Mashrabaمشربة

Textual apparatus

Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam, chapter 3: The Ringstone of the Wisdom of Glorification in the Word of Noah · our method · grammar practice on this text

Chapter synthesis

The arc

The chapter opens by arguing that declaring God incomparable (tanzīh) on its own delimits Him, so that the one who stops there is ignorant or discourteous and believes in only part of revelation. Ibn ʿArabī then grounds the alternative in the claim that the Real is manifest in every form of the cosmos and relates to it as a spirit governs a body. Likening Him (tashbīh) on its own is therefore equally limiting, and only the two together give knowledge of God, which remains summary knowledge parallel to knowledge of the self. A short poem and a double reading of Q 42:11 fix this combination as the chapter's rule. The chapter then turns to Noah: his call to his people came separately by night and by day, a furqān (separation), while the Qurʾān given to Muḥammad is a gathering. Their refusal is read as an answer in deed. From there Ibn ʿArabī rereads the Qurʾānic account of Noah verse by verse through root senses. The call becomes a ruse, the idols become faces of the Real, error becomes praised bewilderment, drowning becomes annihilation (fanāʾ) in God, and forgiveness becomes covering. The chapter closes with Noah's final prayer read as a request for veiling and for the perishing of the self in the Real's face, and with a pointer to the sphere of the sun for Noah's remaining secrets.

Key moves

  1. Tanzīh taken alone draws a boundary around God and so restricts Him. The believer who halts there unknowingly gives the lie to God and the messengers, like one who believes in part of scripture and disbelieves in part.1, 2
  2. Revealed speech addresses the common people in its first sense and the elect in every sense the words can bear, because the Real is manifest in every form. The cosmos is His form and the name the Manifest, and He is its spirit and the Nonmanifest. Since a definition must cover both aspects and the forms are endless, the Real cannot be defined, and tashbīh alone delimits Him as much as tanzīh alone.2, 3, 5
  3. Joining tanzīh and tashbīh yields only summary knowledge of God, parallel to a person's summary knowledge of the self. The body and spirit analogy is extended so that the forms of the cosmos glorify God as a body praises its spirit, and creatures become tongues through which the Real praises Himself.4, 5, 6
  4. A poem states that tanzīh alone restricts and tashbīh alone bounds, and that combining them is right guidance. Q 42:11 is read twice, so that the verse holds similarity within incomparability and incomparability within similarity, and this is identified with the Prophet's all-comprehensive words (jawāmiʿ al-kalim).7, 9, 10, 11
  5. Noah called his people openly and secretly, by night and by day, without ever joining the two calls, and so they fled. His call was a furqān while the reality is a qurʾān that contains separation, which is why only Muḥammad and his community received the Qurʾān. Their stopping their ears enacted the covering that forgiveness (ghafr) means, so they answered in deed, and Noah's blame of them is praise in disguise.8, 9, 10
  6. Noah's promises of rain and wealth are read as rational knowledge and as what inclines people toward God, in which they see their own form. The 'children' of the people are the offspring of reflective thought, which only brings loss, and the verses on vicegerency and trusteeship show that the servant's possession is delegated and that God owns it.11, 12
  7. Every call 'to God' is a ruse because the one called was never without Him, and the Muhammadan knows the call concerns the Names and not the He-ness (huwiyya). The people's refusal to abandon their idols kept their knowledge of the Real, who has a face in every object of worship, and God has decreed that none but He is worshipped. Worshippers are then ranked by whether they imagine divinity in the object or see it as a locus of disclosure.13, 14, 15
  8. Noah's prayer against his people is read term by term as praise. Error becomes Muhammadan bewilderment, which circles the pole without beginning or end. Drowning is annihilation in the seas of knowledge, burial in the earth answers their wish for covering, and Noah asks to be veiled himself. The ruin of the wrongdoers is their perishing in the Real's face, which is matched with 'Everything is perishing except His face'.16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21

Where the sources agree

  • Tanzīh alone and tashbīh alone each limit the Real in some way, and only the two held together give correct knowledge of Him.

    AI translational-Qāshānīal-QayṣarīJāmīBālī ZādeIbn Turkaal-Jandī

  • Q 42:11 joins incomparability and similarity in a single utterance, and this joining is what sets the Muhammadan call and its all-comprehensive words apart from Noah's separated call.

    AI translational-Qāshānīal-Jandīal-Qayṣarīal-TilimsānīIbn TurkaJāmīBālī ZādeIntertext notes

  • The qurʾān as gathering contains the furqān as separation, and the reverse does not hold. Muḥammad alone received it because his station comprehends all the Names and prophetic ranks, and his community shares in it through him.

    al-Qāshānīal-Jandīal-QayṣarīIbn TurkaJāmīBālī Zāde

  • Forgiveness (ghafr, maghfira) is read in its root sense of covering (satr), so that the people's stopping their ears and Noah's own 'forgive me' both concern veiling.

    AI translational-Qāshānīal-Jandīal-QayṣarīJāmīBālī ZādeIbn TurkaIntertext notesKey words

  • The Real has a face in every object of worship, so abandoning an idol means losing knowledge of Him to that extent, and worship in every form in fact reaches God alone.

    AI translational-Qāshānīal-Jandīal-Qayṣarīal-TilimsānīIbn TurkaJāmī

  • The terms of blame in Noah's prayer (error, wrongdoers, drowning, ruin) are read as marks of praised states: bewilderment born of knowledge, and annihilation of the self in God.

    al-Qāshānīal-Jandīal-Qayṣarīal-TilimsānīJāmīBālī ZādeIntertext notes

Live divergences

  • What Noah's call contained, and whether his failure to join the two calls is a fault.

    • al-Qāshānī Both the open and the secret call pushed toward pure unity. Noah went to excess in tanzīh, and a people veiled by idol-worship recoiled from it as one opposite recoils from another.8, 10
    • Jāmī Noah did call to both tashbīh and tanzīh, the open call to the Manifest and the secret call to the Nonmanifest, but at different times and never joined.8, 9, 10
    • Bālī Zāde There is no deficiency in Noah. His station is the excellence proper to tanzīh, he was not given the comprehensive words, and the conditional only says what would have happened had his rank been the station of combination.8, 10
    • Ibn Turka Concealment was what Noah's mission, his era and his people's preparedness required. Unveiling belongs to sainthood, which can appear only after the first dispensation is sealed.9, 10

  • What the people's refusal and scheme amount to, and whether they knew what they were doing.

    • al-Qayṣarī At first he reads their stopping their ears as a plain refusal, and later as an answer in deed, a stratagem by which Noah's prayer would bring them to their perfection.8, 9
    • Ibn Turka They knew from their preparedness that the right response to this call was refusal, and they fulfilled what was required of them through disobedience itself, showing a claim to the higher Qurʾānic perfection.8, 9
    • al-Tilimsānī Noah's words praise them under the guise of blame. They knew the idols were divine manifestations and openly declared what their scheme had concealed.8, 14
    • Bālī Zāde They knew neither the Real nor His face in the idols and spoke only as a contrivance against Noah. They accepted his call to annihilation only in deed and unknowingly, by drowning in the Flood.8, 13, 14
    • al-Jandī Their rejection was in fact an acknowledgment made without their awareness. The verifiers see that they truly answered in the form of aversion.13, 14

  • Whether the 'servant-lords' and the one who manifests and conceals (fājir and kaffār) are blameworthy figures or gnostics.

    • al-Qāshānī Both describe Noah's disbelieving people: a satanic egotism that claims lordship and covers the divine reality, set against the praised bewilderment of the Muhammadan.19, 20
    • al-Jandī They are helpers of Satan and disbelievers who flaunt a latent claim to lordship and hide God's essential lordship.19, 20
    • al-Qayṣarī The fājir and kaffār are gnostics who disclose divine secrets when unity overwhelms them and conceal them again when multiplicity returns. Of the servant-lords he says claiming divinity is forbidden, while they are servants and lords by two considerations.19, 20
    • Jāmī The servant-lords are bewildered because they imagine the lordly attributes held in trust are their own, though they are truly both servants and lords.19
    • Bālī Zāde The pair describes speakers who at times voice the oneness of existence and the secrets of lordship and at times speak from multiplicity and servanthood, as each station requires.20

  • How the particle kāf in 'Nothing is like His likeness' (Q 42:11) yields both incomparability and similarity.

    • al-Qayṣarī On the first reading the kāf is superfluous and the phrase is pure tanzīh; on the second, taken at face value, it affirms a likeness and a second.7
    • al-Qāshānī He takes the kāf as added for emphasis, on the model of 'one like you would not do this', giving a stronger negation.7
    • Ibn Turka He rejects the view that the kāf is redundant, since the principles of verification do not allow it, and holds that a single meaning gathers both opposites.7, 11
    • Jāmī Two suppositions about the kāf give two results: non-redundant it affirms a likeness, redundant it negates one.11

  • How far the knower's knowledge of the Real reaches.

    • al-Qāshānī The knower who holds the cosmos to be His form understands by God, so nothing of the Real remains nonmanifest to him.2
    • al-Qayṣarī The Essence is never perceived and the particulars of manifestation are never fully grasped; even the unveiled cannot know each creature's glorification in detail.2, 3, 6
    • Jāmī The Real is not hidden insofar as the knower sees Him in every form, yet stays hidden in His innermost essence; what is seen is according to the measure of the mirror.2, 11
    • al-Jandī One sees the forms of one's fixed entities in Him, so knowing the Lord is the same as knowing one's own fixed entity.11

Left open

  • Whether Noah's drowned people are condemned disbelievers, gnostics honoured by annihilation, or both at once, since the commentators apply the inner and literal readings to different groups.
  • Whether detailed knowledge of God and self is impossible without exception, given al-Jandī's proviso 'except what God wills' and al-Qayṣarī's exception for the Pole.
  • Whether the Muhammadan call through the Names escapes the ruse that every call to God involves, or remains a ruse made with insight.
  • How applying a definition (ḥadd) to Divinity, and combining tanzīh with tashbīh, fits with the claim that the Essence stands beyond both restriction and absoluteness.

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

  • Incomparability and similarity held togetherتَنْزِيهtanzīhroot نزه
  • The Manifest and the Nonmanifestالظَّاهِرal-ẓāhirroot ظهر
  • The Real as the spirit governing the cosmosالمُدَبِّرal-mudabbirroot دبر
  • Summary knowledge of God as summary knowledge of the selfعَرَفَʿarafaroot عرف
  • Gathering and separation: Muḥammad's all-comprehensive wordsجَوَامِع الكَلِمjawāmiʿ al-kalimroot جمع
  • Praised bewildermentحَيْرَةḥayraroot حير
  • Forgiveness as coveringغَفْرghafrroot غفر
  • Drowning and perishing in the Real's faceتَبَارtabārroot تبر
What each theme is here
  • Incomparability and similarity held together. Declaring God incomparable (tanzīh) on its own, or similar (tashbīh, root شبه) on its own, draws a boundary around the Real, and only the two joined, as in the double reading of Q 42:11, give right guidance.
  • The Manifest and the Nonmanifest. The cosmos is the Real's form and the name the Manifest, while He is its hidden meaning and the name the Nonmanifest (al-bāṭin), so He has a manifestation in every created thing.
  • The Real as the spirit governing the cosmos. The Real stands to the forms of the cosmos as the governing spirit stands to the body, with the difference that He can never depart from them, so the definition of Divinity applies to Him in reality.
  • Summary knowledge of God as summary knowledge of the self. Knowledge of God is only summary, like a person's knowledge of himself, and the saying 'Whoever knows himself knows his Lord' with Q 41:53 ties the two together.
  • Gathering and separation: Muḥammad's all-comprehensive words. Noah's call was a separation (furqān) by night and by day, while the Qurʾān given to Muḥammad is a gathering that contains separation within it.
  • Praised bewilderment. The 'going astray' of Noah's people is reread as the Muhammadan's bewilderment, a circling round the pole with no 'from' and no 'to'.
  • Forgiveness as covering. Read by its root sense of covering (satr), forgiveness makes the people's stopped ears an answer in deed and turns Noah's 'forgive me' into a request to be veiled.
  • Drowning and perishing in the Real's face. Drowning becomes passing away in the seas of knowledge of God, and the 'ruin' of the wrongdoers becomes their perishing in His face, matched with Q 28:88.

Connections

Lineage 2

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, on God as Owner of the possession (mālik al-mulk)Sufism · firm

    Ibn ʿArabī names al-Tirmidhī as his source for calling God the Owner of the very possession He delegates to His servants. His close reading of al-Tirmidhī, including answers to the questions al-Tirmidhī posed, is documented.

    Carried byمالك الملكmālik al-mulkroot ملك“ownership, possession”

  • Ibn ʿArabī, Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam, chapters on Adam and Seth: the mirror in which one sees one's own formSufism · probable

    The claim that the one who inclines toward the Real sees only his own form in Him develops the mirror teaching of the Seth chapter, where the one to whom the Real discloses Himself sees nothing but his own form. The recurrence of this teaching across Ibn ʿArabī's works is set out in standard scholarship.

    Carried byصورةṣūraroot صور“form”

    In the library:Faṣṣ Shīth ¶11Faṣṣ Shīth ¶13Faṣṣ Ādam ¶13Path: The mirror

Shared source 1

Both draw on a common ancestor by different routes; grounded like a lineage.

  • Plotinus, Ennead VI.9: the soul that knows itself and turns inward to its sourceNeoplatonism · probable

    The link between knowing oneself and knowing one's principle reaches both Plotinus and the Arabic saying 'Whoever knows himself knows his Lord' from the Delphic maxim, the Arabic side through its later Greek philosophical transmission.

    Common ancestor: the Delphic maxim 'know yourself' as taken up in Greek philosophy

    Carried byمن عرف نفسهman ʿarafa nafsahuroot عرفγνῶθι σεαυτόνgnōthi seauton“know yourself”

    In the library:Ennead VI.9, ch. 7Ennead VI.9, ch. 8

Resonance, not influence 8

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

  • al-Ghazālī, Mishkāt al-anwār: 'Wherever you turn, there is the Face of God'Sufism · probable

    Both read Q 2:115 as saying that every existent has a face turned to God, though al-Ghazālī keeps a distinction between what is real in itself and what borrows its being, which Ibn ʿArabī here extends to every object of worship.

    Carried byوجهwajhroot وجه“face”

    In the library:Mishkāt al-anwār ¶60Mishkāt al-anwār ¶61

  • Plotinus, Ennead VI.9.8: the soul's circling round its centreNeoplatonism · probable

    Ibn ʿArabī's bewildered one who circles the pole without beginning or end resembles Plotinus's image of the soul moving round the centre from which it comes, with no claim that the one depends on the other here.

    Carried byحيرةḥayraroot حير“circular movement”

    In the library:Ennead VI.9, ch. 8al-Futūḥāt al-makkiyya ¶76Path: The Beloved's face at the House

  • Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, The Mystical Theology and The Divine Names: denial and affirmation of GodEarly Christianity and the Fathers · probable

    Dionysius also pairs a way of affirming names of God with a way of denying them, and both authors hold that neither way on its own reaches Him, without any documented contact between them.

    Carried byἀπόφασιςapophasis“affirmation and negation”

  • Nicholas of Cusa, De docta ignorantia: the coincidence of oppositesRenaissance Platonism · probable

    Cusanus's God in whom opposites coincide, known through a learned ignorance, echoes the rule that incomparability and similarity be affirmed together and the praise of bewilderment, as a resemblance only.

    Carried byحيرةḥayraroot حير“coincidence of opposites”

  • Zhuangzi and Laozi: the nameless Way and its named manifestationsDaoism and Chinese thought · firm

    Izutsu set Ibn ʿArabī's pairing of the hidden Essence and the manifest names beside the Daoist Way that is both unnamed and present in all things, as a structural comparison with no influence claimed.

    Carried by“the nameless and the named”

  • Rāmānuja, Śrī Bhāṣya: the world as the body of Brahman, its inner controllerVedanta and Hindu thought · probable

    Rāmānuja calls the world the body of Brahman, who governs it from within as a self governs its body, which closely resembles the Real as the governing spirit of the cosmos in passages 3 to 5, with no historical contact.

    Carried byمدبّرmudabbirroot دبر“body and inner controller”

  • Spinoza, Ethics: God or NatureEarly modern philosophy · suggestive

    Spinoza's God expressed in all things invites comparison with the cosmos as the Real's form, though Ibn ʿArabī keeps the hidden side of the Real and asks the knower to quiet the veil of nature (ṭabīʿa) in passage 16.

    Carried byطبيعةṭabīʿaroot طبع“nature”

  • Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, Masnavī, Book II: Moses and the shepherdPersian poetry · probable

    Rūmī's God rebukes Moses for scolding a shepherd whose crude image of Him was still worship accepted, a story close to the teaching that the Real has a face in every object of worship, told without reference to this chapter.

    Carried byمعبودmaʿbūdroot عبد“worship in every form”

Contrast 4

An instructive opposite: the difference teaches something about both.

  • Plotinus, Ennead VI.9: the One that is none of the things it givesNeoplatonism · firm

    Plotinus secures the One by denying of it every form, while Ibn ʿArabī warns that denial alone delimits the Real and asks that it be joined to the affirmation that the cosmos is His form.

    Carried byتنزيهtanzīhroot نزه“negation”

    In the library:Ennead VI.9, ch. 3Ennead VI.9, ch. 6

  • The Muʿtazila: divine unity secured by denying the attributes (tanzīh)Kalam · firm

    The theologians who made incomparability the whole of God's unity stand for the believer of passage 1 who halts at tanzīh and, in Ibn ʿArabī's view, believes in part of revelation only.

    Carried byتنزيهtanzīhroot نزه“incomparability”

  • The Quranic and exegetical Noah: the prophet of warning, and the Flood as punishmentTafsir (exegesis) · firm

    In the plain sense of sūra 71 Noah's people are idolaters rightly drowned, while Ibn ʿArabī reads their refusal, their idols and their drowning as praise, knowledge and passing away in God.

    Carried byكفرkufrroot كفر“unbelief as covering”

  • The Opening of the Quran: 'Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds' and the straight pathQuran and hadith · probable

    The chapter cites Q 1:2 to make God both the one who praises and the one praised, and sets its circular bewilderment against the elongated path that has a 'from' and a 'to', which sits in tension with the plain sense of the prayer for the straight path.

    Carried byحمدḥamdroot حمد“praise; the path”

    In the library:Q 1:2Q 1:6

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 NūḥClaude (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 "3. NOAH", col. B (≈0.8 marks per letter); the worksheet repeats a sentence (end of ¶8 = start of ¶9), removed by the re-base; scripts/fusus/edition_ch.py 3, rebase_ch.py 3; text record docs/texts/fusus-03-nuh.md
In the reader:
In full, 21 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 3) through Niẓām al-Dīn's edition alone, PDF pp. 154–172 (printed pp. 51–69), 19 pages, differences only: AI readers recorded only the words where the print differs from ours (vowels 91, letters 31, words the print lacks 33, words it adds 8); 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: 65 letter changes and 83 vowel changes; not adopted 15. 24 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 3 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-3.json (the file has no generatedOn); scripts/fusus/ai_translate_ch.py 3)
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-3.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-3.json); date = its first commit)
Notes
The term notes are AI, made with the translation. The key words (app/src/data/fusus-3-keywords.json) are selected by rule from them and from frequency; their history (fusus-3-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-3-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 3 (model sonnet); date = first commit of app/public/data/commentaries/fusus-3.json)
Notes
Commentators aligned in this chapter: al-Qāshānī, al-Jandī, al-Qayṣarī, al-Tilimsānī, Ibn Turka, Jāmī, Bālī Zāde; 1155 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). al-Qūnawī's Fukūk has no Nūḥ section in OpenITI barzakh: seven commentators only.
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-3.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-3.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-3-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-3-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 1547 words, checked on 19 pages of Niẓām al-Dīn's edition of the same manuscript: 65 of its readings and the vowelling of 83 words were adopted where two independent readings agreed; 15 were not adopted.
  • 24 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 (26)

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)

chapter heading (kept as the edition's title) (1)