Ma`rifat Falsafi

One of the important discussions that has attracted the attention of religious scholars is the relationship between creatures and God. Philosophers and mystics have also commented on this issue, explaining that relationship according to their own tenets. Existential overlapping is one of the new ideas that puts forward a novel view about this issue. According to this view, the infinite existence of God, while being present in all existential realms with no realm lacking His existence, is by no means inconsistent with real existence of creatures. In other words, God's existence would be overlapping with the existential realm of creatures. According to this theory, creatures also have real existence, just like God, but their existential realm would not be separate from that of God; otherwise, it necessitates God's finite existence. Indeed, creatures inhabit the same existential realm as God, in a way that each creature is overlapping with God's existence in proportion to its own existential order. This article presents a precise meaning of "overlapping" (tadākhul) and states its difference with other semantically similar terms to explain the theory of existential overlapping, and ends with some evidences from Quranic verses and traditions.