الباب الخامس والعشرون في الكمال
Chapter Twenty-Five: On Perfection
§1 اعلم أن كمال الله تعالى عبارة عن ماهيته، وماهيته غير قابلة للإدراك والغاية، فليس لكماله غاية ولا نهاية.
Know that the Perfection of God Most High is an expression for His quiddity (māhiyya); and His quiddity is not subject to comprehension or to a limit; so His perfection has no limit and no end.
glossary: dhat
§2 فهو سبحانه وتعالى يدرك ماهيته، ويدرك أنها لا تُدرك وأنها لا غاية لها في حقه وفي حق غيره، أعني يدركها بعد أن يدركها أن لا تُدرك له ولا لغيره، لما هي عليه ماهيته في نفسها.
For He, glory be to Him and Most High, comprehends His quiddity, and comprehends that it is not comprehended, and that it has no limit, in His regard and in the regard of any other; I mean, He comprehends it, after His comprehending it, as not comprehended, for Him or for any other, by reason of what His quiddity is in itself.
Witness 'yudrīhā' restored to 'yudrikuhā' (comprehends it).
§3 فقولنا: يدرك ماهيته، هو ما يستحقه لكمال الإحاطة وعدم الجهل، وقولنا: يدرك أنها لا تُدرك له ولا لغيره، هو ما يستحقه من حيث كبرياؤه وعدم انتهائه.
So our saying 'He comprehends His quiddity' is what He deserves by the perfection of encompassing and the absence of ignorance; and our saying 'He comprehends that it is not comprehended, for Him or for any other' is what He deserves in respect of His grandeur and His having no end.
§4 لأنه لا يُدرك إلاَّ ما يتناهى، وهو ليس له نهاية، فإدراك ما ليس له نهاية محال، فإدراكه لماهيته حكميٌّ لاستحقاقه شمول العلم وعدم الجهل بنفسه، لا أنه قبلت ماهيته الإدراك بوجه من الوجوه، فافهم.
because nothing is comprehended except what comes to an end, and He has no end, so the comprehension of what has no end is impossible. His comprehension of His quiddity is therefore by rule (ḥukmī), for His deserving the universality of knowledge and the absence of ignorance of Himself, not that His quiddity accepted comprehension in any respect. So understand.
§5 فهذه مسألة شديدة الغموض، فإياك أن تزلق فيها، فإنها مقام الحيرة. في هذا المعنى قلت من قصيدة طويلة:
For this is a question of severe obscurity, so beware of slipping in it, for it is the station of bewilderment (maqām al-ḥayra). In this meaning I said, from a long qaṣīda:
§6 أأحطتَ خُبراً مُجملاً ومفصَّلاً ... بجميع ذاتِك يا جميعَ صفاتِه
Have you encompassed, in knowledge, in summary and in detail, the whole of Your Essence, O You who are the totality of His attributes?
§7 أم جُهِّلَ وجهُك أن يُحاطَ بكُنهِه ... فأحطتَه أن لا يُحاطَ بذاتِه
Or is Your Face unknowable, that its inmost depth be encompassed, so that You encompassed it as one not to be encompassed in His Essence?
§8 حاشاك من غايٍ وحاشا أن يكن ... بك جاهلاً ويلاهُ من حيراتِه
Far be it from You to have an end, and far be it that He be, through You, ignorant: O the woe of its bewilderments!
§9 واعلم أن كماله سبحانه وتعالى لا يشبه كمال المخلوقات، لأن كمال المخلوقات بمعانٍ موجودة في ذواتهم، وتلك المعاني مغايرة لذواتهم.
And know that His perfection, glory be to Him and Most High, does not resemble the perfection of the creatures; for the perfection of the creatures is by meanings existing in their essences, and those meanings are other than their essences.
§10 وكماله سبحانه وتعالى بذاته لا بمعانٍ زائدة عليه، تعالى الله عن ذلك علوّاً كبيراً، فكماله عين ذاته، ولهذا صحَّ له الغنى المطلق والكمال التام.
And His perfection, glory be to Him and Most High, is by His Essence, not by meanings superadded to Him -- exalted is God above that by a great exaltation. So His perfection is the very reality of His Essence; and for this, absolute richness and complete perfection are sound for Him.
glossary: dhat
§11 فإنه سبحانه وتعالى ولو تعلَّقت به المعاني الكمالية فإنها ليست غيره، فمعقولية الكمال المستوعب له أمرٌ ذاتي لا زائد على ذاته ولا مغاير له.
For He, glory be to Him and Most High, even though the perfectional meanings attach to Him, they are not other than Him; so the intelligibility of the perfection that encompasses Him is an essential matter, not superadded to His Essence nor other than it.
glossary: dhat
§12 وليس هو نفس المعقول، وليس لسواه هذا الحكم، فإن كل موجود من الموجودات صفته اقتضت أن يكون وصفه غيره، لأن المخلوق قابل للانقسام والتعدُّد،
And He is not the very intelligible-object; and this rule belongs to none besides Him. For every existent of the existents, its attribute required that its attribute be other than it, because the creature is subject to division and multiplicity,
§13 واقتضى أن يكون وصفه عينه، لأنه حكمه الذي ترتَّبت عليه ذاته، الواحد الذي يترتَّب منه وجوده.
and required that its attribute be its very self, because it is the rule upon which its essence is arranged, the one thing from which its existence is arranged.
§14 فقولنا: الإنسان حيوان ناطق، يقتضي أن تكون الحيوانية في نفسها ومعقوليتها مغايرة للإنسان، والنطق في نفسه مغاير لكل من الإنسان والحيوانية، واقتضى أيضاً أن تكون الحيوانية والنطقية عين الإنسان لأنه مركَّب منها، فلا وجود له إلاَّ بهما فلا يكون مغايراً لهما، فكان وصف المخلوق غير ذاته من وجه الانقسام والتركيب، وهو محال في حق الحق.
For our saying 'the human is a rational animal' requires that animality, in itself and in its intelligibility, be other than the human, and that rationality in itself be other than each of the human and animality; and it required also that animality and rationality be the very human, because he is composed of them, and has no existence except by them, so he is not other than them. Thus the attribute of the creature is other than its essence by way of division and composition, and that is impossible in the Real's regard.
§15 فإن صفاته لا يقال إنها ليست عينه وليست غير ذاته إلاَّ من حيث ما نعقله نحن من تعدُّد الأوصاف وتضادها، وهي أعني صفاته عين ذاته من حيث ماهيته وهويته التي هي عليها في نفسها، ولا يقال إنها ليست عينه، فيتميز عن حكم المخلوق: وصفه لا غير ذاته ولا عينها.
For His attributes cannot be said to be 'not His very self and not other than His Essence' except in respect of what we ourselves conceive of the multiplicity of the attributes and their mutual opposition; whereas they -- I mean His attributes -- are the very Essence, in respect of His quiddity and His ipseity as it is in itself. And it cannot be said that they are not His very self; so He is distinguished from the rule of the creature, whose attribute is neither other than its essence nor its very self.
glossary: dhat, sifat
§16 وليس هذا الحكم في الحق إلاَّ على سبيل المجاز.
And this rule, in the Real, is only by way of metaphor (majāz).
§17 وهذه المسألة قد أخطأ فيها أكثر المتكلمين، وقد أوردها الإمام محيي الدين ابن عربي موافقاً لما قلناه لك، لا من هذه الجهة ولا بهذه العبارة بل بعبارة أخرى ومعنى آخر، لكنه يُخطِّئ أكثر المتكلمين الذين قالوا: إن صفات الحق ليست عينه ولا غيره، وذكر أن هذا الكلام غير سائغ في نفسه.
And in this question most of the theologians (mutakallimūn) have erred; and the Imam Muḥyī al-Dīn ibn ʿArabī set it forth in agreement with what we have said to you -- not from this angle nor by this expression, but by another expression and another meaning -- yet he faults most of the theologians, those who said: 'the attributes of the Real are not His very self nor other than Him,' and he mentioned that this statement is not sound in itself.
Here al-Jīlī aligns with Ibn al-ʿArabī against the mutakallimūn, unlike the corrections of Bāb 17-19.
§18 وأما نحن فقد أعطانا الكشف الإلهي أن صفاته عين ذاته، ولكن لا باعتبار تعدُّدها ولا باعتبار عدم التعدُّد، بل شاهدتُ أمراً يُضرب عنه في المثل {وَلِلَّهِ الْمَثَلُ الْأَعْلَى}:
As for us, the divine unveiling (kashf) has given us that His attributes are the very reality of His Essence -- but not in respect of their multiplicity nor in respect of the absence of multiplicity; rather I witnessed a matter to which one defers in the likeness, 'and to God belongs the highest likeness':
Qurʾān 16:60: al-Naḥl 16:60, the clause 'wa-lillāhi al-mathal al-aʿlā' (a portion of the verse). Verified, tag correct. glossary: kashf, dhat, sifat
§19 نقطةٌ هي نفس معقولية الكمالات المستوعبة الجامعة لكل جمال وجلال وكمال، على النمط اللائق بالمرتبة الإلهية.
a point (nuqṭa) that is the very intelligibility of the encompassing perfections, gathering every Beauty and Majesty and Perfection, upon the pattern befitting the divine rank;
§20 وهي أعني الكمالات مستهلكة في وجود النقطة، والنقطة مستهلكة في وجود الكمالات، وهي أعني المعبَّر عنها بالنقطة وبالكمالات في أحديتها يُتعقَّل فيها عدم الانتهاء، ويستحيل عليها أولية الابتداء.
and they -- I mean the perfections -- are consumed in the existence of the point, and the point is consumed in the existence of the perfections; and it -- I mean what is expressed by 'the point' and by 'the perfections' -- in its oneness (aḥadiyya), there is conceived in it the absence of ending, and the priority of a beginning is impossible for it.
§21 وثَمَّ أمورٌ أغمضُ وأدقُّ وأعزُّ وأجلُّ من أن يمكن التعبير عنها.
And there are matters more obscure and more subtle and more precious and more exalted than that they can be expressed.
§22 وكان ما كان مما لستُ أذكرُه ... فظُنَّ خيراً ولا تسأل عن الخبرِ
And there was what there was, of what I do not mention; so think well, and ask not about the tiding.
§23 واعلم أن هذا المثال لا يليق بذات المتعال، لأن المثال في نفسه مخلوق، فهو على غير المضروب به المثل.
And know that this likeness does not befit the Essence of the Most High, because the likeness in itself is created, so it is other than the One to whom the likeness is struck;
§24 لأن الحق قديم والخلق حادث، والعبارة الفهوانية لا تحمل المعاني الذوقية إلاَّ لمن سبقه الذوق.
for the Real is pre-eternal and creation is originated; and verbal expression cannot carry the experiential, tasted meanings (al-maʿānī al-dhawqiyya) except to one whom taste (dhawq) has preceded.
§25 فهي مطيَّة له، لأنها لا تطيق أن تحمل الأمر على ما هو عليه، ولكنها تأخذ منه طرفاً.
So it is a mount for it, because it cannot bear the matter as it is, but takes from it a portion.
§26 فمن كان يعقوبيَّ الحزن جُلِّيَ عن بصره العمى بطرح البشير إليه قميصَ يوسف، ومن لم يكن له ذوق سابق فلا يكاد يقع على المطلوب.
So whoever is Jacob-like in grief, the blindness is cleared from his sight by the bearer-of-glad-tidings casting Joseph's shirt upon him; and whoever has no prior taste scarcely lights upon the sought.
Alludes to Sūrat Yūsuf 12:93-96, the shirt cast over Jacob's face restoring his sight.
§27 اللهم إلاَّ أن يكون ذا إيمان وتصديق وترك ما عنده وأخذ ما يلقي إليه الحق من التحقيق، فهو المشار إليه: {أَلْقَى السَّمْعَ وَهُوَ شَهِيدٌ}.
Unless, that is, he be a possessor of faith and assent, abandoning what is with him and taking what the Real casts to him of verification; for he is the one pointed to: 'whoever lends an ear, and is a witness.'
Qurʾān 50:37: Qāf 50:37, the clause 'alqā al-samʿa wa-huwa shahīd' (a portion of the verse). Verified, tag correct.
§28 يعني يشهد بالإيمان ما يقال له، حتى كأنه مشهود له عياناً لقوة الإيمان.
meaning he witnesses, by faith, what is said to him, until it is as though it were witnessed by him in plain sight, by the strength of faith.
§29 فالأول هو المكاشَف، وهو الذي له قلب.
So the first is the one unveiled-to (al-mukāshaf), and he is the one who has a heart.
glossary: kashf
§30 قال الله تعالى: {إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَذِكْرَى لِمَنْ كَانَ لَهُ قَلْبٌ أَوْ أَلْقَى السَّمْعَ وَهُوَ شَهِيدٌ}.
God Most High said: 'Indeed in that is a reminder for whoever has a heart, or lends an ear, and is a witness.'
Qurʾān 50:37: Qāf 50:37, here in full. The witness drops the emphatic 'la-' (la-dhikrā to dhikrā) and the 'aw' (or); restored to the muṣḥaf. Tag correct.
Collation. Bāb 25, al-Kamāl (Perfection), the tenth chapter. Perfection = His quiddity (māhiyya), which is not subject to comprehension or limit, so His perfection has no end. The chapter opens with the paradox of divine self-comprehension (God comprehends His quiddity AND comprehends that it cannot be comprehended, by Him or any other), framed as 'the station of bewilderment' (maqām al-ḥayra), with a 3-verse excerpt from a long qaṣīda. Its doctrinal core is the identity of the Attributes with the Essence: His perfection is His very Essence, not superadded meanings (unlike creatures, whose perfection is by meanings distinct from their essences), proved by the 'rational animal' analysis; the Attributes are the Essence, 'neither other nor the same' being a creaturely rule applied to the Real only by metaphor. Here al-Jīlī ALIGNS with Ibn al-ʿArabī (who agreed 'by another expression and meaning') against the mutakallimūn who said the Attributes are 'not Him nor other than Him,' a formula Ibn al-ʿArabī judged unsound. It closes with the nuqṭa (point) metaphysics (the perfections consumed in the point and the point in the perfections, in an aḥadiyya with no end and no beginning), an apology that the likeness cannot befit the Essence (the created cannot image the pre-eternal), and the dhawq (taste) epistemology (expression carries tasted meanings only to one preceded by taste, the Joseph's-shirt image, faith as the alternative to unveiling). Witness handling: 'yudrīhā' restored to 'yudrikuhā' (§2); kāf-as-alif and several OCR garbles in §16-17 restored to sense; the long §16-17 are dense kalām, rendered to the argument and flagged.
Qurʾān. Two Qurʾān loci verified verbatim against alquran.cloud, both tags correct. (1) al-Naḥl 16:60 (§18), the clause 'wa-lillāhi al-mathal al-aʿlā' (a portion of the verse). (2) Qāf 50:37 (§27 partial, §30 fuller), 'inna fī dhālika la-dhikrā li-man kāna lahu qalbun aw alqā al-samʿa wa-huwa shahīd' -- the witness drops the emphatic 'la-' (la-dhikrā to dhikrā) and the 'aw' (or) at §30; restored to the muṣḥaf and noted. Allusion flagged: the casting of Joseph's shirt to heal Jacob's blindness (§26, Sūrat Yūsuf 12:93-96).