The Meccan Revelations

Manuscript volume 14 · Page 74

Konya manuscript

Open Arabic sourceOpen English translation

Arabic

العبد هنا بشيء.

ومع هٰذا التحقيق، فالمسألة غامضة بعيدة التصور، فالعبد في أصله مضطرب متزلزل الملك، فلا يقين له من حيث حقيقته، فإنه محل لتجدد الأعراض عليه، واليقين سكون، وهو عرض، فلا ثبوت له زمانين.

والله تعالى كل يوم في شأن، وأصغر الأيام الزمن الفرد، فقد أبنت لك أن أهل الله في نفوسهم بمعزل عما يطلبه اليقين، وأن اليقين هو السائل، ولهٰذا قال له: ﴿حَتَّى يَأْتِيَكَ الْيَقِينُ﴾ [الحجر: 99]، فيكون اليقين هو الذي يسأل ويتعب، وأنت مستريح، فافهم ﴿والله يَقُولُ الْحَقَّ وهُوَ يَهْدِي السَّبِيلَ﴾ [الأحزاب: 4].

(السكون والبشرى وتعلق اليقين)

فإن الوقوف مع إرادة الله لا يتمكن معها سكون أصلا، لأنه خروج عن حقيقة النفس، والشيء لا يخرج عن حقيقته، إذ خروج الشيء عن حقيقته محال، فلا طمأنينة مع المريد، إلا عن بشرى، فإنه يسكن عند ذٰلك، لصدق القول، وتكون البشرى معينة موقتة، وحينئذ يكون له السكون إليها، وهو اليقين.

وقد ورد أن الملائكة يخافون من مكر الله، ولا يقين مع الخوف.

فإن سكن العبد إلى قوله: ﴿فَعَّالٌ لِما يُرِيدُ﴾ [هود: 107]، لا يزول عنه، فذٰلك السكون قد يسمى يقينا، ولكن يورث في المحل خلاف ما يطلب

English

the servant is not described by anything here.

Even with this realization, the question is obscure and difficult to conceive. In his origin the servant is disturbed and wavering in possession. He has no certainty through his own reality, for he is a locus for accidents being renewed upon him. Certainty is stillness, and it is an accident, so it has no stability for two moments.

God the Exalted is every day engaged in an affair, and the smallest day is the single instant. I have made clear to you that God’s people in themselves stand apart from what certainty seeks, and certainty is the one asking. For this reason He said to him, “until certainty comes to you” [al-Hijr 15:99]. Certainty is therefore the one asking and laboring, while you rest. Understand. “God speaks the truth, and He guides the way” [al-Ahzab 33:4].

(Stillness, Glad Tidings, and Certainty’s Attachment)

Standing with God’s will admits no stillness at all, for that would be leaving the soul’s reality. A thing does not leave its reality, since doing so is impossible. There is no repose with the Willer except through glad tidings. Then one rests because the saying is true. The glad tidings are particular and assigned a time, and then he has stillness in them. This is certainty.

It is reported that the angels fear God’s ruse, and there is no certainty alongside fear.

If the servant rests in His saying, “Doer of whatever He wills” [Hud 11:107], never departing from it, that rest may be called certainty, but it produces in the locus the contrary of what is sought

Notes

Translator’s note TN4136-1: The Willer’s changing affairs are contrasted with resting in particular, time-specific glad tidings. The author then distinguishes this resting from calling one’s acceptance of ‘Doer of whatever He wills’ certainty.

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Cairo source reference

Ibn al-Arabi, The Meccan Revelations — Manuscript volume 14 · Page 74 — https://www.futmak.com/english/konya/pages.php?id=4136&text=both