al-Insān al-Kāmil, Bāb 33 -- The Mother of the Book (Umm al-Kitāb)
full parallel manuscript · complete bitext
الإنسان الكامل · في أم الكتاب
The complete chapter on the Mother of the Book (Umm al-Kitāb), rendered as a full parallel manuscript: every segment, aligned line by line, opening with five of al-Jīlī’s own verses. It is the metaphysical preamble to the scriptural arc: the Mother of the Book is “the quiddity of the inmost essence” of the Essence — a “Point,” an inkwell, “upon which no name, nor description, nor existence, nor non-existence is applied” — and the Book itself is absolute existence, “the letters in the inkwell.” On this al-Jīlī builds an entire metaphysics of writing: the Book as sūras (essential forms), verses (gatherings), words (entified creatures), and letters — the dotted letters the fixed entities, the undotted letters the divine essentials and the Perfect Human, “created upon His form.”
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الباب الثالث والثلاثون في أم الكتاب
Chapter Thirty-Three: On the Mother of the Book (Umm al-Kitāb)
أمّ الكتاب فكنهه في ذاته ..... هي نقطة منها انتشاء صفاته
The Mother of the Book -- its inmost essence (kunh) in His Essence / is a Point, from which is the spreading-forth of His Attributes.
glossary: umm-al-kitab, dhat, sifat al-Jīlī's opening verse (1 of 5).
هي كالدواة لأحرف تبدو على ..... ورق الوجود بحكم ترتيباته
It is like the inkwell for letters that appear upon / the parchment of existence, by the rule of its orderings.
glossary: wujud Opening verse 2 of 5.
فالمهملات من الحروف إشارة ..... فيما تعلّق بالقديم بذاته
So the undotted letters are an allusion / to what is attached to the Eternal by His Essence.
Opening verse 3 of 5.
والمعجمات عبارة عن حادث ..... من أنه طار على نقطاته
And the dotted ones are an expression for an originated [thing] / [marked] by its having risen upon its dots.
Opening verse 4 of 5.
ومتى تركبت الحروف فإنها ..... كلم فتلكم محض مخلوقاته
And whenever the letters are composed, then they / are words -- and those are the sheer [substance] of His creatures.
Opening verse 5 of 5.
اعلم أن أم الكتاب: هي عبارة عن ماهية كنه الذات المعبر عنها من بعض وجوهها بماهيات الحقائق التي لا يطلق عليها اسم ولا نعت ولا وصف ولا وجود ولا علم ولا حق ولا خلق.
Know that the Mother of the Book (umm al-kitāb) is an expression for the quiddity of the inmost essence (māhiyyat kunh) of the Essence -- expressed, from some of its aspects, by the quiddities of the realities upon which no name, nor designation, nor description, nor existence, nor knowledge, nor Real, nor created is applied.
glossary: umm-al-kitab, dhat
والكتاب هو الوجود المطلق الذي لا عدم فيه.
And the Book (al-kitāb) is the absolute existence in which there is no non-existence.
glossary: wujud, quran-ontological
وكانت ماهية الكنه أم الكتاب.
And the quiddity of the inmost essence was the Mother of the Book.
glossary: umm-al-kitab
لأن الوجود مندرج فيها اندراج الحروف في الدواة.
Because existence is included in it [as] the inclusion of letters in the inkwell (al-dawāt).
glossary: wujud
فلا يطلق على الدواة باسم شيء من أسماء الحروف سواء كانت الحروف مهملة أو معجمة.
So the inkwell is not called by [any] name of the names of the letters -- whether the letters be undotted or dotted.
وسيأتي بيان الحروف في هذا الباب.
And the exposition of the letters will come in this chapter.
فكذلك ماهية الكنه لا يطلق عليه اسم الوجود ولا اسم العدم، لأنها غير معقولة، والحكم على غير المعقول بأمر محال.
So likewise the quiddity of the inmost essence -- upon it is applied neither the name of existence nor the name of non-existence, because it is not intelligized, and the ruling upon the non-intelligized by [any] matter is impossible.
glossary: dhat
فلا يقال بأنها حق ولا خلق ولا غير ولا عين.
So it is not said of it that it is Real, nor created, nor other, nor [the] very [same].
ولكنها عبارة عن ماهية لا تنحصر بعبارة إلا ولها ضدّ تلك العبارة من كل وجه.
But it is an expression for a quiddity that is not confined by [any] expression but that it has the contrary of that expression from every aspect.
وهي الألوهية باعتبار، ومن وجه هي محل الأشياء ومصدر الوجود.
And it is Divinity by [one] consideration, and from [another] aspect it is the place of things and the source of existence.
glossary: wujud
والوجود فيها بالعقل، ولو كان العقل يقتضي أن يكون الوجود في ماهية الحقائق بالقوّة كوجود النخلة في النواة.
And existence in it is by the intellect [conceptually] -- even though the intellect would require that existence be in the quiddity of the realities by potency, like the existence of the palm-tree in the date-stone.
glossary: aql-awwal
ولكن الشهود يعطي الوجود منها بالفعل لا بالقوّة للمقتضى الذات الإلهي.
But witnessing (al-shuhūd) gives existence from it by act, not by potency, by the divine essential requisite.
glossary: mushahada, dhat
لكن الإجمال المطلق هو الذي حكم على العقل بأن يقول بأن الوجود في ماهية الحقائق بالقوة بخلاف الشهود.
But the absolute summary is what ruled upon the intellect that it say that existence is in the quiddity of the realities by potency -- unlike witnessing.
glossary: mushahada
لأنه يعطيك الأمر المجمل مفصلاً، على أنه في نفس ذلك التفصيل باق على إجماله.
Because it [witnessing] gives you the summary matter detailed, [yet] in the very [midst of] that detailing remaining upon its summariness.
وهذا أمر ذوقي شهودي كشفي لا يدرك العقل من حيث نظره.
And this is a tasting, witnessing, unveiling matter that the intellect does not apprehend from the standpoint of its [discursive] consideration.
glossary: mushahada, kashf
لكنه إذا وصل إلى ذلك المحل وتجلت عليه الأشياء قبلها وأدركها كما هي عليه، وإذا علمت أن الكتاب هو الوجود المطلق تبين لك أن الأمر الذي لا يحكم عليه بالوجود ولا بالعدم هو أم الكتاب.
But when it [the intellect] arrives at that place, and things are disclosed to it, it receives them and apprehends them as they are. And when you know that the Book is absolute existence, it becomes clear to you that the matter upon which neither existence nor non-existence is ruled is the Mother of the Book.
glossary: tajalli, wujud, umm-al-kitab
وهو المسمى بماهية الحقائق لأنه كالذي تولد الكتاب منه.
And it is what is named the quiddity of the realities, because it is like that from which the Book was born.
وليس للكتاب إلا وجه واحد من وجهي كنه الماهية.
And the Book has only one aspect of the two aspects of the inmost essence of the quiddity.
glossary: quran-ontological
لأن الوجود أحد طرفيها، والعدم هو الثاني.
Because existence is one of its two extremities, and non-existence is the second.
glossary: wujud
فلهذا ما قبلت العبارة بالوجود ولا بالعدم لأن ما فيها وجه من هذه الوجوه إلا
And for this it [the quiddity] did not accept expression by existence nor by non-existence, because there is no aspect of these aspects in it but
وهي ضدّه، فالكتاب الذي أنزله الحق سبحانه على لسان نبيه صلى الله عليه وسلم هو عبارة عن أحكام الوجود المطلق الذي هو أحد وجهي ماهية الحقائق.
it has its contrary; so the Book that the Real (glory be His) sent down upon the tongue of His Prophet (God bless him and grant him peace) is an expression for the rulings of absolute existence, which is one of the two aspects of the quiddity of the realities.
glossary: quran-ontological, wujud
فمعرفة الوجود المطلق هو علم الكتاب.
So the knowing of absolute existence is the knowledge of the Book.
glossary: wujud
وقد أشار الحق إلى ذلك في قوله: «وكل شيء أحصيناه في إمام مبين».
And the Real pointed to that in His saying: "And everything We have counted up in a Clear Record [Leader]" (36:12).
Qurʾān 36:12: Yā Sīn 36:12, verbatim
وقوله: «ولا رطب ولا يابس إلا في كتاب مبين».
And His saying: "Nor [anything] moist nor dry but [it is] in a Clear Book" (6:59).
Qurʾān 6:59: al-Anʿām 6:59, verbatim
وقوله: «وكل شيء فصلناه تفصيلا».
And His saying: "And everything We have detailed in [full] detail" (17:12).
Qurʾān 17:12: al-Isrāʾ 17:12, verbatim
وبعد أن أعلمناك أن أم الكتاب هي ماهية الكنه.
And after We have made you know that the Mother of the Book is the quiddity of the inmost essence,
glossary: umm-al-kitab
وظهر أن الكتاب هو الوجود المطلق.
and it has appeared that the Book is absolute existence,
glossary: wujud, quran-ontological
اعلم أن الكتاب سور وآيات وكلمات وحروف، فالسور عبارة عن الصور الذاتية وهي تجليات الكمال.
know that the Book is sūras, verses, words, and letters. So the sūras are an expression for the essential forms (al-ṣuwar al-dhātiyya), which are the self-disclosures of perfection.
glossary: dhat, tajalli
ولا بد لكل سورة من معنى فارق تتميز به تلك السورة عن غيرها، فإذن لا بد لكل صورة إلهية كمالية من شأن تتميز به تلك الصور عن غيرها.
And there must be, for every sūra, a distinguishing meaning by which that sūra is distinguished from another; so, then, there must be, for every perfecting divine form, an affair by which those forms are distinguished from another.
ولولا التطويل لنبهناك على كل صورة منها وسورة من كتاب الله تعالى.
And were it not for lengthiness, we would alert you to every form of them and [every] sūra of the Book of God (exalted is He).
والآيات عبارة عن حقائق الجمع، كل آية تدل على جمع إلهي من حيث معنى مخصوص يعلم ذلك الجمع الإلهي عن مفهوم الآية المتلوة.
And the verses (al-āyāt) are an expression for the realities of gathering (jamʿ); every verse indicates a divine gathering, from the standpoint of a particular meaning by which that divine gathering is known from the understanding of the recited verse.
glossary: jam
ولا بد لكل جمع من اسم جمالي وجلالي يكون التجلي الإلهي في ذلك الجمع من حيث ذلك الاسم.
And there must be, for every gathering, a beauty-Name and a majesty-Name, [such] that the divine self-disclosure in that gathering is from the standpoint of that Name.
glossary: jam, asma, tajalli
وكانت الآية عبارة عن الجمع لأنها صارت عبارة واحدة عن كلمات شتى.
And the verse was an expression for the gathering because it became a single expression for diverse words.
glossary: jam
وليس الجمع إلا شهود الأشياء المتفرقة لعين الواحدية الإلهية الحقية.
And the gathering is nothing but the witnessing of the scattered things by the very [eye of] the divine, Real Oneness (al-wāḥidiyya).
glossary: jam, mushahada, wahidiyya
والكلمات هي عبارة عن حقائق المخلوقات العينية، أعني المتعينة في العالم الشهادي والحروف،
And the words (al-kalimāt) are an expression for the realities of the entified creatures -- I mean, those determined in the witnessed world; and the letters,
فالمنقوط منها عبارة عن الأعيان الثابتة في العلم الإلهي.
so the dotted of them is an expression for the fixed entities (al-aʿyān al-thābita) in the divine Knowledge.
glossary: ayn-thabita
والمهمل منها على نوعين:
And the undotted of them is of two kinds:
(النوع الأول) مهمل تتعلق به الحروف ولا يتعلق هو بها.
(The first kind) undotted [letters] to which the [other] letters attach, while it does not attach to them.
وهي خمسة: الألف، والدال، والراء، والواو، واللام.
And they are five: the alif, the dāl, the rāʾ, the wāw, and the lām.
الألف إشارة إلى مقتضيات كمالية وهي خمسة:
The alif is a pointing to perfecting requisites, and they are five:
الذات والحياة والعلم والقدرة والإرادة،
the Essence, Life, Knowledge, Power, and Will,
glossary: dhat, sifat
إذ لا سبيل إلى وجود هذه الأربعة المذكورة إلا بالذات.
since there is no way to the existence of these four mentioned except by the Essence,
glossary: dhat
ولا سبيل إلى كمال الذات إلا بها.
and no way to the perfection of the Essence except by them.
glossary: dhat
(والنوع الثاني) مهمل تتعلق به الحروف ويتعلق هو بها، وهي تسعة:
(And the second kind) undotted [letters] to which the [other] letters attach, and it [also] attaches to them; and they are nine:
فالإشارة بها إلى الإنسان الكامل لجمعه بين الخمسة الإلهية والأربعة الخلقية.
so the pointing by them is to the Perfect Human, for his gathering between the five divine [requisites] and the four created [ones].
glossary: insan-al-kamil, jam
وهي العناصر الأربعة مع ما تولد منها.
And they are the four elements together with what is generated from them.
وكانت أحرف الإنسان الكامل غير منقوطة لأنه خلقها على صورته.
And the letters of the Perfect Human were undotted, because He created him upon His form.
glossary: insan-al-kamil
ولكن تميزت الحقائق المطلقة الإلهية عن الحقائق المقيدة الإنسانية لاستناد الإنسان إلى موجد يوجده.
But the absolute, divine realities were distinguished from the restricted, human realities by the dependence of the human upon a bringer-into-being who brings him into being.
ولو كان هو الموجد فإن حكمه أن يستند إلى غيره، ولهذا كانت حروفه تتعلق بالحروف، وتتعلق الحروف بها.
And were he the bringer-into-being [himself], yet his ruling is that he depend upon other than himself; and for this his letters attach to the [other] letters, and the letters attach to him.
وقد نبهنا على حقيقة الحروف وكيفية منشئها من الألف وكيفية منشأ الألف من النقطة في كتابنا المسمى بـ الكهف والرقيم في شرح بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
And we have alerted [you] to the reality of the letters, how they arise from the alif, and how the alif arises from the Point, in our book named al-Kahf wa-l-Raqīm fī sharḥ Bismillāh al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm.
al-Jīlī names his own commentary on the Basmala (also cited in Bāb 44).
فمن شاء أن يعرف ذلك فلينظر في الكتاب المذكور.
So whoever wishes to know that, let him look into the mentioned book.
ولما كان حكم واجب الوجود أنه قائم بذاته غير محتاج في وجوده إلى غيره مع احتياج الكل إليه.
And since the ruling of the Necessary of Existence is that He subsists by His Essence, not needing, in His existence, other than Him -- with the need of all for Him --
glossary: dhat
كانت الحروف المشيرة إلى هذا المعنى من الكتاب مهملة تتعلق بها الحروف ولا تتعلق هي بحرف منها.
the letters pointing to this meaning, of the Book, were undotted [letters] to which the [other] letters attach, while it does not attach to a letter of them.
كالألف والدال والراء والواو واللام ألف.
Like the alif, the dāl, the rāʾ, the wāw, and the lām-alif.
فإن كل واحد من هذه الأحرف تتعلق به جميع الحروف ولا يتعلق هو بحرف منها. ولا يقال إن لام ألف حرفان فإن الحديث النبوي قد صرّح بأن اللام ألف حرف واحد فافهم.
For each one of these letters -- all the [other] letters attach to it, while it does not attach to a letter of them. And it is not said that lām-alif is two letters, for the Prophetic hadith has stated plainly that the lām-alif is a single letter. So understand.
The 'lām-alif is one letter' hadith is obscure and of contested authenticity; flagged.
واعلم أن الحروف ليست بكلمات لأن الأعيان الثابتة لم تدخل تحت كلمة «كن» إلا عند الإيجاد العيني.
And know that the letters are not words, because the fixed entities did not enter under the word "Be!" (kun) except at the entified bringing-into-being.
glossary: ayn-thabita, al-amr
وأما هي ففي أوجبها وتعينها العلمي فلا يدخل عليها اسم التكوين فهي حق لا خلق.
And as for them [the fixed entities], in their being-necessitated and their cognitive determination, the name of bringing-into-being does not enter upon them, so they are Real, not created.
glossary: ayn-thabita
لأن الخلق عبارة عما دخل تحت كلمة «كن».
Because "created" is an expression for what entered under the word "Be!"
glossary: al-amr
وليست الأعيان الثابتة في العلم بهذا الوصف حادثة، لكنها ملحقة بالحدوث إلحاقاً حكمياً لما تقتضيه ذواتها من اسناد وجود الحادث في نفسه إلى قديم كما سبق بيانه في هذا الكتاب.
And the fixed entities, in [the divine] Knowledge, are not, by this description, originated; but they are joined to origination by a ruling [conceptual] joining, by what their essences require, of the dependence of the existence of the originated, in itself, upon an Eternal -- as has preceded in exposition in this book.
glossary: ayn-thabita
فالأعيان الموجودة المعبر عنها بالحروف ملحقة في العالم العلمي بالعلم الذي هو ملحق بالعالم، فهي بهذا الاعتبار الثاني قديمة.
So the existent entities expressed by the letters are joined, in the cognitive world, to the Knowledge which is joined to the Knower; so they are, by this second consideration, eternal (qadīma).
glossary: ayn-thabita
وقد سبق تفصيل ذلك في باب القدم.
And the detailing of that has preceded in the chapter on pre-eternity (al-qidam).
فإذا علمت أن الكتاب هو الوجود المطلق الجامع للحروف والآيات والسور على ما أشارت إليه حقيقة كل منها.
So when you know that the Book is the absolute existence gathering the letters, the verses, and the sūras, upon what the reality of each of them pointed to,
glossary: quran-ontological, wujud
فاعلم أن اللوح عبارة عما اقتضى التعيين من ذلك في الوجود على الترتيب الحكمي لا على المقتضى الإلهي غير المنحصر.
then know that the Tablet (al-lawḥ) is an expression for what required determination of that, in existence, upon the ruling [wise] order -- not upon the unconfined divine requisite.
glossary: lawh-mahfuz
فإن ذلك لا يوجد في اللوح مثل تفصيل أحوال أهل الجنة والنار وأهل التجليات وما أشبه ذلك.
For that is not found in the Tablet -- like the detailing of the states of the people of the Garden and the Fire, and the people of the self-disclosures, and the like of that.
glossary: lawh-mahfuz, tajalli
ولكنه موجود في الكتاب، والكتاب كل عام، واللوح جزئي خاص.
But it is found in the Book; and the Book is a universal whole, and the Tablet is a particular [thing], special.
glossary: quran-ontological, lawh-mahfuz
وسيأتي بيانه إن شاء الله تعالى.
And its exposition will come, God (exalted is He) willing.
والله يقول الحق وهو يهدي السبيل.
And God says the truth, and He guides to the way.
Collation. Two-witness collated as part of the scriptural arc (staged 2026-06-02). No lossy drop. The witness-2 capture carried the site's navigation chrome above the text; only the genuine chapter is rendered. Opens with five of al-Jīlī's own verses (§2-§6); contains his letter-mysticism (the undotted/dotted ḥurūf), with a cross-reference to his commentary al-Kahf wa-l-Raqīm (§56).
Qurʾān. Three loci, all verified verbatim, all witness tags correct: Yā Sīn 36:12 (everything counted in a Clear Record), al-Anʿām 6:59 (nor moist nor dry but in a Clear Book), al-Isrāʾ 17:12 (everything detailed in detail). The 'lām-alif is a single letter' hadith (§61) is contested/obscure and flagged.