The Book of Stations

1. Mawqif 25 · “Were it not for the arenas of the souls”

   See the print: Damascus 1966, p. 70, Damascus 1966, p. 71, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 80, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 81 (archive.org)

   قَالَ فِي الْحِكَمِ: «لَوْلَا مَيَادِينُ النُّفُوسِ؛ مَا تَحَقَّقَ سَيْرُ السَّائِرِينَ»•

   He says in the Ḥikam: “Were it not for the arenas of the souls, the journeying of the wayfarers would not be realised.”✦

   ¶ 1958

2. مَعْنَاهُ لَوْلَا مَايَكُونُ فِيهِ سَيْرٌ مَعْنَوِيٌّ، وَيَحْصُلُ فِيهِ تَرَدُّدٌ وَصُعُودٌ وَهُبُوطٌ، وَهِيَ صِفَاتُ النَّفْسِ الْمُعَبَّرُ عَنْهَا بِالْمَيَادِينِ، أَيِ الْمَجَالَاتِ الْمُتَّسِعَةِ، وَالسَّيْرُ فِيهَا بِقَطْعِ وُصْلَتِهَا وَتَبْدِيلِ وَصِفَاتِهَا وَمَحْوِ آثَارِهَا وَعَادَاتِهَا•

   Its meaning is: were it not for that in which a non-sensory journeying takes place, and in which wavering, ascent and descent occur (these are the attributes of the soul, expressed by “arenas”, that is, wide fields), and the journeying in them consists in cutting off their hold, changing their attributes, and effacing their traces and habits.✦

   ¶ 1959

3. وَالنَّفْسُ حَقِيقَةٌ وَاحِدَةٌ وَلَكِنْ تَعَدَّدَتْ بِاعْتِبَارِ تَعَدُّدِ صِفَاتِهَا وَتَبَايُنِ مُقْتَضَيَاتِهَا فَيُقَالُ: أَمَّارَةٌ لَوَّامَةٌ مُلْهَمَةٌ مُطْمَئِنَّةٌ•••

   The soul is a single reality, but it has become many with respect to the multiplicity of its attributes and the divergence of what they require; so it is called: commanding, blaming, inspired, at peace…✦

   ¶ 1960

4. مَا تَحَقَّقَ سَيْرُ السَّائِرِينَ، أَيْ مَا ثَبَتَ نَسَبُ سَيْرٍ لِسَائِرٍ لِأَنَّهُ لَيْسَ هُنَالِكَ شَيْءٌ مَحْسُوسٌ يَسِيرُ فِيهِ السَّالِكُ حَتَّى يَقْطَعَهُ

   “The journeying of the wayfarers would not be realised”: that is, the ascription of journeying to a wayfarer would not be established, because there is nothing sensible there in which the traveller journeys so that he might traverse it.✦

   ¶ 1961

5. وَاِنَّمَا هُوَ سَيْرٌ مَعْنَوِيٌّ فِيمَجَالَاتٍ مَعْنَوِيَّةٍ، وَهِيَ النُّفُوسُ الَّتِي يَكُونُ سَيْرُ السَّالِكِ فِيهَا وَقَطْعُهَا؛ كِنَايَةً عَنْ تَبْدِيلِ صِفَاتِهَا الْبَهِيمِيَّةِ بِالصِّفَاتِ الْآلَهِيَّةِ، بِمَعْنَى أَنَّهُ يَمْلِكُهَا، حَتَّى يَضَعَ كُلَّ وَصْفٍ فِي مَحَلِّهِ اللَّايِقِ بِهِ، وَيَصْرِفَ كُلَّ وَصْفٍ مَصْرِفَهُ.

   It is only a non-sensory journeying in non-sensory fields, and these are the souls. The traveller's journeying in them and his traversing them is a metonymy for exchanging their bestial attributes for the divine attributes, in the sense that he gains mastery over them, so that he puts every attribute in the place proper to it and directs every attribute to its proper course.✦

   ¶ 1962

6. وَأَمَّا مَحْوُ الصِّفَاتِ بِمَعْنَى زَوَالِهَا بِالْكُلِّيَّةِ فَهُوَ غَيْرُ وَاقِعٍ لِأَنَّهَا لَوْ مُحِيَتْ لَمُحِيَتِ النَّفْسُ رَأْساً وَانْعَدَمَتْ

   As for the effacement of the attributes in the sense of their vanishing altogether, it does not occur, for if they were effaced, the soul would be effaced entirely and would cease to exist.✦

   ¶ 1963

7. وَلَايَتَوَهَّمْ مُتَوَهِّمٌ أَنَّ السَّالِكَ سَائِرٌ اِلَى اللَّهِ فِي مَسَافَةٍ مَحْسُوسَةٍ، وَأَنَّ الْوُصُولَ اِلَى اللَّهِ؟ وُصُولٌ مَحْسُوسٌ.

   Let no one imagine that the traveller is journeying to God across a sensible distance, and that arriving at God is a sensible arrival.✦

   ¶ 1964

8. فَاِنَّ هَذَا وَهْمٌ بَاطِلٌ، وَجَهْلٌ عَاطِلٌ، لِأَنَّ مَنْ هُوَ أَقْرَبُ لِلْأِنْسَانِ مِنْ حَبْلِ الْوَرِيدِ وَمِنَ الْجَلِيسِ، كَيْفَ يُتَوَهَّمُ السَّيْرُ وَالْوُصُولُ اِلَيْهِ؟!

   For this is a false fancy and an idle ignorance, since He who is nearer to man than the jugular vein and than one's companion sitting beside him, how can journeying and arrival to Him be imagined?!✦

   ¶ 1965

9. لَا مَسَافَةَ بَيْنَكَ وَبَيْنَهُ تَقْطَعُهَا رِحْلَتُكَ، وَتَطْوِيهَا وُصْلَتُكَ، فَلَا يَصِحُّ اِطْلَاقُ السَّيْرِ اِلَى اللَّهِ ـ تَعَالَى ـ اِلاَّ بِنَوْعٍ مِنَ الْمَجَازِ

   There is no distance between you and Him for your travelling to traverse or your arrival to fold up; so the expression “journeying to God (exalted is He)” is not valid except by a kind of figurative usage.✦

   ¶ 1966

10. وَهُوَ أَنَّهُ لَمَّا كَانَ السَّالِكُ السَّائِرُ فِي مَيَادِينِ النُّفُوسِ، اِذَا قَطَعَ تِلْكَ الْعَقَبَاتِ الْمَعْنَوِيَّةَ يَصِلُ اِلَى الْعِلْمِ بِاللَّهِ ـ تَعَالَى ـ صَحَّ أَنْ يُقَالَ: سَارَ اِلَى اللَّهِ.

    That is: since the traveller journeying in the arenas of the souls, when he has crossed those non-sensory steep passes, arrives at knowledge of God (exalted is He), it is valid to say: he journeyed to God.✦

    ¶ 1967

11. وَاِلاَّ فَجَلَّ رَبُّنَا أَنْ يَسِيرَ اِلَيْهِ أَحَدٌ وَيَصِلَ اِلَيْهِ.

    Otherwise, our Lord is too majestic for anyone to journey to Him and arrive at Him.✦

    ¶ 1968

12. فَاِنَّهُ أَقْرَبُ اِلَيْكَ مِنْ نَفْسِكَ الَّتِي تَتَخَيَّلُ مُغَايَرَتَهَالِلَّهِ ـ تَعَالَى ـ وَأَنَّهَا سَائِرَةٌاِلَيْهِوَوَاصِلَةٌ.

    For He is nearer to you than your own soul, which imagines its otherness from God (exalted is He), and imagines that it is journeying to Him and arriving.✦

    ¶ 1969

Translations, word glosses and term notes are AI-generated (Claude) and marked as such; no published translation is reproduced.Word analysis is automatic (CAMeL Tools), guided by the text's vowelling. How this text was established.