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الفتوحات المكية في معرفة الأسرار الملكية والمالكية

FUTMAK · Primary-text excerpts

Fasting as abstention

All annotated passages · Arabic source record · Open in the parallel reader

al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya · Cairo / Maymaniyya · volume 1, page 602 · chapter 71
Site passage ID: fm-p0010

Arabic source excerpt

وهو في الحقيقة ترك لا عمل ونفي المثلية نعت سلبي فتقوت المناسبة بينه وبين الله قال تعالى في حق نفسه لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْ‏ءٌ فنفى أن يكون له مثل فهو سبحانه لا مثل له بالدلالة العقلية والشرعية

English translation draft

In reality it is abstention, not an act. The denial of likeness is a negative attribute, so the correspondence between it and God becomes strong. He, exalted is He, said concerning Himself: “There is nothing like Him.” He thus denied that He has a likeness. He—glory be to Him—has no likeness, according to rational and revealed evidence.

Terminology and context

  1. The opening pronoun refers to fasting in the surrounding discussion. Tark is rendered “abstention” to make its sense of leaving something undone clear.
  2. Munasaba is “correspondence”: the comparison does not make the fasting person identical with God or independent of bodily needs.
  3. The quotation is from Qur’an 42:11. Read the following discussion, including the joy of breaking the fast, before generalising the negative language.

Cite this draft

Ibn al-Arabi, al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya, Cairo / Maymaniyya, 1:602, chapter 71. Futmak, “Fasting as abstention”, editorial translation draft (AI-assisted), 2026-10-25, fm-p0010.

https://www.futmak.com/english/passages/?id=fm-p0010

The source reference belongs to the printed edition; the passage ID belongs to this website.