Likewise with his death: he died only in respect of the senses, just as he slept in respect of the senses. God says to him, “You shall die” [al-Zumar 39:30]. Just as his heart did not sleep, his heart did not die. Life thus accompanied him from the time God created him, and his life is only the unceasing witnessing of his Creator.
Dhu al-Nun al-Misri, when asked about his saying “Yes” when the covenant was taken, said, “It is as though it were in my ear now,” indicating his knowledge of that state. If this came through recollection, he did not join the angels in this station. If it came not through recollection but through a state continuing from when he was made to bear witness until he was asked, he would be among those God singled out for this station.
I neither deny nor affirm it. I have no report from the Real, exalted is He, concerning this, whether transmitted or untransmitted, that any human being has attained it. We mentioned it concerning the Messenger of God, God bless him and grant him peace—meaning that he attained it—only as a possibility, not as a certainty. I have no knowledge of this. What appears is that he was subject in this station to the interruptions that affect human beings. He was frequently inspired in the Qurʾan to say, “Say: I am only a human being like you” [al-Kahf 18:110]. From this we found an intimation that his ruling is the ruling of human beings, except for the special divine nearness God granted him that has been reported and established with us. It is established from him that he said, “I am only a human being: I become angry as human beings become angry, and I am pleased as
Notes
Translator’s note TN3733-1: The author expressly qualifies the preceding account of Muhammad’s uninterrupted witnessing as a possibility, not certain knowledge. He likewise distinguishes Dhu al-Nun’s recollection of the covenant from a state continuously present since the covenant, without affirming that the latter occurred.
