The Meccan Revelations

Manuscript volume 5 · Page 36

Konya manuscript

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Arabic

اليوم في الحكمة، وإنما أعني بالعقلاء من كان على طريقتهم من الشغل بنفسه والرياضات والمجاهدات والخلوات والتهيؤ لواردات ما يأتيهم في قلوبهم عند صفائها من العالَم العلوي الموحى في السموات العلى، فهؤلئك أعني بالعقلاء.

فإن أصحاب اللقلقة والكلام والجدل الذين استعملوا أفكارهم في مواد الألفاظ التي صدرت عن الأوائل، وغابوا عن الأمر الذي أخذها عنه أولئك الرجال، وأما أمثال هٰؤلاء الذين عندنا اليوم لا قدر لهم عند كل عاقل، فإنهم يستهزئون بالدين ويستخفون بعباد الله، ولا يعظم عندهم إلا من هو معهم على مدرجتهم.

قد استولى على قلوبهم حب الدنيا وطلب الجاه والرئاسة، فأذلهم الله كما أذلوا العلم وحقرهم وصغرهم، وألجأهم إلى أبواب الملوك والولاة من الجهال فاذلتهم الملوك والولاة. فأمثال هٰؤلاء لا يعتبر قولهم، فإن قلوبهم قد ختم الله عليها و﴿فَأَصَمَّهُمْ وأَعْمى أَبْصارَهُمْ﴾، مع الدعوى العريضة أنهم أفضل العالَم عند نفوسهم.

فالفقيه المفتي في دين الله مع قلة ورعه بكل وجه أحسن حالا من هٰؤلاء، فإن صاحب الايمان مع كونه أخذه تقليدا هو أحسن حالا من هٰؤلاء

English

on wisdom today. I mean those who followed the way of the former sages by occupying themselves with their own souls, undertaking disciplines, struggles, and retreats, and preparing themselves to receive what comes into their hearts when these are clear, from the higher world of what is revealed in the highest heavens. These are the people of sound reason whom I mean.

As for the people of empty talk, speculation, and disputation, they applied their thoughts to the materials of the words that issued from the ancients, remaining unaware of the source from which those men had received them. People of their kind among us today count for nothing with any person of sound reason. They mock religion and make light of God’s servants. They esteem only those who follow their own course.

Love of the world and the pursuit of rank and leadership have taken possession of their hearts. God has abased them as they abased knowledge, made them contemptible and insignificant, and driven them to the doors of ignorant kings and governors, who in turn abased them. The opinion of such people carries no weight. God has sealed their hearts, “made them deaf, and blinded their sight,” yet they make the sweeping claim that in their own estimation they are the finest of the world.

A jurist who gives rulings in the religion of God, even with little scrupulousness, is in every respect in a better state than these people. The believer, even when he received his faith by accepting it on authority, is in a better state than these supposed

Manuscript imageManuscript volume 5 · Page 36

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Cairo source reference

Ibn al-Arabi, The Meccan Revelations — Manuscript volume 5 · Page 36 — https://www.futmak.com/english/konya/pages.php?id=1312&text=both