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 361 · Moses and the Angel of Death
Context: the ḥadīth tells that Moses struck the Angel of Death; the Emir explains that Moses did not know who his visitor was.
See the print: Damascus 1966, p. 1278, Damascus 1966, p. 1279 (archive.org)
[?]ـسَأَلَنِى بَعْضُ الْاِخْوَانِ عَنْ حَدِيثِ مُسْلِمٍ: «أُرْسِلَ مَلَكُ الْمَوْتِ اِلَى مُوسَى، فَلَمَّا جَاءَ صَكَّهُ، فَفَقَاَ عَيْنَهُ فَرَجَعَ اِلَى رَبِّهِ [?] فَقَالَ: أَرْسَلْتَنِي اِلَى عَبْدٍ لَايُرِيدُ الْمَوْتَ. قَالَ: فَرَدَّ اللَّهُ اِلَيْهِ عَيْنَهُ» الْحَدِيثَ.
One of the brethren asked me about the ḥadīth in Muslim: “The Angel of Death was sent to Moses, and when he came, he struck him and put out his eye. So he returned to his Lord and said: ‘You sent me to a servant who does not want death.’ He said: So God restored his eye to him”, and the rest of the ḥadīth.
قُلْتُ فِي الْجَوَابِ، وَاللَّهُ الْمُلْهِمُ اِلَى الصَّوَابِ: اِنَّ مُوسَى سَـأَلَ رَبَّهُ الرُّؤْيَةَ [?] شَوْقًا اِلَى لِقَائِهِ،
I said in reply, and God is the One who inspires towards what is right: Moses asked his Lord for the vision out of longing to meet Him,
وَالرُّؤْيَةُ الْحَقِيقِيَّةُ بِالنِّسْبَةِ اِنَّمَا تَكُونُ بَعْدَ الْمَوْتِ، لِمَا وَرَدَ: «أَنَّ اَحَدَكُمْ لَنْ يَرَى رَبَّهُ حَتَّى يَمُوتَ».
and the true vision, relatively speaking, takes place only after death, because of what has come down: “None of you will see his Lord until he dies.”
فَاَرْسَلَ اللَّهُ مَلَكَ الْمَوْتِ اِلَى مُوسَى امْتِحَاناً وَابْتِلَاءً قَبْلَ حُضُورِ أَجَلِهِ، فَدَخَلَ عَلَى [?] مُوسَى فِي بَيْتِهِ وَقَالَ لَهُ: أَجِبْ رَبَّكَ،
So God sent the Angel of Death to Moses as a test and a trial before his appointed term had come; he came in upon Moses in his house and said to him: “Answer your Lord!”
وَكَانَ دُخُـولُ مَلَكِ الْمَوْتِ بَغْتَـةً فِي [?] صُورَةِ الْبَشَرِ،
The Angel of Death came in suddenly, in human form,
وَلَمْ يَعْلَمْ مُوسَى أَنَّهُ مَلَكُ الْمَوْتِ، لِاَنَّ مُوسَى- عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ- عَلِمَ أَنَّ [?] اللَّهَ لَمْ يَقْبِضْ نَبِيًّا حَتَّى يُخَيِّرَهُ بَيْنَ الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ كَمَا وَرَدَ فِي الصَّحِيحِ.
and Moses did not know that he was the Angel of Death, because Moses, peace be upon him, knew that God does not take a prophet until He has given him the choice between this world and the next, as has come down in the Ṣaḥīḥ.
وَلَمْ يَقَعْ [?] لِمُوسَى تَخْيِيرٌ فِي هَذِهِ الْمَرَّةِ،
No choice was offered to Moses on this occasion,
فَصَكَّهُ مُوسَى عَلَى أَنَّهُ بَشَرٌ دَخَلَ عَلَيْهِ بَيْتَهُ تَأْدِيباً [?] فَكَانَ فِي تِلْكَ الصَّكَّةِ فَقْأُ عَيْنِهِ، لَا أَنَّهُ قَصَدَ فَقْأَ عَيْنِهِ لَا.
so Moses struck him, taking him for a man who had entered his house uninvited, to discipline him, and in that blow his eye was put out; not that he intended to put out his eye, no.
وَالتَّأْدِيبُ لَا يَبْلُغُ ذَلِكَ كَمَا [?] قَالَ- صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ- لِلَّذِي اطَّلَعَ مِنَ الْكُوَّةِ: اِنَّمَا جُعِلَ الْأِذْنُ مِنْ قِبَلِ [?] الْبَصَرِ، لَوْ عَلِمْتُ أَنَّكَ تَنْظُرُ لَطَعَنْتُ بِهَا فِي عَيْنِكَ، يَعْنِي الْمِدْرَا.
Discipline does not reach that far, as he, God bless him and grant him peace, said to the man who peered through the opening: “Asking permission was instituted only on account of sight; had I known that you were looking, I would have jabbed it into your eye”, meaning the comb.
وَلَمَّا كَانَ اِرْسَالُ مَلَكِ الْمَوْتِ اِلَى مُوسَى ابْتِلَاءً وَامْتِحَاناً، اِذْ لَمْ يُنْقَلْ أَنَّهُ وَقَعَ مِثْلُ هَذَا لِأَحَدٍ مِنَ [?] الرُّسُلِ- عَلَيْهِمُ الصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّـلَامُ- رَجَعَ مَلَكُ الْمَوْتِ اِلَى رَبِّهِ وَقَالَ: أَرْسَلْتَنِي اِلَى عَبْدٍ لَا يُرِيدُ الْمَوْتَ، لِأَنَّهُ لَمْ يُؤْمَرْ بِقَبْضِهِ فِي تِلْكَ الْمَرَّةِ•
Since sending the Angel of Death to Moses was a trial and a test (for it is not reported that anything like this happened to any of the messengers, blessings and peace be upon them), the Angel of Death returned to his Lord and said: “You sent me to a servant who does not want death”, because he had not been commanded to take him on that occasion.
وَقَوْلُ مَلَكِ الْمَوْتِ لِمُوسَى: أَجِبْ رَبَّكَ! بِهَذَا اللَّفْظِ، وَمَا قَالَ لَهُ: جِئْتُ لِأَقْبِضَ رُوحَكَ، اِيمَاءٌ لِمَا ذَكَرْنَاهُ•
The Angel of Death’s saying to Moses “Answer your Lord!” in these very words, and his not saying to him “I have come to take your soul”, is an allusion to what we have mentioned.
فَلَمَّا رَجَعَ اِلَيْهِ الْمَرَّةَ الثَّانِيَةَ بِالْعَلَامَةِ وَهُوَ التَّخْيِيرُ بَيْنَ الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ لِلْمَعْلُومِ عِنْدَ مُوسَى وَهِيَ قَوْلُهُ: «اِنْ كُنْتَ تُرِيدُ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا» الخ الْحَدِيثَ، أَرَادَ الْمَوْتَ وَاخْتَارَ الْآخِرَةَ عَلَى الدُّنْيَا•
Then, when he returned to him the second time with the sign, namely the choice between this world and the next that was known to Moses, which is his saying “If you want the life of this world…” and so on to the end of the ḥadīth, he wanted death and chose the next world over this one.
قَوْلُهُ: فَرَدَّ اللَّهُ اِلَيْهِ عَيْنَهُ، لِأَنَّ مَلَكَ الْمَوْتِ كَانَ مُتَصَوِّراً بِصُورَةٍ خَيَالِيَّةٍ بَرْزَخِيَّةٍ، وَهِيَ الصُّوَرُ الَّتِي تَظْهَرُ فِيهَا الرُّوحَانِيُّونَ•
As for his words “So God restored his eye to him”: this is because the Angel of Death had taken on an imaginal form belonging to the isthmus, and these are the forms in which the spiritual beings appear.
وَالصُّوَرُ الْخَيَالِيَّةُ تَقْبَلُ مَا تَقْبَلُهُ الصُّوَرُ الْعُنْصُرِيَّةُ مَا عَدَا الْأَكْلَ•
Imaginal forms receive whatever elemental forms receive, except eating.
كَمَا جَاءَ جِبْرِيلُ اِلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ــ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ ــ وَقَدْ عَصَبَ الْغُبَارُ رَأْسَهُ• الْحَدِيثُ فِي الصَّحِيحِ•
Just as Gabriel came to the Messenger of God, God bless him and grant him peace, with dust clinging to his head. The ḥadīth is in the Ṣaḥīḥ.
فَمَا يَتَّفِقُ فِي الصُّوَرِ الْعُنْصُرِيَّةِ يَتَّفِقُ فِي الصُّوَرِ الْخَيَالِيَّةِ الْبَرْزَخِيَّةِ،
So whatever happens to elemental forms happens to the imaginal forms of the isthmus,
فَاِذَا اتَّفَقَ قَتْلُ الصُّورَةِ الْخَيَالِيَّةِ مِنَ الصُّوَرِ الَّتِي يَظْهَرُ الرُّوحَانِيُّ فِيهَا فَاِنَّ ذَلِكَ الرُّوحَانِيَّ يَنْتَقِلُ اِلَى الْبَرْزَخِ وَلَا يَظْهَرُ فِي عَالَمِ الْحِسِّ أَبَدًا•
and if it happens that an imaginal form, one of the forms in which a spiritual being appears, is killed, then that spiritual being passes into the isthmus and never again appears in the world of the senses.
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