This is answered in The Allegories (vol. 1, question 8)

What is the meaning of the Hadith Qudsi: from Jabir b. Abdullah Al Ansari, from Allah’s Messenger (pbuhahf) from Allah (glorified): (Oh Ahmed, had it not been for you I would not have created the orbits (universe), had it not been for Ali I would not have created you, had it not been for Fatimah I would not have created you both)?

Answer: Muhammad (pbuhahf) is the manifestation of Allah, Ali is the manifestiation of Al Rahman, Fatimah is the manifestation of Al Raheem in the Creation. So all things present are illuminated by Allah’s light in His creation which is Muhammad (pbuhahf) and the door for the outpouring of this divine light which are: Ali, Fatimah (peace be upon them both).

Allah most high said: (a revelation from the Always Merciful, the Intensely Merciful). And Ali is the apparent aspect of this door and Fatimah is the inner aspect of the door, like the appearance of the worldly life and its bearing witness for mankind in it, and the absence of the hereafter and its inner part with regards to it, also.

And Ali and Fatimah or the Always Merciful, the Intensely Merciful have unity and division between them, like the unity of loving partners (And He created you from a single soul), and two names refer to one meaning.

As for their separation, from the perspective of the expansiveness of mercy in the Always Merciful (Al Rahman) and its inclusiveness, and the tightness of mercy in the Intesely Merciful (Al Raheem) and its intensiveness, so the Always Merciful (Al Rahman) or Ali (pbuh) has a perspection with this worldly life, so the expansiveness of mercy in the Always Merciful (Al Rahman) is inclusive of all, just as the flow that descends from the apparent of the door includes all – the believer and the disbeliever, as in the supplication: (Oh He who gives the one that asks and He who gives the one that does not ask, and the who does not know Him, from His kidness and mercy).

As for the hereafter, he is the divider of Heaven and Fire with regards being connected to what is present in it and his division from it in this worldly life, not with regards the hereafter.

As for the Always Merciful (Al Raheem) or Fatimah, she has a perspective of affinity with the hereafter, for it is she who takes here Shias (party) i.e. the people of truth and unity and sincerity for Allah (be He purified) on the day of judgement and they are Al Hasan, Al Hussain and the Imam, and Nuah, Ibrahim, Musa, Isa (pbut), and the prophets and executors, and the Pure individuals, other than them, and for this reason Allah’s Messenger (pbuhahf) said: (Fatimah is the mother of her father), so the mother is the root to which one returns, and for this reason Al Hasan Al Askari (pbuh) said, to the effect: (We are Allah’s proof on the creation and Fatimah is Allah’s proof on us).

So had it not been for Muhammad, the heavens and the earth would not have been created, because they were created from his light, and had it not been for Ali Muhammad would not have been created because had Ali not been then Muhammad would not have been understood, for he is the door through which one reaches Muhammad, i.e. the door or Ali, the Muhammedan outpouring in the heavens and the earth will manifest, and had it not been for Fatimah, or the inner part of the door, or the hereafter, Muhammad and Ali would not have been created, for had it not been for the hereafter, Allah would not have created the creation, and the world would not have been created.

ما معنى الحديث القدسي: عن جابر بن عبد الله الأنصاري عن رسول الله ص عن الله سبحانه: (يا أحمد لولاك لما خلقت الأفلاك، ولولا علي لما خلقتك، ولولا فاطمة لما خلقتكما) ؟

(محمد ص تجلي الله ، وعلي تجلي الرحمن، وفاطمة تجلي الرحيم في الخلق. فكل الموجودات مشرقة بنور الله في خلقه وهو محمد ص، وباب إفاضة هذا النور الإلهي هما: علي وفاطمة عليهما السلام.

قال تعالى: ﴿تَنْزِيلٌ مِنَ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ﴾ . وعلي ظاهر هذا الباب، وفاطمة باطن الباب، كظهور الحياة الدنيا وشهودها بالنسبة للإنسان فيها، وغيبة الآخرة وبطونها بالنسبة له أيضاً.

وعلي وفاطمة – أو الرحمن الرحيم – بينهما اتحاد وافتراق، كاتحاد زوجين متحابين ﴿خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ نَفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ﴾ ، واسمين يدلان على معنى واحد.

أما افتراقهما؛ فمن جهة سعة الرحمة في الرحمن وشمولها، وضيق الرحمة في الرحيم وشدتها، فالرحمن – أو علي (ع) – له جهة اختصاص مع هذه الحياة الدنيا، فسعة الرحمة في الرحمن شاملة للجميع، كما أن الفيض النازل من ظاهر الباب يشمل الجميع المؤمن والكافر، كما في الدعاء: (يا من يعطي من سأله ويا من يعطي من لم يسأله ومن لم يعرفه تحنناً منه ورحمة) .

أما في الآخرة فهو قسيم الجنة والنار باعتبار ارتباط الموجود به وافتراقه عنه في هذه الحياة الدنيا، لا باعتبار الآخرة.

أما الرحيم – أو فاطمة – فلها جهة اختصاص مع الآخرة ، فهي التي تلتقط شيعتها – أي أهل الحق والتوحيد والإخلاص لله سبحانه – يوم القيامة، وهم الحسن والحسين والأئمة، ونوح وإبراهيم وموسى وعيسى ع، والأنبياء والأوصياء، ومن دونهم من المخلصين، ولذا قال فيها رسول الله ص: (فاطمة أم أبيها) ، فالأم هي الأصل الذي يرجع إليه، ولذا قال فيها الحسن العسكري (ع) ما معناه: (نحن حجة الله على الخلق وفاطمة حجة الله علينا) .

فلولا محمد لما خلقت السموات والأرض؛ لأنها خلقت من نوره، ولولا علي لما خلق محمد، فلولا علي لما عرف محمد ص، فهو بابه الذي منه يؤتى، ومنه – أي الباب أو علي – الفيض المحمدي في السموات والأرض يتجلى، ولولا فاطمة – أو باطن الباب، أو الآخرة – لما خلق محمد وعلي، فلولا الآخرة لما خلق الله الخلق، ولما خلقت الدنيا.)

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