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 57 · “Make the Greatest Veil the life of my spirit”
See the print: Damascus 1966, p. 115, Damascus 1966, p. 116, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 121, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 122, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 123 (archive.org)
رَأَيْتُ فِي بَعْضِ الْمَرَائِي: أَنِّي جَالِسٌ فِي قُبَّةٍ بَيْضَاءَ، وَأَنَا أَتَكَلَّمُ مَعَ أَشْخَاصٍ لَا أَرَاهُمْ. فَتَكَلَّمْنَا فِي قَوْلِ الْقُطْبِ عَبْدِ السَّلَامِ بْنِ بَشْبَشَ ــ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ ــ:
I saw in one of my visions that I was sitting in a white dome, speaking with persons I could not see. We spoke about the saying of the Pole ʿAbd al-Salām ibn Bashbash, may God be pleased with him:
«وَاجْعَلِ الْحِجَابَ الْأَعْظَمَ حَيَاةَ رُوحِي، وَرُوحَهُ سِرَّ حَقِيقَتِي».
“And make the Greatest Veil the life of my spirit, and its spirit the secret of my reality.”
فَقُلْتُ لَهُمْ: سَأَلَ الشَّيْخُ بِهَذَا أَنْ يَكُونَ الْحِجَابُ الْأَعْظَمُ، وَهُوَ الْحَقِيقَةُ الْمُحَمَّدِيَّةُ، وَالتَّعَيُّنُ الْأَوَّلُ الْمُسَمَّى بِالْأَسْمَاءِ الْكَثِيرَةِ، بِحَسَبِ اعْتِبَارَاتِهِ وَوُجُوهِهِ؛ حَيَاةَ رُوحِهِ،
So I said to them: by this the Shaykh asked that the Greatest Veil, which is the Muhammadan Reality and the First Determination, named by many names according to its aspects and faces, be the life of his spirit,
أَيِ اجْعَلْنِي بِهِ حَيَّاً عَلَى الْكَمَالِ لَا مُطْلَقَ الْحَيَاةِ، لِأَنَّ الرُّوحَ مُسْتَلْزِمٌ لِلْحَيَاةِ وَلَا عَكْسَ.
that is: make me alive through it in perfection, not with mere life, since spirit entails life but not the converse.
فَكُلُّ رُوحٍ حَيٌّ، وَلَيْسَ كُلُّ حَيٍّ لَهُ رُوحٌ.
For every spirit is alive, but not everything alive has a spirit.
وَمَطْلُوبُ الشَّيْخِ وَمَقْصُودُهُ: أَنْ يَكُونَ رُوحُهُ مَظْهَراً كَامِلاً وَمَجْلًي تَامّاً لِلرُّوحِ الْكُلِّ الَّذِي هُوَ الْحِجَابُ الْأَعْظَمُ، وَالْحَقِيقَةُ الْمُحَمَّدِيَّةُ.
What the Shaykh seeks and intends is that his spirit be a perfect locus of manifestation and a complete locus of disclosure for the universal Spirit, which is the Greatest Veil and the Muhammadan Reality.
اِذْ كلُّ رُوحٍ اِنَّمَّا هُوَ مِنَ الرُّوحِ الْكُلِّيِّ الْمُحَمَّدِيِّ، وَلَكِنْ لَا عَلَى الْكَمَالِ اِلاَّ أَرْوَاحَ الْكُلِّ الْحَاصِلِينَ عَلَى رُتْبَةِ الْكَمَالِ، مِنَ الْوَرَثَةِ الْمُحَمَّدِيِّينَ فَاِنَّهُ يَتَطَبَّعُ فِيهِ كَانْطِبَاعِ الطَّابَعِ فِي الشَّمْعِ وَنَحْوِهِ.
For every spirit is only from the universal Muhammadan Spirit, but not in perfection, except the spirits of the “all” who have attained the rank of perfection among the Muhammadan heirs: for it is imprinted in such a spirit as a seal is imprinted in wax and the like.
فَقَالَ لِي وَاحِدٌ لَمْ أَرَ شَخْصَهُ: فَعَلَى هَذَا؟ يَتَمَاثَلُ الْمُنْطَبِعُ فِيهِ مَعَ الطَّابَعِ.
Then one whose person I did not see said to me: On this basis, then, the thing imprinted upon becomes like the seal?
فَقُلْتُ لَهُ: هَيْهَاتَ!! الْمُنْطَبِعُ حَقِيقَةٌ وَأَصْلٌ، وَالْمُنْطَبِعُ فِيهِ مَجَازٌ وَفَرْعٌ•
I said to him: Far from it! The imprinted thing is reality and root, and what it is imprinted upon is metaphor and branch.
فَاِنَّا نَقُولُ فِي الْحَقِّ ـ تَعَالَى ـ حَيٌّ، وَفِي زَيْدٍ حَيٌّ•
For we say of the Real, exalted is He, “Living”, and of Zayd, “living”.
وَأَيْنَ حَيَاةُ الْحَقِّ ـ تَعَالَى ـ مِنْ حَيَاةِ زَيْدٍ؟!
Yet what has the life of the Real, exalted is He, to do with the life of Zayd?!
وَنَقُولُ فِي زَيْدٍ: عَالِمٌ، وَفِي الْحَقِّ ـ تَعَالَى ـ عَالِمٌ•
And we say of Zayd, “knowing”, and of the Real, exalted is He, “Knowing”.
وَأَيْنَ عِلْمُ الْحَقِّ ـ تَعَالَى ـ مِنْ عِلْمِ زَيْدٍ؟!
Yet what has the knowledge of the Real, exalted is He, to do with the knowledge of Zayd?!
فَاِنَّ تَبَايُنَ حَقِيقَةِ كُلٍّ وَاحِدٍ مِنَ الْمَوْصُوفَيْنِ بِالصِّفَةِ الْوَاحِدَةِ، مُؤْذِنٌ بِعَدَمِ الْمُشَابَهَةِ بَيْنَهُمَا فِي النِّسْبَةِ•
For the divergence in the reality of each one of the two described by the one attribute indicates that there is no likeness between them in the attribution.
كَمَا اِذَا ضَرَبَ نُورُ الشَّمْسِ فِي حَائِطٍ مِنْ كَوَّةٍ مَثَلاً، فَنَقُولُ: ظَهَرَتِ الشَّمْسُ فِي الْحَائِطِ•
As when the light of the sun strikes a wall through a window-opening, for example, and we say: the sun has appeared on the wall.
وَاَيْنَ الشَّمْسُ مِنْ شُعَاعِهَا الظَّاهِرِ فِي الْحَائِطِ؟!
Yet what has the sun to do with its ray appearing on the wall?!
وَقَوْلُهُ: «وَرُوحَهُ سِرَّ حَقِيقَتِي» يُرِيدُ الشَّيْخُ ـ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ ـ رُوحَ الْحِجَابِ الْأَعْظَمِ•
As for his words “and its spirit the secret of my reality”, the Shaykh, may God be pleased with him, means the spirit of the Greatest Veil.
فَالضَّمِيرُ عَائِدٌ عَلَيْهِ، وَرُوحُ الشَّيْءِ مَا بِهِ قِوَامُهُ،
So the pronoun refers back to it; and the spirit of a thing is that by which it subsists,
وَرُوحُ الْحِجَابِ الْأَعْظَمِ هُوَ الذَّاتُ الْغَيْبُ الْمُطْلَقُ الْبَحْتُ، الَّذِي لَايُعَبَّرُ عَنْهُ بِعِبَارَةٍ، وَلَا تَتَطَرَّقُ اِلَيْهِ اِشَارَةٌ•
and the spirit of the Greatest Veil is the Essence, the absolute, pure Unseen, which is expressed by no expression and to which no allusion reaches.
اِذِ الْحِجَابُ الْأَعْظَمُ هُوَ غَايَةُ مَعْرِفَةِ الْعَارِفِينَ، وَنِهَايَةُ السَّائِرِينَ، غَيْرَ أَنَّهُمْ عَلِمُوا أَنَّ وَرَاءَ هَذَا الَّذِي أَدْرَكُوهُ شَيْئاً مِنْ حَقِيقَتِهِ، وَصِفَتِهِ نَفْسِهِ، أَنَّهُ لَايُعْرَفُ وَلَا يُدْرَكُ مِنْهُ سِوَى وُجُودِهِ لَا غَيْرُ•
For the Greatest Veil is the utmost reach of the knowers' knowledge and the end of the wayfarers, except that they have known that beyond what they have perceived there is something of whose reality, and very attribute, it is that nothing of it is known or perceived except its existence, nothing else.
فَكَانَ اِدْرَاكُ الْعَجْزِعَنْ اِدْرَاكِهِ؛ اِدْرَاكٌ•
So perceiving one's incapacity to perceive it was itself a perceiving.
اِذِ الْعِلْمُ انْكِشَافُ الْمَعْلُومِ عَلَى مَاهُوَ عَلَيْهِ•
For knowledge is the unveiling of the known as it is.
فَحِينَئِذٍ ظَهَرَ لِي وَاحِدٌ مِنْهُمْ، وَقَبَّلَ يَدِي•
Thereupon one of them appeared to me and kissed my hand.
وَلْيُعْلَمْ أَنَّ كَثِيراً مِنْ أَهْلِ الرِّيَاضَاتِ وَالْمُجَاهَدَاتِ عَلَى غَيْرِ طَرِيقِ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ وَصَلَ اِلَى الرُّوحِ الْكُلِّيِّ، فَظَنَّ أَنَّهُ هُوَ حَقِيقَةُ الْحَقَائِقِ، وَأَنَّهُ لَيْسَ وَرَاءَهُ مَرْمًى؛ فَكَفَرَ وَرَجَعَ مِنْ حَيْثُ جَاءَ•
Let it be known that many of the people of spiritual exercises and strivings who follow a path other than that of the prophets have reached the Universal Spirit and supposed that it is the Reality of Realities, with no goal beyond it. So they fell into unbelief and went back the way they had come.
وَلِهَذَا يَقُولُ بَعْضُ سَادَةِ الْقَوْمِ: مَارَجَعَ مَنْ رَجَعَ؛ اِلاَّ مِنَ الطَّرِيقِ•
This is why one of the masters of the Folk says: “Whoever turned back turned back only from the road.
وَلَوْ وَصَلُوا؛ مَا رَجَعُوا•
Had they arrived, they would not have turned back.”
يَعْنِي الْوُصُولَ اِلَى الذَّاتِ الْغَيْبِ الْمُطْلَقِ، اِذْ لَيْسَ وَرَاءَ اللَّهِ مَرْمًى•
He means arrival at the Essence, the absolute Unseen, since there is no goal beyond God.
وَأَمَّا مَرْتَبَةُ التَّعَيُّنِ الْأَوَّلِ، وَالْحَقِيقَةُ الْمُحَمَّدِيَّةُ، وَالْحِجَابُ الْأَعْظَمُ؛ فَوَرَاءَهُ مَرْمًى وَهُوَ اللَّهُ، مِنْ حَيْثُ أَنَّهُ اسْمٌ مُرْتَجَلٌ عَلَمٌ عَلَى الذَّاتِ الْغَيْبِ الْمَحْضِ، لَا شَيْءَ فِيهِ مِنَ الْوَصْفِيَّةِ•
As for the rank of the First Determination, the Muhammadan Reality and the Greatest Veil, beyond it there is a goal, and that is Allāh: insofar as it is an underived proper name for the Essence, the pure Unseen, with nothing of descriptiveness in it.
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