The Meccan Revelations

Manuscript volume 13 · Page 308

Konya manuscript

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Arabic

من قال بالجوع لم يعرف حقيقته

و قد أضل بما قد قاله الناسا

جوع العوائد محمود ولست أرى

فيما أراه من استعماله بأسا

جوع الطبيعة مذموم وليس يرى

فيه المحقق بالرحمن إيناسا

ترك الجوع عند القوم ليس الشبع، وإنما هو إعطاء النفس حقها من الغذاء الذي جعل الله به صلاح مزاجها وقوام بنيتها. فإذا أحس صاحب هذه الحالة بالجوع فذٰلك جوع العادة. خرج أبو بكر البزار في مسنده أن النبي ص كان يتعوذ من الجوع ويقول: «إنه بئس الضجيع».

ولا يذم حال يعطي الفوائد، فدل أنه لا فائدة في مثل هٰذا الجوع، وأن الفوائد فيما أظهر الشرع ميزانه من ذٰلك. فترك الجوع عبادة وطريق موصلة إلى الله، وبهٰذا فضل سلمان على أبي الدرداء، وشهد له بذٰلك رسول الله ص: «إن لنفسك عليك حقا، ولعينك عليك حقا، ولزورك عليك حقا، ولأهلك عليك حقا؛ فقم ونم، وصم وأفطر، وأعط كل ذي حق حقه».

فإنك لا تدخل على الحق أبدا ولأحد عليك حق، وأعظم الحقوق حق الله ثم حق نفسك. انتهى الجزء السابع والتسعون بانتهاء السفر الثالث عشر، والحمد لله.

English

Whoever advocates hunger has not known its reality,

and through what he said has led people astray.

Customary hunger is praiseworthy, and I see no harm

in what I see of putting it to use.

Hunger of nature is blameworthy, and one realized in the All-Merciful finds

no comfort within it.

Leaving hunger, according to the folk, is not satiation. It is giving the self its due nourishment, through which God makes its temperament sound and sustains its constitution. If the possessor of this state feels hunger, it is customary hunger. Abu Bakr al-Bazzar related in his Musnad that the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, used to seek refuge from hunger, saying, “It is a wretched bedfellow.”

A state yielding benefits is not blamed. This indicates that there is no benefit in such hunger and that benefits lie within the measure revealed law makes manifest for it. Leaving hunger is an act of worship and a path reaching God. Through this Salman was given preference over Abu al-Dardaʾ, and the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, bore witness for him: “Your self has a right upon you, your eye has a right upon you, your visitor has a right upon you, and your family has a right upon you. Stand in prayer and sleep, fast and break the fast, and give everyone possessing a right his right.”

You never enter before the Real while anyone has a right upon you. The greatest rights are God’s right, then your self’s right. End of Part Ninety-Seven, with the conclusion of Volume Thirteen. Praise belongs to God.

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Cairo source reference

Ibn al-Arabi, The Meccan Revelations — Manuscript volume 13 · Page 308 — https://www.futmak.com/english/konya/pages.php?id=4062&text=both