The Meccan Revelations

Manuscript volume 16 · Page 106

Konya manuscript

Open Arabic sourceOpen English translation

Arabic

الأسماع في سرائرهم بحدوث الكلمات وهو قوله: ﴿ما يَأْتِيهِمْ من ذِكْرٍ من رَبِّهِمْ مُحْدَثٍ إِلَّا اسْتَمَعُوهُ﴾ [الأنبياء: ٢] فمنهم من أعرض بعد السماع ومنهم من وقف عندما سمع. وهٰذا مقام لا يعلمه كل أحد وما في الوجود إلا هو ولكن يجهل ولا يعلم.

وهو يتعلق بأسماء الله تعالى على كثرتها فلكل اسم لسان، ولكل لسان قول، ولكل قول منا سمع والعين واحد من القائل والسامع فإن كان نداء أجبنا وامتثلنا وكان من قوله إن قال لنا: ﴿ادْعُونِي أَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْ﴾ [غافر: ٦٠] فكما قال وسمعنا أمرنا عندما جعل فينا قوة القول أن نقول فيسمع هو تعالى.

فمنا من يقول به كما قال: «إن الله قال على لسان عبده: سمع الله لمن حمده» فكلام صاحب هٰذا المقام كله نيابة ومنا من يقول بنفسه في زعمه وما هو كذٰلك في نفس الأمر؛ فإن الله عند لسان كل قائل فكما أنه ليس في الوجود إلا الله كذٰلك ما ثم قائل ولا سامع إلا الله.

وكما قسمنا قولنا بين من يقول بالله ويقول بنفسه كذٰلك سماعنا: منا من يسمع بربه وهو قوله: «كنت سمعه الذي يسمع به» ومنا من يسمع بنفسه في زعمه والأمر على خلافه فهٰذا هو السماع الإلهي وهو سار في جميع المسموعات.

(السماع الروحاني)

وأما السماع الروحاني، فمتعلقه صريف الأقلام الإلهية في لوح الوجود المحفوظ

English

hearings arise in their innermost secrets as the words arise. This is His saying: “No newly arisen reminder comes to them from their Lord without their listening to it” [al-Anbiyāʾ 21:2]. Some turn away after listening, while others remain with what they have heard. This is a station that not everyone knows. There is nothing else in existence, yet it is unrecognized and unknown.

It pertains to the names of God Most High in their multiplicity. Each name has a tongue; each tongue has speech; and for every utterance there is a hearing on our part. The entity of speaker and listener is one. If it is a call, we answer and comply. It is part of His speech when He says to us: “Call upon Me; I will answer you” [Ghāfir 40:60]. Just as He spoke and we listened, when He placed the power of speech in us He commanded us to speak, so that He, Most High, would hear.

Some of us speak through Him, as in the saying: “God said upon the tongue of His servant, ‘God hears whoever praises Him.’” All the speech of the possessor of this station is on another’s behalf. Some speak through themselves, as they imagine, although in reality it is otherwise. God is at the tongue of every speaker. Just as there is none in existence but God, so there is no speaker or listener but God.

Just as we divided our speech between those who speak through God and those who speak through themselves, so too with our listening. Some of us hear through their Lord, as in His saying: “I am his hearing through which he hears.” Others hear through themselves, as they imagine, although the matter is otherwise. This is divine listening, and it pervades all audible things.

(Spiritual Listening)

As for spiritual listening, its object is the scratching of the divine pens upon the Tablet of Existence, preserved

Manuscript imageManuscript volume 16 · Page 106

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 16 · Page 106 — https://www.futmak.com/english/konya/pages.php?id=4800&text=both