al-Insān al-Kāmil, Bāb 1 -- The Essence
full parallel manuscript · complete bitext · the opening chapter
الإنسان الكامل · الباب الأول في الذات
The opening chapter of al-Insān al-Kāmil — the first of the book’s foundational metaphysical band (Bāb 1-31) — rendered as a full parallel manuscript: every segment, aligned line by line. It is al-Jīlī’s treatise on the Essence (al-Dhāt), and it is the most apophatic chapter in the whole work: God’s Essence is “the Unseen of Oneness,” upon which every expression falls from one face yet none captures, since a thing is known only by its like or its opposite and the Essence has neither. The argument is carried less by exposition than by image and verse: a three-verse qaṣīda on the impossibility of encompassing the Essence; the allegory of the “bird of holiness” that flies past the Names and Attributes to the verge of non-existence and writes back a letter to the world; a long, famous apophatic qaṣīda of paradoxes (an ignorance that is knowledge, a war that is peace, poison to one and musk to another); and the doctrine of the Single Substance (al-jawhar al-fard) with its eight paired aspects — pre-eternity and sempiternity, the Real and the creation, the Lord and the servant, necessity and possibility. It closes on a doxology that declares its own failure: “all this discourse does not fall upon the reality of the Essence of the Most High.”
Editorial note. This chapter is the metaphysical seed of everything the book later builds, and it sets the register in which the rest must be read. Its method is the coincidence of opposites: every predicate is affirmed of the Essence from one face and denied from another (§69), so that the chapter’s apparent contradictions are its argument, not a flaw in it. The high waḥdat-al-wujūd formulations are here in their most concentrated, poetic form — “nay, you; nay, I” (§15); “my secret is His ipseity, my spirit His I-ness” (§32) — and are recorded in al-Jīlī’s voice and framed against the mainstream: in this chapter they are apophatic poetry, the self as mirror of a self-disclosure, not the claim of a merger of substances (the ḥulūl and ittiḥād he denies elsewhere in the book). His governing safeguard is stated as a perfection of the Essence itself: it is “not grasped, yet itself grasps” (§4), beyond resembler and opposite, so that “all this discourse” about it necessarily falls short (§74). A second-reader pass is advisable, with attention to the qaṣīda’s deliberately paradoxical couplings and a few single-word OCR uncertainties rendered to sense.
الباب الأول في الذات
Chapter One: On the Essence (al-Dhāt)
اعلم أن مطلق الذات هو الأمر الذي تستند عليه الأسماء والصفات في عينها لا في وجودها، فكل اسم أو صفة استند إلى شيء فذلك الشيء هو الذات، سواء كان معدوماً كالعنقاء أو موجوداً، فافهم.
Know that the absolute Essence (muṭlaq al-dhāt) is the matter upon which the Names and the Attributes rest, in their very [reality], not in their existence. So every name or attribute that rests upon a thing -- that thing is the essence [of it], whether it be non-existent, like the ʿAnqāʾ [the phoenix of legend], or existent. So understand.
glossary: dhat, asma, sifat
والموجود نوعان: نوع موجود محض، وهو ذات الباري سبحانه وتعالى. ونوع موجود ملحق بالعدم، وهو ذات المخلوقات.
And the existent is of two kinds: a kind that is pure existent -- and that is the Essence of the Maker (glory be to Him, exalted is He); and a kind of existent annexed to non-existence -- and that is the essence of the created things.
واعلم أن ذات الله سبحانه وتعالى عبارة عن نفسه التي هو بها موجود لأنه قائم بنفسه، وهو الشيء الذي استحق الأسماء والصفات بهويته، فيتصوّر بكل صورة يقتضيها منه كل معنى فيه، أعني اتصف بكل وصف يطلبه كل نعت، واستحق لوجوده كل اسم دلّ على مفهوم يقتضيه الكمال، ومن جملة الكمالات عدم الانتهاء ونفي الإدراك، فحُكم بأنها لا تُدرك، وأنها مُدرِكة لاستحالة الجهل عليه، فاعلم.
And know that the Essence of God (glory be to Him, exalted is He) is an expression for His Self, by which He is existent -- because He is self-subsistent (qāʾim bi-nafsih); and He is the [very] thing that merited the Names and the Attributes by His ipseity (huwiyya). So He takes form in every form that every meaning in Him requires of Him -- I mean, He is qualified by every quality that every descriptor seeks, and merited, by His existence, every name that denotes a concept which perfection requires. And among the [sum of] perfections are endlessness and the negation of being grasped: so it is ruled that it [the Essence] is not grasped, and that it [itself] grasps -- since ignorance is impossible for Him. So know [this].
glossary: dhat, asma, sifat The apophatic core of the chapter, stated at the outset: the Essence is among the 'perfections' precisely in being ungraspable (lā tudrak) while itself grasping (mudrika). al-Jīlī's tanzīh is not a deficiency in the Essence but a perfection of it.
وفي هذا المعنى قلت في قصيدة:
And in this meaning I said, in a poem:
أحطتُ خبراً مجملاً ومفصلاً ....... بجميع ذاتك يا جميع صفاته
Have I encompassed, in knowledge summary and detailed, / all of Your Essence -- O You who are the sum of His attributes?
أم جلّ وجهك أن يحاط بكنهه ....... فاحتطه أن لا يحاط بذاته
Or is Your Face too exalted to be encompassed in its innermost reality? / Then encompass it [only] thus: that it cannot be encompassed in its Essence.
حاشاك من غاية وحاشا أن تكن ....... بك جاهلاً ويلاه من حيراته
Far be it from You [to have] a limit -- and far be it that I should be, / through You, ignorant. Alas, for its bewilderments!
واعلم أن ذات الله تعالى غيب الأحدية التي كل العبارات واقعة عليها من وجه، غير مستوفية لمعناها من وجوه كثيرة، فهي لا تُدرك بمفهوم عبارة ولا تُفهم بمعلوم إشارة، لأن الشيء إنما يُفهم بما يناسبه فيطابقه، أو بما ينافيه فيضادُّه، وليس لذاته في الوجود مناسب ولا مطابق ولا مناف ولا مضاد، فارتفع من حيث الاصطلاح إذاً معناه في الكلام، وانتفى بذلك أن يُدرك للأنام.
And know that the Essence of God (exalted is He) is the Unseen of Oneness (ghayb al-aḥadiyya), upon which all expressions fall from one aspect, [yet] none fulfilling its meaning from many aspects. So it is not grasped by the concept of [any] expression, nor understood by the content of [any] allusion -- because a thing is understood only by what resembles it (so as to correspond to it) or by what is contrary to it (so as to oppose it); and His Essence has, in existence, neither resembler nor correspondent, neither contrary nor opposite. So its meaning, then, [stands] elevated above [capture] in speech by way of convention, and by that it is precluded from being grasped by humankind.
glossary: dhat, tanzih
المتكلم في ذات الله صامت، والمتحرك ساكن، والناظر باهت، عزّ أن تدركه العقول والأفهام، وجلّ أن تجول فيه الفهوم والأفكار، لا يتعلق بكنهه حديث العلم ولا قديمه، ولا يجمعه لطيف الحد ولا عظيمه، طار طائر القدس في فضاء الجو الخالي، وسبح بكليته في هواء هذا الفلك العالي.
The one who speaks of the Essence of God is [struck] mute; the one who moves is still; the one who gazes is dumbfounded. Too mighty is He for the intellects and the understandings to grasp Him, too majestic for understandings and thoughts to range within Him. Neither the new [knowledge] of [created] knowing nor its ancient [knowing] attaches to His innermost reality; neither the subtle definition nor the grand one gathers Him. The bird of holiness (ṭāʾir al-quds) flew into the expanse of the empty air, and swam with its entirety in the atmosphere of this lofty sphere.
The 'bird of holiness' (ṭāʾir al-quds) here begins an extended allegory -- al-Jīlī's signature device -- of the spirit's flight beyond the Names and Attributes to the verge of non-existence and back; it carries the chapter through §15.
فغاب عن الأكوان واخترق الأسماء والصفات بالتحقيق والعيان، ثم طار محلقاً على أوج العدم بعد أن قطع مسافة الحدوث والقدم، فوجده واجباً لا يجوز وجوده ولا يغيب مفقوده، فلما أراد الرجوع إلى العالم المصنوع طلب حصول العلامة، فكتب على جناح الحمامة: أما بعد؟
So it became absent from the beings, and pierced through the Names and the Attributes by realization and direct vision; then it flew, soaring upon the apex of non-existence, after it had traversed the distance of origination and pre-eternity. So it found Him necessary [of existence] -- His existence is not [merely] possible, nor is His [seeming] absence ever [truly] absent. And when it wished to return to the fashioned world, it sought to obtain a token; so it wrote upon the wing of the dove: 'To proceed:'
glossary: asma, sifat
فإنك أيها الطلسم الذي لا ذات ولا اسم، ولا ظل ولا رسم، ولا روح ولا جسم، ولا وصف ولا نعت، ولا وسم.
Truly you, O talisman that has neither essence nor name, neither shadow nor trace, neither spirit nor body, neither description nor descriptor, nor [any] mark --
لك الوجود والعدم، ولك الحدوث والقدم، معدوم لذاتك موجود في النفس، معلوم بنعمتك مفقود بالجنس، كأنك ما خُلقت إلا معياراً، وكأنك لم تكن إلا أحباراً، برهن عن ذاتك بصريح لغاتك، فقد وجدتك حياً عالماً مريداً قادراً متكلماً سميعاً بصيراً.
Yours is existence and non-existence; yours is origination and pre-eternity. Non-existent in your essence, existent in the Self; known by your grace, lost as to [your] genus. As though you were created only [as] a measure, and as though you were nothing but ink-[marks]. Demonstrate your essence by the plain [speech] of your tongues -- for I have found you living, knowing, willing, powerful, speaking, hearing, seeing.
The address is to the 'talisman' -- the Essence's nominal locus, the Perfect Human as the point where the unsayable Essence becomes expressible. The closing series names the seven classical attributes of the Essence (the ṣifāt al-maʿānī): life, knowledge, will, power, speech, hearing, sight.
حويت الجمال وحزت الجلال، واستوعبت بنفسك أنواع الكمال، أما ما تصورت من إثبات موجود غيرك فما ثَمَّ، وأما حسنك الباهي فقد ثَمَّ. المخاطَب بهذا الكلام ذاك.
You have comprehended Beauty and won Majesty, and encompassed in yourself the kinds of perfection. As for what you imagined of affirming an existent other than you -- there is none; and as for your radiant beauty -- it is there indeed. The one addressed by this discourse is That [One].
بل أنت بل أنا، يا من عُدم هناك فقد وجدناك هنا:
Nay, [it is] you; nay, [it is] I -- O you who were non-existent there: indeed we have found you here:
The 'nay-you-nay-I' (bal anta bal anā) is one of the chapter's high waḥdat-al-wujūd formulations -- the collapse of the address between the Real and the speaking self. Recorded in al-Jīlī's voice and framed against the mainstream; it is poetic apophasis, not a claim of substantial identity (which he denies elsewhere).
عزّت مداركه غابت عوالمه ....... جلّت مهالكه أصمت صوارمه
Mighty are the faculties [that would grasp] Him; vanished, His worlds; / majestic, His perils; struck dumb, His cutting blades.
لا العين تبصره لا الحد يحصره ....... لا الوصف يحضره من ذا ينادمه
No eye beholds Him; no definition confines Him; / no description brings Him present -- who, then, may keep Him company?
آلت عبارته ضاعت إشارته ....... هدّت عمارته قلباً يصادمه
His expression came to naught; His allusion was lost; / His edifice demolished a heart that would collide with Him.
عقل ولا فلك روح ولا ملك ....... مَلِك له مُلك عزّت محارمه
An intellect, yet no sphere; a spirit, yet no angel; / a King who has a kingdom -- inviolable are His sanctities.
عين ولا بصر علم ولا خبر ....... فعل ولا أثر غابت معالمه
An eye, yet no sight; a knowledge, yet no report; / an act, yet no trace -- His landmarks have vanished.
قطب على فلك شمس على حبك ....... طاوس في سكك تجلّى عظائمه
A Pole upon a sphere; a sun upon the well-woven [heaven]; / a peacock in the lattices -- His mighty things were disclosed.
glossary: tajalli
أنموذج سُطّرا بالاصطلاح سرى ....... عن الوجود عُرّي روحيُّ عوالمه
A paragon set down in writing, coursing through convention, / stripped bare of existence -- spiritual are His worlds.
حرب ملوّنة دار مكوّنة ....... نفس مدوّنة ميت همى دمه
A many-hued war; an abode brought into being; / a soul set down in writing; a dead one whose blood has flowed.
ذات مجرّدة نعت مفرّدة ....... آي مفردة يقرأه راقمه
An essence abstracted; a descriptor made single; / a sign set apart -- which its own inscriber reads.
محض الوجود له والنفي يشمله ....... يدري ويجهله من قام نائمه
Pure existence belongs to Him, yet negation encompasses Him; / he both knows and is ignorant of Him -- the one whose sleeper has risen.
نفى وقد ثبتت سلب وقد وجبت ....... رمز وقد عُرفت نشر وناسمه
A negating -- yet [things] stood affirmed; a stripping-away -- yet [they] became necessary; / a cipher -- yet [it] was known; an unfolding -- and its fragrant breath.
لا تطمعن فما تلقى له حرماً ....... إن كنت مغتنماً هذي مغانمه
Do not covet, for you will find no sanctuary that is His; / if you would seize spoils -- these are His spoils.
عنقاء مغربه أنت المراد به ....... تنزيه مشتبه مما يلائمه
[He is] His own ʿAnqāʾ Mughrib [the unattainable phoenix]; you are the one He means -- / a transcendence (tanzīh) made ambiguous by whatever is made to suit Him.
glossary: tanzih
موج له زخر بحر به غرر ....... نار له شرر والعشق ضارمه
A wave that has its surging; a sea in which are perils; / a fire that has its sparks -- and passionate love is its kindler.
مجهولة وصفت منكورة عرفت ....... وحشية ألفت قلباً يسالمه
Unknown, yet described; unrecognized, yet known; / wild, yet grown tame to a heart that makes peace with Him.
إن قلت تعرفه فلست تنصفه ....... أو قلت تنكره فأنت عالمه
If you say you know Him, you do Him no justice; / or if you say you deny Him -- yet you are the one who knows Him.
سرّي هويته روحي إنّيته ....... قلبي منصّته والجسم خادمه
My secret is His ipseity; my spirit, His I-ness; / my heart, His seat of audience; and the body, His servant.
Among the qaṣīda's strongest identity-statements; recorded in al-Jīlī's voice. It maps the self's faculties onto the divine self-disclosure (the human as mirror), not a merger of substances -- read in the apophatic register the chapter sustains throughout.
إني لأعقله مع ذاك أجهله ....... من ذا يحصله صدّت غنائمه
Truly I comprehend Him -- yet, with that, I am ignorant of Him; / who is it that attains Him? His spoils have turned away.
يعلو فكتمه يدنو فأفهمه ....... يملي فأرقمه يدهيك قائمه
He rises high, so I conceal Him; He draws near, so I make Him understood; / He dictates, so I inscribe Him -- His ever-standing [reality] confounds you.
نزّهته فعرى شبّهته فسرى ....... جسّمته فطرا ما لا أقاومه
I declared Him transcendent, so He was laid bare; I likened Him, so He flowed forth; / I gave Him a body, so there flew up what I cannot withstand.
glossary: tanzih, tashbih The verse stages the tanzīh/tashbīh dialectic in miniature: pure transcendence and pure likening each fail, and the attempt itself produces what overwhelms the seeker -- the Akbarian via media of 'neither, and both.'
نزّلته فأبى بالحسن منتهياً ....... يلقاه منتسباً في الهُدب صارمه
I brought Him down, but He refused -- ending [only] in beauty; / his keen blade meets him, kindred, [hidden] within the eyelashes.
في خدّه سجل في ناره شعل ....... في جفنه كحل كالرمح قائمه
In His cheek, a record; in His fire, flames; / in His eyelid, kohl -- His [stature] standing like a lance.
في ريقه عسل في قدّه أسل ....... في جعده رسل والظلم ظالمه
In His saliva, honey; in His stature, spear-straight reeds; / in His curls, soft grace -- and the dark [of His locks] is its own tyrant.
سمر سواعده سود جعائده ....... بيض نواجذه حمر مباسمه
Tawny, His forearms; black, His tresses; / white, His [back] teeth; red, His smiling lips.
خمر مراشفه سحر معاطفه ....... وهم لطائفه التيه لازمه
Wine, His lips to sip; magic, His swaying flanks; / illusion, His subtleties -- bewildered pride cleaves to Him.
glossary: wahm
مجهولة وصفت مملوءة عرفت ....... وحشية ألفت قلبي تكالمه
Unknown, yet described; full, yet known; / wild, yet grown tame -- my heart converses with Him.
الفتك صنعته والقتل شيمته ....... والهجر حليته مرّت مطاعمه
Slaying is His craft, and killing His nature, / and estrangement His ornament -- bitter are the things He gives to taste.
مرآبٌ بسطا مقيّدٌ نشطا ....... مصوّرٌ غلطا نور طواسمه
A thing resorted-to, outspread; bound, yet sprung loose; / formed [as if] by error -- light are His talismans.
ما جوهر عرض ما صحة مرض ....... سهم هو الغرض حارت قواسمه
Neither a substance nor an accident; neither health nor sickness; / an arrow that is itself the target -- His apportioners are bewildered.
فرد وقد آثرا جمع ولا نفرا ....... أمامنا ووَرا الكلُّ عالمه
Single -- yet He has [sown] preference; a gathering -- yet not a scattered band; / before us and behind -- the All is His knower.
جهل هو العلم حرب هو السلم ....... عدل هو الظلم مدّت قواصمه
An ignorance that is itself knowledge; a war that is itself peace; / a justice that is itself wrong -- His shattering blows are stretched out.
يبكي ويطربني يصحو ويسكرني ....... ينجو ويغرقني أبغي أحكمه
He weeps, and yet delights me; He grows sober, and yet intoxicates me; / He is saved, and yet drowns me -- I seek to master Him.
طوراً ألاعبه طوراً أصاحبه ....... طوراً أجانبه طوراً أكالمه
At times I play with Him; at times I keep His company; / at times I shun Him; at times I converse with Him.
طوراً يخاللني طوراً يواصلني ....... طوراً يقاتلني حتى أخاصمه
At times He befriends me; at times He joins Himself to me; / at times He fights me -- until I contend against Him.
إن قلت قد طربا ألقاه مغتضبا ....... أو قلت قد وجبا تبقى عزائمه
If I say He has rejoiced, I find Him wrathful; / or if I say He has become necessary, His firm resolves abide.
وحش وما ألفا نكر وما عرفا ....... ذات وما وصفا عقل دعائمه
Wild, yet not [truly] estranged; unrecognized, yet not [truly] unknown; / an essence, yet undescribed -- firmly knit are His supports.
شمس وقد سطعت برق وقد لمعت ....... ورق وقد سجعت فوقي حمائمه
A sun -- and it has blazed; a lightning -- and it has flashed; / [leaves of] song -- and His doves have cooed above me.
ضدّان قد جُمعا فيه وما امتنعا ....... عين إذا نبعا هاجت ملاطمه
Two opposites gathered in Him, and yet not refusing [to meet]; / a spring -- when it gushed forth, its surging waves were stirred.
سمٌّ لذائقه مسك لناشقه بحر ....... لغارقه ضاعت علائمه
Poison to the one who tastes Him; musk to the one who inhales Him; / a sea to the one who drowns in Him -- His marks were lost.
ثم كتب على جناح الطير الأخضر بقلم مداد الكبريت الأحمر: أما بعد، فإن العظمة نار والعلم ماء والقوى هواء والحكمة تراب، عناصر بها يتحقق جوهرنا الفرد.
Then he wrote upon the wing of the green bird, with a pen of red-sulphur ink: 'To proceed: Grandeur is fire, Knowledge is water, the Powers are air, and Wisdom is earth -- elements by which our Single Substance (jawharunā al-fard) is realized.'
The 'red sulphur' (al-kibrīt al-aḥmar) is the alchemists' and Sufis' figure for the rarest, transmuting agent -- here the ink of the highest gnosis. What follows (§56-63) is the doctrine of the Single Substance and its paired aspects, the metaphysical spine of the whole book.
ولهذا الجوهر عرضان: الأول الأزل، والثاني الأبد.
And this substance has two accidents: the first, pre-eternity (al-azal); the second, sempiternity (al-abad).
وله وصفان: الوصف الأول الحق، والوصف الثاني الخلق.
And it has two descriptions: the first description, the Real (al-Ḥaqq); the second description, the creation (al-khalq).
وله نعتان: النعت الأول القدم، والنعت الثاني الحدوث.
And it has two attributes: the first attribute, [beginningless] pre-eternity (al-qidam); the second attribute, origination (al-ḥudūth).
وله اسمان: الاسم الأول الربّ، والاسم الثاني العبد.
And it has two names: the first name, the Lord (al-Rabb); the second name, the servant (al-ʿabd).
وله وجهان: الوجه الأول الظاهر وهو الدنيا، والوجه الثاني الباطن وهو الأخرى.
And it has two faces: the first face, the outward (al-ẓāhir), which is this world (al-dunyā); the second face, the inward (al-bāṭin), which is the other [world].
وله حكمان: الحكم الأول الوجوب، والحكم الثاني الإمكان.
And it has two rulings: the first ruling, necessity (al-wujūb); the second ruling, possibility (al-imkān).
وله اعتباران: الاعتبار الأول أن يكون لنفسه مفقوداً ولغيره موجوداً، والاعتبار الثاني أن يكون لغيره مفقوداً ولنفسه موجوداً.
And it has two considerations: the first, that it be, for itself, non-existent, and for another, existent; the second, that it be, for another, non-existent, and for itself, existent.
وله معرفتان: المعرفة الأولى وجوبيته أولاً وسلبيته آخراً، والمعرفة الثانية سلبيته أولاً ووجوبيته آخراً.
And it has two [modes of] gnosis: the first gnosis -- its necessity first and its negation last; the second gnosis -- its negation first and its necessity last.
وله نقطة للمفهوم فيها غلطة، وللعبارات عن معانيها انحرافات، وللإرشادات عن معانيها انصرافات.
And it has a point at which, for the understanding, there is an error; and [in which], for the expressions, there are deviations from their meanings, and for the [guiding] directions, turnings-away from their meanings.
والحذر أيها الطير في حفظ هذا الكتاب الذي لا يقرأه الغير.
And [take] caution, O bird, in guarding this writing, which no other [than you] reads.
فلم يزل الطير طائراً في تلك الأفلاك، حياً في ممات، باقياً في إهلاك، إلى أن نشر جناحه وقد كان لفّ، وكشف بصره وقد كان كُفّ.
So the bird did not cease flying in those spheres -- living amid death, abiding amid perishing -- until it spread its wing, which had been folded, and unveiled its sight, which had been blinded.
فوجده لم يخرج عن نفسه، ولم ينطق في سوى جنسه، داخلاً في البحر خارجاً عنه، شارباً ريّان فيه ظمآناً منه، ولا يكلمه قطعاً ولا يفقد منه شيئاً، تجد الكمال المطلق محققاً عبارة عن نفسه وذاته، ولا يملك تمام صفاته.
So it found Him not having gone out of His [own] Self, nor having spoken in [anything] other than His [own] genus -- entering into the sea, yet outside it; drinking, quenched, within it, yet thirsting from it; neither speaking to Him at all, nor losing anything of Him. You find absolute Perfection realized, an expression of His [own] Self and Essence -- while [the creature] does not possess the fullness of His attributes.
glossary: dhat, sifat
يتصف بأسماء الذات والأوصاف حقّ الاتصاف، وليس له زمام يملكه بحكم الاتفاق والاختلاف.
He is qualified by the Names of the Essence and the descriptions in the [most] rightful manner of being-qualified; and there is no rein over Him that anything possesses, by the rule of accord or of difference.
glossary: asma, dhat
يتمكن من التصرف بصفاته كل التمكين، وليس له شيء بكماله في التعيين، له كمال الجولان في محله وعالمه، وليس له سرّ الانحصار في منازله ومعالمه، يرى كمال بدره محققاً في نفسه، ولا يستطيع منعاً لكسوف شمسه، يجهل الشيء وهو به عارف، ويرحل من المحل وهو فيه واقف، يسوغ الكلام فيه بغير لسان ولا يسوغ، ويستقيم عرفانه ولا يزوغ.
He is empowered to dispose by His attributes with all empowerment, while nothing belongs to Him in [any] fixed determination as to His perfection. His is the perfection of ranging in His place and His world, while His is not the secret of being confined in His dwellings and His landmarks. He sees the perfection of His full moon realized in Himself, yet He is unable to prevent the eclipse of His sun. He is ignorant of the thing while being its very knower; He departs from the place while standing fixed within it. Speech concerning Him is permitted -- without a tongue -- and is yet not permitted; and the gnosis of Him stands straight, and does not swerve.
A sustained coincidentia oppositorum -- the Essence as that in which to range freely and to be confined, to know and to be ignorant, to depart and to stay, are each at once true and false. This is the chapter's method, not a contradiction in it: every predicate is affirmed of the Essence from one face and denied from another.
أدخلُ العالمَ فيه عرفاناً أبعدُهم عنه بياناً، أقصى الناس عن سَوحه أقربهم منه، حرفه لا يُقرأ، ومعناه لا يُفهم ولا يُدرى.
The most penetrating of the world into [knowing] Him, in gnosis, is the furthest of them from Him in exposition; the most distant of people from His courtyards is the nearest of them to Him. His letter is not read, and His meaning is neither understood nor known.
وعلى الحرف نقطة وهمية دارت عليها دائرة، ولها في نفسها عالم، ذلك العالم على هيئة الدائرة المستديرة فوقها، وهو -- أعني النقطة -- نقطة من تلك الدائرة.
And upon the letter is an imaginal point, around which a circle has turned; and it has, in itself, a world -- that world being in the shape of the circle that revolves above it; and it -- I mean the point -- is [itself] a point of that circle.
glossary: wahm
وهي جزء من هيئة أجزائها، والدائرة بجميعها في حاشية من حواشي بساطها، فهي بسيطة من نفسها، مركبة من حيث هيئتها.
And it is a part of the configuration of its [own] parts; and the circle, in its entirety, is in [but] one margin of the margins of its [own] expanse. So it is simple in itself, composite in respect of its configuration.
فردٌ من جهة ذاتها، نورٌ باعتبار وضوحها، ظلمةٌ باعتبار عدم الوقوع عليها.
Single from the direction of its essence; light, in respect of its clarity; darkness, in respect of [the impossibility of] being lighted upon.
وكل هذا المقال لا يقع على حقيقة ذات المتعال، كلّ فيه اللسان وانحصر، وضاق عنه الزمان وانحسر، تعالى الله العظيم الشأن، الرفيع السلطان، العزيز الديّان.
And all this discourse does not fall upon the reality of the Essence of the Most High. In [striving for] it the tongue grew weary and was hemmed in, and time fell short of it and ebbed away. Exalted is God -- the Magnificent of station, the Lofty of sovereignty, the Mighty, the Requiter.
The closing doxology, and the chapter's true end (the print OCR confirms it). It seals the whole apophatic argument: every word of the chapter, by the chapter's own admission, fails to reach the Essence it is about.
Collation. Two-witness collated, staged 2026-06-03. THE OPENING CHAPTER of the book (al-Dhāt, the Essence) and the first of the foundational metaphysical band Bāb 1-31. Witness-2 (ibnalarabi.com id=4) clean of navigation chrome; the trailing site-search widget 'al-baḥth fī naṣṣ al-kitāb' EXCLUDED as chrome (it returns zero hits in the print OCR). The chapter's true end is the closing doxology (§74), confirmed against the print OCR; the dangling 'thumma qāla:' that ends the digital-witness page is the lead-in to Bāb 2's opening poem (in the print OCR it is immediately followed by the Bāb 2 heading and its qaṣīda), so it is assigned to Bāb 2, NOT dropped. Heavily poetic: a 3-verse qaṣīda (§6-8) and the long ~39-verse apophatic qaṣīda (§16-54), the latter carrying several single-word OCR garbles (e.g. ʿakl for ʿaql, §20, §52; muncertain symbol-words at §44) rendered to sense and not over-claimed. The eight dyad-lists of the Single Substance (§56-63) each group one 'it has two X' triplet into a single segment for readability; no authorial text omitted.
Qurʾān. No verbatim Qurʾān citations in this chapter -- al-Jīlī's most apophatic chapter, built on tanzīh and the via negativa rather than scriptural proof-texts, so there are no loci to verify. One lexical allusion noted in the long qaṣīda: 'shams ʿalā ḥubak' (§22) echoes 'wa-l-samāʾi dhāti l-ḥubuk' (al-Dhāriyāt 51:7, the well-woven heaven). The recurring symbol 'ʿAnqāʾ Mughrib' (the phoenix that is named yet has no existence outside its name; §2, §29) is a stock philosophers'-and-Sufi figure for the nominal-but-non-existent, not Qurʾanic. The seven attributes named at §13 (living, knowing, willing, powerful, speaking, hearing, seeing) are the classical ṣifāt al-maʿānī.