Mashrabaمشربة

Textual apparatus

Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam, chapter 5: The Ringstone of the Wisdom of Ecstatic Love in the Word of Abraham · our method · grammar practice on this text

Chapter synthesis

The arc

The chapter opens by explaining Abraham's title khalīl through takhallul, a mutual permeation in which Abraham pervades the divine attributes and the Real pervades Abraham's existence, each direction valid in its own domain. It then states a rule of permeation: the pervader is hidden and the pervaded manifest, and the hidden nourishes the manifest, so that either the Real is manifest with creation hidden in Him or creation is manifest with the Real as its hearing and sight. From this it argues that divinity is a set of relations needing the one over whom God is god (maʾlūh), so God is known as god only through the self and the world. Two unveilings follow: one in which the Real is the evidence for Himself and appears in the forms of the fixed entities, and another in which our forms appear within the Real and know one another there. Holding both, Ibn ʿArabī concludes that we judge ourselves through ourselves in God, so the veiled have no complaint, and he reads 'Had He willed, He would have guided you all' as saying that the will follows knowledge and knowledge follows the known. The chapter closes by making praise, charge, worship, knowledge and existence mutual between Real and servant, framing this as mutual nourishment, and tying it back to Abraham's hospitality and to the creature as a vessel of the Real.

Key moves

  1. Abraham is called khalīl because of takhallul, read in two directions: he pervades and gathers the divine attributes, or the Real pervades the existence of his form. Scripture shows the Real taking on creaturely and even blameworthy attributes and the creature taking on divine ones, each by right in its own domain.1
  2. All praise and blame return to God, and the pervader is hidden while the pervaded is manifest and nourished by it. When the Real is manifest, creation is hidden in Him as His names and faculties; when creation is manifest, the Real is hidden in it as its hearing, sight and hand.2, 3
  3. Divinity is a relation requiring the one over whom it is exercised, so 'we made Him a god' and He is not known as god until we are known, which grounds 'Whoever knows himself knows his Lord'.3, 4
  4. Against some philosophers and al-Ghazālī, a bare eternal Essence may be known without the cosmos, but not as god. A further unveiling shows the Real as His own evidence, disclosed in the forms of the fixed entities.4
  5. A second unveiling shows our forms appearing within the Real, where creatures recognise one another; some know the presence in which this happens and others do not.5
  6. Holding both unveilings, we judge ourselves through ourselves, in God, so God's argument stands against the veiled, who will see at the uncovering of the shank what the gnostics see now.6
  7. The conditional 'Had He willed' marks that God never wills the guidance of all, because the will follows knowledge and knowledge follows the known entity; revelation therefore speaks in the terms of reason, which is why believers are many and gnostics few.7, 8
  8. Each thing appears as it was in its fixity; the Real gives only existence, the creature supplies the rulings, and the two nourish one another. This mutuality of charge, praise, worship and existence explains Abraham's hospitality and ends with the creature as the Real's vessel.9, 10, 11

Where the sources agree

  • Takhallul runs both ways, and the two directions correspond to the nearness of supererogatory works (qurb al-nawāfil) and the nearness of obligatory works (qurb al-farāʾiḍ), with the Real acting through the servant or the servant hidden in the Real.

    al-Qāshānīal-QayṣarīIbn TurkaJāmīBālī Zādeal-Jandī

  • Divine names such as god and Lord are relations that require their correlates, so God qua god is known only together with the servant or the world, while the Essence in itself remains independent.

    al-Qāshānīal-Jandīal-QayṣarīJāmīIbn TurkaAI translationIntertext notes

  • What befalls each creature is fixed by its own fixed entity (ʿayn thābita) and preparedness (istiʿdād); the divine will follows knowledge and knowledge follows the known, so the creature's complaint against God fails.

    al-Qāshānīal-Jandīal-QayṣarīJāmīBālī ZādeIbn TurkaAI translation

  • The Real's own contribution is the effusion of existence, while the rulings come from the entities, and the relation is one of mutual nourishment through manifestation and concealment.

    al-Qāshānīal-Jandīal-QayṣarīIbn TurkaJāmīBālī ZādeAI translation

  • The deficient attributes ascribed to God and the bold statements of mutuality do not mean indwelling (ḥulūl) or that God is diminished in His absolute reality; they concern His entification in the servant or the level of the Names.

    al-Qāshānīal-Jandīal-QayṣarīJāmīBālī ZādeIbn Turka

  • Abraham's rapture (hayamān) is an excess of love, and he is the first in whom the affirmative divine attributes became manifest, which is why he is the first to be clothed on the Day of Resurrection.

    al-Qāshānīal-QayṣarīJāmīal-QūnawīIbn TurkaBālī Zāde

Live divergences

  • How far the permeation between Real and servant really goes, and how literally the chapter's bold mutual claims should be taken.

    • al-Jandī Permeation can intensify into union (ittiḥād) in which the two friends become indistinguishable, and the deficient attributes are truly His insofar as He is entified in things.1
    • Bālī Zāde The Real's permeation means only that the trace of His Essence exists in the servant; union in every respect is false, and statements like 'I was sick' honour His trace in humans.1, 3
    • al-Qayṣarī Phrases such as 'we made Him a god' and 'He worships me' are ecstatic utterance (shaṭḥ) carrying a lapse of propriety, to be read figuratively.3, 10
    • Ibn Turka 'We made Him a god' states a necessary truth showing the high rank of the receptive servant, through whom the Essence passes into its determinations.3

  • Whether the creature's entity is truly the ruler of what befalls it, or the Real remains the ruler.

    • Bālī Zāde The Real has no ruling over you except the effusion of existence; all other ruling is yours over yourself.9
    • Ibn Turka The entities possess the rulings, but the ruler in every station is the Real, since rulings become actual only through existence from Him.9
    • al-Qayṣarī Our entities rule over the Real that He judge them as they require, yet in truth the Real rules over His own existence in one of its levels.6, 9

  • Whether knowledge is purely a follower of the known, and what the divine will retains.

    • al-Jandī Knowledge only attaches to the known as it already is, and this is evident; the will of the Wise attaches only to what is fit for it.7, 8
    • al-Qayṣarī Knowledge follows in one respect but is followed and effective in the effusion of the entities in another; the entities are made by no maker, so asking why they differ has no purchase.7, 8
    • al-Qāshānī Divine wisdom required diverse preparednesses to match the diversity of divine affairs, and keeps most people veiled from the secret of destiny so the world's order is maintained.7, 8

  • How the sequence of unveilings is ordered and what the higher unveiling is.

    • al-Qāshānī The unveilings correspond to annihilation and subsistence, the second set against a first of pure beauty whose holder is veiled from majesty.4, 5
    • al-Jandī The unveiling of our forms in the Real is a third disclosure, after a first witnessing with two levels.5
    • Bālī Zāde It is the second disclosure, higher than the first, and corresponds to the nearness of supererogatory acts; the two clauses on judgment map onto the two unveilings.5, 6
    • Jāmī Each unveiling on its own yields the conclusion that we judge ourselves through ourselves.6

  • What Abraham's khulla is compared with the khulla of Muḥammad.

    • al-Qāshānī Abraham's rapture comes from a residue of receptivity and the predominance of the nonmanifest; Muḥammad surpassed him by realizing true Oneness after total annihilation.1
    • al-Qūnawī Abraham's is the first khulla, with veils not lifted and attained by takhalluq; Muḥammad's is a second khulla without veil, attained by realization (taḥaqquq).1
    • Ibn Turka Abraham was the first to fulfil the human reality and attain comprehensive perfection, laying the foundation of the Seal's perfection.1, 10

Left open

  • If both praise and blame return to God (passage 2) and also to the self (passage 9), how do these claims fit together with moral and legal blame and with reward and punishment, which some commentators keep in force?
  • Does the creatures' role in establishing divinity amount to a real if partial cause, or only the occasion for what is already present to become manifest?
  • If the divine will attaches only to what the entities require, what independent role, if any, remains for divine choice?
  • Who is finally 'the charged one' and whom does 'we' designate: the perfect humans alone or all creatures as loci of the Names?

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

  • The Friend as mutual permeation of Real and creatureتَخَلُّلtakhallulroot خلل
  • The manifest and the nonmanifest, each hidden in the otherالظَّاهِرal-ẓāhirroot ظهر
  • Divinity as a relation that needs the one it governsأُلُوهَةulūharoot أله
  • Knowing oneself as the way to knowing the Lordالمَعْرِفَةal-maʿrifaroot عرف
  • Two unveilings held togetherالكَشْفal-kashfroot كشف
  • Knowledge follows the knownعِلْمʿilmroot علم
  • Charge, praise and worship running both waysمُكَلَّفmukallafroot كلف
  • Mutual nourishment and Abraham's hospitalityرِزْقrizqroot رزق
What each theme is here
  • The Friend as mutual permeation of Real and creature. Abraham is called khalīl because he permeates the divine attributes, or because the Real permeates the existence of his form, as colour pervades the coloured thing and water swells the wool.
  • The manifest and the nonmanifest, each hidden in the other. The one who permeates is hidden and the permeated is manifest, so either creation is hidden in the Real as His names, or the Real is hidden in creation as its hearing and sight.
  • Divinity as a relation that needs the one it governs. Stripped of its relations the Essence would not be a god, and since the entities bring these relations about, 'we have made Him a god'.
  • Knowing oneself as the way to knowing the Lord. God is not known as god until the one over whom He is god is known, which grounds the saying 'whoever knows himself knows his Lord'.
  • Two unveilings held together. One unveiling shows the Real as the evidence for Himself in the forms of the fixed entities; the other shows our forms appearing within the Real, where we know one another.
  • Knowledge follows the known. Will follows knowledge and knowledge follows the fixed entity, so the veiled who complain to God have no argument, and the conclusive argument is God's.
  • Charge, praise and worship running both ways. The servant is charged only with what his own entity asked for, and in the closing verses praise, worship and knowledge pass in both directions between the Real and the servant.
  • Mutual nourishment and Abraham's hospitality. The Real nourishes the creature with existence and the creature nourishes the Real with rulings, which is why the rite of feeding guests was instituted through Abraham.

Connections

Lineage 4

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

  • The hadith of supererogatory works (ḥadīth al-nawāfil): 'I become his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees'Quran and hadith · firm

    Passage 3 cites this sound report directly to show the Real hidden in the creature as its faculties. The commentators read the two directions of takhallul through the paired 'nearness of supererogatory works' and 'nearness of obligatory works'. Al-Ghazālī cites the same report in the Niche of Lights.

    Carried byسَمْعَهُ الَّذِي يَسْمَعُ بِهِsamʿahu alladhī yasmaʿu bihiroot سمع“hearing and sight”

    In the library:Mishkāt al-anwār ¶64

  • Plato (attributed), Alcibiades I: the Delphic 'Know yourself' and the eye that sees itself in another eyePlatonism · probable

    Ibn ʿArabī grounds 'He is not known until we are known' on the saying 'whoever knows himself knows his Lord'. Altmann traced that saying in Arabic and Hebrew sources back to the Greek reception of the Delphic maxim, in which the Alcibiades and its Neoplatonic commentators are central.

    Carried byمَنْ عَرَفَ نَفْسَهُ فَقَدْ عَرَفَ رَبَّهُman ʿarafa nafsahu faqad ʿarafa rabbahuroot عرفγνῶθι σαυτόνgnōthi sauton“know yourself”

    In the library:Alcibiades I 124bAlcibiades I 133aPath: Seeing with the heart

  • Ibn Masarra of Cordoba (d. 319/931)Sufism · firm

    Ibn ʿArabī cites Ibn Masarra by name for placing Abraham with the angel Michael over provisions. This places the chapter inside a documented Andalusian line of reading that runs from Ibn Masarra to Ibn ʿArabī.

    Carried byالأَرْزَاقal-arzāqroot رزق“provisions”

    • Miguel Asín Palacios, Abenmasarra y su escuela: orígenes de la filosofía hispano-musulmana (1914): Ibn Masarra's doctrines and his school, and their later echoes in Andalusian mysticism including Ibn ʿArabī

  • ʿAbd al-Razzāq al-Kāshānī and the Fuṣūṣ commentatorsAkbarian tradition · firm

    The commentators synthesised above read this chapter's doctrine of divinity as relation and of the fixed entities as determining what they receive. Izutsu reconstructs Ibn ʿArabī's ontology largely through Kāshānī's commentary on the Fuṣūṣ.

    Carried byالأَعْيَان الثَّابِتَةal-aʿyān al-thābitaroot عين“fixed entities”

Shared source 1

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

  • Genesis 18: Abraham receives the three visitors at MamreHebrew Bible and Judaism · probable

    The chapter ties the custom of feeding guests to Abraham. The Quran's story of Abraham's honoured guests and the Genesis story of the visitors at Mamre both draw on the narrative of Abraham as the host of divine messengers, reaching the two scriptures by different routes.

    Common ancestor: The Abraham narrative tradition of the Near East, received separately in the Hebrew Bible and in the Quran with its exegesis

    Carried byالقِرَىal-qirāroot قري“hospitality”

    • Reuven Firestone, Journeys in Holy Lands: The Evolution of the Abraham-Ishmael Legends in Islamic Exegesis (1990): the Abraham narratives in Islamic sources and their relation to biblical and Jewish antecedents

Resonance, not influence 5

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

  • Meister Eckhart, German sermon 52 (Beati pauperes spiritu): 'if I had not been, God would not have been God'Christian mysticism (Latin West) · firm

    Both separate the Godhead or Essence in itself from 'God' as a name that exists only in relation to creatures, and both say boldly that the creature is a condition of God's being God. This is resonance, with no claimed influence in either direction.

    Carried byأُلُوهَةulūharoot أله“God as God”

  • Śaṅkara, commentary on the Brahmasūtra: the lordship of Īśvara depends on limiting adjunctsVedanta and Hindu thought · probable

    Śaṅkara holds that Brahma's being Lord (Īśvara) depends on the adjuncts of name and form, while Brahman without qualities stands beyond that relation. This resembles Ibn ʿArabī's division between the independent Essence and divinity as a relation to the entities, though the two systems value the world differently.

    Carried by“lordship as relation (īśvaratva / rubūbiyya)”

  • G. W. F. Hegel, Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion: 'without the world God is not God'German Idealism · probable

    Hegel says that God must posit a world and is not God apart from it, close in wording to 'we made Him a god'. Ibn ʿArabī keeps an Essence untouched by any relation, which Hegel's dialectic does not, so the likeness is partial and involves no influence.

    Carried by“God and world”

  • The Hymn of the Pearl: the robe that is 'two in distinction and yet one in a single likeness'Early Christianity and the Fathers · suggestive

    The returning prince sees his robe as a mirror of himself, two yet one likeness. The chapter's closing verses speak of 'two faces: He and I' and of each appearing within the other. The two share an image of doubled identity, with no claimed link between them.

    Carried by“two yet one”

    In the library:Hymn of the Pearl ¶77Hymn of the Pearl ¶78Path: The mirror

  • Ibn al-Fāriḍ, The Wine Ode: spirit and wine mingled in unionArabic poetry · probable

    Ibn al-Fāriḍ's wine mingles with the spirit, and he says that separation has come about though the whole is one. This runs alongside Ibn ʿArabī's image of water permeating wool and nourishing what it pervades. The two men were contemporaries, but no dependence between these passages is claimed here.

    Carried by“mingling, pervading”

    In the library:al-Khamriyya ¶25al-Khamriyya ¶28

Contrast 4

An instructive opposite: the difference teaches something about both.

  • al-Ghazālī, The Niche of Lights: those who see God first and then thingsSufism · firm

    Ibn ʿArabī names Abū Ḥāmid as holding that God is known without reflection on the cosmos, and he calls this an error: a bare eternal Essence can be known that way, but its being a god is known only through those over whom it is god. In the Niche, al-Ghazālī ranks highest the one who sees God first and the things through Him, and lower the one who infers Him from things.

    Carried byنَظَرnaẓarroot نظر“reflection on the cosmos”

    In the library:Mishkāt al-anwār ¶69Mishkāt al-anwār ¶73

  • al-Ghazālī, The Niche of Lights: union as metaphor, oneness in truthSufism · probable

    Al-Ghazālī treats the ecstatics' talk of union as speech that resembles union and is not to be taken as identity. Ibn ʿArabī states a two-way permeation in which each side carries the other's attributes by right, while his commentators insist that this is no indwelling (ḥulūl).

    Carried byاتِّحَادittiḥādroot وحد“union”

    In the library:Mishkāt al-anwār ¶53Mishkāt al-anwār ¶54Path: Unification: the soul at peace

  • Plotinus, Ennead VI.9: the One that needs nothing after itNeoplatonism · probable

    Plotinus's One stands in no relation to what comes after it and is in no way completed by it. Ibn ʿArabī agrees that the Essence in itself is independent, but he makes divinity itself a relation that the creatures bring about, so that God as god has need of the one over whom He is god.

    Carried byمَأْلُوهmaʾlūhroot ألهτὸ ἕνto hen“the One and the one god-ed over”

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

  • Ludwig Feuerbach, The Essence of Christianity (1841): God as the projection of the human essenceGerman Idealism · probable

    Both say that knowledge of God runs through knowledge of the human being, and Ibn ʿArabī can even write that 'we have made Him a god'. For Feuerbach this exhausts God, while for Ibn ʿArabī it concerns only God as god, and the Real still gives existence while the creature has none of its own.

    Carried by“making God”

Claude (opus) via Claude Code, headless, no web access, 2026-10-03. 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 2026-10-03 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

23 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 IbrāhīmClaude (AI), The editor of this reader · 2026-10-03Our 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)) · 2026-10-03
Source:
Worksheet W, tab "5. IBRAHIM", col. B (0.80–0.87 marks per letter), exported 3 Oct 2026; scripts/fusus/edition_ch.py 5, rebase_ch.py 5; text record docs/texts/fusus-05-ibrahim.md
In the reader:
In full, 11 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), 2026-10-03 (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 2026-10-03 (scripts/fusus/rebase_ch.py 5) through Niẓām al-Dīn's edition alone, PDF pp. 186–196 (printed pp. 83–93), 11 pages, differences only: AI readers recorded only the words where the print differs from ours (vowels 46, letters 21, words the print lacks 7, words it adds 5); 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: 27 letter changes and 33 vowel changes; not adopted 19. 13 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 5 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) · 2026-10-03Our work
By
Claude (AI) (translator) · 2026-10-03
In the reader:
Under each passage
Licence:
Ours; marked AI
Made by:
Claude (Opus; exact version not recorded), 2026-10-03 (first commit of app/src/content/ai/fusus-5.json (the file has no generatedOn); scripts/fusus/ai_translate_ch.py 5)
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) · 2026-10-03Our work
By
Claude (AI) (glosses) · 2026-10-03
In the reader:
One gloss per word, in the word card
Licence:
Ours; marked AI
Made by:
Claude (Opus; exact version not recorded), 2026-10-03 (made with the translation, same file and call (app/src/content/ai/fusus-5.json); date = its first commit)
Term notes, key words and their historyClaude (AI) · 2026-10-03Our work
By
Claude (AI) (term notes) · 2026-10-03
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), 2026-10-03 (made with the translation (app/src/content/ai/fusus-5.json); date = its first commit)
Notes
The term notes are AI, made with the translation. The key words (app/src/data/fusus-5-keywords.json) are selected by rule from them and from frequency; their history (fusus-5-term-history.json) quotes Ibn ʿArabī's Iṣṭilāḥ, the aligned commentaries and al-Jurjānī from OpenITI, with AI English.
Wordplay and Quran readingsClaude (AI) · 2026-10-03Our work
By
Claude (AI) (readings) · 2026-10-03
In the reader:
Anchored to the words they read
Licence:
Ours; marked AI
Made by:
Claude (Opus; exact version not recorded), 2026-10-03 (first commit of app/src/content/ai/fusus-5-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) · 2026-10-03Our work
By
Claude (AI) (translator) · 2026-10-03
In the reader:
Beside each commentary entry
Licence:
Ours; marked AI
Made by:
Claude (Sonnet; exact version not recorded), 2026-10-03 (scripts/fusus/ai_translate_commentaries_ch.py 5 (model sonnet); date = first commit of app/public/data/commentaries/fusus-5.json)
Notes
Commentators aligned in this chapter: al-Qāshānī, al-Jandī, al-Qayṣarī, al-Tilimsānī, Ibn Turka, Jāmī, Bālī Zāde, al-Qūnawī; 550 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).
Translators differ (triangulation)Claude (AI) · 2026-10-03Our work
By
Claude (AI) (comparison of the translations (scripts/triangulate.py, PROTOCOLS §17)) · 2026-10-03
In the reader:
Only the serious divergences, as a note under the passage; the AI-English flags are listed for a person to fix in our own words
Licence:
Ours; marked AI
Made by:
Claude (Opus; exact version not recorded), 2026-10-03 (generatedOn of app/src/content/triangulation/fusus-5.json)
Notes
Translations compared privately: Caner Dagli, The Ringstones of Wisdom (2004), Portuguese (working translation). Commentaries weighted by lineage (al-Qūnawī highest, then al-Jandī, al-Tilimsānī, al-Qāshānī, al-Qayṣarī; Ibn Turka, Jāmī, Bālī Zāde later). Descriptions are ours (AI); quotations are the translators' own words, cited. 6 divergences between the translators, 2 serious and shown to readers (¶2, ¶4). AI-English check: 1 "contradiction" (¶10: the print's أُقَرِّبُهُ against the translators' and commentators' «أُقِرُّ بِهِ», to be decided with the text by a person) and 5 "doubtful".
Synthesis of the interpretationsClaude (AI) · 2026-10-03Our work
By
Claude (AI) (synthesis) · 2026-10-03
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), 2026-10-03 (generatedOn of app/src/content/synthesis/fusus-5.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) · 2026-10-03Our work
By
Claude (AI) (map of themes and connections) · 2026-10-03
In the reader:
On the apparatus page (chapter level) and per passage
Licence:
Ours; marked AI
Made by:
Claude (Opus; exact version not recorded), 2026-10-03 (generatedOn of app/src/content/resonances/fusus-5.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.

✦ 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 808 words, checked on 11 pages of Niẓām al-Dīn's edition of the same manuscript: 27 of its readings and the vowelling of 33 words were adopted where two independent readings agreed; 19 were not adopted.
  • 13 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 2026-10-03.

Consonantal decisions (15)

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 (15)

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)