al-Insān al-Kāmil, Bāb 45-49 -- The Throne, the Footstool, the Pen, the Tablet, and the Lote-Tree
al-Insān al-Kāmil, Bāb 45-49
الإنسان الكامل · في العرش · في الكرسي · في القلم · في اللوح · في السدرة
Five consecutive chapters that lay out a single cosmology of being. al-Jīlī reads the great Qurʾānic cosmic structures not as furniture of a sky-world but as the descending ranks of one self-disclosure, each mirrored in the human interior. The Throne (al-ʿArsh) is the all-encompassing sphere, “the body of the Presence,” the locus of Magnitude. The Footstool (al-Kursī) is the disclosure of the active attributes, the seat of omnipotence, where “the two Feet” of Bāb 44 hang down. The Supreme Pen (al-Qalam al-Aʿlā) is the first differentiated determination, which al-Jīlī identifies with the First Intellect and the Muhammadan Spirit. The Preserved Tablet (al-Lawḥ al-Maḥfūẓ) is the Universal Soul, the inscribed light where the Decree (qaḍāʾ) becomes Determining (qadar). And the Lote-Tree of the Limit (Sidrat al-Muntahā) is the terminus of every creature’s ascent, beyond which lies only the Real — read inwardly as faith, and crowned by eight ascending Presences.
Editorial note. Two doctrines here go beyond mainstream theology and are framed, not endorsed. (1) The identification of the Supreme Pen with the First Intellect and the pre-existent Muhammadan Spirit (Bāb 47) is the Akbarian Nūr Muḥammadī teaching; it rests on three “first thing God created” hadith of contested authenticity, which the apparatus grades rather than presents as sound. (2) The reading of the Preserved Tablet as the soul of the Perfect Human (Bāb 48) is guarded by al-Jīlī’s own tanzīh caveat: it is “without indwelling (ḥulūl), God exalted above indwelling and union (ittiḥād).” Hekhal records the readings in his words and keeps those qualifications in front of them. Genuine first-public-domain-English; scoping at hekhal-targum/docs/JILI-INSAN-AL-KAMIL-SCOPING.md.
Bāb 45 — al-ʿArsh (The Throne)
اعلم أن العرش على التحقيق مظهرُ العظمة ومكانةُ التجلي وخصوصيةُ الذات، ويسمى جسمَ الحضرة ومكانها، لكنه المكانُ المنزَّه عن الجهات الست، وهو المنظرُ الأعلى والمحلُّ الأزهى، والشاملُ لجميع أنواع الموجودات. فهو في الوجود المطلق كالجسم للوجود الإنساني، باعتبار أن العالم الجسماني شاملٌ للعالم الروحاني والخيالي والعقلي. ولهذا عبَّر بعضُ الصوفية عنه بأنه الجسمُ الكلي، وفيه نظر؛ لأن الجسم الكلي وإن كان شاملًا لعالم الأرواح، فالروحُ فوقه والنفسُ الكلي فوقه، ولا نعلم أن في الوجود شيئًا فوق العرش إلا الرحمن. وقد عبَّروا عن النفس الكلي بأنها اللوح، فهذا حكمٌ بأن اللوح فوق العرش، وهو خلافُ الإجماع.
Know that the Throne, in verified truth, is the locus of manifestation of Magnitude, the station of self-disclosure, and the special property of the Essence. It is called “the body of the Presence” and its place — yet it is a place transcendent of the six directions; it is the highest vista and the most radiant locus, encompassing all the kinds of existents. In absolute existence it is like the body for human existence, in that the corporeal world encompasses the spiritual, the imaginal, and the intellectual worlds. For this reason some of the Sufis expressed it as “the Universal Body” — and in that there is a reservation; for the Universal Body, though it encompass the world of spirits, still the Spirit is above it and the Universal Soul is above it, and we do not know of anything in existence above the Throne save the All-Merciful. They have also expressed the Universal Soul as “the Tablet” — which would be a ruling that the Tablet is above the Throne, and that is contrary to the consensus.
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
والذي أعطانا الكشفُ في العرش مطلقًا أنه فلكٌ محيطٌ بجميع الأفلاك المعنوية والصورية، سطحُ ذلك الفلك هي المكانةُ الرحمانية، ونفسُ هوية ذلك الفلك هو مطلقُ الوجود. ولهذا الفلك ظاهرٌ وباطن: فباطنه عالمُ القدس، وهو عالمُ أسماء الحق سبحانه وتعالى وصفاته، وهو المعبَّر عنه بالكثيب الذي يخرج إليه أهلُ الجنة يوم سوقهم لمشاهدة الحق؛ وظاهره عالمُ الإنس، وهو محلُّ التشبيه والتجسيم والتصوير، ولهذا كان سقفَ الجنة. فمتى قيل لك العرشُ مطلقًا فاعلم أن المراد به هذا الفلكُ المذكور، ومتى قُيِّد بشيء من الصفات فاعلم أن المراد به ذلك الوجهُ من هذا الفلك، كقوله: العرشُ المجيد، فإن المراد به المرتبةُ الرحمانية التي هي منشأ المجد؛ وكذلك العرشُ العظيم، فإن المراد به الحقائقُ الذاتية والمقتضياتُ النفسانية التي مكانتها العظمة. واعلم أن الجسم في الهيكل الإنساني جامعٌ لجميع ما تضمَّنه وجودُ الإنسان من الروح والعقل والقلب، فهو في الإنسان نظيرُ العرش في العالم، فالعرشُ هيكلُ العالم وجسدُه الجامعُ لجميع متفرقاته.
What unveiling has given us concerning the Throne, absolutely, is that it is a sphere encompassing all the spheres, the meaning-spheres and the form-spheres; the surface of that sphere is the All-Merciful station, and the very identity of that sphere is absolute existence. This sphere has an outward and an inward: its inward is the world of holiness (ʿālam al-quds), the world of the Names and Attributes of the Real, expressed as “the Dune” (al-kathīb) to which the people of Paradise go forth on the day they are led out to the vision of the Real; and its outward is the world of humankind, the locus of likening, of embodiment, and of figuration — and for this reason it is “the roof of Paradise.” So whenever the Throne is named absolutely, know that what is meant is this sphere; and whenever it is qualified by some attribute, know that what is meant is that face of this sphere — as in His saying “the glorious Throne” (al-ʿarsh al-majīd), where what is meant is the All-Merciful rank that is the wellspring of glory; and likewise “the mighty Throne” (al-ʿarsh al-ʿaẓīm), where what is meant is the essential realities whose station is Magnitude. And know that the body in the human frame gathers all that human existence contains — spirit, intellect, heart — so it is, in the human being, the counterpart of the Throne in the cosmos: the Throne is the temple of the cosmos and its body, gathering all its scattered parts.
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
Bāb 46 — al-Kursī (The Footstool)
اعلم أن الكرسي عبارةٌ عن تجلي جملة الصفات الفعلية، فهو مظهرُ الاقتدار الإلهي، ومحلُّ نفوذ الأمر والنهي، وأولُ توجُّه الرقائق الحقية في إبراز الحقائق الخلقية يكون في الكرسي، وقدما الحقِّ متدلِّيتان عليه؛ وذلك لأنه محلُّ الإيجاد والإعدام، ومنشأ التفصيل والإبهام، ومركزُ الضرِّ والنفع والفرق والجمع، فهو محلُّ فصل القضاء. والقلمُ محلُّ التقدير، واللوحُ المحفوظ محلٌّ للتدوين والتسطير. قال الله تعالى: «وسِع كرسيُّه السماوات والأرض» — واعلم أن هذا الوُسعَ وُسعان: وُسعٌ حكميٌّ ووُسعٌ وجوديٌّ عيني. فالوُسعُ الحكمي: هو أن السماوات والأرض أثرُ صفةٍ من صفاته الفعلية، والكرسيُّ محلُّ مظهر جميع الصفات الفعلية. وأما الوُسعُ الوجودي العيني: فهو أن الوجود بأسره — أعني الوجودَ المقيَّد — محيطٌ بالسماوات والأرض وغيرهما، وهو المعبَّر عنه بالكرسي، فهو الكرسي الذي دلَّى الحقُّ عليه قدميه، وأوجد فيه وأعدم، وأعطى ومنع، ورفع ووضع، وأعزَّ وأذلَّ، سبحانه عز وجل.
Know that the Footstool is an expression for the self-disclosure of the totality of the active attributes: it is the locus of manifestation of divine omnipotence and the place where command and prohibition take effect. The first turning of the divine subtleties toward bringing forth the created realities is in the Footstool, and “the two Feet of the Real hang down upon it” — because it is the place of bringing-into-existence and of annihilation, the source of detailing and of ambiguity, the center of harm and benefit, of separation and gathering; it is the place of the decisive judgment (faṣl al-qaḍāʾ). The Pen is the place of the Determining, and the Preserved Tablet a place of recording and inscribing. God said: “His Footstool embraces the heavens and the earth” (2:255) — and know that this embrace is twofold: a juridical embrace and an existential, concrete one. The juridical embrace is that the heavens and the earth are the trace of one of His active attributes, while the Footstool is the locus of the manifestation of all the active attributes. As for the existential, concrete embrace, it is that existence in its entirety — I mean conditioned existence — encompasses the heavens and the earth and all else; and that is what is expressed as the Footstool: the Footstool upon which the Real let His two Feet hang, in which He brought into existence and annihilated, gave and withheld, raised and lowered, exalted and abased — glory and majesty be His.
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
Bāb 47 — al-Qalam al-Aʿlā (The Supreme Pen)
اعلم أن القلم الأعلى عبارةٌ عن أول تعيينات الحق في المظاهر الخلقية على التمييز؛ وذلك لأن الخلق له تعيُّنٌ إبهاميٌّ أولًا في العلم الإلهي، ثم له وجودٌ مجملٌ حكميٌّ في العرش، ثم له ظهورٌ تفصيليٌّ في الكرسي، ثم له ظهورٌ على التمييز في القلم الأعلى. ووجودُه في القلم وجودٌ عينيٌّ مميَّزٌ عن الحق، وهو أنموذجٌ يَنتقش ما يقتضيه في اللوح المحفوظ، كالعقل فإنه أنموذجٌ ينتقش ما يقتضيه في النفس؛ فالعقلُ بمكانة القلم، والنفسُ بمكانة اللوح. ولهذا قال عليه الصلاة والسلام: «أولُ ما خلق اللهُ العقل»، وقال: «أولُ ما خلق اللهُ القلم» — والقلمُ هو العقلُ الأول. وقال عليه الصلاة والسلام: «أولُ ما خلق اللهُ روحَ نبيِّك يا جابر». فصار القلمُ الأعلى والعقلُ الأول والروحُ المحمدي عبارةً عن جوهرٍ فرد: فهو بنسبته إلى الخلق يسمى القلمَ الأعلى، وبنسبته إلى مبدأ الخلق يسمى العقلَ الأول، وبإضافته إلى الإنسان الكامل يسمى روحًا محمديًّا صلى الله عليه وسلم.
Know that the Supreme Pen is an expression for the first determinations of the Real in the created loci-of-manifestation, in differentiation. That is because creation has, first, an undifferentiated determination in the divine Knowledge; then a summary, juridical existence in the Throne; then a detailed manifestation in the Footstool; then a differentiated manifestation in the Supreme Pen. Its existence in the Pen is a concrete existence, distinct from the Real, and it is a template (anmūdhaj) that inscribes what it entails upon the Preserved Tablet — as the Intellect is a template that inscribes what it entails upon the Soul. So the Intellect is at the rank of the Pen, and the Soul at the rank of the Tablet. For this reason he (God bless him and grant him peace) said: “The first thing God created was the Intellect,” and said: “The first thing God created was the Pen” — and the Pen is the First Intellect. And he said: “The first thing God created was the spirit of your Prophet, O Jābir.” So the Supreme Pen, the First Intellect, and the Muhammadan Spirit became an expression for a single substance (jawhar fard): by its relation to creation it is named the Supreme Pen; by its relation to the origin of creation, the First Intellect; and by its attachment to the Perfect Human, a Muhammadan Spirit (God bless him and grant him peace).
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
Bāb 48 — al-Lawḥ al-Maḥfūẓ (The Preserved Tablet)
نفسٌ حوَتْ بالذات علمَ عوالمٍ … هي لوحُنا المحفوظ يا ابنَ الآدمي
صورُ الوجودِ جميعُها منقوشةٌ … في قابليتها بغيرِ تكاتُمِ
فإذا زكَتْ بإلهها وصفَتْ به … من ظلماتِ الغيمِ الغيومِ القاتمِ
ظهرَتْ لها الأشياءُ فيها عندها … وبدَتْ لها مستخفياتُ العالمِ
اعلم هداك الله أن اللوح المحفوظ عبارةٌ عن نورٍ إلهيٍّ حقيٍّ متجلٍّ في مشهدٍ خلقي، انطبعت الموجوداتُ فيه انطباعًا أصليًّا، فهو أمُّ الهيولى؛ لأن الهيولى لا تقتضي صورةً إلا وهي منطبعةٌ في اللوح المحفوظ. لأن القلم الأعلى جرى في اللوح المحفوظ بإيجادها، واقتضتها الهيولى، فلا بدَّ من إيجادها على حسب المقتضى. ولهذا قالت الحكماءُ الإلهيون: إذا اقتضت الهيولى صورةً، كان حقًّا على واهب الصور أن يبرز تلك الصورة في العالم؛ وقولُهم «حقًّا على واهب الصور» من باب التوسُّع، جاريًا مجرى قوله صلى الله عليه وسلم: «إن حقًّا على الله أن لا يرفع شيئًا من الدنيا إلا وضعه»، لا من أنه يجب عليه شيء، تعالى الله عن ذلك علوًّا كبيرًا.
A soul that contained, by its essence, the knowledge of worlds — / that is our Preserved Tablet, O son of Adam;
The forms of all existence are inscribed / in its receptivity, with nothing held back;
And when it is purified by its God and cleansed thereby / of the darknesses of the cloud, the murky clouds,
Things appear to it within itself, beside it, / and the hidden things of the world come forth to it.
Know — God guide you — that the Preserved Tablet is an expression for a divine, real light, self-disclosed in a created locus, in which the existents are imprinted with an original imprinting; so it is the mother of prime-matter (umm al-hayūlā), for prime-matter requires no form except as imprinted in the Preserved Tablet. For the Supreme Pen runs in the Preserved Tablet to bring [the form] into existence, and prime-matter requires it, so it must be brought forth according to what is required. For this reason the divine philosophers said: when prime-matter requires a form, it is incumbent upon the Giver of Forms (wāhib al-ṣuwar) to bring that form forth into the world. Their saying “incumbent upon the Giver of Forms” is by way of figurative extension, running like his saying (God bless him and grant him peace): “It is incumbent upon God that He raise nothing of this world but He lowers it” — not that anything is [truly] obligatory upon Him; God is exalted high above that.
The forms of all existence are inscribed / in its receptivity, with nothing held back;
And when it is purified by its God and cleansed thereby / of the darknesses of the cloud, the murky clouds,
Things appear to it within itself, beside it, / and the hidden things of the world come forth to it.
Know — God guide you — that the Preserved Tablet is an expression for a divine, real light, self-disclosed in a created locus, in which the existents are imprinted with an original imprinting; so it is the mother of prime-matter (umm al-hayūlā), for prime-matter requires no form except as imprinted in the Preserved Tablet. For the Supreme Pen runs in the Preserved Tablet to bring [the form] into existence, and prime-matter requires it, so it must be brought forth according to what is required. For this reason the divine philosophers said: when prime-matter requires a form, it is incumbent upon the Giver of Forms (wāhib al-ṣuwar) to bring that form forth into the world. Their saying “incumbent upon the Giver of Forms” is by way of figurative extension, running like his saying (God bless him and grant him peace): “It is incumbent upon God that He raise nothing of this world but He lowers it” — not that anything is [truly] obligatory upon Him; God is exalted high above that.
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
ثم اعلم أن النور الإلهي المنطبعَ فيه الموجودات هو المعبَّر عنه بالنفس الكلي، والإدراكُ لما كتبه القلمُ الأعلى في ذلك النور لا يكون إلا بوجهٍ من وجوه ذلك النور، وذلك الوجه هو المعبَّر عنه بالعقل الكلي. والانطباعُ في النور هو المعبَّر عنه بالقضاء، وهو التفصيلُ الأصلي الذي يقتضيه الوصفُ الإلهي، وقد عبَّرنا عن مجلاه بالكرسي؛ ثم التقديرُ في اللوح هو الحكمُ بإبراز الخلق على الصورة المعيَّنة في الوقت المفروض، وهذا هو المعبَّر عن مجلاه بالقلم الأعلى، وهو في اصطلاحنا العقلُ الأول. ثم اعلم أن المقدَّر في اللوح على نوعين: مقدَّرٌ لا يمكن فيه التغييرُ والتبديل، وهو ما اقتضته الصفاتُ الإلهية فلا سبيل إلى عدم وجوده؛ ومقدَّرٌ يمكن فيه التغيير، وهو ما اقتضته قوابلُ العالم على قانون الحكمة. فالقضاءُ المُحكَم هو الذي لا تغييرَ فيه ولا تبديل، والقضاءُ المُبرَم هو الذي يمكن فيه التغيير، ولهذا ما استعاذ النبيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم إلا من القضاء المبرم، لأنه يعلم أنه يمكن أن يحصل فيه التغييرُ والتبديل. قال الله تعالى: «يمحو اللهُ ما يشاء ويُثبت وعنده أمُّ الكتاب» — بخلاف القضاء المحكم، فإنه المشار إليه بقوله: «وكان أمرُ الله قدرًا مقدورًا».
Then know that the divine light in which the existents are imprinted is what is expressed as the Universal Soul; and the perception of what the Supreme Pen wrote in that light comes about only through one of the faces of that light, and that face is what is expressed as the Universal Intellect. The imprinting in the light is what is expressed as the Decree (al-qaḍāʾ) — the original detailing required by the divine description, whose place of disclosure we have expressed as the Footstool. Then the Determining in the Tablet is the ruling to bring creation forth in the specified form at the appointed time, and this is what is expressed, in its place of disclosure, as the Supreme Pen, which in our terminology is the First Intellect. Then know that what is determined in the Tablet is of two kinds: a determined thing in which no change or alteration is possible — that which the divine attributes require, so there is no way to its non-existence; and a determined thing in which change is possible — that which the receptivities of the world require, on the canon of wisdom. So the firmly-fixed Decree (al-qaḍāʾ al-muḥkam) is that in which there is no change or alteration, and the concluded Decree (al-qaḍāʾ al-mubram) is that in which change is possible; and for this reason the Prophet (God bless him and grant him peace) sought refuge only from the concluded Decree, because he knew that change and alteration could occur in it. God said: “God blots out what He wills and establishes, and with Him is the Mother of the Book” (13:39) — as against the firmly-fixed Decree, which is what is indicated by His saying: “and the command of God is a destiny decreed” (33:38).
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
ثم اعلم أن النور الإلهي المعبَّر عنه باللوح المحفوظ هو نورُ ذات الله تعالى، ونورُ ذاته عينُ ذاته، لاستحالة التبعيض والانقسام عليه، فهو حقٌّ مطلق؛ وهو المعبَّر عنه بالنفس الكلية، فهو خلقٌ مطلق. وإلى هذه الإشارةِ بقوله: «بل هو قرآنٌ مجيد · في لوحٍ محفوظ»، يعني: بالقرآن نفسَ ذات المجد الشامخ والعزِّ الباذخ، في لوحٍ محفوظٍ في النفس الكلية — أعني نفسَ الإنسان الكامل، بغير حلول، تعالى عن الحلول والاتحاد. والله يقول الحق وهو يهدي إلى سبيل الرشاد.
Then know that the divine light expressed as the Preserved Tablet is the light of the Essence of God, and the light of His Essence is the very Essence — for division and partition are impossible for Him — so it is absolute Real; and it is what is expressed as the Universal Soul, so it is absolute creation. To this He pointed in His saying: “Nay, it is a glorious Qurʾān, in a Preserved Tablet” (85:21-22): meaning, by “the Qurʾān,” the very self of towering glory and lofty might, in a Preserved Tablet that is in the Universal Soul — I mean the soul of the Perfect Human, without indwelling, [God] exalted above indwelling and union. And God says the truth, and He guides to the way of right direction.
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
Bāb 49 — Sidrat al-Muntahā (The Lote-Tree of the Limit)
اعلم أن سدرة المنتهى هي نهايةُ المكانة التي يبلغها المخلوقُ في سيره إلى الله تعالى، وما بعدها إلا المكانةُ المختصةُ بالحق تعالى وحده، وليس لمخلوقٍ هناك قدم، ولا يمكن البلوغُ إلى ما بعد سدرة المنتهى؛ لأن المخلوق هناك مسحوقٌ ممحوقٌ ملحقٌ بالعدم المحض. وإلى ذلك الإشارةُ في قول جبريل عليه السلام للنبي: «لو تقدَّمتُ شبرًا لاحترقتُ» — و«لو» حرفُ امتناع، فالتقدُّمُ ممتنع. وأخبر النبيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم أنه وجد هناك شجرةَ سدرٍ لها أوراقٌ كآذان الفِيَلة، والذي أعطانا الكشفُ في هذا الحديث أن المراد بشجرة السدر الإيمانُ، قال صلى الله عليه وسلم: «من ملأ جوفه نَبِقةً ملأ اللهُ قلبه إيمانًا»، وكونُها لها أوراقٌ كآذان الفِيَلة ضربُ مثلٍ لعِظَم ذلك الإيمان وقوته، وتدلِّي كلِّ ورقةٍ منها في كل بيتٍ من بيوت الجنة عبارةٌ عن إيمان صاحب ذلك البيت.
Know that the Lote-Tree of the Limit is the end of the station that the creature attains in its journey to God; beyond it lies only the station proper to the Real alone, and no creature has a foothold there, nor is it possible to reach beyond the Lote-Tree of the Limit — for the creature there is crushed, effaced, joined to pure non-existence. To this is the allusion in the word of Gabriel (peace be upon him) to the Prophet: “Were I to advance a handspan, I would be burnt” — and “were” (law) is a particle of impossibility, so the advance is impossible. The Prophet (God bless him and grant him peace) reported that he found there a lote-tree with leaves like the ears of elephants; and what unveiling has given us concerning this report is that what is meant by the lote-tree is faith. He (God bless him and grant him peace) said: “Whoever fills his belly with a lote-fruit, God fills his heart with faith.” That it has leaves like the ears of elephants is a striking of a likeness for the magnitude of that faith and its strength; and the hanging-down of each of its leaves into each of the houses of Paradise is an expression for the faith of the dweller of that house.
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
واعلم بأنا وجدنا السدرة مقامًا فيه ثماني حضرات، في كل حضرةٍ من المناظر العُلا ما لا يمكن حصرُه، تتفاوت تلك المناظرُ على حسب أذواق أهل تلك الحضرات. أما المقامُ فهو ظهورُ الحق في مظاهره. الحضرةُ الأولى: يتجلى فيها باسمه الظاهر من حيث باطنِ العبد. الحضرةُ الثانية: يتجلى فيها باسمه الباطن من حيث ظاهرِ العبد. الحضرةُ الثالثة: يتجلى فيها باسمه الله من حيث روحِ العبد. الحضرةُ الرابعة: يتجلى فيها بصفة الرب من حيث نفسِ العبد. الحضرةُ الخامسة: تجلِّي المرتبة، وهو ظهورُ الرحمن في عقلِ العبد. الحضرةُ السادسة: يتجلى فيها من حيث وهمِ العبد. الحضرةُ السابعة: معرفةُ الهوية، يتجلى فيها من حيث نيةِ اسم العبد. الحضرةُ الثامنة: معرفةُ الذات من مطلق العبد، يتجلى الحقُّ في هذا المقام بكماله في ظاهر الهيكل الإنساني وباطنه، باطنًا بباطن وظاهرًا بظاهر، هويةً بهوية وإنيةً بإنية، وهي أعلى الحضرات وما بعدها إلا الأحدية، وليس للخلق فيها مجال، لأنها من محض الحق، وهي من خواص الذات الواجب الوجود. ومن هنا منع أهلُ الله تجلِّيَ الأحدية للخلق. والله الموفق للصواب.
And know that we found the Lote-Tree to be a station containing eight Presences, in each Presence of the lofty vistas what cannot be enumerated, those vistas varying according to the tastes of the people of those Presences. As for the “station,” it is the manifestation of the Real in His loci-of-manifestation. The first Presence: He discloses Himself therein by His Name the Outward (al-Ẓāhir), from the standpoint of the servant’s inward. The second Presence: by His Name the Inward (al-Bāṭin), from the standpoint of the servant’s outward. The third Presence: by His Name Allāh, from the standpoint of the servant’s spirit. The fourth Presence: by the attribute of the Lord, from the standpoint of the servant’s soul. The fifth Presence: the disclosure of the rank, which is the manifestation of the All-Merciful in the servant’s intellect. The sixth Presence: He discloses Himself from the standpoint of the servant’s estimation (wahm). The seventh Presence: the knowledge of Ipseity, He discloses Himself from the standpoint of the intention of the servant’s name. The eighth Presence: the knowledge of the Essence from the servant absolutely; the Real discloses Himself in this station in His perfection, in the outward of the human temple and its inward — inward to inward, outward to outward, ipseity to ipseity, I-ness to I-ness. This is the highest of the Presences, and beyond it lies only Oneness (al-aḥadiyya); creation has no scope therein, for it is of the pure Real, of the special properties of the Necessary-Being Essence. And from here the people of God forbade [the claim of] the self-disclosure of Oneness to creation. And God is the granter of success to what is right.
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
An orientation
This edition sets the verbatim original-language text beside a fresh English rendering and a critical apparatus: a running commentary on the passage, notes on the controlled vocabulary and the rendering chosen for each term, and cross-references to the lexicon and to related sections. It is a provisional scholarly draft, released openly for correction and not yet reviewed by a credentialed editor.