Contemplation: the signs
آيةσημεῖονāya · sēmeion: sign; verse
I
Ibn ʿArabī, Faṣṣ Nūḥ ¶ 4
آياتāyātsigns
Ibn ʿArabī reads Q 41:53 as one sign in two places: 'the horizons' are what is outside you, 'their selves' is your own entity, and both show that He is the Real. AI
The Qurʾān here: 41:53
﴿سَنُرِيهِمْ ءَايَـٰتِنَا فِى ٱلْـَٔافَاقِ وَفِىٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَهُمْ أَنَّهُ ٱلْحَقُّ ۗ أَوَلَمْ يَكْفِ بِرَبِّكَ أَنَّهُۥ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ شَهِيدٌ﴾
We shall show them Our portents on the horizons and within themselves until it will be manifest unto them that it is the Truth. Doth not thy Lord suffice, since He is Witness over all things?
Q 41:53 ↗TanzilPickthall (1930)
Read it in the reader →On: Fuṣūṣ 3 ¶4, quoting Q 41:53 and the ḥadīth 'whoever knows himself knows his Lord'.
II
al-Ghazālī, Mishkāt al-anwār ¶ 68
al-Ghazālī: some see God before things, some see things and then God through them. The second way is the way of signs, and the light is hidden only by being too manifest. AI
The Qurʾān here: 41:53
﴿سَنُرِيهِمْ ءَايَـٰتِنَا فِى ٱلْـَٔافَاقِ وَفِىٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَهُمْ أَنَّهُ ٱلْحَقُّ ۗ أَوَلَمْ يَكْفِ بِرَبِّكَ أَنَّهُۥ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ شَهِيدٌ﴾
We shall show them Our portents on the horizons and within themselves until it will be manifest unto them that it is the Truth. Doth not thy Lord suffice, since He is Witness over all things?
Q 41:53 ↗TanzilPickthall (1930)
Read it in the reader →On: Mishkāt al-anwār ¶68, citing Q 41:53 for both ways.
III
al-Ghazālī, Mishkāt al-anwār ¶ 4
نورnūrφῶςphōslight
The Niche's first chapter: 'light' is said of lamps, eyes and minds, but in the true sense only of God. Contemplation climbs the degrees of the word. AI
Read it in the reader →On: Mishkāt al-anwār ¶4, the heading of the first faṣl.
IV
Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-makkiyya ¶ 17
نnūnthe letter nūn
The sign in the text itself: the letter nūn, the Pen and the Tablet, which Sperl sets beside Intellect and Soul. The nūn figure draws the letter as the seen half of a circle. AI
The Qurʾān here: 68:1
﴿بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ نٓ ۚ وَٱلْقَلَمِ وَمَا يَسْطُرُونَ﴾
Nun. By the pen and that which they write (therewith),
Q 68:1 ↗TanzilPickthall (1930)
Read it in the reader →On: Futūḥāt, the chapter opening at ¶17, quoting Q 68:1–5.
V
Ibn ʿArabī, Inshāʾ al-dawāʾir ¶ 56
محيطmuḥīṭencompassing
In the Book of Circles the outermost circle stands for the Divine Presence because 'God encompasses all things'; the human circle lies inside it and touches it. AI
The Qurʾān here: 4:126
﴿وَلِلَّهِ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَمَا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَىْءٍ مُّحِيطًا﴾
Unto Allah belongeth whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth. Allah ever surroundeth all things.
Q 4:126 ↗TanzilPickthall (1930)
Read it in the reader →On: Inshāʾ al-dawāʾir ¶56 (the figure of the three Presences), quoting Q 4:126 and 65:12.
VI
Ibn ʿArabī, Awrād: Sunday ¶ 8
آيةāyaσημεῖονsēmeionsign
The Sunday litany praises the One who is as He was before limits came to be, and in every thing there is a sign (āya) that shows He is one. Sperl's reading of Plotinus: things here are signs, and the One is present in each thing's unity. AI
Read it in the reader →On: Awrād, Sunday ¶8; the pairing of āya and σημεῖον is from Sperl's talk (see the bridge on Ennead VI.9).
VII
Figure: the point and the circle
Plotinus's soul circling its centre beside Ibn ʿArabī's circle whose point is the Essence and whose circumference is the Names. AI
See the figure →On: Ennead VI.9.8 and 10 (Greek, Volkmann); Futūḥāt ch. 372 (OpenITI 3:436).
VIII
Plotinus, Ennead VI.9.8
κέντρονkentroncentre
The soul's natural motion is not straight but round a centre, the centre it came from; every soul should move toward it, and the souls of gods always do. AI
Read it in the reader →On: Ennead VI.9.8, Volkmann's Greek (First1KGreek).