al-Amīr ʿAbd al-Qādir b. Muḥyī al-Dīn al-Jazāʾirī · Kitāb al-Mawāqif fī baʿḍ ishārāt al-Qurʾān ilā al-asrār wa-l-maʿārif
المواقف
The Book of Stations
Mawqif 127 · “If you two back each other against him”
Context: the Emir reads the Prophet’s love of women through Ibn ʿArabī’s metaphysics of receiving and acting. It is a doctrinal argument, not a legal or social ruling.
See the print: Damascus 1966, p. 279, Damascus 1966, p. 280, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 275, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 276, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 277 (archive.org)
قَالَ تَعَالَى خِطَاباً لِعَائِشَةَ وَحَفْصَةَ– رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمَا–: «وَإِنْ تَظَاهَرَا عَلَيْهِ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ مَوْلَاهُ وَجِبْرِيلُ وَصَالِحُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمَلَائِكَةُ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ ظَهِيرٌ⁽¹⁾».
God Most High said, addressing ʿĀʾisha and Ḥafṣa (may God be pleased with them both): “And if you two back each other against him, then God, He is his Protector, and Gabriel and the righteous of the believers; and the angels, after that, are a support” (Q 66:4).
قَالَ اِمَامُ الْعَارِفِينَ شَيْخُنَا مُحْيِي الدِّينِ مَا مَعْنَاهُ: لَقِيتُ بَعْضَ الْعَارِفِينَ فَقُلْتُ لَهُ: اِنَّ اللَّهَ– تَعَالَى– يَقُولُ: «وَلِلَّهِ جُنُودُ السَّمَٰوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ⁽²⁾».
The imam of the knowers, our Shaykh Muḥyī al-Dīn, said words to this effect: I met one of the knowers and said to him: God Most High says: “And to God belong the hosts of the heavens and the earth” (Q 48:4).
وَالْجُنُودُ لَايُحْتَاجُ اِلَيْهَا اِلاّ لِمُقَابَلَةِ عَدُوٍّ عَظِيمٍ،
Hosts are needed only to face a mighty enemy;
وَمَنْ هُوَ هَـذَا الْعَدُوُّ الْعَظِيمُ؟ الْمُضَادُّ لَهُ– تَعَالَى–، حَتَّى يَحْتَاجَ لِمُقَابَلَتِهِ بِجُنُودِ السَّمَٰوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ؟
So who is this mighty enemy, the one opposed to Him (Most High), such that He would need the hosts of the heavens and the earth to face him?
قَالَ: فَقَالَ لِي: أَلَا أَدُلُّكَ عَلَى أَعْجَبَ مِنْ هَذَا؟
He said: He said to me: Shall I not point you to something more astonishing than this?
ثُمَّ تَلَا: «وَإِنْ تَظَاهَرَا عَلَيْهِ».
Then he recited: “And if you two back each other against him” (Q 66:4).
قَالَ: فَازْدَدْتُ اِعْجَاباً، وَمَا عَرَفْتُ السِّرَّ الَّذِي كَانَتْ بِهِ هَذِهِ الْقُوَّةُ لِعَائِشَةَ وَحَفْصَةَ، حَتَّى خَاطَبَهُمَا الْحَقُّ بِهَذَا الْخِطَابِ الْمُبِينِ، لِعَظِيمِ قُوَّتِهِمَا،
He said: My astonishment only grew, and I did not know the secret through which this strength belonged to ʿĀʾisha and Ḥafṣa, such that the Real addressed them both with this clear address, because of the greatness of their strength.
فَسَأَلْتُ اللَّهَ ــ تَعَالَى ــ كَشْفَهُ فَكَشَفَهُ، ا هـ.
So I asked God Most High to unveil it, and He unveiled it. End of quotation.
وَمَا كَشَفَ الشَّيْخُ ــ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ ــ هَذَا السِّرَّ؛
The Shaykh (may God be pleased with him) did not disclose this secret;
وَلَمَّا وَقَفْتُ عَلَى كَلَامِ الشَّيْخِ هَذَا. تَعَلَّقَتْ هِمَّتِي بِكَشْفِهِ؛
and when I came upon these words of the Shaykh, my aspiration attached itself to the unveiling of it;
فَكَشَفَهُ الْحَقُّ ــ تَعَالَى ــ لِي مَنَاماً، فَأَخْبَرَنِي أَنَّ هَذِهِ الْقُوَّةَ الْحَاصِلَةَ لِلْمَرْأَتَيْنِ اِنَّمَا كَانَتْ لِلْمُشَابَهَةِ بِحَضْرَةِ الِانْفِعَالِ، وَهِيَ الْحَضْرَةُ الْاِمْكَانِيَّةُ
and the Real Most High unveiled it to me in a dream, and informed me that this strength belonging to the two women was only due to resemblance to the presence of receptivity, which is the presence of contingency;
وَزَادَا عَلَى ذَلِكَ: بِكَوْنِهِمَا مَظْهَرَيْنِ كَامِلَيْنِ لِلْحَقِيقَةِ الْفِعْلِيَّةِ الْوُجُوبِيَّةِ، لِكَمَالِهِمَا الْاِنْسَانِيِّ، فَجَمَعَا بَيْنَ حَضْرَتَيِ الْفِعْلِ وَالِانْفِعَالِ،
and they added to that their being complete loci of manifestation of the active, necessary Reality, by virtue of their human perfection; so they combined the two presences of activity and receptivity.
فَجِنْسُ الْمَرْأَةِ، لَمَّا كَانَ مَحَلّاً لِلتَّكْوِينِ كَانَ أَقْرَبَ اِلَى الْمُكَوِّنِ.
For the female kind, since it was the locus of bringing-into-being, was nearer to the One who brings into being.
وَاَنَّ حَضْرَةَ الِانْفِعَالِ لَهَا شَرَفٌ عَظِيمٌ، وَفَضْلٌ فَخِيمٌ، وَقَدْرٌ جَسِيمٌ، مِنْ حَيْثُ أَنَّ حَضْرَةَ الْفِعْلِ وَالْوُجُوبِ وَالتَّأْثِيرِ؛ اِنَّمَا ظَهَرَتْ بِهَا وَتَعَيَّنَتْ بِسَبَبِهَا،
And [He informed me] that the presence of receptivity has an immense nobility, a splendid excellence and a vast worth, inasmuch as the presence of activity, necessity and effecting became manifest only through it and became determined only by means of it.
فَلَوْ كَانَتْ هَذِهِ الْحَضْرَةُ غَيْرَ قَابِلَةٍ لِلِانْفِعَالِ وَالتَّأْثِيرِ؛ مَا حَصَلَ تَأْثِيرٌ أَصْلاً، وَلَا كَانَ لِحَضْرَةِ الْفِعْلِ وَالْوُجُوبِ ظُهُورٌ،
Had this presence not been receptive to being acted upon and to effecting, no effect would have come about at all, and the presence of activity and necessity would have had no manifestation.
أَ لَاتَرَى الْعَدَمَ الْمُطْلَقَ، وَهُوَ الْمُسْتَحِيلُ، حَيْثُ مَا كَانَ قَابِلاً لِلِانْفِعَالِ وَالتَّأَثُّرِ مَا حَصَلَ فِيهِ تَأْثِيرٌ، وَلَا كَانَ لِحَضْرَةِ الْفِعْلِ وَالْوُجُوبِ بِهِ ظُهُورٌ!؟
Do you not see absolute nonexistence, which is the impossible: since it was not receptive to being acted upon and to being affected, no effect came about in it, and the presence of activity and necessity had no manifestation through it?!
فَهَذِهِ الْحَضْرَةُ الِانْفِعَالِيَّةُ، الَّتِي هِيَ مَظْهَرٌ لِلْحَضْرَةِ الْفِعْلِيَّةِ، الْجَامِعَةِ لِجَمِيعِ الْأَسْمَاءِ وَالصِّفَاتِ، عَلَى الْاِجْمَالِ وَالتَّفْصِيلِ؛ لَاتُقَابِلُهَا اِلاَّ الْحَضْرَةُالْجَامِعَةُ لِلْأَسْمَاوَالصِّفَاتِ عَلَى الْاِجْمَالِ وَالتَّفْصِيلِ، وَهِيَ الِاسْمُ الْجَامِعُ «اللَّهُ»، وَحَضْرَةُ التَّفْصِيلِ، وَهِيَ جِبْرِيلُ وَصَالِحُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ، وَالْمَلَائِكَةُ جَمِيعُهُمْ،
So this receptive presence, which is a locus of manifestation for the active presence that gathers all the names and attributes, in summary and in detail, is matched by nothing but the presence that gathers the names and attributes in summary and in detail. That is the all-gathering Name “God”, together with the presence of detail, which is Gabriel and the righteous of the believers and the angels, all of them.
وَلِانْكِشَافِ هَذَا السِّرَّ لِرَسُولِ اللَّهِ ــ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ ــ قَالَ:
And because this secret was unveiled to the Messenger of God (God bless him and give him peace), he said:
«حُبِّبَتْ اِلَيَّ مِنْ دُنْيَاكُمْ ثَلَا ثٌ: النِّسَاءُ...»
“Three things of your world have been made beloved to me: women …”
يَعْنِي حَبَّبَهُنَّ اللَّهُ اِلَيَّ بِكَشْفِ هَذَا السِّرَّ الَّذِي فِيهِنَّ.
He means: God made them beloved to me by unveiling this secret that is in them.
وَمَا قَالَ أَحْبَبْتُ، فَيَكُونَ حُبُّهُ لَهُنَّ كَسَائِرِ النَّاسِ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْحُبَّ الطَّبِيعِيِّ وَالْمَيْلِ الشَّهْوَانِيِّ،
He did not say “I loved,” which would make his love for them like that of the rest of people who are given to natural love and appetitive inclination;
وَقَالَ سَيِّدُنَا مُحْيِ الدِّينِ: كُنْتُ أَبْغَضَ النَّاسِ لِلنِّسَاءِ، مُدَّةَ ثَمَانِيَ عَشَرَ سَنَةً.
And our master Muḥyī al-Dīn said: “I was, for a period of eighteen years, the person who most loathed women.
وَالْآنَ أَنَا أَشَدُّ النَّاسِ حُبّاً لَهُنَّ.
And now I am the person who most loves them.”
وَمَا ذَلِكَ اِلاَّ لِانْكِشَافِ هَذَا السِّرِّ لَهُ ــ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ ــ.
And that was only because this secret was unveiled to him, may God be pleased with him.
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