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 48 · “Whoever knows his soul knows his Lord”
See the print: Damascus 1966, p. 101, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 108, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 109 (archive.org)
وَرَدَ فِي خَبَرٍ مُتَوَاتِرٍ مُتَدَاوَلٍ بَيْنَ الْقَوْمِ، وَاِنْ ضَعَّفَهُ الْحُفَّاظُ مِنْ عُلَمَاءِ الرَّسْمِ: «مَنْ عَرَفَ نَفْسَهُ عَرَفَ رَبَّهُ»
It has come down in a report that is mutawātir and current among the folk, even though the ḥadīth-masters among the scholars of outward form have declared it weak: “Whoever knows his soul knows his Lord.”
يَعْنِي مَنْ عَرَفَ نَفْسَهُ الَّتِيهِيَ رَبُّهُ الْمُقَيَّدُ؛ عَرَفَ رَبَّهُ الَّذِيهُوَ نَفْسُهُالْمُطْلَقُ•
That is: whoever knows his soul, which is his Lord as delimited, knows his Lord, who is his soul as absolute.
فَاِنَّ حَقِيقَةَ النَّفْسِ هِيَ الرُّوحُ، وَحَقِيقَةُ الرُّوحِ هُوَ الْحَقُّ– تَعَالَى–
For the reality of the soul is the spirit, and the reality of the spirit is the Real, exalted is He;
وَاتَّحَدَ هُنَا الشَّرْطُ وَالْجَزَاءُ وَالْفَرْقُ بَيْنَهُمَا التَّقَيُّدُ وَالْاِطْلَاقُ، أَعْنِي اتِّحَادَهُمَا مَعْنًى لَا لَفْظاً•
and here the condition and the consequent are one, the difference between them being delimitation and absoluteness. I mean that they are one in meaning, not in wording.
فَاِنْ كَانَتِ النَّفْسُ لَاتُعْرَفُ بَلْ هِيَ مَجْهُولَةٌ أَبَداً فَكَذَلِكَ الرَّبُّ لَايُعْرَفُ أَبَداً•
So if the soul is not known, but is rather forever unknown, then likewise the Lord is never known,
اِذِ الْمُعَلَّقُ عَلَى الْمَمْنُوعِ مَمْنُوعٌ•
since what is made dependent on the impossible is impossible.
بَلِ الرَّبُّ– تَعَالَى– أَحَقُّ وَأَوْلَى بِعَدَمِ تَعَلُّقِ الْمَعْرِفَةِ بِهِ، فَمَعْرِفَةُ الرَّبِّ مَشْرُوطَةٌ، بِتَقَدُّمِ مَعْرِفَةِ النَّفْسِ•
Indeed, the Lord, exalted is He, is more deserving and more fitting of knowledge's not attaching to Him. So knowledge of the Lord is conditional upon knowledge of the soul coming first.
وَالتَّقْدِيمُ رُتْبِيٌّ لَازَمَانِيٌّ، اِذْ لَيْسَ فِي هَذَا الْمَقَامِ زَمَانٌ، فَلَا مَسَاءَ عِنْدَ رَبِّكَ وَلَا صَبَاحَ،
And the precedence is one of rank, not of time, since in this station there is no time: there is no evening with your Lord and no morning.
وَالْقَضِيَّةُ الشَّرْطِيَّةُ لَا تَقْضِي وُجُودَ الْمُقَدَّمِ، بَلْ وَلَا اِمْكَانَهُ، لَئِنْ أَشْرَكْتَ لَيَحْبَطَنَّ عَمَلُكَ، وَهُوَ لَا يُشْرِكُ، بَلْ لَا يُشْرِكُ، بَلْ لَايُتَصَوَّرُ مِنْهُ الْاِشْرَاكُ•
A conditional proposition does not entail the existence of the antecedent, nor even its possibility: “If you associate others with God, your work will surely come to nothing” (Q 39:65); and he does not associate, rather he does not associate, rather association is inconceivable from him.
وَمَنْ يَقُلْ مِنْهُمْ اِنِّي اِلَٰهٌ مِنْ دُونِهِ؛ فَذَٰلِكَ نَجْزِيهِ جَهَنَّمَ•
“And whoever of them should say, ‘I am a god besides Him’, that one We shall recompense with Hell” (Q 21:29).
وَلَا يُتَصَوَّرُ مِنَ الْمَلَائِكَةِ دَعْوَى الْأُلُوهِيَّةِ،
And a claim to divinity is inconceivable from the angels.
وَاِنْ كَانَتِ النَّفْسُ تُعْرَفُ مِنْ وَجْهٍ دُونَ وَجْهٍ وَبِاعْتِبَارٍ، لَا مِنْ وَجْهٍ وَاعْتِبَارٍ• فَكَذَلِكَ الرَّبُّ، يُعْرَفُ مِنْ وَجْهٍ وَاعْتِبَارٍ دُونَ كُلِّ الْوُجُوهِ وَالِاعْتِبَارَاتِ•
And if the soul is known from one aspect and not another, and under a consideration, not from [every] aspect and consideration, then likewise the Lord is known from an aspect and a consideration, not from all aspects and considerations.
وَلِذَا وَرَدَ فِي الْخَبَرِ «اَعْرَفُكُمْ بِنَفْسِهِ اَعْرَفُكُمْ بِرَبِّهِ»•
This is why it has come in the report: “The one of you who knows his soul best is the one of you who knows his Lord best.”
وَوَرَدَ أَيْضاً: «اَنَا اَعْلَمُكُمْ بِاللَّهِ وَاَشَدُّكُمْ مِنْهُ خَشْيَةً»•
And it has also come: “I am the one of you who knows God best and who fears Him most.”
فَالنَّاسُ مُتَفَاوِتُونَ فِي مَعْرِفَةِ نُفُوسِهِمْ، كَمَا هُمْ مُتَفَاوِتُونَ فِي مَعْرِفَةِ رَبِّهِمْ، بِمَا لَايَكَادُ يَنْحَصِرُ، وَلَا يَدْخُلُ تَحْتَ مِيزَانٍ•
So people differ in degree in knowing their souls, just as they differ in degree in knowing their Lord, to an extent that can scarcely be delimited and does not come under any measure.
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.
Hear when new texts are published
Occasional news of a new text or a new layer. If there is a text you would like to read here, say so below.