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 78 · “He is with you wherever you are”
See the print: Damascus 1966, p. 153, Damascus 1966, p. 154, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 156, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 157 (archive.org)
قَالَ تَعَالَى: «وَهُوَ مَعَكُمْ أَيْنَمَا كُنتُمْ».
He, exalted is He, said: “And He is with you wherever you are” (Q 57:4).
الْخِطَابُ اِنَّمَا جَاءَ عَلَى مَا يَتَخَيَّلُهُ أَكْثَرُ الْعِبَادِ، مِنْ أَنَّ لَهُمْ وُجُوداً مُسْتَقِلّاً مُبَايِناً لِلْوُجُودِ وَالْحَقِّ، وَمُغَايِراً لَهُ.
The address came only in accordance with what most of the servants imagine: that they have an independent existence, distinct from existence and the Real, and other than it.
فَمَشَّى الْحَقُّ ـ تَعَالَى ـ دَعْوَاهُمْ وَتَرَكَهُمْ عَلَى مَا تَخَيَّلُوهُ،
So the Real, exalted is He, let their claim pass and left them with what they imagined,
فَقَالَ لَهُمْ: اِنْ كُنْتُمْ كَمَا تَوَهَّمْتُمُوهُ؛ فَهُوَ مَعَكُمْ، أَيْنَمَا كُنْتُمْ، فَاحْذَرُوهُ وَرَاقِبُوهُ فِي كُلِّ مَكَانٍ.
and said to them: if you are as you have fancied, then He is with you wherever you are; so beware of Him and be watchful of Him in every place.
وَأَمَّا فِي نَفْسِ الْأَمْرِ؛ فَمُسَمَّى الْخَلْقِ مَا لَهُمْ مَعَ الْحَقِّ رُتْبَةُ الْمَعِيَّةِ، وَاِنَّمَا لَهُمُ التَّبَعِيَّةُ،
But in the fact of the matter, what is named “creation” does not have, with the Real, the rank of withness; theirs is only dependence.
فَمُسَمَّى الْخَلْقِ عِنْدَ مَنْ يُثْبِتُهُ؛ كَالظِّلِّ بِالنِّسْبَةِ اِلَى ذِي الظِّلِّ، وَهُوَ الشَّاخِصُ،
For what is named “creation”, according to whoever affirms it, is like the shadow in relation to the one who casts it, namely the upright figure,
وَلَايُقَالُ فِي مُسَمَّى الظِّلِّ: اِنَّهُ مَعَ الشَّاخِصِ.
and of what is named “shadow” one does not say that it is with the upright figure.
وَاِنَّمَا يُقَالُ: الظِّلُّ تَابِعٌ لِلشَّاخِصِ.
One says only: the shadow follows upon the upright figure.
اِذِ الْمَعِيَّةُ؛ لَا تُقَالُ اِلاَّ عَلَى شَيْئَيْنِ مُسْتَقِلَّيْنِ بِالْمَوْجُودِيَّةِ.
For withness is said only of two things that are each independent in being existent.
وَالْمُسَمَّى خَلْقاً وَعَالَماً؛ لَا وُجُودَ لَهُ اسْتِقْلَالاً، وَاِنَّمَا لَهُ التَّبَعِيَّةُ.
What is named “creation” and “world” has no existence independently; it has only dependence.
وَكَالصَّوْتِ وَالصَّدَا، فَهُمَا شَيْئَانِ فِي الْحِسِّ، وَشَيْءٌ وَاحِدٌ فِي نَفْسِ الْأَمْرِ.
And it is like the sound and the echo: they are two things to the senses, and one thing in the fact of the matter.
وَكُلُّ مَا يُقَالُ فِيهِ غَيْرُ اللَّهِ ـ تَعَالَى ـ، وَهُوَ الْعَالَمُ جَمِيعُهُ، أَعْلَاهُ وَأَسْفَلُهُ؛ فَهُوَ عَدَمٌ.
Everything of which one says “other than God”, exalted is He, which is the whole world, its highest and its lowest, is nonexistence.
لَوِ اعْتُبِرَ مُجَرَّداً عَنِ الْوُجُودِ الْحَقِّ،
if it were considered stripped of the real Being,
لِأَنَّهُ لَوْ كَانَ لِغَيْرِ اللَّهِ وُجُودٌ؟ فَلَا يَخْلُو اِمَّا أَنْ يَكُونَ وُجُودُهُ قَدِيماً أَوْ حَادِثاً.
because if what is other than God had existence, then its existence would have to be either eternal or originated.
وَلَا قَدِيمَ اِلاّ الْوُجُودُ الْحَقُّ، بِاِجْمَاعٍ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْمِلَلِ وَالْحُكَمَاءِ،
And there is nothing eternal except the real Being, by consensus of the people of the religions and the philosophers;
فَاِنَّهُمْ وَاِنْ قَالُوا بِالْقِدَمِ الزَّمَانِيِّ؟ فَهُمْ مُجْمِعُونَ مَعَنَا عَلَى أَنَّهُ لَا قَدِيمَ بِالذَّاتِ، اِلاّ الْوُجُودُ الْحَقُّ— تَعَالَى—.
for even though they hold eternity in time, they agree with us that nothing is eternal by essence except the real Being, exalted is He.
وَلَا جَائِزٌ أَنْ يَكُونَ حَادِثاً، لِأَنَّهُ لَوْ كَانَ حَادِثاً؟ لَكَانَ اِمَّا جَوْهَراً أَوْ عَرَضاً، وَلَا جَائِزٌ أَنْ يَكُونَ جَوْهَراً.
Nor is it possible for it to be originated, because if it were originated, it would be either a substance or an accident; and it cannot be a substance,
لِأَنَّ الْجَوْهَرَ لَا تُوصَفُ بِهِ الْجَوَاهِرُ. وَالْأَعْرَاضُ وَالْوُجُودُ وَصْفٌ لَهُمَا.
because a substance is not something by which substances and accidents are qualified, whereas existence is a qualification of both.
وَلَا جَائِزٌ أَنْ يَكُونَ عَرَضاً، لِأَنَّ الْعَرَضَ لَابُدَّ لَهُ مِنْ مُقَوِّمٍ وَهُوَ الْجَوْهَرُ، وَالْجَوْهَرُ مَعْدُومٌ قَبْلَ اتِّصَافِهِبِالْوُجُودِ.
Nor can it be an accident, because an accident must have something that sustains it, namely the substance, and the substance is nonexistent before it is qualified by existence.
وَالْمَعْدُومُ لَايَكُونُ مُقَوِّماً لِلْعَرَضِ الْمَوْجُودِ.
And the nonexistent cannot be the sustainer of an existent accident.
وَهَذَا الْبُرْهَانُ لِلْوَاقِفِينَ مَعَ عُقُولِهِمْ.
This demonstration is for those who stop at their intellects.
وَأَمَّا أَهْلُ الشُّهُودِ؟ فَقَدْ أَغْنَاهُمُ اللَّهُ عَنْ اِقَامَةِ الْبُرْهَانِ، اِذْ هَذَا عِنْدَهُمْ مِنَ الضَّرُورَاتِ.
As for the people of beholding, God has made them independent of setting up a demonstration, since for them this is among the self-evident things.
وَعَلَيْهِ فَلَا يَجُوزُ السُّؤَالُ عَنِ الْعَالَمِ هَلْ هُوَ قَدِيمٌ أَوْ حَادِثٌ، لِأَنَّ الْقِدَمَ وَالْحُدُوثَ بَعْدَ ثُبُوتِ الْوُجُودِ، وَالْعَالَمُ مَا صَحَّ لَهُ وُجُودٌ،
Accordingly, it is not permissible to ask about the world whether it is eternal or originated, because eternity and origination come after existence is established, and the world has had no valid existence;
وَلَا يُقَالُ فِي الْمَعْدُومِ: هَلْ هُوَ قَدِيمٌ أَوْ حَادِثٌ، فَاِنَّهُ سُؤَالٌ فَاسِدٌ.
and one does not ask of the nonexistent whether it is eternal or originated, for that is an unsound question.
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