the first.
The single letters we mentioned exert an effect upon this other verbal composition that we have assembled to bring forth realities which the hearer cannot apprehend without them. For this reason, to convey the meaning to you, we likened them to the spiritual world, such as the jinn. Do you not see that the human being moves among four realities: a reality of his own essence, a lordly reality, a satanic reality, and angelic realities? These realities will be discussed fully in the chapter on knowing incoming thoughts, Chapter 2 Hundred and Sixty-Four of this book. See also Chapter Fifty-Five, on knowing satanic thoughts.
In the world of words, this means the entry of one of these letters into the world of words, producing in it what its reality yields. Understand this; may God grant us and you understanding of the innermost secrets of His words.
A Subtlety and an Indication: The Meaning of the All-Comprehensive Words
God’s Messenger, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: “I have been given the all-comprehensive words.”[9] God says in Surat al-Nisa [171]: “And His Word, which He cast unto Mary” [Qur’an 4:171]; and in Surat al-Tahrim [12]: “She affirmed the words of her Lord and His Books” [Qur’an 66:12]. One says, “The ruler cut off the thief’s hand,” and “The ruler struck the robber.”
Whoever has something cast at his command is himself the one who casts it—that is, Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace. Thus the one casting was Muhammad, peace be upon him: on God’s behalf he cast the words of the entire cosmos, with absolutely nothing excepted, since the whole cosmos consists of God’s words.
Some of these he cast himself, such as the spirits of the angels—
Notes
[9]
Al-Askari related this well-known hadith in al-Amthal from Jafar ibn Muhammad, from his father, as a mursal report, in this wording. Al-Bukhari and Muslim related it with the wording, “I was sent with the all-comprehensive words” (Sahih al-Bukhari, vol. 4, hadith no. 6845; Sahih Muslim, vol. 1, hadith no. 523). In Ahmad’s report it reads, “I have been given the openings of words, their endings, and their comprehensiveness.” Al-Daylami related it without a chain, from Ibn Abbas as a report attributed to the Prophet, with the wording, “I have been given the all-comprehensive words, and speech has been made concise for me.” It is related through many chains and in similar versions.
Translator’s note TN328-1: Jawamiʿ al-kalim, rendered “the all-comprehensive words,” is unfolded here through the idea that the cosmos consists of divine words. The examples concerning a ruler illustrate attributing an action to the one who commands it, even when an intermediary carries it out. A mursal report leaves a gap in the chain between a later transmitter and the Prophet.
