The Meccan Revelations

Manuscript volume 30 · Page 164

Konya manuscript

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Arabic

الذي يلائم مزاجه والمشرب والمنكح والمركب والملبس والسماع والنعيم الحسي المحسوس، فتعين عليه أيضا أن يؤدي إليهم حقوقهم من ذٰلك التي عين لهم الحق.

ومن كان هٰذا حاله، كيف يصح له أن يزهد في شيء من الموجودات وما خلقها الله إلا له؟ إلا أنه مفتقر إلى علم ما هو له وما هو لغيره، لئلا يقول كل شيء هو له؛ فلا ينظر من الوجوه الحسان إلا ما يعلم أنه له، وما يعلم أنه لغيره يكف بصره ويغضه عنه؛ فإنه محجور عليه ما هو لغيره.

(الورع والزهد ومراعاة الأولوية)

فهٰذا حظه من الورع والاجتناب. والزهد إنما متعلَّقه الأولوية، بخلاف الورع وكل ترك؛ فأما الأولوية فينظر في الموطن ويعمل بمقتضاه، ومقتضاه قد عينه له الحق بما أعلمه به بلسان الشارع.

فسموا من طريق الأخذ بالأولوية زهادا حيث أخذوا بها؛ فإن لهم تناول ذٰلك في الحياة الدنيا، فما فعلوا لأن الله خيرهم، فما أوجبه عليهم ولا ندبهم إليه ولا حجَره عليهم ولا كرهه، فاعلم ذٰلك.

(المخير فيه وما يحول دون المقام)

ثم إنه ينظر في هٰذا المخير فيه، فلا يخلو حاله في تناوله: أن يحول بينه هٰذا التناول وبين المقام الأعلى الذي رجحه له[51] أو لا يحول؛ فإن حال بينه وبينه، تعين عليه

Notes

[51]

(كان الرسم في النسخة السابقة «إلا على»، وصُحّح إلى «الأعلى» بمقابلة الطبعة الجديدة (ج١٠، ص٤٦١).)

English

suited to their temperament, drink, sexual union, riding, clothing, listening, and sensible sensory bliss. He must likewise give them the rights the Real has appointed for them in this.

How can someone in this state rightly renounce any existent thing, when God created them only for him? He nevertheless needs knowledge of what is his and what belongs to another, lest he say that everything is his. Of beautiful faces he looks only upon what he knows is his; from what he knows belongs to another he restrains his gaze and lowers it, for what belongs to another is forbidden him.

(Scrupulousness, Renunciation, and Observing Priority)

This is his share of scrupulousness and avoidance. Renunciation concerns priority, unlike scrupulousness and abstention in general. As for priority, he looks at the domain and acts as it requires. The Real has specified its requirement through what He made known upon the Lawgiver’s tongue.

They are called renunciants by way of adopting priority when they do so. They could partake of this in worldly life, yet did not, because God gave them a choice: He neither obliged nor recommended it, neither forbade nor disapproved of it. Know this.

(What Is Left to Choice and What Obstructs the Station)

He then considers what has been left to choice. His partaking of it must either stand between him and the higher station preferred for him[51] or not stand between them. If it stands between him and that station, it becomes necessary for him,

Notes

[51]

(The previous copy read إلا على; it was corrected to الأعلى, ‘the higher,’ by comparison with the new edition, volume 10, page 461.)

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Cairo source reference

Ibn al-Arabi, The Meccan Revelations — Manuscript volume 30 · Page 164 — https://www.futmak.com/english/konya/pages.php?id=8972&text=both