected (Faith), and thus that you all become equal (like one another)." (Qur'an 4:89)

We ascertain from these instructions that the equating of opposites, especially when the nature of truth is involved, is a clear and apparent falsehood. Allaah says:

"And what is there after truth except falsehood?" (Qur'an 10:32)

This shows that contradictory things, especially in regards to Allaah, can never be on level terms. Hence, anyone seeking to equate opposites and accept contradictions will face the consequences and be punished.

We say: If a Messenger brought an inherently impossible concept (such as an object existing and not existing at the same time, or God being temporarily eternal!), then one of two things would occur:

a)   One would end up believing in part of it and disbelieving the rest since both affirmation and negation of the same thing cannot coexist and be believed in equally.

b)   Disbelief in the concept as a whole, i.e. disbelief in the concept that one can affirm two contradictory things at the same time.

Hence, belief and acceptance in the impossible leads to contradictions, and what greater contradiction can there be other than affirming one thing and its opposite, or the negation of opposites, at the same time? 

"Do they not consider the Qur'an? Had it been from any other than Allaah, they would surely have found therein much discrepancy." (Qur'an 4:82)

ALLAAH DOES NOT REVEAL CONTRADICTIONS

This is interrelated with the previous argument. Allaah tells us in the Qur'an:

"Had it been from other than Allaah, they would most certainly have found in it many Ikhtilaaf (contradictions/ discrepancies/ inconsistencies)."  (Qur'an 4:82) 

He also says: 

"Allaah has revealed (from time to time) the most beautiful message in the form of a Book consistent with itself." (Qur'an 39:23) 

Reflect for a moment over this saying of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: 

"A disbeliever will be asked: suppose you had as much gold as to fill the earth. Would you offer it to ransom yourself (from the Hell-Fire)? He will reply, "Yes." Then it will be said to him, "You were asked for something easier than that (to join none in worship with Allaah by accepting Islaam, but you refused.)" 

Humankind will be asked something easy not something overly difficult, let alone impossible! Collecting all the gold in the world is not essentially impossible although it may be practically so. However, demanding the affirmation, with certainty, of an impossible concept is mental oppression and it is, unlike collecting all the gold in the world, essentially impossible. Imagine God demanded of His creation that they pray to Him in a non-human language; or breathe without breathing; or stand without standing; or stand and sit at the same time without standing or sitting; thus, to believe that God is attributeless (Nirgun) and attributed (Sargun) is an absurdity. All of this is impossible to do and, thus, unreasonable to ask. 

In the Islamic worldview, this is considered: "Burdening a soul with more than it is capable of enduring," let alone burdening it with that which is impossible to endure. Allaah from His Absolute Mercy says: 

"No soul shall have a burden laid on it greater than it can bear." (Qur'an 2:233)

An alternative translation of the meaning (from Pickthall) is "no soul shall have imposed upon it a duty but to the extent of its capacity":  

"We do not impose on any soul a duty except to the extent of its ability." (Qur'an 6:152) 

"No burden do We place on any soul, but that which it can bear."  (Qur'an 7:142) 

"On no soul do We place a burden greater than it can bear: before Us is a record which clearly shows the truth: they will never be wronged." (Qur'an 23:62) 

Allaah does not burden a soul with more than it can bear in a practical and physical sense. We ask: what about in a spiritual or mental sense? Or is it that oppression is only restricted to the physical realms? The Prophet related from his Lord that Allaah said: 

"O My servants, I have forbidden oppression for Myself and have made it forbidden amongst you, so do not oppress one another." [7] 

With Allaah further saying in the Qur'an:

"Allah does not desire injustice for (His) servants" (Qur'an 40:31) 

"Verily, Allaah enjoins Al-'Adl (i.e. justice and worshipping none but Allaah Alone) and Al-Ihsaan,[8] and giving (help) to kith and kin and [Allaah] forbids Al-Fahsha',[9] and Al-Munkar,[10] and Al-Baghy (i.e. all kinds of oppression), He admonishes you, that you may take heed." (Qur'an 16:90)

BLIND-FOLLOWING 

Unfortunately, many confronted with these simple, yet irrefutable evidences, are often thrown into a state of panic when reality suddenly dawns upon them that their life-long cherished beliefs and customs are shattered and proven false.

Two reactions follow on from this and we wish to address both reassuring those who have found themselves in this state that all is not lost. On the contrary, this recognition is only the first step towards accepting the Truth and changing one's life for the better.

The two reactions are: 

1. Extreme distress after confronting this revelation, followed by concern for the future, followed by denial, which leads one towards blind-following of a religion upon the recognition, though not willing to acknowledge openly, its falsity.
2. Surprised and worried after confronting this revelation, followed by introspectively acknowledging the reality, leading towards an inevitable change through the accommodation and assimilation of this Truth, which replaces the initial shock-and-horror with contentment, tranquillity and happiness in having accepted the Truth from their Lord and submitted to His Will.

The first type we will examine in detail and we want the reader to pay special attention to these characteristics and ask: Is this how I have reacted after being confronted with the stark reality that the religion of my forefathers is contradictory and false: 

IGNORANCE

This is of two types: simple and complex.

The simple kind of ignorance - those who rejected the truth so as to follow their chiefs and leaders. These are the ones when the punishment or death comes upon them, they cry out:

"Our Lord! Truly we obeyed our chiefs and elders, and they caused us to stray from the Path!" (Qur'an 33:67)

The complex kind of ignorance - those who choose to remain upon the religion of their tribe or the religion of their forefathers, along with those they were raised with. When faced with the Truth, they refuse to look into it, and if they do, with only a cursory glance in order to remain pleased with the religion of their forefathers and remaining loyal to their tribe. Allaah says about these people:

"And similarly, we never sent a warner to any village before you, except that its extravagant ones said: 'Truly we found our forefathers upon this way and truly we are following their footsteps.'" (Qur'an 43:23)

And His says of those who took them as guides at the expense of the Truth:

"Truly they took the devils as caretakers instead of Allaah, thinking them to be possessors of guidance." (Qur'an 7:30) 

JEALOUSY

This is similar to those people of the past who recognised the truth presented by Allaah's true Prophets; but, out of jealousy, they chose to conceal and ignore it. Allaah says of these people:

"And verily a group of them did conceal the Truth even though they had knowledge (of it)." (Qur'an 2:146)

This disease of jealousy sprouts from arrogance.

ARROGANCE/ EGOTISM

This is the biggest obstacle that prevents people from accepting the Truth. Allaah says:

"I will turn those away from My Verses, those who behave arrogantly on earth without any right" (7:146), which is to reject the Truth and to look down upon the people.

The Prophet Muhammad said: "Arrogance/Egotism is rejection of the Truth and being scornful towards the people."

And again Allaah says:

"They disbelieved in it, out of oppression and arrogance, while they were convinced (of the truth) within themselves. So then look at the end result of the affairs of those who cause corruption." (Qur'an 27:14) 

TURNING AWAY FROM SOUND TEXTUAL AND INTELLECTUAL PROOFS

How sad it would be for some to be from this category, those who refused to accept the sound evidences after understanding them. Allaah says about them:

"So when they turned away, Allaah caused their hearts to turn away" (Qur'an 61:5)

Since they deserved to be turned further away after consciously choosing to reject the irrefutable evidences.

Allaah gives a glimpse of the thoughts and sayings of the regretful ones on the Day of Judgment who, after being resurrected and confronted with the reality that Islaam and its proofs were indeed true, will say in grief when the all-Just passes sentence against them:

"And they will say: If only we had listened and used our intellects, then we would not (today) be among the denizens of the blazing (Hell) Fire!" (Qur'an 43:36-37)

We pray and hope that the seeker of God makes only the truth from Allaah a judge between acceptance and rejection, without being influenced by anything else:

"But they deny the truth when it comes to them. So they are in a confused state." (Qur'an 50:5)

"And who is more astray than the one who follows his own whims and desires devoid of revelation?" (Qur'an 28:50)

"And do not follow the hawah (vain desires, corrupted minds) of people who went astray in times gone by, and who misled many, and strayed from the correct path." (Qur'an 5:77) 

"Have you seen him who has taken his own hawah (vain desires, corrupted mind) as his own god." (Qur'an 45:23) 

Let us be from those who sincerely seek Him - the truth - and submit to the clear revelatory evidences when it blesses their life. Let us be from these people:

"And when they listen to the revelation received by the Messenger, you will see their eyes overflowing with tears when they recognize the truth. They pray: 'Our Lord! We believe; so write us down among the witnesses.
'What cause can we have not to believe in Allaah and the truth which has come to us seeing that we long for our Lord to admit us in the company of the righteous?'
And for this prayer, Allaah rewarded them with gardens under which rivers flow-their eternal home. Such is the reward of those who do good." (Qur'an 5:83-85)

CONCLUSION 

"Have you any knowledge (proof) that you can produce before us? Verily, you follow nothing but guess work and you do nothing but lie.'..."With Allaah is the perfect proof and argument..." (Qur'an 6:148-9) 

Contradictions are false.
Would Allaah command His creation to accept false beliefs?
Would this demand not be a call to hypocrisy (intellectual, spiritual, and actual)? 

Allaah is al-Haqq (The Truth), it would be impossible for us to affirm this of Him and at the same time affirm that He commands us to accept falsehood. 

"For those who do not believe in the Hereafter is an EVIL DESCRIPTION and to Allaah belongs the HIGHEST DESCRIPTION." (Qur'an 16:60) 

If Allaah is contradictory, and contradictions are false; then Allaah is false: this is an evil description of Him; but to our Creator belongs the highest description. 

The great commentator of the Qur'an Ibn Katheer gave an explanation of the term 'highest description', which every theist would affirm and agree with: "It means absolute perfection from every possible angle."  

Is the absolute perfection of Allaah upheld when He is described by the Hindu contrived notion of Nirgun-Sargun? 

We affirm that belief in the impossible is impossible in and of itself. 

This being the case, the term 'believer' can not be ascribed to anyone who professes such a belief because although verbal claims may be forwarded, it is impossible to prove, thus, impossible for it to settle in one's heart: 

"Let not those who hurry to fall into disbelief grieve you, of such who say: 'We believe' with their mouths but their hearts have no faith." (Qur'an 5:41) 

It is impossible to think that Allaah, Most High, would send down a Book, or that His Messenger would say things, intending for this Book or this speech to be guidance for the Creation, which they are in dire need of, while excepting that it is something which cannot be understood, like some jumbled letters of the alphabet that do not convey any intelligible meaning. This is impossible since it is foolishness that the Wisdom of Allaah could not coincide with. Allaah, Most High, says in His Book: 

"A Book, its verses have been perfected and explained by One (who is) all-Wise, Well-Informed." (Qur'an 11:1) 

"A book We have sent down, full of blessings, that men may ponder over its messages; and those who possess understanding may take them to heart." (Qur'an 38:29) 

The scholar Ibn Taymiyyah wrote: 

"...it is known that Allaah orders us to reflect [ponder/ contemplate] over the Qur'an and encourages us to understand it and use our intellect, so then how can it be possible that we are expected to turn away from its understanding, to turn away from knowing anything about it...that which Allaah described Himself with in the Qur'an, or much of that which Allaah described Himself with, their meanings were not even known to the Prophets, rather they just conveyed words that they did not understand the meanings of."

How can a concept, impossible for the mind to accept, be understood? Hence, we further say:

It is impossible to have knowledge of belief in the impossible. 

Muhammad's (Allaah's peace and blessings be upon him) companion Ibn 'Abbaas was questioned, "How did you attain knowledge?" He replied: "With a tongue that questions much and a heart that comprehends well." 

Allaah says about those upon the truth with correct belief: 

"The (true) believers are those only who believe in Allaah and His messenger and afterwards doubt not..." (Qur'an 49:15) 

Similarly, the Messenger of Allaah said: 

"No one meets Allaah with the testimony that there is none worthy of worship but Allaah and I am the Messenger of Allaah, and he has no doubt about that statement, except that he will enter Paradise." (Recorded by Muslim) 

We conclude that the Hindu-invented and Sikh-adopted concept of Nirgun-Sargun is contradictory, impossible for the mind to accept, cannot be understood or settle in the heart, and will invariably lead to doubts and uncertainty. 

Concerning the ones upon falsehood, deceit and lies, Allaah so vividly describes their spiritual state when faced with the reality of the truth: 

"...whose hearts feel doubt, so in their doubt they waver."  (Qur'an 9:45)

"Nay, but they have denied the truth when it has come to them, so they are in a confused state (unable to differentiate between right and wrong)." (Qur'an 50:5)

However, those wanting to worship Allaah upon the clarity of truth, and correct belief, then know that this leads to nothing except Certainty of Faith ('ilm al-yaqeen):  

"Those who believe and whose hearts are made tranquil by the remembrance of Allaah. Verily, by the remembrance of Allaah are the hearts made tranquil." (Qur'an 13:28) 

We ask finally:

How can the heart be tranquil and content upon what it knows to be false?

We end this discussion with a related story of some people who had fallen into speculative reasoning devoid of revelatory proofs and evidences. They visited a scholar and asked him:

"O Shaykh, we have heard that you know with certainty."
He replied: "Yes"
They said: "How is that possible, when from the beginning of the day until now we have been disputing with each other and not one of us has been able to cite a decisive proof."
He replied: "I do not know what you are saying, but as for me I know with certainty."
So they said: "Describe to us certain knowledge."

What followed was a beautiful answer the simplicity and truthfulness of which all souls recognise and agree to: 

 "According to us, certain knowledge is those thoughts that flow to the soul and which the soul is unable to refute." 

The questioner and his companions then began to repeat: "Those thoughts that flow to the soul and which the soul is unable to refute," being impressed with the answer.

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