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 23 · The First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden
See the print: Damascus 1966, p. 67, Damascus 1966, p. 68, Damascus 1966, p. 69, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 77, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 78, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 79 (archive.org)
قَالَ تَعَالَى: «هُوَ الْأَوَّلُ وَالْآخِرُ وَالظَّاهِرُ وَالْبَاطِنُ»
He, exalted is He, said: “He is the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden” (Q 57:3).
اعْلَمْ أَنَّ الْحَقَّ- تَعَالَى- هُوَ الظَّاهِرُ بِهَذِهِ الصُّوَرِ الْمُشَكَّلَةِ الْمَحْدُودَةِ الَّتِي هِيَ خَيَالَاتٌ لَا وُجُودَ وَلَا حَقِيقَةَ لَهَا اِلَاّ فِي الْمَشَاعِرِ الْاِنْسَانِيَّةِ،
Know that the Real, exalted is He, is the One manifest through these shaped, delimited forms, which are imaginings that have no existence and no reality except in the human faculties of perception,
كَمَا اِذَا أَخَذْتَ عُوداً فِي طَرَفِهِ نَارٌ، وَأَدَرْتَهُ بِسُرْعَةٍ فَاِنَّكَ تَرَى دَائِرَةَ نَارٍ لَا تَشُكُّ فِيهَا،
just as when you take a stick with fire at its tip and whirl it round quickly, you see a circle of fire about which you have no doubt;
وَكَذَا اِنْ حَرَّكْتَهُ مُسْتَقِيماً فَاِنَّكَ تَرَى خَطّاً مِنْ نَارٍ لَا تَشُكُّ فِيهِ بِحِسِّكَ وَتَخَيُّلِكَ، وَتَحْكُمُ بِعَقْلِكَ وَعِلْمِكَ: أَنَّهُ لَيْسَ ثَمَّةَ اِلَّا الْجَمْرَةُ الَّتِي عَلَى رَأْسِ الْعُودِ.
and likewise, if you move it in a straight line, you see a line of fire about which you have no doubt by your senses and your imagination. Yet by your intellect and your knowledge you judge that there is nothing there but the ember at the tip of the stick.
فَهَكَذَا جَمِيعُ مَاتَرَى فِي الْأَرْضِ وَالسَّمَاءِ لَيْسَ اِلَاّ أَمْرَ اللَّهِ الَّذِي هُوَ مَجْمُوعُ صِفَاتِ اللَّهِ، الظَّاهِرَ بِكُلِّ صُورَةٍ.
In just this way, all that you see in the earth and the heavens is nothing but the Command of God, which is the sum of God's attributes, manifest in every form.
وَمَا أَمْرُنَا اِلَاّ وَاحِدَةٌ كَلَمْحٍ بِالْبَصَرِ.
“And Our Command is but one, like a glance of the eye” (Q 54:50).
وَهَذِهِ الصُّوَرُ الْمُشَكَّلَةُ الْمَحْدُودَةُ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَالسَّمَاءِ هِيَ أَحْكَامُ الِاسْتِعْدَادَاتِ الْمُمْكِنَةِ الثَّابِتَةِ فِي الْعِلْمِ الَّتِي مَا شَمَّتْ رَائِحَةَ الْوُجُودِ وَلَا تَشَمُّ أَبَداً الْمُسَمَّاةِ بِالْأَعْيَانِ الثَّابِتَةِ وَبِالْحَقَائِقِ؛ عِنْدَ الصُّوفِيَّةِ. وَبِالْمَاهِيَّاتِ؛ عِنْدَ الْمُتَكَلِّمِينَ.
These shaped, delimited forms in the earth and the heavens are the determinations of the possible preparednesses fixed in [God's] knowledge, which have never smelt the scent of existence and never will. Among the Sufis they are called the immutable entities and the realities; among the theologians, the quiddities.
وَالْحَقُّ الَّذِي هُوَ الْأَمْرُ الظَّاهِرُ بِهَا، عَلَى مَا هُوَ عَلَيْهِ مِنَ الْاِطْلَاقِ وَعَدَمِ التَّقْيِيدِ بِهَذِهِ الْمَظَاهِرِ وَالْوُجُودُ الْحَقُّ الْمُسَمَّى بِالْأَمْرِ لَايَظْهَرُ اِلَاّ بِمَا يَقْتَضِيهِ اسْتِعْدَادُ كُلِّ عَيْنٍ ثَابِتَةٍ وَمَا هِيَ طَالِبَةٌ لَهُ مِنَ الْأَحْوَالِ وَمُتَأَهِّلَةٌ مِنَ الْأَزَلِ وَالْقِدَمِ مِنْ اِيمَانٍ وَكُفْرٍ وَطَاعَةٍ وَمَعْصِيَةٍ وَعِلْمٍ وَجَهْلٍ وَصَلَاحٍ وَفَسَادٍ وَحَسَنٍ وَقَبِيحٍ... وَغَيْرِ ذَلِكَ مِنَ الْأَقْوَالِ وَالْأَفْعَالِ وَالِاعْتِقَادَاتِ وَالصِّفَاتِ
The Real, which is the Command manifest through them, remains as it is in its absoluteness and in not being delimited by these loci of manifestation. This Real Existence called the Command appears only in accordance with what the preparedness of each immutable entity requires: the states it seeks, and those for which it has been fit from pre-eternity and beginninglessness. These are belief and unbelief, obedience and disobedience, knowledge and ignorance, righteousness and corruption, beautiful and ugly ... and other sayings, acts, beliefs and attributes.
فَصَاحِبُ هَذَا الشُّهُودِ اِذَا بَدَا لَهُ قَوْلٌ أَوْ فِعْلٌ يَسُوءُهُ مِنْ صُورَةٍ؛ لَا يَقُولُ هَذَا حَقٌّ، وَأَنَا مُسْتَحِقٌّ لِهَذَا الْأَمْرِ الصَّادِرِ مِنْ هَذِهِ الصُّورَةِ؛ وَاِنَّمَا يَرْجِعُ اِلَى نَفْسِهِ وَيُفَتِّشُهَا. «بَلِ الْاِنْسَانُ عَلَىٰ نَفْسِهِ بَصِيرَةٌ».
So the one who has this beholding, when a saying or an act that grieves him appears to him from some form, does not say: “This is right, and I deserve this thing that has issued from this form.” Rather, he turns back to himself and searches it: “Nay, man is a clear witness against himself” (Q 75:14).
لِأَنَّ الْفَاعِلَ وَالْمُتَكَلِّمَ وَاِنْ كَانَ هُوَ الْحَقَّ حَقِيقَةً مِنْ خَلْفِ أَسْتَارِ الصُّوَرِ: فَهُوَ لَا يَفْعَلُ وَلَا يَقُولُ اِلَاّ مَا هُوَ مُقْتَضَى الْعَيْنِ الثَّابِتَةِ الَّتِي تِلْكَ الصُّورَةُ حِكَايَةٌ عَنْهَا، كَحِكَايَةِ الصُّوَرِ الظَّاهِرَةِ فِي الْمَرَايَا مِمَّا قَابَلَهَا مِنَ الْأَشْخَاصِ.
For the actor and the speaker, even though in reality it is the Real from behind the veils of the forms, does and says only what the immutable entity requires, of which that form is a reflection, just as forms appearing in mirrors reflect the persons standing before them.
فَأَمْرُ اللَّهِ الَّذِي هُوَ الْوُجُودُ الْمُفَاضُ عَلَى الْمُكَوَّنَاتِ؛ هُوَ الظَّاهِرُ وَهُوَ الشَّهَادَةُ، وَهُوَالْمُحِيطُ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ.
So the Command of God, which is the existence poured out upon the generated things, is the Manifest and is the Witnessed, and it is what encompasses everything.
وَالْمَخْلُوقَاتُ هِيَ الْبَاطِنَةُ وَهِيَ الْغَيْبُ وَلَكِنَّ الْحُكْمَ دَائِماً لِلْبَاطِنِ فِي الظَّاهِرِ، وَلِلْغَيْبِ فِي الشَّهَادَةِ.
The created things are the hidden and are the Unseen; yet the determining rule always belongs to the hidden over the manifest, and to the Unseen over the Witnessed.
فَحَكَمَتْ أَحْكَامُ الْأَعْيَانِ عَلَى الْوُجُودِ الْحَقِّ الظَّاهِرِ
So the determinations of the entities have ruled over the Real Existence that is manifest
بِمَا تَقْتَضِيهِ حَقَائِقُهَا، فَلَا يَظْهَرُ اِلاَّ بِأَحْكَامٍ، كَائِنَةً مَا كَانَتْ، مِنْ نَقْصٍ أَوْ كَمَالٍ.
…according to what their realities require; so He does not become manifest except with rulings, whatever they may be, of deficiency or of perfection.
وَهِيَ اَعْدَامٌ لِأَنَّهَا نِسَبٌ وَأَعْرَاضٌ وَهُوَ– تَعَالَى– فِي هَذَا الظُّهُورِ عَلَى مَا هُوَ عَلَيْهِ مِنَ الْكَمَالِ، لَا حُلُولَ وَلَا اتِّحَادَ وَلَا امْتِزَاجَ.
These are non-existents, since they are relations and accidents; and He, exalted is He, in this manifestation remains as He is in perfection: no indwelling, no union, no mixing.
وَمِنْ هُنَا كَانَتِ الْحُجَّةُ الْبَالِغَةُ لِلْحَقِّ– تَعَالَى– عَلَى الْخَلْقِ.
And from here the conclusive argument belongs to the Real, exalted is He, against creation.
«وَلَا يَظْلِمُ رَبُّكَ أَحَداً»
"And your Lord wrongs no one" (Q 18:49).
لِأَنَّهُمْ بِطَلَبِ اسْتِعْدَادَاتِهِمْ؛ طَالِبُونَ مِنْهُ– تَعَالَى– أَنْ يَظْهَرَ بِأَحْكَامِ كُلِّ عَيْنٍ وَمَا تَقْتَضِيهِ.
For they, through the demand of their preparednesses, are asking Him, exalted is He, to become manifest with the rulings of every entity and with what it requires.
وَهَذَا الِاسْتِعْدَادُ الْكُلِّيُّ؛ غَيْرُ مَجْعُولٍ.
And this universal preparedness is not made.
فَمَا هُوَ مَخْلُوقٌ وَلَا هُوَ مِنْ فِعْلِهِ فَتَكُونَ الْحُجَّةُ لِلْخَلْقِ.
So it is not created, nor is it of His doing, such that the argument would belong to creation.
وَهُنَا ظُلُمَاتٌ مُدْلَهِمَّاتٌ تَقْصُرُ دُونَهَا الْخُطَا وَتَضِلُّ فِيهَا الْقَطَا.
And here are pitch-black darknesses before which steps fall short and in which the sandgrouse go astray.
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