An English Translation of Sataat

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About the Book

“Sata’at is one of the famous works of Shah Waliyullah on mystical philosophy. Though it is a small treatise, it throws sufficient light on the subject. It mostly deals with the life after death and the system of Divine manifestations working in the universe. What chiefly characterises this treatise is, the frequent quotations from the Qur’an in support of the argument the author has advanced.

It is, however, essential to note that Shah Waliyulluh believed in the doctrine of the Unity of Being and this doctrine is the central point round which his whole system of philosophy is working. The reasons why he is always attempting to evolve co-ordination among various religions as far as it is possible, is that, this doctrine has a place in one form or the other almost in all religions. An example of such an attempt at co-ordination can be seen in Sat’ 45.

He has explained the significance of ‘Being- In the beginning, but an exnaustive account of it is giver) in ‘Lamahat’ his another most celebrated work on the same subject. These two small books m particular, cover considerable field of his philosophy. Shah Isma’il Shaheed, the grandson of Shah Waliyullah, in the introduction of his ‘Abaqai’ has spoken higly of these two works, and on their strenghth, has determined his’ superiority to Ash-Shaikh Al-Akbar Ibn: Al-Arabi, The last Sat’ on the interpretation of the ‘Verse of light.’ may be taken as the text and all the remaining ones as its commentary.

I am greatly obliged to Dr. Nabi Bakhsh Qazi, Head of the Department of Persian in the University of Sind, for his having reviewed the translation. It is hoped that, this English version, when read with the original text, will be found informative and useful.

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