﴿إِنَّ هذا لَهُوَ الْبَلاءُ الْمُبِينُ﴾
Quotes words that differ from our text (wavy underline).
آيه 37 سورة الصافات . أي الاختبار الظاهر ، يعني الاختبار في العلم : هل يعلم ما يقتضيه موطن الرؤيا من التعبير أم لا ؟ لأنّه يعلم أنّ موطن الرؤيا يطلب التعبير ، ففعل ، فما وفّى الموطن حقّه ، وصدّق الرؤيا لهذا السبب . كما فعل تقيّ بن مخلَّد ، الإمام صاحب المسند ، سمع في الخبر الذي ثبت عنده أنّه عليه السّلام قال : « من رآني في المنام ، فقد رآني في اليقظة ، فإنّ الشيطان لا يتمثّل على صورتي » فرآه تقيّ بن مخلَّد وسقاه النبيّ صلَّى الله عليه وسلم في هذه الرؤيا لبنا فصدّق تقيّ بن مخلَّد رؤياه ، فاستقى ، فقاء لبنا ، ولو عبّر رؤياه ، لكان ذلك اللبن علما ، فحرمه الله العلم الكثير على قدر ما شرب . ألا ترى رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أتي في المنام بقدح لبن قال : « فشربته حتى خرج الرّيّ من أظافيري ثم أعطيت فضلي عمر . قيل : ما أوّلته يا رسول الله ؟ قال : « العلم » وما تركه لبنا على صورة ما رآه ، لعلمه بموطن الرؤيا وما تقتضي من التعبير" . قال العبد : اعلم أنّ الأمور المغيبة عن العبد إذا أراد الله أن يطلع العبد عليها ويشهده ما شاء منها قبل الوقوع ، فإنّه تعالى يمثّل له ذلك في منامه في صورة مناسبة لذلك الأمر في المعنى ، كظهور العلم الفطري في صورة اللبن ، لكون اللبن غذاء لصورته الجسدية من أوّل الفطرة ، كالعلم الذي هو غذاء روح المؤمن من أوّل فطرة الروح . وكذلك الماء والعسل والخمر صور علم الوحي والإلقاء والحال ، إذا جسد الله لعبده هذه الحقائق على هذه الصور ، فينبغي أن يكون صاحب كشف الصور الذي يجسّد الله ويمثّل له المعاني والأمور الغيبية صورا مثالية وأمثلة جسدية محسوسة من الله على علم آخر من الكشف المعنوي يكشف عن وجه ذلك المعنى المعنيّ له قناع الصور والأمثلة الإلهية ، وهو كشف عال ، وعلم شريف ، يؤتيه الله من شاء من عباده المصطفين المعتنين ، ليس علم التعبير الذي يأخذونه من كتب التعبير . وذلك أيضا بالنسبة إلى أوّل معبّر علَّمه الله تأويله كرسول الله صلَّى الله عليه وسلَّم ويوسف الصدّيق عليه السّلام وابن سيرين ومعبّر قرطبة في هذه الأمّة وغيره ممّن وجد العلم من عند الله ، وأخذه منه من مشايخ الصوفية والمحقّقين منّا . قال : "وقد علم أنّ صورة النبيّ التي شاهدها الحسّ أنّها في المدينة مدفونة ، وأنّ صورة روحه ولطيفته ما شاهدها أحد من أحد ولا من نفسه . كلّ روح بهذه المثابة " . يعني رضي الله عنه : أنّ الصورة العنصرية المشهودة في الحسّ مدفونة في المدينة لا تتعلَّق رؤية أحد بها ، والصورة الروحانية النورية التي لروحه صلَّى الله عليه وسلم في مظهريته لله تعالى لا يراها أحد من غير رسول الله صلَّى الله عليه وسلَّم ولا من نفسه أنّه يظهر بتلك الصورة المقدّسة ، لكونها خاصّة بالنبيّ صلى الله عليه وسلم . وكذلك صورة روح كلّ أحد ، لا يتمثّل بها وفيها إلَّا روحه لا روح أحد غيره . قال رضي الله عنه : " فيتجسّد للرائي روح النبيّ في المنام بصورة جسده » يعني بصورة مثالية شبيهة بصورة جسده كما مات عليه لا يخرم منه شيئا فهو محمّد صلى الله عليه وسلم المرئيّ من حيث روحه في صورة جسدية تشبه المدفونة لا يمكن لشيطان أن يتجسّد بصورة جسده ، عصمة من الله في حق الرائي ، ولهذا من رآه بهذه الصورة ، يأخذ عنه جميع ما أمر به ، ونهاه عنه أو يخبره ، كما كان يأخذ عنه في الحياة الدنيا من الأحكام على حسب ما يكون منه اللفظ الدالّ عليه من نصّ أو ظاهر أو مجمل أو ما كان ." يعني رضي الله عنه : لا تأويل لما قاله ، بل يقتصر على مدلول لفظه صلَّى الله عليه وسلَّم لكون المراد ذلك المدلول لا غير ، ولو كان المراد غيره ، لقال لفظا دالَّا على ذلك ، فما في الأمر جهل . قال رضي الله عنه : " فإن أعطاه شيئا ، فذلك الشيء هو الذي يدخله التأويل ،فإن خرج في الحسّ كما كان في الخيال فتلك رؤيا لا تعبير لها ". قال العبد : إذا نزل على روح الرائي من الغيب أمر ، ظهر في الروح عكس ذلك الأمر انعكاسا نفسيّا ، ثم ينعكس عكس ذلك إلى مخيّلته ، فيتشكَّل ويتصوّر في الحسّ المشترك على صورة عكس العكس ، فيشبه الأصل ، فيخرج المنام في الحسّ على صورة ما رآه في المنام ، وهو كشف صوريّ ، فلا تعبير له . قال رضي الله عنه: " وبهذا القدر وعليه اعتمد إبراهيم الخليل عليه السّلام وتقيّ بن مخلَّد . ولمّا كان للرؤيا هذان الوجهان ، وعلَّمنا الله فيما فعل بإبراهيم وما قال له الأدب لما يعطيه مقام النبوّة ، علمنا في رؤيتنا الحق تعالى في صورة يردّها الدليل العقلي أن نعبّر تلك الصورة بالحق المشروع ، إمّا في حق الرائي ، أو المكان الذي رآه فيه ، أو هما معا ، فإن لم يردّها الدليل العقلي ، أبقيناها على ما رأيناها ، كما نرى الحقّ في الآخرة سواء " . يعني رضي الله عنه : أنّ الحق إذا تجلَّى لشخص في صورة يردّها الدليل العقلي ، أوّلناه بالحق المشروع ، كما رأى بعض المسلمين الصالحين في بلاد الغرب الحق في دهليز بيت له ، فلم يلتفت إليه ولطمه في وجهه ، فلمّا استيقظ قلق قلقا شديدا . فجاء الشيخ رضي الله عنه وأخبره بما رأى وفعل ، فلمّا رأى الشيخ على ذلك الرائي من القلق أمرا عظيما ، فقال له الشيخ : أين رأيته ؟ قال : في بيت لي اشتريته ، قال الشيخ :ذلك الموضع مغصوب وهو حق للحق المشروع ، اشتريته ولم تجعل مالك منه ولم تف حقّ الشرع ، فاستدركه . ففحص الرجل عن ذلك ، فإذا هو من وقف المسجد وقد بيع بغصب والرجل لم يعلمه ولم يلتفت إلى أمره ، فلمّا تحقّق ، ردّه إلى وقف المسجد ، واستغفر الله . فمثل هذا إذا رئي ، دخله التأويل والتفصيل ، وإذا تجلَّى الحق في صورة لا يردّها الدليل العقلي ، فقد تجلَّى لنا ورأيناه بحمد الله ، كما نراه في الآخرة كالبدر ، وكما يتجلَّى لأهل المحشر في صورة تنكر ويتعوّذ منه ويعرف ويسجد له سواء بلا فرق في الحكم . قال - رضي الله عنه : فللواحد الرحمن في كلّ موطن %~% من الصور ما يخفى وما هو ظاهر فإن قلت هذا الحقّ قد تك صادق %~% وإن قلت أمرا آخرا أنت عابر وما حكمه في موطن دون موطن %~% ولكنّه بالحق للخلق سافر أي عابر من صورة ما رأيت إلى ما يؤول إليه تأويل الصورة ، يعني رضي الله عنه : أنّ الحق إذا تجلَّى في موطن ، فليس ذلك الموطن أولى بتجّليه من موطن آخر ، إذ المواطن بالنسبة إلى الحق على السواء ، ولكنّه تعالى بحقيقته يسفر عن وجه الحق للخلق ، هذا ظاهر مدلول العبارة. وثمّ معنى لطيف كأنّه رضي الله عنه : إليه يومئ ، وهو أنّ الحق إذا تجلَّى لك أو للخلق ، فإنّما يتجلَّى من العين الثابتة التي للخلق ، فقد سفر في تجلَّيه بحقيقته ووجوده عن وجه الحق ، أي كشف صورة العين الخلقية الكونية ، وهي شأن من شؤونه ، كما مرّ ، فقوله : « سافر للخلق » يعني كاشف لصورة عين المتجلَّى له من الخلق . قال رضي الله عنه : إذا ما تجلَّى للعيون تردّه %~% عقول ببرهان عليه تثابر يعني رضي الله عنه: إذا كان التجلَّي في صورة محسوسة ، وإذا كان حقّا في هذا الطور ، وعند الله في نفس الأمر ، ولكنّ العقل يتعاظم ذلك بالوهم ، ويستكبر ويبرهن بالتنزيه الوهمي ، على أنّه ليس بحق ، فإنّه يتعالى [ عن ] أن يظهر محسوسا في زعمه للحسّ في مبلغ علمه وإذن جاز في حقّه الجهة ، وحازه الحيّز والوجهة ، وأنّه يتعالى عن ذلك علوّا كبيرا ، هذا غايتهم في برهانهم ، وهو عند التحقيق تنزيه وهمي ، وتحكَّم على الحقيقة بموجب عقله الفكري ، والحقّ نزّه نفسه عن هذا التنزيه. فإنّه تبارك وتعالى مع أنّه تجلَّى عن التقيّد بالجهة لذاته . فإنّه سبحانه متجلّ عن كلّ جهة ، غير متخلّ عن وجهة ، وإلَّا انحصر في اللاجهة ، وحدّ بخارج الجهة ، وهو ظاهر بكل أو جهة ، باطن عن كل وجهة ، لعدم انحصار حقيقته في الظهور بالجهة والبطون في اللاجهة ، "فَأَيْنَما تُوَلُّوا فَثَمَّ وَجْه ُ الله " ولكنّه غير مدرك للمقيّدين بمقتضى أفكارهم والمتعشقين بأوطانهم العرفية والعادية ، وأغطائهم الضنكة الاعتقادية وأوكارهم ، وهم المقيّدون للمطلق الذات في زعمهم ، والمتحكَّمون عليه بالانحصار والتحديد في مبلغ علمهم بوهمهم ، وتتعالى الذات المطلقة والمطلق الذات عن كل قيد وحصر ، تتعلَّق بكل حدّ وطور في حكم معيّن ، أو أمر موزّن بميزان نظري ، مقنّن بقانون فكري عقلا وحسّا تخمينا أو حدس " ما قَدَرُوا الله حَقَّ قَدْرِه ِ " ، ولا وفوا النظر حقّه في حقّه . قال رضي الله عنه : ويقبل في مجلى العقول وفي الذي %~% يسمّى خيالا والصحيح النواظر يعني رضي الله عنه : الرؤية إذا كانت في صورة عقلية غير محسوسة ولا متكيّفة بكيفية تشبه شيئا فيها ، فالفكر والمبرهن بفكره يقبلانها ويقبلان عليها ، ولا ينكرانها ، وكذلك إذا رأى في المنام خيالا ، أي صورة خيالية ، فإنّ العقل يجيزه ويقبله ويأخذه مقصورا على موطن الرؤيا ويعبّره ، والصحيح كشفا شهود العيون النواظر إليه في صورة تجلَّياته ظاهرا . كما قال : " وُجُوه ٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ ناضِرَةٌ . إِلى رَبِّها ناظِرَةٌ " فالنواظر غير المحجوبة نواظر للحق ، نواظر إلى الحق ، غير حاصرة له فيما ترى وتجلَّى لها . قال رضي الله عنه : « يقول أبو يزيد البسطاميّ في هذا المقام : لو أنّ العرش وما حواه مائة ألف ألف مرّة في زاوية من زوايا قلب العارف ما أحسّ به هذا وسع أبي يزيد في عالم الأجسام ، بل أقول : [ لو ] أنّ ما لا يتناهى وجوده [ يقدّر انتهاء وجوده ] مع العين الموجدة له في زاوية من زوايا قلب العارف ما أحسّ به في علمه" . قال العبد : كلّ ما دخل في الوجود أو ما وجد إلى الإنسان - مثلا - فهو متناه محدود محصور ، وكذلك لو قدّر ما لا يتناهى متناهيا ، لكان الظاهر المتعيّن من الحق المطلق بإيجاد هذا المقدّر انتهاؤه من الممكنات بالنسبة إلى ما لم يتعيّن بالإيجاد من غيب الحق اللامتعيّن تعيّنا معيّنا ، وكلّ متعيّن محصور محدود بنفس تعيّنه وتميّزه من المطلق ، وقلب العارف الحقيقي لا يمتلي بتعيّن معيّن ، بل هو في محاذاة الحق المطلق أبدا . قال - رضي الله عنه - : « فإنّه قد ثبت أنّ القلب وسع الحقّ ومع ذلك ما اتّصف بالرّيّ ، فلو امتلأ ارتوى . [ وقد قال ذلك أبو يزيد ] " . يعني رضي الله عنه : يظهر العارف - من مطلق قابليته وقلبه لكل تجلّ من تجلَّيات الحق - مجلى يقبل به إلى التجلَّي فيقبله ، ولا ينقص ذلك من مطلق قابليته التي في مقابلة مطلق الغيب الذاتي أصلا ، ولا يمتلئ بذلك فلو امتلأ ارتوى ، والمحقّق المحنّك لا يرتوي ، وقد قال ذلك أبو يزيد البسطاميّ سلام الله عليه ، بل الرجل من يتحسّى بحار السماوات والأرض ولسانه خرج يلهب عطشا . يعني رضي الله عنه : أنّ تجلَّيات الحق الظاهر في السماوات والأرض لا يرتوي لها العارف ، فإنّه لا يحسّ بتجلَّيات الحق المتعيّن في العرش والكرسي اللذين فيهما السماوات السبع والأرضون السبع كحلقة ملقاة في أرض فلاة ، فانظر ما ذا ترى . قال رضي الله عنه : « ولقد نبّهنا على هذا المقام بقولنا : يا خالق الأشياء في نفسه %~% أنت لما تخلقه جامع تخلق ما لا ينتهي كونه فيك %~% فأنت الضيّق الواسع يشير - رضي الله عنه - : إلى الأحديّة الذاتية ، بمعنى أنّه هو الموجود وحده ليس لغيره حقيقة ولا وجود حقيقة ، فليس خلقه للأشياء خارجا عنه ، إذ لا خارج عنه ، لكونه هو هو وحده ، فلا خارج ولا داخل ، فهو جامع بذاته في نفسه لما يخلقه من الصور ، لأنّه أحديّة جمع الجميع ، فالكلّ فيك ، ولولاك لما كان له وجود " إِنَّ الله يُمْسِكُ السَّماواتِ " النورية الأسمائيّة الإلهية والسماوات الروحانية العلوية " وَالأَرْضَ " الخلقية الجسمانية " أَنْ تَزُولا " أي تزول الصورة العلوية السماوية والسفلية الأرضية - على ما ذكرنا - عن الوجود بانقطاع التجلَّي النوري الوجودي ، فإنّ الكلّ - مع قطع النظر عن التجلَّي عنه - يرجع بالطبع إلى عدميّة عينه " وَلَئِنْ زالَتا إِنْ أَمْسَكَهُما من أَحَدٍ من بَعْدِه ِ إِنَّه ُ كانَ حَلِيماً " عند غلوّ صور الأشياء على الوجود الحق الحامل الممسك لها " غَفُوراً " . أي ساترا بصور الأشياء وجه الوجود الحق المتعيّن فيها ، وإظهاره لها بظهور وجهه فيها لمن لا يرى غير وجه الحق من كل جهة ووجهة يخلق ما لا يتناهى كونه ، أي من صور الأشياء فيك أي في عين الوجود الحق من نفسك ونفسك ، فإنّه أنت الواسع الذي وسعت ما لا يتناهى من الممكنات غير المتناهية والأسماء الحسنى التي لا يبلغها الإحصاء كذلك بما لا يتناهى له من وجودك الحقّ المفاض على صور الموجودات وماهيّاتها ومع عدم تناهي الكلّ ، فلا خارج عنك فلا محيص ولا مناص ولا محيد ولا مهرب ولا مخرج لها عنك ، لضيق الأشياء التي وسعتها ، فأنت من كونك عينها تسعها من حيث أنت أحديّة جمعها ، وتضيق عن نفسك من حيث هي وأنت هي حين ضاقت عنك ، فضاق بعضها عن بعضها ، فأنت الضيّق بهذا الاعتبار ، وأنت الواسع بالاعتبار الأوّل . قال رضي الله عنه : لو أنّ ما قد خلق الله م %~% لاح بقلبي فجره الساطع في البيت تقديم وتأخير ، وتقديره : لو أنّ ما قد خلق الله بقلبي - أي لو كان فيه - ما ظهرت لائحة مع سطوع نوره الوجودي الذي وسع المخلوقات . قال رضي الله عنه : من وسع الحق فما ضاق عن %~% خلق فكيف الأمر يا سامع ؟ يعني رضي الله عنه: لمّا وسع قلبي الحق الذي وسعت رحمته كلّ شيء فأنّى يضيق عن خلق وسعه من وسعه وهو الله ؟ ، قال الله : ما وسعني أرضي ولا سمائي ، ووسعني قلب عبدي المؤمن . قال رضي الله عنه : « بالوهم يخلق كلّ إنسان في قوّة خياله ما لا وجود له إلَّا فيها ، وهذا هو الأمر العامّ ، والعارف يخلق بالهمّة ما يكون له وجود خارج محلّ الهمّة ، ولكن لا تزال الهمّة تحفظه ، ولا يؤودها حفظه أي حفظ ما خلقه ، فإذا طرأ على العارف غفلة عن حفظ ما خلق ،عدم ذلك المخلوق إلَّا أن يكون العارف قد ضبط جميع الحضرات وهو لا يغفل مطلقا. بل لا بدّ له من حضرة يشهدها ، قال الشيخ رضي الله عنه : فإذا خلق العارف بهمته ما خلق وله هذه الإحاطة ظهر ذلك الخلق بصورته في كلّ حضرة ، وصارت الصور يحفظ بعضها بعضا ، فإذا غفل العارف عن حضرة ما أو عن حضرات » . يعني من حضرات الوجود علوا وسفلا
verse 37 of Sūrat al-Ṣāffāt. That is, the manifest test — meaning the test in knowledge: does he know what the station of the vision requires by way of interpretation, or not? For he [Abraham] knew that the station of vision demands interpretation, and he acted accordingly; he fulfilled the due of that station and confirmed the vision for this reason. As Taqī ibn Makhlad did — the imām, author of the Musnad — who heard in the report established with him that he (peace be upon him) said: "Whoever sees me in a dream has seen me in waking life, for Satan cannot take my form." Taqī ibn Makhlad saw him, and the Prophet (God's blessing and peace upon him) gave him milk to drink in that vision, so Taqī ibn Makhlad took his vision literally and drank it [i.e., sought to actualize it by drinking milk], and he vomited milk. Had he interpreted his vision, that milk would have been knowledge, but God deprived him of abundant knowledge in proportion to what he drank. Do you not see that the Messenger of God (God's blessing and peace upon him) was brought in a dream a cup of milk and said: "I drank it until satiation came out from my fingernails, then I gave what remained to ʿUmar." He was asked: "What did you interpret it as, O Messenger of God?" He said: "Knowledge." He did not leave it as milk in the form in which he saw it, because of his knowledge of the station of vision and what it requires by way of interpretation." The servant [of God, i.e., the author] says: Know that when God wills to inform the servant of hidden matters and show him, before their occurrence, whatever of them He wishes, He represents that to him in his sleep in a form appropriate in meaning to that matter — just as innate knowledge appears in the form of milk, milk being nourishment for the bodily form from the very beginning of its creation, just as knowledge is nourishment for the spirit of the believer from the very beginning of the spirit's creation. Likewise water, honey, and wine are forms for the knowledge of revelation (waḥy), inspiration (ilqāʾ), and spiritual state (ḥāl). When God embodies these realities for His servant in these forms, the possessor of the unveiling of forms — for whom God embodies and represents meanings and unseen matters as imaginal forms and sensible corporeal examples — ought to have another knowledge, namely the unveiling of meaning, which unveils, for the one addressed, the face of that intended meaning from behind the veil of the divine forms and examples. This is an exalted unveiling and a noble knowledge which God grants to whomever He wills of His chosen and favored servants; it is not the science of interpretation taken from books of dream-interpretation. This likewise applies, in relation to the first interpreter whom God taught its interpretation, such as the Messenger of God (God's blessing and peace upon him), Joseph the Truthful (peace be upon him), Ibn Sīrīn, the interpreter of Córdoba in this community, and others who found this knowledge from God and took it from Him, among the masters of the Sufis and the verifiers among us." He [Ibn ʿArabī] said: "It is known that the Prophet's form which the senses witnessed is buried in Medina, and that the form of his spirit and subtle reality has not been witnessed by anyone, nor even by himself. Every spirit is in this condition." He (may God be pleased with him) means: the elemental form witnessed by the senses is buried in Medina; no one's vision attaches to it. As for the luminous spiritual form belonging to his spirit (peace be upon him) in its locus-of-manifestation (maẕhariyya) for God Most High, no one sees it except the Messenger of God (God's blessing and peace upon him) himself, nor does he himself [normally] see that he manifests in that sanctified form, since it is exclusive to the Prophet (peace be upon him). Likewise, the form of each person's spirit: none is represented by it and in it except his own spirit, not the spirit of anyone else. He (may God be pleased with him) said: "So the spirit of the Prophet becomes embodied for the one who sees him in a dream, in the form of his [bodily] body" — meaning in an imaginal form resembling his bodily form as he died, without any diminishment — so it is Muḥammad (God's blessing and peace upon him) seen, from the standpoint of his spirit, in a bodily form resembling the one that is buried, which Satan cannot embody in his bodily form — a protection from God regarding the one who sees him. Therefore whoever sees him in this form takes from him everything he commands or forbids, or informs him of, just as one would take from him in worldly life regarding the rulings, according to whatever wording indicates it, whether explicit text, apparent sense, summary statement, or whatever it may be." He (may God be pleased with him) means: there is no [further] interpretation for what he says; rather one confines oneself to the denotation of his wording (peace be upon him), since that denotation itself is what is intended, nothing else. Had something else been intended, he would have used wording indicating that; there is no ambiguity in the matter. He (may God be pleased with him) said: "But if he gives him something [as a gift], then that thing is what admits of interpretation; and if it occurs in the sensible world exactly as it was in the imagination, then that is a vision requiring no interpretation." The servant [of God] says: When something from the unseen descends upon the spirit of the one who sees the vision, its opposite appears in the spirit through a psychic reflection (inʿikās nafsī); then that reflection is reflected again into his imaginative faculty, and it takes shape and form in the common sense (al-ḥiss al-mushtarak) as the form of the reflection of the reflection, resembling the original; so the dream emerges in the sensible world in the very form in which he saw it in the dream — this is a formal unveiling (kashf ṣūrī) requiring no interpretation. He (may God be pleased with him) said: "On this basis Abraham the Friend (peace be upon him) and Taqī ibn Makhlad relied. Since vision has these two aspects, and since God taught us, through what He did with Abraham and what He said to him, the proper courtesy (adab) appropriate to what the station of prophethood grants, we learned that when we see the Real, Exalted, in a form rejected by rational proof (al-dalīl al-ʿaqlī), we must interpret that form according to the legally-established Real (al-ḥaqq al-mashrūʿ) — whether with respect to the one who sees the vision, or the place in which he saw it, or both together. But if rational proof does not reject it, we leave it as we saw it, just as we will see the Real in the afterlife, without distinction." He (may God be pleased with him) means: when the Real discloses Himself to a person in a form rejected by rational proof, we interpret it according to the legally-established Real — just as some righteous Muslims in the lands of the West saw the Real in the vestibule of a house belonging to them; [the Real] did not turn toward him and struck him in the face; when he awoke he was deeply troubled. He came to the Shaykh (may God be pleased with him) and told him what he had seen and what had happened; when the Shaykh saw the extent of the man's disturbance, he said to him: 'Where did you see this?' He said: 'In a house of mine that I bought.' The Shaykh said: 'That place is usurped property and belongs rightfully to the legally-established Real; you bought it without making your ownership of it [legally sound] and without fulfilling the right of the Law regarding it — so set it right.' The man investigated the matter, and found that it was indeed part of a mosque endowment (waqf) that had been sold through usurpation, and the man had not known this nor paid attention to it. When he confirmed this, he restored it to the mosque's endowment and sought God's forgiveness. Such a case, when seen, admits of interpretation and detailed explanation. But when the Real discloses Himself in a form that rational proof does not reject, then He has truly disclosed Himself to us and we have seen Him, praise God, just as we shall see Him in the afterlife like the full moon, and just as He discloses Himself to the people of the Gathering in a form they [initially] disavow and seek refuge from, then recognize and prostrate to — equally, without difference in ruling. He (may God be pleased with him) said [in verse]: 'For the One, the Merciful, in every station, / Among forms are some that are hidden and some apparent. / If you say "This is the Real," you may well be truthful; / And if you say otherwise, you are [merely] passing through [interpreting]. / Its ruling is not [confined] to one station rather than another, / But through It, for creation, It travels [manifests] openly.' That is, [the sayer] passes from the form he saw to what the interpretation of the form leads to. He (may God be pleased with him) means: when the Real discloses Himself in one station, that station is not more deserving of His self-disclosure than another station, since all stations are equal in relation to the Real; but He, Exalted, in His reality, unveils (yusfiru) the face of the Real for creation — this is the apparent meaning of the expression. There is also a subtle meaning to which he (may God be pleased with him) seems to allude: that when the Real discloses Himself to you or to creation, He discloses Himself only from the fixed entity (al-ʿayn al-thābita) belonging to that creature; so in His self-disclosure, by His reality and existence, He has unveiled the face of the Real — that is, He has revealed the form of the created, cosmic entity, which is one of His affairs (shuʾūn), as mentioned before. So his statement 'travels openly for creation' means: unveiling the form of the fixed entity of the one to whom He discloses Himself, from among creation. He (may God be pleased with him) said: 'When He discloses Himself to the eyes, intellects reject it / With proof upon which they persist.' He (may God be pleased with him) means: when the self-disclosure occurs in a sensible form — and it is indeed true/real at this level, and with God in actual fact — yet the intellect magnifies this through conjecture (wahm), grows arrogant, and constructs proof through imaginary tanzīh (declaring incomparability) to the effect that it is not real, claiming that God is too exalted to appear as something sensible, in their estimation, to the extent of their knowledge, and that therefore spatial direction (jiha) would apply to Him, and locality and orientation would encompass Him, and that He is exalted far above that — this is the extent of their proof. In truth this is an imaginary tanzīh, an arbitrary imposition upon reality based on the dictates of discursive reason; whereas the Real has declared Himself incomparable (nazzaha) from this [kind of] tanzīh. For He, Blessed and Exalted, even while transcending restriction to any direction in His Essence — for He, glory be to Him, transcends every direction, yet is not devoid of an orientation (wajha); otherwise He would be confined to "no-direction" and delimited by what lies outside direction. He is manifest (ẓāhir) through every direction and orientation, nonmanifest (bāṭin) from every orientation, since His reality is not confined to manifestation through direction nor to nonmanifestation through "no-direction." "Wherever you turn, there is the Face of God" — yet He is not grasped by those restricted by the dictates of their own thinking, those enamored of their customary and habitual homelands, and their constricted doctrinal coverings and nests — they are the ones who confine the absolute Essence according to their own estimation, and who impose upon Him confinement and delimitation to the extent of their knowledge through conjecture. But the Absolute Essence and the Essence that is Absolute transcend every restriction and confinement, while [simultaneously] being attached to every limit and mode in a particular ruling, or a matter weighed by a speculative scale, codified by a rational law — whether through reason, sense, guesswork, or intuition. "They have not valued God with His true value," nor have they given reflection its due regarding Him. He (may God be pleased with him) said: 'And it is accepted in the locus-of-manifestation of intellects, and in that / Which is called imagination — and correct [vision belongs to] the eyes.' He (may God be pleased with him) means: if the vision occurs in an intelligible form, not sensible nor qualified by any quality resembling anything within it, then reasoning and the one who constructs proof through his reasoning accept it and do not deny it; likewise, if one sees in a dream an imaginal form — i.e., an imaginative form — reason permits it, accepts it, and takes it as confined to the station of the vision, and interprets it. But the correct [vision], by unveiling, is the witnessing of the [actual] eyes that gaze upon Him in the form of His self-disclosures, manifestly — as He said: "Faces that Day will be radiant, gazing upon their Lord." So the unveiled eyes are eyes [gazing] toward the Real, gazing upon the Real, without confining Him to what they see and what has been disclosed to them. He (may God be pleased with him) said: 'Abū Yazīd al-Basṭāmī says regarding this station: "If the Throne and all it contains were multiplied a hundred thousand thousand times in one corner of the corners of the gnostic's heart, he would not sense it." This is the extent of Abū Yazīd's statement in the realm of bodies. Rather I say: [if] that whose existence is infinite — supposing its existence to have a limit — together with the very entity that brought it into existence, were placed in one corner of the corners of the gnostic's heart, he would not sense it in his knowledge.' The servant [of God] says: everything that enters into existence, or that comes to exist for the human being, for example, is finite, delimited, confined. Likewise, if what is infinite were supposed to be finite, then the manifest, determined [entity] from the Absolute Real, by bringing into existence this [hypothetically] finite thing from among possible existents, would be in relation to what has not been determined by existence — from the undetermined unseen of the Real — a specific determination; and every determined thing is confined and delimited by the very fact of its determination and distinction from the Absolute. The heart of the true gnostic is never filled by any specific determination; rather it is always face-to-face with the Absolute Real. He (may God be pleased with him) said: "For it has been established that the heart encompasses the Real, and yet it is not characterized by satiation — for if it were filled, it would be satiated. [And Abū Yazīd said this.]" He (may God be pleased with him) means: the gnostic manifests — from the absoluteness of his receptivity and his heart for every self-disclosure among the Real's self-disclosures — a locus of manifestation (majlā) through which he receives the self-disclosure and accepts it, yet this does not diminish in the least his absolute receptivity which stands opposite the absolute unseen of the Essence; nor is he filled by it — for if he were filled, he would be satiated. The verified, seasoned one (al-muḥaqqiq al-muḥannak) is never satiated — and this is what Abū Yazīd al-Basṭāmī, peace of God be upon him, said. Rather, the [true] man is one who drinks the seas of the heavens and earth while his tongue emerges aflame with thirst.' He (may God be pleased with him) means: the self-disclosures of the Real manifest in the heavens and the earth do not satisfy the gnostic's thirst, for he does not [fully] sense the self-disclosures of the Real determined in the Throne and the Footstool, which contain the seven heavens and the seven earths like a ring thrown in an empty wilderness — so observe what you see. He (may God be pleased with him) said: 'We have drawn attention to this station in our verses: "O Creator of things within Himself, / You, for what You create, are all-comprehending (jāmiʿ). / You create that whose being is endless within You, / So You are the Constricted, the Vast (al-ḍayyiq al-wāsiʿ)."' He (may God be pleased with him) points to Essential Oneness (al-aḥadiyya al-dhātiyya) — meaning that He alone is the Existent; nothing else has true reality or true existence; so His creating of things is not external to Him, since there is nothing external to Him, He being He alone — so there is no outside and no inside; He is, in His Essence, comprehensive within Himself of what He creates of forms, since He is the Oneness that gathers all things together. So the All is within You, and were it not for You, it would have no existence. "Indeed God holds the heavens" — the luminous divine-Name heavens and the lofty spiritual heavens — "and the earth" — the created, corporeal [realm] — "lest they cease" — that is, lest the celestial, heavenly form and the lower, earthly form, as we have mentioned, cease to exist through the cutting-off of the luminous, existential self-disclosure; for the All — apart from the self-disclosure [that sustains it] — reverts by nature to the nonexistence of its own entity. "And if they should cease, no one could hold them [in place] after Him — indeed He is ever forbearing (ḥalīm)" — in the face of the excessive assertion of the forms of things over the true Existence that bears and sustains them — "forgiving (ghafūr)" — that is, concealing, by means of the forms of things, the face of the true Existence determined within them, while manifesting it through the appearance of His Face within them, for the one who sees nothing but the Face of the Real from every direction and orientation. "He creates that whose being is endless" — i.e., of the forms of things — "within You" — that is, within the very entity of true Existence, from yourself and to yourself — for You are the Vast One who has encompassed the infinite possible existents and the Beautiful Names which cannot be numbered, likewise through Your infinite true Existence poured out (mufāḍ) upon the forms of existents and their essences. And despite the non-finiteness of the All, there is nothing external to You — no escape, no refuge, no deviation, no flight, no exit for them from You, due to the very constriction (ḍīq) of the things which You have encompassed. So You, by virtue of being their very essence, encompass them insofar as You are the Oneness gathering them together, yet You are constricted with respect to Yourself insofar as it is [also] You, when it constricts in relation to You — so some of [the things] become constricted in relation to others of them. Thus You are the Constricted in this respect, and the Vast in the first respect.' He (may God be pleased with him) said: 'If what God has created / had shone forth in my heart, its radiant dawn [would overwhelm it]' — in the verse there is inversion (taqdīm and taʾkhīr), and its proper order is: 'If what God has created were in my heart' — i.e., if it were [contained] in it — 'no radiance would have appeared,' given the overwhelming brightness of His existential light which encompasses all created things.' He (may God be pleased with him) said: 'He who encompasses the Real is not too constricted / for creation — so how then is the matter, O listener?' He (may God be pleased with him) means: since my heart has encompassed the Real, whose mercy encompasses all things, how could it be too constricted for a creature encompassed by the One who encompasses it, who is God? God said: 'Neither My earth nor My heaven contains Me, but the heart of My believing servant contains Me.' He (may God be pleased with him) said: 'Through conjecture (wahm), every human being creates, in the power of his imagination, what has no existence except within it — and this is the general case. But the gnostic creates, through spiritual aspiration (himma), something that has existence outside the locus of that aspiration; yet the aspiration must continue to preserve it, and preserving it — that is, preserving what it has created — does not burden it. If forgetfulness befalls the gnostic regarding the preservation of what he has created, that created thing ceases to exist — unless the gnostic has mastered all the [divine] Presences (ḥaḍarāt) and is never at all heedless. Rather, he must have [at least] some Presence that he witnesses.' The Shaykh (may God be pleased with him) said: 'So when the gnostic creates, through his aspiration, what he creates, and he has this comprehensive mastery, that created thing appears in its form in every Presence, and the forms come to preserve one another mutually; so if the gnostic becomes heedless of some Presence, or of [several] Presences' — meaning among the Presences of existence, both higher and lower.