The Meccan Revelations

Manuscript volume 14 · Page 90

Konya manuscript

Open Arabic sourceOpen English translation

Arabic

الضرة الآخرة منها، فإن الدار في هٰذا الوقت للدنيا، والحكم لها، ولا ينبغي أن يُعزل عنها، كما إن الدار الآخرة لا تعترض لها الدار الدنيا، إذا انتقل الناس إليها، فالدنيا أنصف من الآخرة في الحكم، فإنها في دار سلطانها، وإذا جاءت الآخرة وكان يومها لا تعترض الدنيا، ولا تزاحم الآخرة، فما أنصف أحد من الناس.

(الدفاع عن الدنيا باعتبار طاعتها)

قال قتادة: ما أنصف الدنيا أحد، ذمت بإساءة المسيء فيها، ولم تحمد بإحسان المحسن فيها، فلو كانت بذاتها تعطي القبح والسوء، ما تمكن أن يكون فيها نبي مرسل ولا عبد صالح، كيف والله قد وصفها بالطاعة، فقال إن علوها وسفلها قالا: ﴿أَتَيْنا طائِعِينَ﴾ [فصلت: 11]، وقال: ﴿أَنَّ الْأَرْضَ يَرِثُها عِبادِيَ الصَّالِحُونَ﴾ [الأنبياء: 105]، والصالح لا يرث إلا المال الصالح الذي يجوز له التصرف فيه، فإنه عبد صالح، ولم يقل إن جميع العباد يرثها، فدل إن تركتها كان كسبا صالحا، فورثه عباد الله الصالحون.

قال رسول الله ص: إذا قال أحدكم لعن الله الدنيا[28] قالت الدنيا «لعن الله أعصانا لربه».

فهٰذا ابن عاق لها، كيف لعنها، وصرح باسمها، والدنيا من حنوها على أبنائها، لم تقدر أن تلعن ولدها، فقالت: «لعن الله أعصانا لربه»، وما

Notes

[28]

(هذا من الأخبار التي يوردها المؤلف في سياق الاستدلال؛ أُبقي لفظ الرواية وعزوها في النص كما وردا دون إضافة حكم على إسنادها.)

English

her co-wife, the Hereafter, will take them from her. At this time the house belongs to this world and its ruling is hers. She should not be removed from it, just as this world does not interfere with the Hereafter when people pass into it. This world is more equitable than the Hereafter in ruling, for she is in the house of her authority. When the Hereafter comes and has her day, this world does not interfere or compete with her. No one among people has been fair.

(Defending This World through Her Obedience)

Qatada said, “No one has been fair to this world. She is blamed for the wrongdoer’s wrong within her, but not praised for the good-doer’s good within her.” Were she through herself to yield ugliness and evil, no sent prophet or righteous servant could exist within her. How could this be, when God describes her through obedience, saying that her higher and lower parts said, “We come obediently” [Fussilat 41:11]? He said, “My righteous servants shall inherit the earth” [al-Anbiyaʾ 21:105]. The righteous inherits only good property that he may lawfully dispose of, for he is a righteous servant. He did not say all servants inherit it. This indicates that her estate was good acquired property, inherited by God’s righteous servants.

The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said, “When one of you says, ‘May God curse this world,’[28] this world says, ‘May God curse the most disobedient of us toward their Lord.’”

This is a child undutiful to her: how could he curse her, naming her expressly? Through her tenderness toward her children, this world could not curse her child. She said, “May God curse the most disobedient of us toward their Lord,” and could not

Notes

[28]

(This is among the reports the author gives in the course of his argument. The report’s wording and attribution are retained in the text as supplied, without adding a judgment concerning its chain of transmission.)

Translator’s note TN4152-1: The comparison of fairness is within the representation of the two abodes as co-wives, each with her own house and day. The personification and the distinction between this world and her children’s acts remain the argument’s governing terms.

Manuscript imageManuscript volume 14 · Page 90

Arabic and English are linked by the same Konya page ID. Page alignment is approximate; consult the manuscript image for verification.

Cairo source reference

Ibn al-Arabi, The Meccan Revelations — Manuscript volume 14 · Page 90 — https://www.futmak.com/english/konya/pages.php?id=4152&text=both