الباب السادس في الواحدية
On Unicity (al-Wāḥidiyya)
editorial & collation note
Two-witness collated, staged 2026-06-03. Bāb 6 of the foundational opening band (al-Wāḥidiyya, Unicity) -- the complement to Bāb 5 (al-Aḥadiyya) and the chapter Bāb 4 (§13 there) explicitly promised. Witness-2 (ibnalarabi.com id=9) clean of navigation chrome; the trailing asterism rule and the site-search widget EXCLUDED. The chapter opens and closes with a qaṣīda (7 and 8 verses). Unicity is the relational disclosure-rank in which the Names and Attributes appear but 'each is the very reality of the other' -- precisely the level at which Bāb 4 (§12 there) located all 'you are He' identity-language. Witness §14 is garbled (a dropped/transposed phrase around the kāna-Allāh hadith); reconstructed to sense and noted. A few kāf-as-alif OCR garbles restored. No lossy drop of authorial prose.
الواحديةُ مظهرٌ للذاتِ ....... تبدو مجمَّعةً لِفَرْقِ صفاتي
Unicity is a locus-of-manifestation for the Essence; / it appears [as] a gathering for the dispersal of My attributes.
الكلُّ فيها واحدٌ متكثّرٌ ....... فاعجبْ لكثرةِ واحدٍ بالذاتِ
The All, in it, is one [yet] made-many; / so wonder at the multiplicity of one that is single in [its] Essence.
هذاك فيها عينُ ذا، وكمثلِ ....... ما تياك في حكمِ الحقيقةِ آتي
That, in it, is the very [reality of] this; and like[wise] / are those, in the ruling of reality, coming [to be as one].
فهي العبارةُ عن حقيقةِ كثرةٍ ....... في وحدةٍ من غير ما أشتاتِ
So it is the expression for the reality of a multiplicity / in a unity, without [any] scatterings.
كلٌّ بها في حكمِ كلِّ واحدٍ ....... فالنفيُ في ذا الوجهِ كالإثباتِ
Each, by it, is in the ruling of every [other] one; / so negation, in this aspect, is as affirmation.
فُرقانُ ذاتِ اللهِ صورةُ جمعِه ....... وتعدُّدُ الأوصافِ كالآياتِ
The Furqān [Criterion] of the Essence of God is the form of its gathering, / and the multiplicity of the attributes is as the [Qurʾanic] verses.
فاتلُوه واقرأْ منك سرَّ كتابِه ....... أنت المبينُ وفيك مكنوناتي
So recite it, and read, from yourself, the secret of His book; / you are the Clear [Exposition], and in you are My hidden things.
واعلم أن الواحدية عبارة عن مجلى ظهورٍ، الذات فيها صفةٌ، والصفة فيها ذاتٌ، فبهذا الاعتبار ظهر كلٌّ من الأوصاف عينَ الآخر، فالمنتقم فيها عين الله، والله عين المنتقم، والمنتقم عين المنعم.
And know that Unicity (al-wāḥidiyya) is an expression for a disclosure-site of appearing, [in which] the Essence is [an] attribute, and the attribute is [the] Essence. So by this consideration, each of the attributes appears [as] the very [reality of] the other: so the Avenger (al-Muntaqim), in it, is the very [reality of] 'Allāh,' and 'Allāh' is the very [reality of] the Avenger, and the Avenger is the very [reality of] the Bestower (al-Munʿim).
وكذلك ظهرت الواحدية في النعمة نفسها والنقمة عينها، فكانت النعمة التي هي عبارة عن الرحمة عينَ النقمة التي هي عبارة عن العذاب، والنقمة التي هي العذاب عبارة عن النعمة التي هي عين الرحمة. كل هذا باعتبار ظهور الذات في الصفات وفي آثارها، وفي كل شيء مما ظهر فيه الذات بحكم الواحدية، هو عين الآخر.
And likewise Unicity appeared in the blessing itself and the affliction itself: so the blessing -- which is an expression for mercy -- was the very [reality of] the affliction, which is an expression for torment; and the affliction, which is the torment, is an expression for the blessing, which is the very [reality of] mercy. All of this [is] by the consideration of the appearing of the Essence in the attributes and in their traces; and in everything in which the Essence appears by the rule of Unicity, it is the very [reality of] the other.
ولكن باعتبار التجلي الواحدي، لا باعتبار إعطاء كل ذي حقٍّ حقه، وذلك هو التجلي الذاتي.
But [this is] by the consideration of the unific self-disclosure, not by the consideration of the giving to each possessor-of-a-right his right -- and that [latter] is the essential self-disclosure.
واعلم أن الفرق بين الأحدية والواحدية والألوهية: أن الأحدية لا يظهر فيها شيءٌ من الأسماء والصفات، وذلك عبارة عن محض الذات الصرف في شأنها الذاتي.
And know that the difference between Oneness (al-aḥadiyya), Unicity (al-wāḥidiyya), and Divinity (al-ulūhiyya) is: that [in] Oneness nothing of the Names and the Attributes appears -- and that is an expression for the pure, sheer Essence, in its essential affair.
والواحدية تظهر فيها الأسماء والصفات مع مؤثراتها، لكن بحكم الذات لا بحكم افتراقها، فكل منها فيه عين الآخر. والألوهية تظهر فيها الأسماء والصفات بحكم ما يستحقه كل واحدٍ من الجميع.
And Unicity -- the Names and the Attributes appear in it, together with their effects, but by the rule of the Essence, not by the rule of their separation; so each of them, in it, is the very [reality of] the other. And Divinity -- the Names and the Attributes appear in it by the rule of what each one of [them] all deserves.
ويظهر فيها أن المنعم ضدّ المنتقم، والمنتقم فيها ضدّ المنعم، وكذلك باقي الأسماء والصفات، حتى الأحدية فإنها تظهر في الألوهية بما يقتضيه حكم الأحدية وبما يقتضيه حكم الواحدية. فتشمل الألوهية بمجلاها أحكامَ جميع المجالي، فهي مجلى إعطاء كل ذي حقٍّ حقه، والأحدية مجلى "كان الله ولا شيء معه".
And there appears in it [Divinity] that the Bestower is the opposite of the Avenger, and the Avenger, in it, is the opposite of the Bestower; and likewise the rest of the Names and the Attributes -- even Oneness, for it appears in Divinity by what the rule of Oneness requires and by what the rule of Unicity requires. So Divinity, by its disclosure-site, comprehends the rulings of all the disclosure-sites: so it is the disclosure-site of the giving to each possessor-of-a-right his right; and Oneness is the disclosure-site of 'God was, and nothing was with Him.'
والواحدية مجلى قوله: "وهو الآن على ما عليه كان".
And Unicity is the disclosure-site of his saying: 'And He is now as He [ever] was.'
قال الله تعالى: {كُلُّ شَيْءٍ هَالِكٌ إِلَّا وَجْهَهُ} [القصص: 88]. فلهذا كانت الأحدية أعلى من الواحدية،
God (exalted is He) said: 'Everything is perishing except His Face' (28:88, al-Qaṣaṣ). And for this, Oneness was higher than Unicity --
لأنها ذاتٌ محض. وكانت الألوهية أعلى من الأحدية، لأنها أعطت الأحدية حقها، إذ حكم الألوهية إعطاء كل ذي حقٍّ حقه. فكانت أعلى الأسماء وأجمعها، وأعزّها وأرفعها، وفضلها على الأحدية كفضل الكل على الجزء.
because it [Oneness] is pure Essence. And Divinity was higher than Oneness, because it gave Oneness its due -- since the rule of Divinity is the giving to each possessor-of-a-right his right. So it [Divinity] was the highest of the names and the most comprehensive of them, the mightiest and the most exalted; and its excellence over Oneness is as the excellence of the whole over the part.
وفضل الأحدية على باقي المجالي الذاتية، كفضل الأصل على الفرع.
And the excellence of Oneness over the rest of the essential disclosure-sites is as the excellence of the root over the branch.
وفضل الواحدية على باقي التجليات، كفضل الجمع على الفرق.
And the excellence of Unicity over the rest of the self-disclosures is as the excellence of the gathering (al-jamʿ) over the dispersal (al-farq).
فانظر أين هذه المعاني منك، وتأمّلها فيك.
So look at where these meanings are in you, and ponder them within you.
اجنِ الثمارَ فإنما ....... غُرست لكي تجنيها
Harvest the fruits, for they were / planted only that you might harvest them.
ودعِ التعلّلَ بالشواهدِ ....... فهي لا تهديها
And leave off occupying yourself with the [external] proofs, / for they do not guide [her].
واشربْ من الثغرِ المدامَ ....... فخمرُها فيها
And drink the wine from the [beloved's] mouth, / for her wine is [there] within her.
وأدِرْ كؤوسَك راشداً ....... رغمَ الذي يطويها
And pass round your cups, rightly-guided, / despite the one who would fold them away.
أبدتْ محاسنَها سعادُ ....... فلا تكن مخفيها
Suʿād [the beloved] revealed her beauties; / so be not the one who hides them.
ودعْ اغترارَك بالسِّوى ....... ليس السِّوى يدريها
And leave your being-deceived by the other-than [Her]; / the other-than does not know [Her].
وكُلِ اللُّبابةَ، وارمِ ....... بالقشرِ الذي يُبديها
And eat the kernel, and cast away / the husk that [merely] makes her appear.
واحذرْ من الواشي الثقيلِ ....... فأنت من واشيها
And beware the heavy slanderer -- / for you [yourself] are [one] of her slanderers.