The Secret Meaning of the Word 'KUN'

All that exists was born from the hidden depths of the secret meaning of this word KUN. Even all that is hidden from the eye and the mind is but a result of this mysterious sound. As Allah Most High says:
For to anything We have willed, We but say kun (be!) and it becomes (Surah Nahl, 40) His word is in itself the deed. Now I look upon the universe that surrounds us and think how each and everything came to be and try to solve its coded mysteries, and lo! I see that the whole universe is but a Tree. A tree whose light of life came out of a seed shed when Allah said kun! The seed of the letter K fertilized with the letter N of Nahnu (We), created when Allah said: We it is who have created you (Surah Waqi’ah, 57) Then from these two joined seeds grew two shoots in accordance with Allah’s promise: Verily We have created all things in the way they are determined to be (Surah Qamar, 49)

But the root of these two shoots was only a single root. That root is the will of the Creator, and what is grew into is His power. Then from the essence letter of K of the divine word kun, two opposing meanings came to be: kamaliyyah, perfection, as mentioned by Allah in This day I have perfected your religion and completed My favor to you and chosen for you Islam as your religion (Surah Ma’idah, 3) And kufriyyah, unbelief, as Allah mentioned in So some among them believed and some among them disbelieved (Surah Baqarah, 253)

Likewise from the essence of the letter N emanated the opposing meanings of nur al-ma’rifah (the light of knowledge) and nakirah (the darkness of ignorance). Thus when Allah took the creation out of the Hidden Treasure of nonexistence into being, in accordance with its predetermined shape and form, He shed His divine light upon it. Whomever that light fell upon was able to see the Tree of Being that grew from the seed of the divine order kun covering the whole universe. And these enlightened ones knew the secret of the K in the word kuntum (you are), when Allah said: You are the best community raised up for humanity, you enjoin good and forbid evil and you believe in Allah (Surah ali Imran, 109)

They also penetrated the hidden meaning of the final letter N of kun as nur (light). As Allah said: Is he whose heart Allah has opened to Islam so that he follows a light from his Lord (no better than one hard-hearted)? (Surah Zumar, 22) But the ones who hid themselves from the divine light when Allah shed it upon His creation are also obliged to know the hidden meaning of the letters of the word kun as Allah pronounced it. Those who kept themselves in the dark will fail to recognize the truth and imagine that the letter K stands for kufr, which means the darkness in which they stand, hiding everything from the eye. They will imagine that the letter N stands for nakirah, which means ignorance. They become hopeless, and in their hopelessness cannot believe in the existence of their Creator. So the lot of everything created depends on its share of understanding of the mystery in these two letters, which are the cause of each existence. The proof is in the words of our Prophet, who said: Verily Allah created the creation in a realm in total darkness, then shone His divine light upon it. Whoever was lit by that light was enlightened and well guided. And whoever was hidden from that light and was not touched by it was led astray and was lost. (Ahmad ibn Hanbal)

(The Tree of Being:Shajarat al-kawn. An Ode to the Perfect Man. Interpreted by Shaykh Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi al-Halveti. Archetype Pub. London, 2005)