The Meccan Revelations

Manuscript volume 29 · Page 96

Konya manuscript

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Arabic

علمهم، وعين بصرهم، وسمعهم.

لكن لا يتصور من يكون مشهده هٰذا وذوقه أن يكون له فكر البتة في شيء. إنما هو مع ما يوحى إليه على اختلاف ضروب الوحي.

وإنه من ضروب الوحي الفهم عن الله، ابتداء من غير تفكر. فإن أُعطي الفهم عن تفكر، فما هو ذٰلك الرجل؛ فإن الفهم عن الفكر يصيب وقتا، ويخطئ وقتا.

والفهم لا عن فكر وحي صحيح صريح من الله لعبده. وذوق الأنبياء ع في هٰذا الوحي يزيد على ذوق الأولياء. فإن قابل الأخص في الأعم محصل للأعم، وليس قابل الأعم الذي لا يتعين فيه الأخص يحصل له فيه ذوق الأخص.

وإن كان مندرجا فيه فلا حكم له في الذوق، وإن كان له حكم في الكل، إلا أنه لا يقدر على الفصل. ﴿والله يَقُولُ الْحَقَّ وهُوَ يَهْدِي السَّبِيلَ﴾ [الأحزاب: ٤].

الباب السادس والعشرون وأربعمائة في معرفة منازلة السر الذي قال منه رسول الله ص حين استفهم عن رؤية ربه فقيل له: رأيت ربك في ليلة الإسراء؟ فقال: «نور أَنَّى أراه[42]»

Notes

[42]

(كان الرسم في النسخة السابقة «نور إني أراه»، وصُحّح إلى «نور أنى أراه» بمقابلة الطبعة الجديدة (ج١٠، ص٢٤٤).)

English

knowledge, sight, and hearing.

Yet one whose witnessing and tasting are this cannot conceivably have thought concerning anything at all. He is only with what is revealed to him, through the differing kinds of revelation.

One kind of revelation is understanding from God, initially and without reflection. If he is given understanding through reflection, he is not that man, for understanding from thought is correct at one time and mistaken at another.

Understanding without thought is sound, explicit revelation from God to His servant. The prophets' tasting of this revelation, peace be upon them, exceeds the saints' tasting. One who receives the more particular within the more general attains the general. One who receives the general, within which the particular is not individually determined, does not attain the tasting of the particular within it.

Although it is contained within it, it has no ruling in tasting, even though it has a ruling within the whole. He cannot distinguish it. “God speaks the truth, and He guides the way” [al-Aḥzāb 33:4].

Chapter Four Hundred and Twenty-Six: On Knowing the Mutual Encounter of the Secret from Which the Messenger of God, God's blessings and peace be upon him, Spoke When Asked about Seeing His Lord: “Did You See Your Lord on the Night Journey?” He Answered, “Light—How Can I See Him?”[42]

Notes

[42]

(The written form in the previous copy was “nūr innī arāhu” [Light, I see Him]; it has been corrected to “nūr annā arāhu” [Light—how can I see Him?] by comparison with the new edition [vol. 10, p. 244].)

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Cairo source reference

Ibn al-Arabi, The Meccan Revelations — Manuscript volume 29 · Page 96 — https://www.futmak.com/english/konya/pages.php?id=8656&text=both