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Mashrabaمشربة

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One passage at a time. Each column is a commentator; each row gathers the comments on the same words, so readings and emphases can be compared.

الحكم العطائية

←Read ¶300 in the text

300 · 109 words · shading: how many commentators stop on each word

اِلٰهِى كَيْفَ أَسْتَعِزُّ وَأَنْتَ فِى الذِّلَّةِ أَرْكَزْتَنِى أَمْ كَيْفَ لَا أَسْتَعِزُّ وَاِلَيْكَ نَسَبْتَنِى أَمْ كَيْفَ لَا أَفْتَقِرُ وَأَنْتَ الَّذِى فِى الْفَقْرِ أَقَمْتَنِى أَمْ كَيْفَ أَفْتَقِرُ وَأَنْتَ الَّذِى بِجُودِكَ أَغْنَيْتَنِى أَنْتَ الَّذِى لَا اِلٰهَ غَيْرُكَ تَعَرَّفْتَ لِكُلِّ شَئٍ فَمَا جَهِلَكَ شَئٌ وَأَنْتَ الَّذِى تَعَرَّفْتَ اِلَىَّ فِى كُلِّ شَئٍ فَرَأَيْتُكَ ظَاهِرًا فِى كُلِّ شَئٍ فَأَنْتَ الظَّاهِرُ لِكُلِّ شَئٍ يَا مَنِ اسْتَوَى بِرَحْمَانِيَّتِهِ عَلَى عَرْشِهِ فَصَارَ الْعَرْشُ غَيْبًا فِى رَحْمَانِيَّتِهِ كَمَا صَارَتِ الْعَوَالِمُ غَيْبًا فِى عَرْشِهِ مَحَقْتَ الْآثَارَ بِالْآثَارِ وَمَحَوْتَ الْاَغْيَارَ بِمُحِيطَاتِ أَفْلَاكِ الْاَنْوَارِ يَا مَنِ احْتَجَبَ فِى سُرَادِقَاتِ عِزِّهِ عَنْ أَنْ تُدْرِكَهُ الْاَبْصَارُ يَا مَنْ تَجَلَّى بِكَمَالِ بَهَائِهِ فَتَحَقَّقَتْ عَظَمَتَهُ الْاَسْرَارُ كَيْفَ تَخْفَى وَأَنْتَ الظَّاهِرُ أَمْ كَيْفَ تَغِيبُ وَأَنْتَ الرَّقِيبُ الْحَاضِرُ

My God, how can I seek might when it is You who have planted me firmly in lowliness? Or how can I not seek might when it is to You that You have related me? Or how can I not be in need when it is You who have set me firm in poverty? Or how can I be in need when it is You who, by Your generosity, have made me rich? You are the One besides whom there is no god: You have made Yourself known to every thing, so that nothing is ignorant of You; and You are the One who has made Yourself known to me in every thing, so that I have seen You manifest in every thing; for You are the Manifest to every thing. O You who are established upon Your Throne through Your all-mercifulness, so that the Throne has become hidden within Your all-mercifulness, just as the worlds have become hidden within Your Throne! You have effaced the traces by the traces, and You have erased the others by the all-encompassing spheres of the lights. O You who are veiled within the pavilions of Your might from being grasped by the eyes! O You who have disclosed Yourself in the perfection of Your splendour, so that the innermost hearts have come to realize Your majesty! How could You be hidden when You are the Manifest? Or how could You be absent when You are the Watchful, the Ever-Present?

On the whole passage · 1 of 1

Ibn ʿAbbād

تلونه فى هذه الاوصاف المتضادة لما يغلب عليه من مشاهدة ما يوجبها والذلة المثبتة هنا هى ذلة الخليقة والعبودية والنسبة التى أشار اليها هى سر الخصوصية … هذا كله قد تقدم معناه ولفظه فى كلام المؤلف على غاية الكمال والتمام والحاصل منه أن الظهور التام لله تعالى بكل اعتبار … كأنه أشار بهذا الى معنى قوله تعالى الرحمن على العرش استوى وقوله تعالى ثم استوى على العرش الرحمن … كما بين العوالم والعرش … كما بين العرش والرحمانية ومحيطات أفلاك الانوار هى أسماء الله الحسنى والله أعلم … عزة الله تعالى اقتضت كون كل ما سواه محجوبا عن رؤيته لله عز وجل فان العزيز معناه المنيع الذى لا يوصل اليه … كمال بهائه ومحاسن صفاته وأسمائه فبظهور ذلك وتجليه بها تحققت عظمته أسرار العارفين … هذا كله بين لا اشكال فيه والحمد لله وقد تقدم معناه غير ما مرة من كلام المؤلف رحمه الله

His fluctuation (*talwīn*) among these contrary descriptions arises from whatever prevails over him of witnessing (*mushāhada*) that which requires each of them. The lowliness (*dhilla*) affirmed here is the lowliness of createdness and servanthood (*ʿubūdiyya*), and the relation to which he alluded is the secret of special election (*sirr al-khuṣūṣiyya*) … The meaning and the wording of all this have already appeared in the author's discourse in the utmost perfection and completeness. What emerges from it is that complete manifestation (*ẓuhūr*) belongs to God Most High in every respect … It is as though by this he were alluding to the meaning of His saying, Exalted is He: "The All-Merciful settled upon the Throne" [20:5], and His saying, Exalted is He: "Then He settled upon the Throne, the All-Merciful" [25:59] … just as between the worlds and the Throne … just as between the Throne and the All-Mercifulness (*raḥmāniyya*). "The encompassing orbits of the lights" are the Most Beautiful Names of God; and God knows best … The might (*ʿizza*) of God Most High required that everything other than Him be veiled from seeing God, Mighty and Majestic is He, for "the Mighty" (*al-ʿAzīz*) means the Inaccessible, Who cannot be reached … the perfection of His splendor and the beauties of His attributes and names. Through the manifestation of that, and through His self-disclosure (*tajallī*) by means of them, the innermost secrets (*asrār*) of the gnostics (*ʿārifūn*) came to realize His grandeur … All of this is clear, with no difficulty in it, praise be to God, and its meaning has been set forth more than once in the author's discourse, may God have mercy on him.

The opening of his commentary only; the whole of it runs over pdf 236–237 (printed p. 232–233) of the print: follow the link to the page images.

Ibn ʿAbbād's Arabic: the opening of his commentary on each passage, transcribed from the page images of the Cairo 1319/1901 print and read twice (each comment links to the page where his commentary on that passage begins; the rest of it is on the following pages, not transcribed). English translations of the commentaries and of the passage are AI (Claude) and marked. Differences are computed by comparing the words each commentator quotes with our working text; they may reflect a different manuscript reading, a paraphrase, or an alignment error. About this text.