The Meccan Revelations

Manuscript volume 2 · Page 66

Konya manuscript

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Arabic

أعنى معرفة الأماكن والإحساس بالزيادة والنقص، من تمام تمكن معرفة العارف وعلوّ مقامه وشرفه على الأشياء وقوّة ميزه. فالله يكتب لوليي فيها أثراً حسناً ويهبه فيها خبرا طيباً؛ إنه الملي بذٰلك والقادر عليه.

(جهل أكثر العلماء بسبب بدء العالَم)

اعلم، وفقنا الله وإياك وجميع المسلمين، أن أكثر العلماء بالله من أهل الكشف والحقائق ليس عندهم علم بسبب بدء العالَم إلاَّ تعلق العلم القديم بإيجاده فكوَّن ما علم أنَّهُ سيكوِّنه. وهنا ينتهي أكثر الناس.

وأما نحن ومن أطلعه الله على ما أطلعنا عليه فقد وقفنا على أمور أخر غير هٰذا؛ وذٰلك أنك إذا نظرت العالَم مفصلاً بحقائقه ونسبه، وجدته محصور الحقائق والنسب معلوم المنازل والرتب متناهي الأجناس بين متماثل ومختلف.

فإذا وقفت على هٰذا الأمر علمت أن لهٰذا سراً لطيفاً وأمراً عجيباً لا تدرك حقيقته بدقيق فكر ولا نظر بل بعلم موهوب من علوم الكشف ونتائج المجاهدات المصاحبة للهمم؛ فإن مجاهدة بغير همة غير منتجة شيئاً ولا مؤثرة في العلم، لكن تؤثر في الحال من رقة وصفاء يجده صاحب المجاهدة.

(الأسماء الحسنى هي المفاتح الأُوَل)

فاعلم، علمك الله سرائر الحكم ووهبك من جوامع الكلم، أن الأسماء الحسنى الَّتي تبلغ فوق

English

by which I mean knowledge of places and the perception of increase and decrease—is part of the full establishment of the knower’s knowledge, the loftiness of his station, his eminence over things, and the strength of his discernment. May God write a good trace there for my friend and bestow a good report upon him there. He is fully able to grant this and has power over it.

(Most Knowers’ Ignorance of the Cause of the Beginning of the Cosmos)

Know—may God grant success to us, to you, and to all Muslims—that most knowers of God among the people of unveiling and realities have no knowledge of the cause of the beginning of the cosmos beyond the connection of beginningless knowledge to bringing it into existence: He brought into being what He knew He would bring into being. Here most people stop.

We, however, and those whom God has acquainted with what He has shown us, have learned other matters besides this. When you consider the cosmos in detail, with its realities and relations, you find its realities and relations delimited, its dwellings and ranks known, and its genera finite, comprising likenesses and differences.

When you understand this, you know that it contains a subtle secret and a wondrous matter whose reality is apprehended neither by subtle thought nor by reflection. It is apprehended through bestowed knowledge belonging to the sciences of unveiling and the fruits of spiritual struggles accompanied by aspirations. Struggle without aspiration produces nothing and has no effect upon knowledge, although it affects one’s state through a tenderness and purity experienced by the person undertaking the struggle.

(The Most Beautiful Names Are the First Keys)

Know—may God teach you the innermost mysteries of wisdom and bestow upon you all-comprehensive words—that the Most Beautiful Names, which exceed—

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Cairo source reference

Ibn al-Arabi, The Meccan Revelations — Manuscript volume 2 · Page 66 — https://www.futmak.com/english/konya/pages.php?id=386&text=both