الباب الحادي والأربعون في الطور وكتاب مسطور في رق منشور والبيت المعمور والسقف المرفوع والبحر المسجور
On the Mount (al-Ṭūr), the Inscribed Book in an Unrolled Parchment, the Frequented House, the Raised Roof, and the Swollen Sea
editorial & collation note
Two-witness collated as part of the cosmic-symbol cluster (Bāb 41-44), staged 2026-06-02. No lossy drop. The witness-2 capture carried the site's navigation chrome above the text, and a volume-division apparatus below it ('end of part one; part two follows, beginning with Bāb 42', closing with the Qurʾānic fragment al-Aḥqāf 46:30); both stripped to the genuine chapter (the part-division is preserved as this note). al-Jīlī opens (§2) by calling this chapter 'the mainstay (ʿumda) of the chapters of this book'.
اعلم وفقنا الله وإياك أن هذا الباب عمدة أبواب هذا الكتاب.
Know -- may God grant us and you success -- that this chapter is the mainstay (ʿumda) of the chapters of this book.
فليكن تأملك فيه مع حضورك فيما يقال لك، ولا تكتف بظاهر اللفظ، بل اطلب ما وراء ذلك مما نبهنا عليه من الإشارات وأومأنا إليه بلطف العبارات.
So let your reflection in it be with your presence in what is said to you, and do not content yourself with the outward of the wording, but seek what is beyond that, of what we have alerted [you] to of the allusions and hinted at by the subtlety of the expressions.
واعلم أن جميع هذه المعاني المذكورة في الطور وغيره مما سبق ذكره في الأبواب جميعها ولو كان المعتمد على ظواهرها في قول الشرائع.
And know that all these meanings mentioned in [the chapter on] the Mount and others, of what preceded mention in the chapters, all of them -- even if the reliance be upon their outward [senses] in the saying of the [revealed] laws --
فأنت المراد بها في باطن الأمر، فإنيتك هي الحاوية لجميع تلك العبارات وتعدد تلك المعاني التعدد وجوه إنيتك، فاعتبرها جميعها في نفسك، فأنت المسمى بتلك الأسماء. وأنت الموصوف بتلك الصفات.
you are what is intended by them, in the inward of the matter; for your I-ness (innīyya) is what contains all those expressions, and the multiplicity of those meanings is the multiplicity of the aspects of your I-ness; so consider them all in yourself, for you are the one named by those names, and you are the one described by those descriptions.
واعلم بأن المراد بالطور نفسك.
And know that what is intended by the Mount (al-Ṭūr) is your self (nafs).
قال الله تعالى: «وناديناه من جانب الطور الأيمن» أي جانب النفس.
God (exalted is He) said: "And We called him from the right side of the Mount" (19:52) -- that is, the side of the self.
فعلم أن ثم طورا غير الأيمن وهو الجبل الذي كان موسى يتجلى فيه كما يتجلى أهل الله في الكهوف والمغارات والأودية.
So know that there is, then, a Mount other than the right [one], and it is the mountain in which Moses used to receive self-disclosure, as the people of God receive self-disclosure in the caves, the grottoes, and the valleys.
فالتجلي الحاصل هناك على موسى إنما كان من حيث نفسه لا من حيث الجبل، ولم يكن الجبل إلا محلا المكان تعبد موسى.
So the self-disclosure that occurred there to Moses was only from the standpoint of his self, not from the standpoint of the mountain; and the mountain was only a place, the place of Moses's worship.
واندكاك الجبل عبارة عن فناء نفسه بالله.
And the crumbling of the mountain is an expression for the annihilation (fanāʾ) of his self in God.
وصعقه عبارة عن المحق والسحق.
And his being thunderstruck is an expression for the effacement and the crushing.
فعدم موسى وصار العبد كأن لم يكن والحق كما لم يزل، فما رأى موسى ربه وإنما الله رأى الله.
So Moses passed away, and the servant became as though he had not been, and the Real [remained] as He never ceased [to be]; so Moses did not see his Lord -- rather, God saw God.
وما ثم إلا المعبر عنه بموسى.
And there was then nothing but what is expressed by "Moses."
وإلى هذا المعنى أشار الحق سبحانه وتعالى بقوله: «لن تراني».
And to this meaning the Real (glory be His and exalted) pointed by His saying: "You shall not see Me" (7:143),
أي يا موسى، يعني لأنك إذا كنت موجودا فأنا مفقود عنك.
that is, O Moses -- meaning, because when you are existent, I am lost to you.
وإن وجدتني فأنت مفقود، ولا يمكن للحادث أن يثبت عند ظهور القديم.
And if you find Me, you are lost; and it is not possible for the originated to stand firm at the appearing of the Eternal.
وإلى هذا المعنى أشار الجنيد بقوله:
And to this meaning al-Junayd pointed by his saying:
المحدث إذا قورن بالقديم لم يبق له أثر.
"The originated, when paired with the Eternal, no trace of it remains."
وقال علي رضي الله عنه: إن غبت بدا وإن بدا غيبني.
And ʿAlī (may God be pleased with him) said: "If I am absent, it appears; and if it appears, it makes me absent."
وإلى هذه الإشارة بقوله لموسى: فارق نفسك وتعال.
And to this is the allusion in His saying to Moses: "Part from your self, and come."
حين قال موسى في مناجاته: يا رب كيف أصل إليك.
When Moses said, in his intimate discourse: "O Lord, how do I arrive at You?"
فإذا علمت أن الطور هو باطن نفسك وذلك هو المعبر عنه بالحقيقة الإلهية في الإنسان إذ خلقه مجاز.
So when you know that the Mount is the inward of your self -- and that is what is expressed as the divine Reality in the human, since his creation is a metaphor [/crossing-place].
ألا ترى إلى الحديث النبوي الذي قال فيه: «إني لأجد نفس الرحمن من قبل اليمن».
Do you not see the Prophetic hadith in which he said: "Truly I find the breath of the All-Merciful from the direction of Yemen"?
وقد تقدم فيما بيناه أن الطور الأيمن هو النفس لأن الطور الذي هو غير الأيمن هو الجبل.
And it has [already] preceded, in what we explained, that the right Mount (al-ṭūr al-ayman) is the self, because the Mount that is other than the right is the mountain.
فاكتفى عليه السلام في هذا الحديث بذكر اليمن، ونبه على أنه وجد نفس الرحمن من نفسه.
So he (peace be upon him) contented himself, in this hadith, with the mention of Yemen (al-yaman), and alerted [us] that he found the breath of the All-Merciful from his [own] self -- [a play on al-yaman / al-ayman, Yemen / the right].
ونفس الرحمن هو ظهوره في أسمائه وصفاته.
And the breath of the All-Merciful (nafas al-Raḥmān) is His appearing in His Names and Attributes.
قال الله تعالى: «والصبح إذا تنفس». يعني إذا ظهر.
God (exalted is He) said: "And by the dawn when it breathes" (81:18) -- that is, when it appears.
فاعلم حينئذ أن الكتاب المسطور هو الوجود المطلق على تفاريعه، وأقسامه واعتباراته الحقية والخلقية.
So know then that the Inscribed Book (al-kitāb al-masṭūr) is absolute existence, upon its ramifications, its divisions, and its True and created considerations.
وهو مسطور أي موجود مشهود في الملكوت، وهو اللوح المحفوظ.
And it is "inscribed," that is, existent, witnessed in the Dominion (al-malakūt); and it is the Guarded Tablet.
ونظيره في الملك في المقابلة الإنسانية، وهي المعبر عنها بالرق المنشور.
And its counterpart in the Kingdom (al-mulk), in the human correspondence, is what is expressed as the Unrolled Parchment (al-raqq al-manshūr).
فمحل تشبيه قابلية روح الإنسان بالرق هو وجود الأشياء فيها بالانطباع الأصلي الفطري.
So the place of the likening of the receptivity of the human spirit to the parchment is the existence of things in it by the original, primordial imprinting.
وكان وجود الموجودات فيها بحيث لا تفقد شيئا، وهو المعبر عنه بالمنشور، لأن الكتاب إذا كان منشورا لا يبقى فيه شيء إلا وقد عرف.
And the existence of the existents in it [is] such that it loses nothing -- and that is what is expressed as "unrolled," because the book, when it is unrolled, nothing remains in it but it is known.
والرق المنشور هو اللوح المحفوظ، ونظيره: روح الإنسان باعتبار قبولها وانطباع الموجودات فيها. وذلك ذات اللوح ولا مغايرة بينهما.
And the Unrolled Parchment is the Guarded Tablet; and its counterpart [is] the spirit of the human, by the consideration of its receiving and the imprinting of the existents in it -- and that is the very [reality of] the Tablet, with no difference between the two.
وأما البيت المعمور فهو المحل الذي اختصه الله لنفسه فرفعه من الأرض إلى السماء وعمره بالملائكة ونظيره قلب الإنسان فهو محل الحق.
And as for the Frequented House (al-bayt al-maʿmūr), it is the place that God set apart for Himself, so He raised it from the earth to the heaven and peopled it with angels; and its counterpart is the heart of the human, for it is the place of the Real.
ولا يخلو أبدا ممن يعمره إما روح إلهي قدسي أو ملكي أو شيطاني أو نفساني، وهو الروح الحيواني.
And it is never devoid of one who peoples it -- either a divine, holy spirit, or an angelic [one], or a satanic [one], or a self-ish [one], which is the animal spirit.
فلا يزال معمورا بمن فيه من السكان.
So it remains ever peopled by whoever of the dwellers is in it.
قال الله تعالى: «إنما يعمر مساجد الله من آمن بالله».
God (exalted is He) said: "Only he shall people the mosques of God who believes in God" (9:18).
أي يقيم فيها، فالعمارة هي السكنى.
That is, [who] resides in them; so the peopling (ʿimāra) is the dwelling.
والسقف المرفوع هي المكانة العليا الإلهية التي في هذا القلب.
And the Raised Roof (al-saqf al-marfūʿ) is the lofty divine place-rank that is in this heart.
لأنه لما شبه القلب بالبيت المعمور جعل الحقيقة الإلهية منها سقفها المرفوع والسقف من البيت، فسقف البيت المعمور هو الألوهية والبيت هو القلب.
Because, since He likened the heart to the Frequented House, He made the divine Reality, of it, its raised roof -- and the roof is of the house; so the roof of the Frequented House is Divinity, and the house is the heart.
وكما أن السقف من البيت وبعضه، كذلك القلب الذي وسع الله ربه منه وبعضه، لأن الواسع هو الكل والموسوع هو الجزء.
And just as the roof is of the house and a part of it, so likewise the heart that has taken in its Lord -- [the Lord is] of it and a part of it, because the comprehending [one] is the whole and the comprehended is the part.
وهذا بلسان التوسع الذي عليه حقيقة الأمر:
And this is by the tongue of latitude, upon which is the [apparent] reality of the matter:
وأما الحق فحكمه ووصفه أن يسع الأشياء ولا يسعه شيء، ولا يجوز فيه البعض ولا الكل، بل منزه في قدسه عن جميع ذلك.
But as for the Real, His ruling and His description is that He comprehends [all] things and nothing comprehends Him, and neither the part nor the whole is permissible of Him; rather He is transcendent, in His holiness, above all of that.
فاعلم ما هو الله من حيث الوجود العيني، واعلم ما هو له سبحانه من حيث الوجود الحكمي.
So know what God is, from the standpoint of entified existence; and know what is His (glory be His), from the standpoint of ruling [/conceptual] existence.
واعرف من هو واعرف من أنت.
And know who He is, and know who you are.
وبما أنت هو وبما هو أنت.
And by what you are He, and by what He is you.
وبما أنت مغاير له وبما هو منزه عن نقائصك.
And by what you are other than Him, and by what He is transcendent above your deficiencies.
واعلم أن النسبة التي بينك وبينه من أين صحت فوجدت.
And know the relation that is between you and Him -- from where it was made valid, so it was found,
ومن أين انقطعت بينك وبينه ففقدت.
and from where it was cut off between you and Him, so it was lost.
وتأمل إلى هذه العبارات التي تضمنت أسرار الحق في التصريح والإشارات:
And ponder these expressions which contained the secrets of the Real, in declaration and allusions:
وأما البحر المسجور فهو العلم المصون والسر المكنون الذي هو بين الكاف والنون هذا تعبيره بلسان الإشارة.
And as for the Swollen Sea (al-baḥr al-masjūr), it is the guarded Knowledge and the hidden Secret which is between the Kāf and the Nūn -- this is its expression by the tongue of allusion.
وأما في الظاهر فيقال أنه بحر تحت العرش يلج فيه جبريل كل يوم.
And as for in the outward, it is said that it is a sea beneath the Throne into which Jibrīl plunges every day.
فإذا أخرج منه نفض جناحيه فقطرت منه سبعون ألف قطرة، فيخلق الله تعالى بكل قطرة ملكا يحمل علما إلهيا.
So when he comes out of it, he shakes his two wings, and seventy thousand drops drip from him; so God (exalted is He) creates, with every drop, an angel that bears a divine knowledge.
فهذه الملائكة هم الذين يدخلون البيت المعمور كل يوم من باب ويخرجون من باب ولا يعودون إليه إلى يوم القيامة، فافهم ما أشرنا إليه في التصريح.
So these angels are those who enter the Frequented House every day by [one] door and go out by [another] door, and do not return to it until the Day of Resurrection. So understand what we have pointed to in declaration.
واعلم ما رمزنا لك في التلويح وانظر لم سجر لك هذا البحر ومنع هذا الفجر.
And know what we have signaled to you in allusion; and look [at] why this sea was made to swell for you, and this dawn [/breaking-open] was withheld.
هل هو لقصور العقل عن دركه أم الغيرة الإلهية منعت من فكه.
Is it for the deficiency of the intellect from apprehending it, or [is it that] the divine jealousy (al-ghayra) barred [its] unlocking?
فإنه صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: «أخذ على كتمه».
For he (God bless him and grant him peace) said: "A pledge was taken upon its concealment."
حيث قال: «أوتيت ليلة أسري بي ثلاثة علوم فعلم أمرت بتبليغه وعلم خيرت في تبليغه وعلم أخذ علي في كتمه» الحديث.
Where he said: "I was given, the night I was carried by night, three [kinds of] knowledge: a knowledge I was commanded to convey, a knowledge I was given the choice in conveying, and a knowledge upon which a pledge was taken of me for its concealment" -- the hadith.
فجميع ما أبرزناه في هذا المستور أهو في زبد هذا البحر المسجور لا من درة اللائق بالبحور، بيد أنا لم نكتم منه شيئا.
So all that we have brought forth in this veiled [book] is [but] of the foam of this swollen sea, not of the pearl befitting the seas; nonetheless, we have concealed nothing of it.
إذ وضعنا جميعه بين رمز في عبارة وبين لغز في إشارة.
For we have set the whole of it between a symbol in an expression and a riddle in an allusion.
وبين تصريح أضربنا عنه إلى غيره، والمراد هو لما يحوي من خيره.
And between a declaration we turned away from to other than it -- and the [thing] intended is [the latter], for what it contains of its good.
وهذا كتاب لم يأت بمثله الزمان، ولم يسمح بشكله الأوان، فافهمه وتأمله فالسعيد ابن السعيد من قرأه أو حصله.
And this is a book the like of which time has not brought, and the age has not granted its shape; so understand it and ponder it, for the happy one, son of the happy one, is he who reads it or attains it.
والله يقول الحق وهو يهدي السبيل.
And God says the truth, and He guides to the way.