The Fifth Juzʾ

In the Name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate

Text The Shaykh Ibn Qasī—may God Most High have mercy on him—said: "Know that time is carried in place."

Commentary Know that I have left for him much speech that I did not explain, for his elucidation. That encompasses the mention of the days that Allāh mentioned—of five thousand years, and of a thousand years, and those that the Prophet—upon him be peace—mentioned: a day like a year, a day like a month, and a day like a Friday. Then indeed he—may Allāh be pleased with him—refined the days to the single soul, and made from Ādam to the Day of Resurrection by consideration fifty thousand years, which are a Friday, the one that is this day, and one of them is by the speech of a great number. Nothing is free from him of faults, and he is at the utmost of building in what is sound of it and what is corrupt of it. So we had no need to go to the mention of it and its elucidation. Then he said, after his use of his speech concerning these days and times, and the being of the Real from its names.

Text He said: "Know that time is carried in place, borne upon the forms of the engendered beings.

Text If you have counted a day of five thousand years and you posited a place for it, then you have apportioned a creation that it encompasses, a world that it inhabits, and a king from the form of His creation that fills it."

Commentary The Imām al-Shāriḥ – may God be pleased with him – said: Since time according to this man is an expression for the motion of the celestial sphere, for this reason he made it carried in place; because the motion is carried in the celestial sphere, and his statement: "carried upon the forms of the engendered beings," that is: it is linked—the separation in the celestial sphere; since it was from their totality according to him, and his speech regarding this is concerning time which he knows the Arabs [know] from the night and the day, no other than that from the times, and for this reason he said: "If you estimated a day of fifty thousand years," he came with "you estimated" because it now is not with existence, then he said: "and you posited a place it encompasses," he says: posit also a place it encompasses, meaning that which carries it, for time according to him is carried in place, so there is no alternative to positing the place when you estimate time according to him, and likewise also you posit, so this cuts it off—in this there is a consideration, for the motion of the celestial sphere, the highest, which has no celestial sphere above it, and it is that celestial sphere of the constellations, its motion is temporal, and it is the possessor of the motion of the day, and it has no celestial sphere that cuts it off, so it does not follow from the estimation of time and the positing of place a positing that cuts it off, and likewise when you verify the meaning of time—it is not from its condition the positing of place except for what we mentioned in the commentary on his statement: "Indeed time is carried in place," and regarding the verification of the quiddity of time, and to what does it return? And what is the referent of this expression? Is it an existence, or a non-existence? A lengthy discourse.

And his saying: «He estimated a creation and populated it», he says: He estimated a creation that would be the cause of its construction and the manifestation of its forms from the one who populated the abode once it was built. And his saying: «and a world that inhabits it», since a dwelling place requires the one who dwells therein, that is: one who has establishment therein. And his saying: «and a host that fills it», this man says that there is nothing in the world that is empty, and this is the school of many among the people, and this man is among them.

Commentary Then he took to cite as evidence for that reports of prophetic tradition from which there is no necessary correctness of his claim regarding what he established from the approximation of the temporal and the creaturely, yet he does not know that it is not necessary. Rather, he imagined that he had established the clear legal proof for his claim, then he explained and expanded the statement with speech between comprehensible and incomprehensible concepts, most of which is unsuitable.

Text

[The Preamble of Approximation] Then he mentioned a translation which he named: «The Preamble of Approximation», he says: There arose in my view a matter that brings near to your understanding gnosis of the descent of the Real to the finding of His creation.

Commentary Then he struck in this preamble a parable for God regarding what came of the lordly descent to the level of the merciful, and I do not say that parable for two things. The first: because of the absence of correspondence between the parable and that which is being likened to it, for it is «there is nothing like Him»[42:11], and the second matter: because of the prohibition that comes from the Law regarding that,

He—exalted is He—said: «So do not strike likenesses for God; indeed God knows and you do not know»[16:74]. If it is said: God has struck likenesses for Himself, we say: correct, for He—glory be to Him—may strike likenesses, for He knows their proper applications and upon what manner of divine attribution He strikes them, and He negated knowledge in that regard from His creation, and said when He prohibited the striking of likenesses: «Indeed God knows and you do not know»[16:74]. So everyone who strikes a likeness for God is either ignorant, not knowing that God prohibited that and did not make it lawful, or a knower who violates the sanctity of God, brazenly defiant of disobedience in contravening God. So the men of God—exalted is He—and His people and His elect among His creation do not strike for Him a likeness, and God did not take a patron who is ignorant. We have seen a group of those who claim spiritual mastery in this path in the lands of the West and the East who have nothing of the gnosis of God except the striking of likenesses, in every gathering, public and private, that does not enable them to arrive at knowledge of what is known, the bare abstract in His essence, from engendered beings. So they grope blindly in darkness where there is no shadow and no light.

Text When this man finished in the manner of approximation from his likeness and reached in that the utmost of his hope, he said: "The likeness ended, and it is correct, and beneath the foam is the pure milk,"

Commentary meaning that this likeness is congruent to what is being likened, and it came with what corresponds, for the foam is something that has no correspondence with the milk that is beneath it. And when there is not between the foam and the milk a correspondence, then how do we know the reality of the milk from the foam and from the condition of the likeness? So this man has indeed said: that which I have likened it to is not correct, for it does not indicate knowledge through the likened, and this is his statement in meaning.

Exposition of the Deep Valley

Commentary He means the distant path, and likewise he did – may God be pleased with him – in this chapter, for between them and what he mentioned therein there is a distance that is not insignificant. The first thing he mentioned

Text is that on the leg of the Throne is inscribed: There is no god but God, Muḥammad is the Messenger of God, Abū Bakr [and] ʿUmar al-Fārūq, and what he mentioned of the relation of these to the world when he mentioned the relation of the leg which is the supporting column of the Throne, and he mentioned a ḥadīth about the bringing-into-being of Moses on the Day of Resurrection taking hold of the supporting column of the Throne, and he explained that this leg is the supporting column of existence from the lowest celestial sphere to the highest level, and that it is from the light of this supporting column there arose every supporting column of stability in existence, all of it, and that upon it is the ascent. This is the substance of his discourse regarding the leg.

Then he commenced on the Burāq, and made it an expression for the lightning flash of the wing of the Zephyr-bird, the green one, in which Gabriel manifested in theophanic self-disclosure, and that the green Zephyr-bird is the light of the hearts of the believers and the spirits of the souls of those possessed of certainty, and he mentioned that this lightning flash is that from which comes the effusion to the vehicles of this world from the imaginal, and war and other than that by the speed that comes from them in enmity and that is from lightning. And he mentioned that it is only a Burāq in the isthmus-realities, meaning that it is metaphorical, not real. He said: So if it was in the abode of the Hereafter, these Burāqs would be like constellations; from them there would be flashing lightning bolts that shine for you by what you wish to make manifest to your eyes while you are in your resting place, without ascent and without elevation. This is the content of this chapter, and he alerted therein to reports of what was presented to discourse upon something thereof.

And whatever is in this section that is problematic and requires explanation of its wording, yet the difficulty is in the meaning of that which he explained it by—our intent in explaining his words is not to refute him except in what pertains to the divine side, for the refutation is upon him and upon others besides him inevitably if he erred in the path of correctness therein.

Translation of its text: «The foundation of grounding and the pearl of glorification and sanctification»

Commentary This chapter contains some of the meanings of that which preceded it. The Shaykh—may God be pleased with him—said: «He said, God, exalted is He: «﴾From God, the possessor of the stairways of ascent; the angels and the Spirit ascend to Him﴿» [70:3–4].

Text «For the name which is 'the possessor of the stairways of ascent' [Dhū al-Maʿārij], the upright [Qayyūm]»

Commentary pointing to what preceded of speech, in that every name designated by all the names. Then he said in this name:

«Indeed it is «veiled by the lights of the pre-eternal knowledge [al-qidam al-ʿilī]» which preceded, the mention of its antecedent «and the spirit of the command, the Mighty», he means by the lights of pre-eternity the outward of pre-eternity, and it is its essence, and the spirit of the command means the inner of pre-eternity which is the pre-eternal knowledge that is the encompassing of immensity, and there is no doubt that its life is as it preceded. {And he said}: Indeed this pre-eternal knowledge is the encompassing of immensity, and with it is fixity and rootedness, and it is the lofty stairway of ascent of degrees, the wondrous creator of the earth and the heavens, that is: by it they appeared.

Text «And the spirit of the command, the Mighty, the encompasser of light»,

Commentary he says that the outward which is beneath the encompassment of the spirit which is its inner, for it is the encompasser of light, and he described it as being «the Mighty of the purifications», and the master of the living and the dead, just as he described the light as being of lofty degrees.

Then he said: And there is nothing among existents, from the first of existent things to their last, of what was and what shall be, except that it is beneath the encompassment of this foot. He said: And to it the knowledge of creation terminates, and there is no path to knowledge of what is above that. And he informed that this foot is «it is the Essence, the Visited», as though he means: the Essence visited in the abode of the Hereafter, for he said after this: «and the joint of the foot to the level

of the earthly, possessor of the descents» and the theophanic self-disclosures, «and the mirror of the forms of the Most High» and the levels, «to it

terminates the creation, and with him the truths are verified», the distinguishing reverts to the joint, «in appearance, and he speaks in likeness».

Commentary Then he said: «and to this is the Essence of the Real, and the ancient foot of truthfulness», he means the Essence preceded by

Text mention of it.

Commentary He said: «The indication of the prophetic in the address of the Mighty and the lofty vision, «and it is the intended

Text meaning in this elucidation» «of the gathering and the expansive of the isthmus, whenever it came», mention of

Commentary the Essence or the Most High names and the attributes.

Text And what is meant by his saying: «the joint of the foot to the level of the earthly»

Commentary he means the theophanic self-disclosure upon the forms of beliefs in the human world, and that «the joint» is the distinguishing mark that is between the Real and His servants whom they know Him by, for they do not know Him except as bound, and by this the correct texts have come.

Then he moved on and said:

Text "And as for the Glorification (al-subbūḥ), the Most Holy (al-quddūs), the Living (al-ḥayy), the Self-Subsisting (al-qayyūm)"

Commentary — the Glorification, the Purified One (al-munazzah) says: from apprehension, the Most Holy who does not change by descent to His creation out of the might of His majesty and His pride, the Living, the Self-Subsisting by whom all things subsist, and his saying:

Text "the Inward (al-bāṭin) in His existence (wujūdihi)"

Commentary — the outward He intends is that which is inferred about Him and is not apprehended, then he said

Text "the Abiding in His necessary existence (mawjūdihi al-lāzim)"

Commentary — He intends that which ⁕ necessarily follows from Him from His being a God, and this is a statement in which there is a point to consider, for in this discourse there is a scent of knowledge of divinity.

Text Then he said: "So He has not descended, nor does He have mention, nor does He descend in anything of His attributes."

Commentary The fāʾ of jawāb (apodosis) is «ammā» (as for), for it is, Glory be to Him, "the alif of adornment (al-tazyīn)," that is: it is not permitted upon Him the movement, nor does gnosis (maʿrifa) attach to Him which is that by which He is known.

Text Then he said: "and He is above the bāʾ of precedence (al-qadam) of adornment (al-tazīn),"

Commentary He intends that He is beyond what has been made manifest to us, for if not for His theophanic self-disclosure (tajallī) in precedence (al-qadam), what we affirmed — then precedence (al-qadam) is more firmly established because the demonstration of its reality is a reality of fixity.

And He sufficed from it with the bāʾ, and from the reality of the unseen with the alif. He intends that what is established from us is an establishment of the alif from the bāʾ. And when the essence (al-dhāt) was the subject of the names, their inward was concealed, so we do not know of them except their traces. So this Shaykh said:

Text "and from here" — meaning: from the engendered being (kawn) of the inward of the essences (al-dhāwāt) — "the names, the designations, and the indications were concealed, and the marks and the known things spread."

Commentary Then he mentioned speech whose content is that God Most High makes Himself known to His servants according to the measure of what they accept.

Their saying: and He is true (ḥaqq) in Himself and His reality is in the Abode of the Hereafter. And when he was in the abode of the Hereafter, they knew Him by the reality of this Real (al-ḥaqq) which is gnosis (maʿrifa) of this world, and the cause of that

That it, just as the earth is changed into other than the earth, and the heavens, likewise the origination of the hereafter is changed, just as the Law informed of the magnitude, beauty, and splendor, likewise the spirituality of the human being and his nature and his abode. His clothing, his food, his drink, and the perception of his powers, likewise the names and attributes change in accordance with the change of their traces. For every trace is a name that expresses its referent, and the designations change, all of that toward what is more beautiful, more radiant, more majestic, and more glorious. For it is an origination that neither sleep overtakes, nor forgetfulness, nor heedlessness, nor oblivion, nor dream, nor intellect to repel desire, nor pardon, nor reconciliation, nor slap, nor gentleness, nor subtlety, nor delicacy, nor a state from conditions that the pain or the repelling of harm befalls it; this is the reality of that abode.

Commentary Then he spoke after this about the supplication of the Prophet — peace be upon him —: «"Eat of the goodness of your sustenance"» The ḥadīth, with the explanation of a concept that does not need explanation.

Then he informed that the word of the isthmus (barzakh), when it goes out to the senses through expressions, becomes multiple, going to words that are accumulated and cannot be enumerated in multitude. For by looking at the isthmus (barzakh), the word is one, and by looking at the senses, the words are many. So look at how multiplicity was graded in the singular, due to the difference of stations. And this is from the category of the comprehensiveness of speech. Then he returned to speech upon the detailed preliminary that preceded [#125], and he pointed therein to what we explained through it, so it sufficed from repeating it.

Then he said — may God be pleased with him — in the translation of: «as for the pearl», he explained the content of this section regarding abridgment and the investigation of meaning, and what he worked therein besides the repetition of what he had already mentioned. Firstly, that "the pearl" according to him is an expression for the meaning that is intended by it "the trunk of the Throne," and that "the trunk of the Throne" according to him is the life of the spirits of the ascents, that is: it is the root of the ascents,

Commentary For He made it in the foundation of establishment as an ascension, and He attributed it to its being «the world of the lofty and the source of powers, the standing by every thing», that is: the standing of every standing thing by every thing is only by the manifestation of this driver in it, so the source of every standing power, for it is the driver of the Throne, that is: the one upon whom the Throne stood, and the Throne in His view is an expression for sovereignty, and He is one of the faces of the bearings of this expression in the placing, and sovereignty is everything other than God in reality, and for this His self-sustaining nature coursed through every standing thing by every thing in sovereignty, and He made it «the mirror of the spiritual realities», that is: the utmost of gazing into the isthmus-realities, and He made it also a settled place for the lights of the higher meanings—the cognitive and the gustatory; and the preserver of them from the resemblances of speculative sight and the imaginal, just as what prevents the screen is that the blowing of winds reaches the lamps and extinguishes them, and He made it that to Him the apportioning of quality ends, and in His view the time of the future ends, that is: He is the counter of time which has manifested in existence, and beyond it is time, and this contradicts what was held by Him to those who maintain that the Throne is the sovereignty which this drives, for had He made it some of the existents, this saying would have stood, and in the sovereignty of the Real, and likewise also in the apportioning of quality, for it is whatever it is in that which is in the sovereignty of the Real, so it would be subject to modality; since in His sovereignty what is not subject to modality and does not become modalized, and when it was in His sovereignty, then whoever is of this rank is higher and more holy than being made subject to modality.

Then He spoke of the foot and its being a carrier for all of the origination, for He is the carrier, and He named it by the most beautiful names, and He described it with all the attributes of the essence, and He made it a likeness struck for God the carrier of every thing, then He mentioned His speech, then He said: «And to God belongs the highest likeness»[16:60], then He mentioned speech and its content

That when the time of ascent has concluded and the descents of encounter that occur in these stages of ascent—through the veils of the aforementioned primordial origin—the Mighty, the Wise discloses Himself in generosity, bounty, and honoring, there was an ascent from the highest to the most high, and He named this theophanic self-disclosure "the Second Proximity" (al-qurb al-thānī), saying:

Text And after this theophanic self-disclosure there descends a veil of "the Living, the Self-Subsisting, the Glorious, the Holy Name" (al-ism al-ḥayy al-qayyūm al-subbūḥ al-quddūs), and

Commentary The mention of this Name and its explanation has preceded.

Then He spoke with speech whose content is that the theophanic self-disclosures are perpetual, forever—there is no extinction for them, and rather the requirements of the theophanic self-disclosures upon succession are perpetual in ascent, and He exhausted the surplus with no meaning beyond what He mentioned in other than it.

[A chapter from the pearl concerning the ordering of realities and the detailing of subtleties]

Commentary Then he said: "A chapter from the pearl concerning the ordering of realities and the detailing of subtleties," meaning what he mentioned in this chapter: that just as the essence of Adam—upon him be peace—gathered the numbers of its structure and whoever descended from it in the covenant (mīthāq), the first spiritual covenant before the covenant of progeny, likewise the primordial origin gathered the forms of theophanic self-disclosures and the veils of descents as they were, for it took that covenant upon those forms. The Real and the evaluation of the Adamic is like the evaluation of the primordial in the likeness of what He evaluates by it in every thing, except that the primordial is creative, and the Adamic is created, and this is a worshipper and that is a worshipped deity. He says: Indeed in the present moment the one who places his self upon the servant places his self upon the entirety; because He is in the counterpart of every servant in the Adamic a name in the primordial, so the reckoning and the questioning and all that comes from matters is a single repelling and a single word, as He said: «We created you not except as a single soul»[31:28]. By this verse He called to witness this, and the place of witnessing is the existence of multiplicity in the very oneness, and for that He said: «as a single soul»[31:28] and it is only a single self.

And the finest thing in this state from the likeness in the world of this-worldly life is the engendered being of every one who prays, communing with his Lord now, of the One without other, without crowding, without absence, without gradation, and without objection. Then he mentioned speech all of which is understood, not needing explanation.

Section on the Emerald

He intended by the emerald the life of Adam which was in the most beautiful constitution, and speech about it has preceded in this commentary. Then he mentioned the death of Adam, and that the first spirit to be taken was joined to the spirit of the Miʿrāj, and he had clarified regarding what preceded the Miʿrāj of spirits in the isthmus in the blast of the Trumpet, but he erred in that the spirit of Adam was the first spirit to be taken, and he was ignorant of history, and how many had died among his children in his lifetime, killing and natural death, and what he mentioned therein are matters that need explanation.

Text Then he took to speaking about «the spirit of the angelic realm by which Iblīs was before the fatherhood» [cf. text], and that it was «from the most holy of spirits and we named it»,

Commentary and that when God wrote upon him what He wrote of wretchedness, that spirit, the most luminous, was seized from him and joined to the spirit of the Miʿrāj, and by this the spirit is renewed. The spirits of the believing jinn, when the seizing seizes the deaths—and this is the speech that came in this section—between what does not need explanation, except that most of it is rejected, then he began speaking about the driver of the Throne with speech between a repetition that has already passed, its mention in what preceded.

Section on the Platform

The content of this section, by way of brevity, is that this platform is the Pedestal of the King of Death, that is: the Pedestal of his dominion, in which appears the duration of lifespans and ages. He made it the tablet of erasure and affirmation, and in that tablet is established the duration of every living being born or plant that grew, and the King of Death

He does not withdraw from his station, but he has subtle essences (raqāʾiq) that are imaginal, like Jibrīl in his subtle essences descending by revelation upon the form of Diḥya (d. 670 CE) and others, and that when a living one dies, for the duration of his life a subtle essence (raqīqa) that is imaginal is sent forth upon the form of the action of that seized one, and it seizes his spirit, and he dies. And that subtle essence returns to the locus from which it was sent forth, and every subtle essence that is an image is • established in the Essence. Whoever his spirit is seized sees it, and if the predatory nature is dominant over the seized one, his spirit was the form of the Angel of Death, which is the form of that subtle essence upon the form of a predator, and that is sufficient regarding this, and the content of the section is concluded.

Text

A Descent and an Approach in the Sensation of Ibrāhīm al-Khalīl

Then he said: A descent and an approach in the sensation of Ibrāhīm al-Khalīl—peace be upon him—then he said:

Commentary 10. In the report: "Verily God, exalted is He, said to His Khalīl: 'How did you find death, O my Khalīl?' He said: Like a young goat skinned with a blunt knife placed in wet wool then pulled.' He said: 'As for Us, We have made it easy upon you, O Ibrāhīm.'" As for the content of this section which he mentioned and to which he alluded, it is that God, exalted is He, said: «Every soul shall taste death»[3:185], and it is general for every locus that receives this attribute from the higher world, the spiritual, the human, the animal, and everything that is described with life.

1. Not in the living among us, and that the world, since their natures differed in essences and accidents and they were differentiated, and their ways diverged in that, wisdom required that their sensations diverge in the different ways of tasting death and its repeated visits and its afflictions. Among them is one who differentiates by nature, like the higher world, the spiritual, the human, and other than the human, then these natures, having differed, were differentiated by accidental matters, like the Muslim, the prophet, the follower, the obedient, the disobedient, and the disbeliever,

And every category is stripped of the agonies of death according to the measure of its rank, so He made the celestial realm find from the agonies of death the like of what the drowsy person finds in his nap due to the swiftness of its passing, for he finds at the time of his attentiveness nothing but all that delights him through the departure of that slight pain of brief and swift passing. As for the spiritual, it is like what the sleeper finds in his slumber when a thorn pricks him, then he awakens and finds well-being.

As for the human, it is according to their ranks: among them are those upon whom it is intensified, and among them are those upon whom it is lightened according to the measure of his state, or what preceded for him of the word of truth, for among people are those upon whom the word of the most beautiful is realized, and among them are those upon whom the word of punishment is realized.

Commentary Then he inserted in this section what is not from it except at a distance, and he said regarding the people of the ranks

Text of the exalted among humans, like the prophets and the messengers, that he claimed that God created these from the celestial sphere of the seventh, the highest, and created those beneath them from the orbits and the guardians and the righteous, and the believers and the Muslims and the disbelievers from below the seventh celestial sphere upon the ranks of the celestial spheres, the lowest then the lowest up to the last of the celestial spheres, the lowest.

Commentary It is as though he intends that he has already been upon the ranks in the agonies of death from the aspect of the celestial spheres that they were formed from, upon the basis that what he indicated was only toward their differentiation in rank in life through their differentiation in the celestial spheres. And for this chapter there is wide scope according to us.

Were it not that our purpose was the commentary on this book, we would not add to its content, and were it not for that, we would have spread the discourse in it upon the utmost of thorough investigation, and we would have spoken upon the quiddity of death, and its ranks and states, and its manifestation in the isthmus-like form, and its slaughter, and what befits this chapter, but we are commenting and not fabricating.

Then he claimed in this book that al-Khalīl—upon him be peace—when God willed to seize his spirit, He seized it by sending sleep upon him, so He seized him in that sleep of his, and that he found from the sensation that he mentioned—rather, he found in the state of his sleep what he finds while awake, since the sleeper remains in states of grace of a sensory kind that remained upon him, and that he was likewise in the state of death of the creature, likewise.

Commentary He claimed, and we, along with a community of scholars, know the matter to be contrary to that, and especially since it has been established that the Messenger of God—may God bless him and grant him peace—took him as an intimate friend (khalīl) and did not die as a sleeper, and he used to bid farewell to two men from his community, and he would say to his daughter Fāṭima—may God be pleased with her—: "There is no distress upon your father after today"; and he was between the chest and chin of ʿĀʾisha—may God be pleased with her—and her throat, and he sought the sivāk to clean his teeth with it, and said: "Prayer and what your right hands possess," this is the last ruling he spoke with, then he was given the choice and said: "The Highest Companion (al-rafīq al-aʿlā)" and his soul departed, and there is no doubt in his being awake, and he seized him while awake, and if death were not to be denied in the state of sleep, then God Most High says: «God takes the souls at the time of their death and those that have not died in their sleep»[39:42], and what he denied is only two matters: the first is that He made the death of the creature sleep, and that pain in this death was only in the state of sleep and the matter was not as such, but rather what I say by it is that it is not seized—a spirit—except in the state of sleep according to the seizing; because it is a separation through an isthmus-like precedence, so witnessing his condition before the separation is required, and there is no escape from his witnessing the state of separation for the one who has not preceded it, like that which is struck: its knot and its likeness, and he had concluded the meaning of what he mentioned in this section along with this elaboration, and we are able to comment on its contents in two lines especially without introducing other than by meaning, but rather he elaborated it; because it is a book of the general, not a book of the elite, and praise be to God.

Chapter: The Removal of the Removal

In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the Most Compassionate Know that this chapter, from its beginning to his words in the translation "the inkwell and the pen and what they inscribe" is not from the book of the Khalʿ, and that some people have interpolated it therein.

It is from the words of Ibn Qasiyy—may God have mercy on him—the author of the Khalʿ, and this chapter was named khalʿ al-khalʿ (the removal of the removal), and the content of the discourse is based on the vision of the higher horizon, and it contains a vision of the clearest horizon, the spiritual and the higher horizon. And what is established of this chapter in the original book is in the handwriting of his author Abū al-Qāsim ibn Qasiyy—may God have mercy on him—, for I gathered it from his son—may God have mercy on him— in a copy of seventy-nine and fifty-nine years, and the book in his possession is in the handwriting of his father, but there is not in this chapter in it, so he gave it to me. So I did not take it for a reason that was there, and he said: This chapter is not from the book, and that he is the author of it. So its truth was verified by some of his companions, and God is most knowing of what is correct.

The Shaykh—may God the Exalted have mercy on him—said in the introduction of this chapter:

Text "As for after,"

Commentary for the praise of God, the key of giving, he means praise upon Him with what He is worthy of from the most beautiful names and the attributes which seek the traces and manifest the eyes of the fountainheads; there is no praise upon Him with what He is to Him from the standpoint of what He is, for that praise does not become a key of giving, and among what indicates that it is not from the book is that he separated it with an introduction, and that the discourse that he embedded and intended in this chapter is not from the royal subjects, and what is included therein are among them, by virtue of the classification which is necessary for the connection of the sending down of meanings to the listeners,

He did not place a sermon in this book except at the beginning of each page of the four volumes, in which he stipulated their correspondence in this book except for the Malakūtiyyāt, for he sufficed therein with his sermon which he opened his book with, and what he mentioned at the beginning of his book for this chapter as a report, and he did not object to it. So what he is only as they mentioned it from what he appended to it, and when he finished the sermon of this book—and what therein is a matter • obscure requiring explanation—he set forth his intended meaning in this chapter, and set forth the disagreement of people regarding the vision of the Prophet—upon him be peace—of his Lord on the night of his night-journey, and he validated the statement of every speaker regarding that without detailed specification and without mention of proof, except that he says what is meant by the statement of every speaker is that he said the truth, intending thereby what stood with him, and when he finished from this he said:

Text "Indeed the most truthful horizon is that whose greatness is the greatness of the Trustworthy Spirit,"

Commentary intending the incoming report from the theophanic self-disclosure of Jibrīl— Upon him be peace—in the form which God created [upon it], and the horizon was covered, and the report is well-known, and he spoke about it in understood speech, then he also said regarding the highest horizon in His statement, exalted be He: «and He is at the highest horizon»[53:7], he mentioned that it is the station of the spirit of holiness which was mentioned previously, and that it is the level that the Prophet—may God bless him and grant him peace—heard from it the noble pens. When he arrived at it, what he mentioned therein other than this, and this therein contradicts what he established first, for he said here that the highest horizon is the station of the spirit of holiness, and that the Prophet—upon him be peace—from here heard the noble pens, saying that the ranks of the pens are above the highest horizon, and he mentioned first that the highest pen whose rank is between the station of Jibrīl who is the Glorious Throne and between the station of the spirit of holiness which is the Noble Throne, and he made his station the Great Throne, and whoever rose above the pen, the highest, to the station of the spirit of holiness which is the highest horizon, has indeed surpassed the pen.

Commentary Then he commenced in the topic of vision (ruʾya) up to the end of the section. He said:

Text "And as for the lofty vision"

Commentary — the content of this section is about the vision of God Most High and the vision of Jibrīl — peace be upon him — on the night of the Isrāʾ. Then he generalized the statement regarding that with respect to everyone who sees Him, glorified is He. As for the vision of Muḥammad — God's blessings and peace be upon him — on the night of his Isrāʾ, that was with his heart (fuʾād), and he cited as proof his saying: «The heart did not lie about what it saw»[53:11], so He made his vision of Him, glorified is He, in this abode as a spiritual vision (maʿnawiyya), a vision that is Muḥammadan in a Muḥammadan form, and He made the vision in the Hereafter an Adamic vision in an Adamic form. And that is because the Real informed that the eyes do not apprehend Him from the aspect of His identity, and He informed that He discloses Himself in theophanic self-disclosure to His servants from the aspect of His veil, and He made for Him a form that is a veil, which is the essence removed from the perception of the senses.

The likeness is as the body of the human being is with its subtle aspect, and just as it is correct to say: I saw Zayd, despite the absence of witnessing his subtle aspect by which he was a human being, and just as you do not doubt that you saw Jibrīl in the bodily form which is a veil concealing his reality while you are truthful in your saying: I saw Jibrīl, and he said in the hadith of the Messenger of God — God's blessings and peace be upon him —: "This is Jibrīl who has come to you to teach you your religion," and what is seen is an image of a Bedouin. Likewise you say: I saw my Lord in the veil of the Muḥammadan form, except that the difference between God Most High and the angel is that the angel you see in the veil of the Muḥammadan form, and the Real is not seen except in the form of His essence which is upon Him, wherever you are — so in this world in the veil of the Muḥammadan form as a spiritual reality, and in the Hereafter in the Adamic veil as a sensory reality.

Commentary And he said regarding «And he had already seen him in another descent»[53:13], the pronoun refers back to Jibrīl, and the first vision was at the clear horizon, and he mentioned that God Most High spoke to him in that veiled vision, and he argued by His saying Most High: «And it is not for any human being that God should speak to him except by revelation or from behind a veil»[42:51], and this is the image, and the entirety of the division is a comprehended, explained matter that does not need anything in it beyond an explanation except this measure upon which we alerted him, which is the content of this division, and praise be to God, and he concluded in this the removal of the removal, and returned to speech concerning the angelic realms, and he said – may God be pleased with him – when he finished from it:

Text

The Guarded Secret concerning the mention of the Nūn: «And the Pen and what they inscribe»[68:1]

Commentary Then he narrated a report that the Nūn is from the angels of the highest exaltedness and the nearest proximity, and that from its light the pages are derived, and from the leaves of its surroundings the scrolls are derived, and that it is a spiritual secret in the world of the heavy and the angelic realms, through it the life of their bliss comes to be, and that it is a lordly command in the world of the lofty and the supreme holy assembly, upon it the edifices of their courses are established, and it is also the sea of provision and the secret of provision, and the life of the seven strata in the depths of the seven layers.

Know that the Pen here is the gathering of the divine pens, so the alif and the lām are for the genus, and it has been reported with its abundance, for he said – may God bless him and grant him peace –: "The Back of the Throne appeared to my hearing in it the creak of the pens," and rather what we said is that the intended here by the Pen is the abundance of pens in the gathering, because of «they inscribe», and had it been one, he would have said: and what it inscribes, and God Most High knew that the Pen is living, rational,

And the proof for it is His saying: «and what they inscribe»[68:1], for had these pens not comprehended these, he would have said: and what you inscribe, and rather He made it a secret preserved in the nūn and the pen, and so it is in the form of the veil of summation, for it is in the pen summarized as it is in the nūn, except that in the nūn it is behind the veil of summation, and in the form of the veil of summation which is the extent, and the form of a veil

Text This is the veil which is the inkwell, then the pen preserves these secrets at the time of its inscribing to detail this summarized, by means of the veil of expressions concerning the meanings that it records in its inscribing, for the angels of binding, those who attend to gazing upon the tablet for the progression of the divine words that the pen translated from in its inscribing and named it a secret to conceal it behind these veils from whoever is below it among the worlds descending from this rank, and the nūn is a word that is uttered by the decree

Commentary of comprehension. And God knows what He intended by it in the context of the verse and His glorified apportioning of it, and this was the man in what he reported in this book: that what he intended by the nūn is that which is the inkwell, and the nūn which is the firmament that eats from the abundance of its liver are the people of Paradise, and the nūn which is the letter in pronunciation and in writing, and it becomes clear that he intended by that what I say.

And that is because this man said: the nūn is an angel from the angels who are in the presence of proximity, the near one, and He made it from the light of His effusion we derive the lights. He says: it is the total body, the first, for the light according to him is an expression for the body in the higher world, and the lower; this is from his terminology, so he says: all bodies are formed from His effusion,

and entered into that the bodies of the letters and other things, then made this nūn a bearer of all the meanings encompassing [them] with it, and that the gathering of the folios (ṣuḥuf) arranged [in order] only draws out what is compressed within the meanings deposited in them, the detailed [meanings] from the folios of its encompassing, and for this reason we said that it is comprehensive. Text He said: «and from the folios of its encompassing, the folios and the lines draw out», then he said: «and it is in the heavy world and the angelic dominion (malāʾ al-malakī), a secret spiritual (rūḥānī), by it there is the life of their bliss and the illumination of their stars», so the illumination is for the angelic dominion (malāʾ al-malakī), and life is for the heavy world, except that he intended by the life of their bliss, meaning: what gives them bliss by its existence in their essence, and it may be intended by it

Commentary that the bliss which they live by is only the spirit of this nūn, and it is a secret within them, meaning: they are not aware of it just as it is in the reality of the angels what they draw out from the light of the stars of their celestial spheres, and the division (taqsīm) occurs in it.

Then he said: «and above that is above that» meaning: above the angels and humankind, and he intended the angelic celestial spheres (aflāk), specifically the eight, due to its being distinguished by the mention of the stars. He said: «from the higher world and the holy dominion (malāʾ al-qudsī)», and what he named them angels, so it is what is called from the spirits here angels only except the messengers specifically, and what their number is designated upon it, the world of the higher and the holy (qudsī),

Commentary He said: "And in what is above that from the higher world and the celestial host of the sanctified," just as humankind said there — the heavenly and the angelic host — then he elaborated upon the right of every class of what is appropriate to it from that which is in these two worlds: a lordly command as there was a spiritual secret, and it is as though its connection to them is a meaning-based connection above its connection to what preceded.

Text Then he said: "Upon it rested the arks of their courses," and he intended by the nūn here one of his significations, and it is the whale (ḥūt) whose dwelling place is the sea, and he said: "the arks of their courses." He said, exalted is He: «And to Him belong the vessels raised high in the sea like landmarks»[55:24], and His saying: "rested" means: became firm. So it is as though He made it for this world a purpose of their pursuit and their courses, to Him they resort, for it is like the anchorage for a ship of their pursuit and their intention, and it is also a foundation for what they build from the high matters, for «indeed God loves the lofty matters».

Text Then he said: "And it is a sea of provision and the secret of preparation," meaning: this is the nūn, and it is as though it is also what is intended — the inkwell that is the receptacle for provision, that is: the angel that carries the world of totality, the carrier of the letters that are in the provision in the inkwell, for the extender for every writing in the world and existence is entirely a preserved tablet and a spread parchment, and the world in it is an inscribed book.

Text Then he said that it is also "a life of sevenfold strata in the depths of sevenfold severity." He says that it is something hidden within it, and He made it the circumference of the circle and its center point. So from the perspective of what is encompassing, it does not reach it one who is underneath its circumference, for it is a secret guarded from perception, and from the perspective of what is a center point of the circle — it is a thing hidden in the worlds, and it is as though its beginning is [a] — that is: the center point of the circle, it is its spirit and its cause, and it is its encompassing substance, its Nūriyya essence and its bodily form, and all of the world is between the circumference and the center point.

Text Then he said: «Know that the alif of the nūn is the inner dimension of the spirit of holiness and its life»,

Commentary and what he intended here is the nūn of the letters—both the pronounced and the written. The pronounced form is your saying: nūn. This madd is the wujūd between the two nūns, and it is the alif. Likewise in mīm and in wāw—they are all alif, except that the alifs differ according to what is upon them of the differentiation of ranks, not for their own sake. It is said regarding the madd of the existing [letter] which is : The alif, when it comes after the open-voweled letter (maftūḥ), when it branches out, you call it an alif; and when it comes after the kasra of the letter that is encompassed, when it branches out, its companion is a wāw; and that is the madd itself, and likewise when it comes after the kasra of the letter that is compacted, when it branches out, you call that alif a yāʾ for differentiation of the ranks, not for its own sake. This is the alif of the nūn in the pronounced sense, which he indicated by his saying: alif of the nūn. As for its wujūd in the script, it is the madd that is between the two extremities of the nūn in the written form. He said:

«Know that the alif of the nūn is the inner dimension of the spirit of holiness and its life, and that the spirit of holiness is the outward manifestation of the essence of the nūn and its spirituality».

We have already known by its correspondence in the inner dimension that it is an expression about the life of the aforementioned, and the outward is an expression about the essence of the mentioned. It is as if he is saying: Know that the spirit of holiness is the essence of the nūn, and that the alif that is in the nūn is the inner dimension of the nūn, and its life. It is the very spirit of holiness.

That is: the nūn, other than that it is upon two realities: an outward for what is below it, and an inward for what is above it. Its outward is drawn from its inner dimension, and what is below it is drawn from its outward.

Text He said – may God be pleased with him –: «and that from that life of the interior, it extends, and by its spiritualities the exterior connects», and it renews and is found, that is: it comes into being in a new creation from its supply,

Commentary «and for this it is the supply of pens in the spiritual [realities], and the life of bliss of the spirits in the corporeal [realities], and the light of the life of bodies in the spiritual stations of the provisions, and the determinations of the bodily [realities]»**, that is: it is the bodies of the isthmus-realms, and the explanation of all of this has preceded, then he said:

Text «and it is

the hidden current in the bringing-into-being of the engendered beings»**,

Commentary he means from its being the point of the circle as we mentioned, for through it the encompassing appears and what is between them.

Text Then he said: «and the command descends in the absence of knowledge to the witnessing of concrete existence»**,

Commentary he means the steps emerging from the encompassing or from the point, inwardly or outwardly, then he said words whose meaning is that just as the letter alif was hidden in the nūn which is the spirit of the holy, likewise the letter nūn was hidden in the pen, so the pen appeared through it as an entity standing [on its own],

Text «the nūn is the ink of its flow and the light of its course» from the supply, «and the light of its course» meaning: the appearance of its movements illuminating with what it conveys from him from the meanings «and the description of its tongue», he means its voice in the Tablet at the time of writing, he said: «and it is a knower» of the descents in the veiling concealments;

Commentary because everything — the sequences and the arrangements and the carriers and the divisions and the equivalences to other than that extend from its supply, and the matter is concluded.

[The Secret Perceived from the Supreme Pen and the Preserved Tablet]

Text Then he said: "The secret perceived from the Supreme Pen and the Preserved Tablet."

Commentary He says: The discourse in this section is about the matter sought from the Supreme Pen and the Preserved Tablet which was found for him, and he is the one whom the knowers perceive from both of them. He said – may God be pleased with him – after that he came with two prophetic reports: The first: "The first thing God created was the Pen," and the second: "I was brought to a level in which I hear the screeching of the Pens."

Text Then he said: "The Pen is a sacred light."

Commentary He says: It is a manifest body. He says: It is "from the light of the Throne,"

Text Then he said: "It descends from the secret of knowledge to the station of judgment,"

Commentary that is: it descends from the matter of knowledge, that is: the matter of knowledge by descent to the station of judgment, so that it judges by what is established with it of knowledge. Then he said:

Text "So it was" — he means: the Pen, "the light by which the place was illuminated,"

Commentary he means: the space, for it was a place of forms, and it is the substance that is dark, and it is the third existent which is between the soul and the body from among the originated things, and it is neither existent nor nonexistent. So its illumination was by the light of this Pen through the intermediary of the universal soul.

Text Then he said: "And the decisive separation is the truth that separated the beings."

Commentary He says: And this Pen is the decisive separation which separated the forms of beings in the space, he means: in this substance, and distinguished some of them from others. So the world, all of it, from the perspective of its substance is one, and from the perspective of its forms the separated [things] are multiple, and the universal soul is an expression for the Preserved Tablet.

Commentary Then he said: «and the Pen is the world of execution and determination, and the locus of recording and inscribing», that is: it is the locus of executing the commands of the divine, and that it is the preserver of what it inscribes, and the carrier of what it puts forward and delays, that is: in it is everything, and likewise it is everything upon which the name "pen" is applied, from the highest to the lowest, for it has this rank, and yet this Pen has priority in origination, not in ranks, for it shares in the attribute, and this is that which we alluded to—none knows it except one who has been unveiled through the coursings of life in all existents, for the utterances are the governance through knowledge and the efficacy in judgment.

Text Then he said: «and know that the receiving of the Pen is the first for the remembrance of the Most High»,

Commentary this is only about the spirit of holiness, and he had already mentioned before this in this book that the spirit of holiness is the inner dimension of the Pen, and his life—it is as though he is saying: every time he receives it, he only receives it from his own soul, then in it there is opposition to what preceded his mention of it regarding the Throne of the four, for the all-encompassing Throne—there appeared from it the noble Throne, the mighty Throne, and it is the Pen and it is the spirit of holiness, and there appeared from the noble Throne the mighty Throne, and it is upon this statement that it is the third of existents, and it is upon what he testified to in the first of this chapter as the first of existents, for he said: «the first thing God created was the Pen», and he did not restrict it to a world, and the first does not have a third, and the cause does not become the effect for its effect, then this Shaykh praised the Pen and said that it is worthy of that witness.

Text He said: «For the Pen is the true truth, and the nūn is the reality of that truth», meaning:

Commentary the Nūn whose mention has preceded, and he has said regarding the Nūn that it is an angel, and that it is above the Qalam upon what its Lord ranked it, and he has affirmed that the Qalam is the first created thing. So if he made that by way of considerations regarding the existence of the One, then it is far from what the ordering of existents requires, and how God ranked their creation in existence upon the successive order: the second from the first, and the third from the second, and the fourth from the third, and the fifth from the fourth, and the sixth from the fifth, and we differed with the sages regarding what is after the sixth, and it is the seventh and the eighth, and we differed regarding what is after the eighth. Our sixth is that which is the sixth according to them, with the void up to the center, then the world arises up to the celestial sphere that follows the eighth, which is the sphere of the fixed stars, and the sages descend by way of bringing-into-being after the sixth by the ruling of the highest to what is beneath it, and it is the seventh, then the eighth, then the ninth, then the tenth, then the eleventh, then the twelfth, then the thirteenth, then the fourteenth, then the fifteenth, then the sixteenth, then the seventeenth, then the eighteenth, then the nineteenth, then the twentieth, then the twenty-first and the twenty-second, and this is the ordering of the world.

Text Then he said: «And when it was obligatory that specialization occur and the word of selection and extraction was realized»,

Commentary he intends by "whomever He wills"—God from among His servants, the righteous ones whom God has made worthy of His gnosis. He says: When God looked upon a servant with specific providential care—«the truth was clothed»—which is the Qalam—«in its reality»—which is the Nūn. He says: the affair became one for him—that is: it became unified—

Text «and the veils of likenesses were lifted for him from the forms of

configurations»,

Commentary that is: he ascended from the likeness to the thing-likened-to,

Text «and the higher realities and the states of the configurations were established»,

Commentary He means its sisters, and it is that which is described by it. He said: «and he witnessed the descents, the unseen ones, as a witnessing of the state», meaning from his self, and he is the tasting (dhawq), or he means the tongues of states.

Text Then he said: «and when the Pen was immersed in the Nūn», he says: when it was realized through its reality, he cast unto it —meaning the Nūn— the remembrance of the dear one as a witnessing, and it presented itself upon it: the favor of knowledge directly. He means

Commentary the witnessing of it in his soul: «and it descends to the Preserved Tablet with what was preserved from a hidden innermost consciousness (sirr)

and the mention of a Guardian», he says: it casts unto him that, and deposits it with him, then the command descends from the Tablet to Jibrīl, to the prophets, to the followers.

Text Then he said: «and know that were it not for the Yāʾ» — he means the yāʾ of knowledge, and it is what is clothed of what preceded it. And it is the reality of the Prophet — peace be upon him — he says: were it not for the yāʾ, what was connected through the spirit of the trustworthy one, Jibrīl,

Commentary «would not descend to him, nor would it be revealed to him, nor would there be a likeness for him» — the angel, majestic», «likewise» also «were it not for the Wāw» — he means the wāw of knowledge, and it is what is encompassed of what preceded it

Text was connected — Jibrīl, through the Pen, the most exalted — nor would the veil of the eternal innermost consciousness (sirr) be unveiled for him. He means through the eternal innermost consciousness, the Nūn. He means the divine knowledge that gathered the sciences.

Text Then he said: «and likewise were it not for the Nūn» — what was realized by the Pen through the spirit of the Holy (al-Quds). He says: what the Pen knew,

Text his reality. Then he said: «thus the spirit of the Holy (al-Quds)» means: the Nūn «by the alif of the Nūn», and it is that which we have mentioned,

Commentary

And it is an expression for the essence which does not carry movements, nor do the attributes subsist through it. Then he said:

Text «And for every tongue there is a pen», which is the spirit of its life, the light of its names and its attributes, and the secret of the manifestation of its earth and its heavens.

The Creaking of the Pen (Ṣarīf al-Qalam)

Commentary The Shaykh Ibn Qasī – may God have mercy on him – said: «Know that the male is for the pens, and by this the male has the right to knowledge and authority», so know that He placed it in the world of spirits at the rank of Adam, and Eve at the rank of the Tablet. What is preserved, the Tablet separated from it as Eve separated from Adam, and for this reason He gave it maleness, not for commemoration. And for this reason He gave it knowledge in reciprocity: «And He taught Adam the names»[2:31], and He gave it authority because of His saying, exalted is He: «Men are the upholders over women»[4:34], and He said: «And for men over them is a degree»[2:228], and He made what the pen casts originally in the existence of the Tablet.

So the intellect which is the pen was originally in the existence of the Tablet, and the Tablet with the orientation of the pen upon it was originally in the existence of the world. Likewise Adam was originally in the existence of Eve, and Eve with the covering of Adam over her was originally in the existence of bodies of human nature.

Then he said this man: «Indeed the pen descends to the Tablet by what he has preserved from a secret source», and indeed the Tablet descends to the Trustworthy Spirit (al-Rūḥ al-Amīn). Then he said after this: «And it had been the ruling of the Sunna regarding the witness of the command that the supreme pen casts to the Trustworthy Spirit, especially as the Spirit of Holiness cast to it especially, and the Trustworthy Spirit casts to the Prophet especially, and the Prophet casts to the Companion and the Follower especially as the Trustworthy Spirit cast to him, but it was presented on the path as an obstacle».

Commentary So consider what he has reported, for it is as though it ought to be that the matter occurs thus and what occurred thus—in it is what is in it. Then he completed by saying: "an impediment presented itself," making the wise one the absolute one in restricting the accidents and their rulings. So this arrangement which we have seen in the world is not devoid of being from the accidents of the arranged one, and his knowledge—so it would not be the very thing of the two arrangers. So it would not be except thus, or what the arrangement of the arranged one required, and it is one of the two aspects which the two have mentioned.

Otherwise it would be thus, and the matter would have occurred upon the two aspects as it ought to. Then it became clear after this that the impediment that presented itself in the way—until the world was found upon this arrangement which he placed upon it, which is one of the two aspects which the two have mentioned—differs from the way of wisdom in its claim. And the will was one of the two aspects which the two have mentioned in objection to it: that the will determined in His presence that the will does not befit, and that the wise one who is absolute, seized in his will—whether it was connected to what befits or to what does not befit. Then he increased by making the will the pre-eternal impediment, and this is not valid, for the pre-eternal matter would not be an impediment. Rather, the impediment is what occurs newly. So it is erroneous , either in the meaning or in the expression. In the absolute sense, this expression applies to it. Then the arrangement contradicted his speech in the context of this arrangement which the will required. So he said:

Text "There came with it the will, the lofty, the pre-eternal, only for the word:

in manifesting the way of placing and the mastery of the ruling of craft."

Commentary Then he mentioned that God, exalted is He, originated pens and tablets, and commanded the pens to flow in the tablets with what He is bringing-into-being. So they flowed and cast forth. Then He made

Text "the pens in the detailed exposition four: a lordly pen, a sovereign spiritual pen, a prophetic partitional pen, a follower's pen, a Sufi pen, a faith-based pen."

Then He spoke regarding the casting of some of them upon others with speech that is understood between them, and that each one of these—it is by what is cast upon it that is a lawḥ (tablet), and by what it casts—it is to the one below it—that is a qalam (pen), and He sent down the lawḥ to the qalam with the rank of the zawj (spouse), which is the woman, and He made it the casting of pairing, and ascending with it likewise, from the lowest to the point of reaching the highest qalam, and He said: «and the sunnah connects» to the qalam, the highest, and the lawḥ

Text the preserved, but it is not there, and the pronoun of the one addressed refers back to the qalam. He said: "the lawḥ shall be a zawj (spouse)," meaning what he ascribes to the Real in what He casts upon him—glory be to Him—by virtue of the lawḥ that is preserved, in what He casts upon it. For the highest qalam is not a zawj (spouse), nor is it a surplus, as the lawḥ was from the qalam a surplus, like Ḥawwāʾ from Ādam.

Then he said: "The lawḥ is the imprint of the true, preserving one, which is the light of the spirits," as though he made the imprint of Ḥawwāʾ metaphorically by adding it to him, for its remaining upon his form, and the alteration of Ḥawwāʾ for her being from the world of formation and corruption and alteration and transformations of composition, which is the natural dispositions upon it. And all of this that he said in it—look: if we spoke in it, we would have departed from what is intended of the commentary toward explaining knowledge in the self of the matter. Then he likened the castings in the tablets, like the castings of the sirr (innermost consciousness) from the fathers in the mothers for procreation, and he said that when it was grasped, these tablets grasped the fulfillment by connecting to the sirr (innermost consciousness) that is preserved from the lawḥ that is preserved. Then he mentioned speech, all of which is understood and does not need explanation, to the end of the section.

Section

He mentioned at the beginning of this section the report that is narrated that the first food the people of the Garden shall eat as an addition is the liver of the whale (nūn), then he cited a report as a subject matter that the liver of the whale is the isthmus of the livestock. Then he said, may God be pleased with him: "The life of livestock is found when the seizing is the seizing of loyalty through the life of the offering of the noble Qur'ān.

Text And the great sacrifice (dhabḥ) which was the offering of Ibrāhīm al-Khalīl and the ransom of the slaughter. So it came as my poetry: The livestock that were seized from the era of Ādam until the time of this offering, which is the ransom of the slaughter, between those whose spirits were united, and the offering of Qābīl and Hābīl and other than the two from the offerings in the nations.

The question between those whose spirits were united and the ransom of the slaughter is: Who is the slaughter? If one says: You find it by the liver of the nūn, so the seizure is invalid in its origin; because it is a diminution, for the one who made it a singular essence and one, and if he made it a place for it like forms for the spirits, it returns to whichever nūn He intended? If He intended the nūn which is the slaughter, then that slaughter occurred no rather than that its spirit and its life be seized, so it came as my poetry that it would be its provision, and by whom is its life found upon its claim, and it is from the totality of the livestock? So let it be clear to us, and if He intended by the nūn the sovereign (malik) whom He has mentioned, then He is a sovereign of loftiness, holy, not from a world of nature, so it would not be a gathering place for the spirits of livestock, then He said regarding this sacrificial ransom which God, exalted be His command, made greater: "It is «a thin veil from the liver of the whale (nūn)»," and this is more universal than the first, for it has no disagreement with us in that the spiritual, when it embodies through the manifestation of a thin veil-like covering from it toward a world like the bodily form and other than it, then it is agreed that that thin covering was received or died by the cause of the effective causes in its life, for the spiritual being which had this covering of the veil-like of its thinness, it dies without doubt, and its spirit and its life are transferred from it, and it descends from the living beings,

And it has been established that the sacrifice of Ibrāhīm had been slaughtered and it is a thin membrane of the liver, for the bull had died without slaughter, or its liver died, and there remained without a liver, and much is mentioned about the world of the jinn, the spiritual world, that it, when it embodies itself in the form of a scorpion, or a snake, or a dog, or any person whatsoever, and that being is killed, the body, or the effect upon it, is that the spiritual being is affected by that, and not otherwise. And for this reason the revealed law forbade killing snakes until they are warned, lest the snake be from among the spiritual bodies of the jinn, and it is harmed by that. And the ḥadīth of the young man who found the snake in his bed, and it was from the jinn, and he killed it, so he died from that killing. The Prophet — may God bless him and grant him peace — was then informed of that, so he commanded the reason for the prohibition against killing snakes until they are warned three times. Then he spoke after this: this is the man in the quality of the vision of Ibrāhīm — upon him be peace — who slaughtered his son, and he took to speaking about the state of Ibrāhīm — upon him be peace — and his son, and what afflicted him of severity and tribulation in themselves from that, with speech at the utmost of eloquence and accuracy in that from two aspects: the one is that it is from the principles of the people of the path that they do not speak except from tasting (dhawq), and it is what he tasted in the state of the two slaughterers in this affair, and indeed he measured it upon himself. And the other aspect is: that the last to come forward among the saints is the first to come forward among the prophets. So what do you think of the messengers? And nothing has been reported regarding what was mentioned except from the Prophet — may God bless him and grant him peace — whether authentic or inauthentic. So if it had been reported, we would say that it is speech participating in the incoming report. So these are sections at the utmost of sections. Then he mentioned also words, all of which, or most of which, are corrupt, from the supposition that that calling which the Real originated during his wounding - it was not formed as the cattle are formed by gradual progression, temporal and compositional arrangement, the natural arrangement that God Most High established in His creation,

And he mentioned that the spirits of sacrificial animals until the Day of Resurrection are renewed with the spirit of this mighty sacrifice, and he mentioned that the camels, when brought near, or cattle, or other than that of what one draws near to God with from sacrificial animals, are only accepted by God in the form of a ram, not in his form.

Commentary Then he claimed that this is the ransom—it is that which is slaughtered between the Garden and the Fire on the Day of Anguish, just as the authentic report came that he is brought with death in the form of a ram, then he mentioned that Yaḥyā—upon him be peace—slaughters that ram which is death, and that it becomes food placed in a table-spread, and it is the first table-spread that is placed, and the first food that the people of the Garden eat; for as if he is saying: that death is the first thing that the people of the Garden taste, and had they tasted it they would have died, then when he willed that it be the first food that the people of the Garden eat, he made it a fine veil for the liver of the whale. Then he added that to this—that he did not know that the Prophet—may God bless him and grant him peace—specified regarding that food that it is the addition of the liver, then he mentioned this man after this speech that is harmless, which contains allusions that draw near to the truth, and he determined to be truly a speech comprehensible between those who do not need explanation and detailed elucidation, and if it had been indicated in the matter of Yaḥyā—upon him be peace— from the direction of the derivation of his name, and he likened the ram slaughtered in meaning to the trumpet blown into, its inner aspect in it is mercy, and it is the life of this ram, and its outward aspect in it is the punishment of the people of the Fire, and it is the death of this ram, and there is no doubt that this is called the death of death, for the ram is death, and it is from the establishing of the meaning by the meaning, except that the meanings, when they were embodied, in the imaginal world in the isthmus, like knowledge in the form of milk, and everything that one sees in sleep

of embodying the meanings, for meanings only subsist through those bodies, not through the intended meanings by these bodies. For the meaning only subsist through the meaning, but rather the meaning subsists through an essence that is self-standing , whether it be truly or as a likeness in an isthmus (barzakh) form, in wakefulness or sleep—there is no need for that.

The fifth part is concluded, with the praise of God and His blessing.

May God bless Muḥammad and his family and his companions and grant abundant peace.

Text What follows in the sixth: «And know that Jahannam in itself is upon the form of the serpent».