al-Insān al-Kāmil, Bāb 52 -- The Heart (al-Qalb)
full parallel manuscript · complete bitext
الإنسان الكامل · في القلب
The complete chapter on the Heart (al-Qalb), rendered as a full parallel manuscript: every segment, aligned line by line, opening with a 35-verse poem. al-Jīlī’s heart is “the Throne of God” and “His Frequented House in the human” — the pre-eternal light by which God gazes at the human, the point on which the whole circumference of the Names and Attributes turns. The chapter unfolds the several senses of qalb (the kernel of all things; the swift “overturner”; the inverse-mirror of the world; that which “turns back” to its divine root), the geography of the heart’s “face” and “nape” and its himma, and — its summit — the three “comprehendings” of the heart: of knowledge, of witnessing, and of vicegerency, the last guarded by a strict tanzīh. It closes by deriving Isrāfīl, the angel of the two blasts, from the heart of Muhammad.
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الباب الثاني والخمسون في القلب وأنه محتد إسرافيل عليه السلام من محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم
Chapter Fifty-Two: On the Heart (al-Qalb), and that it is the wellspring of Isrāfīl (peace be upon him) from Muhammad (God bless him and grant him peace)
القلب عرش الله ذو الإمكان ...... هو بيته المعمور في الإنسان
The heart is the Throne of God, possessed of possibility / it is His Frequented House in the human.
glossary: qalb, arsh al-Jīlī's opening verse (1 of 35). The witness repeats this line twice, identically; rendered once.
فيه ظهور الحق فيه لنفسه ...... وعليه حقاً مستوى الرحمن
In it is the appearing of the Real, in it to Himself / and upon it, truly, is the establishing of the All-Merciful (istiwāʾ al-Raḥmān).
Verse 2 of 35.
خلق الإله القلب مركز سرّه ..... ومحيط دور الكون والأعيان
The God created the heart [as] the center of His secret / and the encompassing of the circle of the cosmos and the entities.
glossary: qalb, ayn-thabita Verse 3 of 35.
فهو المعبر عنه في تحقيقهم ...... بالمنظر الأعلى ومجلى الآن
So it is what is expressed, in their verification / by the highest vista (al-manẓar al-aʿlā) and the disclosure-place of the Now.
Verse 4 of 35.
والطور فيه مع الكتاب وبحره .... والرقّ والسقف الرفيع الشان
And the Mount is in it, with the Book and its sea / and the Parchment and the Lofty-affaired Roof.
Verse 5 of 35: the five oaths of Sūrat al-Ṭūr (cf. Bāb 41) mapped onto the heart.
وهو الذي ضرب الإله بنوره ..... مثلاً به في محكم القرآن
And it is that by whose light the God struck / a likeness, by it, in the firm text of the Qurʾān.
Verse 6 of 35: alludes to the Light Verse (al-Nūr 24:35).
بالزيت والمصباح من مشكاته ...... وزجاجة المتكوكب اللمعان
By the oil and the lamp, from its niche / and the glass of star-like gleaming.
Verse 7 of 35: the imagery of the Light Verse (mishkāt, miṣbāḥ, zujāja).
وهو المقلب و المقلب والذي ..... يعلو فيدنو رفعة وتداني
And it is the overturner and the overturned, and the [one] which / rises, so it draws near -- elevation and nearing.
glossary: qalb Verse 8 of 35.
منه الظلام له ومنه نوره ...... وبه ينير عليه في الأكوان
From it is the darkness for it, and from it its light / and by it He illumines upon it, in the existents.
Verse 9 of 35.
وإليه جاء رسوله منه له ...... لينال منه مقامه الربّاني
And to it came His messenger, from Him, for it / that it might attain from Him its Lordly station.
Verse 10 of 35.
ملكاً بطاعته وربّاً بالعلا ..... و بقبحه فحقيقة الشيطان
A king by its obedience, and a lord by the loftiness / and by its ugliness -- [then] the reality of Satan.
glossary: iblis Verse 11 of 35.
رمز وكل الناس فيه حائر ...... ما بين ذي ربح وذي خسران
A symbol -- and all the people in it [are] bewildered / between possessor of profit and possessor of loss.
Verse 12 of 35.
ما مخزن الأسرار إلاَّ درّة ....... هي بحرها مثلاً وفي التبيان
The storehouse of the secrets is naught but a pearl / which is, as a likeness, its sea -- and in the declaration,
Verse 13 of 35.
بيت له باب عظيم ختمه ...... لكنه للباب مصراعان
a house that has a mighty gate, [with] its seal / but the gate has two leaves.
Verse 14 of 35.
يقصيك مصراع إلى أعلى العلا .... وإلى الجحيم فسوف يدني الثاني
One leaf drives you to the highest of the high / and to the Hellfire the second shall draw near.
Verse 15 of 35.
والباب إن فضيت يوماً ختمه ..... وفتحته من غير ما كسران
And the gate -- if you break, one day, its seal / and open it without any breaking,
Verse 16 of 35.
يهنيك بلغت المنى بكماله ...... ونزلت ثم بساحة الرحمن
felicitations: you have reached the goal in its perfection / and descended, then, at the courtyard of the All-Merciful.
Verse 17 of 35.
لكن كذا كسرته تأتي الحمى ...... وتقيم فيه مكانة السلطان
But [if] you broke it thus, the sanctuary comes / and sets up in it the place-rank of the Sultan.
Verse 18 of 35.
هذا مثكل القلب فإعلم سرّه ...... ولسوف أظهره على كتمان
This is the form of the heart, so know its secret / and I shall soon make it appear, upon concealment.
glossary: qalb Verse 19 of 35.
والبيت سرّ القلب أما بابه ...... فاسم الإله ووصفه السبحاني
And the house is the secret of the heart; as for its gate / it is the Name of the God and His glorified description.
glossary: qalb, asma, sifat Verse 20 of 35.
والختم فهو الذات قدّس ذاته ...... والفض علم الحق بالإيمان
And the seal -- it is the Essence (holy is His Essence) / and the breaking[-open] is the knowing of the Real by faith.
glossary: dhat Verse 21 of 35.
والفتح فهو شهود عين يقينه ..... فيما حويت بمقلة وعيان
And the opening -- it is the witnessing of the eye of its certainty / in what you contained, by eyeball and beholding.
glossary: mushahada Verse 22 of 35.
و بلوغك الأسباب منه تحقق ...... بجوارح دانت لها الثقلان
And your reaching the causes from it [is] a realization / by limbs to which the two weighty ones submitted.
Verse 23 of 35.
ثم التهني بالتعالي إنه ...... هو ساحة الرحمن في الإنسان
Then the felicitation upon the exaltation -- for it / is the courtyard of the All-Merciful in the human.
Verse 24 of 35.
والكنز فإعلم علم ذلك دركه ..... بعد الوجود لنكتة الديّان
And the treasure -- so know -- the knowledge of that [is] its attaining / after the existence, by a subtle point of the Requiter.
Verse 25 of 35.
حتى كذا لم تحترم مقداره ...... سقط العزيز وذاك ذلّ هوان
[For] when, thus, you did not honor its worth / the dear one fell, and that is the abasement of disgrace.
Verse 26 of 35.
من لم يعظم مشعر التحقيق لم ..... يخلص من التكوين بين كيان
Whoever does not magnify the sensorium of verification, [he] does not / escape from the [process of] bringing-into-being, between [one] entity [and another].
Verse 27 of 35.
فوصول سرّك للحمى هو ذاته ...... لكن بلا حسن ولا إحسان
So the arrival of your secret at the sanctuary -- it is its very [self] / but without [any] goodness or excellence (iḥsān).
Verse 28 of 35.
ولقد يرجى للذي هو هكذا ....... من نفخة تأتي بريح البان
And there may yet be hoped, for him who is thus / [something] from a breath that comes with the scent of the bān-tree.
Verse 29 of 35.
هذا ومصراعاه واحده الرضا ...... وهو الذي يفضي إلى رضوان
This [is so]; and its two leaves -- one is good-pleasure (al-riḍā) / and it is that which leads to [the Garden of] Riḍwān.
Verse 30 of 35.
والآخر الغضب الشديد ووسعه ...... وهو المجال الرحب للطغيان
And the other [is] the intense wrath, and its breadth / and it is the wide field for transgression.
Verse 31 of 35.
فعلامة المرضي طاعة ربّه ...... وعلامة المغضوب في العصيان
So the sign of the well-pleased [one] is the obedience of his Lord / and the sign of the wrathed-at [one] is in disobedience.
Verse 32 of 35.
وعلامة المهني يفعل ما يشاء ...... وعلامة المكسور في العرفان
And the sign of the felicitated [one] -- he does what he wishes / and the sign of the broken [one] is in [the realm of] gnosis.
Verse 33 of 35.
هذي العروسة زفها لك خاطري ...... في القلب فوق منصة العيدان
This bride -- my mind has wedded her to you / in the heart, upon the dais of the lute-strings.
glossary: qalb Verse 34 of 35.
فانظر إلى الحسناء فيك بعينها ...... تجلّى عليك لديك كل معان
So look at the beautiful one in you by her [very] eye / [as] every meaning is disclosed to you, with you.
glossary: tajalli Verse 35 of 35, closing the opening poem.
اعلم وفقك الله أن القلب هو النور الأزلي والسر العلي المنزل في عين الأكوان لينظر الله تعالی به إلى الإنسان.
Know -- may God grant you success -- that the heart is the pre-eternal Light and the lofty Secret, sent down into the very [being] of the existents, that God (exalted is He) might gaze, by it, at the human.
glossary: qalb
وعبر عنه في الكتاب بروح الله المنفوخ في روح آدم حيث قال: ونفخت فيه من روحي.
And it is expressed, in the Book, as the Spirit of God breathed into the spirit of Adam, where He said: "And I breathed into him of My spirit" (15:29).
Qurʾān 15:29: al-Ḥijr 15:29 (also Ṣād 38:72), verbatim glossary: ruh-al-quds
ويسمى هذا النور بالقلب لمعان: منها:
And this light is named "the heart" (al-qalb) for [several] meanings; of them:
glossary: qalb
أنه لبابة المخلوقات وزبدة الموجودات جميعها أعاليها وأدانيها.
that it is the kernel of the creatures and the cream of the existents, all of them, their highest and their lowest.
فسمي بهذا الاسم لأن قلب الشيء خلاصته وزبدته.
So it was named by this name, because the heart (qalb) of a thing is its essence and its cream.
ومنها: أنه سريع التقلب وذلك لأنه نقطة يدور عليها محيط الأسماء والصفات، فإذا قابلت اسما أو صفة بشرط المواجهة انطبعت بحكم ذلك الاسم والصفة.
And of them: that it is swift of overturning (sarīʿ al-taqallub); and that is because it is a point upon which the circumference of the Names and Attributes turns -- so when you face it with a name or an attribute, on condition of confrontation, it is imprinted by the ruling of that name and attribute.
glossary: qalb, asma, sifat
وقولي بشرط المواجهة تقييد لأن القلب في نفسه لا يزال مقابلا بالذات لجميع أسماء الله تعالى وصفاته.
And my saying 'on condition of confrontation' is a restriction, because the heart in itself is ceaselessly confronted, by the Essence, with all the Names of God (exalted is He) and His Attributes.
glossary: qalb, dhat, asma, sifat
لكن يقابله في التوجه شیء ثان، وهو أن يكون القلب متوجها لقبول أثر ذلك الشيء في نفسه فينطبع فيه، فيكون الحكم عليه لذلك الاسم.
But a second thing confronts it in [its] turning, and it is that the heart be turned toward the receiving of the trace of that thing in itself, so it is imprinted in it, so the ruling over it is for that name.
glossary: qalb, asma
ولو كانت الأسماء جميعها تحكم عليه فإنها تكون في ذلك الوقت مستترة الحكم تحت سلطان الاسم أو الأسماء الحاكمة.
And even if all the names rule over it, [yet] they are, at that time, hidden of ruling beneath the sultan of the ruling name or names.
glossary: asma
فيكون الوقت وقت ذلك الاسم فيتصرف في القلب بما يقتضيه.
So the time is the time of that name; so it disposes in the heart by what it requires.
glossary: qalb, asma
ثم اعلم أن وجه القلب يكون دائما إلى نور في الفؤاد يسمى الهم.
Then know that the face of the heart is always to a light in the fuʾād [inner heart] named the himma (aspiration/concern).
glossary: qalb, fu-ad, himma
هو محل نظر القلب وجهة توجهه إليه، فإذا حاذاه الاسم أو الصفة من جهة محاذاة الهم نظره القلب فإنطبع بحكمه ثم يزول فيعقبه اسم آخر.
It is the locus of the heart's gaze and the direction of its turning toward it; so when the name or the attribute aligns with it from the direction of the himma's alignment, the heart gazes at it, so it is imprinted by its ruling; then it passes away, so another name succeeds it.
glossary: qalb, himma, asma
إما من جنسه أو من جنس غيره، فيجري معه ما جرى له مع الاسم الأول وهكذا على الدوام.
either of its kind or of the kind of another; so there runs with it what ran for it with the first name -- and thus, perpetually.
وأما ما كان من قفا القلب فإنه لا ينطبع به.
And as for what is from the nape of the heart, it is not imprinted by it.
glossary: qalb
ثم اعلم أن القلب ما له قفا ينص عليه بل كله وجه لكن موضع الهم منه يسمى وجها، وموضع الفراغ منه يسمى قفا، وهذه الدائرة فيها كيفية ما ذكرناه. فافهم.
Then know that the heart has no nape that is specified; rather all of it is a face -- but the place of the himma of it is named a face, and the place of the emptiness of it is named a nape; and this circle, in it is the manner of what we mentioned. So understand.
glossary: qalb, himma
واعلم أن الهم لا يكون له من القلب جهة مخصوصة، بل يكون تارة إلى فوق وقد يكون تارة إلى تحت وعن اليمين وعن الشمال على قدر صاحب ذلك القلب.
And know that the himma has no specified direction from the heart; rather it is once upward, and may be once downward, and to the right, and to the left, according to the [state of] the possessor of that heart.
glossary: himma, qalb
فإن من الناس من يكون همه أبدا إلى فوق كالعارفين.
For of the people [there is] one whose himma is ever upward, like the gnostics.
glossary: himma
ومنهم من يكون همه أبدا إلى تحت كبعض أهل الدنيا.
And of them [one] whose himma is ever downward, like some of the people of this world.
glossary: himma
ومنهم من يكون همه أبدا إلى اليمين كبعض العباد.
And of them [one] whose himma is ever to the right, like some of the worshippers.
glossary: himma
ومن الناس من يكون همه أبدا إلى الشمال وهو موضع النفس، فإنها محلها في الضلع الأيسر وأكثر البطالين لا يكون له هم إلا نفسه.
And of the people [one] whose himma is ever to the left -- and it is the place of the [lower] soul (al-nafs), for its locus is in the left rib; and most of the idlers have no himma but their [own] soul.
glossary: himma, nafs
وأما المحققون فلا هم لهم فليس لقلوبهم موضع يسمى قفا، بل يقابلون بالكلية كلية الأسماء والصفات فليس يختص وقتهم باسم دون اسم غيره.
And as for the verifiers, they have no himma; for their hearts have no place named a nape -- rather they are confronted, in totality, with the totality of the Names and Attributes; so their time is not particular to a name rather than another name.
glossary: qalb, asma, sifat
لأنهم ذاتيون فهم مع الحق بالذات لا بالأسماء والصفات فافهم.
Because they are essential [ones] (dhātiyyūn), so they are with the Real by the Essence, not by the Names and Attributes. So understand.
glossary: dhat, asma, sifat
ومنها: أي من المعاني التي تسمى القلب من أجلها قلبا، فهو باعتبار أن الأسماء والصفات له كالقلوب ليفرغ نوره فيها و انصبابه إليها فلذلك التفريغ قد يسمى قلبا من قولهم قلبت الفضة في القالب قلبا وهو من وضع المصدر اسما للمفعول.
And of them -- that is, of the meanings for the sake of which the heart is named a heart: it is by the consideration that the Names and Attributes are to it like hearts, that it may empty its light into them and pour itself toward them; so that emptying is sometimes named a 'casting' (qalb), from their saying 'I cast the silver into the mould (qālab), [a] casting (qalban)' -- and it is of [the order of] setting the verbal-noun as a name for the object.
glossary: qalb, asma, sifat
ومنها: أنه مقلوب المحدثات بمعنی عکسها يعني نوره قديم إلهي.
And of them: that it is the inverse of the originated things, in the sense of their reflection -- meaning, its light is eternal, divine.
glossary: qalb
ومنها: أنه الذي ينقلب إلى المحل الأصلي الإلهي الذي بدأ منه.
And of them: that it is that which turns (yanqalib) toward the original, divine locus from which it began.
glossary: qalb
قال الله تعالى: إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَذِكْرَى لِمَنْ كَانَ لَهُ قَلْبٌ أَوْ أَلْقَى السَّمْعَ وَهُوَ شَهِيدٌ.
God (exalted is He) said: "Truly in that is a reminder for whoever has a heart, or gives ear while he is a witness" (50:37).
Qurʾān 50:37: Qāf 50:37, verbatim glossary: qalb
أي: انقلاب إلى الحق، فهو صرف وجه الهمة من العدوة الدنيا وهي الظواهر إلى العدوة القصوى وهي الحقائق وبواطن الأمور.
That is: [a] turning toward the Real; so it is the turning of the face of the aspiration (himma) from the nearer bank -- which is the outward [things] -- to the farther bank -- which is the realities and the inward of matters.
glossary: himma
ومنها: أنه كان خلقة فانقلب حقا، يعني كان مشهده خلقية فصار مشهده حقية، وإلا فالخلق لا يصير حقا لأن الحق حق والخلق خلق، والحقائق لا تتبدل ولكن من كان أصله من شيء رجع إليه قال تعالى: وَإِلَيْهِ تُقْلَبُونَ.
And of them: that it was created, then turned [into] a Real -- meaning, its witnessing-place was created, so its witnessing-place became Real; otherwise the creation does not become Real, because the Real is Real and the creation is creation, and the realities do not change -- but whoever's root is from a thing returns to it. He (exalted is He) said: "...and to Him you are turned" (29:21).
Qurʾān 29:21: al-ʿAnkabūt 29:21, verbatim An important tanzīh qualification: the created heart does not become the Real; only its 'witnessing-place' (mashhad) becomes Real -- 'the Real is Real and the creation is creation, and the realities do not change.'
ومنها: أنه يعني القلب يقلب الأمور كيف يشاء، فإن القلب إذا كان على فطرته التي خلقه الله عليها تقلبت له الأمور حسب ما يحبه ويتصرف في الوجود كيفما شاء، والفطرة التي خلقه الله عليها هي الأسماء والصفات.
And of them: that it -- meaning the heart -- turns the matters however it wishes; for the heart, when it is upon its primordial nature (fiṭra) upon which God created it, the matters are turned for it as it loves, and it disposes in existence however it wishes; and the primordial nature upon which God created it is the Names and Attributes.
glossary: qalb, asma, sifat
وهي قوله: لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنْسَانَ فِي أَحْسَنِ تَقْوِيمٍ لكنه لما نزل مع الطبيعة إلى حكم العبادة وانتوال الشهوات، وكان هذا غالب حكم البشر، لأنه كالثوب الأبيض ينطبع فيه أول ما يقع عليه.
And it is His saying: "Indeed We created the human in the finest stature" (95:4); but since it descended, with [its] nature, to the ruling of servitude and the attainment of the appetites -- and this was the predominant ruling of the human, because he is like the white garment, [which] is imprinted by the first thing that falls upon it.
Qurʾān 95:4: al-Tīn 95:4, verbatim
وأول ما يعقله الطفل أحوال الظاهر من أهل الدنيا فينطبع فيه تشتتهم وتفرقهم وانحطاطهم إلى العوائد والطبائع، فيصير مثلهم.
And the first thing the child reasons [about] is the states of the outward of the people of this world, so there is imprinted in it their dispersion, their division, and their descent to the habits and the natures, so it becomes like them.
وهو قوله تعالى: ثم رددناه أسفل سافلين فإن كان من أهل السعادات الإلهية وعقل بعد ذلك عن الحق تعالى الأمور التي تقتضيه إلى المكانة الزلفي والمراتب العليا، فإنه يتزکي يعني يتطهر مما تدنس به من
And it is His saying (exalted is He): "Then We returned him [to] the lowest of the low" (95:5). So if he be of the people of the divine felicities, and reason, after that, from the Real (exalted is He) the matters that require him [to ascend] to the rank of nearness and the lofty ranks, then he is purified -- meaning, he cleanses himself of what he was defiled by, of
Qurʾān 95:5: al-Tīn 95:5, verbatim
اكتسابه البشریات، فهو بمنزلة من يغسل ثوبه مما طبع فيه، وعلى قدر تمكن الطبائع من قلبه تكون التزكية.
his acquisition of the human [traits]; so he is at the rank of one who washes his garment of what was imprinted in it; and according to the entrenchment of the natures in his heart is the purification.
glossary: qalb
فإن كان ممن لا تتمكن فيه البشريات والأمور العاديات كل التمكن، فإنه يتزکي بأقل القليل.
So if he be of those in whom the human [traits] and the customary matters are not entrenched in all entrenchment, then he is purified by the least of the little.
فهو بمنزلة من لم يتمكن لون النقش في ثوبه فغسله بالماء فعاد إلى أصله.
So he is at the rank of one in whose garment the color of the figure was not entrenched, so he washed it with water, so it returned to its root.
والآخر الذي تمكنت منه الطبائع والعادات بمنزلة من استولى النقش في ثوبه وتمكن منه فلا ينقيه إلا الطبخ بالنار والجص، وهو السلوك الشديد وقوة المجاهدات والمخالفات.
And the other, in whom the natures and the habits were entrenched, [is] at the rank of one in whose garment the figure took hold and was entrenched, so nothing purifies it except boiling by fire and lye -- and it is the intense wayfaring and the strength of the strivings and the oppositions [to the lower self].
فهذا على قدر قوة سلوكه في الطريق ودوام مخالفته يكون تزكيته وصفاؤه وضعفه على قدر ضعف عزائمه في ذلك.
So this, according to the strength of his wayfaring in the path and the perpetuity of his opposition [to the lower self], is his purification and his purity; and his weakness [is] according to the weakness of his resolves in that.
وهؤلاء الذين استثناهم الحق فقال: إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَهُمْ أَجْرٌ غَيْرُ مَمْنُونٍ كذلك الآية 6 سورة التين.
And these are those whom the Real excepted, so He said: "except those who believe and do righteous deeds; for them is a reward unfailing" (al-Inshiqāq 84:25 -- and likewise al-Tīn 95:6).
Qurʾān 84:25: al-Inshiqāq 84:25, verbatim; al-Jīlī himself notes the near-identical al-Tīn 95:6 (which reads 'fa-lahum')
يعني بما أودعناهم من الأسرار الإلهية التي نبهناهم عليها في كتبنا المنزلة على رسلنا، وذلك حقيقة إيمانهم بنا وبالرسل.
Meaning: by what We deposited in them of the divine secrets which We alerted them to in Our books sent down upon Our messengers; and that is the reality of their faith in Us and in the messengers.
وهو وقوعهم على نكتة التوحيد فآمنوا وعملوا ما يصلح للحضور مع الله تعالى من الأعمال القلبية بأحسن العقائد ودوام المراقبة وأمثالها.
And it is their falling upon the subtle point of tawḥīd, so they believed and did what is fit for presence with God (exalted is He), of the heart-deeds -- by the best of beliefs, perpetual vigilance, and the like;
glossary: tawhid, qalb
ومن الأعمال القالبية كالفرائض والسلوك وعدم المخالفة.
and of the mould-deeds [bodily acts], like the obligatory duties, the wayfaring, and the absence of opposition [to the Law].
فهذا معنى قوله: إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ فَلَهُمْ أَجْرٌ غَيْرُ مَمْنُونٍ.
So this is the meaning of His saying: "except those who believe and do righteous deeds; for them is a reward unfailing" (95:6).
Qurʾān 95:6: al-Tīn 95:6, verbatim ('fa-lahum')
يعني أنهم نالوا ما هو لهم فليس ذلك بموهوب حتى يكون ممنونة بل ظفروا بما اقتضته حقائقهم التي خلقناهم عليها من أصل الفطرة.
Meaning: they attained what is theirs; so that is not bestowed [as a gift] such that it be a favor [held over them]; rather they gained what their realities required -- those upon which We created them from the root of the primordial nature.
فكل ما نالوه إنما هو باستحقاق جعلناه لهم، ولو كان الكل من خزائن الجود فإن التجليات الذاتية لا تسمى موهبة، بل هي أمور استحقاقية إلهية.
So everything they attained is only by a merit We made for them; and even if the whole is from the treasuries of generosity, [yet] the essential self-disclosures are not named a bestowal -- rather they are merit-matters, divine.
glossary: tajalli
وإلى هذا المعنى أشار شيخنا الشيخ عبد القادر الجيلاني رضي الله عنه في قوله: ما زلت أرتع في ميادين الرضا …… حتى بلغت مكانة لا توهب
And to this meaning our shaykh, the Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī (may God be pleased with him) pointed, in his saying: "I ceaselessly ranged in the fields of good-pleasure / until I reached a place-rank that is not bestowed."
'Our shaykh' ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī (d. 561/1166) is the founder of the Qādirī order, to which al-Jīlī belonged -- the ṭarīqa-founder sense, not a living teacher. This also resolves the apparent chronological impossibility flagged in Bāb 37 §74.
ومنها: أن القلب الحقائق الوجود كالمرآة للوجه فهو عكسه، يعني أنه لما كان العالم سريع التغير في كل نفس انطبع عکسه في القلب، فهو كذلك سريع التغير.
And of them: that the heart -- the realities of existence are to it like the mirror for the face, so it is its reflection -- meaning, since the world is swift of change in every breath, its reflection is imprinted in the heart, so it [the heart] is likewise swift of change.
glossary: qalb
وما سمي ذلك الانطباع عکسا وقلبا إلا لأن المرآة إذا قابلتها بشيء إنما ينطبع فيه عكسه لا عينه.
And that imprinting was named a reflection and a turning (qalb) only because the mirror, when you face it with a thing, only its reflection is imprinted in it, not its very [self].
glossary: qalb
فإن كانت الكتابة مثلا من اليمين إلى الشمال انطبع فيه من الشمال إلى اليمين، حتى لو قابلت المرآة بصورة إنما تقابل يمين الصورة بشمال المرآة.
So if the writing, for example, be from the right to the left, there is imprinted in it [the mirror] from the left to the right -- so that, were you to face the mirror with a form, you only face the right of the form with the left of the mirror.
هذا لا يختلف أبدا، فلهذا سمي القلب قلبا.
This does not differ, ever; and for this the heart was named qalb (turning/inverse).
glossary: qalb
وعندي أن العالم إنما هو مرآة القلب، فالأصل والصورة هو القلب والفرع والمرآة هو العالم.
And in my view, the world is only the mirror of the heart; so the root and the form is the heart, and the branch and the mirror is the world.
glossary: qalb
وعلى هذا التقدير يصح فيه أيضا اسم القلب لأن كل واحد من الصورة والمرآة قلب الثاني: أي عكسه فافهم.
And upon this estimation, the name 'qalb' is valid for it [the world] also, because each of the form and the mirror is the qalb [inverse] of the second -- that is, its reflection. So understand.
glossary: qalb
ودليلنا في أن القلب هو الأصل والعالم هو الفرع قوله تعالى: ما وسعني أرضي ولا سمائي ووسعني قلب عبدي المؤمن. ولو كان العالم هو الأصل لكان أولى بالوسع من القلب، فعلم أن القلب هو الأصل وأن العالم هو الفرع.
And our evidence that the heart is the root and the world is the branch is His saying (exalted is He): "My earth and My heaven do not contain Me, but the heart of My believing servant contains Me." Were the world the root, it would be more deserving of the containing than the heart; so it is known that the heart is the root and the world is the branch.
glossary: qalb The hadith qudsī 'mā wasiʿanī arḍī wa-lā samāʾī wa-lākin wasiʿanī qalbu ʿabdī l-muʾmin' -- not in the canonical collections and graded weak/without sound chain by hadith scholars, but a cornerstone of Sufi heart-doctrine. Flagged.
ثم اعلم أن هذا الوسع على ثلاثة أنواع كلها سائغة في القلب:
Then know that this containing (wasʿ) is of three kinds, all of them current in the heart:
glossary: qalb
النوع الأول:
The first kind:
وهو وسع العلم، وذلك هو المعرفة بالله، فلا شيء في الوجود يعقل آثار الحق ويعرف ما يستحقه كما ينبغي إلا القلب، لأن كل شيء سواه إنما يعرف ربه من وجه دون وجه، وليس لشيء غير القلب أن يعرف الله من كل الوجوه، فهذا وسع.
and it is the containing of knowledge -- and that is the knowing of God; for there is no thing in existence that reasons the traces of the Real and knows what He merits as is fitting, except the heart, because everything other than it only knows its Lord from [one] aspect rather than [another] aspect; and there is, for no thing other than the heart, [the capacity] to know God from all the aspects. So this is a containing.
glossary: qalb
والنوع الثاني:
And the second kind:
هو وسع المشاهدة، وذلك هو الكشف الذي يطلع القلب به على محاسن جمال الله تعالى، فيذوق لذة أسمائه وصفاته بعد أن يشهدها.
is the containing of witnessing (al-mushāhada) -- and that is the unveiling (kashf) by which the heart comes upon the beauties of God's beauty (exalted is He), so it tastes the pleasure of His Names and Attributes after it witnesses them.
glossary: mushahada, kashf, qalb, asma, sifat
فلا شيء من المخلوقات يذوق ما لله تعالى إلا القلب، فإنه إذا تعقل مثلا علم الله بالموجودات وسار في فلك هذه الصفة ذاق لذاتها وعلم بمكانة هذه الصفة من الله تعالى، ثم القدرة كذلك.
For there is no thing of the creatures that tastes what is God's (exalted is He) except the heart; for it, when it reasons, for example, God's knowledge of the existents, and journeys in the sphere of this attribute, it tastes its pleasures and knows the place-rank of this attribute with God (exalted is He); then Power likewise.
glossary: qalb, qudra
ثم في جميع أوصاف الله تعالى وأسمائه فإنه يتسع لذلك ويذوقه كما يذوق مثلا معرفة غيره وقدرة غيره لسيره في أفلاكها، وهذا وسع ثان وهو للعارفين.
Then in all the descriptions of God (exalted is He) and His Names -- for it widens for that and tastes it, as it tastes, for example, the knowledge of another and the power of another, by its journeying in their spheres; and this is a second containing, and it is for the gnostics.
glossary: asma, sifat
النوع الثالث:
The third kind:
وسع الخلافة وهو التحقق بأسمائه وصفاته حتى أنه يرى ذاته ذاته، فتكون هوية الحق عين هوية العبد، وانيته عين إنيته، و اسمه اسمه، وصفته صفته، وذاته ذاته، فيتصرف في الوجود تصرف الخليفة في ملك المستخلف وهذا وسع المحققين. وهذا نكات في كيفية هذا التحقق وأين محل كل اسم منه من العارفين أضربنا عنها، واكتفينا بهذا القدر من التنبيه عليها لئلا يفضي ذلك إلى إفشاء سر الربوبية، وهذا الوسع قد يسمى وسع الاستيفاء.
the containing of vicegerency (al-khilāfa) -- and it is the being-realized by His Names and Attributes, until it sees its essence [as] His Essence, so the ipseity of the Real is the very ipseity of the servant, and his I-ness the very [I-ness] of His, and his name His name, and his attribute His attribute, and his essence His essence -- so he disposes in existence [as] the disposing of the vicegerent in the kingdom of the one who appointed him; and this is the containing of the verifiers. And [there are] subtle points concerning the manner of this realization, and where the place of each name of it is, [which] we turned away from, and contented ourselves with this measure of alerting to them, lest that lead to the broadcasting of the secret of Lordship; and this containing is sometimes named the containing of exhaustion (al-istīfāʾ).
glossary: asma, sifat, dhat, insan-al-kamil The 'containing of vicegerency' -- the servant's ipseity, name, attribute, and essence becoming the Real's -- is the strongest waḥdat al-wujūd statement of the chapter; contested-Akbarian, recorded and framed, and qualified by §101-§102 (the tanzīh: this 'exhausting' is only of what the creature can attain, NOT of God Himself). al-Jīlī himself withholds the details 'lest it broadcast the secret of Lordship.'
اعلم وفقنا الله وإياك أن الحق تعالى لا يمكن درکه على الحيطة والاستيفاء أبدا لا لقديم ولا لحديث.
Know -- may God grant us and you success -- that the Real (exalted is He) cannot be apprehended [as] comprehended and exhausted, ever -- neither by an eternal [being] nor by an originated [one].
أما القديم فلأن ذاته لا تدخل تحت صفة من صفاته وهي العلم فلا يحيط بها وإلا لزم منه وجود الكل في الجزء.
As for the eternal: because His Essence does not enter under [any] attribute of His attributes -- which is Knowledge -- so it [Knowledge] does not comprehend it [the Essence]; otherwise there would follow from it the existence of the whole in the part.
glossary: dhat, sifat
تعالى الله عن الكل والجزء فلا يستوفيها العلم من كل الوجوه، بل إنه سبحانه وتعالى لا يجهل نفسه، لكن يعرفها حق المعرفة.
Exalted is God above the whole and the part; so Knowledge does not exhaust it from all the aspects -- rather He (glory be His and exalted) is not ignorant of Himself, but knows it [Himself] the true knowing.
glossary: tanzih
ولا يقال إن ذاته تدخل تحت حيطة صفة العلمية ولا تحت صفة القدرة تعالى الله، وكذلك المخلوق فإنه بالأولى لكن هذا الوسع الكمالي الذي قلنا إنه الوسع الاستيفائي إنما هو استيفاء كمال ما عليه المخلوق من الحق لا كمال ما هو الحق عليه.
And it is not said that His Essence enters under the comprehending of the attribute of Knowledge, nor under the attribute of Power -- exalted is God; and likewise the creature, [it is] more so [unable]. But this perfecting containing, which we said is the exhausting containing, is only the exhausting of the perfection of what the creature is [capable of], of the Real -- not the perfection of what the Real Himself is.
glossary: dhat, sifat, tanzih al-Jīlī's decisive guardrail on the vicegerency-containing of §97: even the highest 'exhausting' attains only what the creature can hold of the Real, not the inexhaustible Real Himself -- who is uncomprehended even by His own attribute of Knowledge.
فإن ذلك لا نهاية له، فهذا معنى قوله: وسعني قلب عبدي المؤمن.
For that has no end; so this is the meaning of His saying: "the heart of My believing servant contains Me."
glossary: qalb
ولما خلق الله تعالى العالم جميعه من نور محمد، كان المحل المخلوق منه إسرافيل قلب محمد له، كما سيجيء بیان خلق جميع الملائكة وغيرهم كل من محل منه.
And since God (exalted is He) created the whole world from the light of Muhammad, the locus from which Isrāfīl was created was the heart of Muhammad -- as the exposition of the creation of all the angels and others, each from a locus of him, shall come.
glossary: qalb, haqiqa-muhammadiyya
فلهذا لما كان إسرافيل عليه السلام مخلوقا من هذا النور القلبي، كان له في الملكوت هذا التوسع والقوة.
So for this, since Isrāfīl (peace be upon him) was created from this heart-light, he had, in the Dominion, this expansion and strength.
glossary: mulk-malakut-jabarut
حتى أنه يحيى جميع العالم بنفخة واحدة بعد أن يميتهم بنفخة واحدة، للقوة الإلهية التي خلقها الله تعالى في ذات إسرافيل.
until he gives life to all the world by a single blast, after he had given them death by a single blast -- by the divine power that God (exalted is He) created in the very [being] of Isrāfīl.
glossary: qudra
لأنه محتده القلب والقلب قد وسع الله تعالى لما فيه من القوة الذاتية الإلهية.
because his wellspring is the heart, and the heart -- God (exalted is He) widened [Himself in it] for what is in it of the essential, divine power.
glossary: qalb, dhat
فكان إسرافيل عليه السلام أقوى الملائكة وأقربهم من الحق أعني العنصريين من الملائكة، فافهم ذلك، والله تعالى أعلم.
So Isrāfīl (peace be upon him) was the strongest of the angels and the nearest of them to the Real -- I mean the elemental ones (al-ʿunṣuriyyīn) of the angels. So understand that. And God (exalted is He) knows best.
Collation. Two-witness collated as part of the four archangel-faculties cluster (Bāb 52-55), staged 2026-06-02. No lossy drop. The witness-2 file for this chapter was clean (no navigation chrome). Opens with a long poem (35 verses); the witness duplicates verse 1 (it appears twice, identically) -- rendered once, the duplication noted. al-Jīlī cites 'our shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī' (§81): 'our shaykh' here is the Qādirī order-founder (d. 561/1166), not a living teacher -- which also resolves the apparent chronological impossibility flagged in Bāb 37.
Qurʾān. Loci verified verbatim, all witness tags correct (including al-Jīlī's own careful dual-citation of the near-identical al-Inshiqāq 84:25 and al-Tīn 95:6): al-Ḥijr 15:29; Qāf 50:37; al-ʿAnkabūt 29:21; al-Tīn 95:4, 95:5, 95:6; al-Inshiqāq 84:25.