The commentators side by side

﴿فالأدنى صاحب التخيل يقول : " ما نَعْبُدُهُمْ إِلَّا لِيُقَرِّبُونا إِلَى الله زُلْفى "﴾

لأنه تخيل في كل واحد منها إلها صغيرا وتخيل ما سمى الله إلها متعينا أكبر ، فلم يعبد إلا ما تخيله من الآلهة المجعولة

for he imagined, in each one of them, a small god, and imagined that which he named "Allāh" as a determinate, greater god; so he worshipped nothing but what he had imagined of the fabricated gods

﴿فالأدنى صاحب التخيل يقول: "ما نعبدهم إلا ليقربونا إلى الله زلفى" والأعلى العالم يقول: "إنما إلهكم إله واحد فله أسلموا". حيث ظهر﴾

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

أي، غير العالم من العابدين يقول: (هؤلاء شفعاؤنا عند الله). ووسائط، نعبدهم ليقربونا عنده تقريبا تاما. والأعلى العالم يقول: (إنما إلهكم إله واحد). وله أسماء ومظاهر مختلفة، فأسلموا له و انقادوه واعبدوه في جميع مظاهره الروحانية والجسمانية. كما قال تعالى: (فإلهكم إله واحد فله أسلموا، وبشر المخبتين الذين إذا ذكر الله وجلت قلوبهم والصابرين على ما أصابهم والمقيمي الصلاة ومما رزقناهم ينفقون.)

that is, the non-knower among worshippers says: these are our intercessors with God, and mediators; we worship them so that they may bring us fully near to Him. While the highest, the knower, says: "Your God is but One God" - and He has various names and manifestations, so submit to Him and yield to Him and worship Him in all His spiritual and corporeal manifestations. As He, exalted, said: "So your God is one God; therefore submit to Him. And give good tidings to the humble-hearted, those who, when God is mentioned, their hearts tremble, and those who are patient over what befalls them, and those who maintain prayer, and who spend of what We have provided them."

﴿فالأدنى صاحب التخيّل﴾

لما كان معبوده إنّما هو المتخيّل - لا غير - ولا يسمّى الأصنام إلَّا بأسمائهم الطبيعيّة ، ولا يظهر غير ذلك

since his worshipped object is only the imagined thing—nothing else—and he does not name the idols except by their natural names, and nothing beyond that appears to him

﴿صاحب التخيل يقول"ما نعبدهم إلا ليقربونا إلى الله زلفى"﴾

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

[الزمر : 3]، فجعلهم قبلة لعبادته وإن كانت تقربا إلى الله

[Sūrat al-Zumar 39:3] — thus he made them the direction (qibla) of his worship, even though it was [meant as] a means of nearness to God

﴿صاحب التخيل﴾

عطف بيان إذا سئل وقيل : إذا كان حجرة لأي شيء عبدتم (يقول) في جوابه

— in apposition — if asked, and it is said: if it is a stone, for what reason do you worship it? — (he says) in his answer,

﴿ما نَعْبُدُهُمْ إِلَّا لِيُقَرِّبُونا إِلَى الله زُلْفى﴾

والأعلى يقول : " فَإِلهُكُمْ إِله ٌ واحِدٌ فَلَه ُ أَسْلِمُوا " حيث ظهر

While the highest says: 'Your God is one God, so to Him submit' — wherever He manifested.

﴿وما نعبدهم إلا ليقربونا إلى الله زلفى﴾

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

فجعلوهم من المقربين عند الله والمقربين لغيرهم، وأثبتوا لهم الشفاعة كما قالوا: (هؤلاء شفعاؤنا عند الله). والتقرب من الله والشفاعة عنده لا يكون إلالمن له الصفات الكمالية. فلو أتى بالتشبيه لصدقوه وقبلوا كلامه أيضا في التنزيه. ولكن دعاهم جهارا، أي، ظاهرا إلى الظاهر المطلق من حيث صورهم و ظواهرهم ليعبدوا الله بظواهرهم بالعبادات البدنية والإتيان بالأعمال الحسية. ثم دعاهم إسرارا، أي، باطنا إلى الباطن المطلق من حيث عقولهم وروحانيتها ليعبدوا الباطن المطلق عبادة الملأ الأعلى والملائكة المقربين. فلما لم يقبلوا دعوته،لرسوخ المحبة للمظاهر الجزئية التي هي معبوداتهم في قلوبهم وبواطنهم، قال

— thus making them among those brought near to God, and bringing others near [to God] as well, and affirming intercession for them, as they said: "These are our intercessors with God." Nearness to God and intercession with Him belong only to one who possesses the perfective attributes. Had he brought tashbīh, they would have believed him and accepted his speech in tanzīh as well. But he called them openly (jahran) — that is, manifestly, to the absolute Manifest (al-ẓāhir al-muṭlaq) from the aspect of their forms and their outward [aspects], that they might worship God with their outward [aspects] through bodily acts of worship and the performance of sensory works. Then he called them secretly (isrāran) — that is, inwardly, to the absolute Nonmanifest (al-bāṭin al-muṭlaq) from the aspect of their intellects and their spirituality, that they might worship the absolute Nonmanifest with the worship of the Highest Assembly and the angels brought near. But when they did not accept his call, because of the entrenchment in their hearts and inward selves of love for the partial loci of manifestation which were their objects of worship, he said:

﴿ما نعبدهم إلا ليقربونا إلى الله زلفى﴾

(الزمر:3). ثم رجع إلى الأعلى عقلا من هذا، فقال: والأعلى العالم يقول: "فإلهكم إله واحد له أسلموا وبشر المخبتين" (الحج: 34). ثم أخذ يبين حال المخبتين ، فقال: هم الذين خبت نار طبيعتهم أي خمدت حتى قالوا في كل صنم من الأصنام: إنه إله ولم يقولوا: طبيعة حجر أو خشب أو كوكب. ثم أخذ يبين حال هؤلاء وهو الأدنون، فعظمهم في تفسير قوله تعالى فيهم: وقد أضلوا كثيرا" (نوح: 24) أي حيروهم إذ كان هؤلاء المذكورون يرون الوحدة في عين الكثرة فصرحوا بما رأوه. فأضلوا بذلك قوما کثيرين ممن لا يرى الوحدة في عين الكثرة بل يرى الكثرة ولا يرى الوحدة لقصورهم في الإدراك. فقد حيروهم إذن بالوجوه الثابتة للواحد، فإنه ما يتكثر بالوجوه كما لا يتكثر الشخص الواحد بأنه نصف الإثنين وثلث الثلاثة وربع الأربعة. وكذلك إلى غير النهاية وبأنه أب لزيد وأخ لعمرو وولد لخالد وأشباه ذلك، فهذه وأمور أخرى مما لا يتناهى هي وجوه كلها لا تكثر الواحد. ثم أخذ في اعتبار قوله "ولا تزد الظالمين" ففسر الظالمين بالذين وضعوا أنفسهم في بعض الاعتبارات في غير موضعها وهم خلفاء الله الكمل لأنهم الذين أورثوا الكتاب. قال: وهم أول الثلاثة ويعني بالثلاثة قوله تعالى: "فمنهم ظالم لنفسه" وهؤلاء هم الأولون لأنهم قدموا على الفريقين الذين ذكروا بعدهم وهم المقتصد والسابق بالخيرات . ثم أخذ يفسر قوله تعالى: "ضلالا" من قوله: "لا تزد الظالمين إلا ضلالا" فأشار إلى الضلال هنا بأنه الحيرة في الحق تعالى من قوله، عليه السلام: «رب زدني فيك تحير " فإن لم يكن هذا حديثا عن محمد رسول الله ، صلى الله عليه وسلم، فقد قاله المحمديون وهم أمته، عليه السلام. قال: وقوله تعالى

(al-Zumar: 3). Then he returned to the one of higher intellect than this, saying: the higher one, the knower, says: "Your god is one God; to Him submit, and give good tidings to the humble ones (al-mukhbitīn)" (al-Ḥajj: 34). Then he began to clarify the state of the humble ones, saying: they are those whose fire of nature has died down — that is, subsided — such that they said of every idol: "It is a god," and did not say "the nature of a stone, wood, or star." Then he began to clarify the state of these — who are the lower ones — magnifying them in his interpretation of His saying, Exalted is He, concerning them: "and they have led many astray" (Nūḥ: 24) — that is, they bewildered them, since these aforementioned ones saw unity within the very essence of multiplicity, and declared openly what they saw. Thereby they led astray many among those who do not see unity within the very essence of multiplicity, but rather see multiplicity without seeing unity, owing to their deficiency in perception. They bewildered them, then, by means of the fixed aspects (wujūh) proper to the One — for He is not multiplied by [these] aspects, just as a single individual is not multiplied by being half of two, a third of three, a quarter of four, and so on without end, or by being a father to Zayd, a brother to ʿAmr, a son to Khālid, and the like. These, and other things without end, are all aspects that do not multiply the One. Then he took up the consideration of His saying "and do not increase the wrongdoers [except in error]," interpreting "the wrongdoers" as those who placed themselves, in some of these considerations, not in their [proper] place — and they are the perfect vicegerents of God (khulafāʾ Allāh al-kummal), for they are the ones who inherited the Book. He said: they are the first of the three — meaning by "the three" His saying, Exalted is He: "among them is one who wrongs himself" — and these are the first, since they are placed before the two groups mentioned after them, namely the moderate one (al-muqtaṣid) and the one foremost in good deeds (al-sābiq bi'l-khayrāt). Then he began to interpret His saying, Exalted is He, "error" (ḍalāl), from His statement: "do not increase the wrongdoers except in error" — indicating that error here means bewilderment (ḥayra) in the Real, Exalted is He, taken from his saying, upon him be peace: "My Lord, increase me in bewilderment concerning You" (Rabbi zidnī fīka tahayyuran). Even if this be not a hadith [reported] from Muḥammad, the Messenger of God, God bless him and grant him peace, it has nonetheless been said by the Muhammadans, who are his community, upon him be peace. He said: and His saying, Exalted is He—

﴿يقول : " ما نَعْبُدُهُمْ "﴾

أي تلك التعيّنات المتقابلة الغائبة عن نظرهم في الحجب الإمكانيّة

i.e., those opposed entifications, absent from their sight behind the veils of possibility

﴿"ما نعبدهم إلا ليقربونا إلى الله زلفى" [الزمر: 3]﴾

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

وهم المشركون أي قربا

[al-Zumar: 3] — and these are the polytheists, that is, [seeking] a [certain] nearness,

﴿" إِلَّا لِيُقَرِّبُونا إِلَى الله زُلْفى " [ 39 / 3 ] والأعلى العالم﴾

الواصل إلى أحديّة الجمع الذاتي ( يقول : * ( فَإِلهُكُمْ إِله ٌ واحِدٌ ) * ) بالوحدة المطلقة

. And the highest, the knower (al-ʿālim)] who has attained the oneness of essential comprehensiveness (he says: "Your God is one God") by absolute unity

﴿والأعلى العالم يقول : " فَإِلهُكُمْ إِله واحِدٌ فَلَه أَسْلِمُو " حيث ظهر﴾

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

أي انقادوا أو سلموا وجوداتكم له بالفناء فيه

i.e., submit yourselves, or surrender your existences to Him through annihilation (fanāʾ) in Him

﴿والأعلى العالم يقول: "إنما إلهكم إله واحد".﴾

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

تممها بقوله : و (بشر المخبتين) وفسر بأنهم هم الذين خبت نار طبيعتهم، أي، بشر الذين أخبتوا أخمدوا نار طبيعتهم بالسلوك والمجاهدة، فإذا خمدت نار طبيعتهم وخبت، تجلت لهم الصفات الإلهية والأنوار الذاتية، فعرفوا الحق وأنواره وآثاره الصادرة من أسمائه وصفاته في العالم بالحق، فقالوا: إلها. أي، سموه بالاسم الإلهي ، وما سموه باسم غيره من الطبيعة، كما يقول المحجوب: إن الطبيعة فعلت كذا وكذا. والطبيعة وإن كانت مظهرا من المظاهر الكلية، لكنها غير متخلصة عن رق العبودية وسمة الغيرية، فالموحد لا يسند إليها الآثار والأفعال

— He completed it with His saying: "and give good tidings to the mukhbitūn," and explained that they are those whose fire of nature has died down — that is, give good tidings to those who have humbled themselves, who have extinguished the fire of their [bare] nature through spiritual wayfaring (sulūk) and struggle (mujāhada). For when the fire of their nature has died down and grown quiet, the divine attributes and essential lights disclose themselves (tajallī) to them, so they come to know the Real and His lights and the traces issuing from His Names and Attributes within the world through the Real, and they say: "A god" — that is, they name it by the divine Name, and do not name it by any name other than it, such as "Nature," as the veiled person says: "Nature did such-and-such." For Nature, though it is one of the universal loci of manifestation (maẓāhir), is not yet freed from the bondage of servanthood (ʿubūdiyya) and the mark of otherness; so the one who affirms [divine] Oneness (muwaḥḥid) does not attribute traces and acts to it.

﴿3 الزمر. والأعلى العالم يقول:﴾

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

فَإِلَهُكُمْ إِلَهٌ وَاحِدٌ فَلَهُ أَسْلِمُوا وَبَشِّرِ الْمُخْبِتِينَ (34) " سورة الحج. حيث ظهر "وبشر المخبتين

'For your God is One God, so submit to Him. And give good tidings to the humble/contrite ones' (34) — Sūrat al-Ḥajj — wherever He manifested. 'And give good tidings to the humble/contrite ones' —

﴿"والأعلى العالم يقول "أنما إلهكم إله واحد" [الكهف: 110] "فله أسلموا"﴾

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

[الحج: 34]، أي انقادوا واعبدو

, "so to Him submit"] [al-Ḥajj 22:34], i.e., they yielded and worshiped

﴿والأعلى العالم﴾

بخبر عن مشاهدته على ما كان عليه الأمر مخاطبة لصاحب النخيل (ويقول: "إنما إلهكم إله واحد" [النحل: 22] ) ظاهر في جميع المظاهر لا إلهة متعددة متفرقة

, reports from his witnessing according to how the matter truly is, addressing the possessor of imagining, (and says: 'Your God is only one God') [al-Naḥl: 22] — manifest in all the loci of manifestation, not [as] multiple, scattered gods.

﴿" فَلَه ُ أَسْلِمُوا "﴾

قياد عبادتكم ، وإليه أسندوا الوجود وما يتبعه من الأوصاف والنسب

the reins of your worship, and to Him ascribe existence and what follows from it of attributes and relations

﴿فله أسلموا﴾

أي انقادوا واعبدو

— that is, they have submitted and worshipped.

﴿حيث ظهر﴾

في المجالي المقيّدة ، فإنّها مظهر الوحدة الإطلاقيّة ، لا غير

in the restricted loci of manifestation, for these are but the locus of manifestation of unrestricted unity, nothing else

﴿حيث ظهر﴾

لا لمظاهر و مجاليه فيجعل الإله المطلق قبلة للعبادة لا الآلهة المقيدين، ولما أشار إلى صدر الآية الكريمة أراد أن يتمها بقوله

not to His loci of manifestation and disclosures — thus making the absolute Deity the direction (qibla) of worship, not the restricted deities. And having alluded to the beginning of the noble verse, he wished to complete it with his saying

﴿حيث ظهر﴾

أي في أي مظهر ظهر لا إلى غيره . إذ لا إله غيره حتى يعبد فلا تقتصروا مظاهره إلى أصنامكم واعلموا أن جميع الأشياء كلها مظاهره واعبدوه من حيث ظهوره في جميع المظاهر. ولما فرغ عن ذكر ما وجب عليه أراد أن يشرع إلى بيان إشارات نوح في دعائه لقومه وأورد آية مناسبة لما قبلها في المعنى ليبني عليها بيان إشاراته

i.e., in whatever locus of manifestation (maẓhar) He appeared, and not to anything other than Him, since there is no god other than Him that could be worshipped. So do not restrict His loci of manifestation to your idols; rather, know that all things altogether are His loci of manifestation, and worship Him in respect of His manifestation in all the loci of manifestation. Having finished mentioning what was incumbent upon him, he wished to begin explaining the indications (ishārāt) in Noah's supplication for his people, and he cited a verse suitable in meaning to what preceded it, so as to build upon it his exposition of Noah's indications.

﴿وبشر المخبتين الذين خبت نار طبيعتهم﴾

أي المتذللين الخاشعين من الانكسار والتواضع لعظمة الله ، وقوله خبت ليس من الإخبات بل من الخبو لأن العلو والتكبر إنما يكون من الطبيعة النارية كما قال إبليس : " أَنَا خَيْرٌ مِنْه خَلَقْتَنِي من نارٍ " فإذا خمدت الطبيعة النارية فيهم انكسرت الأنانية الحاجبة لله تعالى

i.e., those who are abased, humble through self-effacement and humility before the majesty of God. His saying "khabat" is not from ikhbāt [humbling] but from khubūw [dying down/extinguishing], for loftiness and pride arise only from the fiery nature, as Iblīs said: "I am better than he; You created me from fire." So when the fiery nature dies down within them, the egoity (anāniyya) that veils God, the Exalted, is broken

﴿وَبَشِّرِ الْمُخْبِتِينَ﴾

الذين خبت نار طبيعتهم . فقالو : إلها ، ولم يقولوا : طبيعة " . قال العبد : العباد والعبّاد انقسموا إلى عارف بالله حيث تجلَّى وظهر ، عالم به كيف تعرّف وتنكَّر ، مشاهد لوجهه الكريم في كل وجهة وجهة تولَّى ونظر ، " فَأَيْنَما تُوَلُّوا فَثَمَّ وَجْه ُ الله " الأكرم الأزهر ، محقّق في شهوده ، متحقّق بمشهوده ، فهو الأعلى ، لأنّه العابد ربّه الأعلى . والأدنى هو أن لا يشهد الحقّ الظاهر في المعبود المشهود ، ولكن يعبده تخيّلا أنّ فيه الألوهيّة ، فهو غالط جاهل بالإله ، فإنّه ما من إله إلَّا إله واحد ، " أَمَرَ أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوا إِلَّا إِيَّاه ُ " فلمّا لم ير ذلك ، وليس له الكشف بالحق من حيث الشهود العقلي ، فتحيّر وتخيّل تقليدا أنّ فيه الألوهيّة ، فكفر ، أي ستر الألوهية الظاهرة في مألوه ومعبود ، فتخيّل أنّ عبادة هؤلاء في الوجود ليست إلَّا لإلهيّة فيهم ، والحق أنّه ليس من الله في شيء ، وليس هو بكلَّيته فيهم ، فما له تحقيق ولا تحقّق بالحق حيث كان ، فهو الذي عبد تخيّله وتحيّله وعكف على صنمية حجابيّة الطاغوت بالخذلان ، وهو عن الحق المشهود الموجود في الحرمان ، أعاذنا الله وإيّاك بإحسانه إنّه بحسبان . والأعلى شهوده " أَنَّما إِلهُكُمْ إِله ٌ واحِدٌ " ، فالألوهية رتبة في حقيقتها واحدة لا تقتضيها إلَّا ذات واحدة هي عينها لا زائدة عليها ، فحيث وجدت عبدت ، وأينما شهدت وشوهدت ، شهدت لها بالألوهية ، وسجدت بالهوية اللاهوتية وحكمها من العباد والعبّاد الانقياد الكلَّي والإسلام الجبلَّي والاستسلام الفطري الأصلي . وكمال الانقياد لله أن نعبده ونطيعه في الكلّ بكل عبادة وطاعة ، ونعرفه ونعرّفه بكل جهد وجدّ واستطاعة ، لكونه لا ينحصر في جهة ، ولا يتقيّد في وجهة ، فمن كان مشهده على هذا الوجه ، فهو الكامل الذي وجهة وجهه وجه الله ، لا يغيب عنه طرفة عين ونظرة ، ولا يحصره ولا يقيّده حضرة دون حضرة تقييد الأدنى صاحب التخيّل ، أو المقلَّد المعتقد الممثّل ، وحصره ، فافهم . قال الشيخ سلام الله عليه : " وَقَدْ أَضَلُّوا كَثِيراً

— those whose fire of [natural] disposition (ṭabīʿa) has died down. They said 'a god' and did not say '[mere] nature.' The servant said: worshippers and devotees are divided into: one who knows God as He discloses Himself and manifests, who knows how He makes Himself known and how He conceals Himself, who witnesses His noble Face in whatever direction he turns and looks — 'Wherever you turn, there is the Face of God,' the most noble, most radiant — verified (muḥaqqiq) in his witnessing, realized (mutaḥaqqiq) through what he witnesses; he is the highest, for he is the worshipper of his Lord, the Most High. And the lowest is one who does not witness the Real manifest in the witnessed object of worship, but worships it imagining that divinity is in it; he is mistaken, ignorant of the God, for there is no god but One God — 'He commanded that you worship none but Him.' So when he did not see this, and has no unveiling of the Real by way of intellectual witnessing, he became bewildered and imagined, through blind imitation, that divinity was in it, and so he disbelieved (kafara), i.e., concealed (satara) the divinity manifest in the object of divinity and worship. He imagined that the worship of these [objects] in existence was only for a divinity in them, whereas the truth is that it is in no respect of God, nor is He wholly in them; so he has neither verification nor realization of the Real wherever he may be. He is the one who worshipped his own imagining and fancy, and clung, through abandonment, to the idol-like veil of falsehood (ṭāghūt); he is deprived of the Real, witnessed and existent — may God protect us and you by His grace, for He is sufficient. As for the highest, his witnessing is that of 'Your God is only One God' — for divinity is, in its reality, a single rank, necessitated only by a single Essence identical with it, not additional to it. So wherever it is found, it is worshipped, and wherever it is witnessed and beheld, it is witnessed for as divinity, and prostration is made before the divine Ipseity (al-huwiyya al-lāhūtiyya). Its ruling, among worshippers and devotees, is total submission (inqiyād), innate Islam (islām jibillī), and original, primordial surrender (istislām fiṭrī aṣlī). The perfection of submission to God is that we worship and obey Him in everything, with every act of worship and obedience, and that we know Him and make Him known with all effort, diligence, and capacity — since He is not confined to any [single] direction, nor restricted to any [single] aspect. Whoever's witnessing stands on this footing is the perfect one, whose direction and face is the Face of God, never absent from him for the blink of an eye or a glance, nor confined or restricted by one presence to the exclusion of another — unlike the restriction of the lowest, the possessor of imagining, or the imitator who believes in a represented image, and thus confines Him — so understand. The Shaykh, peace of God be upon him, said: 'And they have led astray many,'

﴿"وبشر المخبتين" الذين خبت نار طبيعتهم فقالوا: إلها، ولم يقولوا: طبيعة﴾

(خبت) من (الخبو). وخبو النار، خمودها وإطفاؤها. و (الإخبات)، التواضع وكسر النفس. لما أورد الآية بقوله

nature has died down, so they said: 'A god,' and did not say: 'Nature'"] (khabat) is from al-khubū, and the khubū of fire is its dying down and being extinguished. And al-ikhbāt is humility and the breaking of the self (nafs). Having cited the verse by His saying,

﴿(الحج: 34). الذين خبت نار طبیعتهم، فقالوا إلها ولم يقولوا طبيعة.﴾

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

وقد أضلوا كثيرا

disposition (nature, ṭabīʿa) has been extinguished, so they said 'a god' and did not say 'nature.'] 'And indeed they have led many astray' —

﴿"وَبَشِّرِ الْمُخْبِتِينَ" [ 22 / 34 ] الذين خبت نار طبيعتهم﴾

أي خمدت وسكنت فإنّ الخبت : الاطمئنان . وما قيل : « إنّه من الخبو » فهو خلاف الظاهر ، وذلك وإن كان على قاعدة التحقيق صحيحا إلَّا أنّ الشيخ قلَّما يرتكبه ، سيّما في وجوه التأويل . فإنّ الذين سكنت فيهم لواعج نيران الطبيعة وانقطعت أحكام تسلَّطها عنهم هم الذين علموا الأمر على ما هو عليه وأظهروا ذلك

, those whose fire of natural disposition has grown still] i.e., subsided and calmed, for al-khabt means tranquility. What has been said—that it derives from al-khubūw (extinguishing)—runs contrary to the apparent sense; and although that is correct according to the principle of verification (taḥqīq), the Shaykh rarely resorts to it, especially in matters of interpretation. For those in whom the burning pangs of the fires of natural disposition have grown still, and the rulings of its domination over them have been cut off, are those who knew the matter as it truly is and manifested that

﴿"وبشر المخبتين"﴾

وفسر المخبتين بقوله

and he explained "the humble" (al-mukhbitīn) by his saying

﴿"وبشر المخبتين" الذين خبت نار طبيعتهم … فقالوا إلها ولم يقولوا طبيعة﴾

يعني كانت طائفة من عباد الله طفئت نار طبيعتهم بحيث لا يصدر منهم من الآثار الطبيعية شيء فظهر لهم من كل طبيعة الصفات الإلهية والأنوار الذائبة فغابوا عن طبائع الأشياء ولم يميزوا الإله. والمألوه ولم يروا المألوه ولم يدركوا الطبائع فإذا سئلوا عنها أخبروا عن ما شاهدوه من آثار الألوهية فقالوا : "إلها" ولم يقولوا طبيعة أي حجرا أو شجرا أو غير ذلك من الطبائع. ولا يقولون مجلي إلهي ينبغي تعظيمه إذ لم يروا غير الإله شيئا يغلبه تجلي الذات حتى أخبروا عن أسمائها . وإذا قالوا : "إلها" أشار نوح في دعائه لقومه إلى هذه الطائفة الشريفة وجمع في الدعوة مع قومه للمناسبة الصورية بينهما في إسناد الألوهية إلى الطبائع فدل دعاؤه بالمفهوم الأول على المشركين . و بالمفهوم الثاني على هذه الطائفة الشريفة . يعني هذه الدعوة تدل على كليهما بحسب الدلالتين فلما لم يقل المخبتون الطبيعة بل قالوا إنه (وقد ضلوا كثيرا) أي المحجوبين من أهل العالم كإضلال من يعبد الأصنام بقولهم: "لا تذرن آلهتكم" [نوح: 23]

That is, there was a group among God's servants whose fire of natural constitution had been so extinguished that no natural traces proceeded from them at all. So there appeared to them, from every nature, the divine attributes and the diffused lights, and they became absent from the natures of things and did not distinguish between the deity (al-ilāh) and that which is deified (al-maʾlūh); they did not see the deified thing nor did they perceive the natures. So when they were asked about them, they reported what they had witnessed of the traces of divinity, and they said: "a god," and did not say "a nature" — i.e., a stone or a tree or other natures. Nor do they say "a divine manifestation (majlā ilāhī) that ought to be venerated," since they saw nothing other than the deity — the self-disclosure of the Essence so overwhelmed them that they spoke only of its names. And when they said "a god," Noah, in his supplication for his people, indicated this noble group, joining them together with his people in the supplication because of the formal correspondence between the two groups in ascribing divinity to the natures. Thus his supplication indicates, by its first sense, the polytheists, and by its second sense, this noble group — meaning this supplication indicates both, according to the two significations. So since the humbly submissive did not say "nature" but rather said "He" ("and they have led many astray") — that is, those veiled among the people of the world, in the manner of the going-astray of those who worship idols, in their saying: "Do not abandon your gods" [Noah: 23].

﴿الذين خبت﴾

أي خمدت و هو من الخبوت وهو خمود النار

i.e., were quenched — this is from khubūt, which is the quenching of fire

﴿نار طبيعتهم﴾

فلم تظهر منهم الآثار الطبيعية بل عرفوا أن طبيعتهم مظهر من مظاهر الأسماء الإلهية. فكل أثر يظهر منها إنما يظهر من الاسم الظاهر فيه

such that the natural effects did not appear from them; rather they knew that their nature was a locus of manifestation of the divine names among the loci of manifestation. So every effect that appears from it appears only from the name manifest within it

﴿فقالوا إلها ولم يقولوا طبيعة﴾

لخبوها إذا لم يعرفوا إلا ما هو الغالب فيهم ، فإذا خبت نار الطبيعة ظهرت الإلهية وغلبته

because of its having died down — for they know only what is dominant within them; so when the fire of nature dies down, divinity manifests and prevails over it

﴿فقالوا : « إلها »﴾

لتلك الموجودات المعبودات

of those existent worshipped things

﴿فقالوا إلها ولم يقولوا طبيعة﴾

أي ذكر و الأسماء الإلهية عند ظهور الآثار وأسندوها إليها ولم يذكروا الطبيعة ولم يسندوا الآثار إليهم . وأشار إلى قوله تعالى

i.e., they mentioned the divine names upon the appearance of the effects and attributed them to these [names], and did not mention nature, nor did they attribute the effects to it. And he alluded to His saying, Exalted is He

﴿ولم يقولوا : طبيعة﴾

ويسمّوهم بأساميها . تأويل الإضلال ثمّ إنّ من جملة الحكم التي للكلمة النوحيّة ما نسب إلى قومه من الضلال بقوله

nor call them by that name. The Interpretation of Misguidance: Then, among the totality of the wisdom belonging to the Noahic Word is what was ascribed to his people of misguidance, in His saying

﴿وقد أضلوا كثيرا أي حيروهم في تعداد الواحد بالوجوه والنسب﴾

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

ولما غلب عليه التوحيد الذاتي المحمدي في قوله رضي الله عنه : « عرفت الأشياء باللَّه حين سئل بم عرفت الله » حمل الآية على صورة حاله . وفسر إضلال الأصنام أي صور الكثرة لمن نظر فيها بعين التوحيد بالتحير لشهود الواحد المطلق الحقيقي متعددا بحسب الإضافات إلى المظاهر حتى ترى أي الوجه الواحد وجوها مختلفة باختلاف المظاهر التي هي مراياه كما قال المحمدي : وما الوجه إلا واحد غير أنه %~% إذا أنت أعددت المرايا تعددا فتحير بين أحديته وكثرته ، وفسر الظالمين في قوله : " ولا تَزِدِ الظَّالِمِينَ " بالمحمديين الظالمين

and since the essential Muḥammadan unification (al-tawḥīd al-dhātī al-Muḥammadī) prevailed in him, as in his saying, may God be pleased with him, when asked "By what did you know God?": "I knew things by God" — he interpreted the verse according to the form of his own state, and explained the "misleading" caused by the idols — i.e., the forms of multiplicity — for one who looks upon them with the eye of unification (tawḥīd), as bewilderment (tahayyur) arising from witnessing the absolute, real One as multiple according to the relations to the loci of manifestation, so that one sees the one Face as differing faces by the differing of the loci of manifestation which are His mirrors, as the Muḥammadan said: "The Face is but one, except that when you multiply the mirrors, it becomes multiple." So he was bewildered between His unity and His multiplicity, and he interpreted "the wrongdoers" in His saying, "and do not increase the wrongdoers," as the Muḥammadan wrongdoers

﴿"وقد أضلوا كثيرا" أي، حيروهم في تعداد الواحد بالوجوه والنسب.﴾

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

أي، أضل قومه كثيرا من أهل العالم وحيروهم في تعداد الواحد الحقيقي بحسب الوجوه والنسب التي له. فإنهم اتبعوا عقولهم ودرجات عقولهم متفاوتة، فأدرك كل منهم من تلك الوجوه ما يناسب استعداده، ونفى ما أدركه غيره، فوقعوا في الحيرة والضلالة، كما يشاهد اليوم من أحوال أرباب النظر من تخطئة بعضهم بعضا. وكلهم مصيب من وجه ومخطئ من وجه آخر) . (ولا تزد الظالمين) لأنفسهم المصطفين الذين أورثوا الكتاب (أخذ) (الظالمين) من قوله: (ولا تزد الظالمين إلا ضلالا). بمعنى الظالمين في قوله تعالى: (ثم أورثنا الكتاب الذين اصطفينا من عبادنا فمنهم ظالم لنفسه ومنهم مقتصد ومنهم سابق بالخيرات). فاللام للعهد. ونقل صاحب المعتمد، رحمه الله، عن الترمذي عن أبي سعيد الخدري، رضي الله عنه: (إن النبي، صلى الله عليه وسلم، قرأ: "ثم أورثنا الكتاب %~% " فقال: (وكلهم بمنزلة واحدة، وكلهم في الجنة). وذلك لأنهم ظلموا على أنفسهم وبإهلاكها ومنعها عن متابعة هواها الذي هو روحها وحياتها لأنفسهم، ليتحققوا بالأنوار والمعارف الإلهية والمكاشفات الروحية، كما قال عليه السلام: (اتبعوا أبدانكم لراحة أنفسكم.) لذلك قال: (الذين اصطفينا). وأضاف إلى نفسه بقوله: (من عبادنا) تشريفا له وتعظيما لشأنهم. (فهم أول الثلاثة، فقدمهم على (المقتصد) و (السابق)) . أي، الظالمين لأنفسهم أول الطوائف الثلاث المذكورين في الآية. (فقدمه) أي قدم الحق (الظالم لنفسه) على (المقتصد) و (السابق بالخيرات)، لأنه ظلم نفسه لتكميل نفسه بعدم إعطاء حقوقها، فضلا عن حظوظها، حتى أوصلها إلى مقام الفناء في الذات، وجعلها موصوفة بكل الكمالات بخلاف (المقتصد)، فإنه متوسط في السلوك، غير واصل إلى مقام الفناء في الذات بل واقف في الفناء في الصفات، وبخلاف (السابق في الخيرات) ، لأنه في مقام الأفعال الخيرية و التحلية بالأعمال الزكية، كالعباد والزهاد والمتقين من الأعمال الموجبة للبعد والطرد. ولا شك أنهؤلاء الطوائف الثلاث كلهم من أهل الجنة وكلهم من المصطفين الأخيار. فذكره بالظلم إثبات لمرتبة عظيمة، لا ذم في حقه. ("إلا ضلالا" إلا حيرة). (إلا ضلالا) تتمة لقوله: (ولا تزد الظالمين). وفسره بالحيرة الحاصلة من العلم لا الجهل

that is, he (Iblīs) led astray many among the people of the world and confounded them regarding the enumeration of the true One according to the aspects and relations which pertain to Him. For they followed their intellects, and the degrees of intellects vary, so each of them grasped from those aspects what suited his preparedness, and denied what another grasped, and so they fell into confusion and error - as is witnessed today among the people of speculative reasoning, each accusing the other of error, while each of them is correct from one aspect and mistaken from another. "And do not increase the wrongdoers" - to themselves, the chosen ones who were made to inherit the Book - (he took "the wrongdoers" from His saying: "and do not increase the wrongdoers except in error," in the sense of "the wrongdoers" in His saying, exalted: "Then We caused the Book to be inherited by those We chose among Our servants; among them is one who wrongs himself, and among them is one who is moderate, and among them is one who is foremost in good deeds." So the definite article is for specific reference.) And the author of al-Muʿtamad, God have mercy on him, transmitted from al-Tirmidhī, from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, God be pleased with him: that the Prophet, God bless him and grant him peace, recited "Then We caused the Book to be inherited..." and said: "They are all of one rank, and all of them are in Paradise." This is because they wronged themselves by annihilating them and preventing them from following their caprice - which is their soul and their life - for their own sake, so that they might be realized through the divine lights and gnoses and the spiritual unveilings, as he, peace be upon him, said: "Subject your bodies to that which gives ease to your souls." For this reason he said: "those We chose," and He attributed them to Himself by saying "among Our servants," honoring them and exalting their rank. ("So they are the first of the three," for He placed them before "the moderate" and "the foremost.") that is, those who wrong themselves are the first of the three groups mentioned in the verse. (So He placed) - that is, the Real placed - (the one who wrongs himself) before (the moderate) and (the one foremost in good deeds), because he wronged his own self in order to perfect it, by not giving it its due rights, let alone its portions, until he brought it to the station of annihilation in the Essence, and made it characterized by all perfections - unlike (the moderate), who is intermediate in the path, not having attained the station of annihilation in the Essence, but rather stopped at annihilation in the attributes; and unlike (the one foremost in good deeds), for he is at the station of virtuous acts and adornment with pure works, like the worshippers, ascetics, and God-fearing, through works that necessitate distance and rejection. And there is no doubt that these three groups are all among the people of Paradise, and all among the chosen, the good. So mentioning him by "wrongdoing" is an affirmation of a great rank, not a censure of him. ("except in error" - meaning except in confusion.) "except in error" completes His saying "and do not increase the wrongdoers," and he explained it as the confusion arising from knowledge, not from ignorance.

﴿" وَقَدْ أَضَلُّوا كَثِيراً " أي حيّروهم في تعداد الواحد بالوجوه والنسب﴾

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

حيث قالوا : " فَإِلهُكُمْ إِله ٌ واحِدٌ "[ 2 / 163 ] مع تكثّر المظاهر والتعيّنات. قال الشيخ رضي الله عنه

aspects and relations] since they said, "Your God is one God" [2:163], despite the multiplicity of loci of theophany (maẕāhir) and entifications. The Shaykh, may God be pleased with him, said

﴿"وقد أضلوا"﴾

[نوح: 24]، أي قوم نوح ("كثيرا") من أهل العالم

[Nūḥ 71:24], i.e., the people of Noah, ("many") of the people of the world

﴿أي حيّروهم في تعداد الواحد بالوجوه والنسب﴾

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قال الشيخ رضي الله عليه :" وَلا تَزِدِ الظَّالِمِينَ " لأنفسهم " المصطفين " الذين أورثوا الكتاب ، أوّل الثلاثة ، فقدّمه على السابق والمقتصد " إِلَّا ضَلالًا " أي "حيرة ". قال العبد : لمّا عدّدوا الواحد وفرّقوا الجمع ، ظلموا الألوهيّة بتفريقها وتكثيرها ، وهي حقيقة واحدة لربّ واحد تقتضي أن لا يكون إلَّا هو ، وهي له فيه هو ، لا إله إلَّا هو . فلم تك تصلح إلَّا له %~% ولم يك يصلح إلَّا له ولو رامها أحد غيره %~% لزلزلت الأرض زلزاله فلمّا شاهدوا من حيث شعروا ولم يشعروا - أحدية الكثرة وأنّ الواحد هو بحقيقته أوجب العدد ، فقد ظلموا ، أي أدخلوا النور في ظلمات لا تتناهى ، فأنارت بنور الوجود الواحد أعيان الظلمات العدميات ، وعدّل الربّ عند عدولهم بالواحد الأحد إلى الكثرة بعدله صور انحرافات الظلامات ، وظلموا أنفسهم أيضا لتضليلها في صور الفرق الحجابي ، عن أحدية الجمع الكتابي ، والفصل الخطابي. ولكن إنّما ظلموا أنفسهم لأنفسهم ، لكونهم . ما حصروا الألوهيّة في الوحدة المقابلة للكثرة المضادّة للعدّة ، وما انحازوا بما حازوا ، عمّا ميّزوا ومازوا ولا امتازوا ، ولكن حازوا في الجمع بين كثرة النسب العدمية والوجود ، وبين وحدة العين والذات في الإله والمألوه . فالظالم على هذا هو العبد المصطفى ، والمجلى الأخلص الأصفى ، أعطى الحقّ في كلّ حقيقة حقّه ، ووفى بالأوفى . ولما كان المصطفى فردا ، ظهر الاصطفاء في هؤلاء الثلاثة الذين أورثوا الكتاب ، أعني كتاب الجمع والوجود ، لكون الثلاثة أوّل الأفراد . فالظالم عدّد الأحد ، والسابق وحدّ العدد ، والمقتصد الجامع بين شهود الكثرة في الواحد الأحد وشهود وجود الواحد في أعيان العدد . فالظالم الذي شهوده يكثّر الواحد له الضلال والحيرة أبد الأبد ، وحقّ الظالمين أن لا يزيدهم الله إلَّا ضلالا لهم في عين عين ، وارتفع من البين البين ، فقد ضلَّوا فيه لا إلى أمد ، بل أبد الأبد ، وهدوا إلى أحدية عين من عبد وعبد . فذلك العبد الأوحد في زمانه ، المؤيّد من الله ببرهانه ، القائم في عبدانيّة الواحد الأحد في جميع شؤونه ، مقبلا على شأنه ، مقتبلا للأمر في إبّانه قال رضي الله عنه

aspects and relations (wujūh wa nisab)] The Shaykh, may God be pleased with him, said: 'And do not increase the wrongdoers' — against themselves — 'the elect' (al-muṣṭafīn) who were made heirs of the Book, the first of the three [categories], placing it before the 'foremost' (sābiq) and the 'moderate' (muqtaṣid) — 'except in bewilderment (ḍalāl),' i.e., 'confusion.' The servant said: when they enumerated the One and separated the totality, they wronged divinity by dividing and multiplying it, though it is a single reality for a single Lord, requiring that there be none but Him — it belongs to Him, in Him, He: there is no god but He. [Verse:] It befitted none but Him, / nor was anything fit for it but Him; / had anyone other than He sought it, / the earth would have quaked with its quaking. So when they witnessed — from where they were aware and where they were unaware — the Oneness-of-Multiplicity, and that the One, by His very reality, necessitated number, they 'wronged,' i.e., they introduced light into unending darknesses, so that the entities of the privative darknesses were illumined by the light of the one Existence; and the Lord, in return for their turning from the One, the Unique, toward multiplicity, justly rectified, by His justice, the forms of the deviations of those darknesses. They also wronged themselves, in that [their selves] were led astray in the forms of veiling differentiation, away from the Oneness-of-Multiplicity of the [unifying] Book and discursive distinction. But they wronged only themselves for their own selves' sake, in that they did not confine divinity to the unity opposed to the multiplicity contrary to number, nor did they withdraw, by what they attained, from what they distinguished and set apart — rather, they combined, in [this] totality, the multiplicity of privative relations and existence with the oneness of the entity/essence in the God and the object of divinity. On this understanding, the 'wrongdoer' is the elect servant (al-ʿabd al-muṣṭafā), the purest and most sincere locus of manifestation, who gives the Real its due in every reality, and fulfills [it] most fully. Since the elect one (al-muṣṭafā) is singular, election appeared in these three who were made heirs of the Book — I mean the Book of totality and existence — the three being the first of the odd [plural] numbers. So the 'wrongdoer' multiplies the One; the 'foremost' (sābiq) unifies number; and the 'moderate' (muqtaṣid) combines the witnessing of multiplicity in the One, the Unique, with the witnessing of the existence of the One in the entities of number. So the 'wrongdoer,' whose witnessing multiplies the One, has bewilderment and confusion forever and ever; and it is fitting that God increase the wrongdoers in nothing but bewilderment, for them, in the very essence of essence — while [duality] is lifted from the in-between — so they went astray in it, not for a [limited] term but forever and ever, even while being guided to the Oneness-of-Entity of him who worshipped and was worshipped. That is the singular servant (al-ʿabd al-awḥad) of his age, supported by God with His proof, standing in servanthood (ʿabdāniyya) to the One, the Unique, in all his affairs, attending to his affair, receiving the command in its due season. He, may God be pleased with him, said:

﴿أي حيروهم في تعداد الواحد بالوجوه والنسب.﴾

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ولا تزد الظالمين

aspects (wujūh) and relations (nisab).] 'And increase not the wrongdoers' —

﴿أي حيروهم في تعداد الواحد﴾

الحقيقي (بالوجوه والنسب) الكثيرة الاعتبارية حيث قالوا: " ولا تذرن ودا ولا سواعا ولا يغوث ويعوق ونسرا " [نوح : 32]، فإن كل واحد من هؤلاء وجه من وجوه الواحد الحق تعالی مغاير للباقين بالنسب والاعتبارات. فتحیروا بین وحدته وكثرته قال الشيخ رضي الله عنه

of the true One (through the many) relative (aspects and relations), where they said: "Do not abandon your gods, and do not abandon Wadd, nor Suwāʿ, nor Yaghūth, nor Yaʿūq, nor Nasr" [Nūḥ 71:23] — for each one of these is an aspect among the aspects of the true One, Exalted is He, differing from the rest by relations and considerations. So they became confounded between His unity and His multiplicity. The Shaykh, may God be pleased with him, said

﴿أي حيروهم﴾

أي أعطاهم حيرة الجهل بقولهم إلهة

i.e., He gave them the bewilderment of ignorance through their saying "a deity"

﴿في تعداد الواحد بالوجوه والنسب﴾

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فلا يعلمون أن إلههم واحد حقيقي والكثرة والتفرقة كأعضائنا في صورنا المحسوسة فتحيروا في علمه فوقعوا في حيرة بسبب استماع كلامهم. فكانوا أي المختبين ظالمين بوجهين ظلم لأنفسهم بإطفاء مقتضيات أنفسهم من الهوى بالمجاهدة وظلم لغيرهم بإيقاعهم في حيرة الجهل بسبب قولهم إلها، ولم يقولوا طبيعة. فدعى لهم نوح بذلك على زيادة حيرتهم بالعلم بقوله: ("ولا تزد الظالمين" [نوح: 28] أنفسهم ) فكل المراد من الظالمين في دعاء نوح هم الظالمون في قوله : فمنهم ظالم لنفسه . لذلك وصف بقوله

For they do not know that their deity is one in reality, and the multiplicity and differentiation are like our limbs in our sensory forms; so they became bewildered in their knowledge of Him and fell into confusion because of hearing their speech. So they — i.e., the humbly submissive — were wrongdoers (ẓālimīn) in two respects: wrongdoing against themselves by extinguishing the demands of their own selves — the lower desires — through spiritual struggle (mujāhada), and wrongdoing against others by casting them into the bewilderment of ignorance because of their saying "a deity" and not saying "a nature." So Noah supplicated for them by this, for an increase in their bewilderment through knowledge, in his saying: ("and do not increase the wrongdoers" [Noah: 28] — themselves). So all that is meant by "the wrongdoers" in Noah's supplication are the wrongdoers referred to in His saying: "among them is one who wrongs himself." For this reason he is described by His saying

﴿لأنفسهم من جملة المصطفين الذين أورثوا الكتاب﴾

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أي كتاب العقل القرآنى وهو كتاب الجمع والوجود الأحدى وجعلهم ( فهم أول الثلاثة ) في قوله تعالى : " فَمِنْهُمْ ظالِمٌ لِنَفْسِه ومِنْهُمْ مُقْتَصِدٌ ومِنْهُمْ سابِقٌ بِالْخَيْراتِ " لأنهم شاهدوا الواحد كثيرا فعددوا الواحد فساروا من الواحد إلى الكثير ، ولذلك قال

i.e., the Book of the Qurʾānic intellect, which is the Book of gathering and Unitary Existence, and He made them (they being the first of the three) in His saying, the Exalted: "Then among them is he who wrongs himself, and among them is one who is moderate, and among them is one who is foremost in good deeds" — for they witnessed the One as multiple, and so enumerated the One, and thus journeyed from the One to the many; and for this he said,

﴿" وَلا تَزِدِ الظَّالِمِينَ " لأنفسهم ، المصطفين ، الذين أورثوا الكتاب أوّل الثلاثة﴾

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بقوله تعالى : " ثُمَّ أَوْرَثْنَا الْكِتابَ الَّذِينَ اصْطَفَيْنا من عِبادِنا فَمِنْهُمْ ظالِمٌ لِنَفْسِه ِ " [ 35 / 32 ] برفع أوصافها الامتيازيّة التي بها يتقوّم ذاتها وقلع مواد تشخّصاتها بالكلَّية ، حيث لا يبقى لها أثر ولا حكم ولا عين أصلا ، فيكون ظالما عليها في عدم إبقاء آثارها وإخفائها في ظلمات أوصافها العدميّة الكونيّة . ثمّ إنّ ذلك لما كان في المآل ترقّيا لها إلى مراقي كمالها ، استعمل « الظلم » باللام تنبيها إليه ، فلذلك تراه أوّل من يرث الكتاب

by His saying, the Exalted: "Then We caused the Book to be inherited by those We chose from among Our servants; and among them is one who wrongs himself" [35:32]—through the elevation of their distinguishing attributes by which their essence is constituted, and the uprooting of the material bases of their particular determinations entirely, such that no trace, ruling, or entity whatsoever remains for them—so he becomes a wrongdoer against them in not preserving their traces and in concealing them within the darknesses of their privative, contingent attributes. Then, since this ultimately amounts to their ascension to the stages of their perfection, the term "wrong" (ẕulm) was used with the preposition "lām" [i.e., ẕulman li-nafsihi] as an indication of this; and this is why you find such a one to be the first to inherit the Book

﴿(نوح: 24 ) لأنفسهم. المصطفين الذين أورثوا الكتاب، أول الثلاثة. فقدمه على المقتصد والسابق﴾

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إلا ضلالا" (نوح: 24 ) إلا حيرة المحمدی " زدني فيك تحيرا"

against themselves. The chosen ones who were made heirs of the Book, the first of the three [categories]. He placed [this category] before 'the moderate one' and 'the foremost' —] 'except in error' (Nūḥ: 24) — except the bewilderment (ḥayra) of the Muhammadan: 'Increase me, in You, in bewilderment' —

﴿والمصطفين الذين أورثوا الكتاب﴾

كتاب الجمع والوجود (فهم) ، أي الظالمون

the book of gathering (jamʿ) and existence (they), i.e., the wrongdoers (ẓālimūn)

﴿المصطفين "الذين أورثوا الكتاب"﴾

[الشوری: 18]. وهو قوله : "ثُمَّ أَوْرَثْنَا الْكِتَابَ الَّذِينَ اصْطَفَيْنَا مِنْ عِبَادِنَا فَمِنْهُمْ ظَالِمٌ لِنَفْسِهِ وَمِنْهُمْ مُقْتَصِدٌ وَمِنْهُمْ سَابِقٌ بِالْخَيْرَاتِ بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ ذَلِكَ هُوَ الْفَضْلُ الْكَبِيرُ (32)" سورة فاطر. (فهم) أي الظالمون لأنفسهم أكمل الناس وأعرفهم فأشار نوح عليه السلام في دعائه لقومه بلسان الدم إلى هذه الطائفة فقال : "ولا تزد الظالمين " (إلا ضلالا إلا حيرة) في العلم حتى لا يقولوا: إلها ولا يحيروا القوم في تعداد الواحد بالوجوه . فدعاء نوح عليه السلام لهذه الطائفة ازدياد التحير في العلم بالله تعالى بصورة الضلال وهو ما دعي به (المحمدي) بقوله

[al-Shūrā: 18]. This is His saying: "Then We caused the Book to be inherited by those of Our servants whom We chose; among them is one who wrongs himself, among them is one who is moderate, and among them is one who is foremost in good deeds by God's permission — that is the great bounty" (35) — Sūrat Fāṭir. (So they) — i.e., those who wrong themselves — are the most perfect of people and the most knowing of them. So Noah, peace be upon him, indicated in his supplication for his people, by the tongue of blood, this group, saying: "and do not increase the wrongdoers" (except in error) — i.e., except in bewilderment in knowledge, so that they would not say "a deity" and would not confound people in the enumeration of the One through the [multiple] faces. So Noah's supplication, peace be upon him, for this group is [in effect a request for] increase of bewilderment in the knowledge of God Most High, in the outward form of error — and this is what the Muhammadan [saint] supplicates for in his saying

﴿فهم أول الثلاثة. فقدمه على المقتصد و السابق. «إلا ضلالا» إلا حيرة المحمدي. «زدني فيك تحيرا»، «كلما أضاء لهم مشوا فيه وإذا أظلم عليهم قاموا». فالحائر له الدور و الحركة الدورية حول القطب فلا يبرح منه،﴾

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("ولا تزد الظالمين" لأنفسهم) بإفنائها في الحق سبحانه

— thus He put him before the moderate one (muqtaṣid) and the foremost one (sābiq). «Except error» — i.e., except the confoundment (ḥayra) of the Muhammadan. «Increase me in You in confoundment,» «Whenever it lights up for them, they walk therein, and when it grows dark over them, they stand still.» So the confounded one has revolution and circular motion around the pole, never departing from it,] ("and increase not the wrongdoers" against themselves) through the annihilation of their selves in the Real, Glory be to Him

﴿فقدمه على المقتصد والسابق﴾

أي فضله باعتبار سيره ونظره من الواحد إلى الكثير . بناء على ما أورده الترمذي في صحيحه عن أبى سعيد ، أن النبي عليه الصلاة والسلام قال في هذه الآية « هؤلاء كلهم بمنزلة واحدة وكلهم في الجنة » وإنم فضله على الباقين لأن المقتصد هو الشاهد للكثرة في الواحد . والواحد في الكثرة جامعا في شهوده بين الحق والخلق . والسابق بالخيرات هو الذي شهد الكثير واحدا . فوحد الكثير وسار من الكثير إلى الواحد ، فهما ليسا في الحيرة لكونهما معتبرين للخلق مع الحق ، وأما هذا الظالم فلا يرى إلا الواحد الحقيقي كثيرا بالاعتبار ، فله الضلال أي الحيرة أبد الآباد فمن حقه أن لا يزيده الله

i.e., he preferred him by reason of his journeying and his viewing from the One to the many, based on what al-Tirmidhī related in his Ṣaḥīḥ from Abū Saʿīd, that the Prophet, upon him be peace, said concerning this verse: "These are all of one rank, and all of them are in Paradise." And he only preferred him over the others because the moderate one is the one who witnesses multiplicity in the One and the One in multiplicity, joining in his witnessing between the Real and creation, while the one foremost in good deeds is he who witnessed the many as one, thus unifying the many and journeying from the many to the One. So neither of these two is in bewilderment, since both take creation into account together with the Real; but as for this wrongdoer, he sees nothing but the real One as multiple by consideration (iʿtibār), so bewilderment is properly his, forever and ever; it is his due that God not increase him

﴿فقدّمه على « المقتصد » و « السابق » " إِلَّا ضَلالًا " [ 24 / 71 ] : حيرة﴾

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وأمّ ( المحمّديّ ) فطلب الزيادة في ذلك حيث قال : « ربّ

As for the Muhammadan one, he sought an increase in that, for he said: 'My Lord,

﴿على المقتصد والسابق﴾

بحسب الذكر لنقدمه عليهما بحسب المرتبة فإنه في مقام فناء الذات وهما في مقام فناء الصفات والأفعال

in terms of mention, so as to give him precedence over them in terms of rank/station — for he is in the station of the annihilation of the Essence, while the two are in the station of the annihilation of the Attributes and Acts

﴿" إِلَّا ضَلالًا " إلا حيرة المحمدي﴾

أي إلا حيرة المحمدية بالإضافة في قوله

i.e., except the Muḥammadan bewilderment, by way of annexation (iḍāfa), as in his saying,

﴿"إلا ضللا" … إلا حيرة﴾

هي الغاية القصوى في معرفة الحق سبحانه. اعلم أن الحيرة على نوعين : حيرة مذمومة وهي حيرة النظار وإليها أشار الحسین بن منصور الحلاج قدس الله سره بقوله: من رامه بالعقل مسترشد .... أسرحه في حيرة يلهو قد شاب بالتلبيس أسراره .... يقول في حيرته هل هو وحيرة محمودة وهي حيرة أولي الأبصار من توالي التجليات الإلهية ونتالي البارقات الذاتية وإليها أشار من قال : قد تحيرت فيك خذ بيدي ...... با دليلا لمن تحير فیك والمراد ههنا الحيرة الأخيرة المحمودة. (قال) الكامل (المحمدي) طالبة الزيادة في هذه الحيرة ب

which is the utmost extremity in the knowledge of the Real, Glory be to Him. Know that confoundment is of two kinds: a blameworthy confoundment, which is the confoundment of the speculative theorists (nuẓẓār), and to it al-Ḥusayn ibn Manṣūr al-Ḥallāj, God sanctify his secret, alluded in his saying: "Whoever seeks Him with intellect seeking guidance ... He sets him loose in confoundment to trifle. His secrets have grown grey with confusion... He says in his confoundment: is He?" And a praiseworthy confoundment, which is the confoundment of the possessors of insight arising from the succession of divine self-disclosures (tajalliyāt) and the succession of essential flashes; and to it alluded the one who said: "I have become confounded in You — take my hand ... O Guide for one confounded in You." What is meant here is the latter, praiseworthy confoundment. (The perfect) Muhammadan (said), seeking increase in this confoundment

﴿زدني فيك تحيرا﴾

أو إلا حيرة بالتنوين ورفع المحمدي أي قال : المحمدي زدني فيك تحيرا وهو أصوب وأوفق لقوله ضلالا –

or, reading it as "ḍalālan" with nunation and raising "al-Muḥammadī" [as subject], i.e., the Muḥammadan said: "increase me in bewilderment toward You," which is more correct and more fitting with His saying "ḍalālan" —

﴿المحمّديّ : زدني فيك تحيّرا﴾

قال العبد : لأنّ اللذّة في النظر إلى الوجه الكريم في كل مجلّ وتجلّ ، وتدان وتدلّ ، وإقبال وتولّ ، فكلَّما ازداده المشهود زاد الشهود ، وازدادت لذّات المشاهدة بذات المشاهد المشهود . قال رضي الله عنه

The servant said: because delight lies in gazing upon the noble Face in every manifestation and self-disclosure, in every nearness and indication, in every advancing and turning away; so whenever the witnessed increases, the witnessing increases, and the delights of witnessing increase through the very Essence of the witness-witnessed. He, may God be pleased with him, said:

﴿المحمدي: "زدني فيك تحيرا".﴾

أي، كما قال الناطق المحمدي

that is, as the Muhammadan speaker said

﴿زدني فيك تحيّرا »﴾

وجعل ذلك مقاما ، حيث حكى عن مثل المنافقين من قوم موسى

And he made that a station, in that he related [something] concerning the likes of the hypocrites among the people of Moses,

﴿زدني فيك تحيرا﴾

من توالي التجليات وكثرة تقلبات ذاتك في شؤونك وصفاتك وإلى هذه الحيرة أيضا يشير قوله تعالى

from the succession of self-disclosures (tajalliyāt) and the multiplicity of the turnings of Your Essence in Your affairs (shuʾūn) and attributes; and to this confoundment also His saying, Exalted is He, alludes

﴿زدني فيك تحيرا﴾

فإن ازدياد التحير في الله تعالى لا يكون إلا عن زيادة علم وهو في حق الظالمين لأنفسهم من أمة محمد عليه السلام بلسان المحمدي . وجاء ما أشار نوح عليه السلام في حق قوم موسى في قوله : ( لما أضاء لهم ) أي كلما تجلى الله تعالى لهم باسمه النور

For increase of bewilderment in God Most High occurs only through increase of knowledge, and this pertains to those among the community of Muhammad, peace be upon him, who wrong themselves, [speaking] by the Muhammadan tongue. And what Noah, peace be upon him, indicated concerning the people of Moses comes in His saying: (whenever it lit up for them) — i.e., whenever God Most High disclosed Himself to them by His name the Light

﴿" كُلَّما أَضاءَ لَهُمْ مَشَوْا فِيه وإِذا أَظْلَمَ عَلَيْهِمْ قامُوا "﴾

هذا وصف حيرتهم . فإنهم إذا تجلى نور الأحدية مشوا أي ساروا سير الله ، وإذا أظلم عليهم بالاستتار وظهور حكم الكثرة والحجاج وقفوا متحيرين

this is a description of their bewilderment: for when the light of Unity (aḥadiyya) is disclosed to them, they walk — that is, they journey with God's journeying — and when it grows dark upon them through concealment and the manifestation of the ruling property of multiplicity and the veils, they stand still, bewildered

﴿كُلَّما أَضاءَ لَهُمْ مَشَوْا فِيه ِ وَإِذا أَظْلَمَ عَلَيْهِمْ قامُوا﴾

فالمحيّرون لهم الدور والحركة الدورية حول القطب فلا يبرح منه " . يعني رضي الله عنه : أنّ دأب العبد الحقّ المطلق أن لا يبرح عن المركز نظره إلى وجه الحق ، فهو يدور معه حيث دار وتحقّق ، كالحرباء مع الشمس ، والنيلوفر إذا طلعت تفتّح وجنح وصعق ، وإذا غابت أطبق على طبقاته وانطبق ، وكالفرقدين مع القطب يدور حوله أبدا ، فهو كذلك ناظر بعينه إلى عين الحق يضلّ به الناظر ، لكثرة المناظر ، فهو المنظور الناظر ، والمظهر الظاهر ، والأوّل والآخر ، والباطن الظاهر . قال رضي الله عنه : " و صاحب الطريق المستطيل مائل ، خارج عن المقصود ، طالب ما هو فيه صاحب خيال إليه غايته " . يعني رضي الله عنه : أنّ طالب الحق في وجهة أو أمر معيّن وجهة مائل بلا شكّ عن المركز إلى المحيط ، فحركته منقطعة لا تحيط ، فيكون له مبدأ حركة ، ونهاية سير وسلوك منه إليها سلكه . قال رضي الله عنه : فله « من » و « إلى » وما بينهم . يعني رضي الله عنه : بداية حركة من الحقّ الحاصل المشهود في الوجود إلى غاية تخيّلها ، والحركة الكلَّيّة لها البركة الأصلية ، فلا غاية ولا نهاية لها ، فالمتخيّل للغاية غايته الخيال المتخيّل ، والحجاب عن المشهود المحصّل . قال رضي الله عنه : " وصاحب الحركة الدوريّة لا بدء له" . يعني : في شهوده فيلزمه « من » ولا غاية فتحكم عليه " إلى

So the bewildered ones (al-mutaḥayyirūn) have the circling and the circular movement around the pole (quṭb), never departing from it." He means, may God be pleased with him: that the constant practice of the true, absolute servant is that his gaze never departs from the center [looking] toward the Face of the Real; so he circles with Him wherever He circles and is realized/actualized - like the chameleon with the sun, and like the water-lily (nīlūfar) which, when the sun rises, opens, inclines, and swoons, and when it sets, closes over its petals and shuts; and like the two guardian stars (al-Farqadān) with the pole, circling around it forever. Thus he likewise gazes with his eye toward the very Essence (ʿayn) of the Real; the observer is led astray by it on account of the multiplicity of vistas. So he is the observed-observer, the manifesting-manifest, the First and the Last, the Nonmanifest-Manifest. He said, may God be pleased with him: "And the possessor of the elongated path is deviating, outside the intended [goal], seeking what he is [already] in - a possessor of imagination toward which his goal [is directed]." He means, may God be pleased with him: that the seeker of the Real in a [particular] direction or specific determined matter is, without doubt, deviating from the center toward the circumference; so his movement is discontinuous, not all-encompassing. Thus he has a starting-point of movement and an end-point of journeying and wayfaring, from which to which he travels. He said, may God be pleased with him: So he has "from" and "to" and what lies between them. He means, may God be pleased with him: the beginning of movement from the Real as attained and witnessed in existence, toward a goal that he imagines; whereas total/universal movement possesses the original blessing, having for it neither goal nor end. So the one who imagines a goal - his goal is [merely] the imagined imagination, and [this is] the veil from the attained object of witnessing. He said, may God be pleased with him: "And the possessor of circular movement has no beginning" - that is, in his witnessing; so "from" is necessary for him, but there is no goal, such that "to" would govern him.

﴿كلما أضاء لهم مشوا فيه وإذا أظلم عليهم قاموا.﴾

أي، قد جاء في حق قوم موسى

that is, it has come regarding the people of Moses

﴿كلما أضاء لهم مشوا فيه وإذا أظلم عليهم قاموا﴾

(لبقرة: 20). فالمحير له الدور والحركة الدورية حول القطب فلا يبرح منه، قال رضي الله عنه : وصاحب الطريق المستطيل مائل خارج عن المقصود، طالب ما هو فيه صاحب خيال إليه غايته، فله من وإلى وما بينهما، وصاحب الحركة الدورية لا بدء له فيلزمه "من

(al-Baqara: 20). The one in bewilderment (al-muḥayyar) possesses circling and circular motion around the pole (al-quṭb), never departing from it. He, may God be pleased with him, said: The one on the extended/rectilinear path (al-ṭarīq al-mustaṭīl) is deviant, outside the intended object, seeking what he [already] possesses in imagination, having a goal toward it; so he has a 'from' and a 'to' and what lies between them. But the one of circular motion has no beginning, so 'from' is necessarily imposed upon him —

﴿"كُلَّما أَضاءَ لَهُمْ مَشَوْا فِيه ِ وَإِذا أَظْلَمَ عَلَيْهِمْ قامُوا "﴾

[ 2 / 20 ] . ثمّ إنّ الإقامة مما لا يمكن في الوجود لأنّه حركة وسير كما قال تعالى : " بَلْ هُمْ في لَبْسٍ من خَلْقٍ جَدِيدٍ " [ 50 / 15 ] وقال : " كُلَّ يَوْمٍ هُوَ في شَأْنٍ" [ 55 / 29 ] لكن الحركة أيضا مما لا يتصوّر للأعلى العالم ، فإنّها تستلزم الإعراض عن جهة ، والإقبال إلى ما يقابلها ، وذلك مما ينافي مشهد الأحديّ الجمعيّ الذي موطنه ، اللهم إلَّا أن يكون ذلك حركة دوريّة ، فإنّ كلّ جهة ونقطة يعرض عنها في تلك الحركة فهي التي يقبل إليها في عين الإعراض عنها ، فهذه الحركة هي المناسبة له ، فلذلك قال : الحركة الدورية وغيرها قال الشيخ رضي الله عنه

[2/20]. Now, standing still is not something possible in existence, for it is motion and journeying, as He, exalted, said: "Nay, they are in confusion over a new creation" [50/15], and He said: "Every day He is upon some task" [55/29]. However, motion likewise cannot be conceived for the Highest World, for it necessitates turning away from one direction and advancing toward what is opposite it, and this is incompatible with the witnessing of the unitary, all-comprehensive station that is its abode — unless that motion be circular, for every direction and point turned away from in that motion is the very one advanced toward in the state of turning away from it. So this motion is what befits it. Hence he said, concerning circular motion and other than it, the Shaykh, may God be pleased with him, said

﴿"كلما أضاء لهم "﴾

أي برق التجلي فاهتدوا بنوره إلى المطلوب ولكن لا يغنيهم عن وجوداتهم فتخيلوا أن المطلوب مفقود في البداية موجود في النهاية

i.e., the flash of the self-disclosure (tajallī) — so they were guided by its light toward what is sought, but it does not free them from their [own] existences; so they imagined that what is sought was absent at the beginning [and] present at the end

﴿مشوا فيه﴾

أي ساروا في ضوء ذلك التجلي على الطريق المستطيل إلى المطلوب

i.e., they journeyed in the light of that self-disclosure (tajallī) along the elongated path toward the sought object

﴿"مشوا فيه"﴾

أي ذهبوا علما بسبب ضياء هذا النور إلى حضرة جنابه . قال رضي الله عنه

i.e., they proceeded in knowledge, by means of the illumination of this light, to the presence of His majesty. He, may God be pleased with him, said:

﴿"وإذا أظلم عليهم"﴾

ذلك البرق بأن أوقفهم في ظلمة العدم وأفناهم عن وجوداتهم وخلصهم عن حجب أنياتهم فصاروا مستعدين للتجليات الذاتية (قاموا) متحيرين ووقفوا هائمين من توالي تلك التجليات وتتابع بوارق تلك الظهورات

that lightning-flash, in that it halted them in the darkness of nonexistence and annihilated them from their existences and delivered them from the veils of their egoities, so that they became prepared (mustaʿidd) for essential self-disclosures - (they stood) bewildered and paused in astonishment from the succession of those self-disclosures and the continuity of the flashes of those manifestations (ẓuhūrāt)

﴿"وإذا أظلم عليهم"﴾

أي إذا قبض منهم ضياءه وخفي عليهم لظهور التجلي الجلالي عليهم ("قاموا") حیاری فكلما ازداد علمهم ازدادت حيرتهم هكذا حالهم إلى آخر عمرهم كان ذلك أول الثلاثة من كل أمة لا تختص أمة دون أمة. فلما انجر كلامه إلى الحيرة وكان مقام الحيرة أعلى المقامات وأشرفها شرع إلى بيان مرتبة الحائر وأحواله فقال

i.e., when He withheld from them its illumination and it was hidden from them because of the appearance of the self-disclosure of majesty (tajallī al-jalāl) upon them, ("they stood still") bewildered. So the more their knowledge increased, the more their bewilderment increased — such was their state until the end of their lives. This was the first of the three [stations belonging] to every community, not restricted to one community rather than another. And since his discourse had led to the topic of bewilderment, and since the station of bewilderment is the highest and noblest of stations, he proceeded to explain the rank of the bewildered one and his states, saying: