The Meccan Revelations

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Ibn Al Arabi

— Volume 1 —

Edited by Mishal Chodkeevitch Translated by William C. Chittick & James W. Morris Divine Names and Theophanies

Ibn al-'Arabi

Audio by Paper2Audio.

The Origin of Creation Chapter 6

his is the first major chapter of the Futuhat to deal in summary fashion with Ibn al-Arabî's overall cosmological perspective. He begins by answering briefly and without elaboration the questions posed in the title of the chapter, which is: "On the True Knowledge of the Origin [bad'] of the Spiritual Creation [alkbalq al-rubani], and On Who is the First Existent [awwal mawjud] Within It? From What Did [the spiritual creation] Come into Existence? Within What Did It Come into Existence? In What Likeness [mitbal] Did It Come into Existence? Why Did It Come into Existence? What Is its Goal [gbaya]: [And on] the True Knowledge of the Spheres [aflak] of the Great and the Small Worlds [al-'alam al-akbar wa'l-asghar]. In answering the question "Why did the spiritual creation come into existence?" he mentions the "divine realities," thereby alluding to the importance of the Divine Names—a topic which he has discussed in detail in previous chapters (and which is dealt with in the present work, especially in the translations of Chapter 73, Question 118; and Chapter 558). In the first half of the chapter Ibn al-Arabi classifies everything that can be known into four broad categories or "objects of knowledge," thus outlining the contents of his own teachings. Then he turns to an exposition of the structure of the world, the third "object of knowledge," by answering each of the questions posed in the title. At the end be enumerates some of the correspondences that can be observed between the microcosm and the macrocosm. In the beginning section, "A Concise Exposition," a number of terms are mentioned which are explained later on in the text and hence are not footnoted at the first occurrence.

A Concise Exposition Through a Kind of Summation (ijmål)

1 118.4 The “origin of creation” is the Dust (al-baba'). The “first existent within it” is the Muhammadan Reality pertaining to the All-Merciful (al-baqqa al-mubammadiyya al-rabmaniyya), [a Reality] which is not restricted by position, since it is not spatially confined (li'adam al-tabayyuz).“From what did [creation] come into existence?” From the Known Reality which is described neither by existence nor nonexistence. “Within what did it come into existence?” Within the Dust. “In what likeness did it come into existence?” The form (sura) known within God's Self (nafs al-baqq). “Why did it come into existence?” To make manifest the divine realities (al-baqa'iq al-ilabiyya).³ “What is its goal?” Deliverance from mixture (mazja), so that each world (“alam) may know its share (bazz) from its Producer (munsbi). So its goal is to make manifest its own realities. The “true knowledge of the spheres of the Greater World”—which is everything other than man (ma'ada al-insan) in the technical terminology of the [Sufi] Community (istilab al-jama'a)—“and of the Smaller World,” that is, man, has to do with the spirit, cause, and occasion of the world. The world's “spheres” are its stations (maqamat), its movements (barakat), and the differentiation of its strata (tafsil tabaqatib). This is everything contained in the present chapter.

118.9 Just as man is small by way of his body, so he is paltry by way of his temporal origination (buduth). But his theomorphism (ta'allub) is a fact, since he is the vicegerent of God in the world, while the world is subjected (musakkhkar) to him and a vassal of God (ma'lùb), in the same way that man is a vassal of God.

118.10 Know that man's most perfect plane (nash'a) is in this world (al-dunya). As for the next world (al-akhira), the state of each person of the two groups will be one half, though not his knowledge, since each group has knowledge of the opposite state. For [in this world] man is nothing if not faithful and infidel at once: felicity and wretchedness, bliss and chastisement, blissful and chastised.

Hence knowledge (ma'rifa) in this world is more complete (atamm), while theophany (tajalli) in the next world is more elevated (a'la). So understand, and open this lock! For those who understand, we have composed an intimation; though its words are repulsive and loathsome, its meaning is marvelous.:

The spirit of the Great Existence is this small existence.

If not for him, He would not say, “I am the Great, the Powerful.”

Let not my temporal origination veil you, nor my annihilation and resurrection.

For I—if you regard me closely—am the All-Encompassing, the Great.

In my essence I belong to the Eternal, though I am manifest in the newly arisen.

God is the Solitary, the Eternal, afflicted by no incapacity.

Engendered existence (al-kawn) is a “new creation” (khalq jadid), imprisoned in His two hands (qabdatayb).

It follows from this that I am the paltry existence.

And that every existence turns round about my existence.

For there is no night like my night, no light like my light.

He who calls me servant—I am the poor servant.

If he says that I am existence—I am the All-Aware Existence.

So call me a king—and find me such—or the rabble: you will not go wrong.

Oh you who are ignorant of my worth! Are you the All-Knowing, the All-Seeing?

Inform my existence about me, though words are both true and false.

Say to your people that I am the All-Compassionate, the All-Forgiving;

Say that my chastisement is the ruinous chastisement.

And say that I am weak, incapable, a prisoner,

So how should anyone attain blessing or ruin at my hand?

Expansion and Exposition of the Chapter

—God gives confirmation and aid!—

118.33 Know that the objects of knowledge (al-ma'lumat) are four. (The first is) God, who is described by Nondelimited Being (al-wujid al-mutlaq), for He is neither the effect (ma'lul) nor the cause ('illa) of anything. On the contrary, He exists through His very Essence. Knowledge of Him consists of knowledge that He exists, and His existence is not other than His Essence, though His Essence remains unknown; rather, the Attributes that are attributed to Him are known, that is, the Attributes of Meanings (sifat al-ma'ani), which are the Attributes of Perfection (sifat al-kamal).

118.35 As for knowledge of the Essence's reality (baqiat al-dhat), that is prohibited. It cannot be known through logical proof (dalil) or rational demonstration (burban 'aqli), nor can definition (badd) grasp it. For He—glory be to Him—is not similar to anything, nor is anything similar to Him. So how should he who is similar to things know Him to whom nothing is similar and Who is similar to nothing? So your knowledge of Him is only that "Nothing is like Him" (Qur'an 42:10) and "God warns you of His Self" (Qur'an 3:27).¹¹ Moreover, the Law (al-shar') has prohibited meditation upon the Essence of God.¹²

119.3 A second object of knowledge is the Universal Reality (al-baqiqat al-kulliyya) that belongs to God and the world. It is qualified neither by existence nor nonexistence, temporal origination nor eternity (al-qidam). This reality is eternal when the Eternal is described by it, but temporally originated when the temporally originated is described by it. No objects of knowledge—whether eternal or temporally originated—are known until this reality is known, but this reality does not exist until those things described by it exist. If something exists without a precedent nonexistence (adam mutaqaddim), as, for example, the Being of God and His Attributes, one says about this reality: it is an eternal existent, because God is qualified by it. But if something exists after nonexistence, as, for example, the existence of everything other than God (ma siwa Allah), that is, the temporally originated thing that exists by means of something other than itself, then this reality is said to be temporally originated. But in every existent it maintains its own reality, for it does not accept division (tajazzi'), since it has neither whole nor part. It cannot be known disengaged from form (mujarrada 'an al-sura) through logical proof or demonstration. In short, the world has come into existence by means of God (bi wasatat al-baqq) from this reality; but it is not an existent, such that God might have brought us into existence from an eternal existent and we should be established as eternal.

119.9 You should also know that this reality is not qualified by precedence (taqaddum) in relation to the world, nor the world with subsequence (ta'akbkbur) in relation to this reality. Rather, it is the root (asl) of all existents, the root of substance (al-jawbar), the Sphere of Life (falak al-bayat), the "Truth through which creation takes place" (al-baqq al-makhluq bibi),¹⁴ and so forth. It is the All-Encompassing Intelligible Sphere (al-falak al-mubit al-ma'qul). If you say that it is the world, you have spoken the truth; and if [you say] that it is not the world, you have spoken the truth. [If you say] that it is God or that it is not God, you have spoken the truth. It receives all of this, while it becomes plural through the plurality (ta'addud) of the world's individuals (asbkbas) and is considered incomparable through God's Incomparability (tanzih).

119.13 If you want a likeness of this reality in order to understand it better, look upon the quality of being wood in a timber, a chair, an inkwell, a pulpit, and a coffin; or upon such things as rectangularity of shape, for example, in everything that is a rectangle, like a room, a coffin, and a sheet of paper. Rectangularity and woodness lie within the realities of every one of these things. It is the same way with colors—[e.g.], the whiteness of cloth, pearls, paper, flour, and fat. The whiteness understood from the cloth, without being characterized as being a piece of whiteness within the cloth—but rather, as the reality of whiteness—becomes manifest in the cloth just as it becomes manifest in paper. The same holds true for knowledge, power, will, hearing, and sight, and for each and every thing. Thus have I explained to you this [second] object of knowledge; we have spoken about it in great detail in our book named Inshaal-jadawil waidawair.¹⁵

34 • Meccan Revelations

119.17 The third object of knowledge is the entire world: the angels, the spheres and the worlds they contain, and the air and the earth and everything of the world contained by these two. This is the Greater Kingdom (al-mulk al-akbar).

119.18 The fourth object of knowledge is man, the vicegerent whom God placed within this world, which is subdued under his subjection (taskbir). God says, "And He has subjected to you what is in the heavens and what is in the earth, all together, from Him" (Qur'an 45:12).

119.19 He who knows these [four] objects of knowledge has no other object of knowledge to seek, for among them is that of whom we only know the existence—i.e., God—and whose Acts and Attributes are known through various kinds of likenesses (mitbál); among them is that which is only known through likeness, such as knowledge of the Universal Reality, and among them is that which is known in these two manners as well as through quiddity (mábiyya) and quality (kayflyya), and these are the world and man.

Subsection

119.21 [The Prophet said,] “God was, and nothing was with Him.” Then into this saying was incorporated the sentence, “And He is now as He was.” When God brings the world into existence, no Attribute that He did not possess comes to be ascribed to Him. On the contrary, before His creation He is described and named in Himself by the Names by which His creatures call Him. So when He desired the existence of the world and when He originated it in accordance with His Knowledge of it within His Knowledge of Himself, there arose from that sacred Desire (al-Iradat al-muqaddasa) —through one kind of theophany of Incomparability directed toward the Universal Reality—a reality called the Dust. It can be compared to the plaster that a builder throws down in order to mold within it whatever shapes and forms he desires; it is the first existent in the world and has been mentioned by Ali ibn Abi Talib, Sahl ibn Abdallah, and others of the People of Verification, the People of Unveiling and Finding.

119.26 Then God manifested Himself in theophany through His Light to that Dust, which is called by the People of Reflection (ashab al-afkar)²¹ "Universal Hyle" (al-bayal al-kull); within the Dust was the entire world in potentiality (quwwa) and readiness (salablyya). Each thing in the Dust received from His Light in accordance with its own preparedness (isti'dad) and potentiality, just as the corners of a room receive the light of a lamp and, to the degree of their proximity to that light, increase in brightness and reception (qabul). God says, "The likeness of His Light is as a ntche within which is a lamp" (Qur'an 24:35). Thus He compared His Light to a lamp.

119.29 Within the Dust nothing is nearer to the Light in reception than the Reality of Muhammad, which is called the Intellect. So he is the lord of the world in its entirety and the first thing to become manifest within existence. Hence his existence derives from the Divine Light, the Dust, and the Universal Reality, while his entity ('ayn) comes into existence within the Dust; then the entity of the world stems from his theophany. The nearest of mankind to him is 'Ali ibn Abi Talib and the inmost consciousnesses (asrar) of the prophets.²²

119.32 As for the likeness in which the world—the whole of it without differentiation—came into existence, that is the Knowledge subsistent in God's Self (al-'ilm al-qa'im bl nafs al-baqq). For He knows us through His Knowledge of Himself and brings us into existence in accordance with His Knowledge of us, so we are upon the shape entified (al-shakl al-mu'ayyan) in His Knowledge. If this were not the case, this shape would have been assumed by chance (bi hukm al-ittifaq), not by intention (al-qasd), since He would not have known it. But it is impossible for a form to come into existence by chance. Hence, if this entified shape were not known to God and desired by Him, He would not have brought us into existence upon it. Nor is this shape taken over from "other than He," since it has been established that "He was, and nothing was with Him." So the shape can only be the form that emerges within Himself (ma baraza'alaybi fi nafsibi min al-sura). Hence His Knowledge of Himself is His Knowledge of us from eternity without beginning (al-azal), not after our nonexistence, so His Knowledge of us is the same [as His Knowledge of Himself]. Hence our likeness—which is identical with His Knowledge of us—is eternal through God's eternity, since it is one of His Attributes and since temporally originated things do not subsist in His Self—God is far greater than that!²³

120.2 As for our questions, "Why did [creation] come into existence?" and "What is its goal?" [the answer is as follows]: God says, "I did not create jinn and men except to serve Me" (Qur'an 51:56). Thus He made explicit why He brought us—and likewise the entire world—into existence, while He singled out us and the jinn for mention.

120.4 Here by jinn is meant everything hidden, including the angels and other things. God said in respect of the heavens and the earth, “Come willingly or unwillingly! They said, 'We come willingly'”. In the same way He said, “ [We offered the Trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains], but they refused to carry it”. That was because it was an “offer.” If it had been a command, they would have obeyed and carried it, since disobedience from them is inconceivable; they were created in [obedience] —but the fiery jinn and men were not created so.

120.6 Likewise with men. The People of Reflection, those who occupy themselves with speculation (nazar) and proofs restricted to the senses and to necessary and self-evident matters, maintain that the person for whom [a command] is prescribed must be intelligent so as to understand what is addressed to him, and they are correct. Such is the situation in our view also: The whole world is intelligent, living, and speaking —in respect of the unveiling that breaks the customary views (kharq al-'ada) of people; that is, in respect of the knowledge that we attain in this way.

But the People of Reflection say,"This is an inanimate object (jamad); it has no intelligence." They stop with what their eyesight gives to them, while we consider the situation differently. Thus, when it is reported that a stone, or the shoulder of a lamb, or the stump of a date palm, or a wild animal spoke to a prophet, these people say that God created life and knowledge within that thing at this time. But we do not see the situation like that.

On the contrary, the mystery of life fills the entire world:"Everyone, wet or dry, who bears the muezzin, gives witness to him," and his giving witness is based only on knowledge. This comes to us from unveiling, not from a deduction (istinbat) based upon considering what is demanded by the outward meaning of a hadith, nor from anything else. If a person wants to understand this, let him follow the path of Men (atrijal) and persevere in spiritual retreats (khalwa) and invocation (dbikr); then God will give him direct news of all this, and he will know that people are blind to the perception of these realities.

120.13 So He brought the world into existence to make manifest the authority (sultan) of the Names, since power without an object, generosity without bestowal, a provider without one provided for, a helper without someone helped, and a possessor of compassion without an object of compassion would be realities whose effects are nullified (mu'attalat al-ta'thir).

120.15 God made the world, in the present world, a mixture: He mixed the two handfuls into dough, then He differentiated individuals from it. Hence something of the one entered into the other—from each handful into its sister—and the situation became confused. It is here that some of the men of knowledge (al-'ulamâ') become preferred over others (tafâdul) in respect of their extracting the corrupt from the good and the good from the corrupt. The goal in all this is deliverance (takblis) from this mixture and the separation of the two handfuls, so that each may be isolated in its own world, just as God says: "[And the infidels will be mustered into Gehenna], that God may separate the corrupt from the good, and place the corrupt one upon another, and so heap them up altogether, and put them in Gehenna" (Qur'an 8:37).

120.18 When some of that mixture remains in a person until he dies with it, he will not be mustered on the Day of Resurrection among the Secure. Some of these people will be delivered from the mixture at the Reckoning (al-bisab). Some will not be delivered from it except in Gehenna, out of which a person will be taken as soon as he is delivered from mixture; these are the people of intercession (al-sbafa'a). As for him who is separated here into one of the two handfuls, in reality he will be transferred from his grave into the next abode, into bliss or chastisement and hellfire, for he has already been delivered [from mixture].

120.21 So this is the goal of the world. And these two [handfuls] are two realities that go back to Attributes that God possesses in His Essence. This is why we say that the People of the Fire see Him as Chastiser and the People of the Garden as Bliss-giver. This is a noble mystery; perhaps you will come to understand it in the next abode during contemplation, God willing. But the Verifiers have already attained to it in this abode.

120.23 As for our words in this chapter,"The knowledge of the spheres of the Greater World and the Smaller, that is, man," I mean by these spheres the realms ('awalim) of the world's universal things, its kinds (ajnas), and its commanders (umara'), those who exercise effects in other than themselves. I made these spheres correspond; the one is a transcription (nuskba) of the other. We drew circles for them in the forms and arrangement of the spheres in the book Insha' al-dawa'ir wa'l-jadawil, whose composition we began in Tunis at the place of the Imam Abu Muhammad'Abd al-'Aziz, our friend and executor—may God have mercy upon him!

We will set forth from this book in this chapter what is appropriate for this brief exposition. Hence we say:

120.27 The worlds are four: the highest world, which is the world of subsistence (al-baqaˈd); then the world of transmutation (al-istibala), which is the world of annihilation (al-fana); then the world of inhabitation (al-taˈmir), which is the world of subsistence and annihilation; then the world of relations (al-nisab). These worlds are in two locations (mawtinayn): in the Greater World, which is everything outside man, and the Smaller World, which is man.

120.28 As for the Highest World, that is the Muhammadan Reality, whose sphere is Life. Its equivalent (nazir) in man is the subtle reality (al-latifa), the holy spirit (al-ruh al-quds). Included within this world is the All-Encompassing Throne (al-'arsh al-muhbit), whose equivalent in man is the body. Of this world is the Footstool (akursi), whose equivalent in man is the soul.

Of it is the Inhabited House (al-bayt al-ma'mur), whose equivalent in man is the heart. Of it are the angels, whose equivalents in man are the spirits and faculties within him. Of it are Saturn and its sphere, whose equivalent in man are the cognitive faculty (al-quwwat al-'ilmiyya) the breath. Of it are Jupiter and its sphere, whose equivalents are the faculty of memory (al-quwwat al-dhaktra) and the back of the brain. Of it are Mars and its sphere, whose equivalents are the intelective faculty (al-quwwat al-'aqila) and the crown of the head.

Of it are the sun and its sphere, whose equivalents are the reflective faculty (al-quwwat al-mufakkira) and the middle of the brain. Then Venus and its sphere, whose equivalents are the estimative faculty (al-quwwat al-wabmiyya) and the animal spirit; then Mercury and its sphere, whose equivalents are the imaginal faculty (al-quwwat al-khayaliyya) and the front of the brain; then the moon and its sphere, whose equivalents are the sensory faculty (al-quwwat al-bisstiyya) and the organs (al-jawarib) that possess sensation. These then are the strata (tabaqat) of the Highest World and their equivalents in man.

120.35 As for the World of Transmutation, some of it is the sphere (kura) of ether, whose spirit is heat and dryness; it is the sphere of fire. Its equivalent [in man] is yellow bile (al-safra), whose spirit is the digestive faculty (al-quwwat al-badima). Of it is air, whose spirit is heat and wetness; its equivalent is blood, whose spirit is the attractive (jadibba) faculty. Of it is water, whose spirit is cold and wetness; its equivalent is phlegm, whose spirit is the expulsive (daft'a) faculty.

Of it is earth (al-turab), whose spirit is cold and dryness; its equivalent is black bile (al-sawda), whose spirit is the retentive (masika) faculty. As for the earth (al-ard), it has seven strata: black, brown, red, yellow, white, blue, and green. The equivalents of these seven in man are in his body: skin, fat, flesh, veins, nerves, muscles, and bones.

121.6 As for the World of Inhabitation, among [the “inhabitants” (al-'ummar)] are the Spirituals (al-'ribaniyyun), whose equivalents are the faculties in man. Among them is the world of animals, whose equivalent in man is that which has sensation. Among them is the world of plants, whose equivalent is that of man which grows. And among them is the world of inanimate things, whose equivalent in man is that which has no sensation.

121.8 As for the World of Relations: among them are accidents (a'rad), whose equivalents are black, white, the colors, and engendered events (al-akwan). Then quality (kayf), whose equivalent is states like healthy and sick. Then quantity (kam), whose equivalent is that the leg is longer than the arm.

Then location (ayn), whose equivalent is that the neck is the place of the head, and the leg the place of the thigh. Then time (zamani), whose equivalent is "I moved my head when I put my hand into motion." Then relation (iddfa), whose equivalent is "This is my father, so I am his son."

Then position (wad"), whose equivalent is my language and accent. Then activity (an yaf'al), whose equivalent is "I ate." Then passivity (an yanfa'il), whose equivalent is "I became satiated." Among the relations is the diversity of forms in the three kingdoms (al-umnaba'at), such as elephant, donkey, lion, and cockroach.

The equivalent of this is that human faculty which receives forms related to blameworthy (madbnam) and praiseworthy (nabmud) meanings: this one is clever, so he is an elephant; that one is stupid, so he is a donkey; this one is brave, so he is a lion; that one is timid, so he is a cockroach. "And God speaks the truth and guides on the way" (Qur'an 33:4).

This chapter, one of the longest in the Futühät, comprises 138 pages at the beginning of volume 2. In the first 38 pages Ibn al-'Arabî enumerates and describes the various kinds of saints. Then he turns to answering the 157 (155, according to his own count) questions posed more than 300 years earlier by al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi in the work Khatm al-awliya' (“The Seal of the Saints”) in order to illustrate the kinds of sciences known only to the saints and unapproachable by means of the speculative and rational powers of the mind.³²

The three questions translated here are typical in style and content, though the answers are particularly significant in throwing light on three of Ibn al-'Arabî's basic themes: the Perfect Man, the Divine Names, and the nature of the theophany that is the world.

Question 108 deals very briefly with the Perfect Man as the exemplar of the human state. Human beings were created in the form of the Divine Name Allah, the Name that comprehends within itself the realities of all other Names. But in most people, these Names remain as virtualities, or some Names are actualized to a certain degree but not others. Only those human beings who have attained to perfection have actualized all God's Names in their fullness. Hence every Perfect Man is the outward form (sûra or zahir) of an inner meaning (mâ'na or bâtin) that is Allah Himself.

Question 115, on the Glories of the Face, divides the Names into two fundamental kinds, those that relate to God's Similarity (tashbih) with the creatures, and those that relate to His Incomparability (tanzih). The contrast between these two types of Names, or kinds of relationship which God possesses with creation, is one of the key topics in Ibn al-'Arabi's writings. It might best be summed up in the expression "He/not He" (huwa là huwa), or simply "yes and no," which is the basic answer to most questions asked about the world's status in relation to God. In other terms, the world always remains in an ambiguous situation, half way between Being and nothingness. If in respect to Being one thing can be said about it, in respect to nothingness the opposite can be said. The perception of this ambiguity is one source of the "bewilderment" (hayra) which Ibn al-'Arabi considers one of the highest of spiritual stations (see Chapter 558).

In the third question Ibn al-Arabi speaks about the manifestation of God's Beauty within the world. This topic brings up the relationship of God's Acts (the creatures) to both His Attributes (e.g., Beauty) and His Essence and leads to an affirmation of the Oneness of Being. The true knowledge of these things, Ibn al-Arabi concludes in typical fashion, can only be achieved by the lifting of the veil between man and God (kashf).

The Perfect Man Chapter 73 / Question 108

What is the Crown of the King (taj al-malik)?

two 104.28 Answer: The Crown of the King is the sign of the king, while the “crowning” (tatwij) of the royal document is the sultan's signature upon it.

104.29 Existence is “an inscribed writing, witnessed by those brought nigh”, but ignored by those who have not been brought nigh. The “crowning” of this writing can only take place through him who gathers together all realities, which are the mark ('alama) of Him who gave him existence. Hence, the Perfect Man—who denotes his Lord by his very essence in an a priori manner (min awwal al-badiba) —and only the Perfect Man, is the Crown of the King. He is referred to in the Prophet's words, “God created Adam upon His own form.” Now “He is the First, the Last, the Manifest, and the Nonmanifest”. The Divine Perfection (al-kamal al-ilabi) does not become manifest except in composite things (al-murakkab), since they comprise the non-composite things (al-basit), while the noncomposite do not comprise the composite. So the Perfect Man is the “first” in intention, the “last” in actuality, the “manifest” through the letter, and the “nonmanifest” in meaning. He gathers together nature (al-tab') and intellect (al-'aql), so within him are the grossest (akthaf) and sub- test (altaf) of compositions in respect of his nature, and within him is disengagement (al-tajarrud) from substrata (al-mawadd)

and the faculties (al-quwa) that govern bodies.³⁸ No other creature possesses that, and this explains why he was singled out for the knowledge of all the Names and the All-Comprehensive Words.³⁹

God has not informed us that He has given this to anyone other than the Perfect Man.

104.35 There is no level (martaba) of creature above man except that of the angels, and they were his students when he taught them the Names.⁴⁰ This does not mean that he is better (khayr) than the angels, but it does mean that his plane (nash'a) is more perfect (akmal) than theirs.⁴¹

105.2 In conclusion, since he is the locus of theophany (majla) for the Divine Names, it is correct to say that he is for this writing like a crown, since he is the noblest adornment through which it is adorned. Through the "crowning" the effects of a king's commands become manifest in the kingdom; in the same way, through the Perfect Man the Divine Judgment (al-bukm al-ilabi) concerning reward and punishment in the world becomes manifest. Through him the order (al-nizam [i.e., of the universe]) is established and overthrown; in him God decrees, determines, and judges.

The Glories of the Face

Chapter 73 / Question 115 ^{12}

What are the Glories of the Face (subuhat al-wajh)?

110.25 Answer: The "face" of a thing is its essence (dhat) and reality (baqiqa). So the "Glories of the Face" are Lights pertaining to the Essence (anwar dhatiyya); between us and them are the veils (bujub)—the Divine Names. That is why He says, "Everything is perishing except His Face" (Qur'an 28:88), in one of the interpretations of this "face."⁴³

110.26 Generally speaking, these Glories are the lights of the profession of God's Incomparability (anwar al-tanzib), which is the negation (salb) from Him of everything that is not worthy of Him, that is, all properties pertaining to nonexistence (abkam 'adamiyya), since in reality it is nonexistence that is unworthy of the Essence. Here bewilderment (bayra) sets in, since He is Being Itself, so He is not declared incomparable with any ontological thing (amr wufudi). For this reason the Divine Names are relations —if you understand—relations that have been occasioned (ibdath) by the entities of the possible things because of the states that the things have acquired (iktisab) from the Essence, since every state (bal) pronounces a Name which it denotes in respect to itself, either by negation (salb) or affirmation (itbbal) or by both together.

46 • Meccan Revelations

110.30 These Names are of two kinds.⁴⁶ One kind is totally lights; these are the Names that denote ontological things. Another kind is totally darkness (zulam); these are the Names that denote Incomparability. The Prophet said, "God has seventy"—or "seventy thousand"—"veils of light and darkness; were they to be removed, the Glories of His Face would incinerate everything perceived by the creatures' eyes."⁴⁷ For if the Divine Names were to be taken away, the veils would be lifted; and if the veils—which are the Names—were to be lifted, the Unity (abadiyya) of the Essence would become manifest. Because of Its Unity, no entity would remain qualified by existence. Hence Unity would erase the existence of the entities of the possible things, and they would cease being described by existence, since they only become qualified by existence through the Names. They do not become qualified by any of their own properties—in the view of both reason and the Law ('aqlan wa sbar'an)—except through the Names. So the possible things are behind those veils that lie adjacent to the Presence of Possibility (badrat al-imkan), since possibility is a theophany of the Essence that causes the possible things to become qualified by existence from beyond the veils of the Divine Names. Hence the entities of the possible things gain no knowledge of God except in respect of the Names, whether by intellect or unveiling.

Chapter 73 / Question 118

From whence (min ayn)?

114.8 Answer: From His theophany in His Name the Beautiful.

The Prophet said, “God is beautiful and He loves beauty”; this is an established hadith.⁴⁹ So He described Himself as loving beauty, and He loves the world,⁵⁰ so there is no thing more beautiful than the world. And He is beautiful, while beauty is intrinsically lovable; hence all the world loves God. The beauty of His Making (sun') permeates His creation, while the world is His loci of manifestation (mazabir). So the love of the different parts of the world for each other derives from God's love for Himself. This is because love is an attribute of the existent thing (al-mawfud), and there is nothing in existence except God.⁵¹

114.11 Majesty (jalal) and Beauty (jamal) are intrinsic

Attributes of God in His own Self and in His Making, while awe

(bayba), which is an effect of Beauty, and intimacy (uns), which is an effect of Majesty, are two attributes of created things, not of the Creator nor of that by which He is described.⁵² Nothing that is not existent becomes the object of awe or intimacy, and there is no existent but God, since the effect (athar) is the same as the

Attribute, and the Attribute is not different from the object to which it belongs (al-mawslif) in the state of its being qualified by it; on the contrary, the Attribute is identical with that to which it belongs, even if you understand this only in the second place. Hence there is no lover and no beloved except God, so there is nothing in existence except the Divine Presence (al-badrat al-lâbiyya), which is His Essence, His Attributes, and His Acts.

114.14 In the same way you say: God's Speech (kalam) is His Knowledge, and His Knowledge is His Essence, since it is impossible for there to subsist within His Essence a superadded thing (amr za'id) or a superadded entity that is not His Essence and that bestows upon It a property which otherwise It could not possess and through which It possesses Its perfection in Divinity, or rather, without which It could not be the Divinity.⁵³ [His Knowledge] is the fact that He knows all things; He mentioned that concerning Himself by way of lauding His own Essence,⁵⁴ and it is established by rational proofs. It is impossible for His Essence to possess Its Perfection through something that is not Itself; then He would have acquired excellence (sharaf) through something other than His own Essence.

114.18 Those who know God come to know concerning Him through His Knowledge of His own Essence that which intellects cannot know in respect of their own sound reflections. This is the knowledge about which the Tribe says that it lies beyond the stage of the intellect (wara'tawr al-aql). God says concerning His servant Khidr,"We taught him a knowledge from us"; and He says," [He created man] and taught him the explanation"; so He attributed the teaching to Himself, not to reflection (al-fikr). Hence we know that there is a station beyond reflection that bestows upon the servant knowledge of various things.

114.20 Among these things, some can be perceived by reflection; some are allowed by reflection, even though the intellect cannot actualize (busul) them through reflection; some are allowed by reflection, even though it is impossible for reflection to determine (ta'yin) them; and some are considered impossible by reflection, while the intellect accepts from reflection that they cannot exist.

The intellect cannot accept them because of the proof of their impossibility, so it comes to know them from God through a sound Incident (waqi'a), which is not impossible. But the name and property of impossibility do not disappear from them in respect to the intellect.

114.24 The Prophet said, “There is a knowledge that has the guise of the Hidden [hay'at al-maknîn]; none knows it but those who have knowledge of God. When they speak of it, none denies it but those who are deluded about God.” Such is the situation, yet this is a knowledge that can be spoken about. So what do you think about their knowledge that cannot be spoken about? For not every knowledge can be expressed. These kinds of knowledge [that cannot be expressed] are all sciences of Tastings ('ultam al-adhwaq).

114.26 So there is none more knowledgeable than the intellect, and none more ignorant, for the intellect never ceases acquiring (mustafid). Hence it is the knowing one whose knowledge is not known and the ignorant one whose ignorance has no end.

Chapter 198

This chapter, entitled "On the True Knowledge of the Breath (alanafas)" and covering eighty-one pages, is one of the longer chapters of the Furuhat. It deals mostly with cosmology, that is, the engendering of the universe through the Breath of the All-Merciful, and includes detailed accounts of the influence of twenty-eight specific Divine Names on the world. Why it should have been included in Section 3, which is dedicated to the "states" (ahwal), is not particularly clear.

We have selected two short subsections of the chapter. Section 11 summarizes in a manner that is unusually free of digressions. Ibn al-Arabi's cosmological scheme, beginning with the distinction between Absolute Being and absolute nonexistence. The world of possible existence, which lies between these two in the ambiguous situation of being neither the one nor the other, is full of dualities which point to the domination of either Being or nonexistence, depending on the situation.

Central to the passage is the idea of "preparedness" (isti dad), according to which each thing shares in existence to the measure of its capacity. Differences in preparedness account for the different degrees, levels, and worlds manifested within existence. But in all situations, various sorts of dualities and plays of complementary forces are at work based upon the original distinction between Being and nonexistence.

Section 46 discusses the immutable reality of the world and its multiplicity, a reality that makes it necessary to rely upon the world. Here again Ibn al-Arabi points out the ambiguous situation of all created things, an ambiguity that is demanded by the fact that God is both Incomparable and Similar. Since God is Incomparable with the world, it cannot denote Him, so it can only denote that in Him which allows for His Similarity, that is, the meanings that are fixed forever in Him and are known as the Divine Names and the immutable entities (al-ayan al-thabita). These in turn become manifest within the world in respect to a given individual in succession, a fact which demands the constant transformation of the world its “new creation” at each instant. The great saints are those who dwell in this constant flux in the station of bewilderment and variegation (talwin).

A Clarification (ifsâb) of the Entire

Affair's Situation

(bi mâ buwa'l-amr 'alayb)

Section 11

two 426.27 Know that the entire affair (al-amr) is God (al-baqq) and creation (al-kbalq). It is Sheer Being (al-wujud al-mabd) without beginning and end, sheer possibility (al-tmkan al-mabd) without beginning and end, and sheer nonexistence (al-adam al-mabd) without beginning and end. Sheer Being never receives (qabul) nonexistence for all eternity, sheer nonexistence never receives existence for all eternity, and sheer possibility receives existence for a reason (sabab) and nonexistence for a reason for all eternity. Sheer Being is God (Allab), nothing else; sheer nonexistence is that whose existence is impossible (al-mubal al-wujud), nothing else; and sheer possibility is the world, nothing else. The [ontological] level (martaba) of possibility lies between Sheer Being and sheer nonexistence; through that of it which gazes (nazar) upon nonexistence, it receives nonexistence, and through that of it which gazes upon Being, it receives existence. It consists of both darkness (zulma), that is, nature (tabi'a), and light (nur), that is, the All-Merciful Breath (al-nafas al-rabmani), which bestows existence upon the possible things.

426.32 So the world is both carrier (bamil) and carried (ma-mǔl). As carrier, it is form (sura), body (jism), and active (fa'il); as carried it is meaning (ma'na), spirit (rub), and passive (munfa'l). There is no form sensory (mabsas), imaginal (kbala'l), or spiritual (ma'nawi)⁶⁰ that is not shaped (taswiya) and balanced (ta'dil)⁶¹ by God in a manner appropriate to it and to its station and its state; and this takes place before composition (tarkib), that is, its combination (ijtima') with what it carries. So when the Lord shapes it as He desires through word, hand, two hands, or hands to the power of 62—and there is nothing more than these four, since existence stands upon quaternity (tarbi')⁶³—and He balances it, which is to give it the readiness (tabayyu') and preparedness (isti'dad) for composition and carrying (baml), it is delivered over to the All-Merciful. He turns His Breath toward it, the Breath which is the Spirit of God mentioned in His words, "When I bave shaped him and breethd of My Spirit into him" (Qur'an 15:29), a Spirit which is identical with the Breath received by the form.⁶¹ The forms are diverse in their reception in keeping with their preparedness.⁶⁵ If the form is elemental ('unsuri),⁶⁶ and if its wick ignites through that Breath, it is called an animal at ignition; but if no ignition becomes manifest from it, but its entity manifests movement (baraka), it is called a plant. If neither ignition nor movement appears, that is, to sense perception (fil-biss), it is called a mineral (ma'dan) or an inanimate object (jamad).

427.4 If the form is passive toward a celestial (falaki) movement, it is called a pillar (rukn), of which there are four levels. The passivity of these pillars produces a shaped and balanced form called heaven (sama), which has seven strata (tabaqat). So the All-Merciful turns His Breath toward these forms and they come alive through a life not perceived by the senses, though not denied by faith (iman) or the soul; hence they do not receive ignition.

Each place (mawdi) within the heavens that accepts ignition is called a star (najm). So the stars become manifest and their spheres come into movement through them. Hence [heaven] is like the animals in that of it which ignites, and like the plants in that of it which moves.

427.8 If the form is engendered from a spiritual (ma'navi) movement, an active faculty, and an attentiveness (tawajjub) of the Breath, it is called Universal Body, Throne, Footstool, and sphere—the sphere of the constellations (burj) and the sphere of the mansions (manazil). The All-Merciful turns the attentiveness of His Breath toward these forms; those of them that receive ignition are called stars and are like the pupils (badaq) in a man's face; those which do not receive ignition are called spheres.

427.10 If the form is intellective ('aqliyya), it arises inherently (inbi'âth dhâti) from a disengaged intellect ('aql mujarrad) and seeks through its preparedness that which the attentiveness of the All-Merciful will make it carry through His Breath when the Lord shapes it. That of it which ignites is called a light of knowledge (nur 'ilm), that which moves but does not ignite is called a work ('amal), and the essence that carries these two faculties is called a soul (nafs).

427.12 If the form is divine, it must be either all-comprehensive (jamia), that is, the form of man, or not all-comprehensive, that is, the form of the Intellect. So when the Lord shapes the intellective form with His Command or gives form (taswir) to the human form with His two hands, the All-Merciful turns His attentiveness toward the two through His Breath and breathes into them a spirit from His Command. As for the form of the Intellect, through that breathing it is made to carry all the knowledge (ulam) of engendered existence until the Day of Resurrection. He makes it the root of the existence of the world and bestows upon it primacy (awwaliyya) in possible existence (al-wujud al-imkani). And as for the form of the First Man, created with two hands, through that breathing he is made to carry the knowledge of the Divine Names, which are not carried by the form of the Intellect. So man emerges upon the form of God; in him the property of the Breath comes to its end—since there is nothing more perfect than the form of God—the world inscribes a circle, and possible existence becomes manifest between light and darkness, nature and spirit, unseen (ghayb) and visible (shabada), concealing (satr) and unveiling (kashf).

427.18 Of everything that we have mentioned, that which is adjacent (ma watiya) to Sheer Being is light and spirit; and of everything that we have mentioned, that which is adjacent to sheer nonexistence is darkness and body. Through the combined totality (at-majmu') a form is engendered. If you look upon the world in respect of the Breath of the All-Merciful, you will say, "It is nothing but God." But if you look upon it in respect of the fact that it is shaped and balanced, you will say, "creatures." "You did not throw" in respect of being a creature "when you threw" in respect of being God, "but God threw" (Qur'an 8:17), since He is God.

427.21 Through the Breath the whole world is breethd (mutanaffas), the Breath making it manifest. The Breath is non-manifest (batin) in God and manifest (zabin) in creation. So the nonmanifest of God is the manifest of creation, and the nonmanifest of creation is the manifest of God. Through the combined totality engendered existence is realized, and in abandoning this totality one says "God" and "creation." So God belongs to Sheer Being and creation to sheer possibility. When something of the world becomes nonexistent and its form disappears, it pertains to the side of nonexistence; when something subsists and cannot become nonexistent, it pertains to the side of existence.

427.24 These two affairs (amran [i.e., existence and nonexistence]) continue to display their properties in the world forever. Hence creation is renewed at every breath, in this world and the next. The Breath of the All-Merciful is forever turning its attentiveness, and nature is forever undergoing generation as the forms of this Breath, so that the Divine Command may never be rendered ineffectual, since ineffectuality (ta'til) is impossible. So forms are temporally originated and become manifest in accordance with their preparedness to receive the Breath.

427.26 Thus have I explained that which can be explained concerning the origination (ibda) of the world. "And God speaks the truth and guides on the way" (Qur'an 33:4).

Concerning Reliance (al-i'timad)

on the World

Section 46

The entire title is: “Concerning Reliance (al-i'timad) on the World in Respect of the World's Being a Writing Inscribed (kitab mastur) on the Parchment of Existence (raqq al-wujud) Unrolled Within the World of Bodily Things (ajram) and Engendered from the Name of God the 'Manifest' (al-zahir).”

two 473.32 Know that this reliance (l'timad) cannot be possessed by someone who has not received his knowledge by a divine instruction (ta'rif ilabi).⁷⁴ It is as follows: We refer to the "world" (al-alam) by this word only to show that it has been made a "mark" (alama). It has been established that Being is God Himself (ayn al-baqq) and that the constant variation (tanaww' in the forms manifested within it is a mark of the properties of the immutable entities of the possible things (a'yan al-mumkinat al-thabita). It follows that those forms that are manifest through their properties within God Himself—like writing manifested on a parchment—are named the "world."

They are made manifest by the Divine Name the Manifest, or rather, this Name is manifested through them. Here God is distinguished from the creation. Though the forms display variation, they have no effect upon the Self (al-ayn) manifest within them, just as substance (jawhar) does not cease being substance because of the states and accidents that become manifest through it; for what becomes manifest is the property of the hidden meaning (al-ma'na al-mabtan) that has no existence save through the property in the eye of the beholder (fi ayn naztr).

So its properties are neither existent nor nonexistent, even though they are immutable.

474.2 So the world is relied upon inasmuch as it is a mark, not of God—"For God is independent of the worlds" (Qur'an 3:92)—but of the immutability of the meanings that possess these properties which are manifest in God Himself. Hence the world is a mark of itself, as is every single thing. Nothing denotes a thing better than itself, for the thing itself is a denotation that does not disappear, while extraneous denotations (al-dalalat al-ghariba) disappear and are not immutable.

474.5 He who relies upon the world in this respect has relied upon something sound and unchanging. In reality, only it can be relied upon in this respect, for God is “each day upon some task” (Qur'an 55:29),⁷⁵ so one does not know what this task is. One cannot rely upon something that is not known in itself.

474.7 So the perfect one among the Folk of Allah undergoes variation because of the variation of the "tasks," for God does not become manifest in existence except in the form of the tasks. The reliance of this person is a divine reliance; in other words, he is qualified by it through God's attribute of acting as a receptacle for the tasks through which the world becomes manifest.

474.8 This [section] pertains to the knowledge that is withheld from those unworthy of it (al-madnun li ghayr ablibi). So know that! "And God speaks the truth and guides on the way" (Qur'an 33:4).

The Most Beautiful Names

Chapter 558~

The complete title of this chapter is: "On the True Knowledge of the Most Beautiful Names (al-asma al-husna) Possessed by the Lord of Might (rabb al-'izza) and on Those Which May and May Not be Literally (lafzan) Ascribed to Him." It is one of the Futuhat's longest chapters, covering 131 pages and divided into 101 subsections, including an introduction, one section for each of the ninety-nine Most Beautiful Names, and a conclusion called "The Presence of Presences, Comprebending the Most Beautiful Names." In effect this chapter is a major book on the Divine Names, far longer than, for example, al-Ghazali's Al-Maqsad al-asna or Fakbr al-Din al-Razi's Lawami al-bayyinat. Translated below are the introduction and the first subsection, on the Divine Name "Allah."

In the introduction Ibn al-'Arabi provides a succinct explanation of the “Oneness of Being,” employing theological language: the Divine Presence—that is, the sphere of existence dominated by the Name “Allah”—embraces the Essence, the Attributes, and the Acts or creatures. So everything that may be said to exist in whatever mode is denoted by the Name “Allah.” In completing the introduction Ibn al-'Arabi turns to a linguistic discussion of how various words may be considered as Divine Names in order to explain why he has limited himself in the present chapter to a discussion of only the Most Beautiful Names. In the translated subsection he returns to a discussion of the Oneness of Being by showing that all things in the universe come under the sway of this all-comprehensive Name; he then classifies in a theological manner the various kinds of names that it embraces. Finally he turns to the proper and true human response to this name: bewilderment, worship, and the profession of Incomparability.

I see the ladder of the Names, rising and falling, through it blowing a wind from south and north.

I wonder—how to reach safety? For blindness is the brother of guidance and affairs are not separate.

Do you not see that in the Fire God is Just? That in the Garden of Firdaws He favors and obliges?

If you say, "This one is an infidel," I say, "God is Just." If you say, "This one a man of faith," I say, "He gives preference."

Here is proof that my Lord is one: God appoints and removes whom He will.

So our entities are His Names, they are nothing other, for in His own Self he decrees and differentiates affairs.

four 196.10 God says, "To God belong the Most Beautiful Names" (Qur'an 7:180). These are none other than the Divine Presences (albadarat al-ilabiyya) that are sought and entified by the properties of the possible things (abkam al-mumkinat). And these properties are none other than the forms manifest within True Being (al-wujud al-baqq). Hence "Divine Presence" is a name belonging to an Essence, Attributes, and Acts; or, if you like, you can say: to the Attributes of Acts (sifa fi'l) and the Attributes of Incomparability (sifa tanzith).

196.12 The Acts derive from the Attributes. No doubt the Acts are Names, but some of the Names He ascribes (ittlåq) to Himself, while others He does not ascribe, though they have come in words [indicating] Acts, such as, "[They deceived] and God deceived" (Qur'an 3:54); "God derides [them]" (Qur'an 9:79); "[They scheme a scheme] and I scheme a scheme" (Qur'an 86:16); "God mocks them" (Qur'an 2:15). In these cases it is not impossible for an active noun (ism få'il) to be built from the words.⁷⁹ 196.14 A similar case is provided by indirect expressions (kinayat), such as, "[He has appointed for you] shirts to protect you from the beat" (Qur'an 16:81). In fact He is the Protector, while the shirt here is the deputy. And so on with other verses.

196.15 There are also pronouns, whether referring to the first, third, or second person, or to all things ('ámm'),⁸⁰ as in God's words, "Oh people, you are the poor toward Allah" (Qur'an 35:15), where He is named by everything toward which people are poor. Hence, everything toward which someone is poor is a Name of God, since [as stated in this verse] there is no poverty except toward Him; though no word is ascribed to Him here, we take into account the meanings given us by the sciences.⁸¹

196.17 As for prohibition (tahjir) and lack of it in the ascription [of Names] to Him, that depends on God. Hence, if He has restricted Himself to certain words in ascription, we also restrict ourselves, since we only name Him by what He has named Himself. Those Names which are forbidden, we forbid, out of courtesy (adab) toward God. For we are in Him and we belong to Him. Hence in this chapter we will mention, Presence by Presence, the Divine Presences that God has alluded to as the Most Beautiful Names. We will restrict ourselves to one hundred Presences. Then we will follow that with sections, each of which will refer back to this chapter. Among the Presences is:

The Divine Presence, that is, The Name “Allah”

Allah, Allah, Allah—His signs (ayat) have passed judgment that He is Allah.

Glory be to Him!—He is greater than that any of the servants should win Him, for there is no god but He.

He alone possesses a Name not shared by any other: that is the speaker's word, "Allah."

This is the Presence that comprehends (jami') all Presences. Hence no worshipper of God worships anything but this Presence. God judges (bukm) this in His words, "Thy Lord has decreed that you shall not worship any but Him" (Qur'an 17:23), and His words,

Meccan Revelations

"You are the poor toward Allah."

To God belongs what is hidden, to God belongs what appears. How excellent is that which is God, that which is none other than He.

196.28 You should know that since the power (quwwa) of the Name Allah contains, according to the original coinage (al-wad' al-awwal), every Divine Name, or rather, every Name having an effect (atbar) within engendered existence, it takes, on behalf of what it names, the place of every Name of God.⁸⁴ So when someone says, "Oh Allah," look at the state which incited him to make this call and consider which Divine Name is specifically connected to that state. That specific Name (al-ism al-kbâss) is what the caller is calling with his words, "Oh Allah." For the Name Allah, by its original coinage, names the Essence of God Itself, "tn whose band is the dominion of everything" (Qur'an 36:83). That is why the Name which refers specifically to the Essence takes the place of every Divine Name.⁸⁵

196.31 To the One who is named by this Name, in respect of the fact that"To Him the whole matter will be returned", belongs the name of every named thing toward which there is poverty, whether mineral, plant, animal, man, celestial sphere, angel, or any such thing, whatever name is applied to it, that of a creature (makbluq) or an originated thing (mubda'). Hence He is named by every name which is possessed by a named thing in the world and which has an effect within engendered existence (al-kawn); and there is nothing that does not have an effect in engendered existence.

196.35 As for the fact that the Name Allah includes the Names of Incomparability, the source for this is near at hand: though every Divine Name is the same in respect of denoting the Essence of God, nevertheless, since every Name other than Allah while denoting the Essence of God also denotes—because of its derivation (isbttqaq) [from a specific root having a specific meaning]—a meaning of negation (salb) or affirmation (itbbat), it cannot be as strong as this Name in the unity of its denotation (abadiyyat al-dalala) of the Essence; such is the case with the All-Merciful (al-rahman) and oth- ers of the Most Beautiful Names. It is true that in the Qur'an God says to the Prophet, commanding him, "Say: 'Call upon Allah or call upon the All-Merciful; whichever you call upon, to Him belong the Most Beautiful Names'" (Qur'an 17:110), but the pronoun "Him" refers back to Him who is called upon, since He who is originally named, outside of derivation, is but One Self ('ayn wabid).

197.5 God has preserved this proper name (ism 'alam) from naming any but the Essence of God. Therefore God says, as an argument against those who had ascribed divinity to something other than this Named One, "[They ascribe to Allah associates.] Say: 'Name them!'" (Qur'an 13:33), and those who had held such a view were rendered speechless, for if they had named that thing, they would have named it by other than the Name Allah.

197.7 As for the all-comprehensiveness (jam'iyya) of this Name, that is because the objects denoted (madlulat) by the Names, which are superadded (za'id) to what is understood (mafhum) by the "Essence," are multiple and diverse. We do not have any pure proper name for the Essence except the Name Allah, since the Name Allah denotes the Essence by exact congruence (bi bukm mutabaqa), in the same way that proper names denote the objects they name.

197.8 There are Names which denote Incomparability.

197.9 There are Names which denote the affirmation of the entities of the Attributes, though the Essence of God does not allow that numbers should subsist (qiyam al-adad).⁸⁷ These are the Names that make known (i'ta') the entities of the affirmative Attributes of the Essence (a'yan al-sifat al-thubatiyyat al-dhatiyya), such as the Knower, the Powerful, the Willing, the Hearing, the Seeing, the Living, the Responder, and the Thankful; the Names that make known descriptions (nuat),⁸⁸ so that nothing is understood from their ascription except relations (nisab) and correlations (idafat), like the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Nonmanifest; and the Names that make known Acts, such as Creator, Provider, Author, Shaper, etcetera

62 · Meccan Revelations

197.12 In this way everything has been classified. All the Divine Names, as many as there may be, can be reduced to one of these kinds, or to more than one; while everyone of them must unquestionably denote the Essence.

197.14 So this Presence contains all the Presences. He who knows Allah knows all things. But he does not know Allah who does not know one thing, whatever named possible thing it might be, since the property of one of these things is the property of them all in denoting knowledge of God, in respect to the specific fact that He is God over the world. Then when you receive unveiling (kaslíf) in respect to works set down in the Law (al'amal al-mashru"), you will see that you did not know Him except through Him. The denotation (dalil) is identical to what is denoted through that denotation and denoter.

197.17 Though this Presence comprehends all realities, the states which pertain to it most specifically are bewilderment (bayra), worship ('ibada), and the profession of Incomparability (tanzib). As for Incomparability, which is the fact that He stands high above similarity (tasbabbuh) with His creatures, it leads to bewilderment in Him and also to worship. God gave us the power of reflection (quwwat al-fikr) so that we might speculate (nazar) upon what we know of ourselves and of Him. The property of this power demands that there be no likeness (mumathala) between us and Him in any respect, except specifically our dependence (istinad) upon Him for the bestowal of existence upon our entities. The most that the profession of Incomparability gives is the affirmation of relations (nisab) that He possesses toward us, because of what the concomitantants of our entities' existence demands. These relations are called Attributes.

197.21 If we say that these relations are things superadded to His Essence, that they are ontological (wujudi), and that He possesses no perfection except through them—even were He not to have them—this would mean that He is imperfect in essence but perfect through the superadded ontological thing.⁹⁰

197.22 If we say,"They [the relations] are neither He nor other than He," this would be a contradictory statement (kbulf min al- kalam), words with no life that denote a deficiency of intelligence and a lack of speculative power in the speaker far more than they denote God's Incomparability.

197.24 If I say that they are not He, that they have no existence, and that they are only relations, while relations are nonexistent things (umür 'adamtyya), then we would have given nonexistence an effect within existence, while the relations are multiple because of the multiplicity of the properties bestowed by the entities of the possible things.

197.25 If we say none of this whatsoever, we will have rendered the speculative power ineffectual (mu'attal).

197.25 If we say that nothing has any reality, that things are illusions (awbam) and sophistry (safsata) and of no avail, and that no one can trust any of them, whether [they are known] by way of sense perception or rational reflection—then if this position is correct and known, what is the proof (dalil) that can have led us to it? If it is not correct, how can we know that it is not correct?

197.28 Since the intellect is incapable of reaching knowledge of any of these matters, we return to the Law (al-sbar'), but we only accept it through the intellect. The Law is a branch (far') of a root (asl) that we know through the Lawgiver (shari''). But through which attribute has the existence of the Law reached us, when we are incapable of knowing the root? So we are even more incapable of [knowing] and affirming the branch.

If we pretend to be blind and accept the Lawgiver's words through faith in something self-evident (dari) within ourselves which we cannot repel, we will hear him attributing to God things depreciated by speculative proofs. No matter which proof we grasp hold of, another stands opposed to it. If we interpret (ta'awwul) what he has brought, we will be taking it back to rational speculation. Hence we will have worshipped our own intellects and based His Being upon our existence; but He cannot be perceived by reasoning (qiyas).

So the fact that we have professed God's Incomparability has taken us to bewilderment, since all the paths are muddled (tasbawwush). Both intellectual and Law-inspired speculation lead to a single center, which is bewilderment.⁹² 197.33 As for worship: In respect of its being directed at the Essence it is nothing but the possible thing's poverty (Iftiqdr) toward Him who gives preponderance (al-murajjib [i.e., to existence over nonexistence]). I mean by worship only prescription (taklif); no one can have prescriptions made for him unless he has power over the acts that are prescribed for him and over the prohibited things from which he must hold himself back. In one respect, we negate acts from created things and give them back to Him who has made the prescriptions; but a thing cannot prescribe for itself, so there must be a locus that receives the address (kbitab) for it to be correct. In another respect we affirm acts for created things because of what the wisdom in prescription demands. But negation stands opposed to affirmation, so this view throws us into bewilderment, as did the profession of Incomparability. But bewilderment yields nothing.

198.2 So rational speculation leads to bewilderment and theophany leads to bewilderment. There is nothing but a bewildered one. There is nothing exercising properties but bewilderment. There is nothing but Allah.

198.3 When one of them was faced in his inmost consciousness (sirr) with all these conflicting properties, he used to say, "Oh bewilderment! Oh confusion! Oh conflagration that cannot be fathomed!" This property does not belong to any Presence but the Presence of the Name Allah.

at the End of Time

The Mahdi's Helpers' Chapter 366

The title of Chapter 366 of the Futùbât is “Concerning inner knowledge of the stage of the Helpers of the Mahdi appearing at the end of time...” The primary focus of this chapter is the distinctive set of spiritual qualities and capacities marking a particular spiritual stage (manzil)—characteristics which Ibn Arabi finds symbolized in the various hadith concerning the eschatological role of the Mahdi and his “Helpers” or “Ministers,” but which he insists are already realized by those saints (awliya' who have attained this degree of spiritual realization, who have already reached the “end of time.” In a broader metaphysical perspective, as he indicates allusively in the poem introducing this chapter, all those characteristics are in fact essential aspects of the ongoing divine governance of this world in its microcosmic, individual human dimensions, especially in the spiritual judgment or authority (walaya) of the saints as it is realized inwardly or more rarely, manifested outwardly and officially in the functions of religious judges or in the case of the Prophet (who preeminently combined the roles of the Mahdi and his Helpers). The two principal, complementary aspects of Ibn Arabi's treatment of this stage and its associated functions are clearly relevant to the spiritual life of every individual. The first is the question of divine “communication” (in all its manifestations, but with special attention to the central role of the Qur'an and the "heritage" of the Prophet Mubammad) and the decisive role of each person's unique and radically varying receptivity or sensitivity to that deeper dimension of reality. The second is the "application" of that communication—which, for Ibn 'Arabi, obviously includes, but is by no means limited to, the familiar external forms of Islamic law and tradition—in guiding our spiritual and communal life. Especially striking, in regard to this latter point, are the Shaykh's recurrent, sometimes pointed allusions to the distance separating the historical, limited conception of the Sharia' shared by many of the 'ulama' in the popular sense of that term (i.e., the Islamic jurists and theologians) and the deeper; more challenging perennial reality of its demands and presuppositions as understood by the awliya', whom Ibn 'Arabi consistently regards as the true "knowers" and "authorities" (wulat) of the Community.

The treatment of these questions in this chapter is often subtle and highly allusive, no doubt partly because of the potentially controversial nature of Ibn Arabi's broader understanding—largely only implicit in this chapter—of the relations between the inspiration and spiritual authority underlying the "judgments" of the Prophet, saints, and the mass of jurists and theologians "learned in the external forms" ("ulama' al-rusum"). As a result, it provides a remarkable illustration of his typical methods of esoteric writing, in which each reader's perceptions of the apparent content, aims and unifying structure of the work will necessarily differ radically according to his own particular intentions and sensitivities. At the same time, it constitutes an excellent introduction to the principles underlying Ibn 'Arabi's complex understanding of the practical interrelations between spiritual realization and the historical forms of Islamic tradition—a perspective which clearly transcends the usual stereotyped (and often polemic or apologetic) conceptions of those questions.

There should be no need to stress the wider significance of each of these issues throughout Ibn 'Arabis' writings. But what lends this chapter its special impact and dramatic interest are its primary focus on the experiential sources of Ibn 'Arabis' key insights, his frequent autobiographical remarks (including a number of references to his own self-conception of his role as the unique "Seal of Mubammadan Satnthood") and colorful anecdotes based on his encounters with other Sufis—illustrative materials that provide an essential phenomenological complement to the better-known metaphysical and doctrinal aspects of his teaching, while at the same time pointing to some of its indispensable practical presuppositions.

The Relation between the Mahdi and His Helpers ^{5}

...Know—may God support us!—that God has a viceregent (kbalifa) who will come forth when the earth has become filled with injustice and oppression, and will then fill it with justice and equity. Even if there were only one day left for this world, God would lengthen it so that he [i.e., the Mahdi] could rule.... He will wipe out injustice and its people and uphold Religion (al-Din), and he will breathe the spirit back into Islam. He will reinvigorate Islam after its degradation and bring it back to life after its death. He will levy the poll tax and call [mankind] to God with the sword, so that whoever refuses will be killed, and whoever opposes him will be forsaken.

He will manifest Religion as it [really] is in Itself, the Religion by which the Messenger of God would judge and rule if he were there. He will eliminate the different schools [of religious law] so that only the Pure Religion remains, and his enemies will be those who follow blindly the'ulama' the people of tjtihad, because they will see the Mahdi judging differently from the way followed by their imams [i.e., the historical founders of the schools of Islamic law]. So they will only accept the Mahdi's authority grudgingly and against their will, because of their fear of his sword and his strength, and because they covet [the power and wealth] that he possesses. But the common people of the Muslims and the greater part of the elite among them will rejoice in him, while the true Knowers of God among the People of the [spiritual] Realities will pledge allegiance to him because of God's directly informing them [of the Mahdi's true nature and mission], through [inner] unveiling and immediate witnessing.

He will have divine men upholding his call [to the true Religion] and aiding him in his victory; they are the Helpers (wuzara'). They will bear the burdens of [his] government and help him to carry out all the details of [the duty] God has imposed on him.

[...¹⁰] God will appoint as His ministers a group [of spiritual men] whom He has kept hidden for him in the secret recesses of His Unseen [i.e., the spiritual world]. God has acquainted [these Helpers], through unveiling and immediate witnessing, with the [Divine] Realities and the contents of God's Command concerning His servants. So the Mahdi makes his decisions and judgments on the basis of consultation with them, since they are the true Knowers, who really know what is There [in the Divine Reality]. As for the Mahdi himself, he has a sword [in the service of the] Truth and a [divinely inspired] political policy (styása), [since] he knows from God the exact extent of what is required by his rank and station; for he is a rightly guided Viceregent [of God], one who understands the language of animals, whose justice extends to both men and jinn.¹¹

Among the secrets of the knowledge of the Mahdi's Helpers whom God has appointed as ministers for Him is His saying:"The victorious support of the men of faith is obligatory for Us", for they follow in the footsteps of those men among the Companions [of the Prophet] who sincerely fulfilled what they had pledged to God. These Helpers are from the non-Arab peoples; none of them is Arab, although they speak only Arabic. And they have a guardian, not of their kind, who never disobeys God at all, he is the most elect of the Helpers and the most excellent of [the Mahdi's] Trusted Ones.

Now in this verse —which the Helpers take as their constant prayer [by day] and their inseparable companion at night—God has given them the most excellent knowledge of true sincerity (sidq), as their inner state and direct experience. So they know that true sincerity is God's sword on earth: God always gives His victorious support (nasr) to whoever stands up for someone [in the divine cause] while being distinguished by this true sincerity....

The long following passage (three 328.18 to 329.25) is devoted to a detailed analysis, at once psychological and metaphysical, of this inner condition of sidq or pure spiritual intention (himma), which Ibn 'Arabî sees as one of the distinguishing signs of the biggest forms of true faith in God, and to its natural effect of divine "victorious support" (nasr). Thus "the truly faithful person whose faith is perfect is forever divinely supported (mansur), which is why no prophet or saint is ever defeated" (three 329.9). To be sure, for Ibn 'Arabi this divine support and triumph flows from the saint's inner realization of pure and unquestioning identification with what is required by the divine Will and purpose, not necessarily with what might be considered a worldly "victory" from external, less enlightened points of view.

... Now since the rightly guided Imam (Mabdi) knows this [i.e., the victorious divine support flowing from the sincerity of perfect faith], he acts accordingly and is the most truly sincere of the people of his time. So his Helpers are the guides (al-budat), while he is the rightly guided one (al-mabdi). And this is the extent of what the Mahdi attains of the knowledge of God, with the aid of his Helpers.

But as for the Seal of Muhammad an Sainthood, of all the creatures he is the one who knows God best: there is no one in his own time nor after his time who better knows God and the details of His Judgment (mawaqi' al-bukm minhu).¹⁶ For he and the Qur'an are brothers,¹⁷ just as the Mahdi and the sword are brothers.

[... ] You should know that I am uncertain about the length of this Mahdi's rule, because as far as this world is concerned I have not sought God's verification of that, nor have I asked Him to specify that or any other temporal happening among the engendered realities [of this world] —except for whatever God happens to teach me spontaneously, without my seeking it. For I am afraid that during the time when I am asking God to inform me about some engendered or temporal thing I will miss out on some portion of my awareness of Him. So instead I have surrendered my affair to God in His kingdom (mulk, that is, in this world), letting Him do with me as He pleases. And indeed I have seen a number of the people of God (i.e., the Sufis) seeking to obtain from Him the knowledge of temporal, engendered happenings, and especially trying to become acquainted with the Imam of [this] time. But I was ashamed to do that, and afraid that [my lower, bodily] nature would rob me [of my knowledge of God] if I were to associate with them while they were in that state.

So I asked God only that He grant me stability in a single sort of knowledge of Him, even though I be constantly transformed in my [inner] states. And He did not refuse me...

Ibn Arabi concludes this section by recapitulating, in a beautiful poetic "dialogue with God" too long to translate in its entirety here, his discovery of one of the central spiritual insights of his work: the paradoxical fact that this continual transformation of the Heart (fully perceived only by the true Knowers) is itself the perpetually renewed theopbany of the noetic "Realities," in no way contradicting the transcendent Unity of the divine Essence. "So when I asked [God] that question [about the apparent conflict between the divine Unity and the multiplicity of theophanies in our experience], He showed me my ignorance and said to me: 'Are you not content that you are like Me?'"

The Characteristics of the Spiritual Station of the “Helpers” ^{21}

Now I do know what [spiritual qualities] are needed by the Mahdi's Helper. So if there is only one Helper, then everything he needs is united in that one person, and if they are more than one, then there are not more than nine of them, since that was the limit of the uncertainty the Messenger of God expressed in his saying concerning the rule of the Mahdi, that it was "for five, seven, or nine years." And the totality of what he needs to have performed for him by his Helpers are nine things; there is not a tenth, nor can they be any fewer....

Ibn 'Arabi then briefly enumerates the nine characteristics described in detail in the rest of this chapter (using the phrases given in quotation marks at the beginning of each section), and again insists that all nine of these qualities are required by the Helpers, no matter what their exact number may be. However, the Helpers themselves are not mentioned in the rest of the chapter, where these spiritual attributes are instead attributed directly to the "Imam," "Imam of the Age," "Rightly guided Imam," etcetera—or else to the saints or accomplished Sufis more generally.

1. As for “penetrating vision,” that is so that his praying to God may be “with [clear] inward vision concerning what he requests in his prayer, not Him to whom the prayer is addressed. So he regards the inner essence ('ayn) of each [Divine Reality or Name] to Whom he is praying and sees what is possible for Him to do in response to his prayer, and then he prays to Him for that, even if it be by way of special pleading.

As for those things where he sees that [God] will not [ordinarily] respond to his prayer, he prays to Him, without any special pleading, to carry out [for him] the divine Argument (bujja) in this special case, since the Mahdi is God's Argument for the people of his time, and that (i.e., his function as bujja) is part of the rank of the prophets and participates in that rank. God said:" [Say: "This is my path:] I pray to God with inward vision, I and whoever follows me'". [God] reported that [to us] through His Prophet, and the Mahdi is among"those who follow him," because the Prophet does not err in his praying to God, nor does the person who follows him, since he follows the trace of [the Prophet's] footsteps. And that is what appears in the [hadith] report describing the Mahdi, that the Prophet said:"He follows in the trace of my footsteps, and he does not err." This is the [inner state of] immunity from error ('isma) in praying to God, and it is attained by many of the saints, or indeed by all of them.

Among the attributes of this “penetrating vision” are that the person possessing it sees the luminous and fiery spirits [i.e., the angels and the jinn] without those spirits themselves wanting to appear or take on a form [for that person]....

Ibn 'Arabî illustrates this ability with a story about Ibn 'Abbas and 'A'isha, who both saw a stranger conversing with the Prophet and subsequently learned that they had actually seen the angel Gabriel.

Likewise [as a result of this special vision] they perceive the men of the Unseen even when they want to be veiled and not to appear to [ordinary human] vision. And it is also [characteristic] of this penetrating vision that if the spiritual meanings (ma'ant) take on bodily form, then they recognize [the underlying realities] in those very forms, and they know without any hesitation which spiritual meaning it is that became embodied [in that particular form].

2. Now as for “understanding the divine address when it is delivered,” this is [summarized] in His saying: “And it was not for any mortal man that God should speak to him except through inspiration or from behind a veil or He sends a messenger”.

So as for the divine address “through inspiration” (waby) that is what He delivers to their hearts as something newly reported [to them], so that through this they gain knowledge of some particular matter, that is, of what is contained in that new report. But if it does not happen in that way [i.e., as something received from outside oneself], then it is not a [divine] inspiration or address. For instance, some people [may] find in their hearts the knowledge of something of the necessary forms of knowledge among people in general. That is genuine knowledge, but it is not obtained from a [particular divine] address (kbltâb), and our discussion is only concerned with that form of divine address which is called “inspiration” (waby)....

And as for His saying "or from behind a veil," that is a divine address delivered to the [person's] hearing and not to the heart, so that the person to whom it is delivered perceives it and then understands from that what was intended by the One Who caused him to hear it. Sometimes that happens through the forms of theophany, in which case that [particular] divine form addresses the person, and that form itself is the veil. Then [the person having this condition of spiritual insight] understands from that divine address the knowledge of what it indicates, and he knows that [this theophanic form] is a veil and that the Speaker [i.e., God] is behind that veil.

Of course, not everyone who perceives a form of the divine theophany realizes that that form is God. For the person possessing this state [of spiritual insight] is only distinguished from other men by the fact that he recognizes that that form, although it is a “veil,” is itself precisely God's theophany for him.³⁷

And as for His saying, "or He sends a messenger," that is [the divine address] He sends down with an angel or that is brought to us by the mortal human messenger when either sort of messenger conveys "God's Speech" in this particular way [i.e., perceived as an individual “address” coming directly from God].... But if either sort of messenger [simply] conveys or gives expression to knowledge that he found [already] in his soul [and not as a distinct message given him by God], then that is not Divine Speech [in this particular sense].

Now it may happen that the messenger and the form [of the message] occur together, as in the very act of writing [the revealed Book]. For the Book is a messenger, and it is also the veil over the Speaker [i.e., God], so that it causes you to understand what It brought. But that [i.e., the divinely revealed nature of the Book] would not be so if the messenger wrote on the basis of his own knowledge: it is only the case if the messenger wrote on the basis of a [divine] report (badith) addressed to him in those very words he writes down, and when it is not like that then it is not [divine] speech. This is the general rule....

So all of this [i.e., all three forms of theophanic perception] is part of the divine address directed to the person who possesses this [spiritual] station.

3. As for “the knowledge of how to translate from God,” that belongs to every person to whom God speaks through inspiration (waby) or the delivery [of a particular divine address, ilqa], since [in such cases] the translator is the one who creates the forms of the spoken or written letters he brings into existence, while the spirit of those forms is God's Speech and nothing else.⁴⁰ But if someone “translates”[into words] from [their own, non-inspired] knowledge, then they are inevitably not a “translator” [in this inspired sense]....

Ibn Arabi goes on (333.1 to 10) to distinguish carefully between this state of inspired vision which is typical of the perception of the saints and "people of inner unveiling" (ahl al-kashf), on the one hand, and the purely theoretical references by "those who are learned in the outward appearances" ("ulama al-rusum) to the "language of states" (lisan al-hal) in their interpretations of Qur'anic references to the "speech" of what we ordinarily call inanimate objects, such as minerals. The former group, who directly experience the living, theophanic nature of all beings, are able to see for themselves that "everything other than God really is alive and speaking, in the very nature of things," while the latter group "are veiled by the thickest of veils."

...Thus there is nothing in the world but translator, if it is translated from divine Speaking. So understand that.

4. As for “appointing the [various] ranks of the holders of authority,” that is the knowledge of what each rank [of judge or administrator of the religious law] rightfully requires [in order to assure the] kinds of welfare for which it was created. The person possessing this knowledge looks at the soul of the person whom he wants to place in a position of authority and weighs the appropriateness of that person for that rank. If he sees that there is the right equilibrium between the person and the post, without any excess or deficiency, then he gives him that authority, and if the person is overqualified there is no harm in that. But if the person is inadequate to the position he does not entrust him with that authority, because he lacks the knowledge that would qualify him for that rank, so that he would inevitably commit injustice.

For this [inner ignorance of the true reality of the Sharia] is the root of all injustice in the holders of authority, since we hold it to be impossible that someone could [truly] know [a particular divine command] and then deviate from the judgment [required by] his knowledge all at once. This is something that is considered possible by those learned in the external forms, although we ourselves consider that this"possible" thing never actually occurs in reality; it is indeed a difficult question.

Now it is because of this [inner knowledge of men's souls and the true divine commands] that the Mahdi"fills the world with justice and equity," just as"it was filled with injustice and oppression." Because in our view [true spiritual] knowledge necessarily and inevitably implies action [in accordance with it], and if it does not do so, then it is not really knowledge, even if it appears in the [outward] form of knowledge....

Ibn 'Arabî goes on to discuss at some length the importance for the Mahdi as for any wise ruler—to appoint judges and authorities who not only have the right [formal] knowledge of the appropriate provisions of the religious law, but in whom that knowledge also fully controls their own personal prejudices, so that they will always act according to their knowledge.

5. As for “mercy in anger,” that is only in the divinely prescribed penalties (al-budad al-masbraa) and punishment, since in everything else [i.e., in merely human affairs] there is anger without any mercy at all....For if a human being gets angry of his own accord, his anger does not contain mercy in any respect; but if he becomes angry for God's sake [i.e., in fulfilling the divine commandments], then his anger is God's Anger and God's Anger is never free from being mixed with divine Mercy....Because (God's) Mercy, since it preceded [His] Anger, entirely covers all engendered being and extends to every thing (Qur'an 7:156)....⁴⁷

Therefore this Mahdi does not become angry except for God's sake, so that his anger does not go beyond [what is required in] upholding God's limits that He has prescribed; this is just the opposite of the [ordinary] person who becomes angry because of his own desires for [something happening] contrary to his own personal aims. And likewise the person who becomes angry [only] for God's sake can only be just and equitable, not tyrannical and unjust.

Now a sign of whoever [rightfully] lays claim to this spiritual station is that if he becomes angry for God's sake while acting in judgment and upholding the [divinely prescribed] penalty against the person with whom he is angry, then his anger disappears once he has finished fulfilling [that religious duty]—[to the extent that] sometimes he may even go up to the [condemned] person and embrace him and be friendly with him, saying to him "Praise be to God Who has purified you!" and openly showing his happiness and pleasure with him. And sometimes [the condemned man] also becomes friendly with [his judge] after that, for this [inner fulfillment and realization of the divine commands] is God's Scale [of Justice], and all of [God's Mercy] comes back to that condemned man....

Ibn Arabi proceeds to illustrate this phenomenon with the story (three 334.2 to 8) of a personal acquaintance who frequented the same masters of hadith in the city of Ceuta, a highly respected and unusually modest religious judge (qadi) who was famous for his rare charismatic ability (baraka) to establish peace among feuding parties or tribes—an ability Ibn 'Arabî attributes to his extreme conscientiousness and concern for maintaining only a disinterested, "divine point of view" in his inner relation to his legal duties. This leads him to take up the broader divine standards of judgment (ahkâm) regarding all of our actions, especially their inner spiritual aspect.

This [necessary attention to the spiritual sources and repercussions of all our actions] is also [expressed] in God's saying:"...and then We test your records [of your actions]". For first of all He tests [mankind] with regard to the obligations He has imposed on them [i.e., according to the first half of the same verse: "And surely We test you until We know those of you who make every effort and are patient..."); and if they have acted [in accordance with the divine commands], then their actions are tested as to whether they have acted for the sake of the Truth (al-Haqq) or instead for some other end. Likewise it is this [inner spiritual judgment that is expressed] in God's saying:"On the Day when the innermost selves are tested". For the people of inner unveiling hold this [i.e., the judgment of each soul's innermost being, the sariva] to be God's Scale [of Justice]. Therefore the judge, whenever he is carrying out the [divine] penalties, must not forget to examine his own soul in order to guard against the feelings of vengeance and aggression that happen to souls [in such situations]....

Here Ibn 'Arabî continues to explain how the above-mentioned qadi in Ceuta was always careful to examine his conscience in this way, even when his emotions of anger or vengeance did not derive directly from the case actually before him. In fact, he concludes, the moral and spiritual factors involved in each case are so complex that the responsibility of judgment—in the ultimate, all-inclusive sense of that term—can only belong to God or those rare individuals divinely "appointed" for this role.⁵¹

So you must know that God has not appointed anyone but the judge to carry out the penalty against [the guilty person]. Therefore no one [else] should be angry with the person who transgresses God's limits, since that [i.e., the responsibility of anger in imposing the divine penalties] only belongs to the judges in particular, and to God's Messenger insofar as he is a judge. For if [the Messenger] were only communicating [the divine Message] and not judging, then he would not carry out the [divine] Anger against those who reject his call. That matter [i.e., their response, insofar as he is simply a Messenger] does not involve him at all, and he is not responsible for their being rightly guided.

Thus God says to the Messenger concerning this matter:"You are only responsible for communicating [the divine Message]". So [the Prophet] communicated, and God caused whomever He wished to listen and caused whomever He wished to be deaf, and they—that is, the prophets—are the most self-restrained of men. For [even] if the [prophetic] caller were [fully] revealed to the person whom God has made deaf to his call, that person would still not hear the call and would not be changed because of that. And if the [prophet who is] calling out brought together those thus deafened, so that they knew that they did not hear his cry, that would still not help him [to convince them], and he would acknowledge their excuse.

Therefore if the Messenger acted as judge (bákim), that was [only because] he was made specifically responsible for the judgment that God had specified for him in that case. And this is a sublime knowledge required by everyone on earth who has authority over [this] world.⁵⁴

6a. As for “the forms of [spiritual] sustenance (arzaq) needed by the ruler,” this [requires] that he know the kinds of worlds, which are only two—i.e., by “world” I mean the worlds in which this Imam's influence (bukm) is effective, which are the world of [physical] forms and the world of the souls governing those forms with regard to their physical movements and activities. As for what is beyond those two kinds [i.e., the worlds of the angelic spirits and the jinn], he has no influence over them except for those, such as [individuals in] the world of the jinn, who wish for him to have influence over their souls.

But as for the luminous world [of the angelic spirits], they are beyond this mortal human world's having any authority over them, for each individual among them has a known station determined for him by his Lord, so that he does not descend [to this earth] except with the permission of his Lord (Qur'an 97:4). Thus whoever wants one of them to be sent down to him must turn to his Lord [in praying] for that, and his Lord [may] order [that angel] and give him permission to do that, in compliance with that person's request—or He may send down an angel of His own accord.

As for the “travelers” among the angels, their station is known (Qur'an 37:163), since they are constantly traveling around seeking the sessions of dbikr.⁹⁹ So “when they find the people of dbikr”—who are the people of the Qur'an, those who are [truly] recalling the Qur'an to the power of 90—they do not give precedence to anyone from the sessions of dbikr of those who are recalling [something] other than the Qur'an. But if they do not find people recalling the Qur'an and they do find people recalling God—not just reciting—then they come to sit with them and “they call out to each other: 'Come quickly to what you all desire!'” because that [remembrance of God] is their sustenance; through it they flourish and in it they have their life.

Now since the Imam knows that, he always keeps a group of people reciting the Signs of God throughout the night and the day. And we ourselves, when we were in Fez in the lands of the Maghreb, used to follow this practice, thanks to the agreement of companions favored by God, who listened to us and readily followed our counsel. But when we no longer had them [with us] we thereby lost this pure [spiritual] work, which is the noblest and most sublime of the forms of [spiritual] sustenance.

So when we no longer had [companions] like those men, we began to take up the diffusion of knowledge, because of those [angelic] spirits whose food is [spiritual] knowledge. And we saw that there was not a single thing we set forth that did not spring from this Source that is sought by this spiritual kind [of angels], which is the Qur'an. Hence everything about which we speak, both in my [teaching] sessions and in my writings, comes only from the presence of the Qur'an and its treasures. I was given the keys of its understanding and divine support (imdad) from It—all of this so that we might not swerve from It.

For this is the loftiest [spiritual knowledge] that can be bestowed on one, and no one can know its full worth except for the person who has actually tasted it in experience and directly witnessed its rank as a [spiritual] state within himself, the person to whom the True One (al-Haqq) has spoken it in his innermost being (sirr). For when it is the True One Who speaks to His servant in his innermost being after all the intermediaries have been lifted away —then the understanding is immediate and inseparable from His speaking to you, so that the [divine] speaking itself is identical with your understanding of it. The understanding does not follow after it—and if it does come after it, then that is not God's speaking.

Thus whoever does not find this [immediate spiritual understanding within himself] does not have [true] knowledge of God's speaking to His servants. And if God should speak to him through the veil of a form—whether with the tongue of a prophet or whoever else in the world He may wish—then the understanding of that [divine] speech may accompany it or it may come later. So this is the difference between the two [i.e., between direct divine inspiration and its mediated transmission].

6b. The role of the Mahdi—or rather of the “Innam of the Time”—with regard to “the sensible forms of divine sustenance” concerns his unique, divinely inspired ability (resembling that of the Prophet) to decide what material goods of this world should rightfully “belong” to each believer, since individuals can only be at best the temporary “owners” (or more properly speaking, “custodians”) of those earthly goods. “Since everything in the world is divine sustenance and part of 'What God has left,' the Imam judges with regard to (allocating) it in accordance with the judgment (bukm) God sends down to him concerning it.” In the meanwhile, Ibn 'Arabi advises, we should act “according to the divine commandment which the divinely prescribed law (shar') has conveyed to us,” while abstaining from judgment in all other cases.

7. As for the “knowledge of the interpenetration of things”..., that [reality] inwardly penetrates and informs all the practical and intellectual crafts. Therefore if the Imam knows this, he will not be bothered by doubt and uncertainty in his judgments. For this [precise inner awareness of the interpenetration of spiritual and manifest reality] is the Scale [of divine justice] in the world, both in sensible things and in the inner spiritual meanings (na'ani). So the rational, responsible person behaves according to that Scale in both worlds—and indeed in every matter where he has control over his actions.

But as for those who judge in accordance with the divine inspiration (waby) that [God] has sent down, those to whom [that inspiration] has been delivered (abl al-ilqa)²³ among the [prophetic] Messengers and those like them [i.e., the saints], they did not depart from [their inner awareness of] this interpenetration [of spiritual and material being]. Thus God made them the receptacle (of revelation) for that part of His judgment concerning His servants which he delivered to them, [as] He said: “The Faithful Spirit brought down (the revelation) upon your heart” (Qur'an 26:193 to 94), and “He sends down the angels with the Spirit from His Command upon whomever He wishes among His servants” (Qur'an 16:2).

Therefore every judgment [or command: bukm] concerning the world that is made manifest through a [divine] Messenger is the outcome of a “spiritual marriage”;⁷⁴ this [essential spiritual inspiration underlying the judgment] is not in the textual indications and not in those who judge on the basis of analogy (qiyas).⁷⁵ Hence it is incumbent on the Imam that he know what is [learned] through being sent down by God [through divine inspiration] and what is [ordinarily supposed] through analogy. However the Mahdi does not know this—I mean the knowledge acquired by analogy—in order to pass judgment according to it, but only so that he can avoid it! For the Mahdi only judges according to what the angel delivers to him from what is with God (Qur'an 2:89, etcetera), [the inspiration] God has sent him in order to guide him rightly.

So that is the true Muhammadan Sbar superscript 76—the one such that Muhammad, if he were alive [on earth] and that particular case were presented to him, would pass judgment on it in exactly the same way as this Imam. For God will teach him [by inspiration] that this is the Muhammadan Sbar' and will therefore forbid him [to follow judgments arrived at by] analogical reasoning, despite the existence of the textual indications God has bestowed on him. And this is why God's Messenger said, in describing the Mahdi, that"He follows in the trace of my footsteps, and he makes no mistake." Through this he informed us that [the Mahdi] is a follower [of the Prophet], not one who is followed [i.e., not a Messenger with a new revealed Law], and that he is [divinely] protected from error (ma'sum) —since the only [possible] meaning of someone's being protected from error is that they do not make mistakes. Thus if the Messenger [i.e., Muhammad] pronounced a judgment [in some matter], no mistake is ascribed to him, since “be does not speak from passion, but it is only an inspiration [wahy] inspired in him”; and likewise analogical reasoning is not permissible in a place where the Messenger is to be found.

Now the Prophet does exist and is to be found [here and now] with the People of Unveiling, and therefore they only take their [inspired understanding of the appropriate divine] judgment from him. This is the reason why the truthful and sincere faqir doesn't depend on any [legal] school: he is with the Messenger [i.e., Muhammad] alone, whom he directly witnesses, just as the Messenger is with the divine inspiration (waby) that is sent down to him. Thus the notification of the [appropriate divine] judgment concerning the particular events and cases is sent down from God to the hearts of the truthful and sincere true knowers, [informing them] that this is the judgment of the Shar' that was sent with the Messenger of God.

But those adhering to knowledge of the external forms [of religious tradition] do not have this [spiritual] rank, because of their having devoted themselves to their love for [prominent social] position, the domination of others, [furthering] their precedence over God's servants and [insuring that] the common people need them. Hence they do not prosper with regard to their souls, nor shall one prosper through [following] them. This is the [inner] condition of the jurists (fuqaba') of [our] time, those who desire to be appointed to posts as judges, notaries, inspectors or professors. As for those of them who cunningly hide themselves in [the guise of] Religion (al-din) —those who hunch their shoulders and look at people furtively, with a pretense of humility; who move their lips as though in dhikr, so that the person looking at them will know they are performing dhikr; who speak obscurely and in an affected manner—they are dominated by the weaknesses of the carnal self and “their hearts are the hearts of wolves,” [so that] God does not [speak to them [nor] look at them (Qur'an 3:77 to 78).⁸⁴ This is the condition of those among them who make a show of religion—not those who are the companions of Satan (Qur'an 4:38; 43:36). These [outwardly pious hypocrites] "dressed up for the people in the skins of gentle sheep"⁸⁵: [they are] brothers outwardly and enemies inwardly and secretly. But God will examine them and take them by their forelocks (Qur'an 55:41; 96:15 to 16) to that [level of Hell] which contains their happiness.⁸⁶

Thus when the Mahdi comes forth [to establish justice in the world] he has no open enemy (Qur'an 2:188, etcetera) except for the jurists in particular. For then they will no longer have any power of domination and will not be distinguished from the mass of common people, and they will only keep a slight knowledge of [the divine] commandment, since the differences concerning the commandments will be eliminated in this world because of the existence of this Imam.

However, if the Mahdi did not have the sword [of worldly authority] in his hand, then the jurists would all deliver legal opinions [demanding] that he be killed. But instead [as stated in the hadith]"God will bring him forth with the sword and noble character" and they will be greedy [for his support] and fearful, so that they will [outwardly] accept his judgment without having any faith in it; indeed they will grudgingly conceal their disagreement, just as do [the two legal schools of] the Hanafites and Shafiites concerning those matters where they disagree. For in fact it has been reported to us that the followers of these two schools in the lands of the non-Arabs [i.e., ee-rahn and Transoxiana] are constantly fighting one another and that a great many people of both groups have died—that [they go to such extremes that] they even break the fast during the month of Ramadan in order to be stronger for their battles.

So people like this, if the Imam-Mahdi did not conquer with the sword, would not pay any attention to him and would not obey him [even] in their outward actions, just as they do not obey him in their hearts. In fact what they [really] believe about him if he makes a judgment involving them that is contrary to their school, is that he has gone astray with regard to that judgment, because they believe that the period of the people of ijtihad has ended [long ago], that there remains no mujtabid in the world and that after the death of their [founding] imams God has not brought anyone into existence in the world with the rank of ijtibad.

And as for the person who claims to be divinely informed about the judgments prescribed by the Shar', for [these jurists] such a person is a madman whose imagination has gone wild, and they would pay no attention to him. But if such a person happens to possess wealth and worldly power (sultan), then they will submit to him outwardly because of their coveting his wealth and their fear of his power, although inwardly they have no faith in him at all.

8. Now as for “striving to one's utmost and going to any length to satisfy the needs of mankind” that is especially incumbent upon the Imam in particular, even more than [it is] for the rest of the people. For God only gave him precedence over His [other] creatures and appointed him as their Imam so that he could strive to achieve what is beneficial for them. This striving and what results from it are both prodigious....

In the intervening passage Ibn'Arabi illustrates the essential theme of this section—that it is above all by striving for the welfare of others, in the midst of the responsibilities of"ordinary" life, and not in seeking to obtain what one imagins to be special powers or experiences for oneself, that the individual is most likely to reach the highest spiritual stages —with the Qur'anic account of Moses' having unintentionally discovered God, without consciously looking for Him, precisely in the theophanic form of the burning bush he was seeking in order to warm his family. For Ibn'Arabi, who repeatedly insists on the fact that Moses was only seeking to fulfill the needs of his family,"this verse constitutes an admonition from God [tanbib min al-Haqq] concerning the value of this [spiritual virtue] for God."

Now the activities of all of the just Imams are only for the sake of others, not for their own sake. Hence if you see a ruler busying himself with something other than his subjects and their needs, then you should know that his [high] rank has cut him off from this activity [of true leadership], so that there is no [real] difference between him and the mass of common people (al-'amina)....

And Khadir... was also like this. He was in an army, and the commander of the army sent him to explore for water for them, since they were in need of water. That was how he fell into the Fountain of Life and drank from it, so that he has remained living up until now, for he was not aware [before setting out on his search] of that Life through which God distinguishes the person who drinks of that Water...,⁹³ since this Fountain of Life [is] Water through which God distinguishes with [spiritual] Life the person who drinks that Water. Then he returned to his companions and told them about the water, and all the people rushed off toward that place in order to drink from it. But God turned their sight away from it so that they were not capable of [attaining] it. And this is what resulted for him from his striving for the sake of others.

...Thus no one knows what is their rank with God, because absolutely all of their actions are for the sake of God, not for their own sake, since they prefer God to what their [bodily and psychic] nature demands.

9. As for “possessing the knowledge of the Unseen (“ilm al-ghayb) that he requires for [rightly governing] this engendered world in particular during a particular period of time,” this is the ninth matter which the Imam requires for his leadership, and there are no [others] besides these.

This is because God informed [us] concerning Himself that "every Day He is tn an affair" (Qur'an 55:29), and that "affair" is whatever the state of the world is that day.

Now obviously when that “affair” becomes manifest in [external] existence [everyone] recognizes that it is known by whoever witnesses it. But this Imam, because of this matter [i.e., his inspired foreknowledge of events], is well-informed by God (al-Haqq) concerning those affairs which He wishes to bring into temporal being before they actually occur in [external] existence. For he is informed about that affair on the “day” before it occurs. So if that affair contains something beneficial for his subjects he thanks God and remains silent about it. But if it contains a punishment [in the form of] the sending down of some widespread affliction or one aimed at certain specific persons, then he implores God on their behalf, intercedes [with Him] and begs [Him]. So God, in His Mercy and Bounty, averts that affliction from them [before it actually happens] and answers [the Mahdi's] prayer and petition.⁹⁶ This is why God (first of all) informs him about [each event] before it occurs to his fellows in actual existence. Then after that God informs him, with regard to those “affairs,” about the [particular] events that will occur to [specific] individuals and specifies for him those individuals with all their outward particularities, so that if he should see those individuals [in the material world] he would not doubt that they were exactly the one he saw [in this inspired vision]. And finally God informs him about the divinely prescribed judgment appropriate for that event, the [same standard of] judgment which God prescribed for His Prophet Muhammad to apply in judging that event.” Hence he only judges according to that [divinely inspired] judgment, so that [in the words of the hadith] “he never makes a mistake.”

Thus if God does not show [the Mahdi] the judgment regarding certain events and he does not experience any inner unveiling [of that divine judgment], then God's aim was to include those events [or "cases"] in the judgment of what is [religiously] permissible, so that he knows from the absence of any [divine] specification [of a particular judgment] that this is the judgment of the divinely prescribed Law (shar') concerning that event. Thus he is divinely protected (ma'süm) from personal opinion (ra'y) and analogy (qiyás) in Religion.

For [the use of] analogy [to extend the law beyond God's explicit commandments] by whoever is not a prophet amounts to passing judgment on God concerning the Religion of God on the basis of something that person does not [really] know. This is because analogy [involves] extending a [hypothetical]"reason" [underlying a particular judgment to all other "analogous" cases]. But what makes you know?—perhaps God does not want to extend that reason; for if He had wanted to do that He would have clearly stated it through the voice of His Messenger and would have ordered this extension, if indeed the [underlying]"reason" were among what was specifically ordained by the divinely prescribed Law (shar') in a particular [legal] case. So what do you suppose [is the validity] of the"reason" that the jurist extracts [from an action or saying of the Prophet] all by himself and through his own reasoning, without its having been mentioned by the divinely prescribed Law in any specific textual stipulation concerning that? [Or about the jurist who] then, having deduced this “reason,” extends it generally [to what he arbitrarily assumes to be the “analogous” cases]? Indeed this is one arbitrary judgment on top of another judgment concerning a “divine law” (shar') of which God is unaware (Qur'an 52:21)!

So this is what prevents the Mahdi from speaking on the basis of [this sort of factitious] analogy concerning the Religion of God—all the more so because he also knows that the intention of the Prophet was to lighten the burden of [religious] obligation (taklif) on his community. That was why the Prophet used to say,"Leave me alone [i.e., without requesting any further religious precepts] so long as I leave you alone," and why he used to dislike being questioned about religion, out of fear of [unnecessarily] increasing the [divine] commandments (abkam).

Therefore in everything about which nothing is said to him [by God] and concerning which he is not informed [by God] about a specific, definite judgment, he establishes the [divine] judgment concerning it, in natural consequence, [to be] the primordial judgment. And every [judgment] of which God informs him through inner unveiling and [an inspired]"notification" (ta'rif) is the judgment of the [eternal] Muhammadan sbar concerning that matter.

... Therefore the Mahdi is a mercy, just as God's Messenger was a mercy, (as) God said: "And We only sent you as a mercy to the worlds" (Qur'an 21:107).

...Now these nine things are not combined all together for any Imam among the leaders of Religion and the viceregents of God and His Prophet until the Day of the Rising, except for this Rightly guided Imam (al-Imam al-Mabid)...

The Forms of Knowledge Typifying This Spiritual Stage ^{109}

Each of the 114 chapters concerning the spiritual "stages" (fasi al-manazil, chapters 270 to 383) concludes with a long list of the forms of spiritual knowledge or awareness "belonging" to that stage, usually described in a series of cryptic expressions that may relate symbolically to the corresponding Sura of the Qur'an (al-Khaf in this case). Although in most cases the exact inner connection between those descriptions and the rest of the chapter (or its corresponding Sura) is not readily apparent, a few of the longer descriptions in this chapter clearly do illuminate some of the preceding discussions. And quite apart from those internal connections, the immediacy of the first three descriptions in particular—whose poignant contrast between our ordinary ways of perceiving the world and the touchstone of certain rarer moments of epiphany may find an echo in each reader's experience—should suggest something of the deeper practical relevance of Ibn 'Arabi's spiritual insights' here.

...In this [spiritual stage] there is a knowledge which removes the burden of anguish from the soul of the person who knows it. For when one looks at what is ordinarily the case with [men's] souls, the way that all the things happening to them cause them such anguish and distress, [it is enough] to make a person want to kill himself because of what he sees. This knowledge is called the “knowledge of blissful repose” (“ilm al-raba), because it is the knowledge of the People of the Garden [of Paradise] in particular. So whenever God reveals this knowledge to one of the people of this world [already] in this world, that person has received in advance the blissful repose of eternity—although the person with this quality [in this world] still continues to respect the appropriate courtesy [towards God] concerning the commandment of what is right and the prohibition of what is wrong, according to his rank.

And in this stage is the knowledge that what God made manifest to [men's] vision in the bodies [of all things in this world] is an adornment for those bodies; [the knowledge] of why it is that some of what is manifest seems ugly to a particular person when he regards it as ugly; and [the knowledge] of which eye it is that a person sees with when he sees the whole world as beautiful, when he does see it, so that he responds to it spontaneously with beautiful actions. Now this knowledge is one of the most beautiful [or "best"] and most beneficial forms of knowledge about the world, and it [corresponds to] what some of the theologians say about this, that"there is no Actor but God, and all of His Acts are beautiful". Therefore these people [i.e., those who "see things as they really are"] do not consider ugly any of God's Acts except for what God [calls or makes] ugly and that is up to Him [to decide], not to them, since if they did not consider ugly what God has called so they would be disputing with God.

This stage also includes knowledge of what God has placed in the world as [an object for] marvel and the “marvelous” [as men usually understand it] is only what breaks with the habitual [course of things]. But for those who comprehend things from the divine perspective, every thing in this “habitual” course is itself an object of marvel, whereas the “people of habits” only wonder at what departs from that habitual course.

...And in this stage there is a kind of knowledge among the things known [only] by inner unveiling. This is that the person experiencing this"unveiling" knows that every person or group, however large or small, inevitably has with them one of the men of the Unseen whenever they are speaking. Then that individual [among the men of the Unseen] spreads reports about those persons in the rest of the world so that people discover those things in their own souls, [for example] when a group is gathered together in [spiritual] retreat or when a man says something to himself that [presumably] only God knows. Then that man or that group [who have discovered these reports in this mysterious fashion] go out and tell people about it so that [soon] people are all talking about it.

Ibn'Arabî goes on, in a long excursus to cite two personal experiences illustrating this phenomenon. The first (in the year 590) was when he ran into a man in Seville who recited to him several verses that Ibn'Arabî himself had composed, but never committed to writing, at a particular place in Tunis one night several months before. Not knowing Ibn'Arabî's identity, the man went on to explain that he had learned the poem in a Sufi gathering outside Seville, on the very night Ibn'Arabî had composed them, from a mysterious stranger"whom we did not know, as though he were one of the'Travelers." After teaching his companions those verses, the mysterious stranger went on to tell them the full name of the author and even to give them the name and exact location of the particular quarter in Tunis where he had heard them—which was precisely where Ibn'Arabî had been staying that same night. On the second occasion, also in Seville, Ibn'Arabî was listening to a Sufi friend praising"one of the greatest of the people of the [Sufi] Path, whom he had met in Khorasan" (in Persia), when he noticed a stranger nearby who remained invisible to the rest of the group and who said to blim: "I am that very person whom this man who met with us in Khorasan is describing to you." Then Ibn Arabi began describing this otherwise invisible stranger—who continued to sit there beside them—to his friend, who confirmed the exactitude of his description of the Persian master.

And this stage includes the knowledge of what sort of arguing [concerning the practice and principles of religion] is praiseworthy and what sort is to be condemned. Someone who has [truly] surrendered [to God] among those who depend on God should not argue except concerning what he has had confirmed and realized [through God] by way of inner unveiling (kashf), not on the basis of [his own] thinking and inquiry. So if he has actually witnessed [as a direct inspiration from God] that about which they are arguing, then in that event it is incumbent on him to argue about it using that which is better —provided that he has been specifically ordered to do so by a divine command. But if he does not have a divine command to do so, then the choice is up to him.

Thus if the task of helping the other person [by convincing him of] that [revealed insight] has been assigned to him [by God], then he has been entrusted with that mission for him. But if he despairs of his listeners' ever accepting what he has to say, then he should shut up and not argue. For if he should argue [with no real hope of affecting his listeners], then he is [really] striving to bring about their perdition with God.¹²⁵ Lesser and Greater Resurrection

Lesser and Greater Resurrection

If all of Ibn 'Arabî's writing (and the Futûhat in particular) can I best be seen as a single vast commentary on the spiritual dimensions of the Qur'an and hadith, nowhere is this more obviously the case than in his treatment of the elaborate eschatological symbolism to be found throughout those scriptures.¹ But the role of those "last" or ultimate things, especially in the Qur'an, is so fundamental and all-pervasive that even the most apparently mundane aspects of this worldly life are always viewed from within that eschatological perspective, in the light of man's Source and ultimate spiritual destiny: the eschaton (al-akhira), is presented not simply as some other, "later" series of "events," but rather as the ever-present divine framework and context at once Source and destination of man's life in this "nearer" or "lower" world (al-dunya).² For that life, truly perceived, is nothing else but man's "return" to a full and awakened awareness of his primordial reality: thus "true faith in God and the Last Day" are repeatedly mentioned as the two essential and inextricable aspects of man's awareness of this comprehensive reality that already defines and constitutes each individual's metaphysical situation. The hundreds of Qur'anic verses alluding more specifically and vividly to the Day of Resurrection, the Gardens of Paradise, or the bellfires, and other torments of Gebenna are themselves only more particular reminders of this all-encompassing eschatological dimension of man's being.

The extent to which this comprehensive, metaphysically determinate eschatological perspective is also shared by Ibn 'Arabi, whose understanding of this aspect of the Qur'anic message of course builds on many generations of earlier Sufi (and other, less mystical) interpreters,¹ is perhaps most clearly revealed in the following key passage from one of his most accessible short treatises, the Risalat al-Anwar,¹ in which the Shaykh outlines the fundamental "realms of being" or spiritual and ontological "homelands" (mawatin) that together constitute the total field of being and experience of the Perfect Man:

"Now these [ontological] realms, although they are [quite] numerous, come down to six: the first is the realm of Am I not your Lord?", and we have already become separated from it; the second is the realm of the'lower world' (al-dunya) in which we are right now; the third is the realm of the barzakb to which we go after the lesser and greater deaths"; the fourth is the realm of the Raising [of the dead] on the'Earth of the Awakening' and'the return to the Original State'"; the fifth is the realm of the Garden [of Paradise] and the Fire [of Hell]"; and the sixth is the realm of the Dune [of the 'Visit' and beatific vision of God], outside the Garden."

Thus these last four "eschatological" realms, for Ibn 'Arabi, in fact constitute by far the greater part of manifest reality and potential experience. And for him, their full spiritual apprehension—not as a theory or system of concepts, but through the profound inner "realization" of their living presence accomplished by those rare saints (and prophets) who have followed the spiritual path through to its end—is no doubt the most essential part of any true, comprehensive understanding of the nature of God and man. So it is not surprising if his initial "systematic" discussions of each of those realms (in chapters 61 to 65, and all of them together in the long chapter 371), far from being exhaustive, are in reality only a sort of preamble outlining the full range of scriptural indications and his personal principles of interpretation insights that are subsequently actually applied (and implied) throughout the Futuhat. In fact, as readers can easily verify even within this anthology, almost every chapter of that work contains numerous allusions to the “escatological” realities and dimensions of existence; and indeed Ibn Arabi is often much more explicit about the personal, experiential aspects of his own escatological insights and interpretations precisely in such otherwise unexpected contexts.¹¹

Because the adequate translation and commentary of those few chapters alone would require a good-sized book, we have limited ourselves here to a representative selection of several shorter passages that do bring out quite clearly some of the essential themes and interpretive principles that appear and are applied in virtually all of Ibn'Arabî's discussions of eschatological questions. In addition, given the importance of the"other world" and afterlife in the Qur'an and hadith as a whole, these readings likewise offer a superb illustration of Ibn'Arabî's distinctive approach to understanding and interpreting Islamic scripture more generally. And finally, in light of the highly enignatic character of many of those scriptural symbols in themselves combined with the even more problematic character (for the wider public, at least) of any claims to know the true nature of the other world and what lies beyond the grave—Ibn'Arabî's treatment of these eschatological questions raises to the greatest possible degree those complex issues of the saints' spiritual realization of these divine"secrets" ('ilm al-asrar) and their problematic written expression which he evoked in a critical passage of his introduction to the Futuhat as a whole.

Now there are three equally fundamental aspects or "levels" of Ibn 'Arabis' understanding of the scriptural symbols of Islamic eschatology (both from the Qur'an and hadith): 1. the "literal" scriptural expressions and descriptions of those realities; 2. the "microcosmic" aspect of their immediate experiential realization by each individual, whether in the initiative "voluntary return," the "lesser death," or in the "obligatory return" shared by all men; and 3. the more complex "macrocosmic" dimensions of that reality in terms of the other essential cosmological and metaphysical principles of Ibn 'Arabis'—thought principles which, for him, are themselves likewise grounded both in revealed scriptural indications and in their corresponding personal spiritual realization and verification (tahqiq). But although these three basic interpretive dimensions can be described or analyzed separately—and indeed must be, for modern readers who are likely to be equally unacquainted with each of these perspectives—it is also true that in Ibn 'Arab's own thought they are ultimately inseparable aspects of a single unified vision, corresponding to the essential unity of the Reality in question. However, as we shall see below, that comprehensive eschatological vision is intentionally set forth in such a way, throughout the Futuhat, that its unity and inner integrity can only become fully apparent to those devoted readers who are willing and able to undertake the difficult practical and intellectual efforts required to retrace the author's own footsteps.

To begin with, it must be stressed that Ibn'Arabi's distinctive"spiritual literalism" in his understanding of the language of the Qur'an and hadith—whether with regard to eschatology or any other subject—is something quite different from those widespread (and often largely "fictional") popular narrative and interpretive assumptions that underlie what are commonly taken to be the"literal" meanings of these verses. For Ibn'Arabi, the literal terms of the Qur'an (or hadith) precisely are the fullest, most appropriate possible expression of the spiritual realities or intentions in question. As a result, his typical procedure of scriptural interpretation almost always assumes the closest possible attention to the exact Arabic language and precise context of the verse in question—to such a degree that (as can be seen throughout this anthology) extensive background commentary is usually required to elucidate those specific linguistic and contextual elements in each interpretation. Thus, although the popular, narrative connection and sequence of the eschatological"events" and"places" is assumed throughout chapters 61 to 65, that outline only provides the framework for further detailed discussions of particular verses and symbols scattered throughout the Futuhat (including the shorter passages translated below). Still another consequence of this approach is Ibn'Arabi's strict focus on the Qur'an and hadith, to the exclusion of the further legendary embellishments and spectacular imagery that tended to predominate in the more popular later accounts. And finally, an equally essential facet of Ibn'Arabi's approach to scripture is his consistent focus on the profound spiritual and metaphysical dimensions of the eschatological reality—dimensions that are often obscured by the more obvious "moralizing" and ethical aims that are the usual focus of attention in the popular depictions of Paradise and Hell (whether in Islam or other religious traditions). A frequent consequence of this characteristic spiritual perspective is that it brings out the fundamental "eschatological" meaning and import of many Quranic verses and incidents that would not ordinarily be seen in that light, at least in the popular imagination.¹⁷

The second essential aspect of Ibn 'Arabi's approach to Islamic eschatology, and one in which he of course builds on the insights and experience of many generations of earlier Sufis and Islamic thinkers, is his reliance on the personal realization of these "eschatological" dimensions of reality by the saints and "people of unveiling" already in this life. This microcosmic "lesser death" (and concomitant spiritual rebirth) or "voluntary return" is, at the very least, a powerful prefiguration and confirmation of that "Lesser Resurrection" (al-qiyamat al-sughra) which otherwise begins with each person's physical, "obligatory" death.¹⁸ The passages of the Futuhat selected below (from chapters 73, 302, 351 and 369) all tend to bring out this fundamental experiential focus of Ibn 'Arabi's eschatological thought. Of course Ibn 'Arabi himself constantly refers as well to the many badith and Qur'anic verses (e.g., 44:56 to 57; 39:42; 2:154; etcetera) which provided the classical justification for (and exhortation to) this more direct approach to the inner meaning of the symbols of the Last Day.¹⁹

The third—and probably the most mysterious and complex—governing dimension of Ibn 'Arabis' understanding of Islamic eschatology is its "macrocosmic" integration within the larger schema of his cosmological and metaphysical conceptions.²⁰ Since his spiritual cosmology is itself likewise closely based on both the scriptural indications of Qur'an and hadith and a corresponding experiential realization, but in this case expressed in terms of the accepted astronomical and cosmological theories of his day, it is often especially difficult for the modern reader to tell, in any given context, which one of those planes of reference is primarily in question—or in other words, whether allusions to that cosmology (e.g., topics involving various astrological or cosmic "cycles" of time) are meant to be taken mainly as symbols (i.e., of some corresponding spiritual reality and experience) or as “science.” The ambiguities and uncertainties this creates become especially evident when one tries to reconcile or integrate what Ibn 'Arabî describes from this macrocosmic point of view with the relatively more familiar microcosmic perspective and experience of the individual human being. And in some cases, at least, the resulting ambiguities are almost certainly intentional.²¹

In the selections translated below, for example, this interpretive problem is posed most frequently by Ibn 'Arabi's recurring contrast between the "Lesser Resurrection" of the individual (following immediately upon either his physical death or spiritual rebirth), which is the primary subject of those passages, and what be variously calls without any further clarification here the "Greater" Resurrection, Gathering, Hour, Reviewing, Visit, etcetera²² Now in the popular, "exoteric" understanding of these Qur'anic symbols, such expressions would present no real problem: the "Lesser Resurrection" would be the period each individual spends in the "tomb" (or the barzakh, etcetera) until the Day (and "Hour") of the "Greater," universal Resurrection when all men are brought together before God in judgment. This relatively straightforward temporal conception of the sequence of eschatological "events," as we have indicated, is also largely assumed throughout the initial presentation of the scriptural descriptions of the eschatological realms in chapters 61 to 65. But elsewhere—most notably in his encounters with Adam and Idris during the autobiographical spiritual Ascension described in chapter 367 (sections I.V.B and I.V.E of our translation here)—Ibn 'Arabi indirectly suggests another, rather different way of conceiving this relationship. There Idris openly states that "I do not know any period at the close of which the universe as a whole comes to an end"; and be likewise indicates that since "the abode of Being is one: it does not become 'nearer' [dunya] except through you, and the 'other world' [al-akhira] is not distinguished from it except through you," the "Hour" has perhaps already "drawn near" to man ever since the very creation of Adam.²³

From this perspective, then, the relation of the “Lesser” and “Greater” Resurrections is not that of two different sorts of reality, but rather of the range of individual movements or partial perspectives within a much larger, all-encompassing Whole. This possibility, which was of course expressed more openly by other Sufi (and philosophical) writers, could be further corroborated by Ibn 'Arabi's many remarks, in other contexts, concerning the different meanings—psychic, spiritual, cosmic, etcetera—of "time" (zaman).²⁴ However, this conception of the full range of eschatological reality as being potentially in direct relation to each soul is in itself less an "answer" than a further opening, a point of view suggesting any number of possible conceptions of man's destiny, the true "sites" of Heaven and Hell, and so on. Ibn Arabi's relative reluctance to more openly evoke those possibilities (or realities) could be interpreted in several ways: as a realistic avowal of man's ignorance and uncertainty concerning such ultimate things; as a prudent concession to more orthodox opinion; or as the intentional concealment of those "divine secrets," surpassing ordinary understanding and therefore reserved for the "quintessence of the elite," which be mentions so pointedly at the very beginning of the Futuhat.²⁵

In any case, Ibn 'Arabi clearly indicates to his more discerning readers that any satisfactory "answer" to these further questions, any lasting resolution of this truly ultimate uncertainty, is not to be found on the plane of concepts (nor, a fortiori, in an attitude of blind acceptance of traditional beliefs), but rather in that rare condition of inner openness and constant spiritual attention and practical effort which (as he describes it in selection V below) is the distinguishing mark of the true "Knowers of God," those who have already "visited the graves."²⁶ That insistent openness to spiritual experience (in each soul's ongoing inner dialogue with belief and the forms of revelation), so beautifully illustrated in each of the passages translated below, is one of the most characteristic features of Ibn 'Arabi's writing more generally—and a trait which at the same time strikingly distinguishes his work from that of so many of his commentators and predecessors (whether they be Sufis, philosophers or mutakallimun).

The Soul's Return

Chapter 302

The first half of chapter 302 is concerned with the proper understanding of the metaphysical relations of the worlds of ghayb and shahada: the"visible" world must be understood in its true condition as the manifestation of the"unseen," governed by its spiritual forms and continuously"returning" to its creative Source in the spiritual realm. The passage translated here is immediately preceded by an illustration of one aspect of this broader reality: the relations of the human"spirits" to their physical forms in the visible world. There Ibn'Arabi strongly denies that men's individual spiritual forms are determined by their physical"constitution" (mizaj); instead,"the spirits are distinguished by their (own individual) forms" before they are joined with their bodies. This discussion inevitably leads, in the passage translated here, to the question of the eschatological"return" of those spirits after the separation from their earthly bodies.

After passing in review some alternative conceptions (which would tend to minimize the spiritual responsibility of each individual and the full reality of the Last Judgment and other scriptural promises), Ibn 'Arabi alludes to his own characteristic understanding of the individual's ongoing spiritual development, until the universal "greater Resurrection," in the intermediate, imaginal world (the barzakh)—a conception that is amply illustrated elsewhere in his numerous descriptions of personal encounters with the souls or spiritual entities of prophets, saints and others in that realm. In fact, as he goes on to point out (following a number of famous badith already mentioned in our introduction), the inner realities of the "unseen," spiritual world—including Paradise and Hell—are always present and already visible to the people of unveiling (ahl al-kashf), those who have awakened their spiritual senses. He concludes with scriptural citations that forcefully emphasize the full universality of this situation—and at the same time suggest the corresponding aims of revelation:

...God's Messenger said: "If... there were no confusion in your hearts, then you would see what I see and hear what I hear." [For] God said: "...We sent down to you the Reminder] so that you might make clear to the people what was sent down to them (already)" (Qur'an 16:44). Now what could be more straightforward than this clear declaration [i.e., through the Qur'an and the Prophet]? But where is the person who opens up the place [of his heart in order] to receive the influences of his Lord...? Such a one is rare indeed!²⁸

Translation: ^{29}

As for when the spirits are separated from these material supports [of their physical bodies], one group of our fellows say that the spirits become completely separate from these materials and return to their Source, just as the sun's rays [that happen to be] reflected by a polished mirror return to the sun [i.e., do not disappear] if the mirror becomes tarnished. But these people had two different ways of conceiving this. One group of them said that the spirits were not [individually] distinguishable after their separation from their bodies, any more than the water in jars along the banks of a river can be distinguished from the water of the river once those jars have broken and their water has returned to the river. So (men's) bodies are [like] those containers, and the river water that filled them is like [their] spirits in relation to the Universal Spirit.

Now another group of them said that, on the contrary, these spir- its do acquire good or bad dispositions through their proximity to the body, so that they continue to be distinguished by those dispositions when they are separated from their bodies. It is as though those jars contained things that changed that water from its [original] condition with regard to its color, taste or smell, so that when it is removed from those jars it still retains in itself the color, taste or smell it acquired: similarly God preserves those acquired dispositions in the spirits. And in this respect this group were in agreement with some of the philosophers.

Another group said that the governing spirits never cease governing in this world, so when they are transferred to the intermediate world (barzakb) they continue to govern bodies in that world—and these are [like] the form in which a person sees himself in dreams. Hence death is also like that, and this is what is symbolized by the “Trumpet.” Then the spirits are raised up on the day of Resurrection in their physical bodies, as they were in this world.

This is the extent of the disagreement among our fellows concerning the spirits after their separation [from the physical body]. As for the different views concerning this matter of those who are not our fellows, they are numerous—but our purpose is not to mention [all] the sayings of those who are not on our path.

Know, my brother—may God guide and protect you with His mercy—that the Garden which is attained by those who are among its people in the other world is [already] visible to you today with respect to its place, though not its form. So you are in the Garden, transformed, in whatever state you happen to be, but you don't know you are in it, because you are veiled from it by the form in which it manifests itself to you! Now the people of unveiling, who perceive what is unseen by ordinary men, do see that place: if it is the Garden [of paradise], then they see a green meadow; or if it is Gehenna, then they see it according to the traits of its bitter cold, burning winds, and the other things God has prepared in it. And most of the people of unveiling see this at the beginning of the path.

Now the Revelation (al-shar') alluded to that in [Muhammad's] saying: "Between my grave and this pulpit is one of the meadows of the Garden"³⁴ So the people of unveiling see it as a meadow, just as he said; and they see the Nile, Euphrates, Sayhan and Jayhan as the rivers of honey, water, wine and milk in the Garden (Qur'an 47:15), as [Muhammad] said, since the Prophet reported that these rivers are part of the Garden." But the person whose vision has not been unveiled by God, who remains blinded by his veil, cannot perceive that. He is like a blind man in a park: he is not at all absent from it, yet he does not see it. But the fact that he does not see it does not imply that he is not in it; on the contrary, he really is in it.

The same is true of the places that God's Messenger mentioned as being part of the Fire [of hell], such as the valley of Muhassir at Mina and others; that is why he prescribed to his community that they should hurry when they leave there. For he sees what they cannot see, and he witnesses what they do not. And some people share with him this unveiling, while others do not, depending on what God has willed concerning that, according to the wisdom He concealed in His creation. Do you not notice, for example, that when God protects persons of scrupulous piety from eating something [that is not outwardly] illicit, one of the signs warning them that food is illicit is that in their vision it changes into the form of something [clearly] forbidden, such as blood or pork, for example, so that they find it impossible to eat it. Then when they inquire as to how that food was obtained they discover that it was not acquired in the [divinely] prescribed manner.

Thus the people of God have eyes with which they see, ears with which they hear, hearts with which they understand, and tongues with which they speak, and all of them are different from the form of these [ordinary] eyes and ears and hearts and tongues. So it is with those eyes that they witness, with those ears that they listen, with those hearts that they understand, and with those tongues that they speak—and their words hit the mark. For it is not the eyes that are blind to the Truth and unable to grasp It, but the hearts that are in their breasts (Qur'an 22:46). They are deaf, dumb, blind, so they do not take their understanding (Qur'an 2:171) from God, and so they do not return (Qur'an 2:18) to God. By God, their eyes are in their faces, their hearing in their ears and their tongues in their mouths, but divine providence did not favor them, nor were they destined for the Best Outcome (Qur'an 21:101). So praise be to God in thankfulness for His having given us life through these hearts and tongues and eyes and ears!⁵⁹

The Voluntary Death

Chapter 351

The numerous Qur'anic verses and hadith underlying Ibn 'Arabis' conception of the "voluntary death" (mawt iradi) and corresponding spiritual awakening or "rebirth" of the saints have already been mentioned in the introduction to these eschatological selections.⁴⁰ As mentioned there, the many scattered references in the Futuhat to such experiences (and to the broader ontological perspective they presuppose) offer the most accessible —although often still extremely ambiguous—key to his understanding of the profound spiritual meaning and intentions of the complex symbols of Islamic eschatology. Nowhere is that distinctive approach more openly and personally stated than in the following (partially autobiographical) brief remarks from chapter 351.

Translation: ^{41}

The voluntary return to God is something for which the servant is most thankful. God said: "The whole affair is returned to Him" (Qur'an 11:123). So since you know that, return to Him willingly and you will not be returned to Him by compulsion. For there is no escaping your return to Him, and you will surely have to meet Him, either willingly or against your will. For He meets you in [the form of] your attributes, nothing else but that—so examine your self, my friend! [The Prophet] said:"Whoever loves to meet God, God loves to meet him; and whoever is averse to meeting God, God is averse to meeting him...."

Now since we knew that our meeting with God can only be through death, and because we knew the inner meaning of death, we sought to bring it about sooner, in the life of this world. Hence we died, in the very Source of our life, to all of our concerns and activities and desires, so that when death overcame us in the midst of that Life which never passes from us—inasmuch as we are that [Life] with which our selves and our limbs and every part of us glorifies and praises [God] —we met God and He met us. And ours was the case [mentioned in the hadith above] of “those who meet Him while loving to meet Him” [so that He loves to meet us].

Thus when there comes what is commonly known as death, and the veil of this body is removed from us, our state will not change and our certainty will not be any greater than what we already experience now. For we tasted no death but the first death, which we died during our life in this world, because our Lord protected us from the torment of hell as a bounty from your Lord; that is the Supreme Achievement. [As the Imam]'Ali said:"Even if the veil were removed, I would not be any more

So the person who returns to God in this way is among the blessed, and he does not even feel the inevitable, compulsory return [of physical] death, because it only comes to him when he is already there with God. The most that what is [ordinarily] known as death can mean for him is that his soul, which is with God, is kept from governing this body that it used to govern, so that the soul remains with God, in its same condition, while that body reverts to its origin, the dust from which it was formed (Qur'an 3:59, etcetera). For it was a house whose occupant has traveled away; then the King established that person with Him in a firm position (Qur'an 54:55) until the Day they are raised (Qur'an 23:100, etcetera). And his condition when he is raised up will be just like that: it will not change insofar as his being with God is concerned, nor with regard to what God gives him at every instant.⁴⁷

It is also like this in the general Gathering (al-basbr al-amim [on the Day of Resurrection]) and in the Gardens [of Paradise] which are this person's residence and dwelling place, and in the realm [of being (nash'a)] which he inhabits. For there he sees a realm created without any [fixed] pattern, a realm that provides him in its outward manifestation what the realm of this world provides in its inner [psychic and spiritual] dimension (batin) and its imagination (kbayal). So this is the way he freely controls the outward dimension (zabir) of the realm of the other world. He enjoys all that he possesses in a single instant. Nothing that belongs to him, whether his wives or other things, is ever separated from him, nor is he ever separated from them; he is among them [simply] through his being desired, and they are in him through their being desired.⁴⁸

For the other world is an abode of swift reaction, without any delay, [where external appearances constantly change] just as is the case with passing thoughts (khawattr) in the inner dimension of the realm of this world. Except that for man the planes are reversed in the other world, so that his inward dimension permanently maintains a single form—just as his outward dimension does here—while the forms of his outward dimension undergo rapid transformations like those of his inner dimension here. [God] said: "... by what a reversal they will be transformed!" (Qur'an 26:27), yet when we have undergone our transformation, nothing will have been added to the way we were. So understand...

The Lesser Ressurection and Initiatic Death

Chapter 369

Few passages in Ibn'Arabi's writing more richly and succinctly illustrate his characteristic combination of scriptural interpretation, metaphysical penetration, and subtle allusion to the fruits and pathways of spiritual realization than this short section from chapter 369, which evokes in a few lines the most central insights and principles of his thought and their indispensable practical foundations. On that level of realization (tahqiq), this whole passage can be seen as an extended commentary on the famous verses of Sura 102 ("The proliferation of things distracted you, until you visited the graves..."), although it is only at the end of it that he openly underlines his particular understanding of the traditional Sufi distinction of the three levels of spiritual"certainty" (yaqin) based on that Sura. The"tombs" in this case are man's ordinary, unenlightened existence in this world, and the"death" that primarily interests Ibn'Arabi here (as in the preceding selections) is the"lesser Resurrection" (al-qiyamat al-sughra), the transformed awareness and immediate vision (ru'ya) of the true reality of the Self (summed up here in the famous hadith, "He who knows his self knows his Lord") and its undying Life that is the constant center of his rhetoric and reflection.

But here this reawakened recognition of the full spiritual and imaginal dimensions of man's being and relation to God does not at all lead to some "gnostic" rejection of the world and the complexities of this life, to an illusory escape into the bliss of faná". Instead—and this point is one of the most crucial and distinctive features of Ibn 'Arabi's spiritual perspective, throughout all his work—it is precisely the mystic's "return" to those bodily "graves" (and the concomitant awareness that our passage through this world is indeed only a "visit") that completes his spiritual knowledge and certainty, while at the same time fully revealing man's unique position and responsibility (amana), as God's "deputy" with regard to all the realms of being. The necessary fulfillment of that ontological "comprehensiveness"—with all the perplexing suffering, sin and distraction (the full range of manifold distractions [takâthur]) that it implies—is precisely what distinguishes the unique (and unavoidable) role of the completely human being (al-insân al-kâmil) in Ibn 'Arabi's understanding of this "divine comedy." Nowhere is that comprehensive vision of man's destiny and true stature more succinctly and strikingly stated than at the end of this section, in his transformed interpretation of the familiar gnostic symbol of the "pearl" of the soul.

Translation: ^{50}

The final outcome of the affair (al-amr) is the return from the many to the One, for both the man of faith and the polytheist (musbrik). This is because the man of faith who is granted the unveiling of"things as they really are" is granted [the immediate vision of] this, as He said:"Now We have removed from you your veil, so your vision today is keen" (Qur'an 50:22). And this is before he leaves this world. For everyone who is taken [by physical death] is in [a state of spiritual]"unveiling" at the moment he is taken, so that at that point he inclines toward God (al-Haqq) and toward faith in Him and [the true awareness of] divine Unity. Hence the person who attains this certainty before being brought into the presence [of God at the time of physical "death"] is absolutely sure of his felicity and his conjunction with [that condition of blessedness]. For the certainty which comes from sound [rational] inquiry and unambiguous [experiential] unveiling prevents him from straying from the Truly Real, since he has"a clear proof (Qur'an 6:57, etcetera) in the matter and “discerning inner vision”.

But the person who attains this certainty [only] when he is brought into the presence [of death] is subject to the [ineluctable] divine Will. And although the final outcome is [also] felicity, however that is only after the imposition of torments and afflictions with respect to the person who is punished for his sins. For one is only “brought into the presence [of death] ” after having witnessed that (al-amr) to which the creatures (al-kbalq) are transferred [after death]. So long as he has not witnessed that, death has not come near him (Qur'an 4:18; etcetera), nor is that [what we mean here by] “being brought into [its] presence.”

...Now God has brought two Resurrections into existence, the lesser Resurrection and the greater Resurrection. The lesser Resurrection is the transferring of the servant from the life of this world to the life of the intermediate world (barzakh) in the imagin-inal body, as in [the Prophet's] saying: "When someone dies, his Resurrection has already begun."⁵⁶ Thus whoever is among the People of Vision to the power of 57 actually sees his Lord. For [as] God's Messenger says, in warning his community about the Antichrist: "No one sees God until he dies."⁵⁸ The greater Resurrection is the Resurrection of the Raising (ba'th) [of all men from their graves] and the supreme Gathering (al-basbr al-a'zam) in which all men are joined....⁵⁹

Know that these bodies are the coffins of the spirits and what beclouds them; they are what veil them so that they do not witness [the spiritual world] and are not witnessed. So the spirits do not see, nor are they seen, except through being parted from these [bodily] tombs (compare Qur'an 102:2)—by becoming oblivious (fana') to them [in their absorption in spiritual things], not through [physical] separation. Therefore since they have inner vision, when they become oblivious to witnessing the bodies then they witness the One Who gives them Being in the very act of witnessing themselves.

So"he who knows his self knows his Lord." Likewise he who witnesses his self witnesses his Lord, and thereby moves from the"certainty of knowledge" to the"certainty of seeing." Then when he is returned to his [bodily] tomb he is returned to [the highest stage of]"true certainty" (yaqin baqq), not to the"certainty of knowledge." This is how man learns the [inner] differentiation of the Truly Real (al-Haqq), through His informing [us] of the true saying concerning the true reality of certainty, the seeing of certainty and the knowing of certainty. So for [the person who reaches this stage] every property [of reality] becomes firmly established in its proper rank, and things are not confused for him. And he knows that the [prophetic] announcements did not mislead him.

Therefore whoever truly knows God in this way has truly known and understood the wisdom [underlying] the formation (takwin) of the pearl in its shell from fresh sweet [water] in salty bitter [water]: the shell is its body and its saltiness is its [physical] nature. So the influence of nature predominates in its shell, but the salt is [also] its whiteness—and that is like the Light which is revealed through it. So realize [what is meant by] this sign!

Chapter 73 / Question 62

Chapter 73 of the Furuhat, the conclusion of the opening fasil alma'arif (chapters 1 to 73) and one of the longest chapters of the entire work, begins with a detailed and highly important discussion of the different ranks and types of "saints" (awliya') in the spiritual hierarchy (two 1 to 39) and concludes (two 39 to 139) with Ibn 'Arabi's responses to 155 "spiritual questions" originally posed by the influential Sufi thinker al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi (d. after 295/902).⁶ Tirmidhi's questions, as Ibn 'Arabi explains at the beginning of his response (two 39 to 40), were designed as a sort of "test" to separate the true "Verifiers" (muhaqqiqun) from the many pretenders to such wisdom who exist in every age:

“The answers to them can only be truly known by someone who knows them by immediate experiencing (dbawq) and inspiration, not through discursive thinking or on [purely] rational bases;...they can only be attained through a divine Theophany (tajalli ilabi) in the Presence of the Unseen [spiritual world], through one of the [divine] Self-manifestations (mazabir)...whether bodily...or spiritual.”

Among these questions, numbers 59 to 74 (two 80 to 87) all involve events or symbols traditionally associated with the scriptural descriptions of the Resurrection and Paradise, descriptions which were already outlined, following the popular, relatively “exoteric” understanding of their sequence and location, in chapters 64 and 65. But here, in keeping with the special requirements of Tirmidhi's questionnaire, Ibn 'Arabi's discussions are much more openly focused on his understanding of the inner spiritual significance of those eschatological symbols. This is especially true for his responses concerning the different types of beatific vision (ru'ya) of God in the other world, some of which are translated in our final two selections below.

In this particular question (no. 62), however, Ibn'Arabi alludes to two points which are perhaps of even broader importance for his spiritual conception of these eschatological symbols in general. The first of these insights—in response to a question concerning the"Hour" of Resurrection—suggests his deeper understanding of the relations between the"microcosmic" Lesser Resurrection (al-Qiyamat al-Sughra) and the"macrocosmic" Greater Resurrection; the problematic role of"time" in these interpretations has already been evoked several times in our introduction and the preceding selections. The second critical point is his allusion—illustrated here in the form of an intriguing anecdote—to the central role of the"eye of Imagination" ('ayn al-khayal) in the realization of the"events" of the other world and indeed in man's spiritual life much more generally; again these insights are developed in greater detail in the earlier chapter 63 on the barzakh, or imaginal realm of being, which is also the"site" of man's Lesser Resurrection.

[How is it that] The affair of the Hour is [only] like a twinkling of the eye or It is even nearer Question 62

The answer is that the Hour [of Resurrection] is called an “hour” (sla) because it “hastens” toward us (tas'a) by passing through these moments of time and breaths, not by traversing distances. So “when someone dies” his Hour has reached him and “his Resurrection has already begun, until the Day of the Greater Hour (alsa'at al-kubra), which is related to the [continually recreated] “Hours” of the breaths as the year is related to the totality of its days particularized by the seasons with their differing qualities. So the affair of the Hour and its role (sha'n) in the world is closer than the twinkling of an eye. For its arrival is itself identical with its judgment, its judgment is the same as its execution in the one who is judged, its execution is the same as its coming to pass, and its coming to pass is precisely the peopling of the two Abodes, a group in the Garden and a group in the Flame.

Now no one is truly aware of this “nearness” but the person who is aware of God's power [as manifested] in the existence (wujud) of the Imagination (al-kbayal) in the natural world, who is aware of the vast extent of the matters that are found, in a single breath or blink of the eye, by someone who knows [God's power manifested in] the Imagination. Then [such a person actually] sees the effect of that in sense perception, with the eye of the Imagination, so that he is truly aware of this nearness and the “folding up” of years into the smallest instant of the time of the life of this world. Whoever has come across the story of Jawhari has seen a marvelous thing that illustrates this sort [of phenomenon].

Now if you should ask "But what is the story of Jawhari?", we may say that he mentioned that he left his house [one day] with some dough to take to the baker's oven, while he happened to be in a state of ritual impurity. So [after dropping off the dough at the baker's] he came to the bank of the Nile to do his ablutions, and there, while he was standing in the water, he saw himself, in the way a dreamer sees things, as though he were in Baghdad. He had married, lived with the woman for six years and had had several children—I forget the exact number—with her there. Then he was returned to himself [i.e., in his ordinary consciousness], while he was still standing in the water, so he finished his ablutions, got out of the water and put on his clothes, went off to the baker's oven, picked up his bread, came back to his house and told his family about what he had seen during that visionary incident. However, after several months had passed, the woman [from Baghdad] with whom he had seen himself married during that experience came [to Jawhari's town in Egypt] and asked directions to his house. So when she met him, he recognized her and the children, and he did not deny that they were his.

And when she was asked, "When did you get married?" she replied, "Six years ago, and these are his children with me." Thus what happened in the Imagination emerged [concretely] in sense-perception. This is one of the six topics [mentioned by] Dhu al-Nun al-Misri which [ordinary] intellects consider to be impossible.

But God is Omnipotent (Qur'an 22:74) in the world: He created it with [a wide range of] diverse properties, just as the property of the intellect among ordinary people is different from the properties of sight, hearing, taste and the other powers [of perception] among the usual run of men ('àmmat al-nâss). Thus God singled out His saints by bestowing [special spiritual] powers with [unique] properties like these,⁷⁸ powers that are only denied by someone who is ignorant of the [unimaginable] power and ability that is appropriate to the divine Proximity. There is sufficient [illustration] of this matter in the Ascension to the power of 79 of the Messenger of God, with those immense distances he traversed in a short period of time.

Chapter 73 / Question 67

One of the central features of Ibn 'Arabi's understanding of the eschatological symbols in the Qur'an and hadith, in which he generally follows the approach of earlier Sufis, is his consistent distinction between, on the one hand, those "Gardens" (and levels of the "Fire" or Gehenna) corresponding to the recompense (or punishment and purification) of men's actions in this world and, on the other hand, certain symbols—especially in a number of hadith concerning the "vision of God" (ru'yat Allah)—that he takes to refer to men's different degrees of spiritual realization or inner "knowledge" of God ('ilm, in the Qur'anic sense). These distinctions are developed in their full complexity in Ibn 'Arabi's integral accounts of the eschatological "events" and "locations" in chapters 61 to 65 and 371 of the Futuhat, while his responses to Tirmidbi's questions, as already indicated, focus more exclusively on the purely spiritual dimensions of these problems. This is especially true of questions 67 to 72, all of which concern the vision of God among different groups of men at the "Day of the Visit" (yawm al-zawr) briefly described in certain badith.

Two of those badith are especially important in providing the symbolic framework assumed in the selections translated below. At the same time, since these particular sayings also offer an excellent illustration of the subtle expression of profound spiritual insights—which in this case are clearly by no means the “invention” of Ibn Arabi—in this still little-known literature, it may be helpful to provide a translation of certain key passages. The first of these, known as the “hadith of the Dune” (kathab) or of the “Market of Paradise” (suq al-janna), is the Prophet's response to Abu Hurayra's question concerning this mysterious

"When the people of the Garden [of Paradise] enter it they settle down in it according to the excellence of their actions. After that, during the period [corresponding to] the Day of Reunion" among the days of this world, they are called [to prayer] and they visit their Lord: He shows them His Throne, and He manifests Himself to them in one of the meadows of the Garden. Then there are set up for them platforms of Light and [of five other precious stones and metals, corresponding to the ranks discussed below]..., while the lower ones of them and those among them who are ignoble" take their seats on dunes of musk and camphor. And [those sitting down] do not realize ['see'] that those who are on the pedestals have more excellent seats than them. [Then Abu Hurayra asks the Messenger of God: "Do we see our Lord?" And Muhammad replies:] Yes indeed! Do you have any doubt about [your] seeing the sun and the moon when it is full?... Likewise you will not have any doubt about your seeing your Lord, and there will not remain a single man in that gathering but that God is present with him so intimately [that He knows the smallest detail of each person's life]..."

The second hadith being commented, as it were, in the following passages is the famous"hadith of the transformations," perhaps the most frequently cited hadith (usually in the form of implicit allusions) in all of Ibn'Arabi's work, which describes the testing of mankind with regard to their objects of worship (ma'bûdat) on the Day of the Gathering. According to this account, God will present Himself to this [Muhammadan] community"in a form other than what they know, and will say to them:'I am your Lord!'" But the"hypocrites" among them—who, for Ibn'Arabi, are ultimately all of mankind with the exception of the handful of "friends" and "true servants" of God described in the following selection—will fail to recognize Him until He appears in the form they already knew and expected, according to their beliefs in this world. This hadith stands behind Ibn 'Arabis contrasting discussions of the highest rank of the "true" knowers of 'God'" (al-ulama' bi-llah) in the following passage and throughout his writings.⁸⁷

“How are the saints and the prophets ranked on the Day of the Visit Question 67

While the main subject of this translated section is the comprehensive spiritual understanding of the true "Friends of God" (awliya Allah), that discussion assumes an acquaintance with Ibn Arabi's ranking of the beatific vision of the saints and prophets and his technical terms for describing them at the beginning of this section (2 84.27 to 85.1). There, in his initial response to Tirnidbi's question, he distinguishes four main ranks: 1. the small number of "Messengers" (rusul) who have brought the publicly revealed divine paths (the sharai); 2. the "prophets [who received other, personal] revealed paths" (anbiya al-sharai")⁸⁹; 3. the "prophets who are followers [of a particular Messenger]" (al-anbiya al-atba); and 4. the saints, including both a) those who are likewise "followers" of particular prophets or Messengers (al-awliya al-atba) and b) those who have lived in periods or places without direct contact with the revealed religious paths (awliya al-fatarat)...⁹⁰

Now the full explanation of this matter is that the vision [of God] on the Day of the Visit is according to [men's] beliefs in this world. Thus the person who believes concerning his Lord what was given to him by intellectual reflection (nazar), and by immediate "unveiling" (kashf), and by imitating (taqlid) his Messenger (rasul) sees his Lord in the form of the aspect of each belief he held concerning Him, except that in his [outward] imitation of his prophet he sees his Lord in the form of his prophet, with regard to what that Messenger taught him from what was revealed to him in his inner knowledge of his Lord.⁹¹ So such a person receives three theophanies, with three [different] "eyes," at the same instant. And similarly with the condition of the person [whose belief is based] solely on intellectual inquiry, or the person [who follows] only immediate unveiling, or the person [who accepts] only imitation [i.e., their vision of God is limited to that particular sort of theophany]. So the ranks of the saints who are followers [of only a particular prophet] on the Day of the Visit are distinguished [from those of the prophets they follow] by the precedence of the prophets.

But the two levels who are not prophets [with a Sharia] or [prophetic] followers are the close friends of God, who are not governed by any [particular spiritual] station. They are distinguished from all of [the ordinary believers below them] by their integral relationship to their Lord.

However, the people of intellectual reasoning (nazar) among them are in a rank lower than the people of immediate unveiling (kashf), because in their vision the veil of their thinking stands between them and God (al-Haqq [the Truly Real]). Whenever they want to lift that veil they are not able to do so. And likewise the followers of the prophets [i.e., by way of outward imitation (taqlid)], however much they may desire to raise the veils of the prophets from themselves so that they can see God without that intermediary (wasita), are still unable to do so. Therefore absolutely pure and flawless [spiritual] vision belongs in particular only to the Messengers (rusul) among the prophets, those who bring the divinely prescribed Paths (shara'i), and to the people of immediate unveiling. And whoever happens to attain this station, whether he be a follower [of a particular prophet] or of intellectual reflection, still participates in this to the extent of what he has realized—even if he be on [any of] a thousand paths!

But as for those true men who concur with the belief held by each individual with regard to [their inner awareness of] what led him to that belief, taught it to him and confirmed him in it, on the Day of the Visit such people see their Lord with the eye of every belief. Hence the person who means to do well by his soul must necessarily seek out, during his [life in] this world, all the things that are professed concerning that [i.e., the ultimate divine Reality], and he must come to know why each individual professing a [particular] position affirms what he professes. So when [one of these "true men"] has realized in himself the particular aspect of that profession which gives it its validity for the person holding it and because of which that person professes it with regard to what he believes, so that [the true Knower] does not deny or reject it, [only] then will he reap the fruit of that profession on the Day of the Visit, whatever that credo ('aqtida) may be. For this is the"All encompassing" divine Knowledge.

Now the principle underlying the validity of what we have just mentioned is that each person who looks at God is under the influence of one of the Names of God, so that that Name is what manifests itself to him in theophany and gives him that [particular] belief by its appearing to him, without his being aware of this. And the relations of all of the divine Names to the Truly Real (al-Haqq) are sound, so therefore his vision [of God] in every belief is sound, despite their differences, and there is not the slightest error in it. This is what is given by the most complete [spiritual] unveiling.

Thus the gaze of [every] person who looks never leaves God, nor is it even possible for it to do so.¹⁰¹ It is only that most people are veiled from the Truly Real by the Truly Real, because of the [omnipresent] clarity of the Truly Real.¹⁰² But this group [i.e., the true "friends of God"], who have this special kind of [comprehensive] knowledge of God, are in a separate row on the Day of the Visit. So when they [i.e., most of the ordinary believers in the other Gardens of Paradise] return from the Visit, everyone of them who holds a [particular] belief imagins that [the saint, or true "friend of God"] belongs to their [group alone] because he sees that the [saint's] form of his belief during the Visit is like his own form [of belief].¹⁰³ So the person who is like this [i.e., who realizes the underlying truth in every individual's inner form of belief] is beloved by all the groups—and it was [already] that way in this world!

Now what we have just mentioned is only truly understood by the most outstanding and accomplished representatives of the people of [spiritual] unveiling and [true] being.¹⁰⁴ But as for the people of intellectual reasoning and inquiry, they have not caught even a whiff of its fragrance. So pay heed to what we have just mentioned and act accordingly: give the Divinity (al-ulabhiya) its rightful due, so that you may be among those who treat their Lord equitably in their knowledge of Him. For God is far too exalted (Qur'an 6:100, etcetera) to be bound by any sort of delimitation or to be restricted to one form to the exclusion of [all] others. In this way you may come to know for yourself the universality of the felicity of all God's creation and the vast extent of that Mercy which encompasses every thing (Qur'an 40:7).

Chapter 73 / Question 71

Needless to say, the spiritual example of the saints and the true"Friends of God" evoked in the preceding selection always remains a more or less distant ideal for the vast majority of men. In briefly evoking the divine"vision" of the mass of ordinary believers (the "amma"), Ibn'Arabi alludes here to four fundamental themes or principles of his religious and metaphysical thought that constantly recur throughout the Futuhat (including most of the chapters in this anthology). The first of these is the indispensable but also bighly ambivalent function of the'ulama' (i.e., the learned religious authorities in the popular sense of the term) as the guardians and transmitters of the external forms of the Sharia. Closely related to this are his assumptions concerning the complex types and hierarchies of spiritual and psycho-intellectual"aptitudes" or predispositions that inevitably color men's conceptions of those forms (and of reality more generally). And following from this is his understanding of the reasons why each Sharia (including, in Islam, both the Qur'an and badath) primarily employs the methods of tashbih, of symbolic or"imaginal" representation, in its descriptions of God and of man's destiny and in its prescriptions for worship and right action more generally. Finally, underlying all of these points is Ibn'Arabi's distinctive conception of the fundamental role of khayal (inadequately translated as "Imagination")—in its mantold ontological and epistemological aspects—with regard both to the realities of the afterlife and to man's spiritual experience in general.¹⁰⁸

What share do ordinary people (al-'amma) have in contemplating Him [on the Day of the Visit] Question 71

The answer [is that] the shares of ordinary people in their contemplation of Him are according to the extent of what they have understood of what they have [outwardly and formally] taken over and imitated from the learned, according to their different ranks. Now among them there are those who have received from their learned authority [the formal knowledge] he possesses [with nothing added]; and among them are those who have received from their learned authority to the extent of what he learned on the basis of his [limited] intellect and receptivity. For the natural dispositions are different and of various ranks, depending on what God has placed in them; they are divisions [of psychic and intellectual types] whose source is in the constitution (mizaj) on which God mounted [their spirits]. That is the cause of the differences of outlook among the learned in their thoughts about intellectual matters (maqulat).

Thus the share [of ordinary people] in the pleasure of contemplating [God] is their share in what has been presented to them in images (tukhuyyilat labum), because the shares of the common people are imaginal and they are not able to transcend material [forms] in [their perception of] the spiritual realities (al-ma'ani) in all those things which they enjoy in this world, the intermediate world and the other world. Indeed, very few of the learned can even conceive of the total transcendence (tajrid) of material [forms]. This is why most of the Sharia came according to the understanding of ordinary people, although it also brings allusions intended for the elect, such as His saying: "There is nothing like Him" (Qur'an 42:11), and "May your Lord be glorified, the Lord of Might, beyond [all] that they describe!" (Qur'an 37:180).

[To summarize]... Every individual's share in [the vision of] his Lord is according to the extent of his knowledge and the extent of what he believes among the ranks of beliefs, their differences and their greater or lesser number, as has already been established in these sections. So know that, and God is the Guide. And in the"market of Paradise" is the knowledge of that to which we have alluded [here].

Towards Sainthood: States and Stations

The Station of Servitude Introduction to Chapters 130 and 131

T bese two chapters deal with one of thirty-seven pairs of terms discussed in seventy-four chapters of Section 2 of the Futühat (Interspersed with another forty-nine chapters in the same section). Most of these pairs take the form, "The Station of x" and "The Abandonment (tark) of the Station of x." Since, in Ibn al-Arabî's view, the saints and Perfect Men undergo constant transformation in this world and the next, no station—except perhaps variegation (talwin) and bewilderment (hayra)—can be said to be their permanent abode. Every station and state that is acquired by the traveler must also be abandoned by him when he assumes another mode of existence or when his situation is viewed from a different point of view. Can we affirm that X is a station of the saints? Invariably the answer is "yes and no."

In Chapter 130 Ibn al-'Arabî begins by explaining the significance of servanthood, one of the highest conceivable attributes in Islamic parlance, since God's servants ('abd) are constantly praised in the Qur'an and since the Prophet Muhammad, by universal consent the most perfect of human beings, was first God's servant, then His messenger ('abduhu wa rasuluhu). Servant is the opposite of "Lord," so true servanthood entails abandoning any claim to possess existence or the attributes of existence, all of which are God's. In the text of the Futuhat, Ibn al-'Arabî discusses servanthood, along with the closely related concepts “worship” ('ibada, a word derived from the same root) and poverty (faqr, ifitar), as much as any other buman attribute. In his view the station of the greatest saints is utter servanthood, and it is this station which be invites people to achieve. “The highest station with God is that God should preserve in His servant the contemplation of his servanthood, whether or not He should have clothed him in one of the robes of Lordship [rububiyya] ”. In the last analysis, only the Perfect Man is able to actualize servanthood:

"Utter servanthood, untainted by any lordship whatsoever, can belong only to the Perfect Man, while Lordship totally untainted by servitude can only belong to God. So here the Perfect Man is in the form of God in respect of his incomparability and his being too holy (taqdis) for any taints (shawb) in his reality. Hence he is the absolute divine vassal (al-ma'lub al-mutlaq), while God is the Absolute Divinity (al-ilab al-mutlaq)... The Perfect Man stands apart from the nonperfect only through a single subtle meaning (raqiqa), and that is that his servanthood is not stained by any lordship whatsoever" (two 603.14).

In searching for the root of servanthood in the Divine Reality, Ibn al-Arabi turns to the nature of the existence ascribed to the creatures. Toward the end of Chapter 130 and at the beginning of Chapter 131 he touches on this question in a manner that typifies the way he expresses the “Oneness of Being” (wahdat al-wujud), a term which he himself never employs, here or elsewhere. In this passage he mentions two key concepts, mazhar or “locus of manifestation” and 'ayn or “entity” the latter of which is synonymous with “object of [God's] knowledge” (ma'lûm). The first is connected to the divine Name the Manifest (al-zahir). That which appears within the world by means of God's Self-manifestation (zuhur) or theophany (tajalli) is God Himself—Being—but colored by the locus within which He appears. The locus in turn is determined by the immutable entity ('ayn thabita), that is, God's Knowledge of how Being will become manifest in that particular situation. The two basic ideas here are Being, which is One by definition, and the Divine Knowledge, which carries within it the principle of multi- plicity, since it knows all the infinite possible forms of Self-manifestation possessed by Being; these forms themselves become the "existent things" or the "loci of manifestation" when God chooses to make them manifest. It is interesting to note that Said al-Din al-Fargbani (d. circa 700/1300), disciple of Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi (himself disciple of Ibn al-Arabi), was the first to use the term "Oneness of Being" in a systematic fashion, and in so doing he contrasted it with the "manyness of [God's] knowledge" (kathrat al-ilm).² This distinction between Oneness and manyness goes back to Ibn al-Arabi's distinction between the two points of view of Incomparability, or the nature of the Divine Essence which is Absolutely One, and Similarity, or the manifestation of the Divine Names in all their manyness (compare the translation of Chapter 558, note 87).

In discussing the entities, which are the objects of God's knowledge (ma'lûmât), Ibn al-'Arabî is drawn into a consideration of plurality, which of course has a positive reality since it derives from the Divine Names. Ibn al-'Arabî also examines that existence which, in the language of the philosophers, is said to be "acquired" by the created things, mentioning in the process the views of various Sufis.

Concerning the Station of Servitude ('ubüda)

Chapter 130

I am ascribed to myself, for I know that our ascription to God is defective.

That He should be a cause ('tlla) for creation is problematic, unknown because of the elevation of His rank.

He is the Independent absolutely: He has no poverty—this the All-Merciful has revealed.

That which I have said the Qur'an explains. Study it: in study you will see a detailed explanation.

214.5 “Servanthood” ('ubüdiyya) is [grammatically] an ascription (nasab) to “servitude” ('ubuda); “servitude” is pure, without ascription, neither to God nor to itself, since it does not accept ascription. Hence the word does not have the suffix tyy.

214.6 The lowest of the low (adball al-adbila) is that which is ascribed to something low which boasts (iftikbar) over it. Hence it is said about the earth, "the very lowly" (dhalul; Qur'an 67:15) in a word form [i.e., faul] that indicates exaggeration in lowliness; for the lowly walk upon it, so it is more tremendous in its lowliness than they.

214.7 The station of servanthood is a station of lowliness and poverty (iftiqar); it is not a divine attribute (na't ilahi). Abu Yazid al-Bistami found no cause (sabab) by which he could gain proximity (taqarrub) to God, since he saw that the Divinity (al-ulubiyya) entered into every attribute by which proximity was gained. When he found himself incapable he said, “Oh Lord, by what shall I gain proximity to Thee?” God said to him in the way that He has customarily addressed His friends (awliya'): “Gain proximity to Me through that which I do not possess: Lowliness and poverty...”

214.13 The meaning of "servant" ('abd) is "lowly" (dbalil). It is said, "earth made into a servant" (ard mu'abbad), that is, "made lowly" (mudball). God says, "I created jinn and men only to serve Me" (Qur'an 51:56).⁶ He said this only concerning these two kinds, since none claimed divinity, none believed divinity was in other than God and none was proud (takabbur) over God's creatures except these two kinds.

Hence God mentioned them specifically without the other creatures. Ibn 'Abbas' said, "The meaning of the words 'to serve Me' is 'to know Me.'" So he did not explain (tafsir) [this verse] in terms of what is given by the reality of the word's denotation (dalala). Its explanation can only be: "to be lowly toward Me"; but none is lowly toward Him unless he knows Him, so it is necessary first to know Him and then to know the fact that He is the Possessor of Mightiness ('tzza) before which the mighty are lowly.

Hence Ibn 'Abbas turned in his explanation of "service" to knowledge. This is the opinion (zann) concerning him.⁸

214.17 No one has realized (tabaqquq) this station to its perfection like the Messenger of God, for he was an utter servant ('abd mahd) who renounced (zahid) those states which would have removed him from the level of servanthood. God gives witness that he was a servant of Him both in respect of His He-ness and His All-Comprehensive Name. He says concerning His Name,"When the servant of Allah stood calling on Him"; and He says concerning His He-ness,"Glory be to Him who carried His servant by night". So He carried him by night as a servant.

214.20 When he was commanded to instruct concerning his station on the Day of Resurrection, he qualified that, for he said,"I am the lord of the children of Adam, without boasting," reading fakhr with an In other words,"I do not aim to boast before you about my lordship; on the contrary, I wish to instruct you as good news to you, since you are commanded to follow me." This has also been read as fakhz with a z, that is,"without bluffing":"I do not say this by way of bluffing; I am not like that," for fakhz is to boast of a falsehood as if it were true.

214.23 The relationship of the servant with God in the state of servanthood is like that of a shadow with the person [who throws it] before a lamp:the closer he moves toward the lamp, the greater is the shadow; there is no proximity to God except through that which is more specifically (akbass) your attribute, not His. The more the person moves away from the lamp, the smaller the shadow becomes; for nothing moves you away from God except your leaving aside those attributes of which you are worthy and your coveting His Attributes. "Even so does God set a seal on every proud (mutakabbir) and tyrannical (jabbar) heart" (Qur'an 40:35); these are two Attributes that belong to God." "Taste:you are the mighty ('aziz), the generous (karim)" (Qur'an 44:49).¹² This [situation] is [referred to in] the Prophet's words: "I seek refuge in Thee from Thee."¹³

214.26 This station does not leave you with any attribute which belongs exclusively and solely to God and in which sharing (isbtirak) cannot be achieved—i.e., [it leaves you with none of] the affirmative (thubati), not the negative (salbi) or correlative (idafi) attributes —without this being known specifically by the possessor of this station. But its possessor's Tasting (dbawq) is rare; for when you realize and stand alone in your most specific attributes (al-wasf al-akbass), and when you enter upon God through them, He faces (muqabala) you only with His most specific Attributes, to which you have no access. But when you come with the shared attributes, He appears in theophany to you with the [same] shared attributes; so you come to know the mystery of His relation (nisba) to you through your relation to Him. This is an astonishing science; you will find few who taste it. Yet it lies below the first, which is the most specific for you. So know this and realize this station, for this will be given to you by the station of servanthood.

214.31 As for the station of servitude, you will not know the sciences that you actualize through it, for within it you annihilate ascription to Him and to engendered existence.¹⁶ This is an extremely rare station, for the Tribe cannot allow that engendered existence should subsist in its possibility without ascription, since it is inherently (bi'l-dhat) “necessary through the Other” (wajtb bi'l-gbayr).¹⁷ That which alerts one to this station is the fact that, within the locus of manifestation (mazbar), the Manifest (al-zahtr) is described by the attribute of the servant,¹⁸ for the Manifest becomes colored by the reality of the locus of manifestation, whatever this may be. But the Manifest does not trace its origin to servanthood, for there is nothing lower than the latter, and that which traces its origin to something must be lower in level than that thing. But the Manifest only traces its origin to that thing to which it is ascribed, since the effect (atbar) given to the Manifest by the entity of the locus of manifestation is nothing other than the Manifest; “There is no goal beyond God.”¹⁹ But a thing cannot be ascribed to itself. Hence “servitude” does not have the yy of ascription. It is said, “A man between servanthood and servitude,”²⁰ that is, his essence is manifest but his ascription is unknown, so he is not ascribed, since there is no “to so-and-so.” So he is a servant/nonservant ('abd la 'abd).

Chapter 131

If you trace your origin to an effect to which you belong—you belong to God, not creation, so consider yourself rebuked!

We are loci of manifestation, and the Worshipped One is He who makes us manifest; the engendered existent's locus of manifestation is his very entity—so take heed!

He did not bring me in vain, but in order that I should worship Him as God—such is the judgment of Law and reason.

But I do not worship Him except through His form, for He is the God within whom man is concealed.

So what is God's decree—if you realize our form? And what are control, judgments, and destiny?

All are admonitions—if you possess reason. He who applies the admonitions will never go wrong.

two 215.9 No one can abandon servanthood unless he sees that the entities of the possible things remain in their original state of nonexistence and that they are the loci of manifestation for God, who is Manifest within them. So none has existence but God, and none has effects (atbar) but the entities; by their very essences they impart to the existence of the Manifest that through which limitations (al-budud) occur within the entity of every manifest thing. So the entities are the things most similar to number (al-'adad), for they are intelligible (ma'qul) but have no existence.²² The properties of number permeate and are established within the countable things (al-ma'dudat), which are nothing but the forms of the existents, whatever they may be. As for the existents, the cause (sabab) of their manyness (katbra) is the entities of the possible things, which also cause the diversity (ikbtilaf) of the forms of the existents.²³ So the property of number precedes (muqaddam) the property of everything that displays a property (bukm kull bakim).

215.13 When I reached number and the countable things at the beginning of this chapter in this copy, I slept, and I saw the Messenger of God in a dream, while I was seated before him. Someone had asked me, "What is the smallest plural number?" I had answered, "According to the jurists [al-fuqaba'l] it is two, but according to the grammarians [al-nabwiyin] it is three." The Prophet said, "Both these and those are mistaken."

I said to him,"Oh Messenger of God, what should I say?" He replied,"Numbers are even and odd. God says,'By the even and the odd!'; though both are numbers, He distinguished between them." Then he took out five dirhams with his blessed hand and threw them down on the mat upon which we were seated.

Throwing two in one place and three in another he said to me, "He who is asked this question should say to the questioner, 'Of which number do you speak? Of the number called "even"? Or of the number called "odd"?"

Then he placed his hand upon the two dirhams and said, "This is the least plural of the even numbers." He placed his hand on the three and said, "This is the least plural of the odd numbers. In this manner should he who is asked this question answer. This is how it is with us."

215.20 I awoke and wrote down my dream in this chapter just as I had seen it when I awoke. But I have not mentioned many questions between me and him that pertain to matters unrelated to this chapter. I was in extreme joy and happiness from seeing him, and I found in my mind once I awoke the correctness of the prohibition of the single cycle prayer, for he spoke in this manner. I have never seen a teacher better than he.

215.22 Then I went back to writing this book. So I return and say: the property of number precedes the property of everything that displays a property. Hence the manyness of the possible things imposes manyness upon them, while the diversities of their preparednesses impose manyness upon the Manifest within them, in spite of Its Unity (abadiyya). So Its manyness is that of the possible things. Since this is the case, it is impossible for servanthood to possess an entity; because of this station, one may uphold the "abandonment of servanthood."

215.25 The property of number and the power of its permeation (sarayan), even though it possesses no existence, led to God's saying, "Three men conspire not secretly together, but He is the fourth of them, neither five men, but He is the sixth of them, neither fewer than that," that is, two, which confirms our vision mentioned above, "neither more, but He is with them, wherever they may be" (Qur'an 58:8) within the levels demanded by numbers; hence the property of number applies to them. There is also the saying of the Prophet, "God possesses ninety-nine Names, one hundred less one"²⁶; this shows the property of number.

215.28 God says, "They are infidels who say, 'God is the third of three'" (Qur'an 5:77), but he is not an infidel who says that God is the fourth of three. This is because, if He were the third of three or the fourth of four, as is conspired by those who speak such words, He would be of the same kind (fins) as the possible things. But He—high exalted is He—is not of the same kind as the possible things, so it cannot be said concerning Him that He is one of them, since He is One eternally for every manyness and group, without becoming one of their kind. Hence He is the fourth of three, so He is One; the fifth of four, so He is One; and so on indefinitely.

215.31 This is what is called"Allah." Though He is the existence manifest in whatever forms are possessed by the loci of manifestation, He is not of their kind, for He is Necessary Being in His Essence, while they are necessary nonexistence (wajibat al-'adam) in their essences eternally. They possess properties in that which clothes itself within them, just as ornaments possess properties in him who adorns himself with them. Hence the relation of the possible things to the Manifest is the relation of knowledge and power to the knowledgeable and the powerful; there is no exist tent entity that bestows the properties of being knowledgeable and powerful upon the object of the attribution (al-mawsuf); hence we say that it is knowledgeable and powerful in its essence. Thus also are the realities.

215.35 So number bestows properties by its very essence (bâkim li dhâthbi) upon countable things, though it has no existence; and the loci of manifestation bestow properties upon the forms of the Manifest and upon the manyness of these forms within the Reality of the One ('ayn al-wâhid), though they have no existence.

216.1 In our view there is no issue (mas'ala) in theology (al-ilm al-ilahi) more obscure than this. For everyone (al-jamaa) maintains that the possible things acquire (istifada) nothing from God but existence. But no one knows the meaning of the words, "acquire nothing but existence," except him whose insight has been unveiled by God; those who use this expression do not understand its true meaning.

216.3 There is no existent but God, while the possible things remain in the state of nonexistence. Now this"acquired existence" (al-wujud al-mustafad) either must be existent, while being neither God nor the possible thing, or it must consist of the Being of God. But if something is superadded (za'id), then it is neither God nor the entities of the possible things. So there remains only that this existence be existent; hence it is described by itself, and this is God, since it has been proven that there is no existence from eternity without beginning except that of God, since He is the Necessary Being in Himself. So it is established that there is no existent through itself but God. Hence the entities of the possible things receive the Being of God through their realities, since there is no other Being. This is indicated by His words,"We created not the heavens and the earth and all that is between them save through the Truth", which is Sheer Being, so to it came to be ascribed everything that is bestowed by the realities of the entities. In this way limitations are occasioned, measurements become manifest, and judgment and decree are exercised; the high, the low, and the middle, diverse and parallel things, and the classes, genera, kinds, individuals, states, and properties of the existents all become manifest within One Reality, since shapes (al-ashkal) become distinguished within It. The Names of God become manifest, possessing effects (athar) within that which becomes manifest in existence, out of [divine] jealousy (gbayra), lest those effects be attributed to the entities of the possible things within the Manifest within them. Since the effects belong to the Divine Names, and the Name is the Named (al-musamma), there is nothing in existence but God.²⁹ So He displays properties and He receives them, since He is the “Recetver of penitence” (Qur'an 40:2), and thus has described Himself by “reception” (qabul).

216.12 In spite of all this, the clear formulation of this issue is exceedingly difficult, since verbal expression (al-'ibara) is inadequate for it, nor does conceptualization (tasawwur) capture it, since it quickly escapes and its properties are contradictory. For [this issue] is like His words,"You did not throw" so He negated,"when you threw" so He affirmed,"but God threw", so He negated the engendered existence (kawn) of Muhammad and affirmed Himself as identical to Muhammad, giving to him the Name Allah. This is the property of this issue, or rather, this is the issue itself for him who verifies. This then is the meaning of the abandonment of servanthood for the elite knowers of God (khusits al-'ulama' bi'llah).

216.15 As for him who does not attain to their degree, he maintains that servanthood cannot be abandoned inwardly, because of the existence of poverty (al-iftigar),³¹ which no temporally originated thing (mubdath) denies from himself. His poverty will necessarily lower him, and this lowliness (dhilla) is identical with servanthood; [he will remain in this station of servanthood] unless he is taken from knowledge of himself [e.g., by an ecstatic state].

216.17 As for man's abandonment of servanthood through knowledge, that takes place as follows: When you look at the servant in respect of his self-control (tasarruf), not in respect of his being a possible thing, and when you ascribe to him the name of servanthood in this respect, then it is possible for him to abandon servanthood through knowledge—in respect of self-control, not in respect of his possibility. The reason for this is that the reality of servanthood is to attend to the commands of one's master. Here none is commanded except him to whom can be ascribed acts in accordance with the commands. Now acts (al-af'al) are God's creation, so He is the commander and the commanded. So where is true self-control, through which the servant is called either a servant upholding the commands of his master or one who contends with him, thus being qualified as a runaway (al-ibaq)?

216.20 Hence during the manifestation of the divine Power and the occurrence of Acts in his outward and inward, he who is named "servant" remains either in conformity (muwafaqa) with the command or in opposition (mukbalafa) to it. If this is the case, there is no servanthood of self-control, so the servant is an existent without a property. This is the station of verifying (tabqiq) the abandonment of servanthood for all the men of knowledge through Tasting ('ulama' al-dbawq), the People of God, except for one tribe of our companions—and others who are not of us—who hold a different view.³² [They maintain] that the possible thing possesses acts and that God has entrusted (tafwid) His servants with the performance of certain possible acts. Hence He prescribed the performance of these acts, since He said, "Perform the prayer and pay the alms" (Qur'an 22:78), "Fulfill the Pilgrimage and the Visitation unto God" (Qur'an 2:192), "Struggle for God" (Qur'an 22:77), and so forth. Since they affirm that the servant possesses acts, they cannot abandon the servanthood of self-control.

216.25 As for the servanthood of possibility, they concur that there is such a thing and that its abandonment is inconceivable, for it belongs to the very essence of the possible thing.

216.26 Some of our companions take into account in the abandonment of servanthood God's being the faculties and organs of the servant, for in this state he is absent from servanthood, but this is the abandonment of a state, not of a reality.

In the Qur'an and the Hadith the term "free" (hurr) along with certain derivatives refers to the status of someone who is free as opposed to someone who is the property of another person. But the term 'abd, slave or servant, denotes not only being owned by someone but also the proper human situation before God, as was indicated in the introduction to Chapters 130 and 131; one may not be owned by another human being, but one can hardly be free before God. In Sufism, freedom was early considered a high spiritual station, not of course in opposition to being God's slave, but as another side of the same reality. Abu Nasr al-Sarraj (d. 378/988 to 89) writes, "Freedom' is an allusion to the fullest degree of the realization [tabaqquq] of servanthood. It is that you should not be owned by any engendered or other kind of thing, so that you are free, since you are God's slave ['abd].

Hence Bishr [al-Hafi] said to Sari [al-Saqati] concerning the words of the Prophet,'God created you free, so be as you were created!':'Do not take into account your family when at home or your companions when traveling. Do everything for God, and leave people aside.' Junayd said,'The final station of the knower is freedom.' Another said,'The servant is not a true servant as long as he is in bondage to anything other than God.'" In his usual manner, Ibn al-Arabi has in mind the sayings of earlier masters as the background for what he wants to explain, but he then takes the concept of freedom back to its deepest meaning in the divine realities. The themes he covers, which are among the most recurrent in the Futûhat, include the contrast between the Essence as such (Incomparability) and the properties of the Names (Similarity) and the station of the biggest saints (i.e., the Blameworthy, though they are not mentioned by name), those who have fully actualized servanthood and put all things in their proper places by acting in accordance with the demands of the Names within creation.

Concerning the Knowledge of the Station of Freedom (hurriiyya) and Its Mysteries

Chapter 140

This is a chapter of danger.

The servant of self-will has run away from his Master's kingdom, but he cannot go outside of it, so he wanders aimlessly.

The free man is he who owns all engendered things and is not owned by any property or position.

Were he to resist engendered existence, he would nullify his root in his Master's kingdom.

two 226.23 Know—God give you success—that freedom is a station of the Essence (maqam dhati), not of the Divinity (ilabi). It cannot be delivered over to the servant absolutely, since he is God's servant through a servanthood that does not accept emancipation. We have considered freedom impossible for God (albaqq) in respect of His being a divinity (ilab) because of His relationship (irtibat) to divinity's vassal (ma'lub), a relationship corresponding to that of the lord to the existence of the servant, the owner to the property, and the king to the kingdom. Consider God's words,"If He will, He can put you away and bring another people." He gives news of bringing another people in respect of this relationship, for the reality of correlation (idafa) demands, both rationally and ontologically, the concept of two correlative terms. So there can be no freedom with correlation, while Lordship (rubübiyya) and Divinity are correlations.

226.25 But since there is no correspondence (munásaba) or correlation between God and creation (al-kbalq)—on the contrary, He is “Independent of the worlds” (Qur'an 3:92), and this belongs to no existent essence except the Essence of God—no engendered existent is related to Him, no eye perceives Him, no limitation encompasses Him, and no demonstration found to be necessary (darari) by the intellect gives knowledge of Him, just as the negation of the attributes of interdependence (ta'alluq) that would bring Him under delimitation is but speculation.³⁸

226.28 So when the servant desires the realization (tabaqquq) of this station—for it is one of realization, not of the assumption of traits (takballuq) —and he considers that this can only come about through the disappearance of the poverty (iftiqar) that accompanies him because of his possibility, and he also sees that the Divine Jealousy (al-ghayrat al-ilabiyya) demands that none be qualified by existence except God—because of the claims (dawa) existence entails—he knows through these considerations that the ascription of existence to the possible thing is impossible, since Jealousy is a limitation that prevents it. Hence he looks at his own entity and sees that it is nonexistent, possessing no existence, and that nonexistence is its intrinsic attribute (wasf nafsi). So no thought of existence occurs to him, poverty disappears, and he remains free in the state of possessing nonexistence, like the freedom of the Essence in Its Being.

226.31 Then the servant desires to know what corresponds to the Divine Names that belong to the Essence within the essence of the nonexistent possible thing. He sees that the entity of every possible thing possesses a preparedness (isti'dad)⁴² not possessed by any other, in order that the entities may become distinct (tamytz). Hence, what separates the essence of the possible thing and the Essence of God pertains to the Necessary Being of God and the necessary nonexistence (al-wajib al-'adam) of the possible thing. So the servant gives the preparednesses of the possible things a status corresponding to that of the Names of God, while the existence of the possible entities belongs to God. So when He becomes manifest to Himself in the entity of a possible thing through one of the Divine Names, the preparedness of the entity bestows upon Him a temporally originated Name (ism badith) by which He is then called. It is said that this is a Throne, this an Intellect, this a Pen, a Tablet, a Footstool, a celestial sphere, an angel, fire, air, water, earth, an inanimate thing, a plant, an animal, and a man, in all kinds and species. Then this Reality permeates the individuals and it is said that this is Zayd, 'Amr, this horse, this stone, this tree.

All of this is bestowed by the preparedness of the entities of the possible things. Hence you infer (istidlal) from the effects (atbar) of the entities in existence what realities they comprise in their essence, just as you infer from the effects of the Names in existence the Divine Names, though the Named (al-musamma) possesses no entity that is perceived.

227.4 Hence when the possible thing clings to its own entity, it is free, with no servanthood; but when it clings to its preparedness, it is a poor servant. So we possess no station in nondelimited freedom (al-burriyat al-mutlaqa) in what we have mentioned. So do not allow yourself to maintain anything but this.

227.6 He who does not contemplate this station will never know the sense of God's words, "God is independent of the worlds" (Qur'an 3:92), which mean that He is independent of denotation (al-dalala 'alaybi). For, if He had brought the world into existence that it might denote Him, He could not be independent of it. So know this truth! Who made the world a denotation and whom does it denote? For He is more manifest and apparent than that His denotation should be sought from something else or that He could be delimited by an "other" (siwa).

If this were the situation, the denotation would possess a certain authority (saltana) and boasting (fakhr) over that which it denotes. If the object of denotation made the denotation a denotation, the latter would never be separated from the level of vainglory (zahuw), because it would be giving to its object something that the object could not attain alone. As a result Independence and Freedom would be nullified, but these two are established for God. Hence He did not make the denotations refer to Himself, rather to His [ontological] level (martaba), so that it might be known that there is no god but He. This is the tongue of the elite (al-khusus) concerning freedom.

227.11 As for the tongue of the generality (al-'umûm) of the Sufis (al-qawm), “freedom” belongs to him who is not enslaved by any engendered existent, only by God. Hence he is free from everything other than God. So freedom is a verified servanthood of God; its possessor is not the servant of anything but God, who created him to serve Him.⁴⁴ Hence he fulfills that for which he was created, and it is said concerning him, “How excellent a servant—indeed he is constantly returning” (Qur'an 38:44), that is, constantly coming back to the servanthood for which he was created—since he was created in need of everything in existence. There is nothing in existence that does not call to him in the tongue of his poverty: “I am that toward which you are poor, so return to me.”

227.24 If he has knowledge of the true situation, he knows that God is with that phenomenon (sabab) that calls him, and that he is poor toward it because he has the preparedness for poverty toward it, so he is poor in his very reality. Then he will look at the bestower of that toward which he has need in this phenomenon and he will see it as the Divine Name. So he is only poor toward God in respect of His Name, and he is only poor through his own self from the effect of his preparedness. Hence he knows what poverty is, who it is that is poor, and toward whom he is poor. That is why the Prophet was commanded to say, “My Lord, increase me in knowledge”.

224.27 Thus have I sufficiently apprised you of freedom and its mysteries, things that you will not find in other books, the writings of anyone else.

Concerning the Station of Abandoning Freedom (tark al-hurriyya)

Chapter 141

How should he who never becomes separate from his needs be free while his needs are seeking him?

Hence he is poor toward all things: poverty is his doctrine, poverty his earnings.

God became named for us within the entities of the engendered things so that His religion might be distinguished for us through speech.

None is free in engendered existence, for He seeks us from every direction—and from every direction we seek Him.

two 227.24 Know—God give you success—that the abandonment of freedom is pure and utter servitude; the possessor of this station is enslaved by phenomena (asbab), for he has attained to the realization of the knowledge of the wisdom (bikma) in their establishment (wad). So he is lowly before their authority. The possessor of this station is like the earth: both the pious and the wicked tread upon it, and it bestows its benefits on both the man of faith and the infidel. Phenomena affect him just as supplication (du'a) on the part of engendered things affect God in that He answers them; he attains the realization of his Master, for he sees that this station accompanies Him in spite of the Independence (ghind) attributed to Him. So what is the state of him whose mount (markab) becomes hungry, naked, thirsty, and is slaughtered, while he is commanded to preserve it and to watch over its situation and over that which makes it prosper? God placed him in charge of it and made him a vicegerent within it; it is not within his power to take care of its rights (buquq) unless phenomena enable him to do so. So he must humble himself in acquiring phenomena so that he can fulfill God's right upon him directed toward his mount. For God says to him, "Thy self (nafs) has a right upon thee, thy eye ('ayn) has a right upon thee, and thy guest (zawr) has a right upon thee."⁴⁹ How can a person faced with rights possess freedom?

So every engendered thing has a right upon him: he is slave to that right.

He is not free—so be knowledgeable and aware of him, like him who has attained realization.

Be not like him who rejects the command of his Master once he enters creation.

God is Lord and you are His servant. So be a servant! This has priority.

I say this while He is my hearing and He is my words while I speak.

He who is like what I say is the man of knowledge who has been given success.

228.1 So he is the servant of his self as long as it demands its right from him, the servant of his eye as long as it demands its right from him, and the servant of his guest as long as he demands his right from him. Divine blessings demand that he give thanks to Him who blessed him with them, and religious prescriptions (taklif) are in effect. Compulsion (idtirar) is unavoidable; if he desires to repel it, it cannot be repelled. Praise and laudation exercise effects upon him, so he says, "Praise belongs to God, the Benefactor, the Bestower." Blame, harshness, and annoyance master him, so he says, "Praise belongs to God in every state." So his praise changes with the change in states; were the states to change with the change in praise, he would be free of them.

228.4 The Messenger of God said to Abû Bakr al-Siddqى, “What has brought you out?” He answered, “Oh Messenger of God, hunger." The Messenger of God said, "I too have been brought out by hunger." So he went with those Companions who were with him to the house of al-Haytham ibn Abi al-Tihan, who sacrificed for them and fed them. So the only thing that brought them out was He who delivered a verdict in favor of that thing—i.e., hunger—which faced them with a right. Hunger is a thing of nonexistence (amr 'adamt). So if an existent is acted upon by a nonexistent thing, what should be its state in face of an existent thing?

Moreover, people such as these mentioned here have been seen to possess freedom. But because of this tasting (dbawq) they came out to seek the fulfillment of the rights their selves had upon them. Hence hunger enslaved them.

If they had not come out but remained in their places, they would have been under the coercion (qabr) of patience (sabr) and everything that it demands. So the ultimate ascription of excellence (fadl) to them is that they came out, as we said, seeking to fulfill the rights of their selves through striving (sa'y) for them, since they had the ability to do this. There is nothing higher than this, for if they had sat back while possessing the ability, they would have been described by wrongdoing (zulm) and ignorance of the divine decree (al-bukm al-ilabi).

228.10 How can we conceive of freedom in someone whose attributes are such [as the above] in both this world and the next? In this world, such is the actual situation and a person cannot deny it. He may refuse it and disclaim it for himself, but if he does not depend and rely upon phenomena, the most he can do is rely upon God in employing them, so he is then a defective servant ('abd ma'til), since this is a specific attentiveness. Likewise in the next world he is the servant of his passion (shabwa), since he is under its authority and it rules over him; and servanthood has no meaning other than this: his entrance under properties and the bondage (riqq) of phenomena.

228.13 When the knower (al-arif) discerns this for himself, he knows that "freedom" is the talk of the ego (baditb nafs) and an accidental state with no permanence in sobriety (sabw). Then [he knows] that the abandonment of freedom is a divine attribute (na't l'lab). So how can he not abandon it? Its ultimate limit is that in his abandonment of freedom he should be in the form of the God who requests supplication and seeks repentance and the asking of forgiveness from His servants and who blames them if they do not come to what He has requested from them. He even says,"If you did not sin, God would bring a people who do sin, then repent, so that He might forgive them."

228.16 Thus have I apprised you of the mysteries of this station. If you cling to them, you will know your self and you will know your Lord, and you will not go beyond your own measure. Though freedom has degrees among God's servants, God considers the not-free (gbayr al-abrar) as greater in degree and more perfect in description. The root is with them: a Protector who protects them in the abandonment of freedom and in enslavement to that which Wisdom demands.

The True Knowledge of Unworthy Utterances

Chapter 195

Unruly utterances, which are usually known by such terms as "theopathic locations" (Massignon) or "inspired paradoxes" (Corbin), have exercised a certain fascination over Western scholars, though the only book-length study devoted to clarifying their place in Sufism does not take Ibn al-Arabi's views into account.⁵⁷ The outstanding feature of these utterances is their apparent blasphemy or at least contradiction of the letter and spirit of the Law. The most famous examples are Hallaj's "I am the Truth" and Abu Yazid's "Glory be to me," though the Sufis wrote long compilations on the topic.

In translating the term, we have tried to approach the literal meaning rather than interpret the content of the sayings. According to Abu Nasr Sarraj, the term in its original sense implies a strong movement; it is employed in describing the water of a stream which has gone out of control and overflowed its banks. In the same way, a Sufi overcome by ecstasy may say things that overflow the boundaries of reason and the Law.⁵⁸ Ibn al-Arabi certainly has the negative implications of the term in mind when discussing it. However, he acknowledges that such expressions will be justified if, and only if, God has commanded the person to speak them, as in the case of certain sayings of the prophets. As one example he offers an interesting commentary on a long Qur'anic passage that quotes the words of Jesus, words which would have been "unruly utterances" if spoken without the divine command.

At the end of the passage Ibn al-'Arabi turns to emphasizing the fact that the greatest saints—the Verifiers or the Blameworthy—never make unruly utterances, since they have fully actualized the station of servanthood. He also refers in passing to miracles and their similarity to certain phenomena that can be brought about by magicians.

An unruly utterance is the soul's claim through nature because of a remnant of the effects of self-will within it.

This is when the unruly words are true, have not been commanded, and are spoken by a master of understanding.

Know—God confirm you—that an “unruly utterance” is a justified claim (da'wad bi'l-baqq) which expresses the speaker's position with God bestowed upon him by God but which [is made] without a divine command and by way of boasting (fakhr). If the speaker is commanded to utter the claim, then he expresses through it a communication (ta'rif) by divine command without intending any boast. The Prophet said, “I am the lord of the children of Adam, without boasting.” In other words, “I do not intend to boast before you through this communication, but rather to give you news through it of certain things to your benefit and to let you know of God's favor to you through your prophet's rank with Him”. Unruly utterances are the slips (zalla) of the Verifiers (al-mubaqqiqtin) when they are not commanded to speak the words as the Prophet was. Hence he clarified [his words] by saying, “without boasting”; in other words, “I know that I am God's servant, just as you are God's servants, and the servant does not boast before the servant when their master is the same.”

387.15 The words of Jesus were similar. He began with servanthood, which corresponds to the Prophet's words, "without boasting." In order to exonerate his mother and because he knew through the light of prophecy within his own preparedness that he would certainly be called the son of God, he said to his people, "Lo, I am God's servant" (Qur'an 19:31). Hence at the outset of his communication and testimony he began with a state about which those like him ordinarily do not speak. He meant: I am not the son of any man, and my mother is pure, a virgin. Nor am I the son of God; just as He does not accept a consort, He does not accept a son. Rather, I am God's servant like you. "God gave me the Book and made me a Prophet" (Qur'an 19:31). Hence Jesus articulated his prophecy at its time in his own eyes, but at other than its time in the eyes of those present, since there is no doubt that he would have to announce his prophecy at its time, as was God's custom with the prophets before him. So the prophets are commanded in everything that becomes manifest through and from them, that is, in the true claims that denote their position of proximity [with God] and their distinction from their equals and likes because of their exemplary rank with God.

387.21 “And He made me blessed,” that is, a locus and mark of increase in good for you, “wherever I was” (Qur'an 19:32), that is, in every state; this blessedness for you because of me does not pertain to some states rather than others. Jesus spoke all of this in the past tense, but he meant the present and the future. What pertains to the present is his words in testimony concerning the innocence of his mother and in admonition and instruction to those who wanted to call him the son of God. Hence he declared God incomparable (tanzih) [i.e., in respect to such an ascription], and this is equivalent to his exoneration of his mother from what they were ascribing to her. So his words are a declaration of Incomparability for God and an exoneration for his mother. The past tense in his words “wherever I was” shows that this was a communication of this fact to him from God, just as in the case of Muhammad when he said, “I was a prophet when Adam was between water and clay”; so he knew his rank with God when Adam's bodily form had not yet come into existence.

387.26 Jesus also announced with the past tense that God gave him the Book and enjoined him to pray and give alms as long as he is in the world of [religious] prescription (taklif) and Law-giving (tashri'), a point expressed by his words, "so long as I remained altive" (Qur'an 19:32). This obviously means, for those who are his listeners, his living under prescription. For us it means this, but it also means something else, that is, [it refers to] His words concerning Jesus that he is the"Word of God". A"word" is a collection of letters—the science of letters will come in the chapter on the Breath. So God announced that He gave Jesus the Book, meaning the Gospel and meaning also the station of his existence in respect to the fact he is a Word. A"book" is a combination of written letters for the sake of making words manifest, or it is the combination of meaning and the forms of the letters that denote it. So there must be composition (tarkib). Hence Jesus mentioned that God gave him the book, a statement similar to His words,"He gave each thing its creation".

387.31 Jesus meant by "enjoining prayer and alms" (Qur'an 19:32) worship (al-'ibada).⁶³ These words denote these [specific] works (al-'amal), but they denote worship even more, since they are in no need of explanation because they are worship. If the works were meant, it would have been necessary to specify them and explain their form, so that the person for whom they are prescribed may perform them. Since the meaning is worship, this shows that Jesus will continue to live wherever he is. Even if he departs from the body (baykal) through death, life will accompany him, since it is his intrinsic attribute, all the more so since he was made the "Spirit" of God (Qur'an 4:169)⁶¹.

387.34 Then Jesus mentioned that he is dutiful to his mother (Qur'an 19:33), that is, he does good (mubsin) toward her; the first of his good-doing was that he exonerated her from what was being ascribed to her while he was in a state where his listeners could not doubt that his communication was true.

387.35 Then he completed his words by saying, "He did not make me mightby" (Qur'an 19:33), for mightiness (jabarat), which is tremendousness ('azama), contradicts servanthood, which was spelled out by his words that he is God's servant. By "might" he means: I do not exercise mightiness over the community to which I have been sent with the Book, prayer, and alms. I am only delivering a message from God, nothing else. I am not their guardian (musaytir) that I should be mighty and exercise mightiness over them. I deliver a message, as God said, "O Messenger, deliver the message that has been sent down to thee" (Qur'an 5:71); "It is only for the messenger to deliver the message" (5:99); "Thou art only a reminder; thou art not their guardian" (88:21 to 22). God's word is "reminder", and someone can only remind a person who is in a forgetful state. If this were not the case, he would be a teacher (mu'allim), not a reminder. This shows that he is only reminding them of the state of their acknowledgment of God's Lordship over them when He took Adam's progeny from his reins at the First Covenant (Qur'an 7:172).

388.5 Then Jesus said, "And safety (salam [i.e., "peace"]) be upon me, the day I was born" (Qur'an 19:34), when I spoke to you about the fact that I am God's servant, and thus was safe from the attribution of my existence to fornication or marriage, "and the day I die" (Qur'an 34:34), and I become safe from the slaying that will be attributed to me by those who think that they slew me. This refers to the words of the Children of Israel, "We slew the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary" (Qur'an 4:156). God declared them liars with His words, "They did not slay him, neither crucified him, but it seemed so to them" (Qur'an 4:156). So Jesus said to them that safety was upon him on the day that he died, safe from being slain. For if he had been slain, he would have been slain in martyrdom, and the martyr is alive, not dead, just as we have been prohibited from saying that,⁶⁵ a command that still remains [in effect]. So Jesus gave news that he died and was not slain, since he mentioned safety upon him on the day he died.

388.9 Then he mentioned that safety is upon him on the day that he is raised up alive (Qur'an 19:34), that is, at the resurrection, which is the abode of safety for those who are free of every evil, like the prophets and other people of grace ('inaya). So Jesus possesses safety in all these places. Nor is there a third abode; there is only life in this world and life in the next, and between the two death.

388.11 All these [words of Jesus], if they had not derived from the Divine Command, would have been unruly utterances on the part of their speaker, for they are words that show his degree with God by way of boasting of it before his equals and likes. But far be it from the Folk of Allah to distinguish themselves from their likes or to boast! Hence unruly utterances are a frivolity of the self (ru'una nafs); they never issue from a Verifier, for he has no object of contemplation but his Lord, and he does not boast before his Lord, nor does he make claims. On the contrary, he clings to his own servanthood, ready for the commands that come to him. He hastens to obey them, and he looks upon everything in engendered existence in this manner. So if he makes an unruly utterance, he has been veiled from that for which he has been created and is ignorant of himself and his Lord. Even if he possesses every power (quwwa) that he claims, so that he gives life and death and appoints and dismisses, still he has no [special] place with God; on the contrary, he is like a purgative or costive medicine. He acts by the specific characteristic of his state, not by his position with God, just as a sorcerer acts by the specific characteristic of his art for the eyes of the beholders. He snatches their eyes away from seeing the truth (albaqq) in what they see.

388.18 Everyone who makes an unruly utterance does so out of forgetfulness (gbafla). We have never seen nor heard of a saint (wali) from whom an unruly utterance has issued because of the frivolity of the self while he was a saint of God, except that he demonstrated his poverty, became abased, and returned to his original state, so that the vainglory which assailed him disappeared.

388.19 Such is the situation of unruly utterances if they are justified, when they are still blameworthy. So what if they should issue from a liar (kadbib)? If it is asked: How can he be a liar in an unruly utterance if he displays acts and effects?

We reply: How excellent a question! As for the answer: The Folk of Allah, if they are Folk of Allah, produce effects only through veracious [spiritual] states (al-bal al-sadiq). They name this [effect, when expressed verbally], an unruly utterance if it is not connected to a divine command that commands it, as is realized in the case of the prophets. But there are people who know the specific properties of the [Divine] Names (khawass al-asma), through which they display marvelous effects and correct influences.

But a person like this never says, “This takes place through some Names that I know.” He makes it appear to those present that it derives from the strength of his state, his position with God, and true sanctity, but he is a liar in all that. This is not called an unruly utterance, nor is its owner said to possess such a thing. On the contrary, this is sheer and hateful falsehood.

388.25 So unruly utterances are true words that issue from the frivolity of a self that still possesses the remnants of nature (al-tab).⁶⁹ They testify that their possessor is distant from God in that state. And this much is sufficient concerning the state of the true knowledge of unruly utterances.

On Withdrawal

Chapter 20570

This is one of the ninety-nine chapters that make up Section 3 of the Futuhat, on the "[spiritual] states" (ahwal). The term takhali is the fifth verbal form of the root kh.l.w., from which also comes khalwa or "[spiritual] retreat." The root meaning is to be empty or vacant. Hence "withdrawal" signifies entering into a retreat or, more literally, to empty oneself, that is, of that which distracts from God and ultimately of everything other than God. Withdrawal is often discussed along with two rhyming terms, tahalli, or "adornment," and tajalli, or "theophany," the subjects of Chapters 204 and 206. Ibn al-Arabi says that the Sufis generally define adornment as "making one's states similar to those who are truthful [al-sadiqin] in word and deed" (two 483.21), whereas in his own view it is "to take on the embellishment of the Divine Names as defined by the Law" (2 483.23). He relates withdrawal to theophany by saying, "Withdrawal is to choose the retreat and to turn away from everything that distracts from God in seeking theophany..., which is the unseen lights that are unveiled to hearts" (two 132.7; compare Istilabat 9).

The spiritual retreat, to which Ibn al-Arabi devotes Chapters 78 and 79, is one of the mainstays of Sufi practice. The purpose of making retreats is “to empty the heart from thoughts connected to the various parts of engendered existence and actualized through directing the senses toward sensory objects. The treasury of the imagination [khizanat al-khayal] becomes filled [with images derived from the sensory world], and the form-giving faculty [al-quwwat al-musawwira] then chooses out those forms with which it is enamored [ta'ashshuq]. Then these forms act as a barrier between the person and the Divine Level. Hence he [the spiritual traveler] inclines toward retreats and toward invocations [adbkar] in praise of Him "in whose hand is the Dominion" (Qur'an 36:83). Then, when the soul becomes purified and the veil of nature that stands between him and the World of the Dominion [am al-malakat] is lifted, all the sciences imprinted within the forms of the World of the Dominion come to be reflected in the mirror of the soul" (11 48.20).

Once the veil has been lifted, the traveler has no more need of retreats. "The retreat is only correct for him who is veiled [almabjub]. As for the People of Unveiling, the retreat is never correct for them, since they contemplate the higher spirits [al-arwab al-'ulwiyya] and the fiery spirits [al-arwab al-nariyya] and see the engendered things speaking..." (two 151.26).

For Ibn al-'Arabî the retreat is a necessary stage on the path, but the elect will eventually reach the point where there will be no difference for them between being in a retreat (khalwa) and being in"society" (jalwa, literally: the unveiling of a bride, but defined technically as leaving the retreat [tark al-khalwa, two 152.22] and closely connected in meaning to "theophany" which is derived from the same root).

In discussing withdrawal, Ibn al-Arabi follows his usual pattern of referring to a term's outward meaning, and then pointing out the root phenomenon in the divine things (ilahiyyat). Withdrawal is not retreat from the everyday world to God, but from our mistaken perception that our existence is real, to the true knowledge that we have no existence and that Being belongs to God alone. The subject of the chapter is not so much the spiritual state of withdrawal, which is to leave aside everything that distracts from God, as the root of this spiritual state in the Oneness of Being. There is nothing other than God, since none possesses Being but He. The things or entities remain eternally non-existent. They cannot "acquire existence" as the philosophers maintain because "realities do not change" (al-haqaiq Ia tatabadi).

What appears to be the acquisition of existence by the things is in fact God disclosing Himself to us under the guise of His name the "Manifest" (al-zahir), though His Self-disclosure is colored by the properties and effects of the things. Thus it is impossible to "withdraw" from acquired existence, since none has been acquired; the spiritual traveler must withdraw from his ignorance of the true situation.

Were it not for the levels set down in the Law, God's realities would not become manifest, though the entities give witness to Him.

How should there be “withdrawal”? For there is no one in engendered existence save Him—and He it is whom we worship in engendered existence.

This prevents us from delimiting Him, so sometimes we make Him nonexistent, and sometimes we bring Him into existence.

For according to our creeds God brings every accident in engendered existence into existence.

So if you possess an eye and true knowledge, contemplate Him in all things and in the fact that things fail to find Him.

484.18 Know that for the Tribe "withdrawal" is to choose the retreat and to turn away (i'râd) from everything that distracts from God. But for us withdrawal takes place in relation to acquired existence (al-wujûd al-mustafâd), since the creed (al-i'tiqâd) holds this to be so; and in reality (fi nafs al-amr) there is none but True Being (al-wujûd al-baqq). That which is described as having acquired existence remains with its root ('alâ aslib): It does not pass from its possible existence (imkân). Its property [of nonexistence] remains while its entity is immutable.

484.20 God is Witness (shabid) and Witnessed (mashbud). For it is not proper that He should swear by that which is not He, since that by which He swears must possess tremendousness ('azama). Hence He did not swear by anything that is not He. We have mentioned this in the chapter on Breath. Among the things by which He has sworn, are [those things mentioned in the verse],"By a Witness and a Witnessed". So He is the Witness and the Witnessed, and He is that which acquires existence; or rather, He is the Existent (al-mawfud).

484.22 If you ask: Who then is ignorant of this, that you should teach him about it? For only that which is existent can be given knowledge. We reply: Your question is answered by your own creed, since you have faith that He said to the thing,"Be!" He only addresses and commands that which hears, yet you hold that it has no existence when it is addressed; so that which has no existence is able to hear. Hence it is He who teaches the thing what it does not know, and it comes to know it; in the state of its nonexistence it receives teaching, just as—according to you—it hears God's address and then receives engendered existence (qabul al-takwin). But in our view, contrary to your view, this is not its receiving engendered existence. Its"receiving engendered existence" is that it becomes a locus of manifestation (mazbar) for God. This is the meaning of"And it is". This does not mean that it acquires existence; it only acquires the property of being a locus of manifestation. So, it can be taught just as it can hear; there is no difference.

484.27 If you have paid attention and understood, I have apprised you of something tremendous. He is identical ('ayn) to all things in manifestation (zuhar), but not identical to them in their essences (dbawat)—Glory be to Him and high exalted is He [above that! No, He is He, and the things are the things. But when you see the properties of certain loci of manifestation in the Manifest, you imagine that their entities have become qualified by "acquired existence."

484.29 Then, when we came to know that among the possible entities there are people who are in this manner ignorant of the situation, it became incumbent upon us—though we remain immutable in our state of nonexistence—to teach the real situation to those of our fellow humans who do not know it. This is all the more so since we are qualified (ittisàf) as being a locus of manifestation, and we have been given the power through this relation (nisba) to teach him who does not know. Hence we gave him what he does not have, and he accepted it. Among the things I have taught him is that by being a locus of manifestation he does not acquire existence. So he "withdrew" from this belief, not from acquired existence, since there is none. That is why, in [the discussion of] withdrawal, we have turned away from [the position] that it is withdrawal from acquired existence.

484.33 Those People of Wayfaring (abl al-sultuk) without knowledge of this, not knowing who is the Manifest and the Witnessed and who is the world, have chosen retreat (kbalwa) in order to be isolated (infirad) with God. Since the manyness (katbra) witnessed in existence veils them from God, they have inclined to withdrawal [through retreat]. This is one of the things that should show you that they have not renounced things in respect of the forms of the things, for they are not able to do that. In their retreat they must witness forms; in it they do not withdraw from the walls, door, roof, and furnishings which make up the retreat room, nor from carpet and curtain, food and drink. So the person in retreat is not able to withdraw from forms.

There only remains that he has fled (barb) from the comprehensible speech (al-kalam al-mafbum) that arises from forms, not from Acts (al-afali [i.e., created things]). If there were animals with him, he would still be in retreat and would not be distracted from his purpose unless he feared being harmed by them; in a similar way [he would be distracted from his purpose] if the walls were leaning, for he would fear that they might fall on him. Hence he sought out withdrawal only because of the words that people speak. But if he were to understand the words that people speak in the mode (wajb) in which God places them within them, his knowledge would increase through something that he had not known.

If someone were to pray a single prayer—I mean a single cycle (rak'a)—the person in retreat would not seek withdrawal from it, for when he hears the servant [performing the prayer] say, "God hears him who praises Him," and [knows] that these are the words of God, then Reality permeates everything he hears.

485.7 Hence everything that people say imparts knowledge of God to the knowers. That is why one of the charismatic gifts (karamat) of the Wholesome (al-salibun) is that God allows them to hear the speech of things. If this not did impart knowledge to them, it would not be a gift (ikram) from God to them.

485.9 For him whom God has given understanding, retreat (khalwa) and society (jalwa) are the same. Rather, it may be that society is more complete for a person and greater in benefit, since through it at every instant he increases in sciences about God that he did not possess.

Chapter 2227

This chapter; “Concerning the True Knowledge of Gathering [jam'] and its Mysteries,” part of Section 3 on the states, is followed immediately by a complementary chapter dealing with the opposite of gathering, that is, dispersion (tafriqa). Ibn al-Arabt begins the present chapter by mentioning a few of the sayings of the Sufis concerning gathering and its more intense form, “gathering of gathering” (jam' al-jam'). He explains that in his own view, gathering is to make a clear distinction between God and creation, while gathering of gathering is to realize that, creation too, is but the manifestation of God. He alludes to his fundamental position on the Oneness of Being: The entities are forever nonexistent, while their properties bestow specific colors upon Being, the Manifest. The profession of God's Incomparability means that nothing else exists, so nothing can be found to which He might be compared. Oneness is the property of God, while multiplicity and manyness stem from the properties of the possible things (i.e., from the Divine Names, or the level of Similarity). Finally Ibn al-Arabi turns to interpreting the sayings that he quoted at the beginning of the passage.

If you should hear or see through God—He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing, the One, the Unique.

You are not in Him, while the entities subsist: soul, intellect, spirit, and body.

But "" company

If you come to know this and become qualified by it in your state, you will knit together the whole affair.

Know that gathering for one of the Tribe is the allusion of him who alludes to God without creation.

Abû'Alî Daqqâq said,"Gathering is what is negated from you." A tribe of them said,"Gathering is the Act of God through you which He truly lets you contemplate."

Some people said, “Gathering is the contemplation of true knowledge; its proof is, 'From Thee alone we seek help'.”

One of them said, “Gathering is the affirmation of creatures subsisting through God, while gathering of gathering is annihilation (fanâ”) from the contemplation of anything but God.”

One of them said, “Gathering is the contemplation of others (al-agbyar) through God, while gathering of gathering is total absorption (al-istiblak) and the annihilation of the sensation (ibsas) of everything other than God in the overpowering waves of Reality.”

One of them said, “Gathering is the contemplation of God's control (tasrif) over all.”

Among the poetry written by the People on gathering and dispersion (farq) is the line:

Having been gathered in Him, I was dispersed from myself: single in union, two in number.

516.21 Thus have I mentioned some of the sayings that have reached us concerning gathering and gathering of gathering. In our own view, gathering is that you gather in Him His Attributes and Names that you have attributed to yourself, and you gather in yourself your attributes and names that God has attributed to Himself, so that you are you and He is He. Gathering of gathering is that you gather in Him what belongs to Him and what belongs to you, and you return all of it to Him. "To Him will be returned the whole affatr" (Qur'an 11:123). "Surely unto God all things come home" (Qur'an 42:53).

516.23 So there is nothing in engendered existence but His Names and Attributes, though the creatures have claimed some of them for themselves and God has gone along with their claim (da'wa). So He addresses them according to what they claim. Some of them claim Names that are specific to Him in common usage (al-'urf). Others have claimed that as well as attributes which have come in the Law and which, according to the exoteric authorities ('ulama' al-rusum), are only worthy of temporally originated things.

516.26 As for our own path, we do not claim any of that whatsoever. However, we let it be known that the Names are the property of the effects of the preparedness of the entities of the possible things within Him. This is a hidden mystery, known only by him who knows that God is identical with Being ('ayn al-wujud) and that the entities of the possible things remain in their state: nothing of them changes in their entities.

516.28 For the person of sound intelligence, the expression "gathering" is sufficient, since it is a word that announces manyness (katbra) and distinction (tamyfz) among many entities. Hence, in respect of distinction, gathering is the same as dispersion (tafriqa), though dispersion is not the same as gathering, except in the case of the dispersion of similar individuals (ashkhâs al-amthâl), which is both gathering and dispersion together and the definition and reality of which is the gathering of similar things. Take for example "humanity" (al-insâniyya).

The individuals of this kind are qualified by dispersion, since Zayd is not 'Amr, even though both are human beings. It is the same with all similar things and individuals of a single kind.

516.31 God says,"There is nothing like Him" in many senses (wujuh); He already knows how every exegete (muta'awwil) will interpret this verse. The highest of these senses is: There is nothing in existence that resembles God or is a likeness of God, since Being/existence is nothing but God Himself ('ayn al-baqq). So there is nothing in existence other than He that might be His likeness (mithl) or opposite (khilaf). This is inconceivable.

516.34 If you say, “Here we have an observed manyness,” we will reply: Manyness is the relations (nisab) of the properties of the preparednesses of the possible things within God Himself, who is Being. Now relations are not entities or things (ashyá'); they are matters of nonexistence (umár'adamtyya) in respect to the realities of the relations. So, since there is nothing in existence but He, nothing is like Him, because nothing is there. So understand and verify what we have alluded to! For the entities of the possible things have not acquired (istifáda) anything but existence, and existence is nothing but God Himself, since it is impossible for it to be a superadded thing (amr zá'id) that is not God, as is shown by clear proofs. So nothing becomes manifest in existence through existence except God, since existence/Being is God, and He is One. So there is nothing that is His likeness, since there cannot be two diverse or similar Beings.

517.3 So in reality, as we have explained, gathering is that you gather within Him existence, since He is existence itself, and that you gather within the entities of the possible things the properties of number and dispersion that become manifest, since these are their very preparednesses. Once you have come to know this, you have come to know the meaning of gathering, of gathering of gathering, and of the existence of manyness. You have attached things to their roots, distinguished among the realities, and given everything its own property, just as God “gave everything its own creation”. If you do not understand gathering as I have mentioned it, you know nothing of it.

517.7 As for the allusions of the Tribe which we quoted, they all had their own aims, which I will mention, God willing, along with their knowledge of our own position, or the knowledge of the great ones among them.

517.8 As for the saying, “Gathering is God without creation.” that is what we maintain, that is, that God is identical with Being/existence. However, the speaker did not turn his attention to what the preparednesses of the entities of the possible things bestow upon the Being of God, so that it becomes qualified by that by which it becomes qualified.

517.9 As for the saying of al-Daqqaq on gathering, that it is "what is negated from you", his station demands that he mean the negation of that concerning which you make claims, while it belongs to Him, as, for example, assuming the traits (takballuq) of the Most Beautiful Names or attributing acts to yourself while they belong to Him. This [explanation] is given by al-Daqqaq's state (bat), not his words; if someone else had said them, he might have meant by "what is negated from you" existence itself, for that is what is negated from you since God is existence itself.

517.12 As for the next saying—"Gathering is the Act of God through you which He truly lets you contemplate"—it means that you are the locus (maball) for the accomplishment (jarayan) of His Acts, though in reality the situation is the reverse; in fact He is described by the property of the effects of the preparednesses of the possible entities within Him. But the speaker may mean by his words, "the Act of God through you," that the Act becomes manifest through you. He did not undertake to mention in whom the effect becomes manifest, so he may mean this, which is the position that we maintain and that the realities bestow. If we knew who is the author of this saying, we would judge it by his state, as we judged al-Daqqaq through our knowledge of his station and state.

517.16 As for the saying of him who said,"Gathering is the contemplation of true knowledge," you should know that true knowledge (ma'rifa) of God demands that the servant possess a sound relationship (nisba) with works ('amal), a relationship affirmed by God—hence He prescribed (taklif) works for him—and that God possesses a relationship with works that is affirmed by God for Himself. God laid down in the Law that the servant should say in his works,"From Thee alone we seek help". The messengers of God are more knowledgeable of Him than all other creatures; Moses, to whom God spoke directly, said to his people,"Seek help from God and be patient"; and for us there is no difference in correctness or in attribution to God between what God says and what a messenger of God says as described by Him. God says,"I have divided the canonical prayer between Me and My servant". Then He differentiated, explaining what the servant says and what God says. So the words are attributed to the servant. with a sound attribution. Words are a work, and the servant seeks help from God in his work. So it is correct to say that the work is shared (musharaka). Thus have I gathered God and the servant together in the work, and this is the meaning of gathering.

517.21 I have already explained that the entity of the servant is a locus of manifestation (mazhar), that the Manifest is God Himself ('ayn al-baqq), and that God is identical with the attribute of the servant. Through the attribute the work comes into existence, while the Manifest is the Worker. So the work belongs only and specifically to God. This we said. When we explained what we just mentioned, we also explained that the entity of the servant possesses a specific preparedness which exercises an effect upon the Manifest. It is this which gives rise to the diversity of forms within the Manifest, which is God Himself. This preparedness made the Manifest say, "From Thee alone we seek help." The Manifest, through the effect of the preparedness of the praying entity, addresses the property of the Name the Helper (al-mu'in), asking it to help it in its work; for if the preparedness of the entity of the possible thing should bestow incapacity or weakness, its property would appear in the Manifest. So the speech of the Manifest is the tongue of the entity of the possible thing; or rather, it is the speech of the possible thing in the tongue of the Manifest. In the same way God gives news that He says with the tongue of His servant, "God bears him who praises Him."⁹³

517.27 Hence true knowledge demands that you should gather works in their Worker, because of the claims that take place as the result of the views of those speculative thinkers (ashab al-nazar) who maintain that acts are attributed to the servant exclusively and those who maintain that they are attributed to God exclusively. But the truth is between the two tribes, that is, between the two opinions. So the servant possesses a relationship to the work as we have described it, that is, as the effect of the preparedness of the entity of the possible thing within the Manifest; and God possesses a relationship to the work as we have described it, that is, as the reception by the Manifest of the effectivity (ta'thir) of the entity within it. For the servant says in the tongue of his effect within the Manifest,"Thee alone we worship, and from Thee alone we seek help".

517.31 This is our position (maddbab) on gathering. If the possessor of the saying on gathering means that it is the “contemplation of true knowledge,” and if he knows the meaning of the contemplation of true knowledge, then he maintains what we said. For we have only been speaking of the contemplation of true knowledge, not of the station of the speaker; this saying has senses below that which we have maintained in explaining it, since we have explained it in its most complete and most perfect sense, which describes the entire affair as it is in itself. Because of some of these senses we have objected to the speaker of this saying in the synopsis of this book.⁹⁵

517.34 All the sayings that we mentioned and related at the beginning of this chapter go back to what we have explained and upheld. "And God speaks the truth and guides on the way" (Qur'an 33:4).

The World of Imagination

Chapter 311*

This chapter, entitled “Concerning the Waystation of Arisings from the Unseen through Designation [al-nawashi al-ikhtisasiyyat al-ghaybiyya] From the Muhammadan Presence,” is one of 114 chapters in Section 4 of the Futuhat on the waystations (manazil). The term “designation” (ikhtisas) relates the discussion to the longstanding debate between theologians and philosophers as to whether prophecy must be designated by God or can be earned (iktisab). Briefly, in Ibn al-Arabi's view, everything comes into being through designation, since all is determined by the immutable entities. As for the term “arisings,” it calls to mind a number of Qur'anic terms from the same root, especially “plane” (nash'a); the connection with the main topic of the discussion becomes clear toward the end of the passage, where Ibn al-Arabi quotes the verse, “Then We made man arise as another creation”. The first part of the chapter concerns observations on the meanings of these terms, while the major portion deals with the World of Imagination, which represents a single one of the sciences (from among a large number of possibilities) perceived by the traveler when he dwells in this waystation.

Ibn al-'Arabî discusses imagination in this chapter not so much in its cosmological function, but as a distinct world accessible to adepts in their spiritual journeys. In the process he tells a long anecdote about the power of "imaginalization"—the ability to assume any form desired—possessed by one of the shaykhs of Awbad al-Din Kirmani. He also refers to the difference between utilizing the World of Imagination through various states of sanctity and through magic. Much of the rest of the chapter concerns man's special place among the creatures because of his power of imaginalization. Finally, there is an allusion to eschatology, since all the events in the next world take place in an imaginal realm.

41.23 Know that on the night that I wrote down this chapter I had a dream which filled me with joy. I awoke and composed a verse that I had previously worked on in my mind. It is a verse of boasting (fakhr):

Every age has one person through whom it soars:

For the rest of the age, I am that one.

This is because to my knowledge there is no one today who has realized (tabaqquq) the station of servanthood ('ubüdiyya) more than I, though there may be my equal (mithli). For I have reached the utmost limit (gbaya) of servanthood, since I am the pure and utter servant who knows no taste of lordship (rubübiyya).⁹⁸

41.27 One day'Utbat al-Ghulam was seen strutting like a haughty and conceited man.' Someone said,"'Utba, what is this haughtiness you show? Nothing like this was known from you before today.'" He replied,"A person like me has a right to be haughty. How should I not be? For He has become my master, and I His servant."

41.29 Know that in every time there must be an outstanding person in each level (martaba)—even among artisans—and in each science ('ilm). Were any time to be studied, the situation would be found to be as we say. "Servanthood" is one of the levels, and Allah has bestowed it upon me as a gift (biba). I did not reach it through works ('amal), but through a divine designation (ikhtisas ilabi). I ask God to keep me firmly fixed within it and not to separate me from it until I meet Him in it. "In that let them rejoice; it is better than what they gather together [through works]"(Qur'an 10:59).

41.32 Know that this waystation is that of Arisings through Designation (al-nawashi' al-ikbitisasiyya); these consist of the beginning and outset of every station and state. God says,"And We will make you arise within that which you do not know". If this were the return (i'ada) of our spirits to our bodies in this specific constitution which we know in the plane of this world, it would not be correct for Him to say,"within that which you do not know." For He has said,"You have known the first plane, so why will you not remember?". He has also said,"As He originated you, so you will return", that is, in the plane of the next world, since it is similar to the plane of this world in not having an exemplar (mitbal), since God brought it into existence without a precedent exemplar. So also He will cause us to arise [in the next world] without a precedent exemplar.

42.1 If someone objects that then there is no point to His words, "You will return," we will reply: He is addressing human spirits. They will return to the governance of bodies (tadbir al-afsam) in the next world, as they had governed them in this world in the constitution (mitzaj) according to which this plane was created. He will bring them out of their burial in the constitution and "out of the Fire when they grow up like a seed grows up after a flood has passed."² Though He has the power to return their constitution, He does not will to do so. Therefore He suspended (taliq) His Will in that, since He says, "[Then He makes man to die, and buries him], then if He willed, He would raise him" (Qur'an 80:22), that is, the constitution which man possessed. If it were exactly the same thing, He would have said, "[Then when He wills], He raises him."

42.5 Let us return to the science of the waystation that we want to explain, the science around which it revolves. We say: The world is two worlds and the presence (badra) two presences, even though a third presence is born between the two from their combination (majmu'). The one presence is the Presence of the Unseen (al-gbayb); it has a world called the World of the Unseen. The second presence is the Presence of Sense Perception (al-biss) and of the Visible (al-shabada); its world is called the World of the Visible. That which perceives (mudrik) this world is sight (basar), while that which perceives the World of the Unseen is insight (basira).

42.8 What is born from the combination of these two presences is a presence and a world. The presence is the Presence of Imagination, the world the World of Imagination. Imagination is the manifestation of meanings (ma'ani) in sensory frames (qawalibissiyya), such as knowledge in the form of milk, firmness in religion in the form of a fetter, Islam in the form of a pillar, faith in the form of a handle, and Gabriel in the form of Dihya al-Kalbi, in the form of a Bedouin, and imaginalized (tamaththul) to Mary as a man without fault. In the same way a black color appears in the body of gall nuts and vitriol when the two are combined [in the process of making ink], though they did not possess this quality when they were separate.

42.11 This is why the Presence of Imagination is the vastest of presences: it combines the two worlds, the World of the Unseen and the World of the Visible. For the Presence of the Unseen does not embrace the World of the Visible, since no empty space (khala') remains in the former; and the same goes for the Presence of the Visible. Hence you know that the Presence of Imagination is the vastest, without doubt.

42.13 You yourself have seen in your sense perception, and in what your plane gives to you, meanings and spiritual beings (rubaniyyun) appearing in images (tamatbtul) and imaginal forms (takbayyul) within sensory bodies in your vision (nazar), such that if an effect occurs within the imaginal form (mutasawwar), the imaginalized meaning receives the effect in itself. And there is no doubt that you are more entitled (abaqq) to the Presence of Imagination than are meanings and spiritual beings, for within you is the imaginal faculty (al-quwwat al-mutakbayyila), which is one of the faculties which God gave you when He brought you into existence. So you are more entitled to possess (mulk) and control (tasarruf) imagination than is meaning, since meaning does not have a faculty of imagination; nor do the spiritual beings of the Supreme Assembly (al-mala' al-a'la) possess in their plane an imaginal faculty, though they can assume distinct identities (tamayyuz) in the imaginal presence through appearing in imaginal forms and imaginalization. So you are worthier of appearing in imaginal forms and of imaginalization than they, since you possess this presence in your own reality.

42.18 The common people (al-'amma) do not know imagination or enter into it, except when they dream and their sensory faculties (al-quwa al-bassasa) return into it. The elite (al-khawass) see it in wakefulness through their power of realizing it. So man's assuming forms (tasawwur) within the World of the Unseen in the Presence of Imagination is nearer [to him] and worthier [for him than it is for spiritual beings], especially since in his own plane he possesses an entrance (dukhul) into the World of the Unseen through his spirit, which is his nonmanifest (batin); and he possesses an entrance into the World of the Visible through his body, which is his manifest (zahtr). But the spiritual being is not like that; it does not possess an entrance into the World of the Visible except through appearing in imaginal form within the World of Imagination; so sense perception perceives it in imagination as an imaginalized form in sleep or wakefulness.

42.22 If man assumes a distinct identity within the World of the Unseen, this is proper to him, since he assumes a distinct identity in reality—not imaginally—through his spirit, which sense perception does not perceive and which belongs to the World of the Unseen. If he desires to spiritualize (tarawbun) his body and become manifest within it in the World of the Unseen, he has something to help him, that is, the spirit connected to his body's governance. So he is nearer to imaginalization within the World of the Unseen than the spiritual being is to imaginalization within a form of the World of the Visible.

42.24 However, this station is to be earned and acquired, as in the case of Qadib al-Ban, for he possessed this station. Hence there is something within the power of man that is not within the power of [the inhabitants of] the World of the Unseen. For it is within man's power in respect of his spirit to appear in the World of the Visible in an imaginal form other than his own form. Thus man becomes manifest as he wishes, in any of the forms of the children of Adam like himself, or in the forms of animals, plants, or minerals. This has occurred among the masters.

42.27 I was discussing this issue with one of the shaykhs of the Way of God who in my eyes is a trustworthy and honest man. He said to me:"I will relate to you what I have witnessed in order to confirm your words. I was the companion of a master (rajul) who possessed this station, though I was not aware of it. I asked to be his companion from Baghdad to Mosul in a caravan of pilgrims returning from the bajj. He told me, 'If you are determined to come, do not take the initiative with me in any food or drink, but wait until I ask you for it.' I promised him that. He was an old man, so he rode in one half of a baudab, while I walked close behind him so that he would not be faced with a need for me.

42.31 "Then he became ill and weak with diarrhea. This was very difficult for me. But he did not take any medicine that would stop it and allow him to rest. I said to him, 'Master, let me go to this man who is the guide of the Sinjär road and take from the dispensary a costive medicine.' He looked at me as if I were something disagreeable and said, 'Keep to your promise!' and did not answer me.

42.33 "His state became worse and I was not able to keep quiet. The caravan stopped for the night, torches were lit, and people made for the guide on the Sinjar road. He was a black eunuch and men were posted before him. Those who were sick came to him seeking medicines according to their illnesses. I said, 'My lord, put my heart at ease and comfort me by commanding me to bring you some medicine from this man.' He smiled and said to me, 'Go to him.'

43.1 “I came to him, and he had not known me before that, nor was I in a state or an attire that would demand that he attach importance to me. So I walked to him, fearing that he would reject me or drive me away because he was so busy. I stood before him among the people. When his eyes fell on me, he stood up for me and made me sit down. He greeted me with joy, delight, and cheerfulness and asked me what I needed. I told him about the state of the shaykh and his illness.

He asked his assistant to bring the medicine in the best form possible. He excused himself and said, 'I was tired, and have you not been sent to me in that?' I stood up to leave the tent, and he stood up with me and sent a torchbearer ahead of me. I said farewell to him after he had walked a few paces with me, and he commanded the torchbearer to walk in front of me with the light. I told him there was no need, fearing that the shaykh would find it excessive. So the torchbearer returned.

43.6 “I came and found the shaykh as I had left him. He asked me what I had done. I said to him, 'Through your blessing he honored me, though he did not I know me, nor I him.' I described for him what had happened in detail. The shaykh smiled and said, 'Oh Hâmid, I honored you.

Without doubt it was not the eunuch who honored you. I saw that you were full of anxiety for me because of my illness and I wanted to ease your mind. So I commanded you to go to him, but I was afraid that he would insult you and reject you as he does with the people.

Then you would have returned broken. So I disengaged myself (tajarrud) from my bodily frame (baykal) and appeared before you in his form through imaginalization. I honored you and treated you with respect and did what you saw until you left. Here is your medicine, which I will not use.

43.11 “I was flabbergasted. He said to me, 'Do not hasten [to believe me]. Return to him and see what he does with you.' So I returned to him and greeted him, but he did not receive me and rejected me. I went away in wonder. I returned to the shaykh and told him what had happened. He said, 'What did I tell you?' I said, 'How astonishing! How did you turn yourself into a black eunuch?' He answered, 'The situation was as you saw it.'”

43.13 Stories like this about the masters (al-rijal) abound. It is similar to the science of simiya superscript 109 but it is not simiya'. The difference between us in this station and the science of simiya' is that, when you eat something through simiya', you eat it, but you do not feel full.

That which you take to yourself when you take it through this science only occurs in your own vision (nazar). Then when you look for it, you do not find it. The practitioner of this science shows you that you have entered a bath, but when you return to yourself, you do not see any reality to it [what he had shown you]. On the contrary, what you see by way of simiya' is like what a dreamer sees; when he awakens, he finds nothing of what he had seen.

The practitioner of simiya' possesses an authority (sultan) and control (tabakkum) over your imagination through the specific properties of the Names (khawass al-asma'), or letters (buruf), or For simiya' is of a number of kinds, the crudest (akthaf) being qalfatirat and the subtlest (altaf) the pronunciation of words through which he snatches the viewer's eyesight away from the sensory world and turns it toward his imagination, so that he sees what a dreamer sees, though he is awake.

43.19 But the station which we mentioned is not like this. For if you eat, you become full, and if you receive something in this station like gold or clothing or whatever, it stays with you in its state without changing. We have found this station within ourselves.

We experienced it through tasting (dbawq) with the spiritual reality (rúbanfiya) of Jesus at the beginning of our wayfaring (sultuk).¹¹ It explains the Prophet's answer when he forbade fasting through the night during Ramadan and it was said to him, "But you fast through the night": "I do not have a condition (hay'a) like yours; for I am put up for the night while there is with me a Feeder who feeds me and a Cupbearer who gives me to drink," or, according to another version, "My Lord feeds me and gives me to drink."¹² In the group of people whom he was addressing at the time no one possessed this station, but he did not say, "I do not have a condition like [all] people." So when he ate, he became full and continued in his customary strength; since the eating took place in the Presence of Imagination and not that of Sense Perception, he could fast through the night.

43.24 We saw that Gabriel became manifest within sense perception as a man who is known, such as his manifestation in the form of Dihya, and at another time as a man who is unknown. But it has not reached us that he becomes manifest in the World of the Unseen among the angels in the form of another angel. So Gabriel does not become manifest among the angels in the World of the Unseen in the form of Michael or Seraphiel. Therefore God reported him as saying, "There is none of us but has a known station" (Qur'an 37:164). And we saw that human beings possess the power of assuming imaginal forms, so that a person becomes manifest among men in the form of another person, other than his own form. Thus Zayd becomes manifest in the form of 'Amr. But the angels do not possess this in the World of the Unseen.

43.28 Just as Gabriel becomes manifest in human form, so man becomes manifest in the form of any one of the angels that he wishes. Even more marvelous is this: One of the masters from among the lovers (mubibbün) on this path called on a shaykh, and the shaykh spoke to him about love. Some of those present saw that the man had entered the room. Because of the strength of the lover's realization, the words of that shaykh about love made him keep on melting within himself on the sensory level until he was reduced to a puddle of water in front of the shaykh.

Some of those present went into the room and asked where the lover had gone, since they had not seen him leave. The shaykh said, "This water is the lover who was before me." They saw a small amount of water on the mat in front of the shaykh.

So look how he returned to the root from which he was created!¹³ Would that I knew where those parts went!

43.34 Know that in this path man is given a power whereby he becomes manifest in this plane in the same way that he becomes manifest in the plane of the next world, where he becomes manifest in any form he wishes. For this [power] lies within the root of the [human] this-worldly form, but not everyone reaches knowledge of this root. It is [referred to in] God's words," [/Ob Man! What deceived thee as to thy generous Lord.] who created thee, and shaped thee, and balanced thee," that is, [He gave you] this outwardly manifest plane; then He says,"and composed thee after what ever form He would?". In other words, this shaped and balanced plane is a receptacle for all forms, so God makes it appear in whatever form He wills, since He has told us that this plane has been given receptivity toward any form. Similar are His words,"Then we made man arise as another creation" after completing the shaping of his outwardly manifest form; so He appointed for him another one of the forms which he had the potentiality and composition to receive.

44.4 When man comes to know through divine unveiling (akashf al-ilabi) that his root and reality is such that it receives forms, he should take pains to acquire something through which he can reach true knowledge (ma'rifa) of the situation. Once he is given opening (fatb) in this, he can become manifest within the World of the Visible in any one of its forms that he wishes, and he can become manifest within the World of the Unseen and Dominion in any one of its forms that he wishes.

44.6 Here the difference between us and [the inhabitants of] the World of the Unseen is that when man becomes spiritualized and manifest to spiritual beings in the World of the Unseen, they recognize that he is a body that has become spiritualized. But when people in the World of the Visible see an embodied spirit, they do not know that it is a spirit that has first become embodied (tajassud), so they do not recognize it as such. This is like what the Prophet said when the Faithful Spirit [Gabriel] came before him in the form of a man with intensely white clothing and intensely black hair. The narrator [of the hadith] says,"No one among us knew him. [He came forward] until he sat before the Messenger of God and he touched his knees to his knees and placed his hands upon his thighs."

Then he mentioned the hadith of his questioning the Prophet about submission (islam), faith (iman), and virtue (ibsan) and about the hour and its signs (sburat). When he had finished his questioning, he stood up and left. When he had disappeared, the Prophet said to his companions, "Do you know who the man was?"; and in another version, "Bring the man back to me"; he requested, but they could not find him. Then he said, "That was Gabriel. He came to teach the people their religion."

44.12 Some people differentiate the spiritual being when it becomes embodied in the outside world (min khartj) from men or whatever kind of form in which it becomes manifest. But not everyone recognizes this. They also distinguish between an embodied, supra-formal, spiritual form [in the outside world] and an imaginal form from within (min dakbil) through various signs ('alamat) which they know.

I have come to know and realize these signs, since I differentiate the spirit when it becomes embodied in the outside or inside world from a true corporeal form. But the common people do not differentiate that.¹⁹

44.16 All the angels recognize man when he undergoes spiritualization and becomes manifest among them in the form of one of them or in an alien form whose like they have not seen. So they are greater than the common people among humans in this; but they lack the ability to become manifest in their world in the forms of other angels, whereas we—if we possess this station—can become manifest in our world in the form of our own kind. So glory be to the All-Knowing, the All-Wise, the Determiner of things who is Powerful over them. There is no god but He, the All-Knowing, the All-Powerful.

44.18 Know that in theology (al-'ilm al-ilabi), the root of the situation that I have been discussing is the divine theophany (al-tajal-li al-ilabi), from which this matter becomes manifest in the Worlds of the Unseen and the Visible. The reason for this is that the form of the world in its totality (jumla), of man in his transcription (nuskba), and of the angel in its power (quwwa) is the station of theophany in diverse forms. No one truly knows the reality of these forms within which transmutation (tabawwul) takes place except him who possesses the station of transmutation within any form he wishes, even if he does not make this station manifest. This station does not belong to anyone except the pure and utter servant, whose station of servanthood does not allow him to gain similarity (tababbub) with a single Attribute of his Master. It even happens that as a result of his strength in the realization of servanthood he reaches the point where he is annihilated, oblivious, and destroyed from the knowledge of the power he possesses to undergo transmutation in forms; he does not know that from himself, since he has turned it over to the station of his Master, who describes Himself as possessing it.

44.24 If it were not for the divine root and the fact that God possesses this [transmutation] and owns it in His very Self, this reality would not become engendered in the world, since it is impossible for there to be something in the world which cannot be traced back (istinħad) to a divine reality in the very form it possesses. If this were possible, there would be something in existence outside the Knowledge of God. For He does not know the things except through His Knowledge of Himself, and His Self is His Knowledge. We are in His Knowledge like forms in a cloud of dust (al-baba').

44.27 If you knew, brave youth, who you are, you would know who He is, since none knows God except him who knows himself. The Prophet said,"He who knows himself knows his Lord." So God knows you from Himself, and He tells you that you will not know Him except from yourself. He who understands this meaning will come to know what we are saying and to what we are alluding.

44.29 As for the hadith of theophany on the Day of Resurrection, I will include it, God willing, as it is included in the Sabib.

The title of this chapter is “On the True Knowledge of the Waystation of a Mystery and Two Mysteries and of Your Praising [thina'] Yourself for What is Not Yours and God's Answer to You with a Meaning that Ennobles You. From the Muhammadan Presence.” As is often the case, the significance of the title never becomes clear in the text of the chapter; about one-third of which is translated here. Ibn al-Arabî discusses many of his major themes in the selected passage. Beginning with God's beauty, he turns to its manifestation in the world and the resulting bewilderment that overcomes the knovers (al-'arifun).

The world is nothing but God's signs (ayat), but these signs are ranked in degrees, some of them more obvious in their denotation of God than others. And this is only natural, since the signs manifest the Names, and the Names are also ranked in degrees. Expanding on the theme of the signs that manifest God's Names, Ibn al-Arabî turns to the World of Imagination, one of the greatest of God's signs, and in particular its role in determining the nature of love, whether for something, someone, or God. All who love God love only the images they themselves have constructed; in effect they profess God's Similarity with the creatures, though perfect knowledge of Him demands that they also profess His Incomparability. This discussion brings up the contrast between national thought, which only perceives God's Incomparability. and revelation, which affirms His Similarity. But again, perfect knowledge demands that we take an intermediary position between Similarity and Incomparability, just as Imagination and the Perfect Man are intermediary states of existence.

three 449.7 It is reported in the Sabib [of Muslim] that the Messenger of God said,"God is beautiful and He loves It is He who made the world and brought it into existence upon His own form. So the whole world is beautiful in the extreme; there is no ugliness in it. On the contrary, God brought together in it all comeliness (busn) and beauty. So there is nothing in possible existence (imkan) more beautiful, more wondrous (abda'), or more comely than the world.^{127} If He were to bring into existence what He brings into existence ad infinitum, it would be like what He has already brought into existence, since the Divine Comeliness and Beauty will have possessed it and become manifest through it. For, as He says,"He gave everything its creation," that is, its beauty; if it were to lack anything, it would descend from the degree of the perfection of its creation and be ugly;"then guided" that is, explained this point to us through His words,"He gave everything its creation"...

449.25 The whole world's beauty is inherent (dbáti); its comeliness is identical to itself ('ayn nafsih), since its Maker made it so. That is why the knowers become enraptured by it and the verifiers (al-mutabaqqiqun) realize love for it. And that is why we have said concerning it in some of our explanations of it that it is God's mirror. So the knowers see nothing in it but God's form. He is beautiful, and beauty is inherently lovable. Awe (bayba) toward Him is inherent to the hearts of those who gaze upon Him (al-náztrin ilayb). So He bestows love and awe.

449.27 The only reason God multiplied the signs in the world and in ourselves —for we are part of the world—was so that we might turn our gaze (nazar) toward it with remembrance, reflection, intelligence, faith, knowledge, hearing, sight, understanding, and mind. He created us only to worship and know Him. Hence He turned us over to nothing but gazing upon the world, for He made it identical with the signs and denotations (dalalat) of the knowledge of Him through contemplation (mushabada) and intelligence. So if we gaze, it is upon Him; if we hear, it is from Him; if we employ our intelligence, it is toward Him; if we reflect, it is upon Him; if we know, it is He; and if we have faith, it is in Him. For it is He who is revealed in theophany in every face, sought in every sign, gazed upon by every eye, worshipped in every object of worship (ma'bad),¹⁵⁵ and pursued in the unseen and the visible. Not a single one of His creatures can fail to find Him in its primordial and original nature (bi fitratibi wa jibillatibi). So the whole world prays to Him, prostrates itself before Him, and glorifies His praise to the power of 156; tongues speak of Him, hearts are enraptured by love for Him, minds are bewildered in Him. The knowers try to separate (fasl) Him from the world, but they are unable to do so; they try to make Him identical with the world ('ayn al-alam), but that does not become verified for them, so they remain impotent.

Their understandings become wearied and their intellects bewildered. Their tongues speak about Him in contradictory expressions. At one time they say "He," at another, "Not He," and at still another, "He/not He" (huwa la huwa).¹⁵⁷

449.35 No foot of theirs reaches a firm foundation in Him; no clear path to Him appears for them, since they see Him as identical to the sign and the path. This contemplation stands between them and seeking the end of the path; for paths are traversed to their ends, while the Goal is with them—He is the Kind Companion (rafiq). There is no wayfarer and no way upon which to fare. Allusions disappear: they are nothing but He. Expressions perish: they are only of Him. The knower cannot be rebuked for that part of the world which enraptures him and those waymarks which he presumes.

450.3 Were not the situation as we mentioned it, no prophet or messenger would have loved wife or child, nor would any have preferred one thing over another. This derives from the relative preference (tafadul) of the signs. The world's transformation (taqallub) is identical with the signs, which are not other than the"tasks" upon which is God."He has raised one of them above another in degree" because through that form He has become manifest in His Names. Thus we know the relative preference of some over others through generality and specificity. For example, [God says],"He is Independent of the worlds", while He also says, "I created jinn and men only to worship Me" (Qur'an 51:56). How can the Creator compare to the Independent? How can the Seizer (al-qabid) and the Preventer (al-mani') compare to the Creator? How can the compass of the Knower be compared to that of the Powerful (al-qadir) and the Triumphant (al-qabir)? And is not all of this exactly what happens in the world?

450.7 Hence no messenger or saint exercised free disposal (tasarruf) except in Him."But most people do not know", and that is because there are among people those in whose ears is a heaviness,"upon whose eyes is a covering", upon whose heart is a lock, in whose reflection is bewilderment, in whose knowledge is doubt, and in whose hearing is deafness. But, by God, in the knower's view all of this is nothing but excess proximity (al-qurb al-mufrit):"We are nearer to Him than you, but you do not see";"We indeed created man; and We know what his soul whispers within him, and We are nearer to him than the jugular vein". How can whispering compare with inspiration (ilham)? How can the name"man" compare with the Name the"Knower"?

Who are Layla, Lubna?

Who are Hind, Batbna?

Who are Qays, Bisbr?

Are they all not He?

I am obsessed with love for Him for His engendered existence is mine.

All creatures are my beloved.

so where, where is He who enraptures me?

He who searches my words will find therein a clear explication.

450.14 As for those who cling to accidental beauty and accidental love (at-bubb al-'aradi), that is only a vanishing shadow, an accident on display, and a falling wall, in contrast with what there is for those who have knowledge of God. In the view of the man of God's knowledge, the shadow has prostrated itself before God, the accident has had the preparedness to exist, and the wall does not lean except in worship in order to make manifest what lies beneath it: the treasures of gnostic sciences (ma'arif) that deliver the aware knower from need. That is why God created Jealousy in the form of

Khadir who straightened the reclining wall because he knew there was no aptitude [for knowledge] in its owner at that time, so the treasure would have been used improperly. [He wanted] it to be discovered after some time, for if it had become manifest, it would have been taken uselessly and used wickedly.

450.17 So glory be to Him who lays down decrees, sets up signs, and manifests the beauty of denotations (dalalat). Among the most beautiful in entity and the most perfect in engendered existence is the World of Imagination ('alam al-khayal), through which"God strikes similitudes (amthal)" (Qur'an 13:17, etcetera). He has explained that He alone has knowledge of it, for He said in prohibition,"So strike not any similitudes for God; surely God knows, and you know not". He only brought this verse after He struck similitudes for Himself for our sake. Thus the World of Imagination became manifest to engendered existence. This is the introduction.

450.20 Do you not see how dreams (ru'ya)—through the eye of which imagination is perceived—see what will come to be before it exists, what has been, and what there is at the time? Which presence other than the Presence of Imagination possesses such all-comprehensiveness (jam'tyya)?

450.21 Everyone who falls in love with something only falls in love with it after actualizing it in his imagination, setting up an image (mitbħal) for it in his imaginal faculty (wabm), and making his beloved coincide (tatbiq) with his image. If this were not the situation, then once the person separated from his connection to his beloved in terms of sight or hearing or other sense faculty, he would also separate from his connection to her person. But we do not find this to be the case.

This shows that the beloved exists with the lover in the image of a form ('ala mitbal sura) and that he has brought her forth in his imagination. Hence he clings to contemplating his beloved, his ecstasy (wajd) doubles, and his love continues to increase. The image which he formed provokes its former (musawwir) to seek her on whose form he formed it. The root [i.e., his beloved] is the spirit of the image, making it subsist and preserving it. The love of the lover intensifies only toward his own making (san'a) and act (fi'l), for he himself has made the form with which he has fallen in love in his imagination. So he loves nothing but that which goes back to himself; he attaches himself (ta'alluq) to himself, and he praises his own act.

450.26 He who knows this knows God's love for His servants and that His love for them is more intense than their love for Him. Or rather, they do not love Him for Himself ('aynan) but for His beneficence (ibsan), since His beneficence is what they witness. He who loves Him for Himself only loves an image that he has formed and imagined in himself; such people are none but those who profess Similarity (al-mushabbiba) in particular. But if a lover did not profess Similarity, he would not love Him; if not for imagining (takbayyul), he would not attach himself to Him. That is why the Lawgiver (al-shari'u'l) placed Him in the servant's qibla, made the heart of His servant encompass Him, and made Him like him or like some of his parts as a result of proximity to Him. People of this sort worship Him in images and contemplate Him as actually present (mubassal).

450.30 As for those who profess His Incomparability (al-munazziba), they are bewildered in blindness, striking out in it haphazardly. They find no shadow in its darkness, nor [do they find] the profession of Similarity which proofs (al-dalil) deny to them. There is no faith whose light might outbalance the light of the proofs and within which they might include the proofs. So those who profess Incomparability remain forever grasping at nothing, nor do they actualize anything. They are the People of Severance (abl al-batt), since their aspiration is dispersed and the imaginal faculty (wabm) is far from them. From the perfection of the true knowledge of existence they lack the property of imaginal faculties, which exercise no property except in those Men who are the Perfect (al-kummal min al-rijal).¹⁵⁰

450.33 That is why the religions (al-shara'i) have brought concerning God that which proofs show to be impossible. When the light of a person's faith dominates over the light of his intellect...—in the same way the light of the sun dominates over the light of the other heavenly bodies (kawakib); it does not take away their lights, it only includes them in its own light, so that the whole world is illuminated by the light of the sun and the light of the heavenly bodies, but people see nothing but the light of the sun, not the light of all. In the same way, when the light of the faith of one of the perfect among the Folk of Allah includes the light of his intellect, he concurs (taswib) with the view of those who profess Incomparability, since it does not go beyond that which their lights unveiled for them. He also concurs with the view of those who profess Similarity, since their view does not go beyond the outward of what the light of their faith gives to them through the similitudes that God has struck for them. So the perfect one knows Him through intellect and faith, thus gaining possession of the degree of perfection.

451.2 In the same way imagination gains possession of the degree of sense perception (biss) and meaning (ma'nà). Hence it makes the sensory thing subtle (taltif) and the meaning gross (takthif), thus possessing complete power. That is why Jacob said to his son, "Relate not thy vision to thy brothers, lest they scheme against thee" (Qur'an 12:5). He knew what they knew concerning the interpretation of the images God had shown Joseph in his vision.

For what he saw and what was shown to him in images was nothing but his brothers and his parents. So imagination had brought forth the forms of his brothers as stars and the forms of his parents as the sun and the moon, though all of them were flesh, blood, veins, and nerves. So look at this passage (naqla) from the world of lowness to the world of the spheres and from the darkness of this bodily frame to the light of the stars!

Imagination made the gross subtle, then it applied itself to the level of priority (taqaddum), high station, and disengaged (mujarrad) meanings. It clothed them in the form of sensory prostration, thus making their subtlety gross; but all the while the vision was one. So if not for the power of this Presence, what happened would not have happened.

Were it not in the middle (wasat), it could not exercise its properties over the two sides, for the middle exercises its properties (bâkim) upon the two sides, since it is a limit for them, just as the present moment entifies (ta'yin) the past and the future.

451.9 In the same way, God placed the level of the Perfect Man midway between God's being seated upon His Throne and His being located within his heart, which encompasses Him. So he looks upon Him in his heart and sees that He is the Central Point of the Circle (muqtat al-da'ira); and he looks upon Him seated upon His Throne and sees that He is the Circumference (mubit) of the Circle. No line becomes manifest from the Center without coming to an end at the Circumference, and no line becomes manifest on the inner side of the Circumference without coming to an end at the Center. These lines are nothing but the world, for"He is the Circumference of all things", all are His handful, and"To Him the whole affair shall be returned".

451.12 The"Void" is that which is postulated between the Center and the Circumference. It fills ('amara) the world with its entity and engendered existence. Within it becomes manifest transmutations (istibalat), from Center to Circumference and from Circumference to Center. So nothing goes outside of Him, nor is there anything outside of the Circumference, since everything enters within His Compass (ibata). Rather, everything arises from Him and ends up in Him, appears from Him and returns to Him. So His Circumference is His Names, while His Center is His Essence. That is why He is the One/Number (al-wabid al-adad) and the One/Many (al-wabid al-katbir). No eye looks upon Him except the eye of man ('ayn al-insan), and were it not for the man of the eye (insan al-'ayn [i.e., the pupil]), the eye of man would not gaze. So man looks through man, and God becomes manifest through God.

Worship and Its Secrets

Chapter 470

This chapter, entitled “On the State of the Pole Whose Waystation Is I Have Not Created Jinn and Mankind Except to Worship Me”, is one in a series of more than ninety in the sixth section of the Futuhat (chapters 464ff.) that discuss the stations (maqamat) of the various kinds of “Muhammadan Poles” (al-aqtab al-Muhammadiyya) and the connection of each Pole to a different sacred formula or Qur'anic verse, which is his “constant invocation” (hijjir). It is commonly thought that the Sufis speak of a single Pole (qutb), around whom all the affairs of the universe revolve and without whom the universe would cease to exist. Though Ibn al-'Arabi discusses this supreme Pole in many passages, he also points out that there are numerous other Poles, each one of which is the axis or central figure in a particular group of people or in a spiritual station or state. As for the Muhammadan Poles, they are “those people who have inherited from Muhammad some of the religious laws [shara'i] and spiritual states [hawal] that pertain exclusively to him and which were not found in any religion [shar'] that preceded him, nor in any messenger that came before him. If that which is inherited is something which was in a religion that came before him and is also in his religion, or was in a messenger before him and is also in him, then the inheritor inherits from that specific messenger, but through Muhammad. So he is related to that messenger, even though he is a member of this community. Hence he is called 'Müsawi' if he has inherited from Moses, 'Isawi' if from Jesus, or 'Ibrahim' if from Abraham" (4 76.27).

Ibn al-Arabi explains that in this series of chapters he does not mean by “Muhammadan Poles” that type of Pole of whom there is only one in every period. “I will only mention among the Muhammadian Poles everyone around whom revolve the affairs of a group of people in a specific clime or aspect, like the Substitutes [abdal] in the seven climes…; or like the Poles of the towns, since each town [qarya] must have a saint of God through which God preserves it, whether it is a believing or unbelieving town… The same thing goes for the possessors of stations. Hence the ascetics [zubbad] must have a pole, around whom asceticism revolves in the people of his time; and so on with trust, love, knowledge, and the rest of the stations and states” (four 76.8).

Each of these Mubammadan Poles has a hijir or "constant invocation" specific to himself. "Know that the bijir is the invocation [dbikr] to which the servant clings [mulazama], whatever that invocation may be. Each invocation produces a result produced by no other invocation. But when man presents the divine invocations to his own soul, it only receives from them that which his preparedness [isti'dad] allows. The first opening [fatb] he is given in the invocation is his reception of it. Then he never ceases applying [muwazaba] himself to it with each breath. No breath leaves him in wakefulness or sleep except in invocation, because of his devotion [istihtar] to it. As long as the invoker's state is not like this, he is not the owner of a bijir" (four 88.31).

An invocation is not a true hijir until the invoker has been given full "opening." This term, whose meaning is basically the same as futuh (of which Futuhat is the plural), signifies that God has unveiled (kashf) the inward content of the hijir to the adept. In some places Ibn al-Arabi identifies opening with the shining of the divine lights (al-anwar al-ilahiyya) into the heart (e.g., two 600.3; compare 626.5). Hence he writes, "The hijir yields no profit if its owner has not been given opening.

If you see the possessor of a hijir who does not have opening, you should know that his outward tongue does not harmonize with his inward tongue. Someone like that is not whom we mean by 'possessors of hijfrs' "(four 127.25).

The hijir of the greatest Poles is the name Allah (4 78.8), which explains why the supreme Pole forever pertains to this name and is called "Abd Allah" (2 571.21). This also explains why "the Perfect Man is the absolute vassal of the Name Allah [al-ma'luh al-mutlaq], while God [al-baqq] is the Absolute Divinity [al-ilah al-mutlaq] (two 603.16). But as for the other Poles, their hijirs are of a great variety. "The Poles of the towns, the aspects, and the climes and the shaykhs of different groups have many different kinds of bijfir" (four 78.9).

In discussing the hijjirs of the various kinds of Poles, Ibn al-Arabt begins with the well-known formulae that are used in prayer and invocation, that is, "There is no God but God," "God is great," "Glory be to God," and "Praise belongs to God," and then passes on to various Qur'antic verses most of which, even without his commentary, have obvious applications to the spiritual life. If it is true that the Futuhat is basically one great commentary on the Qur'an, this is nowhere more apparent than in this sixth section of the work.

The thrust of the present chapter is to demonstrate the Oneness of Being and the interrelationship of all things as this is expressed in the “worship” ('ibada') mentioned in the Qur'anic verse which is the hijir of the particular Pole in question. The duality perceived in existence between Creator and creature is demanded by the nature of Reality; each side has need of the other, though this does not impinge on the absolute Independence of the Essence. The need, love, and poverty displayed by all creatures toward all sorts of other creatures is in fact their need for God, who manifests Himself within the things of the world, which are His loci of manifestation. All created things worship Him by their very nature ('ibada dhatiyya; compare note 160 below). As we saw in Chapter 372, “He is worshipped in every object of worship” (compare two 1353.6). And in the last analysis, God's bestowal of existence upon the creatures is the manifestation of His need for them and “worship” of them.

Just as He who loves you gave you your creation, so also you should give Him that for which you were created.

If you do not give it, yet creation will be given, and He will not have been shown gratitude.

But it is best to fulfill God's right, my friend—this is a revelation He has given you.¹⁵⁹

If you attain God's wish as He desires, He will make you attain your wish.

four 100.33 God says,"Thy Lord has decreed that you shall not worship any but Him", and His decree cannot be repulsed. We know that the result of the invocation (dbikr) [mentioned in the title of this chapter] will be the contemplation of this verse, without doubt.

100.34 God is Being, while the things are the forms of Being. So the entire affair (al-amr) is interconnected (irtibat) in the same way that matter is interconnected with form. Without doubt worship, in the language in which the Qur'an was sent down, is lowliness (dbilla). When a thing grows up out of an interconnection between two things such that neither of the two can yield that thing without the one's interconnection with the other, then we know that each of the two interconnected things belongs to the love (bubb) that arises in each through the manifestation of the third thing and that each of the two seeks the other.

Hence there must be seeking (talab) in each of them; it is not proper that there be the actual (al-hasil). So the two things must be qualified as lacking that thing whose existence is desired, and seeking can only be a kind of lowliness (idblal).

101.3 "Your Lord has said, 'Call upon Me and I will answer you'"(Qur'an 40:60). Hence He seeks calling from His servants, while the servants seek an answer from Him. So everything is seeker and sought. But proofs are established that temporally originated things (al-bawadith) cannot subsist in God. So He cannot assume every seeking in Himself, for seeking by a temporally originated thing is itself temporally originated. So it is impossible for such a seeking to subsist in Him. Hence there must be a seeking of the existence of that through which this temporally originated seeking can subsist.

That is His words, "[The only word We say to a thing] when We desire it [is that We say to it 'Be' and it is]"(Qur'an 16:40). Seeking is a desire (irada), whether He desires you for Himself or He desires you for yourself. But it is not proper for some thing to be the actual in the respect in which it is sought, since in that respect it is not actual.

101.7 So there cannot be existence (wujǐd) except from two roots (asl): One root is power (iqtidar), which is linked to the side of God; the second is reception (qabǔl), which is linked to the side of the possible thing. Neither of the two roots is independent (istiqlal) in existence or in the bestowing of existence (ijad). That which acquires (al-mustafad) existence acquires it only from itself through its reception and from that which influences (nufudb) it through its power, and that is God. However, that thing does not say concerning itself that it bestowed existence upon itself.

Rather, it says that God bestowed existence upon it, while the true situation is as we have mentioned. Hence the possible thing is not equitable (lusd) toward itself, but in this manner it prefers (tthar) its Lord. Then, when God comes to know that it has preferred its Lord over itself by attributing the bestowal of existence to Him, He bestows upon it manifestation in His form as a reward. Hence there is none more perfect than the world, since there is none more perfect than God; and existence is not perfected except through the manifestation of the temporally originated thing.

101.12 Since this is the situation in terms of conditionality (tawaqquf) and lack of independence on both sides, God called attention to it with His words,"I have divided the canonical prayer into two balves between Myself and My servant, so one half belongs to Me and one half to My servant." This division also exists in God's taking the servant as His vicegerent and in God's acting as Guardian (wakil) in that in which the servant was made vicegerent. So Being is Independent, but it is perfected by the temporally originated thing.

101.14 Since God is Jealous lest something else be mentioned along with Him, He manifested Himself in theophany to the world in the form of the temporally originated things. The world's inhabitants come to know Him in them; this is His notification to them that He is “Independent of the worlds”: You have seen His manifestation in His Essence through theophany in the forms of the temporally originated things—so your manifestation and nonexistence are the same. Thus does He speak to the possible thing. At that the possible thing becomes lowly in itself in actuality (bi'l'fi'l).

Then there occurs from it that for which God created it [i.e., worship], and there disappears from it the mightiness ('tzz) of possessing the preparedness for reception in the bestowal of existence. When it sees that it is God who is manifest through the entities of the forms which were engendered by its own reception and God's power, [it knows that] there is no need for reception by the possible things. The situation is actualized and His words are correct: "God is Independent of the worlds"

101.18 While I was recording this question a divine flash (bariqa ilabiyya) flashed for me and in it I saw whatever sciences God willed. In a similar way the Prophet struck a stone that had been uncovered in the Trench with a pickax, and when he struck it there flashed forth a flash through which he saw that which God would conquer for his community. He even saw the palaces of Basra like the tusks of an elephant. He saw those things in three strikes, in each of which a flash appeared to him under a specific aspect.¹⁶⁶ I saw this in recording this chapter as a Muhammadian inheritance—praise belongs to God. In it and through it I saw that although God becomes manifest in the forms of the possible things and is qualified by Independence (gbitna), this does not exclude Him from a lack of independence (istiqlal) in respect to the existence of the temporally originated thing, since there must be reception on its part. But here there occurs debate (kalam). This is some of what the flash gave to me.

101.23 Since God created the creatures to worship Him, He clothed them in that Attribute of His through which He sought them, and through it they worship Him, for it is not correct that they should worship Him through themselves in respect of [their] independence (istiqlal). That is why the Law tells them to say "Thee alone we worship" and then "And from Thee alone we seek help" (Qur'an 1:4), for there is no independence in worship. So it instructs them to seek help in worshipping Him, just as their reception was a help to the Divine Power in creation. If there were not this interconnection, there could be neither worship nor bestowal of existence. Hence bestowal of existence is a worship, but it belongs to God; while worship is a bestowal of existence, but it is what is sought from the creatures. So they are the worshippers, while He is the worshipped; He bestows existence, while they are the existent things.

101.27 The làm of cause is inherent to both sides; it is what the Law calls a “wisdom” (bikma) or an “occasion” (sabab). For God is the Wise, and in each thing He has a manifest wisdom. The People of Unveiling and Finding know what that wisdom is in all things, while the exoteric authorities (abl al-rustim) know it in prescriptions (taklifat), which can only be known in respect of the Law, so the wisdom of prescriptions can only be known in respect of the Law; as for example His words, “In retaliation there is life for you”.

101.29 As for the view that prescription has a cause from God's side, this is an opinion (mazntn), not a known fact. But God opened the door of deduction (istinbat) for them [i.e., those who hold this opinion] through the causality (ta'lil) He mentioned in the Revelation sent down. So some of it is obvious and some hidden.

101.31 In the same way God has in the things a nonmanifest wisdom known only to Him and those to whom He gives knowledge of it. Therefore He said [in the verse mentioned in the title]"jinn," that is, that which is hidden,"and mankind," that is, that which is manifest so that it is known in its essence in respect of its manifestation,"except to worship Me," thereby affirming the cause for creation. So this is the"lâm of wisdom and occasion" according to the Law and the"lâm of cause" according to the intellect.

101.33 But worship is inherent to the created thing; there is no need for it to be prescribed, since the Creator is necessarily identical with every form the created thing worships, even though form is poor toward (iftiqar) [and in need of] matter. If this were not the case, the worship of the created thing would not be inherent.

101.34 When we limit ourselves to what is called Allah in common language ('urf), the created thing worships other than God, for we see that most of the world's inhabitants are only poor toward phenomenal causes (asbâb). How is this? Has not God said, "Thy Lord has decreed that you shall not worship any but Him", and"Oh people! You are the poor toward Allah"? He never mentioned the poverty of a created thing toward other than Allah, nor did He decree that other than Allah be worshipped. Therefore He must be identical ('ayn) with all things, that is, identical with everything toward which there is poverty and which is worshipped. In the same way He is identical with the worshipper in the case of every worshipper; for He said,"I am his bearing" when He addresses him with prescriptions and instruction (ta'rif). So the servant does not hear His words except through His hearing. And so it is with all of his faculties, through which alone he is able to be a worshipper of God. Hence nothing becomes manifest in the worshipper and the worshipped except His He-ness (buwiyya). Therefore the wisdom, occasion, and cause are nothing but He, while the result and that which is occasioned are nothing but He. So He alone worships and is worshipped. The Prophet said in his address when he was praising his Lord,"For we [exist] only through Him and for Him." So He addresses and He listens. This is a situation (amr) that cannot be refuted, for He is identical with the situation.

102.6 However, preference (fadl) among people takes place through that which some of them contemplate and others declare forbidden. So the knower knows about other than himself what the other does not know about himself, that is, concerning what the other is in himself. Hence relative preference (tafadul) becomes manifest. But in spite of this manifestation, the created thing does not cease having God as its he-ness, by reason of the relative preference of the Divine Names, which are the Attributes; and they are not other than He.

Not known are the creatures except through Him, not known is He except through them.

102.9 As for His being described by “Independence of the world”, that is only for him who supposes that God is not identical with the world, who distinguishes between the denotation (dalil) and that which is denoted (madlul), and who has not realized through speculative thought (nazar) that, when the denotation of a thing is the thing itself, it does not oppose itself. So the entire affair is one, though expressions of it are diverse. So He is the knower, knowledge, and the object of knowledge; He is the denotation, the denoter (dʌll), and that which is denoted. So through knowledge He knows knowledge; hence knowledge is knowledge's object of knowledge (al-'ilm ma'tam li'l-'ilm).

So He is the object of knowledge and knowledge, while knowledge is inherent to the knower. Here we have the words of the theologian (mutakallim),"It is not other than He," but nothing more. As for the theologian's words,"It is not He" after this, that is because he sees that it {the Attribute} is conceived of (ma'qtil) as superadded (za'id) to what He is. So there remains that it be He. But the theologian is not able to affirm that it is He without a knowledge describing Him thus. So he says,"It is not other than He," since he is bewildered. He speaks in accordance with what his understanding gives him, so he says that God's Attribute is not He, nor is it other than He.

102.14 But when we say something like these words, we do not say them within the limits of the theologian. For he necessarily conceives of the superadded thing, but we do not hold that there is something superadded. Hence the theologian has nothing more to offer than him who says, "God is poor," except in the beauty of the expression. And we seek refuge in God lest we be among the ignorant.

102.16 These are some of the results of this constant invocation.

Ibn Arabis

Spiritual Ascension

My Voyage Was Only in Myself. Introduction to Chapter 367

The initial indications in the Qur'an and hadith concerning the Prophet's Ascension (mi'raj) or nocturnal voyage and the revelatory vision in which it culminated subsequently gave rise to a vast body of interpretations among the many later traditions of Islamic thought and spirituality. Ibn'Arabi's personal adaptation of that material, in at least four separate longer narratives, reflects both the typical features of his distinctive approach to the Qur'an and hadith and the full range of his metaphysical-theological teachings and practical spiritual concerns. For him, the Prophet's"nocturnal journey"—an expression he prefers both because it is that of the Qur'an and because it is more appropriate to the complete,"circular" nature of the movement in question —is above all an archetypal symbol of the highest, culminating stages in the inner, spiritual journey that must be followed by each of the saints or mystical"knowers" who would participate fully in the heritage of Muhammad, even if the subjective phases and experiences marking that route necessarily appear differently to each individual.

Thus the theme of the Mi'raj provides Ibn 'Arabî with a single unifying symbolic framework for the full range of practical spiritual questions and theoretical issues (ontological, cosmological, theological, etcetera) that are discussed in other contexts throughout the Futühät and his other works. If each of his treatments of the Mi'raj approaches those issues from its own particular standpoint and purpose—and with, in addition, very different literary styles and degrees of autobiographical openness—they all do share what is perhaps the most fundamental feature of all of his writing: the continually alternating contrast between the metaphysical (universal and eternal)"divine" point of view and the"phenomenological" (personal and experiential) perspective of each individual voyager. The aim of this sort of dialectic, as he pointedly reminds his readers at the very beginning of chapter 367 (section I of the translation below), is quite clear: if the journey in question necessarily appears to move through time and distance, that is not so that we can eventually"reach" God—since"He is with you wherever you are"—but rather"so that He can cause [us] to see His Signs" that are always there,"on the horizons" and"in the souls." The heavens of this journey, the prophets and angels who populate them, the Temple or the Throne where the final"unveiling" takes place—all of these, he insists, are so many places of the Heart.

Modern readers who want to understand these narratives on this ultimate and most intimate level, however, must first find their way through an extremely complex set of symbols, and often only implicit references, to what are now largely unfamiliar bodies of knowledge: the task of interpretation is therefore not unlike that facing students of Dante's Divine Comedy (and more particularly the Paradiso). Therefore our annotation to this translation of chapter 367 of the Futuhat concentrates on providing that indispensable background in the following areas: 1. the actual Islamic source-materials in the Qur'an and hadith which provide the basic structure and key symbols for all of Ibn'Arabi's Mi'raj narratives; 2. the cosmological and astrological presuppositions which be generally shared with other traditions (more or less "scientific") of his time; 3. his own personal metaphysical and cosmogonical theories or"doctrines," which are basically those found throughout his other writings; and 4. his conception of the particular spiritual"heritages" and distinctive qualities of each of the prophets encountered during the Mi'raj, as they are developed in the Fusûs al-Hikam and throughout the Futuhat.

Finally, since Ibn 'Arabî's four major Mi'raj narratives do share certain common features—and since several are available (at least partially) in French and English translations—it may be helpful, for comparative purposes, to point out some of the more distinctive features of each.

The Other Mi'raj Narratives: Kitab al-Isra, Risalat al-Anwar, Chapter 167 of the Futubat

The Kitab al-Isra,¹² at once the earliest, the longest and the most personally revealing of the works discussed here, was composed in Fez in the year 594, apparently only a relatively short time after certain decisive personal inspirations concerning the ultimate unity of the prophets in the spiritual "station of Muhammad" and the inner meaning of the Qur'an in its full eternal reality that were soon to coalesce in Ibn 'Arabi's conception of his own unique role as "Seal of the Muhammadian Saints."¹³ In an emotionally fluid and highly expressive Arabic style, drawing on an incredibly dense and allusive symbolic vocabulary to the power of 14 and combining long poetic interludes with rapidly moving rhymed prose—and culminating in a series of remarkable "intimate conversations" (munajat) with God (pp. 50 to 82)—be constantly returns to celebrate and elaborate on the twin themes of the eternal Muhammadian Reality (encompassing all the prophets and their teachings) and the metaphysical universality of the Qur'an as they were inwardly realized and verified in his own mystical experience. Here the passage of this autobiographical "voyager"¹⁵ through the heavenly spheres and the higher revelatory stages of the Mi'raj (pp. 11 to 49) is not so much a means for describing the successive steps of the spiritual path and "progress" of the saints more generally—as it is, to some extent, in all the other Mi'raj narratives—but instead primarily a framework for evoking and clarifying various aspects of the author's own spiritual achievement, as they mirror the even loftier rank of the Prophet (pp. 83 to 92). What is perhaps most noteworthy about this composition, in a way that reinforces Ibn 'Arabi's repeated assertions that he first received all of this only by divine inspiration (and not through an individual effort of reasoning), is the way the complex systematic metaphysical and ontological framework developed in the Futuhat is already entirely present, but for the most part only implicitly—expressed instead through an incredibly profuse array of symbols and allusions drawn from the Qur'an and badith (and whose full explanation is to be sought, for the most part, only in later; more analytical prose works such as the Futuhat).

Compared to the literary and doctrinal complexities of the preceding work, the Risalat al-Anwar, a relatively brief prose treatise composed at Konya in 602 A.H. (near the beginning of Ibn 'Arabi's long stay in the Muslim East), is stylistically far more accessible and its contents are more readily understandable—features which (along with the existence of an excellent commentary by 'Abd al-Karim Jili) no doubt help account for its popularity with modern translators. Written in response to a request by a Sufi friend and fellow master, this study, as its full title partly indicates, is above all practical in intention and experiential (rather than primarily doctrinal or metaphysical) in its terms of reference and expression; it is aimed at the needs of a reader who, already necessarily possessing a considerable degree of personal accomplishment and experience, is intimately involved with the spiritual direction of disciples at earlier stages of the Path. While the allusions to the Mi'raj proper (pp. 9 to 13; English tr. pp. 40 to 46) are very brief—mentioning for the most part only the cosmological powers or spiritual qualities traditionally associated with each of the heavenly spheres and the Qur'anic"cosmography" of the Gardens of Paradise, the divine"Throne","Pen", etcetera, it does provide an indispensable complement to the other Mi'raj narratives in two critical areas: 1. its relatively detailed discussion of the essential practical methods and preliminary stages preparing the way for the inner realization of these more advanced spiritual insights; 2. Ibn'Arabi's repeated emphasis on the fundamental importance of the concluding phase of the saints'"return" to a transformed awareness of the physical and social world (in its immediate relation with God) and to the particular responsibilities and activities—whether teaching and spiritual guidance, or the less visible tasks of the representatives of the spiritual hierarchy—flowing from that realization.

Finally, the long chapter 167 of the Futühät,"On the Inner Knowledge of the Alchemy of Happiness," uses the framework of the Miräj to retrace, in ascending order, the many levels of Ibn'Arabi's complex cosmology or cosmogony. Its primary focus (compared with the other works mentioned here) is on the"objective" metaphysical realities underlying the spiritual insights described in more experiential terms in the other narratives: in this respect it often resembles the Fusüs al-Hikam, and the treatment of the various prophets encountered during this heavenly voyage (e.g., Jesus, Aaron or Moses) often closely parallels that found in the corresponding chapters of the Fusüs. This feature is further underlined by Ibn'Arabi's narrative technique of comparison, throughout this ascension, between the initiative spiritual knowledge granted to the"follower of Muhammad" (representing the methods of the saints and Sufis more generally) and the limited cosmological and theological insights available to his companion, the archetypal"man of reason." In general, the full elucidation of many of those complex allusions would require extensive reference to some of the most obscure and unfamiliar aspects of the Shaykh's thought.

Ibn 'Arabî's Own Mi'raj: Chapter 367

Ibn'Arabî's long treatment of the M'râf in chapter 367 of the Futûhat is marked by some distinctive features that make it considerably more accessible (at least for most modern readers) than either chapter 167 or the Kitâb al-Israî. To begin with, it is written for the most part in relatively straightforward expository prose; the style does presuppose a profound acquaintance with Ibn'Arabî's systematic terminology and symbolism (largely drawn from the Qur'an and hadith) as it is to be found throughout the Futûhat, but the role of unfamiliar Arabic literary and artistic effects is relatively less important than in the preceding works. Secondly, the focus of this chapter is almost exclusively on the universal spiritual dimensions of the M'râj, especially as expressed in the language of the Qur'an and hadith, in a way that should already be familiar to readers of the Fusûs al-Hikam; unlike chapter 167, it does not presuppose such extensive acquaintance with the vocabulary and symbolism of other relatively esoteric medieval Islamic sciences (alchemy, astrology, etcetera). Similarly, the encounters with the individual prophets associated with each heavenly sphere can often be readily illuminated by comparison with corresponding passages elsewhere in Ibn'Arabî's writings. And finally, as so often in the Futûhat, the genuinely autobiographical passages especially at the conclusion of Ibn'Arabî's own spiritual ascent (section 4-I below), add a powerful new dimension of clarity and persuasive force to what otherwise might appear to be simply a complex intellectual and symbolic"system."

The overall structure of this chapter is quite clear, consisting of four successively broader and more detailed elaborations of the central theme of the inner spiritual meaning of the "nocturnal journey," a theme whose ultimate premises and metaphysical-theological context are briefly evoked in the opening lines (section 1), already summarized at the beginning of this introduction. In section 2, Ibn Arabi takes up the badith accounts of Mubammad's Mi'radj—which provide the formal framework for the rest of the narrative—and adds his own allusions to many of the key themes developed at greater length in the following sections. In section 3, he provides a condensed, still highly abstract schematic outline of the “spiritual journeys of the saints” (awliya”), expressed in his own distinctive metaphysical-theological terminology (i.e., “in His Names in their names”). Finally, the greater part of the chapter (section 4) is taken up with Ibn 'Arab's account, narrated in the first person and closely following the path of the Prophet, of the climactic stages of his own personal spiritual journey.”²⁵ If the autobiographical guise at first seems only a sort of didactic literary device, at the end (section 4.I) he does conclude with the description of a decisive personal “revelation”, a compelling spiritual experience that seems to have contained—or at least confirmed—virtually all the most distinctive points of his later thought and conviction, the forms of divine knowledge which he goes on to elaborate in a long enumeration of “what he saw” in that culminating “Mubammadan Station.”

The complete title of Chapter 367 is: “Concerning the Inner Knowledge of the Stage [manzil] of the Fifth Tawakkul, Which None of the People of Realization [muhaqqiqin] Has Discovered, Because of the Rarity of Those Apt to Receive It and the Inadequacy of [Men's] Understandings to Grasp It.”

Chapter 367

1. Introduction: the Context and Purpose of the Spiritual Journey

... God said "There is nothing like His likeness [and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing]" (Qur'an 42:11),²⁷ so He described Himself with a description that necessarily belongs only to Him, which is His saying: "And He is with you wherever you are" (Qur'an 57:4).²⁸ Thus He is with us wherever we are, in the state of His "descending to the heaven of this world during the last third of the night,"²⁹ in the state of His being mounted upon the Throne (Qur'an 5:20, etcetera),³⁰ in the state of His being in the "Cloud,"³¹ in the state of His being upon the earth and in heaven (Qur'an 43:84, etcetera),³² in the state of His being closer to man than his jugular vein (Qur'an 50:16)³³—and all of these are qualifications with which only He can be described.

Hence God does not move a servant from place to place in order that [the servant] might see Him, but rather"so that He might cause him to see of His Signs" those that were unseen by him. He said:"Glory to Him Who made His servant journey one night from the Sacred Place of Worship to the Furthest Place of Worship, whose surroundings We have blessed, so that We might cause him to see of Our Signs!"(Qur'an 17:1)³⁵ And similarly, when God moves [any] servant through his [inner spiritual] states in order also to cause him to see His Signs, He moves him through His states.³⁶ ... [i.e., God] says: "I only made him journey by night in order that he see the Signs, not [to bring him] to Me: because no place can hold Me and the relation of all places to Me is the same. For I am such that [only] 'the heart of My servant, the man of true faith, encompasses Me',³⁷ so how could he be 'made to journey to Me' while I am 'with him wherever he is?'"(Qur'an 57:4)

2. The Narrative Framework: the Mt'raj of Muhammad and His Many Spiritual Journeys

The long following section (3 340.32 to 342.34) combines a virtually complete quotation of one long hadith account of the Prophet's Mi'raj —whose sequence of events and heavenly encounters with the spirits of earlier prophets provides the narrative framework for all of Ibn'Arabi's different versions of that voyage—with a number of the Shaykh's personal observations. These brief remarks either foreshadow themes developed at greater length in the rest of the chapter (and in his other treatments of the Mi'raj theme) or else allude to interpretations (e.g., of the drinks offered the Prophet at the beginning of his journey, or of the rivers of Paradise) that be discusses more fully in the other contexts and chapters of the Futuhat. However, four of those asides are significant enough to deserve special mention here.

The first of these is Ibn'Arabi's understanding of the statement in this baditb that Mubammad"descended from Buraq [his celestial speed] and tied him up with the same halter the [other] prophets had used to tie him." For the Shaykh,"all of that was only so as to affirm [the importance and reality of] the secondary causes... although he knew that Buraq was commanded [by God] and would have stayed there even if he had left him without tying the halter."

The second of these parenthetical remarks occurs in the lowest heaven (the one immediately surrounding this sublunar world), when Muhammad is brought face-to-face with all the blessed and the damned among the descendants of Adam.

“Then [Muhammad] saw himself among the different individuals belonging to the blessed, at Adam's right hand, and he gave thanks to God. And through that he came to know how it is that man can be in two places [at the same time] while remaining precisely himself and not anyone else: this was for him like the visible [physical] form and the [reflected] forms visible in the mirror and [other] reflected images.”

The third such passage is Ibn 'Arabî's statement, in connection with the Prophet's visit to Jesus in the second heaven, that "He was our first master, through whose assistance we returned [to God]; and he has a tremendous solicitude ('inaya) for us, so that he does not forget us for a single hour."42

The final observation concerns the nature of the Prophet's vision (ru'ya) of God at the culminating stage of his Ascension, after God—in the words of the badith—“had revealed to him what He revealed.” “Then He ordered [Muhammad] to enter; so he entered [the divine Presence], and there he saw exactly what he had known and nothing else: the form of his belief did not change.” This question of man's “divine vision” and knowledge is at the heart of Ibn'Arabi's own long discussion with Moses later in this chapter (I.V.F below) and underlies his accounts of his own personal vision at the all-encompassing “Muhammadan Station” (in I.V.I below).

At the end of this section, after pointing out that it was only the Prophet's insistence on the actual bodily—rather than ecstatic or visionary—nature of this ascension that aroused the skepticism and hostility of his contemporaries, Ibn'Arabi concludes:"Now [Muhammad] had thirty-four times in which [God] made him journey at night, and only one of them was a nocturnal journey in his [physical] body, while the others were with his spirit, through a vision which he saw."

3. The Spiritual Journeys of the Saints ^{47}

As for the saints, they have spiritual journeys in the intermediate world during which they directly witness spiritual realities (ma'ani) embodied in forms that have become sensible for the imagination; these [sensible images] convey knowledge of the spiritual realities contained within those forms. And so they have a [spiritual] journey on the earth and in the air, without their ever having set a sensible foot in the heavens. For what distinguished God's Messenger from all the others [among the saints] was that his body was made to journey, so that he passed through the heavens and spheres in a way perceptible by the senses and traversed real, sensible distances. But all of that from the heavens [also belongs] to his heirs, [only] in its spiritual reality (ma'na), not its sensible form.

So as for what is above the heavens, let us mention what God made me directly witness in particular of the journey of the People of God. For their journeys are different [in form] because they are embodied spiritual realities, unlike the sensible journey [of the Prophet]. Thus the ascensions (ma'arij) of the saints are the ascensions of [their] spirits and the vision of [their] hearts, [the vision] of forms in the intermediate world and of embodied spiritual realities. And we have already mentioned what we directly witnessed of that in our book called The Nocturnal Journey, along with the order of [the stages of] the voyage....

Therefore whenever God wishes to journey with the spirits of whomever He wishes among the heirs of His messengers and His saints, so that He might cause them to see His Signs —for this is a journey to increase [their] knowledge and open the eye of [their] understanding—the modalities of their journey are different [for different individuals]: and among them are those whom He causes to journey in Him.

Now this journey [in God] involves the “dissolving” of their composite nature. Through this journey God [first of all] acquaints them with what corresponds to them in each world [of being], by passing with them through the different sorts of worlds, both composite and simple. Then [the spiritual traveler] leaves behind in each world that part of himself which corresponds to it: the form of his leaving it behind is that God sends a barrier between that person and that part of himself he left behind in that sort of world, so that he is not aware of it. But he still has the awareness of what remains with him, until eventually he remains [alone] with the divine Mystery which is the "particular individual aspect"⁵⁵ extending from God to Him. So when he alone remains [without any of those other attachments to the world], then God removes from him the barrier of the veil to the power of 56 and he remains with God, just as everything else in him remained with [the world] corresponding to it.

Hence throughout this journey the servant remains God and not-God. And since he remains God and not-God, He makes [the servant] travel—with respect to Him, not with respect to [what is] not-Him—in Him, in a subtle spiritual (ma'nawî) journey.

Ibn Arabi goes on (three 343.24 to 344.4) to recall the fundamental metaphysical underpinnings of these distinctions in the peculiar nature of the inner correspondence between man and the world (i.e., "not-God"), since both are created—in the words of a famous hadith—"according to the form" of God. Ordinarily however, people think of themselves as simply "parts" of the world, as "things" within it, and it is only at the end of this purifying journey that the saints can realize man's true dignity and spiritual function as the "Perfect Man" (al-insan al-kamil) whose Heart fully mtrrors the divine Reality (al-Haqq), thereby accomplishing that perfection for which the world itself was created.⁵⁹

So when the servant has become aware of what we have just explained, so that he knows that he is not [created] according to the form of the world, but only according to the form of God (al-Haqq), then God makes him journey through His Names, in order to cause him to see His Signs within him. Thus [the servant] comes to know that He is what is designated by every divine Name—whether or not that Name is one of those described as “beautiful.” It is through those Names that God appears in His servants, and it is through Them that the servant takes on the different “colorings” of his states: for They are Names in God, but “colorings” [of the soul] in us. And they are precisely the “affairs” with which God is “occupied”: so it is in us and through us that He acts just as we [only] appear in Him and through Him....

Thus when God makes the saint (al-wali) travel through His most beautiful Names to the other Names and [ultimately] all the divine Names, he comes to know the transformations of his states and the states of the whole world. And [he knows] that transformation is what brings those very Names to be in us, just as we know that the transformations of [our] states [manifest] the specific influences (abkam) of those Names... So there is no Name that God has applied to Himself that He has not also applied to us: through [His Names] we undergo the transformations in our states, and with them we are transformed [by God]....

Now when [the spiritual traveler] has completed his share of the journey through the Names and has come to know the Signs which the Names of God gave him during that journey, then he returns and “reintegrates” his self with a composition different from that initial composite nature, because of the knowledge he has gained which he did not have when he was “dissolved” [in the ascending phase of that journey]. Thus he continues to pass through the different sorts of worlds, taking from each world that [aspect of himself] which he had left there and reintegrating it in his self, and he continues to appear in each successive stage [of being] until he arrives back on earth.

So “he awakens among his people” [like the Prophet], and no one knows what happened to occur to him in his innermost being (sirr) until he speaks [of his journey]. But then they hear him speaking a language different from the one they are used to recognizing as his; and if one of them says to him “What is this?” he replies that “God made me journey by night and then caused me to see whatever Signs of His He wanted [me to see].” So those who are listening say to him: “You were not gone from us, so you were lying in what you claimed about that.”

And the jurist (faqih) among them says:"This fellow is laying claim to prophethood (nubuwwa), or his intellect has become deranged: so either he is a heretic—in which case he ought to be executed—or else he is insane, in which case we have no business talking with him." Thus"a group of people make fun" of him, others"draw a lesson from" him, while others have faith in what he says, and thus it becomes a subject of dispute in the world. But the faqih was unaware of [the true meaning of] His saying:"We shall show them Our Signs on the borisons and in their souls..." (Qur'an 41:53),⁷² since [God] does not specify one group rather than [any] other.

Therefore whoever God may cause to see something of these Signs in the way we have just mentioned should mention [only] what he has seen, but he should not mention the way. For then people will have credence in him and will look into what he says, since they will only deny what he says if he makes a claim about the way he acquired that knowledge.

Now you should know that [in reality] there is no difference with regard to this journey between ordinary people and the person [distinguished by] this way and this characteristic. That is because [this spiritual journey] is in order to see the [divine] Signs, and the transformations of the states of ordinary people are [likewise] all Signs: they are in those Signs, but “they do not notice”. Hence this sort [of traveler] is only distinguished from the rest of [his fellow] creatures, those who are veiled, by what God has inspired in his innermost being either through his thinking and inquiry with his intellect, or through his preparation, by polishing the mirror of his soul, for the unveiling of these Signs to him by way of inner unveiling and immediate witnessing, direct experience and ecstatic “finding.”

Thus ordinary people [when they object to those who speak of this spiritual voyage] are denying precisely That within Which they are and through Which they subsist. So if [the traveler] did not mention the way in which he obtained the inner knowledge of these things, no one would deny or dispute him. For all of the [ordinary] people—and I do not exclude a single one of them—are “making up likenesses for God”;⁷⁷ they have always agreed and cooperated in that, so not one of them criticizes another for doing it. God says: “Do not make up likenesses for God...” (Qur'an 16:74)—yet they remain blind to that Sign.⁷⁸

But as for the friends of God, they do not make up likenesses for God. For God is the One Who makes up likenesses for the people, because of His knowledge of the underlying intentions (of those symbols), since God knows, but we do not know (see Qur'an 16:74; 3:66; 2:216). Thus the saint [the one truly “close to God”] observes the likenesses God has made, and in that immediate witnessing he actually sees precisely what connects the likeness and That Which it symbolizes: for the likeness is precisely What is symbolized, with respect to that which connects them, but it is different insofar as it is a likeness. So the saint "does not make up likenesses for God"; instead, he truly knows what God symbolized with those likenesses....

4. Ibn 'Arabi's Personal Mi'raj

four-A. The Departure from the Elemental World ^{82}

So when God wished to “journey with me to cause me to see [some] of His Signs” in His Names among my names —and that was the portion of our inheritance from the [Prophet's] nocturnal journey—He removed me from my place and ascended with me on the Buraq of my contingency. Then He penetrated with me into my [natural] elements....

At this point Ibn'Arabî allegorically encounters each of the elements constituting the physical, sublunar world, according to the accepted physical theories of his time—i.e., earth, water, air and fire—and leaves behind with each of them the corresponding part of his bodily nature.

So I passed through into the first heaven: nothing remained with me of my bodily nature that I [needed to] depend on or to which I [had to] pay attention.

four-B. Adam and the First Heaven ^{88}

As Ibn 'Arabi explains in this section, it was during this encounter with his "father" that he was first given the immediate spiritual awareness of two key themes of his thought: the universality of the divine Mercy which, like the Beting that is inseparable from it, "encompasses all things"; and, flowing from this first principle, the temporal, limited nature of the punishments of "Hell" [and the sufferings of the world as a whole], which manifest certain of those Names.⁸⁹ The discovery and awareness of these principles presupposes man's ultimate reality as the "Perfect Man" (insan kamil), the [potentially] complete reflection of the divine Reality at all Its levels of manifestation—i.e., the very foundation of the Shaykh's metaphysical vision which is developed at much greater length in the famous opening chapter on Adam in the Fusûs.

At the beginning of this encounter Ibn 'Arabi—like Muhammad before bim90—suddenly sees his “essential reality” ('ayn) among the souls of the blessed on Adam's right, while at the same time he himself remains standing in front of Adam. Then Adam goes on to inform him that the Qur'anic expressions "the people of the left hand" and "the people of the right" (Qur'an 56:27, 38, 41, 90, etcetera) refer in reality to Adam's hands, since all of mankind are in God's "Right Hand"—"the one which destines them to happiness"—"because both of my Lord's Hands are Right and blessed."

...Therefore I and my children are [all] in the Right Hand of the Truly Real (al-Haqq), while everything in the world other than us is in the other divine Hand.

I said: “Then we shall not be made to suffer [in Hell]?”

And [Adam] replied:"If [God's] Anger were to continue [forever], then the suffering [of the damned] would continue. But it is happiness that continues forever, although the dwellings are different, because God places in each abode [of Paradise and Gehenna] that which comprises the enjoyment of the people of that abode, which is why both abodes must necessarily be'filled up'. For the [divine] Anger has already come to an end with the'Greater Reviewing': [God] ordered that [His] limits be established; so they were established, and when they were established [His] Anger disappeared. [This is] because the sending down of the [divine] Message (tanzil al-rasala) actually is precisely the establishment [and application] of [God's] limits for those with whom He is angry, and nothing remains [after that] but [His] Good Will and Mercy which encompasses everything. So when these'limits' [and the punishments flowing from them] have come to an end, then the [divine] authority comes back to the universal Mercy with regard to everything."

Thus my father Adam granted me the benefit of this knowledge when I was unaware of it, and that was divine good tidings for me in the life of this world, in anticipation [of its full realization in the hereafter]. Therefore the Resurrection comes to an end with time, as God said:" [The angels and the Spirit ascend to Him in a Day whose extent is] of fifty thousand years" (Qur'an 70:4), and this is the period of the establishment [and application] of the [divine] limits.

Ibn 'Arabî goes on to explain that "after this period"—however it is to be understood—only the divine Names "the Merciful" [which encompasses all the "Most Beautiful Names"] and "the Compassionate" will have authority and influence (hukm) in the world, although the intrinsic, logically necessary "opposition" of the other Names necessarily will remain.

...Hence the creatures are entirely submerged in [God's] Mercy, and the authority of the [other divine] Names [only] continues in their intrinsic opposition, but not in us. So you should know that, for it is a rare and subtle knowledge that [most people] do not realize. Instead, ordinary people are blind to it: there is no one among them who, if you were to ask him "Are you content to have applied to yourself [the influence] of those Names that give you pain?" would not reply "No!" and have the influence of that painful Name applied to someone else in his stead.⁹⁹ But such a person is among the most ignorant of people concerning the creatures—and he is even more ignorant of the Truly Real!

So this [experience of] immediate witnessing informed [us] concerning the continuation of the authority (bukm) of the Names [i.e., other than those of Mercy] with regard to those Names [in themselves], but not in us. For those Names are relations whose realities are intrinsically opposed, so that they [can] never become united [in away that would erase their inherent relational distinctions]. But God extends His Mercy to [all] His servants wherever they are, since Being in its entirety is Mercy.

4. C. Jesus and Yahya (John the Baptist) in the Second Heaven ^{102}

Ibn 'Arabî next encounters Jesus and his cousin Yabyâ (John the Baptist) in the third heaven—the two figures being linked here by their association in the Qur'an with "Life," both "animal" and spiritual. The Shaykh first asks Jesus about his life-giving powers, and is told that they ultimately come from Gabriel (as the Universal Spirit, al-rûh al-kull): "No one who revives the dead revives them except to the extent of what he has inherited from me;¹⁰³ so such a person does not occupy my station in regard to that [life-giving power], just as I do not have the station of the one [i.e., Gabriel] who granted me [the power of] reviving the dead."

Ibn'Arabî then turns to Yahya/John, who clarifies a long series of questions involving the references to him (and his relations with Jesus) in the Qur'an and hadith. Finally, after a brief excursus on the nature of spiritual procreation and marriage in Paradise, Yahya explains why it is that he moves back and forth between the heaven of Jesus and the sphere of Aaron [where Muhammad met him, and where Ibn 'Arabi will encounter him later (section I.V.F)] and sometimes dwells with Joseph and Idris as well.

Most of the themes (such as the interrelations of life, spiritual knowledge, and the divine inspiration of the prophets) mentioned only allusively in this section are treated in greater detail in the chapters of the Fusus on Jesus and Yabya.

four-D. Joseph and the Third Heaven ^{107}

This encounter takes the form of a monologue in which Joseph explains to Ibn 'Arabî the true intentions of one of the Prophet's references to him, as well as the meaning of certain verses in the Sûra of Joseph (chapter 12) in the Qur'an. These discussions are the occasion for the following spiritual advice:

This is a lesson for you that your soul does not follow the same course in something where it has no direct experience (dbawq) as the person who undergoes that experience. So do not say “If I were in the place of that person when such-and-such was said to him and he said such-and-such, I would not have said that." No, by God, if what happened to him happened to you, you would say what he said, because the stronger state [of direct experience] controls the weaker one [i.e., of whatever you might imagine].

four-E. Idris and the Fourth Heaven ^{110}

Upon his arrival in the fourth and central, pivotal heaven, that of the Sun (and the symbolic "Heart" of the cosmos), Ibn 'Arabi is immediately greeted by Idris, who calls him "the Muhammadian Inheritor" (al-warih al-Muhammadi)—an allusion to the Shaykh's conception of his own unique role as the "Seal of Muhammad an Sainthood".¹¹ Ibn 'Arabi then asks him a series of brief questions which relate to the traditional accounts concerning Idris (in one or another of his manifestations) or to his special spiritual function as the perennial "Pole" (qutb) and summit of the spiritual hierarchy.¹¹² ...I said to him:"It has reached me concerning you that you are a proponent of miracles."

Then he said:"Were it not for miracles, I would not have been raised up to a lofty place"

So I said to him: "Where is your [spiritual] rank in relation to your place [at the center of the universe]?"

And he said: “The outer is a sign of the inner.”

I said:"I have heard it said that you only asked tawbid of your people, and nothing else [i.e., no separate revealed Law]."

He said:"And they did not [even] do [that]. Now I was a prophet calling them to the word [i.e., the outward profession] of tawhid, not to tawhid [itself] —for no one has ever denied tawhid!"

I said: "This is strange!"

... [Then] I said:"But the differences [of opinion] concerning the Truly Real and the things said concerning Him have become quite numerous."

He said: "It [can] only be like that, since the matter is [perceived differently] according to the constitution [of each individual]."

I said:"But I thought that all of you prophets, the whole group of you, did not differ concerning Him?"

So he replied: "That is because we did not say [what we taught concerning God] on the basis of reasoning (nazar); we only said it on the basis of a common direct relationship [with God]. So whoever knows the realities knows that [the fact that] all of the prophets agree in saying the same thing about God is equivalent to those who follow reasoning [all] saying the same thing.¹²²

I said: "And is the matter [i.e., the reality of things] in itself really as it was said to you [by God]? For the signs [followed by] the intellects [of those who rely exclusively on their reasoning] indicate the impossibility of [certain] things you [prophets] brought concerning that."

Then he said:"The matter is as we [prophets] were told—and [at the same time] it is as whatever is said by whoever says [his own inner belief] concerning Him, since'God is in accordance with the saying of everyone who speaks [of Him].'" So that is why we only called the common people to the word [i.e., the verbal profession] of tawhid, not to [the reality of] tawhid."

...I said: “Once, in a visionary experience (wàqi'a) I had, I saw an individual circumambulating [the Ka'ba], who told me that he was among my ancestors and gave me his name.” Then I asked him about the time of his death, and he told me it was 40,000 years [earlier]. So I proceeded to ask him about Adam, because of what had been established in our chronology concerning his period [i.e., that it was much more recent]. Then he said to me: 'Which Adam are you asking about? About the most recent Adam?'”

[Idris] said:"He told the truth. I am a prophet of God, and I do not know any period at the close of which the universe as a whole stops. However, [I do know] that He never ceases creating [the universe] in its entirety; that [the whole of reality] never ceases to be'nearer' and'further'; and that the'appointed times' apply to the [particular] created things—through the completion of [their] periods [of existence] —and not to the [process of] creation [as a whole], since creation is continually renewed' with the breaths' [at every instant]. Thus we know [only] what He has caused us to know—And they do not comprehend anything of His Knowledge except for what He wishes".

So I said to him:"Then what remains until the appearance of the'Hour'?"

And he replied:"Their reckoning has drawn near to people, but they are in [a state of] beedlessness, turning away".

I said: "Then inform me about one of the conditions of Its 'drawing near.'" And he replied: "The existence of Adam is among the conditions for the Hour."

I said: "Then was there another abode before this world (aldunya), other than it?"

He replied: “The abode of Being is one: the abode does not become 'nearer' (dunya) except through you, and the 'other world' (al-akhira) is not distinguished from it except through you! But with regard to bodies [i.e., as opposed to man's inherent spiritual finality and progressive movement of 'return' to his Source], the matter is only engendered states (akwan), transformations and coming and going [of endless material forms]; it has not ceased, and it never will.”

I said: "What is there?" ^{132}

He replied:"What we know, and what we do not know." I said:"Then where is error in relation to what is right?" He said:"Error is a relative matter, while what is right is the [unchanging] principle. So whoever truly knows God and the world, knows that what is right is the ever-present Principle, which never ceases [to be], and he knows that error [occurs] through the opposition of the two points of view. But since the opposition [of the two perspectives] is inevitable, then error is also inevitable. So whoever maintains [the real existence of] error [also] maintains [the prior existence and reality of] what is right; and whoever maintains the [ultimate] non-existence of error speaks what is right and posits error [as deriving] from what is right"...

four-E Aaron and the Fifth Heaven ^{137}

Next I alighted to stay with Aaron, and [there] I found Yahya, who had already reached him before me. So I said to [Yahya]: "I didn't see you on my path: is there some other path there?"

And he replied: "Each person has a path, that no one else but he travels."

I said: "Then where are they, these [different] paths?" Then he answered: "They come to be through the traveling itself."

After Aaron then greets Ibn 'Arabî as "the perfectly accomplished hetr [of the Prophet],"¹³⁸ he goes on to explain how he became both a prophet (nabî) and also a lawgiving Messenger (rasul) participating in the revelation (wahy) appropriate to that rank, at the request of his brother Moses.

...I said:"O Aaron, some people among the true Knowers have claimed that the existence [of the external world] disappeared with regard to them, so that they see nothing but God, and so that nothing of the world remains with them that might distract them, in comparison with God. Nor is there any doubt that they [really] are in that [spiritual] rank," as opposed to those like you. Now God has informed us that you said to your brother [Moses] when he was angry [with you for having allowed the Israelites to worship the golden calf]:"...so do not cause [our] enemies to gloat over me!". Thus you posited their having a certain power [over you in the external world], and this condition is different from the condition of those true Knowers [who experience the 'disappearance' of the external world]."

Then he replied: "They spoke sincerely [about their experience]. However, they did not have any more than what was given them by their immediate experience (dbawq). But look and see—did what disappeared from them [in that state actually] disappear from the world?"

“No,” I answered.

He said: "Then they were lacking in the knowledge of the way things are, to the extent of what they missed, since the world was nonexistent for them. So they were lacking the True Reality (al-Haqq) to the extent of that [aspect] of the world which was veiled from them. Because the whole world is precisely the Self-manifestation (tajalli) of the Truly Real, for whoever really knows the Truly Real. So where are you going? It is only a reminder to the worlds (Qur'an 81:26 to 27) of the way things are!"

Perfection is nothing but its [or 'His'] existence,

So whoever misses it is not the perfect one...

Ibn 'Arabî begins his discussion with Moses by thanking him for his having insisted that Muhammad—during the final, descending stage of his Mi'râj—return to ask God to reduce the number of daily prayers prescribed for his community.¹⁴⁴ Moses replies that "this is a benefit of knowledge [reached through] direct experience (dbawq),¹⁴⁵ for there is a [spiritual] condition that can only be perceived through immediate contact."

Ibn'Arabî then mentions that it was Moses'"striving for the sake of others"—which first led him to the burning bush—that eventually brought him"all the Good." Moses responds that"Man's striving for the sake of others is only a striving for his self, in the truth of things"—i.e., when he discovers who he really is—and that the thankfulness which flows from this (on the part of all concerned) is one of the highest forms of"remembering" and praising God.

...After that I said to him:"Surely God has chosen you over the people with His Message and His Word." But you requested the vision [of God], while the Messenger of God said that'not one of you will see His Lord until he dies'?

So he said:"And it was just like that: when I asked Him for the vision [of God], He answered me, so that'I fell down stunned'. Then I saw Him in my' [state of] being stunned.'

I said: "While [you were] dead?"

He replied: "While [I was] dead."

... He said:"...So I did not see God until I had died. It was then that I'awakened', so that I knew Who I saw. And it was because of that that I said'I have returned to you', since I did not return to anyone but Him."

Then I said to him: “You are among the group of those who know God, so what did you consider the vision of God [to be] when you asked Him for it?”

And he said:" [I considered it to be] necessary because of rational necessity." I said:"But then what was it that distinguished you from others?"

He said: "I was seeing Him [all along], and yet I didn't use to know that it was Him! But when my 'dwelling' was changed and I saw Him, then I knew Who I saw. Therefore when I'awoke' I was no longer veiled, and my vision [of God] went on accompanying me throughout all eternity. So this is the difference between us and those who are veiled from their knowledge [of God] by what they see. Yet when they die they see the Truly Real, since the'dwelling' [of divine Vision] distinguishes Him for them. Therefore if they were returned [to this world as I was], they would say the same thing as we did."

I said: "Then if death were the 'dwelling' of the vision of God, every dead person would see him—but God has described them (Qur'an 83:15) as being 'veiled' from seeing Him!?"

He said: “Yes, those are 'the ones who are veiled' from the knowledge that what [they see] is God.” But what if you yourself had to meet a person with whom you were not personally acquainted, whom you were looking for [simply] by name and because you needed him? You could meet him and exchange greetings with him, along with the whole group of those you encountered, without discovering his identity: then you would have seen him and yet not have seen him, so you would continue looking for him while he was right where you could see him! Hence one cannot rely on anything but knowledge. That is why we [Knowers of God] have said that Knowledge is His very Essence, since if Knowledge were not His very Essence, what was relied on [i.e., our knowledge] would be other than God—for nothing can be relied on but knowledge.”

I said: "Now God indicated the mountain to you (Qur'an 7:143) and mentioned about Himself that 'He manifested Himself to the Mountain' (Qur'an 7:143). [So how do these theophanies differ?]"

Then he replied: "Nothing resists His Self-manifestation; therefore the particular condition (bħl) necessarily changes [according to the 'locus' of each theophany]. Hence for the mountain being 'crushed flat' was like Moses' being 'stunned': God says 'Moses' (Qur'an 7:144), and [He] Who crushed it stunned me."

I said to him: "God has taken charge of teaching me, so I [only] know about Him to the extent of what He bestows on me."

Then he replied:"That is just how He acts with the Knowers of God, so take [your spiritual knowledge] from Him, not from the world. And indeed you will never take [such knowledge] except to the extent of your predisposition (isti'dad). So do not let yourself be veiled from Him by the likes of us [prophets]! For you will never come to know about Him by means of us anything but what we know about Him through His Self-manifestation. Thus we too only give you [knowledge] about Him to the extent of your predisposition. Hence there is no difference [between learning from us and directly from God], so attach yourself to Him! For He only sent us to call you all to Him, not to call you to us. [His Message] is a Word [that is] the same between us and you:that we should worship none but God, and that we should not associate anything with Him, and that some of us should not take others as lords instead of God".

I said: "That is how it came in the Qur'an!"

He said: "And that is how He is."

I said: "With what did you hear 'God's Speech'? "165

He said: "With my hearing."

I said: "And what is your 'hearing'?"

He said: "He [is]."166

I said: "Then by what were you distinguished [from other men]?"

He said: "By an immediate personal experience [dbawq] in that regard, which can only be known by the person who actually experiences it."

I said: "So those who possess such immediate experiences are like that?"

“Yes,” he said, “and [their] experiences are according to [their spiritual] ranks.”

four-H. The Seventh Heaven: Abraham and the Temple of the Heart ^{167}

Most of Ibn 'Arabi's encounter with Abraham—as earlier with Joseph and John the Baptist—is devoted to questions about certain Qur'anic passages concerning him. Here, for example, Abraham explains that his apparently polytheistic remarks reported at Qur'an 6:74 to 80 were actually only meant to test the faith of his people, given their limited understanding.

What is of more universal importance for the spiritual journey, however, is Ibn 'Arabi's identification of the celestial Kaba, the “House” of Abraham that marks the cosmological transition between the material world and the “paradisiac” realm of the bigbest spheres, as none other than the Heart of the voyager. For the Heart—as be makes clear in the much longer discussions at this point in his K. al-Isra' and in chapter 167 of the Futûhat —is ultimately the “site” of the whole journey.

... Then I saw the Inhabited House, and suddenly there was my Heart—and there were the angels who “enter It every day” The Truly Real manifests Himself to [the Heart], which [alone] encompasses Him, in “seventy thousand veils of light and darkness.” Thus He manifests Himself to the Heart of His servant through those (veils) —for “if He were” to manifest Himself without them, “the radiant splendors of His Face would burn up” the creaturely part of that servant.

4-I. The "Lotus of the Limit" and the Culminating Revelation ^{174}

So when I had left [the Temple], I came to the Lotus-Tree of the

Limit, and I halted amongst its lowest and its loftiest branches. Now it was enveloped in the lights of [good] actions, and in the shelter of its branches were singing the birds of the spirits of those who perform [those]

actions, since it is in the form of Man. As for the four rivers

[flowing from its roots, as described in the hadith], they are the four kinds of divine knowledge "granted as a gift" [to man], which we mentioned in a part (juz') we called "the levels of the forms of knowledge given freely [by God].

Next I saw before me the cushions of the Litters of the [true] Knowers. Then I"was enveloped by the [divine] lights" until all of me became Light, and a robe of honor was bestowed upon me the likes of which I had never seen.

So I said:"O my God, the Signs âyat are scattered!" But then'He sent down upon me at this moment [His] Saying:"Say:'We have faith in God and in what He sent down upon Abraham and Ismael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes [of Israel], and in what was brought to Moses and Jesus and the prophets from their Lord; we do not separate anyone among them, and we are sur rendered to Him!". Thus He gave me all the Signs in this Sign, clarified the matter (i.e., of the eternal Reality of the "Qur'an") for me, and made this Sign for me the key to all knowledge. Henceforth I knew that I am the totality of those [prophets] who were mentioned to me [in this verse].

Through this [inspiration] I received the good tidings that I had [been granted] the “Muhammadan station,” that I was among the heirs of Muhammad's comprehensiveness. For he was the last [prophet] to be sent as a messenger, the last to have [the direct Revelation] descend upon him: God “gave him the all-comprehensive Words,” and he was specially favored by six things with which the messenger of no [other] community was specially favored. Therefore [Muhammad's] mission is universal, because of the general nature of his six aspects: from whatever direction you come, you will find only the Light of Muhammad overflowing upon you; no one takes [spiritual knowledge] except from It, and no [divine] messenger has informed [man] except for [what he has taken] from It.

Now when that happened to me I exclaimed: "Enough enough!" My [bodily] elements are filled up, and my place cannot contain me!" and through that [inspiration] God removed from me my contingent dimension.¹⁹⁴ Thus I attained in this nocturnal journey the inner realities (ma'âni) of all the Names, and I saw them all returning to One Subject to the power of 195 and One Entity:¹⁹⁶ that Subject was what I witnessed,¹⁹⁷ and that Entity was my Being. For my voyage was only in myself and only pointed to myself, and through this I came to know that I was a pure servant."¹⁹⁸ without a trace of lordshin in me at all.

Then the treasures of this station were opened up [for me], and among the kinds of knowledge I saw there were....

The list of some sixty-nine kinds of knowledge associated with this particular station differs from the similar listings in each of the other chapters on the fasil al-manazil in that it contains a number of Ibn 'Arabî's most fundamental metaphysical theses. The following items may be taken as representative.²⁰⁰ ...I saw in it the knowledge of the Return...and that [man] carries this world with him when he is transferred [to the next world]...

I saw in it the knowledge of the interpenetration and [indissoluble] "circularity" (dawr: of God and Man), which is that God (al-Haqq) can only be in [external] reality (fi al-fi'l) through the form of the creature (al-kbalq), and that the creature can only be there [in reality] through the form of God. So this circularity...is what actually exists (al-waqi') and is the way things are....

...Each community (umma) has a messenger...and there is nothing among what exists that is not [part of] a certain community...So the divine message (risala) extends to absolutely all communities, both great and small!...

I saw in it the universality of the divine Gift [of Mercy and Pardon] ... [as] He said concerning the prodigal sinners: "... Do not despair of God's Mercy; surely God forgives the sins altogether, surely He is the All-Forgiving, the All-Merciful (Qur'an 39:53)." So nothing could be clearer than this explicit divine declaration concerning the return of [all] the servants to [His] Mercy!...

I saw in it the knowledge that it is God who is worshipped in every object of worship, behind the veil of [the particular] form.

I saw in it the knowledge of the conditions of mankind in the intermediate world (barzakh)...

I saw in it the knowledge that this world is a token ('unwân) of the other world and a symbolization (darb mithal) of it, and that the status (bukm) of what is in this world is more complete and more perfect in the other world.

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