Unity of Being, Unity of Intuition, and Speaking of God

One of the most important discussions in Islamic philosophy, kalam, and gnosis is speaking of God. The “unity of being” and “unity of intuition” have been proposed as two approaches to the quality of the relationship between the wayfaring gnostic servant and God and speaking of Him. Each of these approaches has some representatives in the tradition of Islamic gnosis and each has specific beliefs regarding gnostic unity. In this paper, through explaining the theories of the unity of being (based on Ibn Arabi’s ideas) and the unity of intuition (based on ‘Ala al-Dawlah Semnani’s views), the writers initially discuss their differences concerning unity. Then they explore the concept of “personal God” as one of the necessities and basic principles of the theory of the unity of intuition as opposed to the Absolute God of the theory of the unity of being.