Fusus al-Hikam
The Seals of
Wisdom
by Shaykh al Akbar Muhi-d-Din Ibn al-'Arabi
Index of Chapters:
1. The Seal of Divine Wisdom in the Word of
Adam
2. The Seal of Wisdom of the Breath of Angelic Inspiration in the Word
of Seth
3. The Seal of the Wisdom of the Breath of Divine Inspiration in the
Word of Noah
4. The Seal of the Wisdom of Purity in the Word of Idris
5. The Seal of the Wisdom of Being Lost in Love in the Wisdom of Abraham
6. The Seal of the Wisdom of the Real in the Word of Issac
7. The Seal of the Wisdom of Elevation in the Word of Ishmael
8. The Seal of the Wisdom of the Spirit in the Word of Jacob
9. The Seal of the Wisdom of Light in the Word of Joseph
10. The Seal of the Wisdom of Divine Unity in the Word of Hud
11. The Seal of the Wisdom of Revelation in the Word of Salih
12. The Seal of the Wisdom of the Heart in the Word of Jethro
13. The Seal of the Wisdom of Power in the Word of Lot
14. The Seal of the Wisdom of the Decree in the Word of Ezra
15. The Seal of the Wisdom of Prophethood in the Word of Jesus
16. The Seal of the Wisdom of Mercy in the Word of Solomon
17. The Seal of the Wisdom of Existence (Wujud) in the Word of David
18. The Seal of the Wisdom of the Breath (Nafas) in the Word of Jonah
19. The Seal of the Wisdom of the Unseen in the Word of Job
20. The Seal of the Wisdom of Majesty in the Word of John the Baptist
21. The Seal of the Wisdom of Possession in the Word of Zachariah
22. The Seal of the Wisdom of Intimacy in the Word of Elijah
23. The Seal of the Wisdom of Ihsan in the Word of Luqman
24. The Seal of the Wisdom of the Imam in the Word of Aaron
25. The Seal of the Wisdom of Sublimity in the Word of Moses
26. The Seal of the Wisdom of What One Turns to in the Word of Khalid
27. The Seal of the Unique Wisdom in the Word of Muhammad
1) The Seal of Divine Wisdom
in the Word of
Adam
When Allah - glory be to Him! - willed that the source of His most
Beautiful Names - which are beyond enumeration - be seen (or you can
equally say that He willed His source to be seen), He willed that they
be seen in a microcosmic being which contained the entire matter, (1)
endowed with existence, and through which His secret was manifested to
Him. For how a thing sees itself through itself is not the same as how
it sees itself in something else which acts as a mirror for it. So He
manifests Himself to Himself in a form which is provided by the place in
which He is seen. He would not appear thus without the existence of this
place and His manifestation (tajalli) to Himself in it.
Allah brought the entire universe into existence through the existence
of a form fashioned without a spirit (rûh), like an unpolished mirror.
Part of the divine decree is that He does not fashion a locus without it
receiving a divine spirit, which is described as being "blown" (2) into
it. This is nothing other than the result of the predisposition of that
fashioned form to receive the overflowing perpetual tajalli which has
never ceased and which will never cease. Then we must speak of the
container (qâbil). The container comes from nothing other than His most
sacredly pure Overflowing. So the whole affair has its beginning from
Him, and its end is to Him, and "the whole affair will be returned to
Him" (11:123) as it began from Him. Thus the command decreed the
polishing of the mirror of the universe. Adam was the very polishing of
that mirror and the spirit of that form.
The angels are some of the faculties of that form which is the form of
the universe, which the Sufis designate in their technical vocabulary as
the Great Man (al-Insân al-Kabîr), for the angels are to it as the
spiritual (rûhânî) and sensory faculties are to the human organism. Each
of these faculties is veiled by itself, and it sees nothing which is
superior to its own essence, for there is something in it which
considers itself to be worthy of high rank and an elevated degree with
Allah. It is like this because it has an aspect of the divine synthesis
(jam'îya). In it is something which derives from the divine side and
something which derives from the side of the reality of the realities.
This organism carries these attributes as determined by the universal
nature which encompasses the containers of the universe from the most
exalted to the basest. However, the intellect cannot perceive this fact
by means of logical investigation for this sort of perception only
exists through divine unveiling by which one recognises the basis of the
forms of the universe which receive the spirits.
This being was called both a human being (insân) and khalif. As for his
humanness, it comes from the universality of his organism and his
ability to embrace all of the realities. He is in relation to Allah as
the pupil, (3) being the instrument of vision, is to the eye. This is
why he is called "insân". It is by him that Allah beholds His creatures
and has mercy on them. So he is a human being, both in-time [in his
body] and before-time [in his spirit], an eternal and after-time
organism. He is the word which distinguishes and unifies. The universe
was completed by his existence. He is to the universe what the face of
the seal is to the seal - for that is the locus of the seal and thus the
token with which the King places the seal on his treasures.
Allah named him khalif for this reason, since man guards His creation as
treasure is guarded with the seal. As long as the seal of the King is on
the treasure, no one dares to open it without his permission. He made
him a khalif in respect of safeguarding the universe, and it continues
to be guarded as long as this Perfect Man is in it. Do you not see then,
that when he disappears and is removed from the treasury of this world,
nothing that Allah stored in it will remain? Everything that was in it
will leave it, and all the parts will become confused, and everything
will be transferred to the Next World. Then Man will be the seal on the
treasury of the Next World for endless time and after-time. All the
Divine Names contained in in the divine form (4) appear in this human
organism. Thus it possesses the rank of containing and integrating this
existence. It was by this that Allah set up the proof against the
angels, (5) so remember that! Allah admonishes you through others. Look
at where that originates and where it ends up. The angels did not
realise what was implied by the organism of the khalif, nor did they
realise what the presence of the Truth demanded as 'ibâda (6) (worship).
Each one only knows from Allah what his essence accords him. The angels
do not possess the universality of Adam, and they did not understand the
Divine Names with which he has been favoured, and by which he praises
Allah and proclaims His purity. They only knew that Allah had names
whose knowledge had not reached them, so they could not praise Him nor
proclaim His purity through them. What we mentioned overcame them and
this state overpowered them. They said about this organism, "Why put on
it one who will cause corruption on it?" (2:30) This is only the
argument which they were voicing.
What they said regarding Adam is exactly the state they were with regard
to Allah. Had it not been that their nature was in accord with it, they
would not have said what they said in respect of Adam, "and yet they
were not aware." If they had had true recognition of themselves, they
would have had knowledge, and had they been in possession of knowledge,
they would have been protected and would not have resisted by belittling
Adam and thus exceeding their claim of what they possessed of His praise
and glorification. Adam was in possession of Divine Names which the
angels did not have, so that their praise and glorification of Him was
not the same as Adam's praise and glorification of Him. Allah describes
this to us so that we may ponder it and learn adab (7) with Allah, and
so that we will not lay claim to what we have not realised or possessed
by pinning down. How can we allege something which is beyond us and of
which we have no knowledge? We will only be exposed. This divine
instruction is part of Allah's discipline of those of His slaves who are
well-mannered, trusting and khalifs.
Let us return to the wisdom under discussion. Know that universal
matters which have no existence in themselves are without a doubt
intelligible and known in the mind. They are hidden and continue in
their invisible existence. These universal matters have jurisdiction and
effect on everything which has an individual existence. Indeed, they are
the same thing and nothing else, i.e. the sources of existent individual
things, and they continue to be intelligible in themselves. They are
manifest in respect of the sources of existent things just as they are
hidden in respect of their intelligibility. Each individual existent
thing depends on these universal matters which cannot be dislodged from
the intellect, nor would their existence be possible in the source once
they ceased to be intelligible, whether that individual existent is
in-time or out-of-time. The relationship of that which is in-time or
out-of-time to this universal intelligible matter is the same. This
universal matter only has jurisdiction in individual existent things
according to what the realities of these individual existent things
demand of it. It is like the relationship of knowledge to the knower,
and life to the living. Life is an intelligible reality; knowledge is an
intelligible reality. Knowledge is as distinct from life as life is
distinct from knowledge. So we say that Allah has knowledge and life,
and that He is the Living, the Knowing. We also say that the angel has
life and knowledge, and is living and knowing. We say that man has life
and knowledge, and is living and knowing. The reality of knowledge is
one thing and the reality of life is another, and their relationship to
the knowing and the living is the same relationship. We say that the
knowledge of Allah is in non-time and the knowledge of man is in-time.
So look at the evaluation that this relationship has brought about in
this intelligible reality!
Examine this connection between individual intelligibles and stence is
necessary, rather, it is necessary by another, not by itself. As
knowledge determines the one who participates in it as he is called
knowing so the one who is described by it can determine the knowledge.
It is in-time in relation to the one in-time and non-time in relation to
the one in non-time. Each of the two is determining and determined. It
is known that these universal matters, even if they are intelligible,
lack a source although they still have an authority. When they are
determined, since they are ascribed to an individual existent thing,
they accept the principle in the existent sources and do not accept
distinction or fragmenting, for that is impossible for them. They
themselves are in everything described by them, as humanity is in every
person of this particular species, without distinction or the numbering
which affects individuals; and it continues to be intelligible.
Now, as there is a connection between that which has an individual
existence and that which does not have one and it is a non-existent
relationship so the connection of existents to each other is easier to
conceive because, in any case, there is a common factor between them
which is individual existence. In the other, there is no common factor,
yet there is a connection despite the lack of a common factor. So it is
stronger and more real when there is a common factor. Without a doubt,
the in-time establishes itself as being put into time and it needs
something in time to put it into time. It has no place in itself so it
exists from something other-than-it, and it is linked to That by the
dependence of need. This dependence must be on That whose existence is
necessary, which is independent in Its existence by Itself without need.
It is That which, by Its own essence, gives existence to the in-time
which depends on It. Since the existence of Its essence is necessary and
what appears from It depends on It for its essence, it nevertheless
depends on its form for everything which is from a name or attribute,
except for the essential necessity. That is not the property of it
in-time, even if its existence is neceesary, rather, it is necessary by
another, not by itself.
Since the matter is based on what we said about its manifestation in its
form, Allah communicates to us knowledge of Himself through
contemplation of the in-time. He tells us that He shows us His signs in
the in-time, (8) so we draw conclusions about Him through ourselves. We
do not describe Him with any quality without also possessing that
quality, with the exception of that essential autonomy. Since we know
Him by ourselves and from ourselves, we attribute to Him all that we
attribute to ourselves. For that reason, divine communications came down
on the tongues of our interpreters, (9) and so He described Himself to
us through ourselves. When we witness, He witnesses Himself. We are
certainly numerous as individuals and species, yet we are based on a
single reality which unites us. So we certainly know that there are
distinctions between individuals. If there were not, there would be no
multiplicity in the One.
Similarly we are described in all aspects by that by which He describes
Himself, but there must be a disinction and it is none other than our
need of Him in our existence. Our existence depends on Him by virtue of
our possibility and He is independent of that which makes us dependent
on Him. Because of this, one can apply before-timeness and timelessness
to Him which negates that firstness which is the opening to existence
from non-existence. Although He is the First, firstness is not ascribed
to Him, and for this reason, He is called the Last. Had His firstness
been the firstness of the existence of determination, it would not have
been valid for Him to be the Last of the determined because the possible
has no last - for possibilities are endless. So they have no last.
Rather, He is the Last because "the whole affair will be returned to
Him" (11:123) after its attribution to us. So He is the Last in the
source of His firstness and the First in the source of His lastness.
Then know that Allah has described Himself as the Outawrdly Manifest and
the Inwardly Hidden; (10) He brought the universe into existence as a
Visible world and an Unseen world so that we might know the Hidden by
the Unseen and the Manifest by the Visible. He described Himself with
pleasure and wrath, and so He brought the world into existence as a
place of fear and hope so we fear His wrath and hope for His pleasure.
He described Himself with majesty and beauty, so He brought the universe
into existence with awe and intimacy. It is the same for all that is
connected with Him, may He be exalted, and by which He calls Himself. He
designates these pairs of attributes by the two hands (11) which He held
out in the creation of the Perfect Man. Man sums up all the realities of
the universe and its individuals. So the universe is seen and the Khalif
is unseen. It is with this meaning that the Sultan veils himself, even
as Allah is mentioned and described as having with veils (12) of
darkness, which are natural bodies, and luminous veils which are subtle
spirits (arwâh). The universe is composed of both the gross and the
subtle.
The universe is its own veil on itself and cannot perceive the Truth
since it perceives itself. It is continuously in a veil which is not
removed, since it knows that it is distinct from its Creator by its need
of Him. It has no portion of that essential necessity which belongs to
the existence of Allah, so it can never perceive Him. In this respect,
Allah is never fully known by the knowledge of tasting and witnessing
because the in-time has no hold on that.
Allah only applied "between His two hands" to Adam as a mark of honour,
and so He said to Iblis, "What prevented you prostrating to what I
created with My two Hands?" (38:76) That is none other than the union in
Adam of the two forms - the form of the universe and the form of the
Real: (13) and they are the two hands of Allah. Iblis is only a fragment
of the universe and does not possess this comprehensive quality. It is
because of this quality that Adam was a khalif. Had he not had the form
of the One who appointed him khalif, he would not have been khalif. If
there were not in him all that is in the world, and what his flocks,
over whom he is khalif, demand of him because of their dependence on him
(and he must undertake all they need from him) he would not have been
khalîf over them.
The khalifate is only valid for the Perfect Man, whose exterior form
comes from the realities of the universe and its forms, and whose inner
form is based on His form, may He be exalted! For that reason, Allah has
said of him, "I am his hearing and his sight." (14) He did not say, "his
eye and his ear." So He differentiated between the two forms. It is the
same for every existent in the universe which appears according to what
the reality of that existent demands of it. Nonetheless no one totally
comprehends what the khalif has. One only surpasses others by this
comprehensiveness. If it were not for the diffusion of Allah into the
existents by the form, the universe would not have any existence.
Similarly, were it not for these universal intelligible realities, no
principle would have appeared in individual existent things. From this
reality the universe depends on Allah for its existence. So all is in
need, and nothing is independent.
This is the truth
and we have not spoken metaphorically.
If I speak of a something independent
without any need, you will know Who I mean by it.
The whole is tied to the whole
and cannot be separated from it, so understand what I have said!
Now, you have learnt of the formation of the body of Adam his outer
form and the formation of his spirit, his inner form, so he is the
Real and a created being. Now you have learnt of the formation of his
rank which is the comprehensiveness by virtue of which he is worthy of
the khalifate. Adam is the unique self from which the perfect human
species was created according to His words, "O mankind, be fearful of
your Lord who created you from a single self, and created its mate from
it, and disseminated many men and women from the two of them." (4:1)
His words, "Be fearful of your Lord," mean to make of what has appeared
from you a safeguard for your Lord and make what is concealed of you,
which is your Lord, a safeguard for yourselves. The matter consists of
blame and praise, so be His safeguard in the blame and your safeguard in
the praise, so that you will be among those of knowledge and adab. Then
He showed him what He had placed in him, and He put that in His two
hands - one handful contained the universe and the other handful
contained Adam and his descendants - and He showed them their ranks in
Adam.
Then Allah informed me in my inner heart (sirr) of what He placed in
this Imam, the great progenitor. I have put in this book some of what
was allotted to me but not all of what I realised. A book could not
contain that and not even the present existent universe could contain
it. I have put some of what I have witnessed in this book, as the
Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, defined it.
It was the divine wisdom in the word of Adam, that is, this chapter.
Then there is the wisdom of the breath of angelic inspiration in the
word of Shith (Seth), the wisdom of divine inspiration in the word of
Nuh (Noah), the wisdom of purity in the word of Idris, the wisdom of
being lost in love in the word of Ibrahim (Abraham), the wisdom of truth
in the word of Ishaq (Isaac), the wisdom of the elevation of the word in
the name of Isma'il (Ishmael), the wisdom of the spirit in the word of
Yusuf (Joseph), the wisdom of unity in the word of Hud, the wisdom of
revelation in the word of Salih, the wisdom of the heart in the word of
Shu'ayb, the wisdom of the power of the word of Lut (Lot), the wisdom of
the decree in the word of 'Uzayr (Ezra), the wisdom of prophethood in
the word of 'Isa (Jesus), the wisdom of mercy in the word of Sulayman
(Solomon), the wisdom of existence in the word of Da'ud (David), the
wisdom of the soul in the word of Yunus (Jonah), the wisdom of the
unseen in the word of Ayyub (Job), the wisdom of majesty in the word of
Yahya (John the Baptist), the wisdom of possession in the word of
Zakariya (Zachariah), the wisdom of intimacy in the word of Ilyas
(Elias), the wisdom of benevolence in the word of Luqman, the wisdom of
the Imam in the word of Harun (Aaron), the wisdom of sublimity in the
word of Musa (Moses), the wisdom of what one turns to in the word of
Khalid, and the wisdom of uniqueness in the seal of Muhammad.
There is a seal for each wisdom. So I have condensed these wisdoms
according to what is established in the Mother of the Book, and I
complied with what was written out for me, and stopped at what was set
as a limit for me. Even if I had desired to do more than that, I would
not have been able to do so. Indeed, the Presence forbids that, and
Allah is the One who grants success. There is no Lord but Him.
Notes to Chapter 1:
1. al-Insân al-Kâmil, the Perfect Man.
2. Nafkh, Qur'an 32:9, etc.
3. Insan, as well as meaning human being, also means the pupil of the
eye.
4. The form chosen by Allah for the human being.
5. Qur'an 2:30-33.
6. 'Ibada: All the acts of worship: giving, praying, fasting, etc..
7. Adab: Manners. Here meaning the much deeper quality of spiritual
manners, that is a courtesy engendered in the ritual acts of worship,
the prostrations of the prayer, the fast, and giving gifts to the needy.
Such a quality is imbued with awareness that you are the dependent, and
the Real is the independent. You are poor, He is rich.
8. Qur'an 41:53, "We will show them Our signs on the horizons and in
themselves..."
9. i.e. the Prophets.
10. Qur'an: 57:3.
11. Qur'an 38:75, "What I created with My two hands."
12. Hadith: "Allah has 70,000 veils of light and darkness. If they were
to be removed, the splendour of His face would consume."
13. Hadith: "Allah created Adam on His form."
14. ref. to hadith qudsî via Abu Hurayra, "My slave does not draw near
Me with anything I love more than what I have made obligatory for him.
My slave continues to draw near me with superogatory actions until I
love him. When I love him, I am his hearing with he hears, his sight by
which he sees, his hand with which he strikes, and his foot with which
he walks." (Sahih al-Bukhari, 81:38:2)
2) The Seal of
Wisdom of the Breath of Angelic Inspiration (1)
in the Word of Shith
(Seth)
Know that the gifts and favours which appear in phenomenal being through
human beings or without them fall into two categories: the gifts of the
Essence and the gifts of the Divine Names. These two categories are
distinct among the people of tasting according to whether as they come
from a specific request for a specific thing, from a general request, or
without any request. This applies whether they are gifts of the Essence
or gifts of the Divine Names. They are specific when someone says, "O
Lord, give me such-and-such a thing," and specifies something which
occurs to him. They are general when someone says, "Give me what You
know is good for all my parts, subtle and gross," without specifying it.
The askers fall into two groups - one group makes the request from a
natural impulse to hasten its attainment, "for man is impetuous;"
(17:11) and the other group asks because they know that there are
matters with Allah which, in the foreknowledge of Allah, are only
obtained after a request. They say, "Perhaps what I ask of Him is
something of that sort." Their request takes into consideration this
possibility. They do not know what is in the knowledge of Allah, nor
what their capacity to receive will grant them. This is because it is
one of the most difficult things to know capacity at any moment, for it
refers to the capacity of the individual at that time. Furthermore, had
he not been disposed by his capacity to make the request, he would not
have made that particular request.
The goal of the people of presence, (2) who do not possess such a
knowledge, is to know it in the moment in which they find themselves.
They know by their state of presence what Allah has given them in that
moment. and they only receive it by their predisposition for it. They
are of two sorts: one group knows their predisposition from what they
have already received, and the other group knows what they are going to
receive based on their predisposition. This latter group has the most
perfect recognition of predisposition.
Among this group are those who make a request, neither to hasten it nor
for the possibilities of favour, but rather to comply with the command
of Allah when He says, "Call on Me and I will answer you." (40:60) This
sort of person is the pure slave and when he asks, his aspiration (himma)
is not attached to what he asks for, be it specific or not, rather his
aspiration is merely in or not, rather his aspiration is merely in
obedience to his Lord's command. When his state requires, he asks for
slavehood, and when it requires entrustment [to Allah] and silence, he
is silent. So Ayyub and others were tried, and they did not ask Allah to
remove their affliction from them. Then at another moment, their state
required that they ask that it be removed, and Allah removed it from
them.
The immediate granting of a request, or its deferment, depends on the
decree which has been determined for it by Allah. If the request
coincides with the moment, the answer comes quickly, and if the moment
is deferred - either in this world or the next, the answer is also
deferred except for the answer from Allah which is, "At your service"
(3) - so understand this well!
As for the second category, it is received without making a request, and
by "without request" we mean verbal expression of it. In actuality,
there must always be a request - be it articulated, or by a state, or
from a predisposition. Similarly, unrestricted praise only takes place
through verbal expression. The state determines the meaning, for that
which induces you to praise Allah is determined for you by a Name of
Action (4) or a Name of Disconnection. (5) In the case of the
predisposition of the slave, its possessor is not conscious of it, but
he is aware of his state because he knows both what his motive is and
the state itself. Predisposition is the most hidden form of making
requests.
That which prevents some people from asking is their knowledge that
Allah has predetermined their destiny, so they have prepared themselves
to receive whatever comes from Him, and they have withdrawn from their
selves and their desires.
Among these people are those who know that the knowledge which Allah has
of them in all their states is their basic constitution in the state of
their permanent source-form from before existence. They know that Allah
will only give them what their source allows them according to Allah's
knowledge of it when they were in their permanent source-forms. Thus
these people know that Allah knows the way they will obtain anything.
There is no higher, nor more unveiled group among the People of Allah
than this group, who understand on the secret of the Decree. They, in
turn, fall into two sorts: those who know it in general and those who
know it in particular. Those who know it in particular are higher and
nearer perfection than those who know it in general. Such a person knows
what is in the knowledge of Allah for him - be it by Allah informing him
of the knowledge his own source has accorded to Him, or be it by direct
unveiling to him from his permanent source-form whose unfolding states
are endless. So he, in his knowledge of himself, is in the position of
having Allah's knowledge of him, because it is derived from the same
source. In respect of the slave, concern from Allah is predestined for
him, and it is constituted by the sum of the states of his source which
the possessor of this unveiling perceives when Allah allows him to
perceive it, i.e. the states of his source. When Allah informs him of
the states of his permanent source-form upon which the form of his
existence depends, it is not in the capacity of the creature in this
state to perceive what Allah perceives of his permanent source-form upon
which the form of his existence depends, it is not in the capacity of
the creature in this state to perceive what Allah perceives of these
permanent sources in the state of their non-existence, since they are
but essential relations without any form. In this respect, we say that
divine concern precedes the slave's need because of this equivalence in
the communication of knowledge.
In this way Allah speaks so that we will know, and it is an expression
which is completely specific - not as is imagined by those who do not
drink from this source. The goal of disconnection is to make that in-timeness
in knowledge belong to Knowledge. It is the highest aspect of this
question which the mutakallim (6) can comprehend with his intellect -
unless he considers knowledge to be distinct from the Essence. If he
does this, he ascribes relativity to knowledge, and not to the Essence,
and because of this, he sets himself apart from the realised ones among
the People of Allah, who are endowed with unveiling and real existence.
Let us return to those gifts which are either the gifts proceding from
the Essence or the Names. As for the favours, gifts and graces of the
Essence, they only come by means of divine tajalli. (7) Tajalli only
comes from the Essence by means of the form of the predisposition of the
one to whom the tajalli is made. It never occurs otherwise. The one who
receives the tajalli will only see his own form in the mirror of the
Real. He will not see see the Real, for it is not possible to see Him.
At the same time, he knows that he sees only his own form. It is the
same as a mirror in the Visible world inasmuch as you see forms in it or
your own form but do not see the mirror. At the same time, however, you
know that you see the forms, or your own form, only by virtue of the
mirror. Allah manifests that as a model (8) appropriate to the tajalli
of His Essence, so that the one receiving the tajalli knows that he does
not see Him. There is no model nearer or more appropriate to vision and
tajalli than this. When you see a form in a mirror, try to see the body
of the mirror as well - you will never see it. It is true that some
people who perceive this say that the reflected form is imposed between
the vision of the seer and the mirror. This is the most that it is
possible to say, and the matter is as we have mentioned. We have
clarified this in the The Makkan Revelations.
If you wish to taste this, then experience the limit beyond which there
is no higher limit possible in respect of the creature. Neither aspire
to, nor tire yourself out in trying to go beyond this degree, for in
principle, there is only pure non-existence after it.
Thus Allah is your mirror in which you see yourself, and you are His
mirror in which He sees His Names. His Names are not other than Himself,
as you know. The matter is confusing. One of us implied ignorance of the
matter as part of knowledge and said, "The incapacity to achieve
perception is perception." (9) Some of us know but do not express it in
this way, even though it is the highest of words. Knowledge does not
give incapacity to know as the first one said, but rather knowledge
gives him the same silence which incapacity gives. This is the highest
level of those who have knowledge of Allah.
This knowledge only belongs to the Seal of the Messengers and the Seal
of the Awliyâ'. The Messengers and Prophets only see it from the niche
of the Messenger who is the Seal. The awliyâ' only see it from the niche
of the walî who is the Seal. Even the Messengers only see it to the
extent that they see it from the niche of the Seal of the Awliya', for
Message and Prophethood - by which I mean the Prophethood of bringing
the Sharî'a and its message - ceases, but wilâya never ceases. Thus the
Messengers, imuch as they are awliya', see what we have mentioned only
from the niche of the Seal of the Awliya'. How could it be different for
other awliyâ'? Although the Seal of the Awliyâ' is subject to the
judgement which the Seal of the Messengers brought through the Sharî;a,
that does not diminish his station nor does it detract from what we have
said, for something which is lower from one point of view can be higher
from another. Confirmation of this occurred in the history of our
Sharî'a in the excellence of the judgement of 'Umar regarding the
prisoners of Badr (10) and their treatment, and in the story of
fertilization of the date-palms. (11) It is not necessary that the
perfect have precedence in everything and in every rank. The Rijâl (12)
regard precedence as being in the degrees of knowledge of Allah. Here is
their goal. As for the things which are in-time, they do not attach
their thoughts to them, so realise what we have mentioned!
Al-Khidr said to Musa, "I have knowledge which Allah has taught me, and
which you do not know, and you have knowledge which Allah has taught you
and which I do not know." (13)
It is like the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in
relation to a brick wall which was complete except for one brick, (14)
and the Prophet was that one brick although he himself only saw the
place for the single brick. The Seal of the Awliyâ' must also have this
sort of vision. He sees the same as the Messenger of Allah, may Allah
bless him and grant him peace, saw, but he sees a place for two bricks
in the wall, and that the bricks are made of gold and silver. He sees
that there are two bricks missing in the wall, and he sees that they are
a silver brick and a gold brick. He must see himself as being disposed
by nature to fill the place of these two bricks. The Seal of the Awliyâ'
is these two bricks by which the wall is completed. The necessary reason
for which he sees himself as two bricks is that he follows the Shari'a
of the Seal of the Messengers outwardly - which is the place of the
silver brick. This means the outward Sharî'a with all that pertains to
it of ordinances which are taken from Allah by the secret, according to
the outward form which conforms to the secret because he sees the matter
for what it really is. He must see the matter in this manner, for it is
the place of the golden brick in the inwardly hidden. It is taken from
the source from which the angel brought it, the same angel who brought
the revelation to the Mesengers. If you have understood what I have
alluded to, then you have indeed acquired useful knowledge!
All the Prophets, from Adam to the last of the Prophets, take their
light from the niche of the Seal of the Prophets, may Allah bless him
and grant him peace. Even though the existence of his clay was deferred,
the last Prophet was nevertheless present in his reality, according to
his statement, "I was a Prophet when Adam was between water and clay."
(15) Every other Prophet only became a Prophet by being described by
divine qualities inasmuch as Allah is described as the Praiseworthy Wali.(16)
The Seal of the Messengers, in respect to his wilâya, is connected to
the Seal of the Awliyâ' in the same way in which Prophets and Messengers
are connected to it. He is a walî, Messenger, and Prophet. The Seal of
the Awliyâ' is a walî and the heir who takes directly from the source,
contemplating the ranks. He is the most beautiful of the beauties of the
Seal of the Messengers, Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace, the overseer of the community, and the master of the sons of Adam
by reason of opening the door of intercession. He specified a particular
state which is not universal. (17) In this special state, he has
precedence over the Divine Names. So the All-Merciful only mediates with
the Avenger for the people of affliction through the intercession of the
mediators. Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, obtained
mastery in this special station. Whoever understands the ranks and the
stations does not find this discourse difficult.
As for the gifts of the Names, know that Allah bestows mercy on His
creation which is wholly from the names. Either it is a pure mercy, like
the excellence of the provision which they have in this world or on the
Day of Rising which is bestowed by that name, the Merciful, and so is a
gift of mercy, or it is a mixed mercy like the taking of a disagreeable
remedy which is followed by relief - it is still a divine gift. Divine
gifts can only possibly be given through the intermediary of the
guardians of the Names. Sometimes Allah gives it to the slave by means
of the All-Merciful, and so the gift is pure from any adulteration which
would be contrary to the nature of the moment, otherwise he would not
receive the object and what would resemble it. Sometimes He gives by
means of the the Boundless, so it is general - or by the Wise, so He
looks at what is fitter at the moment, or by the Giving, who gives what
is good without those who receive it having to compensate for it by
gratitude or deed. He gives by the Compeller, and so He looks at the
environment and what is necessary to it. He gives by the Forgiving and
so He looks to the environment and what is happening to the individual.
If he is in a state which merits punishment, He veils him from it, and
if he is in a state which does not merit punishment, He protects him
from a state which would merit it. He is "protected from wrong action",
"safeguarded", and other descriptions of that sort. The Giver is Allah
in the sense that He is the Treasurer of all that is in His treasury,
and Allah only brings forth from it according to a predestined decree
through the intermediary of a name particular to that matter. So He
gives everything its created form (18) according to the name, the Just,
and its brothers.
The Names of Allah are endless because they are known by what comes from
them, and what comes from them is endless, even though they can be
traced back to the limited roots which are the matrices of the Names or
the presences of the Names. In reality, there is but one of the Names or
the presences of the Names. In reality, there is but One Reality which
assumes all these relations and aspects which are designated by the
Divine Names. The Reality grants that each of the Names, which manifest
themselves without end, has a reality by which it is distinguished from
another Name. It is that reality by which it is distinguished which is
the Name itself - not that which it shares.
It is the same with the gifts - every gift is distinct from another by
personal nature, although they come from a single source. It is evident
that this one is not that one. That is because the Names are distinct.
Because of its boundlessness, in the Divine Presence there is nothing at
all which repeats itself. This is the truth which is determined.
This was the knowledge of Shith, peace be upon him, and its spirit aids
every spirit which discusses the like of this, except for the spirit of
the Seal who receives replenishing knowledge directly from Allah, not
from any spirit. No, rather it is from his spirit that his substance
flows to all spirits, although he may not perceive that of himself at
the time when his elemental body existed. However, in respect to his
reality and his rank, he knows all of that essentially, just as he is
ignorant of the composition of the elements (of his body). So he has
knowledge and is ignorant, and he is capable of being described by
contrary attributes even as the Origin admits of description with
opposites such as the Majestic and the Beautiful, the Outward and the
Inward, the Last and the First - and they are the same, and not other
than Him. Therefore, he knows and does not know, and he perceives and
does not perceive, and he sees and does not see. It is by this knowledge
that Shith received his name because it means "the gift". In His hand is
the key to the gifts in their various types and relationships So Allah
gave him to Adam, and he was the first gift, and He only gave it from
Himself.
This was the knowledge of Shith, peace be upon him, and its spirit aids
every spirit which discusses the like of this, except for the spirit of
the Seal who receives replenishing knowledge directly from Allah, not
from any spirit. No, rather it is from his spirit that his substance
flows to all spirits, although he may not perceive that of himself at
the time when his elemental body existed. However, in respect to his
reality and his rank, he knows all of that essentially, just as he is
ignorant of the composition of the elements (of his body). So he has
knowledge and is ignorant, and he is capable of being described by
contrary attributes even as the Origin admits of description with
opposites such as the Majestic and the Beautiful, the Outer and the
Inner, the Last and the First - and they are the same, and not other
than Him. Therefore, he knows and does not know, and he perceives and
does not perceive, and he sees and does not see. It is by this knowledge
that Shith received his name because it means "the gift". In His hand is
the key to the gifts in their various types and relationships So Allah
gave him to Adam, and he was the first gift, and He only gave it from
Himself.
All gifts in phenomenal being are manifested in this fashion - so no one
receives anything from Allah and no-one receives anything which does not
come from himself. Not everyone recognises this. Only a few of the
people of Allah know it. When you see one who recognises that, rely on
him, for that one is the source of the purest purity and the elite of
the elite of the Men of Allah. Whenever a person of unveiling sees a
form which communicates to him gnosis which he did not have and which he
had not been able to grasp before, that form is from his own source, no
other. From the tree of himself he gathers the fruits of his
cultivation, as his outer form opposite the reflected body is nothing
other than himself, even though the place of the presence in which he
sees the form of himself presents him with an aspect of the reality of
that presence through transformation. The large appears small in the
small mirror and tall in the tall, and the moving as movement. It can
reverse its form from a special presence, and it can reflect things
exactly as they appear, so the right side of the viewer is his right
side, while the right side can be on the left. This is generally the
normal state in mirrors, and it is a break in the norm when the right
side is seen as the right and inversion occurs. All this is from the
gifts of the reality of the Presence in which it is manifested and which
we have compared to the mirror.
Whoever recognises his predisposition, recognises what he will receive.
Not everyone who knows what he will receive, knows his predisposition,
unless he knows it after receiving it, and this one knows it in a
general way. Some people who are weak of intellect think that since it
confirmed with them that Allah does what He wills, they deem it
admissible that He could contradict wisdom and what the matter is in
itself. (19) Because of this, some of them go so far as to deny the
possibility and affirm that which is necessary by essence and by other.
The man who has achieved realisation, however, admits the possibility
and knows its presence and knows what is possible and how it is
possible, since in its source it is necessarily existent because of
something other-than-it. From where is the name of other, which
determines its necessity, valid for it? No one knows this distinction
except those with particular knowledge of Allah.
It is in the footsteps of Shith that the last of this human species will
be born, and he will carry his secrets. There will none of this species
born after him, so he will be the Seal of the Begotten. A sister will be
born with him, and she will emerge before him, and he will follow her
with his head at her feet. He will be born in China, and he will speak
the language of his country. Sterility will spread in men and women, so
there will be much cohabitation without conception. He will call people
to Allah, but will not be answered. When Allah takes him and the
believers of his time, those who remain will be like beasts, not knowing
what is lawful (halâl) from what is unlawful (harâm). They will act
according to their natural instincts with lust, devoid of reason and
law. Upon them the Last Hour will occur.
Notes to
to Chapter 2:
1. Nafth, to puff, blow or spit, hence inspiration. Hadith, "He (Jibril)
inspired or put (nafatha) into my heart..." Hence poetry is called the
nafth of Shaytan.
2. The people of the presence are those who see everything as coming to
them from Allah and everything as effected by Allah.
3. Labbayk.
4. Like the Giving, the Provider.
5. Tanzih, making Allah free of any connection to His creation. Names
like the Absolutely Pure (al-Quddûs).
6. The people of words - theologians and philosophers. They are unable
to enter the realm of reflection and meditation that is the Sufic
domain, and thus some of them oppose the Sufic teaching - mistaking the
doctrine's meanings since they cannot intellectually identify them with
a specific set of physical practices and direct inner experience.
7. A manifestation by which something is made clear and unobscured, as
the bride is displayed to the husband or the rust removed from a sword
or mirror so that it shines. The tajalli is the unveiling of a spiritual
reality in the realm of vision. It is a direct-seeing into the nature of
existence, a showing forth of the secrets of the One in the celestial
and terrestial realms.
8. Mithâl, a Qur'anic term which indicates learning not by logical but
by analogical method. It is simply the ACCESS to the parable and not the
parable or any idea that the "metaphor" equals its interpretation. It
has no specificity. Mithal is grasped "on the wing" so to speak. It
cannot be explored or analysed or extended. That is to say it must not
be approached rationally but emphathetically with direct and clear
seeing-into.
9. Abu Bakr as-Siddiq.
10. After Badr, Abu Bakr asked the Prophet to either forgive or allow
the prisoners to be ransomed. 'Umar said that they should be killed.
Eventually, the Muslims reached a consensus that the captives should be
ransomed and they were. Later the verse was revealed, "It is not for a
Prophet to take captives..." (8:67)
11. When the Prophet had been asked about whether palm-trees should be
pollinated and then later said, "You have the best knowledge of these
things of your world."
12. Rijal (sing. rajul): The men. Meaning the men of gnosis and
illumination. Those who know - that is - who know how-it-is, and not the
veiled fantasy experience of so-called ordinary sensory perception which
is, as we now know, in direct contradiction to the physical reality of
matter according to high-energy physics.
13. cf. Qur'an 18:65.
14. Hadith in al-Bukhari (2815) and Muslim.
15. Hadith in at-Tirmidhi and Musnad Ibn Hanbal.
16. Qur'an 42:28, "It is He who sends down abundant rain after they have
lost all hope, and He unfolds His mercy; He is the Praiseworthy, the
Wali."
17. He only can open the door of intercession because it is a a special
gift to him alone.
18. Qur'an 20:50: "Our Lord is He who gives each thing its created form
and then guides it."
19. i.e. they permit that He do the impossible, like making existence
non-existence or non-existence existence.
8: The Seal of the Wisdom of the Spirit (Rûh)
3) The Seal of the Wisdom of the Breath of
Divine Inspiration (1)
In the Word of Nuh (Noah)
Know that disconnection (tanzîh) among the people of realities in
respect to Allah is the same as limitation and qualification, so the one
who disconnects is either ignorant or ill-mannered if he only applies
disconnection to Him and believes that about Him. (2) When the believer
who follows the Sharî'a disconnects and stops at that, and does not see
anything else, he displays ill manners and slanders Allah and the
Messengers - may the blessings of Allah be upon them! - although he is
not aware of it. He imagines that he has reached the target and yet he
has missed it, so he is like the one who believes in part and rejects
part. (3)
One especially knows that when the language of the various Sharî'as
speaks about Allah as they do, they speak to the common people in the
first sense, and to the elite in every sense which can be understood
from the various aspects of that expression in any language in the usage
of that language.
Allah manifests Himself in a special way in every creature. He is the
Outwardly Manifest in every graspable sense, and He is the Inwardly
Hidden from every understanding except the understanding of the one who
says that the universe is His form (4) and His He-ness (huwiyya), and it
is the name, the Outwardly Manifest. Since He is, by meaning, the spirit
of whatever is outwardly manifest, He is also the Inwardly Hidden. His
relation to whatever is manifested of the forms of the world is the
relation of the governing spirit to the form. The definition of man, for
example, includes both his inward and outward; and it is the same with
every definable thing. Allah is defined in every definition, yet the
forms of the universe are not held back and He is not contained by them.
One only knows the limits of each of their forms according to what is
attained by each knower of his form. For that reason, one cannot know
the definition of Allah, for one would only know His definition by
knowing the definition of every form. This is impossible to attain, so
the definition of Allah is impossible. Similarly, whoever connects
without disconnection has given limits to Allah and does not know Him.
Whoever combines connection and disconnection in his gnosis, and
describes Allah with both aspects in general - because it is impossible
to conceive in detail because we lack the ability to encompass all the
forms which the universe contains - has known Him in general and not in
particular, as he knows himself generally and not in particular. For
that reason, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,
linked knowledge (ma'rifa) of Allah to knowledge of oneself and said, "Whoever
knows himself knows his Lord." Allah says, "We will show them Our signs
on the horizons (what is outside of you) and in themselves (what is your
source) until it is clear to them (the contemplators) that it is the
Truth," (41:53) inasmuch as you are His form and He is your spirit. You
are to Him as your body-form is to you, and He is to you as the spirit
which governs the body.
The definition contains your inwardness and outwardness, for the form
remains when the spirit which governs it departs, and it is no longer
man, but one can speak of it as resembling the form of man. There is no
difference between it and the form made of wood or stone, upon which the
name of man is only applied by metaphor and not by reality. Allah cannot
vanish from the forms of the universe, as His definition of His divinity
is by reality, not metaphor, as the definition of man applies only so
long as he is alive. As the exterior of the form of man praises both his
spirit, and the self governed by it, with his tongue, similarly Allah
made the forms of the universe which glorify His praise, but we do not
understand their glorifying. (5) We do not embrace all forms in the
universe. All are tongues of Allah uttering the praise of Allah and for
that reason He said, "Praise be to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds,"
(1:1) i.e. all types of praise refer to Him. He is the Praiser and the
One praised.
If you speak of disconnection, you limit Him,
and if you speak of connection, you define Him.
If you speak of the two together,
then you are free of error
and you are an Imam and a master in knowledges of gnosis.
He who affirms duality, falls into shirk, and whoever speaks of
uniqueness is a unifier. (6) Take care lest you be a dualist by
connection, and take care lest you be a isolator by disconnection.
You are not Him, rather you are Him
and you see Him in the source of thing,
absolute and limited at the same time.
Allah says, "There is nothing like Him," and so He disconnects, "and He
is the Hearing, the Seeing," (42:11) so He connects. Allah says, "There
is nothing like Him," so He connects and doubles it, (7) and "He is the
Hearing, the Seeing." Then He uses disconnection and makes Himself
Unique.
If Nuh had combined these two calls for his people, they would have
answered him. He called them openly (71:8), and he called them secretly
(71:9). Then he said to them, "Ask forgiveness of your Lord. Truly He is
Endlessly Forgiving." (71:10) He said, "I have called my people night
and in the day, but my calling has only made them more evasive" (71:5-6)
because they knew what they had to do in answering his call.
So the knowledge of those who know Allah is what Nuh indicated in
respect to his people by praising them through blame. He knew that they
would not answer his call because of the furqân (8) it contained. The
command is the Qur'an, not the Furqân. Whoever is established in the
Qur'an does not incline to the Furqân. Even if the Furqân is in the Qur'an,
the Qur'an contains the Furqân but the Furqân does not contain the Qur'an.
For this reason, no one was favoured by the QurÕan except Muhammad, may
Allah bless him and grant him peace, and this community which is the
"best community ever to be produced before mankind." (3:110)
So "there is nothing like Him" unified several matters in one single
matter. If Nuh had articulated something like of this âyat, his people
would have responded to him, because it contains connection and
disconnection in a single âyat, rather in half an âyat.
Nuh, peace be upon him, peace be upon him, called on his people at night
in respect to their intellects and spirituality (rûhânîyya), which are
unseen; and by day he called on them in respect to their outer forms and
arrival. In his call, he did not unify with anything, like "there is
nothing like Him." So their inward had a distaste for this separation,
and it increased them in evasion. Then he said of himself that he called
upon them that He might forgive them, not that He be unveiled to them.
They understood that from him. That is why "they put their fingers in
their ears and wrapped themselves in their clothes," (71:7) and this is
the form of veiling to which he called them. So they answered his call
by action, not by saying, "At your service."
There is both the confirmation of likeness and its negation in "There is
nothing like Him." For this reason, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and
grant him peace, said of himself, "I have been given all the words." (9)
Muhammad, peace be upon him, did not call on his people by night and
day, but rather he called upon them by night in the day and by day in
the night. Nuh said in his wisdom to his people, "He will send heaven
down on you in abundant rain," (71:11) which is intellectual gnosis in
meanings and metaphorical speculation, and "He will reinforce you with
wealth," i.e. by what comes to you from Him.
Thus it is your wealth in which you have seen your form. So whoever
among you imagines that he has seen Him, does not have gnosis, and
whoever of you knows that he has seen himself, he is the gnostic. For
this reason people are divided into those who know Allah and those who
do not know. "And sons" is what results from their logical speculation
while the knowledge of the business (to which Nuh called them) is based
upon contemplation which is far from the results of thought. Their trade
did not profit them, (10) so what they had in their hands, which they
only imagined they possessed, vanished from them.
The kingdom belongs to the people of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and
grant him peace, for Allah says "Give of that to which He has made you
successors." (11) (57:7) For the people of Nuh it is, "Do not take
anyone besides Me as a guardian." (17:2) The kingdom was confirmed for
the people of Muhammad, and the guardianship in it belongs to Allah. The
people of Muhammad are the khalîfs in it. The kingdom belongs to Allah
and He is their guardian, and that is the kingdom of being appointed
khalif. For this reason, Allah is the "King of the kingdom" (12) as
at-Tirmidhi says. "They have hatched a mighty plotting," (71:22) because
calling to Allah is the plotting of the the One called; since He does
not lack the beginning, He is called to the end, so they call to Allah.
This is the source of devising according to inner sight. Nuh said, "The
affair belongs entirely to Him," so they answered Him with plotting as
He called them.
The people of Muhammad came and knew what the call to Allah was in
respect of its He-ness, rather what it is in respect to His Names. Allah
says, "The day those who are godfearing are gathered to the
All-Merciful." (13) So He used the "particle of the end" (ilâ - to) and
joined it to that Name, and we recognise that the universe is under the
care of a Divine Name which requires them to be among the "godfearing".
The reality of taqwâ (14) is that man avoids ascribing blessings,
perfections and praiseworthy attributes to himself or to others, except
for Allah. He fears Allah through His acts and attributes. These things
are evils from the spring of possibilities. They said in their plotting,
"Do not abandon your gods. Do not abandon Wadd or Suwa' or Yaghuth or
Ya'uq or Nasr." (71:22) Then they abandoned them ignorant of the Truth
according to what they left of the idols. Allah has an aspect in every
worshipped thing. Whoever recognises it, recognises, and whoever is
ignorant of it is ignorant among the people of Muhammad. Your Lord
decreed that you should worship only Him that is the judgement of your
Lord.
The one who possesses knowledge knows who the slave is and in what form
he is manifested as far as he is a slave. Separation and multiplicity
are like the limbs of the sensory form and like faculties of meaning
(15) of the spiritual form. He only worships Allah in every worshipped
object. The lowest one is the one who imagines that godness is contained
in it. Were it not for this illusion, stones and other things would not
have been worshipped. This is why He said, "Say: Name them!" (13:33) If
they had named them, they would have named stone, tree, or star. If they
had been asked, "Who do you worship?" they would have replied, "God".
They would not say "Allah" or "the god".
The highest knower does not use this imagination, (16) but rather he
says that this is a divine tajalli which one must exalt, and he does not
restrict himself. The lowest one is the one possessed of fantasy: "We
only worship them so that they bring us neared to Allah." (39:3) The
highest knower says, "Your god is One God, so submit to Him," (22:34)
wherever He is manifest, "and give good news to the humble-hearted" who
humble the fire of their nature. They spoke to it (the fire), and did
not say "nature". "They have misguided many people," (71:24) i.e. they
perplexed many in the multiplicity of the One by aspects and relations.
"Do not increase not the wrongdoers" because their selves are from the
totality of the chosen ones who inherited the Book and they are the
first of the three, (17) which precedes the ambivalent and the outdoer,
"in anything but misguidance", except in the perplexity of the man of
Muhammad who says, "Increase me in perplexity." (18) "Every time it
shines on them, they walk in it. When the darkness comes over them, they
stop." (2:20) So the perplexed one turns about, and the circular
movement is about the axis which he does not leave.
The one who has a stretched-out path is inclined to leave the goal,
seeking what the possessor of imagination has in it, and his end is that
imagination. He has "from" and "to" and what is between them. The one
who has a circular movement has no beginning, "from", which clings to
him, and no end, "to", is judged of him. Thus he has the most perfect
existence. He "is given all the words" (19) and wisdoms. "And because of
their errors" which is that which is recorded for them, "they were
drowned" in the seas of the knowledge of Allah which is perplexity among
the men of Muhammad. When the seas were heated up, (20) "they were put
into a fire" in the source of water, "and they found no one to help them
besides Allah." (71:25) Allah is the source of their helpers, and so
they were destroyed in it for time without end. If He had brought them
out to the shore, the shore of nature, He would have brought them down
from this high degree. All belongs to Allah and is by Allah, rather it
is Allah.
Nuh said, "My Lord!" and he did not say, "My God," for the Lord has
immutability, and "God" differs according to the Names. So "every day He
is engaged in some affair." (55:29) By Lord, he meant something with an
immutable quality. "Do not leave upon the earth" and he called on them
to go into its Muhammadan interior. "If you let down a rope, it would
fall on Allah," (21) "to Him belongs what is in the heavens and what is
in the earth." When you are buried in it, you are in it and it is your
container, and "We will return you into it and We will bring you forth
from it again," (20:55) by the difference of existence. "...of the
unbelievers" who wrap themselves in their garments and put their fingers
in their ears, seeking veiling because he called on them that He might
forgive them. Forgiveness is the veiling of wrong actions, "not even
one" so that the benefit will become universal like the call. "If You
leave any," i.e. if You call them and then leave them, "they will
misguide Your slaves," i.e. confuse them and so bring them out of their
service to what they have of the secrets of lordship. They will think
themselves lords after they were slaves in themselves. Thus they are
slaves and lords. "They will spawn nothing" i.e. they will not have any
result or manifest anything except their being shameless that is, the
manifestation of what veils the unbelievers is that they were veiled
from what appeared after their manifestation. They manifested that which
veils, so they were veiled after their appearance.
The thinker is confused and does not recognise the goal of the shameless
in shamelessness, (22) or the unbeliever in his disbelief, yet the
person is but one. "My Lord, forgive me," i.e. veil me and that which
concerns me so that my rank and station are unknown, as the rank of
Allah are unknown in His statement, "They do measure Allah with His true
measure"; (23) "and my parents" of whom I am a result, and they are the
intellect and nature; "and all who enter my house," i.e. my heart, "as
believers" believing in what it contains of divine reports, and it is
what their selves occasioned, "And all the believers, men (the
intellects) and women (the selves)."
"Do not increase the wrongdoers (dhâlimîn)" who are from the darkness
(dhulumât), the people of the unseen, hiding behind the veils of
darkness, "except in ruin" i.e. in destruction. Thus, they do not
recognise themselves because they see the Face of Allah outside of them.
Among the men of Muhammad, "All things are passing except His Face."
(28:88) Ruin is destruction. Whoever wishes to understand the secrets of
Nuh must rise into the sphere of Nuh. (24) It is in our book,
at-Tanazzulat al-Mawsuliyya.
Notes to to Chapter 3:
1. Subbûh, name applied to Allah, the All-Perfect, disconnected from
imperfections.
2. If he does not go on to include tashbih, connection.
3. cf. Qur'an 4:149: "Those who reject Allah and His Messengers and
desire to make division between Allah and His Messengers, saying, 'We
believe in some and reject some.'"
4. By manifesting His attributes and Essence since everything is a proof
and indication of Him.
5. Ref. to Qur'an 17:44, "There is nothing which does not glorify Him
with praise, but you do not understand their glorification."
6. In this case, ignorant of the multiplicity of His Names and
Attributes.
7. "Like Him" = "ka-mithlihi", the word "like" occurs twice: "ka" and
"mithl", so like negates like, like a double negative.
8. Furqan: One of the names of the Qur'an, meaning a "discrimination"
that which separates or distiguishes. Here presented as an opposite in a
dyad: Qur'an/furqan, that is, discrimination/gathering.
9. Hadith in al-Bukhari and Muslim.
10. Reference to Qur'an, 2:16, "Those are the people who have sold
guidance for misguidance. Their trade has brought no profit. They are
not guided."
11. Khalifs.
12. Since He answers His slave who is the "kingdom". Technical term used
by al-Hakim at-Tirmidhi and Abu Madyan, discussed by Ibn al-'Arabi in
the Futuhat al-Makkiyya, Chapter 24, vol. I, p. 182.
13. ref. Qur'an 19:85.
14. Fearfulness of Allah which is reflected in one's behaviour.
15. Meaning. Meaning does not carry the ordinary connotative
significance that it has in the science of semantics. In the Sufic
science meaning is not allied, but inseparable from the experience of
the recognition of meaning. In other words, it is not a "thing" which
can be apprehended with the qualities of thingness. It is a mode of
experiencing which takes places in a zone of awareness that is in itself
a realm of the inward reality cognised in the waking state.
Meaning/sensory, ma'na/hiss.
16. Khayal: An important term. Khayal means imagination, but in the
special technical language of Ibn al-'Arabi the khayal contains an outer
and inner meaning. Its outer (not inner) meaning is imagining in the
ordinary sense of a "tangible reality" which is experienced mentally yet
remans unreal, that is, untouchable and non-physical. Its inner meaning,
however, is that faculty by
which we solidify the objects - which are according to unveiling
basically "not-there" - spatiality itself. There is much resistance to
this in "rational" and programmed intellects as there is of the hand to
the rock in "common sense" experience. The rock is there, it does not
budge. There is, it must not be forgotten, a threshold situation where
this is not so, for if the subject were brain-damaged, subjected to a
hallucinogen, or hypnotic trance, then the object would experientially
melt away. That is still not the same as seeing in which things are seen
as-they-as in one unified field without differentiation, while altert
within that condition of experiencing. And this state brings with it
wisdom beyond the recognition of how-it-is at that moment - in other
words a new understanding is established by the experience.
17. Ref to Qur'an 35:32, "...but some of them wrong themselves, some are
ambivalent, and some outdo each other in good."
18. Hayra: Bewilderment. A Key term. Hayra is not a negative situation -
it is the condition in which the seeker finds every intellectual channel
blocked, every pathway of reason clashing against the other in
contradiction so that it induces in the seeker a state of intensity.
This intensity by virtue of its inner tension creates a condition we
call hayra. It is a collapse of separation - a kind of "white hole" -
which results in gatheredness. That is, the hayra creates a new
condition which is its result and that result is a breakthrough into an
illumination of the Real.
19. Meaning the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace, who was given all the words.
20. By the oven (from which the water gushed out of the earth in the
Flood.)
21. Hadith.
22. The manifestation of lordship.
23. 6:91, 22:84, 39:67.
24. The Sphere of the Sun.
4: The
Seal of the Wisdom of Sanctification (Quddûs)
in the Word of Idris
Elevation has two references - one of
place and one of rank. Elevation of place is "We raised him up to a high
place," (19:57) and the highest of places is that upon which the mill of
the world of the spheres revolves. It is the sphere of the sun and in it
is the station of the spirituality of Idris, peace be upon him! There
are seven heavens under it and seven heavens above it, and it is the
fifteenth. That which is above it is the red heaven, i.e. Mars, the
heaven of Jupiter, Saturn, the heaven of fixed stars, the Starless
Heaven and the heaven of the constellations, the heaven of the Kursi and
the heaven of the 'Arsh. That which is below it is the heaven of Venus,
Mercury, the Moon, the circle of ether, the circle of air, the circle of
water, and the circle of earth. It is is the axis of the heavens, and it
is a "high place".
As for the elevation of rank, it is for us, the people of Muhammad.
Allah said, "When you are uppermost and Allah is with you" (47:35) in
this height. He exalts Himself above place, not above rank. When the
selves of those among us who do deeds are afraid, He follows the mention
of "being with" with His words, "He would not cheat you of your deeds."
The deed demands place and knowledge demands rank. So He joined the two
heights for us - elevation of place by deed and elevation of rank by
knowledge. Then to disconnect the association of being with, He said, "Glorify
the name of your Lord, the Most High," (87:1) above this association in
meaning.
It is one of the most wondrous of matters that man is the highest of
existent things - I mean the Perfect Man, and elevation is only
attributed to him by subordination either to place or rank which is a
degree. So he is not high by his essence, he is high by the height of
place and the height of rank, for these possess height. Height of place
is like the All-Merciful settling on the throne, (1) and it is the
highest of places. Height of rank is "All things are passing except His
Face," (28:88) and "the whole affair will be returned to Him," (11:123)
and nothing has existence along with Allah.
When Allah said, "We raised him up to a high place," He made high an
adjective for place. Since your Lord said to the angels, "I am putting a
khalif in the earth," (2:30) this is height of rank. He said about the
angels, "Were you overcome by arrogance, or are you one of the exalted?"
(38:75) so He gave elevation to the angels. If the angels had possessed
that elevation by simple virtue of the fact that they are angels, then
all the angels would have been included in this elevation. It was not
common to them in the definition of angel. We recognise that this is
elevation of rank with Allah. It is the same for the khalifs of the
people. If their elevation with the khalifate had been an elevation by
essence, every man would have it. It is not general and so we know that
that elevation is by rank.
One of His names is the High. Over whom, when there is nothing except
Him? So He is the High by His Essence. Is He is High over that which is
particular, when there is no He except Him? His elevation is by virtue
of Himself, and He, in respect to existence, is the source of existents.
Those in-time things which He calls high in themselves are not other
than Him. He was the High when there was no height of relativity because
the source-forms in non-existence had not smelt the scent of existence.
They remain in their state in spite of the multiplicity of forms in
existents, but the source is the same from the whole in the whole. The
existence of multiplicity lies in the names which are the relationships,
and they are non-existent matters. There is only the source which is the
Essence. He is High through Himself, not by any ascription to another.
From this standpoint, there is no height of relative relation in the
universe, but the aspects of existence which are distinct. The height of
relativity exists in the one Source in respect of the many aspects. For
that reason, you say of Him, Him and not Him, and you and not you.
Al-Kharraz, (2) may Allah have mercy on him, who is one of the aspects
of Allah and one of His tongues with which He speaks of Himself, said
that one only has gnosis by joining opposites together in respect of Him.
"He is the First and the Last, the Outwardly Manifest and the Inwardly
Hidden." (57:3) He is the source of what appears and the source of what
is hidden in the state of its manifestation. There is none who sees Him
other than Him and there is none who is hidden from Him. So He is
manifest to Himself and hidden from Himself. He is called Abu Sa'id
al-Kharraz and other than that from the names of things in-time.
The Hidden says "No" while the Manifest says, "Me," and the Manifest
says, "No" while the Hidden says, "Me". This is found in every opposite,
yet the speaker is one, and he is the same as the hearer in the
statement of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, about
what their selves say, (3) for they speak and hear what they say, and
know what their selves say. The source is but one, even if the
judgements are different. There is no way that anyone can be ignorant of
this sort of thing. Every man knows from himself, and it is the form of
the Real.
So things are mixed and numbers appear by the one in the known ranks.
Thus "one" brought number into existence, and number divides the One.
The principle of number only appeared through the numbered. Part of the
numbered is non-existent, and part is existent. The thing is
non-existent in relation to the senses while it is existent in relation
to the intellect. There must be number and numbered. That must grow from
one and it grows because of it. Every rank of the numbers has one
reality like 9, for example, and 10 and down to 2, and upwards without
end, and its reality is not a sum.
A name is not perceived by the addition of ones. 2 is one reality, and 3
is one reality, and so on until the end of these ranks. Even though the
source [of numbers] is one, the source of one of them is not the source
of the others. Addition encompasses them all, and it speaks of them from
them and judges them by them. Twenty ranks (4) appeared in this
statement, so composition entered into them. You will continue to affirm
the source of what you deny in itself. Whoever recognises what we have
related of the numbers, and that negation is the same as their
affirmation, knows that the Real, who is disconnected by disconnection,
is creature by connection, even though the creature is distinct from the
Creator. The matter is the creature/Creator and it is the
Creator/creature. That is from one source, rather is is the One source
and it is many sources. Look at what you see!
Ibrahim¹s son told him, "My father, do what you are ordered." (37:102)
The child is the same as his father, so he only saw himself sacrificing
himself, "and He ransomed him with an immense sacrifice." (5) That which
was manifested as a ram was manifested in the form of a human, and
manifested in the form of a son. Rather, it is by the principle of the
son being the same as the father. "He created from (one self) his mate."
(4:1) He (6) married his own self, and from him are both his companion
and his child. The matter is one in number. It is the same for nature
and what is manifested from it. We do not see it diminishing by what
appears from it nor increasing by the lack of what other than it
manifests. That which is manifested is not other than it, nor is it the
same as what is manifested according to the variety of forms in
principle. This one is cold and dry, and that one is hot and dry. They
are joined by dryness, and distinct by another quality. The common
source is nature, and the world of nature is composed of forms in one
mirror. Rather, it is one form in different mirrors.
There is only bewilderment (hayra) by the dispersal of perspectives.
Whoever knows what we have said is not bewildered. If he increases in
knowledge, it is only from the principle of place, and place is the same
as the source-form in which the Real varies in the locus of His tajalli.
Conditions vary, so He assumes every condition. There is no condition
except for the source in which He make tajalli of Himself, and there is
nothing except this.
By this aspect, Allah is creature, so interpret!
And by this aspect, He is not creature, so remember!
The inner sight of whoever understands
what I have said is not confused, and only
the one who perceives it possesses sight.
The source of joining and separating is the same,
and it is multiplicity which never remains or departs.
The One who is High in Himself is the One who possesses the perfection
in which all matters of existence are absorbed, as are all non-existent
relations, inasmuch as it is not possible that any of these attributes
be lacking from Him, be they praiseworthy by custom, logic, or law, or
blameworthy by custom, logic or law. That belongs only to the One named
Allah. As for what is named other-than-Allah, it is either a locus of
His tajalli or a form which is in it. If it is the locus of His tajalli,
it contains distinction. Be-cause of that, there must be distinction
between the One who makes tajalli and the place of tajalli; if it is a
form in it, that form is the source of the essential perfection because
it is the same as what is manifested in it. That which belongs to Allah
belongs to that form. However, it is not said that it is Him nor that it
is other-than-Him.
Abu-l-Qasim ibn Qasi (7) indicated this in his book, The Removal of the
Sandals, and he said, "Each Divine Name is qualified by all the Divine
Names, and described by their description." It is so. Each Name
indicates the Essence and the meaning which is set out for it and which
demonstrates it. In respect to its indication of the Essence, it
possesses all the names, and in respect to its indication of the meaning
which is singular to it, it is distinct from others, such as the Lord,
the Creator, the Fashioner, etc. The Name is the same as the Named in
respect to the Essence, and the Name is other than the Named in respect
to the meaning which is particular to it.
If you have understood that the "high" is as we have mentioned, you know
that it is neither place nor height of rank, for height of rank is
particular to the administration of authority, like the Sultan and the
judge, wazirs and qadis, and all who have rank, be they worthy of that
rank or not. Height is by attributes which are not like that. The most
knowledgeable of people can be ruled by the person with the position of
power, even if that person is the most ignorant of people. This is the
height of rank according to the principle of what he has over me in
himself. When he retires, his high rank vanishes. The one with knowledge
is not like that.
Notes to Chapter 4:
1. Qur'an 7:54, "...then He settled Himself firmly on the Throne."
2. Abu Sa'id Ahmad ibn 'Isa al-Kharraz, died in Cairo 286/899. He said,
"I only knew Allah by joining the opposites," and then recited, "He is
the First and the Last, the Outward and the Inward."
3. Hadith, "Allah forgives my people what their selves say to then as
long as they do not act upon that."
4. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100,
1000.
5. "And We ransomed him with an immense sacrifice." Qur'an: 37:107.
6. Adam.
7. Sufi leader of rebellion against the Murabitun in the Algarve.
5: The Seal of the Wisdom of Being Lost in Love
(1)
in the Wisdom of
Ibrahim (Abraham)
Ibrahim is called the intimate friend, and he was an intimate friend (khalîl),
because he was penetrated (takhallal) and gathered all the qualities of
the Divine Essence. The poet says:
You pervaded the course of my spirit,
and that is why the intimate friend is called the intimate friend.
It is like the colour which permeates the coloured, so it is a
non-essential matter ('arad) in respect to its essential substance (jawhar),
and it is not like the place and that which it occupies. Or it means the
penetration of the Real into the existence of the form of Ibrahim. Each
of these two principles is true as was mentioned, for each points to an
aspect which appears without overstepping it.
Do you not see that the Real is manifest in the qualities of beings
in-time and He gives news of that from Himself, and He is even manifest
in the attributes of imperfection and the attributes of blame? Do you
not see that the creature is manifest with the qualities of the Real
from first to last, and all of them belong to him as the attributes of
in-time things belong to the Real? "Praise belongs to Allah," so the
results of praise from every praiser and one praised go back to Him, and
"the whole affair will be returned to Him," (11:132) It includes what is
blameworthy and praiseworthy, and there is only one or the other.
Know that when something is penetrated by something the first is
contained by the second, so the penetrating is the name of the actor
veiled by the penetrated, which is the name of the one acted upon, and
it is the Outwardly Manifest. The name of the actor is the Veiled, the
Inwardly Hidden. It is its food, as water permeates wool and so makes it
expand. If the Real is the Outwardly Manifest, then the creature is
veiled within Him, and creation is all theNames of the Real, His hearing
and seeing, and all His ascriptions and discernments. If the creature is
outwardly manifest, then the Real is veiled and hidden in him, and so
the Real is the hearing of the creature, and his seeing, hand and foot,
and all his faculties as it related in sound hadith. (2)
If the Essence were exempt from these relations, it would not be
divinity. These relations are made by our sources, so we make Him god by
our dependence on His godness. He is not recognised until we are
recognised. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "Whoever knows himself
knows his Lord." Such a person is the creature with the most knowledge
of Allah. Some sages, especially Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, claim that one
can have gnosis of Allah through disregarding the world. This is false.
Indeed, the non-time pre-time is not recognised as god until that which
depends on its being God is known. Thus it is a proof of Him. Then after
this, in the second state, (3) unveiling accords you that the Real
Himself is the source of the proof of Himself and His godness. The
universe is but His tajalli in the forms of their source-forms whose
existence is impossible without Him. He assumes various forms and modes
according to the realities of these sources and their states, and this
is after our knowledge of Him that He is our God.
Then the last unveiling comes, so our forms appear to you in Him, and
some of us appear to others in the Real, and then some of us recognise
each other and some of us are distinct from one another. Among us are
those who recognise that our recognition of ourselves occurs in the Real,
and some of us are unaware of the presence in which this recognition of
ourselves takes place. "I seek refuge with Allah from being one of the
ignorant." (2:67)
By the two unveilings together, He only judges us by ourselves, rather
we judge ourselves by ourselves, but through Him. That is why He says, "Allah's
is the conclusive argument," (6:149) meaning against those who are
veiled when they say to the Real, in conformity with their desires, "Why
did you do this or that to us?", thinking that it was not in conformity
with their desires. "On the Day when the legs are bared," (68:42) means
the matter which the gnostics unveil here. They see that the Real did
not do to them what they allege that He did, but that it was from
themselves. For He only lets them know what they are in themselves. From
this their argument will dissolve, and the decisive proof of Allah will
remain.
If you say, what is the benefit of His words, "If He had willed, He
could have guided every one of you," (6:149; 16:9) we say in If He
willed "if (law)" is a particle of impossibility showing impossibility.
He only willed the matter as it is. But the source of possibility
accepts the thing and its opposite in the principle of logical proof,
and it is the same with any two logical principles. That which occurs is
that which the possibility implies in the state of its immutability. The
meaning of "If We had guided you" is, had He shown you the Truth. Allah
does not open the inner eye of every possibility in the universe to the
perception of the matter as it is. There are those who know and those
who are ignorant. Allah did not so will, so He did not guide all of them,
and He will not will it, and it is the same as if He had willed it. How
would He will this which is not? His volition is unified in its
connections. It is a relationship dependent on the known, and the known
is you and your states. Knowledge does not have an effect on the known,
rather the known has an effect on knowledge, and so it accords from
itself what it is in its source.
Divine discourse relates according to what agrees with the ones
addressed and what logical reflection accords it. It does not come
according to what unveiling gives. For that reason, there are many
believers, but the gnostics who possess unveiling are few. "There is not
one of us who does not have a known station," (37:164) and it is what
you are in your state of immutability which you manifest in your
existence. This is if it is confirmed that you have existence. If
existence is confirmed to the Real and not to you, the judgement is
yours without a doubt in the existence of the Real. If it is confirmed
that you are existent, then the judgement is yours without a doubt, even
if the judge is the Real. It is only the overflowing of existence on you.
You only praise yourself and you only blame yourself, and praise is only
due to Allah for the overflowing of existence, for that is His, not
yours. You are His nourishment by conditions, and He is your nourishment
by existence. He is specified by what specifies you. The command comes
from Him to you, and from you to Him, even though you are called
obligated, a passive name (mukallaf), and He is not called obligated
since there is no imposition upon Him.
He praises me, and I praise Him.
He serves me and I serve Him.
In one state I draw near to Him,
and in sources I deny Him.
So He knows me and I do not know Him,
and I know Him and I witness Him.
Where is independence
when I help Him and assist Him?
That is why the Real brought me into existence.
Then I knew Him and manifested His existence.
Hadith (4) brought us that,
and in me He achieved His goal.
Then the intimate friend, Ibrahim, peace be upon him!, possessed this
rank by virtue of which he was called the intimate friend. For that
reason, he made hospitality to guests a sunna. Ibn Masarra (5)
associates him with the angel Mika'il in respect to provisions.
Provision is that which nourishes those provided for: when provision
permeates the essence of the one provided for until nothing remains in
it except permeation and nourishment flows in all the parts of the one
nourished. There are no parts in divinity, so all the divine stations
are penetrated which are designated by the Names, and by which His
Essence is manifested.
We are His as our proofs confirm,
and we are ours.
Only my being belongs to Him,
and we are His as we are ours.
I have two aspects: Him and me,
but He does not have "me" through me.
However, His place of manifestation is in me,
so we are His - like me.
"Allah speaks the truth, and He guides to the Way." (33:4)
Notes to Chapter 5:
1. Huyûm is the intense love and passion which causes bewilderment and
distraction.
2. ref. to hadith qudsî via Abu Hurayra, "My slave does not draw near Me
with anything I love more than what I have made obligatory for him. My
slave continues to draw near me with superogatory actions until I love
him. When I love him, I am his hearing with he hears, his sight by which
he sees, his hand with which he strikes, and his foot with which he
walks." (Sahih al-Bukhari, 81:38:2)
3. The first unveiling was annihilation (fanâ') and the second is
going-on (baqâ').
4. "I created existence so that I might be known."
5. Muhammad ibn Masarra al-Jabali, Andalusian Sufi and thinker, born in
Granada 269 /883 and died near there in 319/931.
6: The Seal of the Wisdom of the Real
in
the Word of Ishaq (Isaac)
The ransom of a Prophet by an animal's sacrifice
as an offering!
How can the bleating of a ram be equal
to the voice of a man?
Allah Almighty magnified the ram out of concern for us or for it,
but I do not see by what measure.
There is no doubt that the bodies
of cows and camels are larger,
but they relinquished the rank of sacrifice
to the offering of the ram.
Would that I knew how a ram
replaced the khalif of the All-Merciful with its small body!
Do you not see that the command to sacrifice
implies correspondence and promises gain and diminishes loss?
There is no creature higher than the mineral,
and after it comes the plant according to its ranks and measures.
The animal comes after the plant,
and each one had gnosis of its Creator by unveiling and evident proof.
As for the one named Adam, he is limited
by intellect, thinking, and the conventions of belief.
It is that which Sahl (at-Tustari) (1) and the realizer
said as we do (2) - because we and they are in the degree of Ihsan.
Whoever witnesses the matter I have witnessed
will say what I have said, both secretly and openly.
Do not pay any attention to words
which contradict our words and do not sow grain in the land of the blind!
They are the "deaf and dumb" in the text of the Qur'an
which the one protected from wrong action brought for our ears.
Know, may Allah support us an you! that Ibrahim, the intimate friend,
peace be upon him, told his son, "I saw in a dream that I must sacrifice
you." (37:102) He did not interpret it although the dream is the
presence of the imagination (khayâl). It was a ram which appeared in the
form of Ibrahim's son, and Ibrahim confirmed the vision. So his Lord
ransomed his son from Ibrahim's illusion with the "mighty sacrifice",
which was the interpretation of the vision with Allah, but Ibrahim was
not aware of it.
The tajalli of form in the presence of the imagination requires another
knowledge by which one can perceive what Allah means by that form. The
Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to Abu
Bakr when he interpreted a dream, "You have guessed part of it rightly,
and you have missed part of it it." Abu Bakr asked him to inform him of
what was right in it and what was wrong, but the Prophet did not do so.
Allah said to Ibrahim when He called him, "Ibrahim, you have discharged
your vision." (37:105) He did not say to him, "You have confirmed the
vision that it is your son" because he did not interpret it. He took
what he dreamt literally, whereas dreams require interpretation. That is
why the 'Aziz, the ruler of Egypt, said, "...if you can interpret dreams."
(12:43) The meaning of interpretation is the transposition from the form
of what one dreamt to another form. The cattle represented the hard
years and the fertile years. If Ibrahim had been faithful to the dream,
he would have sacrificed his son, since he believed in the dream that it
really was his son, whereas with Allah it meant the "mighty sacrifice"
in the form of his son. He ransomed him by what occurred in Ibrahim's
mind, but it was not ransomed in actuality with Allah.
There is a common form to the sensory form of the sacrifice and the
imaginary form of Ibrahim's son. If he had seen a ram in his imagination,
he would have interpreted it as his son or something else. Then Allah
said, "This was a most manifest trial," (37:106) i.e. his clear test,
meaning his experience in knowledge - whether or not he knew what the
perspective of the dream required in the way of interpretation. He knew
that the place of the imagination required interpretation, but he
neglected it and the condition inherent in it, and for this reason he
believed in the vision.
Taqi ibn Mukhallad, the transmitter of traditions, did so too, having
heard in a tradition he was sure of, that the Prophet, may Allah bless
him and grant him peace, said, "Whoever sees me in a dream, sees me when
awake, for Shaytan cannot assume my form." (3) So Taqi ibn Mukhallad saw
the Prophet in a dream in which the Prophet gave him milk to drink. Taqi
ibn Mukhallad believed his dream, but he made himself vomit and threw up
the milk. If he had interpreted the dream, he would have known that milk
means knowledge, equal to the quantity that he drank. Do you not see
that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,
received a goblet of milk in a dream and he said, "I drank it until
satiety came out of my nails, and then I gave the surplus to 'Umar." It
was said, "Messenger of Allah, what do you interpret it as?" He replied,
"Knowledge." (4) He did not leave it as milk in its dream form since he
had knowledge of the state of dreams and how they must be interpreted.
It is known that the form of the Prophet, peace be upon him, which the
senses see, is buried in Madina, and that the form of his spirit and his
subtle form have never been seen by anyone nor by himself. For this
reason, the spirit of the Prophet takes on material existence in the
form of his body as he died, and nothing is missing from it. So it is
Muhammad, peace be upon him, who appears in dreams through his spirit in
a bodily form which resembles his buried body, for Shaytan cannot assume
the form of his body, (5) may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and
Allah protects the one who sees him. For this reason, whoever sees this
form takes from it all that it orders or prohibits or gives good news
of, even as he takes judgements from him in the life of this world -
according to what they indicate from text, immediate or implicit. If he
gives him something, that thing is subject to interpretation, unless it
is manifest in the senses as it is in the imagination, and so does not
require interpretation. It is based on this aspect that Ibrahim, the
intimate friend, relied, even as Taqi ibn Mukhallad did. The vision has
these two aspects. (6)
Allah taught us adab in what He did with Ibrahim and what He said to him
when He gave him the station of prophethood. We know that when we see
Allah in a form which logical reason rejects, we must interpret that
form according to the Sharî'a, whether it is in the state of the one who
sees Him, or in the place in which He is seen, or the two together. If
logical reason does not refute it, then we take it as we saw it, just as
when we see Allah in the Next World.
So the One, the All-Merciful,
has forms in every place from what is hidden and what is manifest.
If you said, "This is the Real!" you spoke truly;
and if you said, "It is something else," you interpreted.
His principle is not in one place rather than another,
but it brings the Real to the creatures.
When He manifests Himself to the eyes,
the intellects deny him by insistent proofs.
He is accepted in the tajalli to the intellects,
and in that which is called the imagination (khayâl).
That which is sound is the seeing.
Abu Yazid, (7) may Allah be pleased with him, says of this station, (8)
"Had the Throne, and all it contains a hundred million times over, been
in one of the corners of the heart of the gnostic, he would not have
felt it." This is the magnitude of Abu Yazid in the world of bodies, but
I say, "If the limitlessness of that which exists could be conceived of
as being limited, and had it been contained as an existent source in one
of the corners of the heart of the gnostic, he would not have been aware
of it in his knowledge." For it is confirmed that the heart contains
Allah, although it is not described by satiety. Had it been filled, it
would have saturated.
Abu Yazid also said, "We have pointed to this station, saying:
O Creator of things in Yourself,
You encompass all You have created!
You create that whose being has no end in You,
for You are narrow and vast!
Had that which Allah created shone in my heart,
this shining dawn would not have shone.
But that which contains Allah
does not exclude creation.
How is that, O Hearing?
Anyone can create by illusion in his imagination that which has no
existence save in the imagination. This is a common matter. By
aspiration (himma), the gnostic creates that which has an outside
existence in his aspiration. However, it continues only as long as the
aspiration continues to preserve it without being tired by preserving
what it created. (9)
When it happens that the gnostic neglects to preserve what he created by
concentration, that creature ceases to exist, unless the gnostic has
mastered all the presences and does not neglect anything. Rather, he
must witness at least one of these presences. If the gnostic creates
something by his aspiration and possesses this encompassment, that
creature's form will appear in every presence, and the form will
preserve itself. If the gnostic neglects a presence or many presences
while seeing one of the presences, and while preserving the form of what
he created in the presence he is in, all the forms will be preserved by
the preservation of that form in the presence which he does not neglect.
For neglect is never universal, either among the common or the elite. I
have exposed a secret here which the People of Allah have guarded
jealously, for it contains a refutation of their allegation of being the
Real. For the Real is never unconscious of anything, and the slave must
be unconscious of something in favour of something else. Inasmuch as he
preserves that which he has created, he says, "I am the Real," (10) but
he does not maintain it the way the Real maintains it that is the
difference. Inasmuch as he is unconscious of any form and its presence,
the slave is distinguished from the Real. He must be distinct, although
all the forms are maintained by his preservation of a single one of
these in the presence of which he is conscious. This is preservation by
inclusion, and the preservation of the Real of what He created is not
like that. Rather, His preservation is of each form in particular. This
matter which I have just communicated has never been written about by
anyone - neither by me nor by any others - except in this book. It is
unique in time. Take care lest you forget it!
The presence which you remain conscious of, with the form which
resembles it, is like the Book about which Allah said, "We have not
omitted anything from the Book." (6:38) It therefore integrates the
tangible and the intangible. None will recognise what we have said
except the one who is himself a Qur'an. (11) The one who fears Allah
will have a furqân, (12) which is, as we mentioned, this matter in which
the slave is distinct from the Lord. This furqân is the highest furqân.
At one moment, the slave is the Lord without a doubt,
and at another the slave is most certainly the slave.
If he is the slave, he is vast by Allah,
and if he is the Lord, he is in a restricted life.
Insofar as he is the slave,
he sees the source of himself,
and without a doubt
his hopes expand from him.
Inasmuch as he is a lord, he sees all of creation,
from the presence of angels and the kingdom, demanding from him,
And he is unable to answer their demands by his essence.
For this reason, some of the gnostics weep.
Be the slave of a Lord, and do not be the lord of His slave,
so you will not be suspended and tested in the fire.
Notes to Chapter 6:
1. Famous Sufi who studied under Sufyan ath-Thawri. d. 282/896. Wrote a
short commentary on the Qur'an.
2. That the inanimate has more greater gnosis of Allah and obeys Him
more than other creatures.
3. Al-Bukhari (6592); Muslim 42:10.
4. In Abu Dawud and Ibn Hanbal.
5. As in the hadith of al-Bukhari and Muslim.
6. Either it remains on its dream form or it is subject to
interpretation.
7. Al-Bistami, d. 261/874. Famous Sufi known for his ecstatic
expressions.
8. The station of the vastness of the heart.
9. Language derived from Qur'an 2:255, "...their preservation does not
tire him."
10. Al-Hallaj.
11. i.e. The Perfect Man.
12. Qur'an 8:29, "O you who believe! If you have fear of Allah, He will
give you a furqan..."
7: The Seal of the Wisdom of Elevation
in
the Word of Isma'il (Ishmael)
Know that the one called Allah is Unique (Ahad) by Essence and by all
His names, and every existent thing is only attached to Allah by its own
lord exclusively, for it is impossible for an an existent to possess the
whole. As for Divine Unity (ahadiyya), no existent possesses any of it
because one cannot have one part of it while another has another part.
Unity does not admit of divisibility. His Unity integrates all of Him by
potentiality.
The happy one is the one is the one "who was pleasing to his Lord."
(19:55) There is no one who is not pleasing to his Lord because it is by
him that lordship (rububiyyah) (1) is sustained. He is pleasing to Him,
and so he is happy. This is why Sahl at-Tustari said, "Lordship has a
secret, and this secret is you." He was addressing every source. "Had
the secret been disclosed, lordship would have been invalidated." He
used the word "law" (2) which is the particle of impossibility - so it
is never manifested, and lordship is never invalidated - for the source
has no existence except by its Lord. The source is always existent,
therefore lordship is never invalidated.
He who is pleasing is beloved, and all that the beloved does is beloved,
so everything is pleasing, because the source could not act unless the
act belonged to its Lord. The source is made tranquil by having an act
attributed to it, but it is content with what appears in it and from it
of the acts of its Lord, and is pleased with these acts, because every
doer and producer is pleased with his act and product. He completes his
act and product according to its basis. "He gives each thing its created
form and then guides it," (20:50) that is, He revealed to it that He
gave everything its creation, so it does not admit of decrease.
Isma'il, peace be upon him, by his discovery of what we mentioned "was
pleasing to his Lord." In the same way, every existent thing who is
pleasing to its Lord is also pleasing to the Lord of another, because
lordship is only obtained from each of the names, not from the One of
Unity. What is specific to it from the whole is only what is attributed
to it. So He is its Lord. None is attached to Him in respect of His
Unity. For this reason, the people of Allah are forbidden tajalli in the
Unity. If you look at Him by Him, He is the One who is looking at
Himself, and He continues to be Himself looking at Himself by Himself.
If you look at Him by yourself, unity vanishes because of you. If you
look at Him both through Him and through you, Unity also vanishes
because the pronoun of the second person implies that there is something
else besides that which is regarded. There must be some relationship
which necessitates the duality of the regarder and regarded, and so
Unity vanishes, even though there only exists the One who sees Himself
by Himself. It is known that in this description, He is the Regarder and
the Regarded.
It is not possible that the one who is pleasing be totally pleasing,
unless all that he manifests comes from the act of the One who is
pleased with him. Isma'il was distinguished from other individuals by
how Allah described him, namely, that "he was pleasing to his Lord."
It is the same for every "self at peace" to which it is said, "Return to
your Lord." He only commanded it to return to its Lord who called it,
and so it recognised Him among the totality, "well-pleasing and
well-pleased. Enter among My slaves!" (89:28) to the degree that they
have this station. The slaves mentioned here refer to every slave who
has gnosis of his Lord, who is content with Him, and does not turn to
the Lord of another while preserving the unity of the source which is
necessary. "Enter My Garden," which is My veil, (3) and My Garden is not
other than you, so you veil Me by your essence. There is only gnosis of
Me by you and you only exist by Me, so whoever has gnosis of you has
gnosis of Me, and there is no gnosis of Me, for there is no gnosis of
you. If you enter into the Garden, you enter into yourself, so you will
know yourself by a gnosis other than the gnosis by which you had
knowledge when you knew your Lord. You will have two sorts of gnosis:
gnosis of Him in respect of yourself, and gnosis of yourself and Him in
respect of Him, not in respect of you.
You are a slave and you are a lord
to whomever you are a slave in respect of.
And you are a lord and you are a slave
to whoever possesses the covenant in speech.
Every knot has a person over it who unravels it
by one who has another knot.
Allah is pleased with His slaves, and "they are well-pleasing and
well-pleased with Him." He is pleasing, so the two presences confront
each other and accept likes, and the likes are opposites because the two
likes are a single reality which does not unify them since they would
not then be distinct. There is only the distinct, so there is no like.
There is no like in existence, and so there is no opposite in existence.
Existence is one reality, and the thing is not opposite to itself.
Only the Real remains,
no phenomenal being remains.
There is nothing connected, nothing distinct.
For that reason, the proof of the eye-witness came,
so I only see His source with my eye when I see!
That is for "the one who fears his Lord" lest He makes distinction by
his knowledge. By that distinction, we indicated the ignorance of
sources in existence according to what the knower brought, so
distinction occurs among the slaves, and distinction occurs among the
lords. If distinction had not occurred, one divine name would have been
interpreted in all its aspects by that by which another name is
interpreted. The explanation of the Exalter is not that of the Abaser,
and so on, but from the aspect of unity, as we said, every name
indicates the Essence and its reality in respect to what it is. The One
Named is but One. The Exalter is the Abaser in respect to the Named. It
is not the Abaser in respect to itself and its reality. That which is
understood differs in the understanding in respect to each of them.
Do not look at the Real.
Free Him from creation.
Do not look at creation,
and garb it in other than the Real.
Disconnect Him and connect Him,
and stand in a seat of honour. (4)
Stay in the state of gatheredness (jam') if you wish,
and, if you wish, in the forms in separateness (farq).
You will win all,
even if all set out to carry the day.
You will not be annihilated
and you will not have going-on
and the forms will not be annihilated
and will not have going-on.
Revelation will not be given to you
in respect to another, and you will not receive it.
Praise is by the truth of the promise, not the truth of the threat. The
Divine Presence demands praise which is praiseworthy in itself. So one
extols the Divine Presence by the truth of the promise, not the truth of
the threat, for one goes beyond it, "and do not imagine that Allah break
His promise to His Messengers." (14:47) He did not say, "and his threat",
rather He said that He will pass over their wrong actions even though he
threatens not to. He praised Isma'il because "he was true to his
promise." (19:54) Possibility vanishes in respect to the Real, since in
it is that which demands the probable.
Nothing remains except the One
who is true to His promise alone,
and an eye does not remain
seeing the threat of the Real.
If they enter the abode of misery,
in it they are in possession of delight, and a different bliss.
Than the bliss of the gardens of endless-time, but the matter is the
same.
The difference between them occurs in the tajalli.
It is called punishment ('adhab) from the sweetness ('udhuba) of its
food,
that is like the husk of it, and the husk protects it.
Notes to Chapter 7:
1. Rububiyyah: Lordship, the quality of being a lord. A term derived
from the Qur'anic descriptions of Allah's lordship over creation. One
might say the ecology of natural existence. It is an essential element
in Sufic cosmology and is a most sophisticated concept which surpasses
the crude specificity and mechanistic views of evolutionist biology. It
is an energy system of relationships in constant change and altering
dynamics. It functions through the different realms, the atomic, the
mineral, the plant, and so on. It relates the levels ofliving organisms
from the uni-cellular up to man, and the interpenetrations of organism
and environment. It re-defines "event" from crude historicity to a
picture of organism/event in a unified field. It is the underlying
concept which allows us to abandon the dead mind/body split of the dying
culture. It permits us to utilise and develop the energy concepts of
Islamic/Chinese medicine - which hold a common energy concept at base.
Rububiyya permits us to observe ONE PROCESS at work throughout every
level of the creational realities.
2. "Law" (if, but probably not) expresses an unlikely condition, while
"in" (if, but probably yes) expresses a probable condition.
3. Garden, Janna, also carries the connotation of veiling, concealing.
4.Qur'an 54:53-55, "The fearfully aware will be amid Gardens and Rivers
on seats of honour in the presence of an All-Powerful King."
in the Word of Ya'qub (Jacob)
The Din (1) is two Dins: the Din with Allah and with the one whom the
Real knows, and who has recognition of the fact that the Real knows him;
and the Din with creation; and Allah takes account of it since its goal
is conformity with what Allah has willed of the Shari'a set down with
Him. Allah said, "Ibrahim directed his sons to this, as did also Ya'qub,
'My sons! Allah has chosen this Din for you, so do not die except as
Muslims'" (2:132) that is obeying Him. The Din brought the alif and the
lam (2) of definition and acquaintance. It is the recognised Din. It is
His words, "The Din with Allah is Islam," (3:19) and it is submission.
So the Din is an expression of your obedience. That which is from Allah
is the road which leads you to Him. Din is submission and the law (namus)
is the road which Allah has set down.
Anyone who is described by submission to what Allah has prescribed for
him is the one who has based himself on the Din, and it raises him up
and establishes him as does the prayer. The slave is the product of the
Din. Allah sets down judgements, and thus submission is the source of
your action, and so Din is from your action. You will only achieve
happiness by what comes from you. As happiness is established for you by
your actions, so the Divine Names are only established by His actions,
which are you and which are in-time. As He is called god by His effects,
so you are called happy by your effects.
Allah bestowed His rank upon you since you established the Din and
obeyed what He prescribed for you. I will enlarge on that, if Allah
wills, in a useful manner, after we have clarified the Din which
creation has which Allah takes account of when He says, "The Din is
Allah's alone," (8:39) and all of it is from you, and not from Him
except in respect to origin. Allah says, "They invented monasticism,"
(57:27) and monasticism consists of arbitrary esoteric rules (an-nawâmis
al-hikmiya) which the known Messenger did not bring to the people from
Allah by the traditional Prophetic method. When wisdom and clear benefit
corresponded to these rules regarding the divine decision about the goal
of the Shari'a of Allah, (3) Allah took it into account according to
what He Himself prescribed. Allah did not prescribe it for them. Then
Allah opened between Himself and their hearts the door of divine concern
and mercy while they were not aware of it, and in their hearts He made
them esteem their rules by which they seek "the pleasure of Allah"
beyond the Prophetic method known by Divine definition. Allah says, "They
did not observe it" those people who devised these rules and what was
prescribed for them "as it should have been observed" - "unless it was
purely out of the desire to gain the good pleasure of Allah." That was
what they believed about it.
"To those of them who believed We gave their reward, but many of them
are deviators." (57:27) "Many of them," i.e. those who have this worship
prescribed for them, "are deviators," that is, do not submit to it and
observe it properly. Allah does not accord to the one who does not obey
it, a law which pleases Him, but the command requires submission. Its
proof is that the one who is obligated either obeys with agreement or
opposes it. The one who agrees and is obedient has no need of any
discourse on it to prove it. The one who opposes it is seeking one of
two matters from Allah to be judged regarding him: either overlooking of
wrong actions and forgiveness, or being taken to task for that. One of
the two is necessary because the command is true in itself. In any
state, it is true that Allah guides His slave by his actions whatever
state he is in, and so the state is the influencing factor.
Thus the Din is a reward, that is, the exchange for what is easy and for
what for is not easy. "Allah is pleased with them, and they are pleased
with Him" (97:8, 58:22) is the easy reward, and "As for any one of you
who has done wrong, We will make him suffer great punishment" (25:19) is
the reward of what is not easy. He passes over their wrong actions and
this is their reward. It is proven that the Din is the reward. As the
Din is Islam, and Islam is the same as being led, it leads to what is
easy (the reward) and what is not easy (the punishment), and so it is
the repayment. This is the language of the people of outwardness.
As for its secret and inwardness, it manifests itself in the mirror of
the existence of Allah, so it does not refer to possibilities from Allah
other than what their essences in their states accord. They have a form
in every state, and their forms differ according to the difference of
their states. The tajalli differs according to the difference of the
state. The effect occurs in the slave according to what he is. None
gives him good except himself, and none gives him the opposite of good
except himself. Thus he gives bliss to his essence, and he also punishes
it. He only blames himself and only praises himself. "Allah's is the
conclusive argument" (6:149) in His knowledge of them since knowledge
depends on the known.
The secret which is above this in this sort of question is that
possibilities are based on their origin from non-existence. Tthe
existence of the created reality is only by the forms of the states on
which the possibilities are based in themselves and their sources. Thus
you know who has pleasure and who has pain, and from each of these
states you know what follows ('aqaba); and since it follows, you derive
punishment ('uquba) and penalty ('iqab) from it. It permits good and
evil as two opposites which custom calls the good reward, and the evil
punishment.
For this reason, He designates and elucidates the Din by custom because
He relates to it what is necessary and what his state demands. Din is
custom or habit, and the poet said, "Like your habit (Din) with the
mother of little Harith...," that is, like your custom. What is
understood by custom or habit is that the matter itself recurs. This is
not the case in Din. Custom is repetition, but custom is only one
intelligible thing while resemblance in forms exists. We know that Zayd
is the same as 'Amr in respect to humanness, but humanness does not
recur since, had it done so, it would have multiplied. It is but one
reality, and the one does not multiply itself. We know that Zayd is not
the same as 'Amr in respect to personality. The person of Zayd is not
the person of 'Amr in spite of the realisation that personality is
common to both. In the sensory, we say that humanness recurs because of
this resemblance, and we say in sound judgement that it does not. From
one aspect, there is no habit in reward, and from another aspect, there
is habit even as there is reward by one aspect and no reward by another
aspect. Thus reward is also a state in the possible. This is a question
about which those who know this matter are unaware, and it is part of
the secret of the Decree which governs creatures. Know that it is as if
it were said of the doctor that he is the servant of nature - in the
same way, it is said of the Messengers and heirs 4 that they are the
servants of the Divine Command among people. In the heart of the matter,
they serve the states of possible things, and their service derives from
the sum of their own states on which they are based in the state of the
immutability of their sources. See how wondrous this is!
Is not the the desired servant here the one who performs what is
commanded by the one who is served, either by state or by word? So it is
valid that the doctor be called the servant of nature if he acts
according to the principle of assisting it. Nature produces in the body
of the one who is ill a special state of being by which he is called "ill".
If the doctor were to assist nature by service, he would also increase
the magnitude of the illness by it when he