The commentators side by side

﴿فقام بها ليلة كاملة يرددها لم يعدل إلى غيرها حتى طلع الفجر – " إِنْ تُعَذِّبْهُمْ فَإِنَّهُمْ عِبادُكَ وإِنْ تَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ فَإِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ " - وهم ضمير الغائب ، كما أن هو : ضمير الغائب . كما قال : " هُمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا " بضمير الغائب فكان الغيب سترا لهم عما يراد بالمشهود الحاضر فقال : " إِنْ تُعَذِّبْهُمْ " – بضميرالغائب وهو عين الحجاب الذي هم فيه عن الحق﴾

Quotes words that differ from our text (wavy underline).

أي حجاب بعين عيسى وحجابيتهم ، فإنهم إنما حجبوا بالصورة الشخصية المتعينة ، وحصروا الحق فيه بقولهم

stood with it a whole night, repeating it, not turning to anything else, until dawn broke - "'If You punish them, they are Your servants, and if You forgive them, You are the Mighty, the Wise'" - and "them" (hum) is the pronoun of the absent (ghāʾib), just as "huwa" is the pronoun of the absent, as He said: "They are the ones who disbelieved" with the pronoun of the absent; so the absence (ghayb) was a veil for them from what is intended by the present witnessed one (al-mashhūd al-ḥāḍir); so He said "'if You punish them'" with the pronoun of the absent, and it is the very veil in which they are from the Real] - that is, a veil through the very [person of] Jesus and their being veiled; for they were only veiled by the determined individual form, and they confined the Real to it by their saying:

﴿ثمّ قال﴾

بلسانه الذي هو الحقّ بعد إعلامه بالسمع وتنبيهه بالبصر - فإنّ محل الإعلام هو السمع ، كما أنّ موطن التنبيه إنما هو البصر -

with his tongue, which is the Real, after informing [us] by means of hearing and alerting [us] by means of sight — for the locus of informing (iʿlām) is hearing, just as the abode of alerting (tanbīh) is sight —

﴿ثم قال … كلمة عيسوية ومحمدية … أما كونها عيسوية فإنها قول عيسى عليه السلام بإخبار اللّه عنه في كتابه وإما كونها محمدية فلوقوعها عن محمد عليه السلام بالمكان الذي وقعت منه فقام﴾

Quotes words that differ from our text (wavy underline).

محمد عليه السلام ( بها ) . أي بهذه الكلمة

Muhammad, peace be upon him, stood up (with it) that is, with this word

﴿كلمة عيسويّة ومحمديّة﴾

وهذا أيضا من ثمرات شعب الثنويّة الأصليّة التي عليها الكلمة العيسويّة في مرتبة الكلام الكاشف عن الكل أنّه تكلم بلسانين ، وانتسب قوله إلى الرسولين ، عيسى ومحمد - عليهما الصلاة والسلام

This too is among the fruits of the branching of the original duality (al-thunawiyya al-aṣliyya) upon which the Jesus-Word is based, in the level of speech that discloses the whole — namely, that he spoke with two tongues, and his utterance was attributed to the two Messengers, Jesus and Muhammad, upon both of them be prayer and peace

﴿كلمة عيسوية ومحمدية أما كونها عيسوية فإنها قول عيسى عليه السلام إخبارا من اللّه تعالى في كتابه وأما كونها محمدية فلوقوعها﴾

Quotes words that differ from our text (wavy underline).

وفي بعض النسخ فلموقعها لوقوعها

- and in some manuscripts, "due to its occurring from"

﴿أما كونها عيسويّة فإنّها قول عيسى بإخبار الله عنه في كتابه وأما كونها محمديّة فلموقعها من محمد صلَّى الله عليه وسلَّم بالمكان الذي وقعت منه﴾

من إجلاله لها وقيامه في مواقف تعظيمها

in his exalting of it and his standing in stations of its veneration

﴿من محمد صلى اللّه عليه وسلم بالمكان الذي وقعت منه فقام بها ليلة كاملة … يرددها ولم يعدل إلى غيرها حتى طلع الفجر﴾

Quotes words that differ from our text (wavy underline).

وهذه الكلمة العيسوية المحمدية قوله

- and this word, Jesus-like and Muhammad-like, is His saying

﴿فقام بها ليلة كاملة يرددها لم يعدل إلى غيرها حتّى طلع الفجر﴾

وفيه إشارة إلى أن ترتّب طلوع فجر الإظهار في غياهب الغيبة والكمون على كلامه الكامل هو إجابة دعائه صلَّى الله عليه وسلَّم . وذلك قوله

with it a whole night, repeating it, not turning to anything else, until dawn broke] And in this is an indication that the resulting rising of the dawn of manifestation (ẓuhūr), within the darknesses of the nonmanifest and latency, upon his complete speech, is the answering of his supplication, God's blessing and peace be upon him. And that is his saying

﴿ليلة كاملة … يرددها لم يعدل إلى غيرها حتى طلع الفجر﴾

فهذه الكلمة المنسوبة إلى عيسى وإلى محمد عليهما السلام قوله تعالى :" إِنْ تُعَذِّبْهُمْ " بجرمهم وهو جعلهم شركاء للَّه

so this word attributed to Jesus and to Muhammad, peace be upon them both, is the saying of God, exalted is He: "If You punish them" for their crime, which is their making partners for God

﴿"إِنْ تُعَذِّبْهُمْ فَإِنَّهُمْ عِبادُكَ وَإِنْ تَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ فَإِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ " [ 5 / 118 ]﴾

نظر في الضمائر المذكورة في الآية

["If You punish them, they are Your servants; and if You forgive them, You are the Mighty, the Wise" [5/118]] A consideration of the pronouns mentioned in the verse

﴿"إِنْ تُعَذِّبْهُمْ فَإِنَّهُمْ عِبادُكَ وَإِنْ تَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ فَإِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ "﴾

[ المائدة : 118 ] كما قال «هم الذين كفروا» بضمير الغائب، فكان الغيب سترا لهم عما يراد بالمشهود الحاضر. فذكرهم الله قبل حضورهم حتى إذا حضروا تكون الخميرة قد تحكمت في العجين فصيرته مثلها. وهم ) في قوله

[al-Māʾida: 118], just as He said "those who disbelieved" with the pronoun of the absent third person, so that the absence (ghayb) was a covering for them against what is intended by the present witnessed one. So God mentioned them before their presence, so that when they became present the leaven would already have taken effect in the dough and made it like itself. (And "them") in His saying

﴿فإنهم عبادك﴾

لا اعتراض على المولى المطلق فيما يفعل بعبيده بما استحقوا به

there is no objection against the Absolute Master regarding what He does with His servants by virtue of what they deserved through it

﴿وَإِنْ تَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ … ضمير الغائب كما أن هو﴾

Quotes words that differ from our text (wavy underline).

في قوله تعالى :" قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ " وفي غير ذلك

in His saying, exalted is He: "Say, He is God, One," and elsewhere

﴿و « هم » ضمير الغائب ، كما أن « هو »﴾

في قوله : " وَهُوَ الَّذِي في السَّماءِ إِله ٌ وَفي الأَرْضِ إِله ٌ " [ 43 / 84 ]

in His saying: "And He is the One who in the heaven is a God and in the earth is a God" [43/84]

﴿ضمير الغائب﴾

فمن غلب عليهم حكم الغيب الذاتي ، وظهر فيهم مقتضاه من اندماج الأحكام الظاهرة فيهم وعدم إذعانهم للمشهود الحاضر ، هم الذين أبوا من متابعة الأنبياء ، ولذلك أشار إليهم بضمير الغائب

So those over whom the ruling of the essential nonmanifest (al-ghayb al-dhātī) predominates, and in whom its requirement appears — namely, the merging of the manifest rulings within them, and their failure to submit to the present witnessed (al-mashhūd al-ḥāḍir) — are those who refused to follow the prophets; and for that reason he indicated them with the third-person pronoun

﴿ضمير الغائب﴾

فالتعبير في هذه المواضع بكناية الغائب بعينه هو

- so the expression in these places, by the pronoun of the absent third person itself, is

﴿ضمير الغائب كما قال هم الذين كفروا بضمير الغائب فكان الغيب سترا لهم عما يراد بالمشهود الحاضر﴾

والمراد بالمشهود الحاضر عالم الشهادة وبما يراد به هو الحق تعالى . أي يشاهد الحق بالمشهود والحاضر ويستدل به فكان الحق نفسه مشهودا بالعالم الشهادة وهم لا يشاهدون الحق بالمشهود يستدلون به لكون الغيب سترا وحجابا لهم فكانوا محجوبين عن الحق فإذا كان الغيب سترا لهم

and what is meant by the present witnessed object is the world of the visible (ʿālam al-shahāda), and what is meant by it is the Real, exalted is He; that is, the Real is witnessed through the witnessed and present, and is inferred thereby, so the Real Himself was witnessed through the world of the visible, while they do not witness the Real through the witnessed object nor infer Him thereby, since the unseen is a covering and veil for them, so they were veiled from the Real. So since the unseen was a covering for them

﴿كما قال: " هُمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا " [ 48 / 25 ] … بضمير الغائب - فكان الغيب سترا لهم عمّا يراد بالمشهود الحاضر﴾

من الإيمان به واليقين له

... with the third-person pronoun — so the nonmanifest was a veil for them from what is meant by the present witnessed] namely faith in Him and certainty of Him

﴿كما قال﴾

في موضع آخر (هُمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوابضمير الغائب ) فإن وصف الغيبة في تلك المواضع كما يلائم التعذيب والمغفرة كذلك وصف الغيبة في هذا الموضع يلائم الحكم عليهم بالكفر فإنه كما أن سبب تعذيبهم ومغفرتهم هو غيبتهم عن ساحة حضور القرب لاحتجابهم بالتعينات الحجابية كذلك سبب الحكم عليهم بالكفر هو غيبتهم عنه

in another place ("They are the ones who disbelieved," with the pronoun of absence), for the description of absence in those places, just as it suits chastisement and forgiveness, likewise the description of absence in this place suits the judgment against them of disbelief. For just as the cause of their chastisement and their forgiveness is their absence from the court of the presence of proximity, due to their being veiled by the veiling determinations (taʿayyunāt), so too the cause of the judgment of disbelief against them is their absence from Him.

﴿فكان الغيب﴾

أي الحالة الحاصلة لهم من احتجابهم بالتعينات الحجابية الموجبة لغيبتهم عن ساحة الشهود

i.e., the state that befell them from their being veiled by the veiling determinations, which necessitated their absence from the court of witnessing.

﴿سترا لهم عما يراد بالشهود الحاضر﴾

Quotes words that differ from our text (wavy underline).

الذي لم يحتجب بتلك التعينات ، وما يراد به هو ما يقتضيه الشهود والحضور من القرب والسعادة الدنيوية ، ثم بين المناسبة بين التعذيب وضمير الغائب

which was not veiled by those determinations; and what is intended by it is what witnessing and presence entail of proximity and worldly felicity. Then he explained the correspondence between the chastisement and the pronoun of absence.