The Meccan Revelations

Manuscript volume 16 · Page 114

Konya manuscript

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Arabic

اعلم، أيدك الله، أن الكرامة من الحق من اسمه البر ولا تكون إلا للأبرار من عباده، ﴿جَزاءً وِفاقاً﴾ [النبأ: ٢٦] فإن المناسبة تطلبها وإن لم يقم طلب ممن ظهرت عليه وهي على قسمين: حسية ومعنوية فالعامة ما تعرف الكرامة إلا الحسية، مثل الكلام على الخاطر والأخبار بالمغيبات الماضية والكائنة والآتية والأخذ من الكون والمشي على الماء واختراق الهواء وطي الأرض والاحتجاب عن الأبصار وإجابة الدعاء في الحال فالعامة لا تعرف الكرامات إلا مثل هٰذا.

(الكرامة المعنوية وحفظ الشريعة)

وأما الكرامة المعنوية فلا يعرفها إلا الخواص من عباد الله، والعامة لا تعرف ذٰلك، وهي أن تحفظ عليه آداب الشريعة وأن يوفق لإتيان مكارم الأخلاق واجتناب سفسافها والمحافظة على أداء الواجبات مطلقا في أوقاتها والمسارعة إلى الخيرات وإزالة الغل والحقد من صدره للناس والحسد وسوء الظن وطهارة القلب من كل صفة مذمومة وتحليته بالمراقبة مع الأنفاس ومراعاة حقوق الله في نفسه وفي الأشياء وتفقد آثار ربه في قلبه ومراعاة أنفاسه في خروجها ودخولها فيتلقاها بالأدب إذا وردت عليه ويخرجها وعليها خلعة الحضور.

فهذه كلها عندنا كرامات

English

Know—may God support you—that a charismatic gift comes from the Real through His name the Beneficent (al-Barr), and belongs only to the righteous (al-abrār) among His servants: “a fitting recompense” [al-Nabaʾ 78:26]. Affinity calls for it, even if no request arises from the person upon whom it appears. It has two divisions: sensory and inward. The common people know only sensory charismatic gifts, such as speaking about what is in someone’s mind, reporting unseen matters past, present, and future, taking from created existence, walking on water, passing through the air, folding up the earth, becoming veiled from sight, and the immediate answering of supplication. The common people know only things like these as charismatic gifts.

(Inward Charismatic Gifts and Preservation of Revealed Law)

As for inward charismatic gifts, only the elect among God’s servants know them; the common people do not know this. They consist in the preservation of the courtesies of revealed law for a person; his being granted success in practicing noble character traits and avoiding their base counterparts; maintaining the performance of all obligations at their appointed times; hastening to good deeds; removing rancor, resentment toward people, envy, and bad opinion from his breast; purifying the heart of every blameworthy attribute and adorning it with watchfulness with every breath; observing God’s rights in himself and in things; examining his Lord’s traces within his heart; and attending to his breaths as they go out and come in, receiving them with courtesy when they arrive and sending them out clothed in the robe of presence.

In our view, all these are charismatic gifts

Manuscript imageManuscript volume 16 · Page 114

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Cairo source reference

Ibn al-Arabi, The Meccan Revelations — Manuscript volume 16 · Page 114 — https://www.futmak.com/english/konya/pages.php?id=4808&text=both