The Book of Stations
المواقف
Context: Within Ibn ʿArabī's teaching that God shows Himself in every form, idol-worshippers worship God in a limited form and the Perfect Human is the fullest divine locus; hence the idol comparison and the living qibla belong to the argument. Ibn Taymiyya's line sees ḥulūl/ittiḥād and creature-veneration; defenders read statements of manifestation, not of the object of worship.AI
قَالَ تَعَالَى: «فَوَلِّ وَجْهَكَ شَطْرَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ وَحَيْثُمَا كُنْتُمْ فَوَلُّوا وُجُوهَكُمْ شَطْرَهُ».
He, exalted is He, said: "So turn your face towards the Sacred Mosque, and wherever you are, turn your faces towards it" (Q 2:144).
In briefAI
The Emir asks why God restricted prayer to one qibla when He also says that wherever one turns there is His Face, that is, His Essence. He grants that the restriction seems to confine God to one place and outwardly resembles the worship of idols, since prayer and circumambulation fall on the Kaʿba's stones. His answer is that free choice would have scattered the congregation, and religion rests on coming together. Knowers would also be bewildered: free to choose, they would turn only to the age's Perfect Human, whose whereabouts are unknown.
See the print: Damascus 1966, p. 71 ↗, Damascus 1966, p. 72 ↗, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 81 ↗ (archive.org)
الْحِكْمَةُ فِي تَحْجِيرِ الْأَمْرِ بِاسْتِقْبَالِ الْقِبْلَةِ فِي الصَّلَاةِ مَعَ قَوْلِهِ فَأَيْنَمَا تُوَلُّوا فَثَمَّ وَجْهُ اللَّهِ: أَيْ ذَاتُهُ.
The wisdom in restricting the command to facing the qibla in prayer, despite His saying "Wherever you turn, there is the Face of God" (Q 2:115), that is, His Essence,
وَمَعَ كَوْنِ التَّحْجِيرِ فِيهِ نَوْعُ تَقْيِيدٍ لِلْمَعْبُودِ اَنَّهُ مَا ظَهَرَ بِغَيْرِهَا،
and despite the restriction containing a kind of limitation of the One worshipped, namely that He has not manifested in anything other than it,
وَمَعَ مَا فِي ذَلِكَ مِنَ التَّشَبُّهِ بِعَبَدَةِ الْأَوْثَانِ وَالْأَصْنَامِ فِي الظَّاهِرِ اِذِ التَّوَجُّهُ فِي الصَّلَاةِ وَالطَّوَافِ بِهَا لَايَقَعُ فِي ظَاهِرِ الْأَمْرِ وَبَادِي الـرَّأْيِ اِلَّاَّ اِلَى الْكَعْبَةِ وَأَحْجَارِهَا،
and despite the outward resemblance this involves to the worshippers of idols and images, since turning, in prayer and in circumambulating it, falls, as things outwardly appear and at first sight, on nothing but the Kaʿba and its stones,
هُوَ أَنَّهُ ـ تَعَالَى ـ لَوْ أَطْلَقَ الْأَمْرَ وَمَا حَجَّرَهُوَجَعَلَ التَّخْيِيرَ لِلْمُصَلِّينَ؛ لَأَدَّى ذَلِكَ اِلَى التَّفْرِقَةِ وَالْحَيْرَةِ
is this: had He, exalted is He, left the command unrestricted, not restricted it, and given the choice to those who pray, that would have led to division and bewilderment.
فَرُبَّمَا يُرِيدُ مُصَلٍّ جِهَةً، وَيُرِيدُ الْآخَرُ أُخْرَى، وَأَخَرُ أُخْرَى... فَيَنْحَلُّ النِّظَامُ وَتَخِلُّ الْجَمَاعَةُ
For one person praying might want one direction, the next another, and yet another another… and the order would come apart and the congregation would fall into disarray.
وَأَسَاسُ الدِّينِ؛ هُوَ الِاجْتِمَاعُ وَالِاتِّفَاقُ.
And the foundation of religion is coming together and agreement.
وَأَيْضاً تَكُونُ حَيْرَةُ الْعَارِفِينَ فِي الْاِطْلَاقِ. وَعَدَمِ التَّحْجِيرِ أَعْظَمَ،
Moreover, the bewilderment of the knowers would be greater under unrestrictedness and the absence of restriction,
لِاَنَّهُمْ عَارِفُونَ ظُهُـورَ الْحَقِّ- تَعَالَى- فِي كُلِّ مَظْهَرٍ وَصُورَةٍ بِوَجْـهٍ خَاصٍّ،
because they know the manifestation of the Real, exalted is He, in every locus of manifestation and every form, in a particular respect,
وَالْمَظَاهِرُ مُتَفَاضِلَةٌ بِمَا لَا يَنْحَصِرُ، فِي قَبُولِ الظُّهُورِ.
and the loci of manifestation differ in rank, beyond all limit, in their receptivity to manifestation.
وَالْعَارِفُ أَكْثَرُ مُشَـاهَدَتِهِ وَتَوَجُّهِهِ اِلَى الْمَظْهَرِ الَّذِي خَوَاصُّ الْوُجُودِ فِيهِ، أَكْثَرُ ظُهُوراً.
And the knower: most of his beholding and his turning is towards the locus in which the distinctive properties of Existence are most manifest.
وَخَوَاصُّ الْوُجُودِ الْحَقِّ مَا ظَهَرَتْ فِي مَظْهَرٍ مِثْلِ الْاِنْسَانِ الْكَامِلِ فِي كُلِّ عَصْرٍ.
And the distinctive properties of the real Existence have manifested in no locus like the Perfect Human of each age.
فَلَوْ أَطْلَقَ الْأَمْرَ اِلَى الْعَارِفِ مَاتَوَجَّهَ اِلَّاّ اِلَيْهِ.
So had He left the matter open to the knower, the knower would have turned to none but him.
وَهُوَ مَجْهُولُ الْمَكَانِ، فَتَعْظُمُ حَيْرَةُ الْعَارِفِ.
And his place is unknown, so the knower's bewilderment would grow great.
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.