al-Insān al-Kāmil, Bāb 29 -- After-eternity

ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Jīlī (b. 767 AH / 1365 CE; d. c. 1422-1428 CE)

full parallel manuscript · complete bitext

الإنسان الكامل · الباب التاسع والعشرون في الأبد

canonical early 15th c. (author d. c. 1408-1428 CE) Arabic ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Jīlī (b. 767 AH / 1365 CE; d. c. 1422-1428 CE) tr. Hekhal Targum engine (claude-opus-4-8[session]); AI-assisted draft, editor review pending

The twenty-ninth chapter of al-Insān al-Kāmil, rendered as a full parallel manuscript: every segment, aligned line by line. The fourteenth chapter, completing the Pre-eternity/After-eternity pair, it treats After-eternity (al-Abad) as “the intelligible of after-ness (baʿdiyya) for God,” the rule that follows from “His necessary, essential existence.” Because His existence “subsists by His Essence,” permanence (baqāʾ) is His by right, “He being unpreceded by non-existence”; the possible, by contrast, “even though it be endless, is yet ruled with cessation, because it is preceded by non-existence,” and “everything preceded by non-existence” must “return to what it was.” After-ness and before-ness, in God, are “by rule, not temporal.”

Editorial note (contested eschatology). This chapter carries a distinctive and much-debated Akbarian teaching, and it should be read with care. al-Jīlī holds that the created “after-eternities (ābād)” of the people of Paradise and the people of the Fire must, at the metaphysical level, “be ruled with cessation — even though they endure, and the rule of their permanence be long” — because “it is not for a creature to accompany Him in His permanence.” Two qualifications keep this from being the simple annihilation of the afterlife it can sound like. First, in the very next breath (and this is essential), al-Jīlī affirms that each single state of the Hereafter has, for the soul that lives it, “the rule of pre-eternality and after-eternality” and “no cessation, ever”; the soul “moves from that state to another,” each likewise endless. The otherworldly experience is genuinely unending; what is denied is that any created sempiternity could be God’s own unconditioned permanence. Second, he claims this not as a syllogism but as something “witnessed by unveiling and direct sight,” and cites “whoever wills, let him believe, and whoever wills, let him disbelieve” (18:29) in frank acknowledgment of its difficulty, deferring the full account to his (later) chapters on Paradise and the Fire. The position draws a metaphysical distinction — between God’s strict abadiyya and the derived, conditioned after-eternities of creatures — that the mainstream Sunni doctrine of the literal eternity (khulūd) of Paradise and Hell does not draw, and which has been debated since. We render it in full, mark al-Jīlī’s own qualifications, and flag it for editor review. A second-reader pass is advisable.

الباب التاسع والعشرون في الأبد

Chapter Twenty-Nine: On After-eternity (al-Abad)

الأبد عبارة عن معقول البعدية لله تعالى، وهو الحكم له من حيث ما يقتضيه وجوده الوجوبي الذاتي،

After-eternity (al-Abad) is an expression for the intelligible of after-ness (baʿdiyya) for God Most High; and it is the rule for Him, in respect of what His necessary, essential existence (wujūduhu al-wujūbī al-dhātī) requires,

لأن وجوده لنفسه قائم بذاته، فلهذا صحَّ له البقاء لأنه غير مسبوق بالعدم.

because His existence, for Himself, subsists by His Essence; and for this, permanence (al-baqāʾ) is sound for Him, because He is not preceded by non-existence.

glossary: dhat

فحُكم له بالبقاء قبل الممكن وبعده، لقيامه بذاته وعدم احتياجه لغيره، بخلاف الممكن.

So He is ruled with permanence before the possible and after it, for His subsisting by His Essence and His not needing another -- unlike the possible.

glossary: dhat

لأنه ولو كان لا يتناهى فهو محكوم عليه بالانقطاع، لأنه مسبوق بالعدم.

For the possible, even though it be endless, is yet ruled with cessation (al-inqiṭāʿ), because it is preceded by non-existence;

وكل مسبوق بالعدم فمرجعه إلى ما كان عليه، فلا بد أن يُحكم عليه بالانعدام.

and everything preceded by non-existence, its return is to what it was; so it must be ruled with annihilation (al-inʿidām).

وإلا لزم أن يساير الحق تعالى في بقائه، وهذا محال، ولو لم يكن كذلك لما صحَّت البعدية لله.

Else it would follow that it accompanies the Real Most High in His permanence -- and this is impossible; and were it not so, the after-ness of God would not be sound.

واعلم أن البعدية والقبلية لله تعالى حكميان في حقه لا زمانيان، لاستحالة مرور الزمان عليه، فافهم ما أشرنا إليه.

And know that after-ness and before-ness, for God Most High, are by rule (ḥukmiyyān) in His regard, not temporal, by reason of the impossibility of the passing of time upon Him. So understand what we have pointed to.

فأبد الحق سبحانه وتعالى شأنه الذاتي باعتبار استمرار وجوده بعد انقطاع وجود الممكن.

So the after-eternity of the Real, glory be to Him and Most High, is His essential affair (shaʾn dhātī), in consideration of the continuation of His existence after the cessation of the existence of the possible.

glossary: dhat

واعلم أن كل شيء من الممكنات له أبد، فأبد الدنيا بتحوُّل الأمر إلى الآخرة، وأبد الآخرة بتحوُّل الأمر إلى الحق تعالى.

And know that everything of the possibles has an after-eternity: the after-eternity of this world is by the turning of the matter to the Hereafter, and the after-eternity of the Hereafter is by the turning of the matter to the Real Most High.

ولا بد أن يُحكم بانقطاع الآباد، آباد أهل الجنة وآباد أهل النار، ولو دامت وطال الحكم ببقائها، فإن أبدية الحق

And it must be ruled with the cessation of the after-eternities -- the after-eternities of the people of Paradise and the after-eternities of the people of the Fire -- even though they endure, and the rule of their permanence be long; for the after-eternality of the Real

The contested eschatological claim begins here; continued and framed at §11.

تلزمنا أن نحكم على ما سواه بالانقطاع، فليس لمخلوق أن يسايره في بقائه. وهذا الحكم ولو أنزلناه في هذا الكلام بعبارة معقولة فإنا قد شهدناه كشفاً وعياناً، {فَمَنْ شَاءَ فَلْيُؤْمِنْ وَمَنْ شَاءَ فَلْيَكْفُرْ}.

obliges us to rule upon all that is other than Him with cessation; so it is not for a creature to accompany Him in His permanence. And this rule, though we have set it down in this discourse in an intelligible expression, yet we have witnessed it by unveiling and direct sight (kashfan wa-ʿiyānan): 'so whoever wills, let him believe, and whoever wills, let him disbelieve.'

Qurʾān 18:29: al-Kahf 18:29, the clause 'fa-man shāʾa fa-l-yuʾmin wa-man shāʾa fa-l-yakfur' (a portion of the verse), cited to acknowledge the difficulty of the contested ruling. Verified, tag correct. glossary: kashf, mushahada al-Jīlī's distinctive teaching that the created after-eternities (ābād) of Paradise and Hell are not the Real's own unconditioned abadiyya. To be read with §12-15: this does NOT teach the annihilation of the afterlife; each otherworldly state is, for its occupant, endless. It diverges from the mainstream literal-khulūd doctrine and is flagged for editor review.

واعلم أن الحال الواحد من أحوال الآخرة، سواء كان من أحوال المرحومين أو من أحوال المعذَّبين، فإن له حكم الأزلية والأبدية.

And know that the single state of the states of the Hereafter -- whether it be of the states of the mercied or of the states of the punished -- has the rule of pre-eternality and after-eternality (al-azaliyya wa-l-abadiyya).

وهذا سرٌّ عزيز يذوقه من وقع فيه، ويعلم أنه لا انقطاع له أبداً.

And this is a precious secret, tasted by one who falls into it, and he knows that it has no cessation, ever.

وهذه حالة واحدة، لكنه قد ينتقل من تلك الحال إلى حال غيرها،

And this is a single state; but he may move from that state to another state,

وقد لا ينتقل، فإذا انتقل منه إلى حال آخر غيره كان هذا الحكم للحال الواقع فيه أيضاً، ولا ينقطع هذا الحكم ولا يختلّ عن أحوال الآخرة.

and he may not move; and when he moves from it to another state besides it, this rule [also] belongs to the state he falls into; and this rule does not cease, nor is it disordered, from the states of the Hereafter.

وهذا أمر شهودي ليس للعبد فيه مجال، لأنه محل ذلك.

And this is a witnessing matter (amr shuhūdī), in which the servant has no scope, because he is the locus of it.

glossary: mushahada

وسيأتي بيان هذا الكلام في موضعه من ذكر الجنة والنار إن شاء الله تعالى.

And there will come the exposition of this discourse in its place, in the mention of Paradise and the Fire, God Most High willing.

فأبد الحق سبحانه وتعالى أبد الآباد، كما أن أزله أزل الأزال.

So the after-eternity of the Real, glory be to Him and Most High, is the after-eternity of after-eternities, just as His pre-eternity is the pre-eternity of pre-eternities.

واعلم أن أبده عين أزله وأزله عين أبده، فإنه عبارة عن انقطاع الطرفين الإضافيين عنه، لينفرد بالبقاء بذاته وكونه قبل.

And know that His after-eternity is the very reality of His pre-eternity, and His pre-eternity the very reality of His after-eternity; for it is an expression for the cutting-off of the two relative ends (al-ṭarafayn al-iḍāfiyyayn) from Him, that He may be singular in permanence by His Essence, and in His being before.

glossary: dhat

فيُسمَّى تعقُّل الإضافة الأولية عنه أزليته، ووجوده قبل أن تُعقل الأولية أزلاً.

So the conceiving of the prior relation, [cut off] from Him, is named His pre-eternality; and His existence before the priority is conceived [is named] pre-eternity (azal).

ويُسمَّى انقطاع الإضافة الآخرية عنه أبداً،

And the cutting-off of the latter relation from Him is named after-eternity (abad);

وبقاؤه بعد تعقُّل الآخرية أبد.

and His permanence after the latterness is conceived is after-eternity (abad).

وهما أعني الأزل والأبد لله وصفان أظهرتهما الإضافة الزمانية لتُعقَل وجوب وجوده.

And the two -- I mean pre-eternity and after-eternity -- are two attributes of God, which the temporal relation made manifest, that the necessity of His existence might be conceived.

glossary: sifat

وإلا فلا أزل ولا أبد، "كان الله ولا شيء معه".

Else there is neither pre-eternity nor after-eternity: 'God was, and nothing with Him.'

A paraphrase of the sound ḥadīth 'God was, and there was nothing before Him / besides Him' (Bukhārī).

فلا وقت له سوى الأزل الذي هو الأبد، الذي هو حكم وجوده باعتبار عدم مرور الزمان عليه،

So He has no time but the pre-eternity which is the after-eternity -- which is the rule of His existence, in consideration of no passing of time upon Him,

وانقطاع حكم الزمان دون التطاول إلى مسايرة بقائه.

and the cutting-off of the rule of time short of its extending to accompany His permanence.

فبقاؤه الذي ينقطع الزمان دون مسايرته هو الأبد.

So His permanence, which time is cut off short of accompanying, is after-eternity (al-abad).

فافهم.

So understand.

Collation. Bāb 29, al-Abad (After-eternity, endlessness/sempiternity), the fourteenth chapter, completing the Azal/Abad pair. No poem. Abad = the intelligible of after-ness (baʿdiyya) for God, the rule by what His necessary, essential existence requires: His existence subsists by His Essence, so permanence (baqāʾ) is sound for Him, He being unpreceded by non-existence, and He is ruled with permanence before and after the possible. The possible, by contrast, even if endless, is ruled with cessation, since 'preceded by non-existence' implies a return to what it was. After-ness and before-ness are ḥukmī (by rule), not temporal. The chapter's contested core (surfaced and framed): the created after-eternities (ābād) of the people of Paradise and the people of the Fire must, metaphysically, be ruled with cessation, 'even though they endure and the rule of their permanence be long,' because 'no creature may accompany Him in His permanence' (witnessed 'by unveiling and direct sight,' with 18:29). This is NOT a simple annihilation of the afterlife: al-Jīlī holds that each single state of the Hereafter has, for its occupant, 'the rule of pre-eternality and after-eternality' and 'no cessation ever' (the soul moves from endless state to endless state) -- so the experiential endlessness stands, while only God's unconditioned abadiyya is strictly His own. It closes with abad as the very reality of azal (both being the cutting-off of the two relative ends, so God is singular in permanence by His Essence), and the two as attributes manifested by the temporal relation. Witness handling: 'al-āzāl' restored to 'al-azāl' (§18); several kāf-as-alif garbles restored.

Qurʾān. One Qurʾān locus verified verbatim against alquran.cloud, tag correct. al-Kahf 18:29 (§11), the clause 'fa-man shāʾa fa-l-yuʾmin wa-man shāʾa fa-l-yakfur' (a portion of the verse), cited by al-Jīlī to acknowledge the difficulty of the contested ruling he claims by unveiling. Allusion flagged: 'God was, and nothing with Him' (§24) is a paraphrase of the sound ḥadīth 'God was, and there was nothing before/besides Him' (Bukhārī).

Apparatus

After-eternity as a rule of after-ness, the cessation of created sempiternities, and abad as the reality of azal

Bāb 29 completes the Azal/Abad pair. After-eternity (al-Abad) is “the intelligible of after-ness for God,” following from “His necessary, essential existence”: His existence “subsists by His Essence,” so permanence is His by right (He is “unpreceded by non-existence”), and He is “ruled with permanence before the possible and after it.” The possible, “even though endless, is ruled with cessation,” since what is “preceded by non-existence” must “return to what it was”; after-ness and before-ness are “by rule, not temporal.” The chapter’s contested core: the created after-eternities (ābād) of the people of Paradise and the people of the Fire “must be ruled with cessation, even though they endure,” because “no creature may accompany Him in His permanence” — a ruling al-Jīlī claims “by unveiling and direct sight,” with 18:29. Crucially, this is paired with the affirmation that each single state of the Hereafter has, for its occupant, “the rule of pre-eternality and after-eternality” and “no cessation ever,” the soul moving from endless state to endless state — so the experiential endlessness of the afterlife stands, while only God’s unconditioned abadiyya is strictly His own; the position is a metaphysical distinction, not a denial of the otherworld, and diverges from the mainstream literal-khulūd doctrine. al-Jīlī defers fuller treatment to his chapters on Paradise and the Fire. The chapter closes with the identity of after-eternity and pre-eternity (both “the cutting-off of the two relative ends,” so God is “singular in permanence by His Essence”), the two named as “attributes which the temporal relation made manifest, that the necessity of His existence might be conceived” — for “else there is neither pre-eternity nor after-eternity: God was, and nothing with Him.” Recorded in al-Jīlī’s voice, with the contested eschatology surfaced and qualified, against the mainstream.

Model: claude-opus-4-8[session]. Glossary: akbarian-sufism-v0.27. Frame: zahir-batin. Drafted: 2026-06-03. Edition: full parallel manuscript (29 segments, complete; no embedded poem).

Source-text attestation: base from the ibnalarabi.com digital matn (kamil.php?id=32), clean of navigation chrome; the trailing site-search widget excluded. Qurʾān: one locus verified verbatim against alquran.cloud, tag correct — al-Kahf 18:29 (§11, the clause “fa-man shāʾa fa-l-yuʾmin wa-man shāʾa fa-l-yakfur,” cited to flag the difficulty of the contested ruling). Allusion flagged: “God was, and nothing with Him” (§24) is a paraphrase of the sound ḥadīth “God was, and there was nothing before Him / besides Him” (Bukhārī). Witness handling: “al-āzāl” restored to “al-azāl” (§18); several kāf-as-alif garbles restored. Doctrinal framing: the cessation-of-created-ābād teaching (§10-11) is surfaced and immediately qualified by the experiential-endlessness of the otherworldly states (§12-15); the divergence from the mainstream khulūd doctrine is named in the editorial note and the chapter flagged for editor review; the “before-ness/after-ness of rule, not of time” (§7) is cross-linked to Bāb 28 and Bāb 9 §33. Glossary terms engaged: dhāt, ṣifāt, kashf, mushāhada.

Status: AI-assisted draft, editor review pending; a second-reader pass is advisable (the after-ness-of-rule definition, the contested cessation of created after-eternities with its experiential-endlessness qualification, and the abad-azal identity). The twenty-ninth chapter of the full-manuscript edition of al-Insān al-Kāmil.