الباب الثامن والعشرون في الأزل
Chapter Twenty-Eight: On Pre-eternity (al-Azal)
§1 الأزل عبارة عن معقول القبلية المحكوم بها لله تعالى من حيث ما يقتضيه في كماله،
Pre-eternity (al-Azal) is an expression for the intelligible of before-ness (qabliyya) ruled for God Most High, in respect of what it requires in His perfection,
§2 لا من حيث إنه تقدَّم على الحادثات بزمان متطاول العهد.
not in respect of His preceding the originated things by a long-aged span of time.
§3 فعُبِّر عن ذلك بالأزل كما يسبق ذلك إلى فهم من ليس له معرفة بالله.
So it was expressed as 'pre-eternity,' as that comes first to the understanding of one who has no knowledge of God.
§4 تعالى الله عن ذلك علوّاً كبيراً، وقد بيَّنا بطلانه فيما سبق من هذا الكتاب.
Exalted is God above that by a great exaltation; and we have already shown its falsity in what preceded of this book.
§5 فأزله موجود الآن كما كان موجوداً قبل وجودنا، لم يتغير عن أزليته ولم يزل أزلياً في أبد الآباد، وسيأتي بيان الأبد في الباب التالي إن شاء الله تعالى.
So His pre-eternity is existent now, just as it was existent before our existence; it has not changed from its pre-eternality, and has not ceased to be pre-eternal in the eternity of eternities. And there will come the exposition of after-eternity (al-abad) in the following chapter, God Most High willing.
§6 هذا حكم الأزل في حق الله تعالى، وأما الوجود الحادث فله أزل، وهو عبارة عن الوقت الذي لم يكن للحادث فيه وجود،
This is the rule of pre-eternity in the regard of God Most High. As for the originated existent, it has a pre-eternity, and that is an expression for the time in which the originated had no existence,
§7 غير موجودين في أزلية الحق، فأزل الحق أزل الأزل، وهو له حكم ذاتي استحقه لكماله.
they being non-existent in the pre-eternality of the Real; so the pre-eternity of the Real is the pre-eternity of pre-eternity, and it is, for Him, an essential rule He deserves by His perfection.
glossary: dhat
§8 واعلم أن الأزل لا يوصف بالوجود ولا بالعدم.
And know that pre-eternity is described neither by existence nor by non-existence.
§9 فكونه لا يوصف بالوجود لأنه أمر حكمي لا عيني وجودي، وكونه لا يوصف بالعدم لكونه قبل النسبة والحكم والعدم المحض، فلا يقبل نسبة ولا حكماً، ولهذا انسحب حكمه، فأزل الحق أبده، وأبده أزله.
Its not being described by existence is because it is a matter of rule (ḥukmī), not of concrete existence; and its not being described by non-existence is because it is prior to relation, and rule, and sheer non-existence, so it admits neither relation nor rule. And for this its rule is drawn through: so the pre-eternity of the Real is His after-eternity, and His after-eternity His pre-eternity.
Witness 'lā yataṣif / inbasaḥa ḥukmuhu' restored to 'lā yūṣaf / insaḥaba ḥukmuhu'; 'amr ḥukmī lā ʿaynī' read for the OCR-garbled phrase.
§10 واعلم أن أزل الحق الذي هو لنفسه لا يوجد فيه الخلق لا حكماً ولا عيناً، لأنه عبارة عن حكم القبلية لله وحده.
And know that the pre-eternity of the Real, which is for Himself, creation is not found in it, neither by rule nor by entity, because it is an expression for the rule of before-ness for God alone.
§11 فلا حكم للخلق في قبلية الحق بوجه من الوجوه.
So there is no rule for creation in the before-ness of the Real, in any respect.
§12 ولا يقال إن له في قبلية الحق وجوداً من حيث التعيين العلمي لا من حيث التعيين الوجودي،
And it cannot be said that it [creation] has, in the before-ness of the Real, an existence in respect of the determination by knowledge (al-taʿyīn al-ʿilmī), and not in respect of the determination by existence;
§13 لأنه لو حُكم له بالوجود العلمي لزم من ذلك أن يكون الخلق موجوداً بوجود الحق، وقد نبَّه الحق تعالى على ذلك في قوله: {هَلْ أَتَى عَلَى الْإِنْسَانِ حِينٌ مِنَ الدَّهْرِ لَمْ يَكُنْ شَيْئًا مَذْكُورًا}.
because, were it ruled with existence-by-knowledge, it would follow from that that creation is existent by the existence of the Real. And the Real Most High gave notice of that in His saying: 'Has there come upon the human a span of time when he was not a thing mentioned?'
Qurʾān 76:1: al-Insān 76:1 (quoted from 'hal atā,' without the basmala the API prefixes). Verified verbatim, tag correct.
§14 واتفق العلماء أن "هل" في هذا الموضع بمعنى "قد"، يعني قد أتى على الإنسان حين من الدهر، والدهر هو الله.
And the scholars are agreed that 'hal' in this place is in the meaning of 'qad' (indeed): that is, indeed there came upon the human a span of time (ḥīn min al-dahr); and al-Dahr (Time) is God.
'al-Dahr is God' draws on the sound ḥadīth qudsī 'do not curse Time, for God is Time' (Bukhārī, Muslim).
§15 والحين تجلٍّ من تجلياته، "لم يكن شيئاً"، يعني أن الإنسان لم يكن شيئاً مذكوراً،
And the span (al-ḥīn) is a self-disclosure of His self-disclosures; 'he was not a thing,' meaning the human was not a thing mentioned,
glossary: tajalli
§16 ولا وجود له في ذلك التجلي،
and he had no existence in that self-disclosure,
glossary: tajalli
§17 لا من حيث الوجود العيني ولا من حيث الوجود العلمي، لأنه لم يكن شيئاً مذكوراً فلم يكن معلوماً.
neither in respect of concrete existence nor in respect of existence-by-knowledge, because he was not a thing mentioned, so he was not known.
§18 وهذا التجلي هو أزل الحق الذي لنفسه، وما ورد من أن الله قال في الأزل للأرواح: "ألست بربكم قالوا بلى"، فإن ذلك الأزل من أزل المخلوقات.
And this self-disclosure is the pre-eternity of the Real which is for Himself. And what has come, that God said in pre-eternity to the spirits, 'Am I not your Lord? They said: Yea' -- that pre-eternity is of the pre-eternity of the created things.
glossary: tajalli
§19 ألا تراه يقول: أخرجهم كالذرّ من ظهر آدم عليه السلام، وتلك عبارة عن حال تعيُّن المعلومات في العالم العلمي.
Do you not see Him saying: He brought them out, like atoms (dharr), from the back of Adam, peace be upon him? -- and that is an expression for the state of the determination of the known-objects in the knowledge-world (al-ʿālam al-ʿilmī).
glossary: ayan-thabita
§20 فتشبيههم بالذرّ للطفهم وغموضهم.
So He likened them to atoms for their subtlety and their obscurity.
§21 وعنوان قوله لهم: {أَلَسْتُ بِرَبِّكُمْ} هو جعل الاستعداد الإلهي فيهم،
And the import of His saying to them 'Am I not your Lord?' is the placing of the divine readiness (al-istiʿdād al-ilāhī) in them;
Qurʾān 7:172: al-Aʿrāf 7:172, the Covenant of Alast, the clause 'alastu bi-rabbikum' (a portion of the verse). Verified, tag correct. glossary: rububiyya
§22 وقولهم بلى عنوان القابلية التي بها قبلوا أن يكونوا مظهره.
and their saying 'Yea' is the import of the receptivity (al-qābiliyya) by which they accepted to be His locus-of-appearance.
§23 فما سألهم الحق سبحانه عن كونه ربهم إلا وقد علم ما جعل فيهم من الاستعداد وفطرهم عليه من القابلية، أنهم يثبتون ربوبيته ولا ينكرونها.
For the Real, glory be to Him, did not ask them about His being their Lord except having already known the readiness He placed in them, and the receptivity He created them upon, that they would affirm His Lordship and not deny it.
glossary: rububiyya
§24 فقالوا: بلى، فشهد لهم تعالى في كتابه ليشهد لهم يوم القيامة أنهم مؤمنون بربوبيته موحِّدون له.
So they said 'Yea'; and He Most High testified for them in His Book, to testify for them on the Day of Resurrection that they are believers in His Lordship, declaring Him One.
§25 لأنا شهداء على الناس، فلا يُقبل منهم يومئذ شهادة الأملاك بكفرهم وجحدهم،
because 'we are witnesses over the people'; so the testimony of the angels, of their unbelief and denial, is not accepted from them on that day,
§26 لأنهم لم يحصل لهم هذا الاطلاع الإلهي بباطن ما كانوا يظنون أنه كفر، فشهادتهم عن غير تحقيق، وشهادتنا عن تحقيق لأنه أنبأنا بذلك.
because they [the angels] did not attain this divine disclosure to the inward of what they supposed to be unbelief; so their testimony is without verification, and our testimony is with verification, because He informed us of that.
§27 فحجتنا البالغة لأنها حجة الله لخلقه بالسعادة، وحجة الأملاك داحضة لأنهم حكموا بالظاهر، وليس للأملاك إلا الظاهر.
So our argument is the conclusive one, because it is the argument of God for His creation, by felicity; and the argument of the angels is refuted, because they judged by the outward, and the angels have nothing but the outward.
§28 ألا تراهم في قصة آدم كيف حكموا عليه بأنه يفسد في الأرض، ادعاءً أنهم مصلحون لما علموا من تسبيحهم وتقديسهم، وفاتهم باطن الأمر الذي هو عليه آدم من الحقائق الرحمانية والصفات الربانية.
Do you not see them, in the story of Adam, how they judged against him that he would corrupt in the earth, claiming that they are the reformers, by what they knew of their own glorifying and hallowing -- and the inward of the matter escaped them, that which Adam is upon, of the Raḥmānī realities and the Lordly attributes?
glossary: rububiyya
§29 فلما ظهرت صفات الحق على آدم وأنبأهم بأسمائهم، لأن الصفة العلمية الإلهية محيطة بهم وبغيرهم، قالوا: {سُبْحَانَكَ لَا عِلْمَ لَنَا إِلَّا مَا عَلَّمْتَنَا}،
So when the attributes of the Real appeared upon Adam, and he informed them of their names -- because the divine knowledge-attribute encompasses them and others -- they said: 'Glory to You, we have no knowledge except what You taught us,'
Qurʾān 2:32: al-Baqara 2:32, the clause 'subḥānaka lā ʿilma lanā illā mā ʿallamtanā' (a portion of the verse). Verified, tag correct. glossary: asma, sifat
§30 على التقييد، بخلاف آدم، فإنه يعلم الأشياء على الإطلاق بعلم إلهي،
with restriction (taqyīd), unlike Adam, for he knows the things absolutely (ʿalā al-iṭlāq), by a divine knowledge,
§31 لأنه المراد بالعلم الإلهي.
because he is the one meant by the divine knowledge.
glossary: insan-al-kamil
§32 وصفات الحق صفاته، وذات الحق ذاته.
And the attributes of the Real are his attributes, and the Essence of the Real is his Essence.
glossary: dhat, sifat, insan-al-kamil Identity-language for the Perfect Human (Adam) as the comprehensive locus of the Names and Attributes; read with the keystone guardrails (Bāb 5 §10, Bāb 10 §8) and the laṭīfa keystone (Bāb 14): the Human is the gathering mirror of the Names, not consubstantial with the Essence -- the known-objects remain determined-in-knowledge (§19), not the Essence itself.
§33 فافهم، والله المستعان.
So understand; and God is the One whose help is sought.
Collation. Bāb 28, al-Azal (Pre-eternity, beginninglessness), the thirteenth chapter. No opening poem. Azal = the intelligible of before-ness (qabliyya) ruled for God by what His perfection requires, emphatically NOT temporal priority ('not His preceding the originated things by a long-aged span of time' -- 'the understanding of one who has no knowledge of God'). His pre-eternity 'is existent now as it was before our existence,' an essential rule; it is described neither by existence (it is ḥukmī, a matter of rule, not concrete) nor by non-existence (it is prior to relation, rule, and sheer non-existence), so 'the pre-eternity of the Real is His after-eternity.' Creation has no place in the Real's azal, not even by knowledge-determination (else it would be 'existent by the existence of the Real'), proven by 76:1 ('a span when he was not a thing mentioned'). The span (ḥīn) is read as a self-disclosure in which the human was neither concretely nor cognitively existent; while the Covenant of Alast (7:172, 'Am I not your Lord? They said: Yea') is assigned to 'the pre-eternity of the created things,' the dharr (atom) extraction read as the determination of the known-objects in the knowledge-world, the question as the placing of the divine readiness (istiʿdād) and the 'Yea' as the receptivity (qābiliyya) to be His locus. It closes with the angels-vs-Adam contrast (the angels judge by the outward; Adam knows the inner Raḥmānī realities, 2:32) and an identity-statement (the Real's attributes and Essence are 'his'), to be read with the Perfect-Human keystone (mirror, not incarnation). Witness handling: 'lā yataṣif' and 'inbasaḥa' restored to 'lā yūṣaf' and 'insaḥaba' (§9); 'amr ḥukmī lā ʿaynī' restored at §9; several kāf-as-alif garbles restored.
Qurʾān. Three Qurʾān loci verified verbatim against alquran.cloud, all tags correct, each quoted as a clause. (1) al-Insān 76:1 (§13), 'hal atā ʿalā al-insāni ḥīnun mina al-dahri lam yakun shayʾan madhkūran.' (2) al-Aʿrāf 7:172 (§18, §21), the Covenant of Alast, the clause 'alastu bi-rabbikum qālū balā' (a portion of the verse). (3) al-Baqara 2:32 (§29), 'subḥānaka lā ʿilma lanā illā mā ʿallamtanā' (a portion). Allusion flagged: 'al-Dahr (Time) is God' (§14) draws on the sound ḥadīth qudsī 'do not curse Time, for God is Time' (Bukhārī/Muslim); the dharr-extraction narrations (§19-20) are the well-known mīthāq / 'Day of Alast' traditions in the tafsīr of 7:172.