The Meccan Revelations

Manuscript volume 16 · Page 124

Konya manuscript

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Arabic

اعلم أن مقام خرق العادات على وجوه كثيرة: منها ما يكون عن قوى نفسية؛ فإن أجرام العالم تنفعل للهمم النفسية هكذا جعل الله تعالى الأمر فيها. وقد تكون عن حيل طبيعية معلومة كالفلقطيرات وغيرها وبابها معلوم عند العلماء. وقد تكون عن نظم حروف بطوالع وذٰلك لأهل الرصد. وقد تكون بأسماء يتلفظ بها ذاكرها فيظهر عنها ذٰلك الفعل المسمى خرق عادة في ناظر عين الرائي، لا في نفس الأمر. وقد تكون في نفس الأمر على قدر قوة ذٰلك الاسم وهذه كلها تحت قدرة المخلوق بجعل الله.

(الخرق الذي لا تعمل للعبد فيه)

وثم خرق عوائد مختصة بالجناب الإلهي ليس للعبد فيها تعمل ولا قوة، ولكن يظهرها الله عليه أو تظهر عنه بأمر الله وإعلامه وهي على مراتب: منها ما تسمى معجزة ولها شروط ونعت خاص معلوم، ومنها ما تسمى آية لا معجزة ومنها ما تكون كرامة ومنها ما تكون مؤيدة ومنها ما تكون منبهة وباعثة ومنها ما يكون جزاء ومنها ما يكون مكرا واستدراجا.

وكلها لها علامات عند أهل الله مع كون هٰؤلاء (الذين تظهر على أيديهم) لا علم لهم بشيء من ذٰلك بخلاف الصنف الأول فإنهم على علم بما يصدر منهم.

وما من شيء مما ذكرناه في الصنف الثاني المضاف علمه إلى الله تعالى

English

Know that the station of breaking customary order has many forms. Some arise through powers of the soul, for the world's bodies respond to souls' spiritual aspirations: thus God, exalted is He, has made the affair within them. Some arise through known natural devices, such as phylacteries and others, whose domain is known among scholars. Some arise through arranging letters with ascendants, belonging to those who observe the heavens. Some arise through names uttered by their invoker, from which the act called breaking customary order appears to the beholder's eye, but not in the reality of the affair. It may also occur in the reality of the affair according to that name's power. All these are within the creature's capacity through God's making.

(The Breaking in Which the Servant Has No Agency)

There are also breaks in customary order particular to the Divine Side, in which the servant has neither striving nor power. God manifests them upon him, or they appear from him through God's command and informing him. They have ranks. Some are called a prophetic miracle, with conditions and a particular, known description; some a sign, not a prophetic miracle; some a charismatic gift; some a confirmation; some an awakening and prompting; some a recompense; and some devising and gradual entrapment.

All have marks among the people of God, although those through whose hands they appear know nothing of this, unlike the first class, who know what proceeds from them.

Nothing we have mentioned of the second class, whose knowledge is attributed to God, exalted is He,

Notes

Translator’s note TN4818-1: The first class includes deliberately produced effects, which may be only in the beholder's sight or may occur in the reality of the affair. The second class is explicitly distinguished by the servant's lack of power or agency. “Phylacteries” retains the earlier rendering of al-filaqṭīrāt.

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Cairo source reference

Ibn al-Arabi, The Meccan Revelations — Manuscript volume 16 · Page 124 — https://www.futmak.com/english/konya/pages.php?id=4818&text=both