What do the words hulool (incarnation) and ittihaad (union with the divine) mean?

Hulool
(incarnation) and ittihaad (union with the divine) – which includes the term
wahdat al-wujood (“unity of being”): 

These two
terms are often mentioned in books on beliefs (‘aqeedah). They are esoteric
and Sufi terms, and these concepts are also frequently mentioned in the
books of false religions such as those of the Brahmins, Buddhists and
others. 

1.

Hulool (incarnation)

(a)

What this word
means in general terminology is when one of two things is absorbed into or
incarnated into another. 

This is
complete mixing. 

Al-Jarjaani
(may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

Complete
hulool is the union of two bodies in such a way that pointing to one is also
pointing to the other, such as the juice in an orange. 

Incomplete
hulool is when one of the two entities acts as a vessel containing the
other, such as water in a jug. 

At-Ta‘reefaat,
p. 92. 

This is what
is meant by hulool: affirmation of two entities, one of which is present in
the other. 

What is meant
by this word as used by Sufis and others is the incarnation or presence of
Allah – may He be glorified and exalted – in His creation or in some of His
creation. 

(b)

Types of
hulool 

Hulool may be
divided into two types: 

i.

General hulool, which is the belief that Allah, may He be exalted, is
present in all things.

But this
hulool is similar to the idea of the incarnation of the divine (i.e., the
Creator God) in the human (i.e., the created being), whilst affirming that
the two entities are distinct and separate; in other words, He is not
unified with the one in whom He is present, rather He is everywhere yet
separate. Thus this is confirmation of two separate entities. 

This is the
view of the Jahamis and their ilk. 

ii.

Specific hulool, which is the belief that Allah – may He be glorified and
exalted – is present in some of His creation, whilst believing that there is
a Creator and a created being.

This is like
the belief of some of the Christian sects, that divinity – meaning Allah,
may He be glorified and exalted – is incarnated in humanity – meaning ‘Eesa
(Jesus, peace be upon him) – and that ‘Eesa (peace be upon him) has two
natures: the divine nature when he was speaking words of revelation, and a
human nature when he was crucified (according to their belief). 

This is also
similar to the belief of some of the extreme Raafidis, such as the Nusayris,
who believe that Allah – may He be glorified and exalted – was incarnated in
‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib, who was God (according to their belief); thus divinity
was incarnated in him. This is one of their basic beliefs. 

2.

Ittihaad (union with the divine)

(a)

What is meant
by ittihaad is that two things are one thing. 

Al-Jarjaani
(may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

Ittihaad means
the mixing of two things until they become one thing. 

At-Ta‘reefaat,
p. 9 

(b)

what is meant,
according to those who believe in this notion, is that Allah – may He be
glorified and exalted – becomes one with His creation or with some of His
creation, in the sense that all created beings or some of them are the exact
essence of Allah, may He be exalted. 

(c)

Types of
ittihaad: 

i.

Ittihaad in a general sense – which is also called wahdat al-wujood (“unity
of being”). This is the belief that everything that exists is God Himself.
In other words, the Creator is one with all of His creation. This is the
meaning of wahdat al-wujood; those who believe in it are called
al-ittihaadiyyah or ahl wahdat al-wujood, such as Ibn al-Faarid, Ibn ‘Arabi
and others.

ii.

Ittihaad in a specific sense, which is the belief that Allah, may He be
glorified and exalted, became one with some created beings but not others.

Those who
believe in this exclude from it the idea of His being one with filthy and
abhorrent things; they say that He became one with the Prophets, the
righteous, the philosophers or others, and thus they became the exact
essence of Allah, may He be glorified and exalted.

This is like
the view of some Christian sects who believe that divinity became one with
humanity, and they became one thing. This is unlike those who believe in
incarnation, who believe that he (i.e., Christ) has two natures, divine and
human.

Those who
believe in ittihaad say one nature, and those who believe in hulool say
two. 

(d)

The difference
between hulool and ittihaad 

The difference
between them may be summed up as follows: 

i.

Hulool affirms two entities, unlike ittihaad which affirms one entity.

ii.

Hulool accepts that they are separable, whereas ittihaad does not accept
that.

(e)

Examples that
explain the difference between hulool and ittihaad: 

There are many
such examples, including the following: 

If you put
sugar into water without stirring it, this is hulool, because they are still
two separate entities. But if you stir it until it is absorbed by the water,
then they become one, because they cannot be separated again. 

But if you put
something different into the water, such as pebbles, then this is called
hulool, not ittihaad, because the pebbles are one thing and the water is
something else, and they can be separated. 

(f)

Ruling on
which of these two beliefs is worse 

There is no
doubt that believing in hulool or ittihaad is one of the greatest kinds of
disbelief and heresy – Allah forbid. 

But ittihaad
is worse than hulool, because it is belief in one essence, unlike hulool.
Moreover, the belief that He is one with everything is worse than the belief
that He is one with some of His creation. 

To sum up,
belief in hulool and ittihaad is obviously false. Islam came to erase it
from people’s minds, because it is a belief that is taken from the
teachings, philosophies and idolatry of the Hindus, Greeks, Jews, Christians
and others, so it is based on fabrications and myths. 

Taken from
Mustalahaat fi Kutub al-‘Aqaa’id by Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ibraaheem
al-Hamad, p. 42-47 

And Allah
knows best.