The commentators side by side

﴿فالذي يبعثك على حمد الله﴾

من الأحوال التي تمدك وتخليك بالمعدات المقومة لك في مراتب الوجود ، أو تفنيك وتخليك عن الموانع العائقة لك في مراتب الشهود

is among the states that either extend you and endow you with the preparations that sustain you in the ranks of existence, or annihilate you and free you from the hindering obstacles that impede you in the ranks of witnessing.

﴿هو المقيد لك باسم فعل﴾

- كالكريم والودود في الأول

— such as the Generous (al-Karīm) and the Loving (al-Wadūd) in the first case.

﴿أو باسم تنزيه﴾

- كالقدوس والسلام في الثاني

— such as the Holy (al-Quddūs) and the Peace (al-Salām) in the second case.

﴿أو باسم تنزيه﴾

كما إذا تجلى عليك الحق سبحانه بالأسماء التنزيهية ، فتنزه من الشرك عن ملاحظة الأغيار. فقلت : الحمد لله نحمدك وإن وقع على الله لكن حالك يقيده بالأسماء التنزيهية التي بها وقع النجلي عليك

as when the Real, Glory be to Him, discloses Himself to you through the Names of incomparability, so that you become declared incomparable (tanazzahta) from associationism (shirk) through regard for otherness. Then you say: "Praise be to God" — we praise You even though it falls upon [the Name] God; yet your state qualifies it by the Names of incomparability through which the self-disclosure (tajallī) occurred to you.

﴿والاستعداد من العبد لا يشعر به صاحبه، ويشعر بالحال، لأنه يعلم الباعث وهو الحال. فالاستعداد أخفى سؤال﴾

أي، صاحب الاستعداد لا يشعر باستعداده الجزئي المقتضى لفيضان معنى جزئي عليه لخفائه، فإن الاطلاع عليه إنما هو من شأن الكمل، لا من المبتدين في السلوك، ولا من شأن أرباب الأحوال الذين هم المتوسطون فيه. وصاحب الحال يشعر بحاله ويعلم أن الباعث على السؤال هو الحال، ومنه يستدل على استعداده، فإذا كان الاستعداد أمرا خفيا، فسؤاله أيضا خفى مثله. وقد يكون الحال مشعورا به لغير صاحبه إذا كان من الأحوال الظاهرة، كشعور الغنى بفقر الفقير المحتاج. ولا يمكن الشعور للاستعدادات إلا للكمل والأفراد المطلعين بالأعيان الثابتة في علم الحق تعالى

that is, the possessor of preparedness does not perceive his particular preparedness which necessitates the effusion of a particular meaning upon him, due to its hiddenness, for gaining insight into it is the province only of the perfected ones (al-kummal), not of beginners in the path, nor of the possessors of states who are intermediate in it. And the possessor of a state perceives his state and knows that the rouser to asking is the state, and from it he infers his preparedness. So if preparedness is a hidden matter, then his asking too is hidden like it. And the state may be perceived by someone other than its possessor, if it is among the manifest states, like the wealthy person's perception of the poverty of a needy poor person. But perception of preparednesses is not possible except for the perfected ones and the singular ones (al-afrād) who have gained insight into the fixed entities in the Real's knowledge, exalted

﴿والاستعداد من العبد لا يشعر به صاحبه ويشعر بالحال لأنه يعلم الباعث وهو الحال، فالاستعداد أخفى سؤال وإنما يمنع هؤلاء من السؤال علمهم بأن الله فيهم سابقة قضاء.﴾

فهم قد هيئوا محلهم لقبول ما يرد منه وقد غابوا عن نفوسهم وأغراضهم قلت: يعني أن الشعور بالاستعداد يتعذر على الضعفاء وعلى الأكثرين غالبا وأما الحال، فللعبد به شعور لأنه" يشعر بما بعثه على الحمد إذ لا يحمد عبثا بل لا بد أن يكون عنده معلوما ما بعثه على الحمد. وباقي الكلام واضح. قوله رضي الله عنه : " ومن هؤلاء من يعلم أن علم الله به في جميع أحواله هو ما كان عليه في حال ثبوت عينه قبل وجودها، ويعلم أن الحق تعالى لا يعطيه إلا ما أعطاه عينه من العلم به وهو ما كان عليه في حال ثبوته، فيعلم علم الله به من أين حصل. وما ثم صنف من أهل الله أعلى وأكشف من هذا الصنف فهم الواقفون على سر القدر." قلت: يعني ومن هؤلاء من تحقق أن العالم كان قبل إيجاده أعيانا ثابتة لا موجودة ولا معدومة من العلم الإلهي، مثل تحققه أنه كان في علم الله لا بد أن يكون إنسانا وأن يجري عليه ومنه وبه أحوال الأناسي لا مطلقا. بل أن يكون إما فقيها مثلا أو عاميا إما ذا حرفة كالخياطة أو غيرها وأحواله مفصلة من رزق و غنی أو فقر وعمر وبالجملة جميع أحواله. وعينه الثابتة التي هي في العلم الإلهي بجميع أحوالها لا يمكن أن تكون في الوجود إلا على حد ما كانت عليه في العلم الإلهي. وقوله: " فيعلم علم الله به من أين حصل ". یعنی به أن علم الله تعالى تابع للمعلومات التي هي الأعيان الثابتة على حد ما هي عليه فحصول العلم بعين من الأعيان إنما حصل من تلك العين المذكورة، فإن العلم لا يعطي المعلوم زيادة في ذاته ولا في صفاته ولا في أفعاله ولا في أحواله كلها. فقوله: من أين حصل ، يعني إنما حصل من معلومه. وأما قوله: فهم الواقفون على سر القدر، فمعناه أن أحوال تلك الأعيان الثابتة لا تتبدل عما علمت عليه فهذا هو سر القدر. و قوله رضي الله عنه : "وهم على قسمين منهم من يعلم ذلك مجملا ومنهم من يعلمه مفصلا، والذي يعلمه مفصلا أعلى وأتم من الذي يعلمه مجملا، فإنه يعلم ما في علم الله فيه إما بإعلام الله إياه مما أعطاه عينه من العلم به، وإما بأن يكشف له عن عينه الثابتة وانتقالات الأحوال عليها إلى ما لا يتناهى وهو أعلى، فإنه يكون في علمه بنفسه بمنزلة علم الله به لأن الأخذ من معدن واحد." قلت: هذا كله واضح من عبارة الشيخ، رضي الله عنه، إلا قوله: من معدن واحد، فإنه يحتاج أن يبين المعدن المذكور ويعني بالمعدن الواحد أن الحق تعالی يأخذ علمه بالأعيان منها، لأن علمه تابع لمعلومه . وكذلك هذا المشار إليه إنما يأخذ ذلك العلم المفصل من المعلوم وكل من علمه صحيح فإنما يأخذ علمه من معلومه، فالمعدن هو المعلوم والتقدير أنه هو تلك الأعيان الثابتة فيأخذ علمه منها. قوله رضي الله عنه :" إلا أنه من جهة العبد عناية من الله تعالی سبقت له من جملة أحوال عينه يعرفها صاحب هذا الكشف إذا أطلعه الله على ذلك، أي على أحوال عينه، فإنه ليس في وسع المخلوق إذا أطلعه الله على أحوال عينه الثابتة التي تقع صورة الوجود عليها أن يطلع في هذه الحال على اطلاع الحق تعالى على هذه الأعيان الثابتة في حال عدمها لأنها نسب ذاتية لا صورة لها. " فبهذا القدر نقول: إن العناية الإلهية سبقت لهذا العبد بهذه المساواة في إفادة العلم قلت: في قوة كلامه، رضي الله عنه، هنا قوة جواب عن سؤال مقدر. تقريره أن يقال: إذا حصل لعبد من العبيد علم عينه الثابتة وعلم ما يكون عليه في حال الوجود والحق تعالى هو يعلم الأعيان الثابتة أيضا مثل هذا العلم بعينه فما الفرق بين علم الله تعالی و بین علم هذا العبد؟ فأجاب: بأن عناية الله تعالی سابقة لهذا العبد بأن يعلم هذا العلم فهو علم مستفاد، بخلاف علم الله تعالى فإنه ذاتي أزلي أبدي فافترق علم الله تعالی عن علم هذا المكاشف. والعناية أيضا مستفادة من تلك العين. و قوله رضي الله عته : " ومن هنا يقول الله تعالى

They have prepared their locus for the reception of whatever comes from Him, having become absent from their own selves and purposes. I say: this means that consciousness of preparedness is generally inaccessible to the weak and to most people, whereas the servant does have consciousness of the state, since he is conscious of what prompted him to praise—for one does not praise in vain, but rather must have some known cause that prompted the praise. The rest of the statement is clear. His words, may God be pleased with him: "Among these there is one who knows that God's knowledge of him in all his states is exactly what he was in the state of the fixity of his entity before its existence, and knows that the Real, exalted is He, gives him only what his entity gave Him of knowledge of him—that is, what he was in the state of his fixity—so he knows whence God's knowledge of him arose. There is no class among the folk of God higher or more unveiled than this class, for they are the ones standing upon the secret of the divine decree (qadar)." I say: this means that among these is one who has verified that the world, before its bringing into existence, consisted of fixed entities (aʿyān thābita)—neither existent nor nonexistent—within the divine knowledge, just as he has verified that he existed in God's knowledge necessarily as a human being, and that the states of human beings would occur upon him, from him, and through him—not in an absolute, unqualified sense, but rather that he would be, for example, either a jurist or a layman, either possessing a craft such as tailoring or something else, with his states detailed as to sustenance, wealth or poverty, lifespan—in short, all his states. And his fixed entity, which exists in the divine knowledge with all its states, cannot come into existence except according to the manner in which it was in the divine knowledge. His statement, 'so he knows whence God's knowledge of him arose,' means that God's knowledge, exalted is He, follows upon the objects of knowledge, which are the fixed entities, exactly as they are; so the occurrence of knowledge of any given entity arises only from that very entity mentioned, for knowledge does not confer upon the object of knowledge any increase in its essence, nor in its attributes, nor in its acts, nor in any of its states whatsoever. So his statement 'whence it arose' means that it arose only from its object of knowledge. As for his statement 'they are the ones standing upon the secret of the decree,' its meaning is that the states of those fixed entities do not change from what they were known to be—and this is the secret of the decree. His words, may God be pleased with him: "They are of two kinds: one who knows this in summary fashion, and one who knows it in detail. The one who knows it in detail is higher and more complete than the one who knows it in summary fashion, for he knows what is in God's knowledge concerning him, either through God's informing him of what his entity gave Him of knowledge of him, or through his being unveiled as to his fixed entity and the transformations of states occurring upon it without end—and this is higher, for in his knowledge of himself he stands at the rank of God's knowledge of him, since the taking is from one and the same mine (maʿdan)." I say: all of this is clear from the Shaykh's expression, may God be pleased with him, except his statement 'from one and the same mine,' which requires clarification of the mine in question. By 'one mine' he means that the Real, exalted is He, derives His knowledge of the entities from the entities themselves, since His knowledge follows upon His object of knowledge. Likewise, this person referred to derives that detailed knowledge from the object of knowledge; and everyone whose knowledge is sound derives his knowledge from his object of knowledge. So the mine is the object of knowledge, and it is posited that this is those very fixed entities, from which he derives his knowledge. His words, may God be pleased with him: "Except that, from the servant's side, there is a prior divine solicitude (ʿināya) granted him out of the totality of the states of his entity, which the possessor of this unveiling recognizes when God apprises him of it—that is, of the states of his entity. For it is not within the capacity of a created being, even when God apprises him of the states of his fixed entity, upon which the form of existence is cast, to be apprised in this state of the Real's apprisal, exalted is He, of these fixed entities in the state of their nonexistence, since they are essential relations (nisab dhātiyya) having no form. To this extent we say: the divine solicitude has preceded for this servant with this equivalence in the bestowal of knowledge." I say: in the force of his statement here, may God be pleased with him, there is the force of an answer to an implied question. Its formulation would be as follows: if a servant among the servants attains knowledge of his fixed entity and knowledge of what he will be in the state of existence, and the Real, exalted is He, likewise knows the fixed entities with this same kind of knowledge, then what is the difference between God's knowledge, exalted is He, and this servant's knowledge? He answered: that God's solicitude, exalted is He, has preceded for this servant in granting him this knowledge, so it is acquired knowledge, unlike God's knowledge, exalted is He, which is essential, pre-eternal, and everlasting. Thus God's knowledge, exalted is He, differs from the knowledge of this one granted unveiling. The solicitude, too, is acquired from that entity. His words, may God be pleased with him: "And it is from this that God, exalted is He, says"

﴿والاستعداد من العبد لا يشعر به صاحبه﴾

لأنه من الفيض الأقدس والسر الأخفى الذي لا يطأ وادي طواه إلا من خلع نعلي الاثنينية والمغايرة ؛ فصاحب الاستعداد مادام صاحبا له لا يصل إليه ولا يشعر به

because it belongs to the Most Holy Effusion (al-fayḍ al-aqdas) and the most hidden secret (al-sirr al-akhfā), whose valley of Ṭuwā none may tread save one who has removed the two sandals of duality and otherness; so the possessor of preparedness, as long as he remains its possessor, cannot attain to it nor perceive it.

﴿والاستعداد من العبد لا يشعر به صاحبه﴾

إلا إذا كان من الكمل لكونه موقوفا على العلم بعينه الثابتة وأحوالها وهو أصعب الأمور وأعزها لا يظفر به إلا الندر من الكامل

except if he is among the perfect (kumal), since it is contingent upon knowledge of his fixed entity (ʿayn thābita) and its states, and this is the most difficult and rarest of matters; none but the rare few among the perfect attain it.

﴿والاستعداد من العبد لا يشعر به صاحبه﴾

ينافي ذلك قلت: إن الشعور يستعمل في المحسوس المشاهد من غير توقف علمه على شيء آخر والاستعداد ليس كذلك بل توقف على الاطلاع بالأعيان الثابتة في علم الله تعالی فمعنى قوله : لا يشعر به صاحبه لا يعلمه بالشعور وإن كان يعلم بوجه آخر الشعور نوع من أنواع العلم وهو العلم بالحس فإن الشعور يتعلق بأجل المعلومات والاستعداد من أغمض المعلومات وأخفاها فلا يمكن تعلق العلم من حيث الشعور إليه بخلاف الحال فإنه أجل المعلومات لذلك قال

contradicts that — I say: consciousness (shuʿūr) is used for what is sensed and witnessed, without its knowledge depending on anything else, whereas preparedness is not like that; rather it depends upon disclosure regarding the fixed entities (aʿyān thābita) in God's knowledge. So the meaning of his statement "its possessor is not conscious of it" is that he does not know it through consciousness, even though he knows it in another way. Consciousness is one type among the types of knowledge, namely knowledge by sense-perception, and consciousness pertains to the grandest of known things, while preparedness is among the most obscure and hidden of known things, so the attachment of knowledge to it by way of consciousness is not possible — unlike the state (ḥāl), which is the grandest of known things. For this reason he said,

﴿ويشعر بالحال ، لأنه يعلم الباعث - وهو الحال - فالاستعداد أخفي سؤال … وإنما يمنع هؤلاء من السؤال علمهم بأن الله فيهم سابقة قضاء ، فهم قد هیوا محلهم﴾

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

بتفريغه عن شواغل الدعاء والسؤال وشوائب أعراض الأغراض

by emptying it of the preoccupations of supplication and request and the admixtures of the accidents of purposes,

﴿ويشعر بالحال﴾

صاحبه (فإنه يعلم الباعث) له على الطلب (وهو)، أي الباعث هو (الحال فإن الاستعداد أخفى سؤال) بالنسبة إلى اللفظي والحالي

(for he knows the motive) that impels him to request, (and it is), i.e., the motive is (the state, for preparedness is the most hidden request), in comparison to the verbal request and the request-by-state.

﴿ويشعر بالحال﴾

أي وصاحب الحال يشعر بحاله (لأنه) أي صاحب الحال (یعلم الباعث) على السؤال بالحال بالبداهة وليس ذلك الباعث إلا (وهو الحال فإذا كان لا يشعر العبد استعداده (فالاستعداد) أي فسؤال الاستعداد

that is, the possessor of the state is conscious of his state, (because) the possessor of the state (knows the impetus) for petitioning by way of the state, self-evidently, and that impetus is nothing other (than the state). So if the servant is not conscious of his preparedness, (then preparedness), that is, the petition of preparedness,

﴿أخفى سؤال﴾

لا يطلع عليه إلا من اطلع بعالم الأسماء والأعيان الثابتة. فإن السؤال بلسان الاستعداد ما هو إلا سؤال الأسماء ظهور كمالاتها وسؤال الأعيان وجوداتها فكان هنا صنف من أهل الحضور لا يسألون باللفظ . ويرجع قوله

which none discloses save one who has been disclosed unto by the world of Names and fixed entities. For the petition by the tongue of preparedness is nothing but the petition of the Names for the manifestation of their perfections, and the petition of the entities for their existentiations. So there is here a class among the people of presence who do not petition verbally. His statement returns to

﴿وإنما يمنع هؤلاء من السؤال علمهم بأن لله فيهم سابقة قضاء ، فهم قد هيأوا محلهم لقبول ما يرد منه وقد غابوا عن نفوسهم وأغراضهم﴾

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

ظاهر وهم أهل الرضا المريدون بإرادة الله ، لا يريدون إلا ما أراد الله . قوله

This is clear. These are the people of contentment (riḍā) who will by the will of God, willing nothing but what God wills. His words:

﴿وإنّما يمنع هؤلاء﴾

يعني الذين لا يسألون

meaning those who do not ask

﴿وإنما يمنع هؤلاء من السؤال علمهم بأن لله فيهم سابقة قضاء، فهم قد هيئوا محلهم لقبول ما يرد منه وقد غابوا عن نفوسهم وأغراضهم﴾

( أي، لما علموا هؤلاء أن لله في حقهم حكما في القضاء السابق على وجودهم، ولا بد أن يصل إليهم من الخير والشر والكمال والنقصان وكل ما قدر لهم في الأزل، استراحوا من الطلب، ومنع علمه هذا أن يسألوا من الله شيئا، واشتغلوا بتطهير المحل عن درن التعلقات بالأمور الفانية وقطع العلائق، لتكون مرآة قلوبهم طاهرة مجلوة بحيث يظهر فيها أعيان الحقائق ويقبل ما يرد من الحق عليها من التجليات، ويبقى الوارد على طهارته ولا ينصبغ بصبغ المحل، فيفيد غيبتهم عن نفوسهم وأغراضهم، فيفنوا في الحق ويبقوا ببقائه. قال الشيخ رضي الله عنه

from asking is their knowledge that God has, with regard to them, a prior decree, for they have prepared their locus to receive whatever comes from Him, and they have become absent from their own selves and purposes] (That is, when these [people] knew that God has, in respect of them, a ruling in the decree that preceded their existence, and that whatever good, evil, perfection, or deficiency was ordained for them in pre-eternity must inevitably reach them, they found rest from seeking, and this knowledge of theirs prevented them from asking anything of God. They occupied themselves instead with purifying the locus from the taint of attachments to perishing things and with severing connections, so that the mirror of their hearts might be pure and polished, such that the entities (aʿyān) of the realities would appear in it, and it would receive whatever self-disclosures (tajalliyāt) come upon it from the Real, the incoming [effusion] remaining in its purity without being colored by the coloring of the locus. Thus their absence from their own selves and purposes bears fruit, and they pass away (fanāʾ) in the Real and subsist (baqāʾ) through His subsistence. The Shaykh, may God be pleased with him, said)

﴿وإنما يمنع هؤلاء﴾

السائلين بلسان الحال والاستعداد

— those who make request by the tongue of state and preparedness —

﴿وإنما يمنع هؤلاء من السؤال﴾

أي المذكور حكما لأنه لما قال : ومنها ما لا يكون عن سؤال فقد ذكر حكمة غير السائلين وإنما منع غير السائلين عن السؤال اللفظي (وعلمهم بأن الله فيهم) أي في حقهم

that is, the aforementioned as a ruling, because when he said: and some of them are not [given] in response to a request, he thereby mentioned the wisdom governing those who do not ask; and those who do not ask are prevented only from verbal asking (and their knowledge that God is within them) that is, with regard to them

﴿عن السؤال علمهم بأنّ لله فيهم سابقة قضاء ، فهم قد هيّأوا محلَّهم لقبول ما يرد منه ، وقد غابوا عن نفوسهم وأغراضهم﴾

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

يعني : أوجب عليهم علمهم وتحقّقهم بأنّه لا بدّ من وقوع ما قدّر الله لهم وعليهم بلا تخلَّف بموجب علمه . قال رضي الله عنه : « ومن هؤلاء من يعلم أنّ علم الله به في جميع أحواله هو ما كان عليه في حال ثبوت عينه قبل وجودها ، ويعلم أنّ الحق لا يعطيه إلَّا ما أعطاه عينه من العلم به وهو ما كان عليه في حال ثبوته ، فيعلم علم الله به من أين حصل ، وما ثمّ صنف من أهل الله أعلى وأكشف من هذا الصنف ، فهم الواقفون على سرّ القدر " . قال العبد أيّده الله به : ومن العلماء بسابق علم الله وقضائه وقدره بجميع ما يجري عليهم صنف هم أكشفهم شهودا وأكملهم علما ووجودا بأنّ جميع أحواله وأفعاله وما يصل إليه من العطايا والمواهب الإلهية. إنّما يكون بحسب ما أعطته عينه الثابتة التي هي عبارة عن صور معلوميّته لله تعالى أزلا قبل وجوده العيني ،وأنّ العلم الإلهي إنّما تعلَّق بالمعلوم بحسب المعلوم. ولا تأثير للعلم في المعلوم بما ليس فيه إذ العلم عبارة عن تعيّن العلم في نفس العالم على ما هو عليه ، وكشف العالم للمعلوم كشفا إحاطيا يميّزه عن معلوم آخر بخصوصياته ، فليس للحقيقة العلمية إلَّا الكشف والتمييز على وجه الإحاطة بالمعلوم. والمعلوم هو يعطي بكونه معلوما صورة تعيّنية ارتساميّة في نفس العالم هي صورة معلوميّته لله تعالى أزلا ، وهي أزليّة أبدية قائمة بقيام العلم الذاتي بالذات الديموميّة القيّوميّة وعلى هذا لا تحكم المشيّة الإلهية بقضاء وقدر على موجود إلَّا بموجب ما سبق به العلم الأزلي . ولم يتعلَّق العلم الأزلي بكل معلوم إلَّا بحسب ما أعطى المعلوم من عينه الثابتة ، فإنّ لكلّ معلوم قدرا تقدّر وتعيّن وتميّز به في خصوصيته عن معلوم آخر ، ولم يتعيّن المعلوم في حضرة العلم الذاتي الإلهي إلَّا بقدره عند الله وقدره الذي يخصّص به . ومن حصّل هذا الكشف ، علم المأخذ والمعدن الذي لعلم الله بالمعلوم ، فافهم ، فهذا أعلى الكشوف والعلوم والشهود ، وأهله هم الواقفون على سرّ القدر ، جعلنا الله وإيّاك منهم ، إنّه عليم قدير . قال الشيخ رضي الله عنه : « وهم على قسمين : منهم من يعلم ذلك مجملا ، ومنهم من يعلمه مفصّلا ، والذي يعلمه مفصّلا أعلى وأتمّ من الذي يعلمه مجملا ، فإنّه يعلم ما في علم الله فيه أنّ علم الله به وبأحواله الظاهرة والباطنة بحسبه فيه ، ولكنّ علمه جملي لا تفصيلي ، وكلَّي لا تعيّني ، فلا يعلم تفاصيل أحواله الوجودية قبل وقوعها على التفصيل". والتفصيل على هذا الصنف لمن يعلم تفاصيل أحواله الوجودية ظاهرها وباطنها ، كما رويت عن سيدي وسندي وقدوتي إلى الله ، الشيخ الكامل المكمّل ، أكمل ورثة المحمديين ، صدر الحق والدين ، محيي الإسلام والمسلمين ، أبي المعالي ، محمد بن إسحاق بن محمد بن يوسف رضي الله عنه وكان يتكلَّم معي في هذا المقام من سرّ القدر ، أنّ شيخنا الأكمل ، خاتم الولاية الخاصّة المحمدية ، قال له : « لمّا وصلت إلى بحر الروم من بلاد أندلس ، عزمت على نفسي أن لا أركب البحر إلَّا بعد أن أشهد تفاصيل أحوالي الظاهرة والباطنة الوجودية ممّا قدّر الله عليّ ولي ومنّي إلى آخر عمري » . قال رضي الله عنه : « فتوجّهت إلى الله في ذلك بحضور تامّ وشهود عامّ ومراقبة كاملة ، فأشهدني الله جميع أحوالي ممّا يجري ظاهرا وباطنا إلى آخر عمري ، حتى صحبة أبيك « إسحاق بن محمد » وصحبتك وأحوالك وعلومك وأذواقك ومقاماتك وتجلياتك ومكاشفاتك وجميع حظوظك من الله ، ثم ركبت البحر على بصيرة ويقين ، فكان ما كان ويكون من غير إخلال ولا اختلال " . وكيفيّة هذا الكشف أنّ المكاشف يتحقّق بعينه الثابتة الأزلية ، ويشهدها كشفا ، ويشهد أحوالها في المواطن والمراتب الوجودية والأطوار الشهودية مع أعيان ماهيّاتها ولوازمها ولوازم لوازمها وعوارضها ولواحقها ولواحق اللواحق ، دنيا وآخرة وعند الله ، فيعلم من عينه الثابتة التي هي ماخذ العلم الإلهي من حيث إنّها فيه سبحانه عينه وليست غيره ، فيعلم ما في علم الله في الكوائن والحوادث في حقّه وفي حق غيره . وهذا النوع من علم سرّ القدر وكشفه أكمل وأتمّ وأكشف وأعمّ جعلنا الله وإيّاك من عبيده الاختصاصيّين ، إنّه أرحم الراحمين . قال رضي الله عنه : « إمّا بإعلام الله تعالى إيّاه بما أعطاه عينه من العلم به ، وإمّا بأن يكشف له عن عينه الثابتة وانتقالات الأحوال عليها إلى ما لا يتناهى ، وهو أعلى ، فإنّه يكون في علمه بنفسه بمنزلة علم الله به ، لأنّ الأخذ من معدن واحد " . قال العبد : لمّا قرّر رضي الله عنه مراتب حصول العلم بالأعيان الثابتة وسرّ القدر ، وبأحوال عينه الثابتة ، احتمل أن يكون حصول هذا العلم لهذا الصنف الأكشف الأعلم ، بإعلام الله وإلهامه إيّاهم ، واحتمل أيضا أن يكون طريق حصول ذلك من عين الطريق والمأخذ الذي تعلَّق العلم الإلهي بذلك ، وذلك لأنّ الله يلقي إلى أسرار ربّة عبيده المصطفين ما شاء من العلوم والحقائق ، فيحصل الاطَّلاع على سرّ القدر ، وأحوال العين الثابتة من جملة ذلك . وأعلى من هذا أن يكشف الله تعالى بعنايته الكاملة الذاتية لهذا العبد عن حضرة العلم وعالم المعاني ، فيشاهد الأعيان الثابتة ثابتة في عين الذات الغيبيّة والحقيقة المطلقة الكلَّية ، وثابتة في أرض المظهريات المحقّقة العلَّية ، ثبوتا أحديا علميّا وتعيّنا ذاتيّا غيبيا ، وإذا شاهد عينه الثابتة وأحوالها حواليها في أطوار الوجود وأقطار الشهود إلى ما لا يتناهى ، كان أخذ العلم بعينه الثابتة من المعدن الذي أحاط فيه به العلم الذاتي ، وهذا أكمل شهود في هذا المقام ، جعلنا الله وإيّاكم من أهله . قال رضي الله عنه : « إلَّا أنّه من جهة العبد عناية من الله سبقت له ، هي من جملة أحوال عينه يعرفها صاحب هذا الكشف ، إذا أطلعه الله على ذلك ، أي على أحوال عينه الثابتة ، فإنّه ليس في وسع المخلوق إذا أطلعه الله على ذلك أي على أحوال عينه الثابتة التي تقع صورة الوجود عليها أن يطَّلع في هذا الحال على اطلاع الحق على هذه الأعيان الثابتة في حال عدمها ، لأنّها نسب ذاتية لا صورة لها ، فبهذا القدر نقول : إنّ العناية الإلهية سبقت لهذا العبد بهذه المساواة في إفادة العلم " . قال العبد أيّده الله به : لمّا بيّن رضي الله عنه أنّ هذا العبد الأكشف الأكمل الذي حصل علمه بنفسه وبعينه الثابتة بمنزلة المساواة لعلم الله بعينه الثابتة وأحوالها كذلك ، إنّما حصل عناية إلهية بهذا العبد وصدق قدم في علم قدم ، وهذه العناية الإلهية به أيضا من جملة أحوال عينه الثابتة التي اقتضتها بخصوص استعدادها وقابليتها الخاصّة أن يعلم ذلك كذلك . فإنّ تعلَّق العناية إنّما يكون بحسب تعلَّق الإرادة الإلهية والمشيّة الربّانيّة ، والعناية إرادة حبّيّة بالمعتنى به لتكميله وتوصيله ، ثم تعلَّق المشيّة والإرادة أيضا بموجب تعلق العلم بعينه الثابتة له أزلا وأبدا ، فالخصوصيّات العينية والقابليات الذاتية هي أصل العناية الأزلية وهي قدم الصدق . وقوله رضي الله عنه : « فإنّه ليس في وسع المخلوق » تعقيب لكلامه الأوّل : « إمّا بإعلام الله . . . وإمّا بأن يكشف » يعني : لا يجمع لأحد بين الاطَّلاع على الأعيان الثابتة وأحوالها وبين الاطَّلاع على اطلاع الله بعلمه على هذه الأعيان ، لأنّه تعلَّق الشهود بأمرين في حالة واحدة و"ما جَعَلَ الله لِرَجُلٍ من قَلْبَيْنِ في جَوْفِه". ولأنّ هذه الأعيان نسب ذاتية ، فهي بالنسبة إليها معدومة الأعيان وإن كانت ثابتة للحق ، فلا صورة لها في أعيانها فما هي فيه ، بل هي فيه هو كما قلنا نحن فيه هو ، فاعرفنا به وهو فينا نحن ، فافهم ما نقول . وهوية الوجود الواحد في أعيان القوابل وإن كانت بحسبها متعدّدة ، فهي أيضا في الهوية الواحدة الوجودية الذاتية كذلك بحسبها أحدية . فلمّا كانت هذه النسب في العلم الإلهي ثابتة للذات بأنّها شؤونه وأحواله الذاتية ومن حسبها "كُلَّ يَوْمٍ هُوَ في شَأْنٍ ". لم يكن للممكن أن يطَّلع على اطلاع الحق على هذه النسب الكلية الذاتية التي هي مفاتيح الغيب حال عدميّتها في أعيانها تحت قهر الأحدية الذاتية ، فإنّ هذا الاطلاع أحديّ لم يظهر بعد للمشاهد ، والمشاهدة والمشاهد الثابتة عين وجوديّ ، فإنّه إنّما يتأتّى للمكاشف أن يطَّلع عليها من حيث إنّها ثابتة في العلم وجودا علميا ، وحينئذ يتمكَّن المشاهد من شهودها . قال رضي الله عنه : « ومن هاهنا يقول الله

— that is: their knowledge and their realization that whatever God has predetermined for them and against them must necessarily come to pass without deviation, by virtue of His knowledge, made this incumbent upon them. The Shaykh, may God be pleased with him, said: "Among these there is one who knows that God's knowledge of him in all his states is [identical to] what he was in the state of the fixity of his entity (ʿayn) before its existence, and knows that the Real gives him nothing except what his entity gave Him of knowledge of him — namely what he was in the state of his fixity. So he knows God's knowledge of him — whence it derives. And there is no class among the people of God more elevated or more unveiled than this class; they are those who stand upon the secret of destiny (sirr al-qadar)." The servant [of God], may God assist him, says: Among those who possess knowledge of God's prior knowledge, His decree (qaḍāʾ) and His predetermination (qadar) with respect to all that occurs to them, there is a class who are the most unveiled in witnessing and the most complete in knowledge and being — [knowing] that all of his states, his acts, and whatever divine gifts (ʿaṭāyā) and grants (mawāhib) reach him, occur only in accordance with what his fixed entity (al-ʿayn al-thābita) gave — that entity being an expression for the forms of his being known to God, eternally, before his entified existence. And [they know] that divine knowledge attaches to the known object (maʿlūm) only in accordance with the known object itself, and that knowledge has no effect upon the known object by [adding] what is not in it, since knowledge is an expression for the determination (taʿayyun) of knowledge within the knower's very self exactly as the object is, and the knower's unveiling of the known object is a comprehensive unveiling that distinguishes it from another known object by its particularities. So the reality of knowledge has nothing but unveiling and distinguishing by way of encompassing the known object. And the known object, by virtue of being known, gives an entified, impressed (irtisāmī) form within the knower's self, which is the form of its being known to God eternally — a form that is eternal-everlasting, subsisting through the subsistence of essential knowledge in the eternally-abiding, self-subsisting Essence. On this basis, the Divine Will does not decree (qaḍāʾ wa qadar) concerning any existent thing except in accordance with what the eternal knowledge has preceded it with. And the eternal knowledge attaches to each known object only according to what that known object gave from its fixed entity, for every known object has a measure (qadr) by which it is determined, entified, and distinguished in its particularity from another known object, and the known object is not entified in the presence of the divine essential knowledge except by its measure with God and the measure by which it is specified. Whoever attains this unveiling knows the source and mine (maʿdin) from which God's knowledge of the known object derives — so understand. This is the highest of unveilings, knowledges, and witnessings, and its possessors are those who stand upon the secret of destiny. May God make us and you among them; verily He is All-Knowing, All-Powerful. The Shaykh, may God be pleased with him, said: "They are of two kinds: one who knows this in summary form (mujmalan), and one who knows it in detail (mufaṣṣalan); and the one who knows it in detail is higher and more complete than the one who knows it in summary form, for he knows what is in God's knowledge of him — that God's knowledge of him and of his manifest and nonmanifest states, in accordance with him, is in him — but his knowledge is summary, not detailed, universal (kullī), not particular-entified (taʿayyunī); so he does not know the details of his existential states before their occurrence in detail." The detailed [knowledge] belongs, according to this, to one who knows the details of his existential states, manifest and nonmanifest, as I was told by my master, my support, and my guide to God, the Complete and Completing Shaykh, the most complete of the heirs of the Muhammadans, Ṣadr al-Ḥaqq wa al-Dīn, the reviver of Islam and the Muslims, Abū al-Maʿālī Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf, may God be pleased with him — who used to speak with me concerning this station of the secret of destiny — that our most complete Shaykh, the Seal of specific Muhammadan sainthood (khātam al-walāya al-khāṣṣa al-Muḥammadiyya), said to him: "When I reached the Sea of Rūm from the lands of Andalusia, I resolved within myself not to embark upon the sea until I had witnessed the details of my manifest and nonmanifest existential states, of what God had decreed upon me, for me, and from me, to the end of my life." He, may God be pleased with him, said: "So I turned to God in that matter with complete presence, comprehensive witnessing, and perfect vigilant awareness (murāqaba), and God made me witness all my states — what occurs, manifest and nonmanifest, to the end of my life — even including the companionship of your father Isḥāq ibn Muḥammad, and your own companionship, your states, your knowledges, your tastings (adhwāq), your stations, your self-disclosures (tajalliyāt), your unveilings, and all your portions from God. Then I embarked upon the sea with insight and certainty, and what was, was, and what is to be, will be, without disruption or disturbance." The manner of this unveiling is that the one who possesses unveiling (mukāshif) is realized in his eternal fixed entity, witnesses it by unveiling, and witnesses its states in the loci and levels of existence and the phases of witnessing, together with the entities of its quiddities, its concomitants (lawāzim), the concomitants of its concomitants, its accidents, its adjuncts, and the adjuncts of the adjuncts — in this world, the hereafter, and with God. Thus he knows, from his fixed entity — which is the source of divine knowledge inasmuch as it is, in Him, glory be to Him, His very entity and not other than Him — he knows what is in God's knowledge concerning contingent things and events, both with respect to himself and with respect to others. This kind of knowledge and unveiling of the secret of destiny is more complete, more perfect, more unveiled, and more comprehensive. May God make us and you among His specially chosen servants; verily He is the Most Merciful of the merciful. The Shaykh, may God be pleased with him, said: "Either through God Most High informing him of what his entity gave Him of knowledge of him, or through his entity being unveiled to him, together with the transformations of states upon it, without end — and this is higher, for then his knowledge of himself is on the same level as God's knowledge of him, since the derivation is from one and the same source." The servant says: When the Shaykh, may God be pleased with him, established the levels of the attainment of knowledge of the fixed entities and the secret of destiny, and of the states of one's fixed entity, it was possible that the attainment of this knowledge for this most-unveiled, most-knowing class occurs through God's informing and inspiring them; and it was also possible that the path of its attainment be from the very source and mine to which divine knowledge attaches — for God casts into the innermost secrets of the lords of His chosen servants whatever He wills of knowledges and realities, and thus access to the secret of destiny and the states of the fixed entity is attained as part of that. And higher than this is that God Most High, through His complete essential solicitude (ʿināya), unveils to this servant the Presence of Knowledge and the World of Meanings (ʿālam al-maʿānī), so that he witnesses the fixed entities as fixed in the very Unseen Essence and the Absolute, Universal Reality, and as fixed in the ground of the realized, elevated manifestations (maẕāhir), a fixity that is unitary, epistemic, and an essential, unseen determination (taʿayyun). And when he witnesses his fixed entity and its states around it, in the phases of existence and the horizons of witnessing without end, then his attainment of knowledge of his fixed entity is from the very mine wherein essential knowledge encompassed it — and this is the most complete witnessing in this station. May God make us and you among its possessors. The Shaykh, may God be pleased with him, said: "except that, from the servant's side, it is a solicitude (ʿināya) from God that has preceded for him, being among the states of his entity, known by the possessor of this unveiling when God grants him insight into it — that is, into the states of his fixed entity. For it is not within the capacity of a created being, even when God grants him insight into that — namely into the states of his fixed entity upon which the form of existence falls — to attain, in this state, insight into the Real's insight into these fixed entities in the state of their nonexistence, for they are essential relations (nisab dhātiyya) having no form, and to this extent we say: the divine solicitude has preceded for this servant with this parity in the bestowal of knowledge." The servant, may God assist him, says: When the Shaykh, may God be pleased with him, made clear that this most-unveiled, most-complete servant, whose knowledge of himself and of his fixed entity was attained on a level of parity with God's knowledge of his fixed entity and its states — this occurred only through a divine solicitude toward this servant and a true precedence (qadam ṣidq) within a precedent knowledge (qadam), and this divine solicitude toward him is likewise among the states of his fixed entity, which required, by the specificity of its preparedness (istiʿdād) and its particular receptivity, that he know it in this way. For the attachment of solicitude occurs only in accordance with the attachment of the Divine Will and the Lordly Volition, and solicitude is a loving will directed toward the one solicited, for his perfection and his attainment [of union]; then the attachment of Volition and Will occurs also in accordance with the attachment of knowledge to his fixed entity, eternally and everlastingly. Thus the entitative particularities and essential receptivities are the root of eternal solicitude, and this is the "precedent of truthfulness" (qadam al-ṣidq). His saying, may God be pleased with him, "For it is not within the capacity of a created being" is a follow-up to his earlier statement, "either through God's informing him... or through unveiling being granted to him" — meaning: no one combines both insight into the fixed entities and their states and insight into God's insight, by His knowledge, into these entities, for this would mean witnessing attaching to two matters in a single state, and "God has not made for any man two hearts within his breast." And because these entities are essential relations, they are, relative to themselves, entities that are nonexistent, even though they are fixed for the Real; they have no form in their own entities, so they are not "in Him" in that sense — rather they are, in Him, He, just as we have said, "we are, in Him, He" — so know us through Him, while He is within us, us — understand what we are saying. And the identity (huwiyya) of the one Existence in the entities of the receptacles, although multiple according to them, is also, in the one essential existential identity, likewise unitary according to it. So since these relations, in the divine knowledge, are fixed for the Essence, being His affairs (shuʾūn) and His essential states, and, in accordance with them, "every day He is upon some affair (shaʾn)," it was not possible for the contingent being to attain insight into the Real's insight into these universal essential relations — which are the keys of the Unseen — in the state of their nonexistence in their entities, under the subjugating force of essential Unicity (aḥadiyya). For this insight is unitary (aḥadī), not yet manifested to the witness, whereas witnessing and the witnessed-fixed are one existentially. Rather, it is only granted to the possessor of unveiling to attain insight into them inasmuch as they are fixed in knowledge as epistemic existence, and it is then that the witness becomes capable of witnessing them. The Shaykh, may God be pleased with him, said: "And it is from here that God says—

﴿من السؤال﴾

اللفظي (علمهم بأن الله سبحانه فيهم)، أي في شأنهم

— verbal — (their knowledge that God, glory be to Him, is with them), that is, concerning their affair

﴿سابقة قضاء﴾

أي قضاء سابقا على حال الطلب بل على وجودهم بوقوع ما قدر لهم وعليهم بلا تخلف فاستراحوا من تعب الطلب

That is, a decree preceding the state of seeking — indeed preceding their [very] existence — through the occurrence of what was decreed for them and against them, without fail, so they were relieved of the toil of seeking.

﴿سابقة قضاء﴾

أي حكمة سابقة عليهم في علمه الأزلي. فلا بد أن يصل إليهم هذا الحكم السابق عليهم فهم بذلك قد خلصوا عن قيد الطلب والامتثال وحجابه

that is, a wisdom decreed for them beforehand in His eternal knowledge. This prior ruling must inevitably reach them, and thereby they are freed from the constraint of seeking, of compliance, and its veil

﴿فهم قد هيئوا محلهم﴾

بتطهيره عن درن التعلقات الفانية أو تحليته عن الانتقاش بالصور الكونية وتفريغه عن شواغل السؤال والدعاء

by purifying it of the defilement of perishing attachments, or adorning it free of imprinting by cosmic forms, and emptying it of the preoccupations of petition and supplication,

﴿فهم قد هيئوا محلهم﴾

أي اشتغلوا بتطهير قلوبهم عن التعلقات بالأمور الدينية (لقبول ما برد منه) حتى يبقى الوارد على ما كان عليه من الطهارة

that is, they have occupied themselves with purifying their hearts from attachments to religious matters (to receive what comes to them from Him), so that what comes remains as it was in its purity,

﴿لقبول ما يرد منه ، وقد غابوا عن نفوسهم وأغراضهم﴾

لاشتغالهم بما يرد منه واستغراقهم فيه . الواقفون على سر القدر من السائلين: قال رضي الله عنه

on account of their preoccupation with what comes from Him and their absorption in it. Those Standing upon the Secret of the Decree, among the Requesters: He, may God be pleased with him, said:

﴿لقبول ما يرد عليه﴾

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

أي على ذلك المحل من الواردات والتجليات والحال أنهم (قد غابوا عن) حظوظ

— i.e., upon that locus, of incomings (wāridāt) and self-disclosures (tajalliyāt) — while they (have become absent from) the portions

﴿وقد غابوا … نفوسهم وأغراضهم﴾

فكيف عن السؤال والطلب ولا سبيل عليهم حكومة الحال وهم صنف واحد ينقسم إلى صنفين واقفين على سر القدر . وهو ما سيذكره المصنف وغير الواقفين عليه ولم يذكره المصنف لوضوحه غاية الإيضاح ببيان الواقفين . وتقسيمه إلى قسمين و ما منع كلا منهم عن السؤال إلا علمهم الخاص بهم لكنهم لما اتحدوا في حد المنع الكلي . وهو العلم بالقضاء السابق عليهم وكان بعضهم فوق بعض درجات من العلم لم يفرد بالمنع واقتصر على بيان مراتبهم في رتبة العلم بالله فقال

let alone from petition and seeking, and the governance of the state has no way over them. They are a single class dividing into two sub-classes: those standing upon the secret of the decree (sirr al-qadar) — which the author will mention — and those not standing upon it, whom the author did not mention because of the utmost clarity achieved through the exposition of those who do stand upon it. As for its division into two categories, nothing prevented each of them from petitioning except their own specific knowledge; but since they were united in the general condition of prevention — namely, knowledge of the decree prior to them — while some of them were of higher rank than others in knowledge, he did not single out [each] with [a separate discussion of] prevention, but confined himself to explaining their ranks in the degree of knowledge of God. So he said,

﴿نفوسهم وأغراضهم﴾

في هذه الهيئة بل فعلوها ترقيقة عشقية تقتضي إعراضهم عن الأعراض النفسية والتوجه إليه بالكلية

aims] in this disposition; rather, they have made it a loving refinement that requires their turning away from psychic objects and their total orientation toward Him.