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

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Mawqif 322 · “I am God”: when may it be said?
In briefAI
Starting from Q 21:29, which threatens Hell for one who says “I am a god besides Him”, the Emir notes the threat covers only “besides Him”. Still, saying “I am God” in this world is blameworthy even if true, since the speaker hungers, thirsts and sleeps; al-Ḥallāj said it with his reason intact and was killed. One overcome by intoxication is not responsible. The Emir advises saying neither “I am He” nor “I am other than He”, and listening to what He says to you.
Context: the Emir discusses sayings such as al-Ḥallāj’s “I am God”: condemned when said soberly, excused in ecstasy. He states the rule; he does not make the claim.
See the print: Damascus 1966, p. 1044, Damascus 1966, p. 1045 (archive.org)
قَالَ تَعَالَى: وَمَنْ يَقُلْ مِنْهُمْ إِنِّي إِلَٰهٌ مِنْ دُونِهِ فَذَٰلِكَ نَجْزِيهِ جَهَنَّمَ
God Most High says: “And whoever of them says, ‘I am a god besides Him’, that one We shall recompense with Hell” (Q 21:29).
قَيَّدَ تَعَالَى الْوَعِيدَ فِي الْآخِرَةِ، بِمَنْ يَقُولُ: «مِنْ دُونِهِ» فَلَابُدَّ مِنْ زِيَادَةِ هَذَا الْقَيْدِ•
The Most High restricted the threat in the next world to the one who says “besides Him”; so there is no escaping this added qualification.
وَلَا وَعِيدَ فِي الْآخِرَةِ عَلَى مَنْ يَقُولُ مِنَ الْمَخْلُوقِينَ: اِنِّي اِلَهٌ• اِذَا شَهَّدَهُ الْحَقُّ سَرَيَانَ الْأُلُوهِيَّةِ فِي الْعَالَمِ، كَسَرَيَانِ الْوُجُودِ الْحَقِّ فِي الْعَالَمِ،
There is no threat in the next world against any created being who says, ‘I am a god’, when the Real has made him behold the pervasion of divinity in the world, like the pervasion of true existence in the world;
وَلَكِنَّهُ حَقٌّ لَا يَنْقَالُ، اِذْ مَا كُلُّ حَقٍّ يُقَالُ، كَمَا أَنَّهُ مَا كُلُّ حَقٍّ يُحْمَدُ فِي جَمِيعِ الْمَوَاطِنِ، وَلَا كُلُّ بَاطِلٍ يُذَمُّ فِي كُلِّ الْمَوَاطِنِ•
but it is a truth that is not to be spoken, since not every truth is spoken, just as not every truth is praised in all domains, nor is every falsehood blamed in all domains.
فَالْقَائِلُ اِنَّهُ اللَّهُ فِي الدُّنْيَا مَذْمُومٌ، وَاِنْ كَانَ حَقّاً، وَاِنَّمَا يَكُونُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ، حِينَ يَكُونُ الْعَبْدُ خَلاَّقاً، يَقُولُ لِلشَّيْءِ: كُنْ فَيَكُونُ،
So whoever says in this world that he is God is blameworthy, even if it is true; it is only in the next world, when the servant is a creator who says to a thing, “Be!”, and it is,
وَأَمَّا فِي الدُّنْيَا؟ فَالْحَصْرُ الْمَوْجُودُ فِي هَذَا الْمَوْطِنِ الدُّنْيَاوِيِّ، يَرُدُّ قَوْلَهُ اِنَّهُ اللَّهُ، لِأَنَّهُ يَجُوعُ وَيَعْطَشُ وَيَنَامُ وَيَحْتَاجُ اِلَى الْكَنِيفِ•
As for this world, the confinement present in this worldly domain refutes his saying that he is God, for he hungers, thirsts, sleeps and needs the privy.
فَاِذَا قَالَ هَذَا، وَعَقْلُهُ مَعَهُ؟ تَنَاوَلَتْهُ سُيُوفُ الشَّرِيعَةِ وَالْحَقِيقَةِ، وَأَهْرَقَتْ دَمَهُ،
So if he says this while his reason is with him, the swords of the Law and the Reality take hold of him and shed his blood,
كَمَا وَقَعَ لِلْحُسَيْنِ بْنِ مَنْصُورٍ الْحَلَّاجِ– رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ– فَاِنَّهُ قَالَ مَا قَالَ، وَظَاهِرُ الْأَحْوَالِ يَدُلُّ عَلَى أَنَّ عَقْلَهُ مَعَهُ•
as happened to al-Ḥusayn b. Manṣūr al-Ḥallāj, God be pleased with him: he said what he said, and the outward circumstances show that his reason was with him.
فَقُتِلَ بِفَتْوَى أَهْلِ الشَّرِيعَةِ وَأَهْلِ الْحَقِيقَةِ، حَتَّى مَشَايِخِهِ الَّذِينَ عَرَفُوا أَنَّهُ قَالَ مُحِقّاً بَاطِناً!!
So he was killed by the fatwa of the people of the Law and the people of the Reality, even of his own shaykhs, who knew that he had spoken rightly in the inward sense!!
وَأَمَّا اِذَا قَالَ: أَنَا اللَّهُ، فِي حَالِ غَلَبَةِ سُكْرٍ وَحَالٍ؟ فَهُوَ غَيْرُ مُكَلَّفٍ، فَاِنَّ شَرْطَ التَّكْلِيفِ الْعَقْلُ، وَقَدْ زَالَ•
But if he says “I am God” while intoxication and a state hold sway over him, he is not legally responsible, for the condition of legal responsibility is reason, and it has gone.
أَوْ قَالَهَا بِاِذْنٍ اِلَهِيٍّ، كَأَبِي يَزِيدَ وَأَضْرَابِهِ؛ فَهَذَا الصِّنْفُ يَحْمِيهِ حَالُهُ مِنْ أَنْ تَنَالَهُ أَيْدِي الْأَغْيَارِ•
Or he said it by divine permission, like Abū Yazīd and those of his kind; this kind is protected by his state from being reached by the hands of the others.
فَلَا تَقُلْ، أَنَا هُوَ•
So do not say, “I am He.”
فَاِنَّ مَفْهُومَ أَنَا؛ غَيْرُ مَفْهُـومِ هُوَ، فَهُمَـا ضِـدَّانِ يَسْتَحِيلُ اجْتِمَاعُهُمَا•
For the concept of “I” is other than the concept of “He”: they are two opposites whose coming together is impossible.
وَأَمَّا قَوْلُهُ ـ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ ـ فِي دُعَائِهِ، كَمَا وَرَدَ فِي الصَّحِيحِ: «وَاجْعَلْنِي نُوراً» أَيِ اجْعَلْنِي أَنْتَ؟ فَاِنَّهُ تَعَالَى هُوَ أَنْوَرُ•
As for his saying, God bless him and grant him peace, in his supplication, as is related in the Ṣaḥīḥ, “and make me light”, that is, make me You, for He, the Most High, is most luminous:
فَتِلْكَ حَالَةٌ كَانَتْ تَحْصُلُ لَهُ ـ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ ـ وَلَا تَدُومُ•
that was a state which used to come upon him, God bless him and grant him peace, and did not last.
وَلَا تَقُلْ: أَنَا غَيْرُهُ؟ فَاِنَّهُ كَلَامٌ غَيْرُ مُفِيدٍ، اِذِ الْخَالِقُ غَيْرُ الْمَخْلُوقِ ضَرُورَةً، فَهُوَ كَقَوْلِكَ: الْمَاءُ غَـيْرُ النَّارِ، وَالسَّمَاءُ غَيْرُ الْأَرْضِ•
And do not say, “I am other than He,” for it is a statement that conveys nothing, since the Creator is necessarily other than the created; it is like your saying, “Water is other than fire, and the sky is other than the earth.”
وَلَكِنِ ارْتَقِبْ مَا يَبْدُو مِنْهُ لَكَ، فَاِنْ قَالَ لَكَ: أَنَا عَيْنُكَ وَأَنْتَ عَيْنِي؟ فَاسْمَعْ وَاصْمُتْ•
Rather, watch for what appears to you from Him: if He says to you, “I am your very self and you are My very self,” then listen and be silent.
وَاِنْ قَالَ لَكَ: أَنْتَ غَيْرِي وَأَنَا غَيْرُكَ؟ فَاسْمَعْ وَامْتَثِلْ•
And if He says to you, “You are other than Me and I am other than you,” then listen and comply.
وَكُلَّ يَوْمٍ هُوَ فِي شَأْنٍ•
“And every day He is in some affair” (Q 55:29).
«الْيَوْمُ» هُنَا؟ هُوَ الْجُزْءُ الَّذِي لَايَتَجَزَّأُ مِنَ الزَّمَانِ•
“Day” here is the indivisible part of time.
«هُوَ فِي شَأْنٍ» فِي ظُهُورٍ بِشَأْنٍ، وَالشُّئُونُ، اقْتِضَاءَاتٌ ذَاتِيَّةٌ•
“He is in some affair”: in a manifestation with an affair; and the affairs are requirements of the Essence.
وَكُلُّ اقْتِضَاءٍ لَهُ اسْمٌ يَخُصُّهُ، يَظْهَرُ بِهِ ذَلِكَ الِاقْتِضَـاءُ•
Each requirement has a name proper to it, by which that requirement becomes manifest.
وَالِاقْتِضَاءَاتُ الذَّاتِيَّـةُ؛ لَا نِهَايَةَ لَهَا•
And the requirements of the Essence have no end.
فَظُهُورُ الذَّاتِ بِالْأَسْمَاءِ؛ لَا نِهَايَةَ لَهَا•
So the manifestation of the Essence through the names has no end.

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