The entire Gairullah (everything apart from Allah S.W.T.) is ma'loom and hence ma'doom. Makhlooq is synonymous to Ma'loom. When Makhlooq is "Saabit fil Ilm", it is called as "Ma'loom". The whole existence in it's entirity comes into appearance through Zuhoor, through the Sifat-e-Noor of Allah S.W.T. Allahu Noor-us-Samaawaati wal-Ardh. And what is the definition of Noor? It is something which illuminates, radiates itself and others (Khud zaahir hokar dusron ku zaahir karna jise kehte hain). Makhlooq can not come into appearance by itself (does not have zuhoor). So, what is coming into appearance, the khariji wujud of makhlooq, is just the result of projection, i. e. Zill or shadow, which is being projected through the Noor of Allah Ta'ala. The Ma'loomaat-e-Ilaahi prior to their wujud, their external appearance, are referred to as "Suboot" and when Ma'loomat come into appearance (come into zuhoor and becaome zaahir), they are referred to as "Khariji Wujood". Basically, Ma'loomaat when discussed prior to their wujood are in a state called suboot, because they exist only as "shay" in ilm e ilahi. When the ma'loomaat take wujood and become zaahir it is called khariji wujood. But the word "Khaarij" (external) here is just used as vocabulary of Soofiya and does not mean it's real meaning which is "detached". Neither the idea nor the actual manifestation of it leaves Ilm-e-Ilahi. Allah is ever Muheet. Wa huwa bikulli shay-im Muheet. Huwa al Awwalu wal Aakhiru waz Zaahiru wal Baatinu. He (Allah S.W.T.) is the first. Questions comes first of what?. He is the last - last of what? He is the zaahir - zaahir of what? He is the baatin - baatin of what?. Then Allah S. W. T. says "wa huwa bikulli shay-in aleema". So, he is talking about "shay" here. He is the Awwal, the Aakhir, the Zaahir and the Baatin of the "shay". And whay is shay? Shay, as mentioned above, is synonymous to "Ma'loomaat-e-Ilaahiya", the Ma'doomaat. Maa siwa Allah are Ma'doom-e-Mahaz. "Wal Adamu kal Yujad". Meaning Adam-e-Haqiqi (non real existence) is not something which can exist (by itself). The wujood occurs in ilm e ilahi, no one gets "khaarij" or "detached" anywhere.
Now, the question is just how does the wujood actually happen? For this soofiya saw in their kashf different maratib "stages" which are referred to as "Tanazzulaat". The statges are further summarized in six stages so it becomes "Tanazzulaat-e-Sittah". Again, as mentioned earlier, Tanazzulaat literally means "descent" but we are not meaning a literal descent as Allah swt is subhan from that. We need to do Tanzeeh here.
To undersand the concept of Wahdatul Wujood, Ilm-e-Ilaahi, Ma'loomaat and it's Zuhoor, Hadhrat Sufi Ghulam Mohammed Sahab Rahimahullah provides a very apt and good example - the example of how a movie, a film is projection on screen in movie theatres. Hazrat Sufi sahab R. A. said if it wasn't haraam he would tell mureeds to go watch a movie so they can understand wahdat al wujud. What he means by "watch" is to learn the process of how a movie is projected. Movie, or even lets say this screen we are looking at, demonstrate wahdat al wujud well as all characters on screen are within the script and dependent on the light (Nur) to to manifest them (their zuhoor). The actors characters everything that is in a movie is all within the reel (subut). And when those actors characters and all that is in the movie are then projected on screen via light it is khaariji wujud. So basically what he is saying is the light (noor) of the projector brings the characters (makhlooq) onto the screen (wujood). So, here Khariji wujood is just a result or outcome of projection - technically in soofiya terminology the word used is "Zill" (shadow) - A shadow of reflection of asma. Some of these shadows have more kasaafat meaning thickness in them (shadow upon shadow creating kasafat), while others are considerably lateef (opposite of kaseef). An example of kaseef and lateef is Insaan and Jinn. Insaan is kaseef where as Jinn is lateef. Now if we go forward Ruh is more lateef than Jinn. Mud (matti in urdu) is kaseef where as fire is lateef and air is more lateef than fire. And Sufi sahab R. A. says "Har lateef cheez kaseef cheez ka ihata karti hai - Lateef being surrond the kaseef being". For instance, there are so many signals - electrical, radio, etc. which pass through our body. Like how wifi signals surround our room. Like how water surrounds a biscuit immersed in it - the concept of Muheet can be better understood by it. (Wa huwa bikulli shy-im muheet).
Let us come back to Tanazzulaat. As mentioned earlier the tanazzulaat (transcendence - not literally but used for understanding) are categorized in to 6 stages. In a way, every created thing leads to its creator. We see a master piece of art and we know there is an artist behind it. We read a book and we know a writer has written it. In short every created thing is a "Zuhoor" or "manifestation" of his creator. The first misunderstanding which arises in dealing with "Tanazzulaat-e-sittah" is just this term "tanazzulaat" meaning descent. In this case, as mentioned earlier, this term certainly does not mean descent, but Zuhoor. It is basically OUR (real or perceived) knowledge of the wave of genesis. The creator is neither descending nor ascending. It is the decent of our knowledge from the original source of creation to the final end point, that is me and you (humans). Please read Tanzeeh and Tashbeeh article before reading this tiled "Aqwaal ul Nawal - Sulook-e-Ilmi & Tanzeeh woh Tashbeeh". Having cleared this concept, let us go to the real issue. In case of CREATOR, there is one aspect ( martaba) of ZAAT (self) and another aspect (martaba) of SIFAAT (attributes). Discussing ZAAT is out of question, as he is "WARA UL WARA, SUMMA WARA UL WARA". Coming to SIFAAT (attributes), there are "Ijmaali sifaat" and "tafseeli sifaat". So we may say,that:
1st Zuhoor (manifestation) of Allah S.W.T. was SIFAAT-E-IJMALI
2nd Zuhoor was SIFAAT-E-TAFSEELI
3rd Zuhoor was in creations
a)Aalam-e-Arwaah
b)Alam-e-Mithaal
c)Aalam-e-Ajsaam
d)Insaan.
Now we know 6 maraatib of tanazzulaat i.e. zuhooraat and 7 maraatib of zaat, because one martaba of zaat is ZAAT-E-HAQ himself. So the Tanazzulaat-e-Sittah are:
1. Martaba-e-Zaat-e-Haq - AALAM-E-HAAHOOT
2. Martaba-e-Sifaat-e-Ijmalia - AALAM-E-LAAHOOT
3. Martaba-e-Sifaat-e-Tafseeli - AALAM-E-JABAROOT
4. Martaba-e-Aalam-e-Arwaah and Mithaal - AALAM-E-MALAKOOT
5. Aalam-e-Ajsaam - AALAM-E-NAASOOT
6. Aalam-e-Insaan - MARTABA-E-JAAMEA
Now let us discuss third stage of Tanazzulaat. It is also called as Waahidiyyat. In this third stage we need to understand teh concept of Al-A'yaanu Thabitah (Muqarrarah Ashiya meaning "fixed beings"). A'ina-e-Thabitah is the essence of all things created. With regard to makhlooq, in one understanding, there are two things - Zaat and Maahiyat. Zaat is haqeeqat-e-shay (the reality of shay) and Maahiyat is "Maa bihi shay" - the thing which establishes/formes zaat. So here "Maahiyat-e-Shay" can also be considered as A'yaanu Thabitah. Which means, what is in suboot is A'yaanu Thabitah. For better understanding you can also call it "Ideas". A'yaanu Thabitah has no wujood. They are Saabit-uz-Zaat fil Ilm and Masloob-ul-Wujood. Shaikh Al Akbar R.A. said that "Al A'yaanu Thabitah maa shammat ra ihatal Wujood" i.e. a'yaanu thabita can never smell even the odor/aroma of wujood. On these ayaan the reflection of Wajib ul Wujud falls. They are like mirrors. Reflection of Wajib Al Wujud i.e Haq, comes on them and creates shadow (Zill) . The reason why they call it zill is because shadow appears only in light (Noor). Otherwise there is no shadow. It's pure darkness.
أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ كَيْفَ مَدَّ الظِّلَّ وَلَوْ شَاءَ لَجَعَلَهُ سَاكِنًا ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَا الشَّمْسَ عَلَيْهِ دَلِيلًا
Surah furqan "have you not turned your vision to your Rabb? How he prolongs the shadow..."
So this spreading of the "zill" or "shadow" refers to spreading of the relative wujood, as it is a shadow of the Real Wujood, on the ayaan al thabita. The reflections, naturally, are due to the shape or form of the mirror. Nabi Kareem salallaho alayhi wa sallam has perfect mirror thus perfect zuhoor there. In the last aayah of Surah Yasin Allah swt says "kun" and "faya kun" - what is taking the order of "kun"? Who is taking the order of "kun"? Allah swt is giving hukum "kun", this order is given to the essences of things i.e. a'yaanu thabitah. This last Aayat of Surah Yasin is called Aayat e Takhliq. He tells the ayaan thabita "kun" and they come into wujud (appearance). They took wujud, and reflected, the zill appeared. These ayaan thabita have what's called "Shaakilaat". Shaakilaat means their individual peculiarities - disposition, individuality, which seperates them from one another, so that one is not same as another. This difference occurs actually at the ayaan thabita level, we manifest it here. Physical body - mithaal - ruh - a'yaanu thabitah, all are in line.
هُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَ الشَّمْسَ ضِيَاءً وَالْقَمَرَ نُورًا وَقَدَّرَهُ مَنَازِلَ لِتَعْلَمُوا عَدَدَ السِّنِينَ وَالْحِسَابَ ۚ مَا خَلَقَ اللَّهُ ذَٰلِكَ إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ ۚ يُفَصِّلُ الْآيَاتِ لِقَوْمٍ يَعْلَمُونَ
Surah Yunus: 5
ما خلقنا السموت والارض وما بينهما الا بالحق
Surah ahqaaf:3
Again please remember, When we say a'yaan e thabita reflect the real existence, we do not mean the are able to do zuhoor of themselves on their own. They can not.
سَنُرِيهِمْ آيَاتِنَا فِي الْآفَاقِ وَفِي أَنفُسِهِمْ حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَهُمْ أَنَّهُ الْحَقُّ أَوَلَمْ يَكْفِ بِرَبِّكَ أَنَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ شَهِيدٌ
Fussilat:53 - We will show them Our signs in the heavens and within themselves until it is clear to them it is Haq
It is Haq making its zuhoor. Please note that this requires details to know well so that one doesn't go astray. Does this mean everything is Allah or that He has made hulool in things? No way. No Hulool, no ittihaad, no Zarf woh Mazroof happens, no Kull-Juzz relation, no Haal-Mahal relation. If I go stand in front of 10 mirrors they will all reflect me but does each reflection become a juzz of me? No. Allah swt is Wahid and Ahad - Yakta and cannot be divided into juzz. Impossible. Allah tabaarak wo ta'la is paak from Tashbeeh-e-Mahaz. How can ma'doom do tashbeeh mehez of Haq? Never. Impossible. Ma'doom doesn't even have wujood, Allah S.W.T. is wajibul wujood. Ma'doom maintains its sifaat-e-adamiyya and there is a constant stream of sifaat-e-wujoodiyya over them. So that tashbeeh is there only because of the rain of sifaat-e-wujoodiyya coming. Once cut off from this stream of sifaat-e-wujudiyya, makhlooq shows its real siffaat which are totally 'adam and opposite of Haq. This concept in tasawwuf is called Tajaddud-e-Amthaal. Zarf means vessel. As you can see impossible that makhluq is a vessel to carry Haq. People who made these blunders were unable to define differences between zaat-e-haq (zaat-e-kaamil) and zaat-e-khalq (zaat-e-naaqis).
Paani ke bulbulayn hain, Sirf naam ke baday hain.
Ek "kun" ki maar hai ye, Hazaaroun jo khaday hain.
Makhlooq are just like air bubbles in ocean of wujood. For few seconds they have existence. Once the air is popped out (tawajjuh-e-haq stops) they are finished.
Ma'aloom mein 'aleem Ka jalwa 'ayaan hai dekh,
Surat ku tu Chodte hi khuda se visaal ho.
-Sufi Ghulam Mohammed Sahab R.A.