Being and Nonexistence

Some interpolation was done, especially inside [ ] brackets. Mostly verbatim quotes.

On Being and Nonexistence 2

Reality that is one.[1]

Question:

How could multiplicity have arisen from a reality that is one in every respect?

To understand multiplicity (in existence or in creation)[2] we can search for Oneness and uncover the root of multiplicity in the nature of existing things.

Wujud

There are 2 different translations for the term wujud.

A
There is not only one kind of existent things, but there are different modes of existence: those in the outside world, but also those in the mind, or those in the dream of the dreamer, or those on a film screen or those on the written page.

The modes are different, but in each case we can say that something 'exists', or possesses the attribute of being there - wujud, that it can be found.

This is the general sense of the term ‘existence’ (wujud ), which refers to the fact that something is there, something is to be found, also that God ‘exists’ - meaning there is a God and He can be found. 

B
The second sense of the word[3] wujud is when speaking about the substance or nature of God himself. Or in other words Being will refer to God as He is in Himself. When asking what God is - then the answer is He is wujud, as ‘finding’ or ‘Being’, the latter term is from Western scholastic philosophy.

Keep in mind that “Being” is in no way divorced from consciousness, from a fully aware finding, perception, and knowledge of the ontological situation.[4]

C
So “Being” in upper case refers to God, as He is in Himself.
Being[5] is in no sense ambiguous or questionable, though our understanding of Being often is.[6] Being is that which truly is, while everything else dwells like in a fog and haziness.

We need to remember that every existing thing is at one and the same time He (Being) and Not He (not-being, absolute nothingness). Only God is Being without qualification, without hesitation, without doubt.[7]

God is Sheer Being, utter Plenitude, pure Consciousness. Any given entity[8] in the cosmos is at best a dim reflection of some of these qualities.[9]

In fact, existence is but the reflected brilliance of Being, and there is only a single Being, God himself.

SPK6-7, The Sufi Path Of Knowledge, Ibn Arabi's Metaphysics of Imagination; W C Chittick; p6-7