The Meccan Revelations

Manuscript volume 14 · Page 6

Konya manuscript

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Arabic

فالتذاذه بمن هو على صورته أشد التذاذ.

برهان ذٰلك أن الإنسان لا يسرى في كله الالتذاذ ولا يفنى في مشاهدة شيء بكليته ولا تسري المحبة والعشق في طبيعة روحانيته إلا إذا عشق جارية أو غلاما، وسبب ذٰلك أنه يقابله بكليته، لأنه على صورته، وكل شيء في العالم جزء منه فلا يقابله إلا بذٰلك الجزء المناسب، فلذٰلك لا يفنى في شيء يعشقه إلا في مثله.

فإذا وقع التجلي الإلهي في عين الصورة التي خلق آدم عليها، طابق المعنى المعنى، ووقع الالتذاذ بالكل، وسرت الشهوة في جميع أجزاء الإنسان، ظاهرا وباطنا، فهي الشهوة التي هي مطلب العارفين الوارثين، أ لا ترى إلى قيس المجنون في حب ليلى كيف أفناه عن نفسه؟ لما ذكرناه.

وكذٰلك رأينا أصحاب الوله والمحبين أعظم لذة وأقوى محبة في جناب الله من حب الجنس، فإن الصورة الإلهية أتم في العبد من مماثلة الجنس، لأنه لا يتمكن للجنس أن يكون سمعك وبصرك، بل تكون غايته إن يكون مسموعك ومدركك، اسم مفعول، وإذا كان العبد مُدْرِكًا بحق هو أتم، فلذته أعظم وشهوته أقوى. فهكذا ينبغي أن تكون شهوة أهل الله.

English

so his enjoyment of one in his image is the strongest enjoyment.

The proof is that pleasure does not permeate the whole human being, nor does he pass away entirely in witnessing something, nor do love and passionate attachment permeate the nature of his spirituality, except when he loves a girl or a boy. The reason is that he meets that person with his whole self, for that person is in his image. Everything in the world is a part of him, so he meets it only through the corresponding part. He therefore passes away in nothing he loves except his like.

When divine self-disclosure occurs in the very image in which Adam was created, meaning corresponds to meaning, enjoyment occurs through the whole, and desire permeates all the human being’s parts, outward and inward. This is the desire sought by the inheriting knowers. Do you not see how Qays, the mad lover, was made absent from himself by his love of Layla? It is for the reason we have mentioned.

Likewise, we have seen the people of bewildered love and lovers possess greater pleasure and stronger love toward God than love for their own kind. The divine image is more complete in the servant than the likeness of his kind, for one of his kind cannot become his hearing and sight. At most, that person can be what he hears and perceives—an object, grammatically. When the servant perceives through the Real, this is more complete, his pleasure greater, and his desire stronger. Such should be the desire of the people of God.

Notes

Translator’s note TN4068-1: The passage gives the author’s argument from human likeness to the divine image. Its final grammatical contrast is between the perceived object, expressed by a passive participle, and the perceiver whose faculty is through the Real; these roles are kept distinct.

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Cairo source reference

Ibn al-Arabi, The Meccan Revelations — Manuscript volume 14 · Page 6 — https://www.futmak.com/english/konya/pages.php?id=4068&text=both