Mashrabaمشربة

Textual apparatus

Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam, chapter 2: The Ringstone of the Wisdom of Divine Breathing in the Word of Seth · our method · grammar practice on this text

Chapter synthesis

The arc

The chapter opens by classifying the divine gifts by their source (the Essence or the Names) and by their occasion (specified asking, unspecified asking, or no asking). It then ranks those who ask, from the hasty and the precautionary to the pure servant who asks only in obedience, and it grounds every gift in the recipient's preparedness (istiʿdād), which is itself a hidden form of asking. From there it rises to those who know the mystery of destiny (sirr al-qadar): God's knowledge of a servant follows the servant's fixed entity, and a servant to whom that entity is unveiled knows himself from the same source as God knows him. Returning to the gifts of the Essence, Ibn ʿArabī uses the mirror to argue that the recipient of essential self-disclosure sees only his own form in the Real, and that the highest knowledge of this brings silence. That knowledge he assigns to the Seal of the messengers and the Seal of the saints, and he develops the vision of the wall with its silver and gold bricks. He then turns to the gifts of the Names, pure raḥmānī mercy and mixed divine mercy, each passing through a particular custodian Name. He attributes this knowledge to Seth, whose name means 'gift of God', insists that no gift reaches a recipient from outside his own entity, and closes with the last-born child on Seth's footstep and the end of the human cycle.

Key moves

  1. Gifts are divided twice: by source into gifts of the Essence and gifts of the Names, which only the folk of tasting can tell apart, and by occasion into gifts given for specified asking, for unspecified asking, or without asking.1
  2. Askers are ranked: the hasty, the precautionary who does not know his preparedness, the folk of presence who know it only at the moment of receiving or know it in advance, and the pure servant who asks or keeps silent only in obedience to what his state requires.2, 3, 4
  3. God's answer 'Here I am' (labbayka) comes at once, while the thing asked for arrives at its appointed time. Gifts 'without asking' lack only a spoken request, since every gift answers some asking by word, by state or by preparedness, and preparedness is the most hidden of these.5, 6
  4. God's knowledge of a servant follows the servant's fixed entity (ʿayn thābita). Those who know this stand on the mystery of destiny, and the one to whom his entity is unveiled knows himself from the same source as God knows him, which Ibn ʿArabī uses to read 'until We know' (Q 47:31) as literally true, against the theologians' view.7, 8, 9, 10
  5. The self-disclosure of the Essence takes the form of the recipient's preparedness, so the recipient sees only his own form in the mirror of the Real and never the mirror itself. This is the utmost limit open to a creature, and the highest knower of it responds with silence.10, 11, 12, 13
  6. This knowledge belongs to the Seal of the messengers and the Seal of the saints. The Seal of the saints outwardly follows the Law (the silver brick) and inwardly takes from the source of revelation (the gold brick), and he remains one of Muḥammad's merits (ḥasanāt).14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19
  7. The gifts of the Names are all mercy: pure mercy comes through al-Raḥmān, and mixed mercy comes as a divine (ilāhī) gift through a custodian Name such as al-Wāsiʿ, al-Ḥakīm, al-Wahhāb, al-Jabbār, al-Ghaffār or al-ʿAdl. The Names are endless in their effects and distinct from one another, so no gift ever repeats.20, 21, 22, 23
  8. This knowledge is Seth's, supplied to all who speak of it except the Seal. No gift reaches a recipient from outside his own entity, and the chapter ends with a defence of possibility and the prophecy of the last-born child on Seth's footstep, after whom the Hour comes.24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30

Where the sources agree

  • Every gift answers the recipient's preparedness or fixed entity. Even a gift given without spoken request answers an asking by state or by preparedness, and nothing reaches a recipient that his entity did not require.

    al-Qāshānīal-QayṣarīIbn TurkaJāmīBālī ZādeAI translation

  • God's knowledge of the servant follows the known fixed entity, and the unveiled servant draws his knowledge of himself from that same entity. No creature, however, can see the entities in their formless state of nonexistence as God does.

    al-Qāshānīal-QayṣarīIbn TurkaJāmīBālī ZādeAI translation

  • In the self-disclosure of the Essence the seer beholds his own form, shaped by his preparedness, and does not behold the Real's Essence, just as one sees forms in a mirror without seeing the mirror.

    al-Qāshānīal-Jandīal-QayṣarīIbn TurkaBālī ZādeAI translation

  • Prophethood of law-giving ends while sainthood (walāya) does not, and the Seal of the saints follows the Seal of the messengers in the Law while being higher or followed only in knowledge of God.

    al-Qāshānīal-QayṣarīIbn TurkaJāmīBālī Zāde

  • Gifts of the Names do not come from the bare Essence. Each passes through a particular Name that shapes its character, and the mixed divine gift must be specified through a custodian Name.

    al-QayṣarīIbn TurkaJāmīBālī Zādeal-Qāshānī

  • The theologians who make divine knowledge superadded to the Essence reach the highest view open to reason on 'until We know', yet fall short of the people of unveiling.

    al-Qāshānīal-QayṣarīIbn TurkaJāmīBālī Zāde

Live divergences

  • Who the Seal of the saints is and how he ranks relative to Muḥammad.

    • al-Qayṣarī In the niche passage he names Jesus as the Seal of the saints and warns against identifying him with the Mahdī. He also takes the Seal as a manifestation of Muḥammad's own sainthood, so there is no superiority over Muḥammad.14, 15, 19
    • Bālī Zāde The Seal meant is the seal of Muḥammadan sainthood, apparently Ibn ʿArabī himself, and Jesus seals only general sainthood. 'Higher' means precedence in one knowledge only, and the Seal of the saints remains beneath the Seal of the messengers.14, 15, 19
    • al-Qāshānī He compares the Seal to the Mahdī, followed by all prophets and saints in gnosis because his inner reality is Muḥammad's inner reality.15
    • Ibn Turka He takes the passages to indicate that Ibn ʿArabī himself is the Seal of Muḥammadan sainthood, citing his vision at Fez.17

  • Whether knowledge of one's preparedness and fixed entity is possible, and for whom.

    • Ibn Turka Preparedness belongs to the Most Holy Effusion, and its possessor cannot perceive it while duality and otherness remain.6
    • al-Qayṣarī Beginners cannot perceive it, but the perfected who see the fixed entities in God's knowledge can, and a person with a state can infer it from that state.6
    • Jāmī Only the rare few among the perfect perceive it, because knowing it depends on knowing one's fixed entity and its states.2, 6
    • al-Qāshānī Asking by preparedness is the servant's most hidden asking, unknown even to its possessor, though it is always followed by the gift.5

  • Whether the one who receives a vision is his own sole source, or needs another giver.

    • al-Qayṣarī The form seen is one of the seer's own preparednesses; he effuses upon himself, with no need to call it an angel or another perfect human.26
    • Bālī Zāde The fruit belongs to the servant's planting, but the Prophet who delivered the Fuṣūṣ is not the servant's self, and whoever says the servant alone effuses upon himself errs.26
    • Jāmī The knowledge was latent in the seer's own self and appears colored by his mirror; the language of identity is emphatic.26

  • Whether opposites such as knowing and not knowing are held from one respect or from two, and whether they apply to God.

    • al-Qāshānī They are held by different respects: the perfect one knows insofar as he is the Real and is ignorant insofar as he is creature.24, 25
    • Jāmī Opposites are joined from a single respect, and the root, God, knows in His divine level and does not know in the level of His manifestation.24, 25
    • Ibn Turka The Sealing Reality is a confluence of opposites that knows in the very respect in which it is ignorant.24
    • Bālī Zāde Ascribing not-knowing to God is an error; the perfect one's opposites are those of possibility, while the root has only perfect attributes.25

  • Whether God's 'coming to know' in 'until We know' involves real renewal, and where.

    • Jāmī The posteriority of God's knowledge is real because it is essential and not temporal.9
    • Ibn Turka The divine knowing is really renewed with the renewal of the entities in time.9
    • al-Jandī Dependence on the known holds only for knowledge as a relation tied to the Names, never for the Essence in its oneness.9
    • al-Tilimsānī Renewal of knowledge belongs to the perfect human, who shields the Essence from any renewal.9

Left open

  • If every gift already answers the recipient's preparedness and its timing is fixed by decree, what spoken asking accomplishes beyond being an act of obedience is left unexplained.
  • How the claim that the recipient receives nothing from outside his own entity fits Ibn ʿArabī's report that he received the Fuṣūṣ from the Prophet remains disputed.
  • How a Seal of the saints who appears late in time can be the niche for earlier messengers, while himself drawing from Muḥammad and following his Law, is only partly resolved by the appeal to the pre-existent Muḥammadan Reality.
  • Whether the last-born child and the barren end of the cycle describe historical events or a microcosmic figure for the heart, several commentators leave undecided.

AI synthesis (Claude), built from the syntheses of each passage and the commentators' introductions to the chapter; every point names its sources. Public sources only. Each passage's own synthesis is under its translation in the reader.

Across the chapters so far

Themes & resonances of this chapter

What the text is about, and what it connects to across the history of thought. Every connection says what kind of claim it is: a documented lineage, a shared source, a resonance with no influence claimed, or a contrast. Mapped by AI; references are shown only once checked. Across the library

Themes

  • Divine gifts measured by the receiver's preparednessاسْتِعْدادistiʿdādroot عدد
  • Asking, silence and the pure servantسُؤالsuʾālroot سأل
  • The fixed entity and the mystery of destinyعَيْن ثابِتةʿayn thābitaroot عين
  • Seeing one's own form in the mirror of the Realمِرْآةmirʾātroot رأي
  • Self-disclosure in the form of the receiverتَجَلٍّtajallīroot جلو
  • The silence that knowledge givesعِلْمʿilmroot علم
  • The Seal of the saints and the two bricksوَلايَةwalāyaroot ولي
  • Custodian Names and the non-repetition of giftsأَسْماءasmāʾroot سمو
  • Pure and mixed mercyرَحْمةraḥmaroot رحم
What each theme is here
  • Divine gifts measured by the receiver's preparedness. Every gift, of the Essence or of the Names, answers an asking by word, by state or by preparedness, and preparedness is the most hidden asking of all.
  • Asking, silence and the pure servant. Askers are ranked from the hasty to the pure servant, who asks or keeps silent only as his state requires, and whose call is answered at once with 'Here I am' even when the thing asked for is delayed.
  • The fixed entity and the mystery of destiny. God's knowledge of a servant follows the servant's fixed entity, so the servant to whom that entity is unveiled knows himself from the same source as God knows him.
  • Seeing one's own form in the mirror of the Real. In the self-disclosure of the Essence the seer sees only his own form in the Real and never the mirror itself, and the mirror bends the image according to the presence in which it appears.
  • Self-disclosure in the form of the receiver. Self-disclosure from the Essence happens only in the form of the preparedness of the one to whom it is made, and it never repeats.
  • The silence that knowledge gives. The highest knower keeps silent because knowledge gave him silence, and the Seal is 'the knower who is ignorant', described by opposites as his root is.
  • The Seal of the saints and the two bricks. Law-giving prophecy ends while sainthood does not, and the Seal of the saints follows the Law outwardly as the silver brick while taking inwardly from the source of revelation as the gold brick.
  • Custodian Names and the non-repetition of gifts. Each gift of the Names passes through a custodian Name such as the All-Embracing, the Wise or the All-Forgiving, and because every Name is distinct no gift is ever repeated.
  • Pure and mixed mercy. All gifts of the Names are mercy: pure mercy given by the All-Merciful, and mixed mercy, like a bitter medicine followed by relief, given as a divine gift.

Connections

Lineage 4

Documented transmission: a chain of reading, teaching, translation or citation, grounded in a verified reference or in the later text itself.

  • al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī, Khatm al-awliyāʾ (The Seal of the Saints)Sufism · firm

    The idea of a seal of sainthood alongside the seal of prophecy was set out by the ninth-century Sufi al-Tirmidhī, and Ibn ʿArabī read his work and answered his list of questions at length in the Futūḥāt. The doctrine of the Seal in this chapter builds on that earlier treatise.

    Carried byخَتْمkhatmroot ختم“seal”

  • Sayyid Ḥaydar Āmulī, Shiʿi commentary on the Fuṣūṣ and the question of who the Seal isShii and Ismaili thought · probable

    The fourteenth-century Shiʿi thinker Ḥaydar Āmulī read the Fuṣūṣ closely and accepted the doctrine of a seal of sainthood, but assigned the seals of universal and particular sainthood to ʿAlī and to the awaited Mahdī. His reworking of this chapter's teaching is part of its documented reception.

    Carried byوَلايَةwalāyaroot ولي“sainthood”

  • ʿAbd al-Razzāq al-Qāshānī, Sharḥ Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikamAkbarian tradition (after Ibn Arabi) · firm

    Al-Qāshānī's commentary, in the school of Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Qūnawī, systematised this chapter's teaching on the fixed entities, preparedness and self-disclosure in the form of the receiver. Izutsu reconstructs Ibn ʿArabī's thought largely through this commentary.

    Carried byاسْتِعْدادistiʿdādroot عدد“preparedness”

  • The Quran: the All-Merciful and the Merciful of the BasmalaQuran and hadith · firm

    The division of gifts into the pure mercy of the All-Merciful (al-Raḥmān) and the mixed mercy of the divine gift is a reading of the Quran's names of mercy, which open the Basmala and the Fātiḥa. Chittick documents how Ibn ʿArabī derives his teaching on mercy and the names from these Quranic terms.

    Carried byالرَّحْمَنal-Raḥmānroot رحم“the All-Merciful”

    In the library:Q 1:1Q 1:3

Resonance, not influence 8

Resonance, not influence: a structural or thematic likeness. No influence is claimed.

  • Zhuangzi and Laozi: the Way that gives each thing its own natureDaoism and Chinese thought · probable

    Izutsu set Ibn ʿArabī's self-disclosure of the Real beside the Daoist Way, which appears in each thing according to that thing's own nature, so that both describe one source received in endlessly different measures. The comparison is structural, and no contact between the traditions is claimed.

    Carried by“the one source received according to each receiver”

  • Basran Muʿtazila (Abū Hāshim and his school): the non-existent as a 'thing' (shayʾ)Kalam · probable

    The Basran Muʿtazila held that a possible thing is already a 'thing' with its own nature before it exists, which resembles Ibn ʿArabī's entities that are fixed (thābita) in God's knowledge though non-existent. The likeness is in structure only, and this entry makes no claim that he took the idea from them.

    Carried byثُبُوتthubūtroot ثبت“fixity of the non-existent”

    In the library:Inshāʾ al-dawāʾir ¶22

  • G. W. Leibniz, Discourse on Metaphysics (1686): the complete concept of the individualEarly modern philosophy · probable

    For Leibniz the complete concept of each possible individual contains all that will ever happen to it, and God in creating gives existence to what that concept already holds, much as here God gives the servant only what his fixed entity gave God to know. The likeness, which extends to Leibniz's claim that no two things are exactly alike and the chapter's claim that nothing in the divine presence repeats, is structural, with no influence in either direction.

    Carried by“the individual's complete concept”

  • Meister Eckhart, German sermons: 'the eye in which I see God is the same eye in which God sees me'Christian mysticism (Latin West) · probable

    Eckhart's saying that one eye serves both God's seeing and the soul's seeing has the same two-way shape as 'He is your mirror in your seeing yourself, and you are His mirror in His seeing His names.' The resemblance is structural, with no claimed contact.

    Carried byمِرْآةmirʾātroot رأي“reciprocal seeing”

    In the library:Faṣṣ Ādam ¶3Path: The mirror

  • Plotinus, Ennead VI.9.4: knowing the One by a presence above knowledgeNeoplatonism · probable

    Plotinus says the One is grasped by a presence (parousia) that exceeds knowledge and ends the treatise with the rule of the mysteries not to divulge, while Ibn ʿArabī's highest knower ends in a silence that knowledge itself gives him. The two share a close in silence, and no dependence of this chapter on the Arabic Plotinus is claimed.

    Carried byπαρουσίαparousia“presence beyond knowledge”

    In the library:Ennead VI.9, ch. 4Ennead VI.9, ch. 11

  • Ibn Ṭufayl, Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān: polished bodies that receive and return the lightFalsafa (Arabic philosophy) · probable

    Ibn Ṭufayl's classes of bodies, some of which, like polished mirrors, take the sun's form so fully that they seem to show the sun itself, work with the same image of a receiver whose polish decides what appears in it. The two Andalusian authors are near contemporaries, but no dependence is claimed here.

    Carried byمِرْآةmirʾātroot رأي“polished body”

    In the library:Ḥayy (Ibn Ṭufayl) ¶48Ḥayy (Ibn Ṭufayl) ¶49Path: The mirror

  • Ibn ʿArabī (attributed), The Prayer of the Highest Circuit: asking through particular NamesAkbarian tradition (after Ibn Arabi) · suggestive

    The litany asks each protection through a Name suited to it ('O Withholder, O Repeller', 'O Mighty, O Loving'), which puts into practice the chapter's teaching that every gift comes at the hand of a custodian Name. Because the attribution is uncertain, this entry notes the fit without claiming that one text depends on the other.

    Carried byسادِنsādinroot سدن“custodian Name”

    In the library:al-Dawr al-aʿlā ¶3al-Dawr al-aʿlā ¶6Awrād: Sunday ¶11

  • Sethian Gnostics: Seth as the bearer of a divine seedGnosticism · suggestive

    Some late antique Gnostic groups made Seth, whom Eve in Genesis 4:25 calls another seed appointed by God, the ancestor of a spiritual race carrying hidden knowledge, while Ibn ʿArabī makes Seth, 'the grant of God', the holder of the key to the gifts and the model for the last-born child. The likeness is thematic, and no transmission is claimed.

    Carried byهِبةhibaroot وهب“Seth as gift”

Contrast 3

An instructive opposite: the difference teaches something about both.

  • Ashʿarite kalām: God's knowledge as an attribute superadded to the EssenceKalam · firm

    On 'until We know' (Q 47:31) the Ashʿarite theologians place the newness in the attachment of an eternal attribute of knowledge added to the Essence, which Ibn ʿArabī grants is the best reason can reach before setting against it the unveiled knower's view that God's knowledge follows the fixed entity. His Book of Circles works through the same questions about knowledge and non-existents.

    Carried byتَعَلُّقtaʿalluqroot علق“attachment of knowledge to its object”

    In the library:Inshāʾ al-dawāʾir ¶18Inshāʾ al-dawāʾir ¶22

  • Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, Mystical Theology: union through unknowingEarly Christianity and the Fathers · probable

    Dionysius makes unknowing (agnōsia) the way to union with the God beyond all being. Ibn ʿArabī treats the saying 'incapacity to attain perception is perception' as the view of one ignorant in his knowing, and places the highest knower in a silence that, he says, knowledge gave him.

    Carried byعَجْزʿajzroot عجزἀγνωσίαagnōsia“unknowing and incapacity”

  • Jacques Lacan, 'The mirror stage' (1949)Psychoanalysis and depth psychology · suggestive

    For Lacan the child's first self-image in the mirror is a misrecognition that founds an alienated ego. In this chapter seeing one's own form in the mirror of the Real is the furthest true knowledge open to a creature, although the image is bent by the presence in which it appears and the mirror itself stays unseen.

    Carried byصُورةṣūraroot صور“one's own form in the mirror”

Claude (opus) via Claude Code, headless, no web access, 2026-09-28. A reference with a check was found and checked with a web search.

The whole Fuṣūṣ

Status of this text

The text in this reader is a working edition, not an authoritative one. It exists to be read and studied closely, and it answers to the scholarly editions listed below. Where we depart from them, or they from each other, this page says so.Since 2026-09-28 its letters follow the manuscript read before Ibn ʿArabī (al-Qūnawī's copy) wherever both critical editions agree, and its vowels were corrected to them; elsewhere it keeps its earlier base. The comparison was automatic and the AI vowelling of ¶12–13 and the remaining decisions have not yet been reviewed by a person.

Authorities and witnesses, in order of weight

  1. Golfetto (ed.), Brill 2024, based on the earliest extant manuscript: the copy al-Qūnawī read before Ibn ʿArabī, with the author's certificates. Fully vowelled, with a manuscript apparatus. The reference for disputed readings. In copyright: compared in the private layer only.
  2. Niẓām al-Dīn Aḥmad (ed.), Cairo (Maktabat Miṣr), a second critical edition of the same manuscript, fully vowelled, with notes on where the manuscript itself carries vowels or marginal corrections. Independent of Golfetto as an editorial reading. In copyright: compared in the private layer only.
  3. ʿAfīfī, Cairo 1946, the long-standard edition, from a different manuscript base, through the OpenITI OCR (witness B).
  4. The commentators, readers of the text in manuscript from al-Qūnawī's circle onward, who sometimes report readings (listed below).
  5. M. Haj Yousef's digital text (ibnalarabi.com), typed (witness A): our base before the re-base on the manuscript, and still where the editors differ. It follows ʿAfīfī's readings.
  6. Our working copy: vowelled from witness A, with AI vowelling where it was missing (¶12–13, marked in the reader). Derived, not a witness.

Versions

24 layers, each with its licence

The original

Golfetto's critical edition (Brill 2024)M. A. Golfetto · 2024Copyrighted: cited only
By
M. A. Golfetto (editor) · 2024
Source:
M. A. Golfetto (ed.), Ibn al-ʿArabī's Kitāb Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam wa-Khuṣūṣ al-Kalim: Edition Based on the Earliest Extant Manuscript (Leiden: Brill, 2024). From al-Qūnawī's copy read before Ibn ʿArabī, with the author's certificates (Evkaf Müzesi 1933) · link ↗
In the reader:
Cited only. Where it was compared, its readings appear only in the private layer; the public pages give counts and individually cited adopted readings
Licence:
In copyright (© Brill): compared privately, cited only, never shown
Notes
Based on the earliest extant manuscript: the copy al-Qūnawī read before Ibn ʿArabī, with the author's certificates. Fully vowelled, with a manuscript apparatus. The reference for disputed readings, first in order of weight. In copyright: compared in the private layer only. Compared word by word for chapter 1 (Faṣṣ Ādam) only; for the other chapters no licensed copy was available, it was not consulted, and every reading adopted from Niẓām al-Dīn's edition waits to be confirmed against it.
Niẓām al-Dīn Aḥmad's critical edition (Cairo)al-Sayyid Niẓām al-Dīn Aḥmad · UNVERIFIEDCopyrighted: cited only
By
al-Sayyid Niẓām al-Dīn Aḥmad (editor) · UNVERIFIED
Source:
al-Sayyid Niẓām al-Dīn Aḥmad (ed.), Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam: taḥqīq li-aqdam makhṭūṭ (Cairo: Maktabat Miṣr, n.d. (UNVERIFIED)). Base: the same Evkaf Müzesi 1933 manuscript as Golfetto (siglum ق), with the Şehid Ali Paşa and Carullah manuscripts; notes where ق itself carries vowels or marginal corrections; cites al-Qayṣarī on readings
In the reader:
Cited only: counts, and each reading adopted from it listed one by one on the chapter's apparatus page
Licence:
In copyright (© the editor, reproduction forbidden): compared privately, cited only
Notes
A second critical edition of the same manuscript, fully vowelled, with notes on where the manuscript itself carries vowels or marginal corrections. Independent of Golfetto as an editorial reading. In copyright: compared in the private layer only. Its pages were read from page images by AI (in full for chapter 1; differences only for the others); see each chapter's own edition record.
UNVERIFIED:
The year of Niẓām al-Dīn Aḥmad's edition is not recorded in the repo.
ʿAfīfī's edition (Cairo 1946), through the OpenITI OCR (witness B)Abū l-ʿAlāʾ ʿAfīfī, OpenITI · 1946Open licence
By
Abū l-ʿAlāʾ ʿAfīfī (editor); OpenITI (Kraken OCR (0638IbnCarabi.FususHikam.Kraken21042913-ara1)) · 1946
Source:
Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam, ed. Abū l-ʿAlāʾ ʿAfīfī (Cairo, 1946; vol. 1 the text, vol. 2 his Taʿlīqāt), the long-standard edition, from a different manuscript base. Used through OpenITI 0638IbnCarabi.FususHikam.Kraken21042913-ara1, an unvowelled OCR of an ʿAfīfī-based edition · link ↗
In the reader:
Not shown as a text: used to check the working edition, and to settle places where the worksheet stands alone against witness A
Licence:
OpenITI digital text: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. ʿAfīfī's own editorial matter is not reproduced
Notes
Third in order of weight. Our former base (witness A) follows ʿAfīfī's readings; Golfetto's apparatus marks them ع. A digital transcription of ʿAfīfī with his variant markers (B′) and a scan of the print were also used, privately, for chapter 1; neither is a new witness.
M. Haj Yousef's digital text (witness A)Mohamed Ali Haj Yousef, OpenITI · UNVERIFIEDOpen licence
By
Mohamed Ali Haj Yousef (digital text (ibnalarabi.com)); OpenITI (barzakh IAC00077) · UNVERIFIED
Source:
OpenITI barzakh 0638IbnCarabi.FususHikam.IAC00077-ara1, typed, partly vowelled; copied from ibnalarabi.com/fusus/matn.php · link ↗
In the reader:
Our base before the re-base on the manuscript, and still where the critical editions differ or were not consulted; its readings are given in the word card
Licence:
OpenITI: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0; the site states © 1999–2024. Used for private, non-commercial study; to be re-checked before public launch
Notes
Typed (witness A). It follows ʿAfīfī's readings. Fifth in order of weight, after the commentators.
UNVERIFIED:
The date of Haj Yousef's digital text (and of the OpenITI copy used) is not recorded in the repo.
The commentators' quoted lemmata (witness C)al-Jandī, al-Qāshānī, al-Qayṣarī, al-Tilimsānī, Ibn Turka, Jāmī, Bālī Zāde · 7th/13th–11th/17th c.Open licence
By
al-Jandī, al-Qāshānī, al-Qayṣarī, al-Tilimsānī, Ibn Turka, Jāmī, Bālī Zāde (readers of the text in manuscript) · 7th/13th–11th/17th c.
Source:
The commentaries aligned to each chapter (see Commentaries), from OpenITI barzakh pinned to commit 6b19bdc · link ↗
In the reader:
Their notes on readings are listed on each chapter's apparatus page, each linked to its line
Licence:
Classical texts; OpenITI digital texts CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Notes
Readers of the text in manuscript from al-Qūnawī's circle onward, who sometimes report readings (fī baʿḍ al-nusakh …) or how a word may be vowelled. Fourth in order of weight.

Our edition

The vowelled working copy (worksheet "NEW FUSUS AL-HIKAM", W)The editor of this reader · UNVERIFIEDOur work
By
The editor of this reader (worksheet (a vowelled copy of witness A, divided into reading passages)) · UNVERIFIED
In the reader:
Its vowels are the base of our vowels, corrected to the critical editions
Licence:
Our working copy; derived, not a witness
Notes
Derived from witness A; never an authority. Each chapter has its own tab and export (see the chapter's edition record). Where it stands alone against witnesses A and B, A/B are adopted by rule.
UNVERIFIED:
Who vowelled the worksheet, and when, is not recorded in the repo.
Our working edition of Faṣṣ ShīthClaude (AI), The editor of this reader · 2026-09-28Our work
By
Claude (AI) (readings of the edition's page images, collation and decisions by rule); The editor of this reader (editorial decisions (rules; the re-base)) · 2026-09-28
Source:
Worksheet W, tab "2. SETH", col. F "Tashkeel" (≈0.6 marks per letter; function words often bare); scripts/fusus/edition_ch.py 2, rebase_ch.py 2; text record docs/texts/fusus-02-shith.md
In the reader:
In full, 30 passages. Consonants: the manuscript read before Ibn ʿArabī (al-Qūnawī's copy) where Niẓām al-Dīn reads it and a second reading confirmed it; elsewhere witness A. Vowels: the working copy, corrected to that edition. Every adopted reading and decision is listed on the apparatus page
Licence:
Ours
Made by:
UNVERIFIED (the text record says "AI agents" / "AI readers" without naming the model), 2026-09-28 (AI reading of Niẓām al-Dīn's page images, differences only, each difference read twice; adopted by rule (rebase_ch.py))
Notes
A working edition, not an authoritative one: it exists to be read and studied closely, and answers to the scholarly editions. Re-based on the manuscript 2026-09-28 (scripts/fusus/rebase_ch.py 2) through Niẓām al-Dīn's edition alone, PDF pp. 135–153 (printed pp. 32–50), 19 pages, differences only: AI readers recorded only the words where the print differs from ours (vowels 32, letters 40, words the print lacks 14, words it adds 7); an independent AI reader re-read every difference, and a difference was adopted only where both readings agree, never inside a Quran quotation or an editor's bracketed supplement. Adopted: 58 letter changes and 31 vowel changes; not adopted 4. 30 of the editor's notes on the manuscript are recorded privately. Golfetto was not consulted for this chapter: every adopted reading is in the review queue, to confirm against it. Before the re-base, places where the worksheet stands alone against witnesses A and B were decided by rule for A/B (data/sources/fass-*-decisions.json). Not yet reviewed by a person.
UNVERIFIED:
The model of the AI readers that compared Niẓām al-Dīn's pages for chapter 2 is not named in the text record.

Published translations

R. W. J. Austin, The Bezels of WisdomR. W. J. Austin · UNVERIFIEDCopyrighted: cited only
By
R. W. J. Austin (translator) · UNVERIFIED
Source:
R. W. J. Austin (tr.), Ibn al-ʿArabī: The Bezels of Wisdom (UNVERIFIED: publisher and year not recorded in the repo)
In the reader:
Never shown; the AI translator was told not to reproduce or imitate it
Licence:
In copyright: private study layer only, cited only
UNVERIFIED:
Austin's Bezels of Wisdom: publisher and year are not recorded in the repo.
Caner Dagli, The Ringstones of WisdomCaner K. Dagli · 2004Copyrighted: cited only
By
Caner K. Dagli (translator) · 2004
Source:
Caner Dagli, The Ringstones of Wisdom (2004) (publisher UNVERIFIED)
In the reader:
Never shown; compared privately in the triangulation of chapters 5, 6 and 15, where differences are described in our words with short cited quotations
Licence:
In copyright: private study layer only, cited only
UNVERIFIED:
Dagli's Ringstones of Wisdom: publisher not recorded in the repo.
Binyamin Abrahamov, Ibn al-ʿArabī's Fuṣūṣ al-ḤikamBinyamin Abrahamov · 2015Copyrighted: cited only
By
Binyamin Abrahamov (translator) · 2015
Source:
Binyamin Abrahamov, Ibn al-ʿArabī's Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam (2015) (publisher UNVERIFIED)
In the reader:
Never shown; compared privately in the triangulation of chapter 4
Licence:
In copyright: private study layer only, cited only
UNVERIFIED:
Abrahamov's translation: publisher not recorded in the repo.
Bursevi (English translation of his commentary)UNVERIFIED · UNVERIFIEDCopyrighted: cited only
By
UNVERIFIED (translator) · UNVERIFIED
Source:
Named "Bursevi" among the published translations held in the private layer (docs/ROADMAP.md; the chapter 1 text record); edition not recorded (UNVERIFIED)
In the reader:
Never shown
Licence:
In copyright: private study layer only, cited only
Notes
Possibly Bulent Rauf's English version made through Bursevi's Turkish commentary (docs/research/market-landscape.md names such a version); not confirmed.
UNVERIFIED:
The "Bursevi" translation in the private layer: translator, title, publisher and year are not recorded in the repo.
Portuguese working translation (Engastes de Sabedoria)UNVERIFIED · UNVERIFIEDCopyrighted: cited only
By
UNVERIFIED (translator) · UNVERIFIED
Source:
NEW FUSUS AL-HIKAM (Engastes de Sabedoria), a Portuguese working translation with the Arabic; rights assigned to Logos Editora
In the reader:
Never shown; compared privately in the triangulation of chapters 4, 5, 6 and 15
Licence:
In copyright (assigned to Logos Editora): private study layer only
UNVERIFIED:
The Portuguese working translation: translator and date are not recorded in the repo.

AI layers

English translationClaude (AI) · 2026-09-28Our work
By
Claude (AI) (translator) · 2026-09-28
In the reader:
Under each passage
Licence:
Ours; marked AI
Made by:
Claude (Opus; exact version not recorded), 2026-09-28 (first commit of app/src/content/ai/fusus-2.json (the file has no generatedOn); scripts/fusus/ai_translate_ch.py 2)
Notes
Translated from the Arabic with a fixed Akbarian glossary (headless, minimal context); told not to reproduce or imitate any published translation (Austin, Dagli, Abrahamov, Burckhardt). Not a published translation; not scholar-reviewed.
Word glossesClaude (AI) · 2026-09-28Our work
By
Claude (AI) (glosses) · 2026-09-28
In the reader:
One gloss per word, in the word card
Licence:
Ours; marked AI
Made by:
Claude (Opus; exact version not recorded), 2026-09-28 (made with the translation, same file and call (app/src/content/ai/fusus-2.json); date = its first commit)
Term notes, key words and their historyClaude (AI) · 2026-09-28Our work
By
Claude (AI) (term notes) · 2026-09-28
In the reader:
Term notes in the word card; the 30 key words of the chapter, each with the tradition's readings in order of death
Licence:
Ours; marked AI
Made by:
Claude (Opus; exact version not recorded), 2026-09-28 (made with the translation (app/src/content/ai/fusus-2.json); date = its first commit)
Notes
The term notes are AI, made with the translation. The key words (app/src/data/fusus-2-keywords.json) are selected by rule from them and from frequency; their history (fusus-2-term-history.json) quotes Ibn ʿArabī's Iṣṭilāḥ, the aligned commentaries and al-Jurjānī from OpenITI, with AI English.
Wordplay and Quran readingsClaude (AI) · 2026-09-28Our work
By
Claude (AI) (readings) · 2026-09-28
In the reader:
Anchored to the words they read
Licence:
Ours; marked AI
Made by:
Claude (Opus; exact version not recorded), 2026-09-28 (first commit of app/src/content/ai/fusus-2-intertext.json; the file's own generatedOn (2026-09-28) is a constant written by scripts/fusus/ai_intertext_ch.py, not the run date)
Notes
AI readings. Each phrase is anchored in the text; each Quran reference was checked against the Tanzil text (the verse exists and shares words with the phrase); items failing the mechanical checks were dropped.
English of the commentariesClaude (AI) · 2026-09-28Our work
By
Claude (AI) (translator) · 2026-09-28
In the reader:
Beside each commentary entry
Licence:
Ours; marked AI
Made by:
Claude (Sonnet; exact version not recorded), 2026-09-28 (scripts/fusus/ai_translate_commentaries_ch.py 2 (model sonnet); date = first commit of app/public/data/commentaries/fusus-2.json)
Notes
Commentators aligned in this chapter: al-Qāshānī, al-Jandī, al-Qayṣarī, al-Tilimsānī, Ibn Turka, Jāmī, Bālī Zāde, al-Qūnawī; 1125 entries translated, plus the introductions. Keyed by a hash of lemma and comment, so re-alignment keeps it. The introductions' English was trimmed on 4 Oct 2026 when the running page header was removed (not re-translated).
Synthesis of the interpretationsClaude (AI) · 2026-09-28Our work
By
Claude (AI) (synthesis) · 2026-09-28
In the reader:
Per passage, and for the chapter (on the apparatus page)
Licence:
Ours; marked AI
Made by:
Claude (Opus; exact version not recorded), 2026-09-28 (generatedOn of app/src/content/synthesis/fusus-2.json (scripts/synthesis.py))
Notes
From public sources only: our AI translation, the classical commentaries (with our AI English), our intertext notes and key words. No copyrighted translation was given to the model.
Themes and resonancesClaude (AI) · 2026-09-28Our work
By
Claude (AI) (map of themes and connections) · 2026-09-28
In the reader:
On the apparatus page (chapter level) and per passage
Licence:
Ours; marked AI
Made by:
Claude (Opus; exact version not recorded), 2026-09-28 (generatedOn of app/src/content/resonances/fusus-2.json (scripts/resonances.py))
Notes
Made by the method in docs/RESONANCES-METHOD.md, without web access. Every connection states its kind; parallels are resonances, not claims of influence. External references are shown only after an agent verified them with a web search.

Automatic analysis

Word analysis: CAMeL ToolsCAMeL Tools 1.6 (CAMeL Lab, NYU Abu Dhabi), scripts/fusus/analyze.py, analyze_ch.py · 2026-09-27Open licence
By
CAMeL Tools 1.6 (CAMeL Lab, NYU Abu Dhabi) (morphological analyser (calima-msa-r13 + MLE)); scripts/fusus/analyze.py, analyze_ch.py (our pipeline) · 2026-09-27
Source:
CAMeL Tools 1.6, calima-msa-r13 database with the MLE disambiguator, constrained by the text's vowelling (scripts/fusus/analyze.py; analyze_ch.py strips the Quranic annotation marks of the verbatim Tanzil quotations before lookup) · link ↗
In the reader:
Lemma, root, part of speech and clitics in the word card, with a grey "Automatic" badge; words where the analysis disagrees with the vowels are flagged
Licence:
Code MIT; calima-msa-r13 database GPL v2 (used offline to produce our analysis layer, not redistributed)
Notes
Automatic, not generative AI. The date is the first commit of chapter 1's data; each chapter was analysed when it was established.
Quran quotations, matched and given verbatim (Tanzil)Tanzil Project, scripts/fusus/edition_ch.py, scripts/quran_refs.py · 2026-09-28Open licence
By
Tanzil Project (Uthmani Quran text); scripts/fusus/edition_ch.py, scripts/quran_refs.py (automatic matching) · 2026-09-28
Source:
Tanzil Uthmani text, reproduced verbatim; quotations found by an automatic match on the consonantal skeleton (≥ 0.8, letter-exact for short quotations), corrections recorded per chapter (quoteOverrides) · link ↗
In the reader:
Quran quotations in the text are given in the verbatim Tanzil text; listed on each apparatus page
Licence:
Tanzil: free to use with attribution and a link to tanzil.net; the text may not be modified
Notes
Automatic, not generative AI. Date: first commit of app/src/data/quran-refs/fusus-1.json. Adapted quotations are kept in Ibn ʿArabī's wording and marked.

Commentaries

al-Qūnawīal-Fukūk fī asrār mustanadāt ḥikam al-FuṣūṣOpen licence
Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Qūnawī (d. 673/1274), al-Fukūk fī asrār mustanadāt ḥikam al-Fuṣūṣ
Edition:
Not recorded by OpenITI: the barzakh file has no .yml metadata record, and the ibnalarabi.com page it was taken from names no printed edition.
Licence:
OpenITI distributes its texts under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0; ibnalarabi.com states © 1999–2024. The commentary itself is a classical work in the public domain; the edition behind the digital text is unidentified.
Taken from:
ibnalarabi.com/fusus/qunawi.php. The OpenITI file's own header (#META# source) names this page: the text was copied from the Ibn ʿArabī website directed by Dr Mohamed Ali Haj Yousef. Every IAC-coded file used here names a page of that site in its header; barzakh is OpenITI's repository for texts awaiting integration into the corpus.
al-TilimsānīSharḥ Fuṣūṣ al-ḤikamOpen licence
ʿAfīf al-Dīn al-Tilimsānī (d. 690/1291), Sharḥ Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam
Edition:
Not recorded by OpenITI: the barzakh file has no .yml metadata record, and the ibnalarabi.com page it was taken from names no printed edition.
Licence:
OpenITI distributes its texts under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0; ibnalarabi.com states © 1999–2024. The commentary itself is a classical work in the public domain; the edition behind the digital text is unidentified.
Taken from:
ibnalarabi.com/fusus/tilmasani.php. The OpenITI file's own header (#META# source) names this page: the text was copied from the Ibn ʿArabī website directed by Dr Mohamed Ali Haj Yousef. Every IAC-coded file used here names a page of that site in its header; barzakh is OpenITI's repository for texts awaiting integration into the corpus.
al-JandīSharḥ Fuṣūṣ al-ḤikamOpen licence
Muʾayyad al-Dīn al-Jandī (d. c. 691/1291), Sharḥ Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam
Edition:
Not recorded by OpenITI: the barzakh file has no .yml metadata record, and the ibnalarabi.com page it was taken from names no printed edition.
Licence:
OpenITI distributes its texts under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0; ibnalarabi.com states © 1999–2024. The commentary itself is a classical work in the public domain; the edition behind the digital text is unidentified.
Taken from:
ibnalarabi.com/fusus/jandi.php. The OpenITI file's own header (#META# source) names this page: the text was copied from the Ibn ʿArabī website directed by Dr Mohamed Ali Haj Yousef. Every IAC-coded file used here names a page of that site in its header; barzakh is OpenITI's repository for texts awaiting integration into the corpus.
al-QāshānīSharḥ Fuṣūṣ al-ḤikamOpen licence
ʿAbd al-Razzāq al-Qāshānī (d. 730/1330), Sharḥ Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam
Edition:
Not recorded by OpenITI: the barzakh file has no .yml metadata record, and the ibnalarabi.com page it was taken from names no printed edition.
Licence:
OpenITI distributes its texts under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0; ibnalarabi.com states © 1999–2024. The commentary itself is a classical work in the public domain; the edition behind the digital text is unidentified.
Taken from:
ibnalarabi.com/fusus/qashani.php. The OpenITI file's own header (#META# source) names this page: the text was copied from the Ibn ʿArabī website directed by Dr Mohamed Ali Haj Yousef. Every IAC-coded file used here names a page of that site in its header; barzakh is OpenITI's repository for texts awaiting integration into the corpus.
al-QayṣarīMaṭlaʿ khuṣūṣ al-kilam fī maʿānī Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikamOpen licence
Dāwūd al-Qayṣarī (d. 751/1350), Maṭlaʿ khuṣūṣ al-kilam fī maʿānī Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam
Edition:
Not recorded by OpenITI: the barzakh file has no .yml metadata record, and the ibnalarabi.com page it was taken from names no printed edition.
Licence:
OpenITI distributes its texts under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0; ibnalarabi.com states © 1999–2024. The commentary itself is a classical work in the public domain; the edition behind the digital text is unidentified.
Taken from:
ibnalarabi.com/fusus/qaysari.php. The OpenITI file's own header (#META# source) names this page: the text was copied from the Ibn ʿArabī website directed by Dr Mohamed Ali Haj Yousef. Every IAC-coded file used here names a page of that site in its header; barzakh is OpenITI's repository for texts awaiting integration into the corpus.
Ibn TurkaSharḥ Fuṣūṣ al-ḤikamOpen licence
Ṣāʾin al-Dīn Ibn Turka (d. 835/1432), Sharḥ Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam
Edition:
Not recorded by OpenITI: the barzakh file has no .yml metadata record, and the ibnalarabi.com page it was taken from names no printed edition.
Licence:
OpenITI distributes its texts under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0; ibnalarabi.com states © 1999–2024. The commentary itself is a classical work in the public domain; the edition behind the digital text is unidentified.
Taken from:
ibnalarabi.com/fusus/taraka.php. The OpenITI file's own header (#META# source) names this page: the text was copied from the Ibn ʿArabī website directed by Dr Mohamed Ali Haj Yousef. Every IAC-coded file used here names a page of that site in its header; barzakh is OpenITI's repository for texts awaiting integration into the corpus.
JāmīSharḥ Fuṣūṣ al-ḤikamOpen licence
Nūr al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Jāmī (d. 898/1492), Sharḥ Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam
Edition:
Not recorded by OpenITI: the barzakh file has no .yml metadata record, and the ibnalarabi.com page it was taken from names no printed edition.
Licence:
OpenITI distributes its texts under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0; ibnalarabi.com states © 1999–2024. The commentary itself is a classical work in the public domain; the edition behind the digital text is unidentified.
Taken from:
ibnalarabi.com/fusus/jami_matn.php. The OpenITI file's own header (#META# source) names this page: the text was copied from the Ibn ʿArabī website directed by Dr Mohamed Ali Haj Yousef. Every IAC-coded file used here names a page of that site in its header; barzakh is OpenITI's repository for texts awaiting integration into the corpus.
Bālī ZādeSharḥ Fuṣūṣ al-ḤikamOpen licence
Muṣṭafā b. Sulaymān Bālī Zāde (d. 1073/1663), Sharḥ Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam
Edition:
Not recorded by OpenITI: the barzakh file has no .yml metadata record, and the ibnalarabi.com page it was taken from names no printed edition.
Licence:
OpenITI distributes its texts under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0; ibnalarabi.com states © 1999–2024. The commentary itself is a classical work in the public domain; the edition behind the digital text is unidentified.
Taken from:
ibnalarabi.com/fusus/bali.php. The OpenITI file's own header (#META# source) names this page: the text was copied from the Ibn ʿArabī website directed by Dr Mohamed Ali Haj Yousef. Every IAC-coded file used here names a page of that site in its header; barzakh is OpenITI's repository for texts awaiting integration into the corpus.
BosnevîTecelliyât-ı ʿarâʾis en-nuṣûṣ fî menaṣṣât ḥikem el-FuṣûṣPublic domain
ʿAbdallāh al-Bosnawī (Abdullah Bosnevî, d. 1054/1644), Tecelliyât-ı ʿarâʾis en-nuṣûṣ fî menaṣṣât ḥikem el-Fuṣûṣ
Edition:
Istanbul, 1290/1873 (Ottoman Turkish), vol. 1; the scan of Princeton University Library's copy at HathiTrust (catalog record 008919315).
Licence:
Public domain (1873 print); our OCR collation is ours. Each comment links to its page in the HathiTrust scan.
Taken from:
HathiTrust. Full view of the scanned volume.

Audio

Machine voice: Arabicar-SA-HamedNeural (Azure AI Speech) · 2026-09-28Our work
By
ar-SA-HamedNeural (Azure AI Speech) (text-to-speech) · 2026-09-28
In the reader:
Each passage can be heard, each word highlighted as it is read
Licence:
Ours; generated on Azure's paid tier, whose terms allow the audio output to be published
Made by:
ar-SA-HamedNeural (Azure AI Speech), 2026-09-28 (first commit of app/src/data/fusus-2-audio.json)
Notes
Machine voice reading the vowelled Arabic; a reading aid, not a recitation.
Machine voice: Englishen-GB-RyanNeural (Azure AI Speech) · 2026-09-28Our work
By
en-GB-RyanNeural (Azure AI Speech) (text-to-speech) · 2026-09-28
In the reader:
Each passage can be heard, each word highlighted as it is read
Licence:
Ours; generated on Azure's paid tier, whose terms allow the audio output to be published
Made by:
en-GB-RyanNeural (Azure AI Speech), 2026-09-28 (first commit of app/src/data/fusus-2-audio-en.json)
Notes
Machine voice reading the AI English translation; a reading aid, not a recitation.

✦ marks AI that no person has reviewed yet; ✧ marks AI reviewed by a named person. Copyrighted works are cited, never shown. All sources · How texts are established

Checked against a critical edition

The edition is in copyright. We compared our text with it privately, word by word (differences only, AI-read twice); only these counts are published. Golfetto (Brill 2024) was not consulted for this chapter.

  • Of our 2289 words, checked on 19 pages of Niẓām al-Dīn's edition of the same manuscript: 58 of its readings and the vowelling of 31 words were adopted where two independent readings agreed; 4 were not adopted.
  • 30 notes of the editor on the manuscript are recorded privately.
  • Every adopted reading is listed below and awaits review by a person; Golfetto's edition was not consulted for this chapter.

Collated 2026-09-28.

Consonantal decisions (13)

Our vowelling against the authoritative edition

The word-by-word comparison with Golfetto's edition is available in the private layer.

Readings discussed by the commentators (22)

Where a commentator reports another manuscript reading, or how a word may be vowelled.

Vowelling supplied or questioned by AI

Passages ¶12–13 were left (partly) unvowelled in our working copy; their vowels were completed by AI, with every letter checked unchanged, and are underlined in amber in the reader. The AI also flagged these places where the working copy's vowels look wrong or where the reading is genuinely open. None has been applied.

Quotations

Mechanical clean-up (1)

sukūn on long ū (1)