The Meccan Revelations

Manuscript volume 14 · Page 149

Konya manuscript

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Arabic

الباب الثامن والثلاثون ومائة في معرفة مقام الحياء وأسراره

إن الحياء من الايمان جاء به

لفظ النبي وخير كله فبه‏

فليتصف كل من يرعى مشاهده

و ليس يعرف هٰذا غير منتبه‏

مستيقظ غير نوام ولا كسل

مراقب قلبه لدى تقلبه‏

إن الحييّ من أسماء الإله وقد

جاء التخلق بالأسماء فأحظ به‏

ورد في الخبر أن الحييّ اسم من أسماء الله[45] تعالى، وقال تعالى: ﴿إِنَّ الله لا يَسْتَحْيِي أَنْ يَضْرِبَ مَثَلًا ما بَعُوضَةً فَما فَوْقَها﴾ [البقرة: 26]، يعني في الصغر، وهو من صفات الايمان، ومن صفات المؤمن، ومن أسمائه تعالى المؤمن فالحيي نعت للمؤمن، فإن «الحياء من الايمان»، و«الحياء خير كله»، و«الحياء لا يأتي إلا بخير»، وهذه كلها أخبار صحيحة، وحقيقتها، أعني هذه الصفة: الترك، لأن الترك من كل موجود بقاء على الأصل، والعمل فرع وجودي زائد على الأصل، فلهٰذا

Notes

[45]

(صحح الاسم إلى «الحييّ» وفقا للطبعة الأحدث، موافقة للكلام على الحياء.)

English

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Eight: On Knowledge of the Station of Modesty and Its Mysteries

Modesty belongs to faith: the Prophet's words

bring this, and it is wholly good. By it, then,

let everyone who tends his witnessings be qualified.

Only one alert knows this,

awake, neither sleepy nor lazy,

watching his heart through its turnings.

The Modest is among the Deity's names, and assuming

the traits of the names has come: gain a share of it.

A report states that the Modest, al-Ḥayiyy, is one of God's names,[45] exalted is He. He says: “God is not too modest to strike a likeness of a mosquito or what is beyond it” [2:26]—meaning in smallness. It is among the attributes of faith and of the believer. The Faithful, al-Muʾmin, is one of His names, so the Modest is a description of the Faithful, for “Modesty belongs to faith,” “Modesty is wholly good,” and “Modesty brings only good.” All these are sound reports. This attribute's reality is leaving, for leaving by every existent is remaining upon the origin, while action is an existent branch added to the origin. For this reason

Notes

[45]

(The name has been corrected to “the Modest,” al-Ḥayiyy, in accordance with the newer edition and the discussion of modesty.)

Translator’s note TN4211-1: The restored name is al-Ḥayiyy, the Modest, corresponding to ḥayāʾ, modesty. Al-Muʾmin, the Faithful, is also the word for the believer; the argument links modesty, faith, and the divine name through that shared form.

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Cairo source reference

Ibn al-Arabi, The Meccan Revelations — Manuscript volume 14 · Page 149 — https://www.futmak.com/english/konya/pages.php?id=4211&text=both