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 162 · “Our command is but one”
See the print: Damascus 1966, p. 363, Damascus 1966, p. 364, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 345, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 346 (archive.org)
قَالَ تَعَالَى: «وَمَا أَمْرُنَا إِلاَّ وَاحِدَةٌ كَلَمْحٍ بِالْبَصَرِ».
He, exalted is He, said: “And Our command is but one, like a glance of the eye” (Q 54:50).
أَمْرُهُ– تَعَالَى– هُوَ أَوَّلُ صَادِرٍ بِلَا وَاسِطَةٍ، فَهُوَ قَدِيمٌ وَهُوَ عِبَارَةٌ عَنِ التَّوَجُّهِ وَالْاِرَادَةِ الْكُلِّيَّةِ،
His command, exalted is He, is the first thing to issue without intermediary; so it is eternal, and it is an expression for the orientation and the universal will;
فَهُوَ كَلِمَتُهُ الْكُلِّيَّةُ، وَهُوَ الْحَقِيقَةُ الْمُحَمَّدِيَّةُ الْمُسَمَّاةُ بِالرُّوحِ الْكُلِّيِّ، وَبِغَيْرِهِ مِنَ الْأَسْمَاءِ.
so it is His universal Word, and it is the Muhammadan Reality, which is named the Universal Spirit, and by other names besides.
وَلَاتَعْرِفُ الْمَخْلُوقَاتُ جَمِيعُهَا مِنْ هَذَا الْأَمْرِ سِوَى وُجُودِهِ لَا غَيْرُ، فَلَا يَعْرِفُ مَا هُوَ عَلَيْهِ اِلاَّ اللَّهُ– تَعَالَى– كَمَا أَنَّهُ هُوَ لَايَعْرِفُ مِنَ الْحَقِّ– تَعَالَى– سِوَى وُجُودِهِ.
All created things together know nothing of this command but its existence, nothing more; so none knows what it is in itself except God, exalted is He, just as it, for its part, knows nothing of the Real, exalted is He, but His existence.
وَمَنْ رَآهُ رَأَى الْحَقَّ– تَعَالَى–، وَمَنْ عَرَفَهُ عَرَفَ الْحَقَّ– تَعَالَى–.
Whoever has seen it has seen the Real, exalted is He, and whoever has known it has known the Real, exalted is He.
وَهُوَ الْحِجَابُ الْأَعْظَمُ الَّذِي لَايَرْتَفِعُ عَنْ وَجْهِ الْحَقِّ– تَعَالَى– لَا دُنْيَا وَلَا آخِرَةً، وَهُوَ الْاِزَارُ، وَهُوَ الرِّدَاءُ، كَمَا وَرَدَ فِي الصَّحِيحِ.
And it is the greatest veil, which is not lifted from the face of the Real, exalted is He, neither in this world nor in the next; it is the waist-wrapper, and it is the cloak, as has come in the sound (ḥadīth).
وَلَيْسَ بَيْنَ الْقَوْمِ وَبَيْنَ اِذْ يَنْظُرُوا اِلَى رَبِّهِمْ اِلاَّ رِدَاءُ الْكِبْرِيَاءِ عَلَى وَجْهِهِ فِي جَنَّةِ عَدْنٍ،
“And there is nothing between the people and their looking upon their Lord but the cloak of grandeur upon His face, in the Garden of Eden.”
أَخْبَرَ– تَعَالَى– أَنَّ أَمْرَهُ الَّذِي هُوَ صُورَةُ عِلْمِهِ بِالْمَعْلُومَاتِ اِنَّمَا كَانَ بِكَلِمَةٍ وَاحِدَةٍ، وَهِيَ «كُنْ» مِنْ غَيْرِ حَرْفٍ وَلَا صَوْتٍ، وَاِنَّمَا هُوَ كَلَامٌ نَفْسِيٌّ،
He, exalted is He, has made known that His command, which is the form of His knowledge of the objects of knowledge, was only by a single word, namely «Be», without letter or sound; it is only inner speech.
«فَكُنْ» عِبَارَةٌ عَنِ التَّوَجُّهِ الْاِرَادِيِّ كَمَا يَتَوَجَّهُ أَحَدُنَا: وَلِلَّهِ الْمَثَلُ الْأَعْلَىٰ». عَلَى الْمِرْآةِ فَتَنْطَبِعُ صُورَتُهُ فِي الْمِرْآةِ بِمُجَرَّدِ التَّوَجُّهِ،
«Be», then, is an expression for the volitional orientation, as one of us (and to God belongs the highest likeness, Q 16:60) turns toward a mirror, and his form is imprinted in the mirror by the mere turning;
فَقَامَ هَذَا التَّوَجُّهُ مَقَامَ قَوْلِهِ لِصُورَتِهِ، كُونِي مُطِيعَــةً، وَذَلِكَ كَلَامٌ مِنْ غَيْرِ حَرْفٍ وَلَا صَــوْتٍ،
so this turning stands in place of his saying to his form, “Be obedient!”, and that is speech without letter or sound.
وَلَا يَسْتَحِيلُ شَرْعاً أَنْ يَكُونَ بِكَلَامٍ لَائِقٍ بِجَلَالَتِهِ وَنَزَاهَتِهِ،
And it is not impossible in terms of the Law that it should be through a speech befitting His majesty and His transcendence.
كَلَمْحٍ بِالْبَصَرِ، تَشْبِيهٌ فِي السُّرْعَةِ وَعَدَمِ الْمُعَالَجَةِ وَالْمُزَاوَلَةِ.
“Like a glance of the eye”: a comparison in swiftness and in the absence of effort and labour.
فَاِذَا كَانَ أَمْرُهُ الَّذِي هُوَ صُورَةُ عِلْمِهِ، وَهُوَ مُحْتَوٍ عَلَى جَمِيعِ الْمَعْلُومَاتِ اِجْمَالاً وَتَفْصِيلاً، مِنْ عَالَمِ الْاَرْوَاحِ، وَعَالَمِ الْمِثَالِ، وَعَالَمِ الْأَجْسَامِ، دُنْيَا، وَبَرْزَخاً، وَآخِرَةً، جَوَاهِرَ وَأَعْرَاضاً، صَدَرَ عَنْهُ كَلَمْحٍ بِالْبَصَرِ، فَكَيْفَ بِغَيْرِهِ مِنَ الْمَخْلُوقَاتِ الْجُزْئِيَّةِ.
If, then, His command, which is the form of His knowledge and contains all the objects of knowledge in summary and in detail (of the world of spirits, the world of image, and the world of bodies; this world, isthmus, and the next; substances and accidents), issued from Him like a glance of the eye, how then with other created things, the particular ones?
وَمَا هِيَ اِلَّا كَمَا قَالَ: «إِنَّمَا قَوْلُنَا لِشَيْءٍ إِذَا أَرَدْنَاهُ أَنْ نَقُولَ لَهُ كُنْ فَيَكُونُ».
And they are nothing but as He said: “Our only word to a thing, when We will it, is that We say to it «Be», and it is” (Q 16:40).
بَلْ أَمْرُ اللَّهِ يَقُولُ لِلشَّيْءِ «كُنْ فَيَكُونُ» كَمَا قَالَ، «اِنَّمَا أَمْرُهُ» أَيْ أَمْرُ الْحَقِّ– تَعَالَى– الْمُتَكَلَّمِ عَنْهُ، اِذَا أَرَادَ شَيْئاً أَنْ يَقُولَ لَهُ: «كُنْ فَيَكُونُ» بِهِ تَعَالَى.
Rather, God's command says to the thing «Be», and it is, as He said: “His command” (that is, the command of the Real, exalted is He, of whom the verse speaks) “when He wills a thing, is that it says to it «Be», and it is” (Q 36:82), by Him, exalted is He.
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