al-Insān al-Kāmil, Bāb 58 -- The Muhammadan Form
al-Insān al-Kāmil, Bāb 58 (al-Ṣūra al-Muḥammadiyya)
الإنسان الكامل · في الصورة المحمدية
A long and pivotal chapter that joins al-Jīlī’s Nūr Muḥammadī cosmology to his eschatology. The Muhammadan Form (al-Ṣūra al-Muḥammadiyya) is “the Light from which God created Paradise and Hell”: God created it, then it “split into two halves,” and from the right half He created the Garden (the abode of bliss) and from the left half the Fire (the abode of the wretched). The chapter then reads out the structure of the two abodes — the seven descending valleys of the Fire, each from a Name of severity, and the eight ascending levels of Paradise, from the Garden of recompense to the Praised Station reserved for Muhammad — and closes by making Adam’s form “a copy” of the Muhammadan Form. It is here that al-Jīlī takes up the divine “Foot” placed in the Fire (deferred from Bāb 44) and his most striking eschatological claim: that the Fire, not being original to existence, in the end passes away.
Editorial note on a contested chapter. Bāb 58 carries positions that diverge from mainstream Islamic eschatology and are framed here, recorded not endorsed. The central one is that the Fire is non-eternal and eventually ceases — argued from “My mercy precedes My wrath” and “My mercy embraces all things,” with mercy as an essential attribute and wrath as not — whereas mainstream Sunni theology holds Hell everlasting for the unbelievers. al-Jīlī also voices a universalist tendency (the Paradise of gifts holds “people of every religion and sect”), the claim that some in the Fire are dearer to God than many in the Garden, and a vision of Plato as a luminous “Pole of the age.” Hekhal renders these in al-Jīlī’s words and frames them; they are his Akbarian theologoumena, and a second-reader pass is recommended. Genuine first-public-domain-English; scoping at hekhal-targum/docs/JILI-INSAN-AL-KAMIL-SCOPING.md.
The Form split into two: Paradise and the Fire
اعلم وفقك الله لمعرفته أن اللهَ خلق الصورةَ المحمدية من نور اسمه البديع القادر، ونظر إليها باسمه المنّان القاهر، ثم تجلَّى عليها باسمه اللطيف الغافر؛ فعند ذلك تصدَّعت لهذا التجلي صدعَين، فصارت كأنها قُسمت نصفين. فخلق اللهُ الجنةَ من نصفها المقابل لليمين، وجعلها دارَ السعادة للمنعَّمين؛ ثم خلق النارَ من نصفها المقابل للشمال، وجعلها دارَ الأشقياء أهل الضلال. وكان القسمُ الذي خُلقت منه الجنانُ هو المنظورَ إليه باسمه المنّان، والقسمُ الذي خُلقت منه النارُ هو المنظورَ إليه باسمه القاهر.
Know — God grant you success in knowing Him — that God created the Muhammadan Form from the light of His Name “the Originator, the Powerful,” and looked upon it with His Name “the Bestower, the Subduer,” then disclosed Himself to it with His Name “the Subtle, the Forgiver.” At that, it split apart, at this disclosure, into two clefts, and it became as though it were divided into two halves. So God created the Garden from its half facing the right, and made it the abode of felicity for those given bliss; then He created the Fire from its half facing the left, and made it the abode of the wretched, the people of straying. And the portion from which the gardens were created was the one looked upon with His Name “the Bestower” (al-Mannān), and the portion from which the Fire was created was the one looked upon with His Name “the Subduer” (al-Qāhir).
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
كما أخبر النبيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم عن النار: «أن الجبّار يضع فيها قدمَه فتقول: قَطْ قَطْ، فينبت فيها شجرُ الجِرجير». وسرُّ هذا الحديث أن اللهَ كلما خلق لأهل النار عذابًا خلق لهم قوةً على حمل ذلك العذاب، وإلا لهلكوا واستراحوا من العذاب، وهو قوله تعالى: «كلما نضِجت جلودُهم بدَّلناهم جلودًا غيرها ليذوقوا العذاب». فلا يزالون يزدادون قوةً بقوة كلِّ عذاب، حتى ينتهوا إلى أن يظهر فيهم أثرُ تلك القوى قوةً إلهية؛ فإذا ظهرت فيهم تلك القوةُ الإلهية جبَرتهم إلى أن يضع الجبّارُ قدمَه في النار، لأن صفاتِ الحق لا تظهر في أحدٍ فيشقى بعدها. فيضع قدمَ التجبُّر على النار فتذلُّ وتخضع لقوته، وتقول عند ذلك: قَطْ قَطْ، وهذا كلامُ حالِ الذلة تحت قهر العزة.
As the Prophet (God bless him and grant him peace) reported concerning the Fire: “The Almighty (al-Jabbār) sets His Foot in it, and it says: ‘Enough, enough!’ (qaṭ qaṭ), and the herb jurjīr (garden-rocket) grows in it.” And the secret of this hadith is that, whenever God creates a torment for the people of the Fire, He creates for them a power to bear that torment — for otherwise they would perish and be relieved of the torment; and that is His saying: “Whenever their skins are roasted, We replace them with other skins, that they may taste the torment” (4:56). So they keep increasing in power with the power of every torment, until they come to where the trace of those powers appears in them as a divine power; and when that divine power appears in them, it compels [the Almighty] to set His Foot in the Fire — for the attributes of the Real do not appear in anyone who is wretched thereafter. So He sets the Foot of overpowering upon the Fire, and it abases itself and submits to His power, and says then: “Enough, enough!” — and that is the speech of the state of abasement beneath the subjugation of Might.
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
اعلم أنه لما كانت النارُ غيرَ أصليةٍ في الوجود زالت آخرَ الأمر، وسرُّ هذا أن الصفةَ التي خُلقت منها مسبوقةٌ، والمسبوقُ فرعٌ للسابق، وذلك قولُه: «سبقت رحمتي غضبي»؛ فالسابقُ هو الأصل، والمسبوقُ فرعٌ عنه. ألا ترى كيف لما كانت الرحمةُ أصلًا انسحب حكمُها من أول الوجود إلى آخره، ولم يكن الغضبُ منسحبًا، لأن إيجاده للمخلوق من العدم رحمةٌ به لا غضبٌ عليه؛ ألا تراه قال: «ورحمتي وسِعت كل شيء»، ولم يقل: وغضبي وسِع كل شيء. والسرُّ في هذا أن الرحمةَ صفةٌ ذاتيةٌ له سبحانه، والغضبَ صفةٌ ليست بذاتية، ألا تراه يُسمَّى بالرحمن الرحيم، ولا يُسمَّى بالغضبان ولا بالغضوب. ثم إن النارَ لما كان أمرُها عارضًا في الوجود جاز زوالُها، وليس زوالُها إلا إذهابَ الإحراق عنها، فينبت بورود ملائكة النعيم في محلها شجرُ الجِرجير، فانعكس ما كان جحيمًا إلى أن صار نعيمًا، كما في قصة إبراهيم الخليل حيث قال الحقُّ لناره: «كوني بردًا وسلامًا على إبراهيم»، فصارت رياحينَ وجنات.
Know that, since the Fire is not original in existence, it passes away in the end. The secret of this is that the attribute from which it was created is preceded, and the preceded is a branch of what precedes it — and that is His saying: “My mercy precedes My wrath.” So the precedent is the root, and the preceded a branch of it. Do you not see how, since mercy was a root, its ruling extends from the first of existence to its last, while wrath does not so extend — for His bringing the creature into existence out of nothing is a mercy to it, not a wrath upon it, [since it had committed no sin to deserve wrath]? Do you not see that He said: “My mercy embraces all things” (7:156), and did not say: “My wrath embraces all things”? The secret of this is that mercy is an essential attribute of His, and wrath is not an essential attribute — do you not see that He is named “the All-Merciful, the Compassionate,” and is not named “the Wrathful” or “the Angry”? Then, since the affair of the Fire is something accidental in existence, its passing-away is admissible; and its passing-away is nothing but the removal of the burning from it — so that, with the arrival of the angels of bliss in its place, the herb jurjīr grows, and what was a Hell is reversed until it becomes a bliss, as in the story of Abraham the Friend, when the Real said to his fire: “Be coolness and peace upon Abraham” (21:69), and it became sweet basil and gardens.
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
ويناسبها في الدنيا الطبيعةُ النفسانية، فمن تزكَّى في جذبه إلى الحق بالمجاهدات والرياضات، فإن نسبةَ ما يقاسيه أهلُ الله من المشقة بمثابة عذاب أهل النار وأهوالها يوم القيامة. ولقد أخبر الروحُ الذي أنبأني بهذه العلوم أن تلك الأمور التي زالت بدوام المجاهدات هي حظُّ أهل الله من قوله تعالى: «وإن منكم إلا واردُها كان على ربك حتمًا مقضيًّا»، فلا يجوزون بعدها على نار جهنم لطفًا من الله بهم، لئلا يُعذَّب عبدُه بعذابين. ويدل على ذلك الحديثُ المرويُّ: «إن الحمَّى حظُّ كل مؤمنٍ من النار»؛ فإذا كانت الحمَّى تقوم مقامَ النار، فكيف بالمجاهدات والمخالفات التي هي أشدُّ، حتى سماها النبيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم بالجهاد الأكبر، وسمَّى الضربَ بالسيف جهادًا أصغر.
And its worldly counterpart is the carnal nature: whoever is purified, in his being drawn to the Real, by spiritual struggles and disciplines — the hardship the people of God endure is in the place of the torment of the people of the Fire and its terrors on the Day of Resurrection. And the Spirit who informed me of these sciences told me that those things that pass away through the perseverance of the struggles are the [people of God’s] share of His saying: “And there is none of you but shall come to it; that is a decree decided upon your Lord” (19:71) — so that, after [the struggles], they do not pass over the Fire of Hell, by a gentleness from God toward them, lest His servant be tormented with two torments. The hadith reported [to this effect] indicates it: “The fever is every believer’s share of the Fire.” So if the fever stands in the place of the Fire, what then of the struggles and the resistances [of the soul], which are more severe — so that the Prophet (God bless him and grant him peace) named them “the greater struggle” (al-jihād al-akbar), and named striking with the sword “the lesser struggle”?
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
The seven valleys of the Fire, and the eight gardens
واعلم أن اللهَ لما خلق النارَ من اسمه القهّار جعلها مظهرَ الجلال، فتجلَّى عليها سبعَ تجليات، فصارت تلك التجلياتُ أبوابًا لها معانٍ. فالتجلي الأول: تجلَّى عليها باسمه المنتقم، فانفتح فيها وادٍ يسمَّى لظى، خلق اللهُ بابَه من ظلمة المعصية والذنب الذي هو أمرٌ بين الله وبين عبده. والتجلي الثاني: باسمه العادل، وادٍ يسمَّى الجحيم، بابُه من الفجور والطغيان على عباد الله، وهو مسكنُ الظالمين، قال تعالى: «وإن الفجّار لفي جحيم». ثم على هذا الترتيب: اسمُه الشديد، وصفةُ الغضب (الهاوية، مسكنُ المنافقين، «إن المنافقين في الدرك الأسفل من النار»)، واسمُه المُذِلُّ (سقر، فيه أُذلَّ الفراعنةُ والجبابرة الذين طلبوا الاستعلاء بغير حق)، واسمُه ذو البطش (السعير، من الشيطنة)، واسمُه ذو عقابٍ أليم (جهنم، بابُها من الكفر والشرك). وهذا معنى قوله: «يوم نقول لجهنم هل امتلأت وتقول هل من مزيد» — لعدم التناهي؛ لأن الدنيا دارُ الحكمة والآخرة دارُ القدرة، فالعقلُ منوطٌ بالحكمة، والكشفُ منوطٌ بالقدرة.
And know that, since God created the Fire from His Name “the Subduer,” He made it the place of manifestation of Majesty, and disclosed Himself upon it in seven self-disclosures, and those disclosures became gates having meanings. The first disclosure: He disclosed Himself upon it by His Name “the Avenger,” and there opened in it a valley called Laẓā, the gate of which God created from the darkness of disobedience and of the sin that is a matter between God and His servant. The second disclosure: by His Name “the Just,” a valley called al-Jaḥīm, its gate from depravity and tyranny over God’s servants — it is the dwelling of the wrongdoers; God said: “And surely the depraved are in a Hell-fire” (82:14). Then, in this order: His Name “the Severe”; the attribute of Wrath (al-Hāwiya, the dwelling of the hypocrites: “the hypocrites are in the lowest pit of the Fire,” 4:145); His Name “the Abaser” (Saqar, in which are abased the pharaohs and tyrants who sought exaltation without right); His Name “the Possessor of Violence” (al-Saʿīr, from devilry); and His Name “the Possessor of Painful Punishment” (Jahannam, its gate from disbelief and idolatry). And this is the meaning of His saying: “On the day We say to Hell, ‘Are you full?’ and it says, ‘Is there any more?’” (50:30) — [it says so] for [its] non-finitude; for this world is the abode of wisdom and the next is the abode of power, and the intellect is bound to wisdom while unveiling is bound to power.
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
ثم اعلم أن الجنانَ على ثماني طباق. فالطبقةُ الأولى: جنةُ المجازاة، خلق اللهُ بابَها من الأعمال الصالحة، تجلَّى فيها باسمه الحسيب، فصارت جزاءً محضًا، قال تعالى: «وأن ليس للإنسان إلا ما سعى». والثانية: جنةُ المكاسب، نتائجُ العقائد والظنون الحسنة بالله. والثالثة: جنةُ المواهب، ربحٌ محضٌ من فيض الكرم، تجلَّى فيها باسمه الوهّاب، وهي أوسعُ الجنان، وهي التي قال فيها صلى الله عليه وسلم: «لا يدخل أحدٌ الجنةَ بعمله، قالوا: ولا أنت يا رسول الله؟ قال: ولا أنا، إلا أن يتغمَّدني اللهُ برحمته»؛ وهي سرُّ قوله: «ورحمتي وسِعت كل شيء»، رأيتُ فيها من كل ملةٍ أقوامًا، وطائفةً من كل جنسٍ من بني آدم. ثم جنةُ الفطرة لمن رجع إلى فطرته الأصلية، وهم الأبرار، «إن الأبرار لفي نعيم»، سقفُها العرش. ثم الفردوسُ جنةُ المعارف، ثم الفضيلةُ جنةُ الأسماء للصدّيقين، ثم الدرجةُ الرفيعة جنةُ الصفات للمقرَّبين أهل الخلافة الإلهية. والطبقةُ الثامنة: المقامُ المحمود، وهي جنةُ الذات، أرضُها سقفُ العرش، ليس لأحدٍ إليها طريق، وهي لمحمدٍ صلى الله عليه وسلم وحده، لقوله: «المقامُ المحمود أعلى مكانٍ في الجنة، ولا يكون إلا لرجلٍ واحد، وأرجو أن أكون أنا ذلك الرجل».
Then know that the gardens are of eight tiers. The first tier: the Garden of Recompense, whose gate God created from righteous deeds; He disclosed Himself in it by His Name “the Reckoner,” and it became pure requital — God said: “And that the human has only what he has striven for” (53:39). The second: the Garden of Earnings, the fruits of good beliefs and good opinions of God. The third: the Garden of Gifts, pure profit from the overflow of generosity; He disclosed Himself in it by His Name “the Bestower,” and it is the widest of the gardens — the one of which he (God bless him and grant him peace) said: “No one enters the Garden by his deeds.” They said: “Not even you, O Messenger of God?” He said: “Not even I, unless God envelops me in His mercy.” And it is the secret of His saying: “My mercy embraces all things” (7:156); I saw in it peoples of every religion, and a group of every kind of the children of Adam. Then the Garden of the Innate Nature, for whoever returned to his original nature — they are the pious: “the pious are indeed in bliss” (82:13) — its roof is the Throne. Then the Firdaws, the Garden of Gnoses; then al-Faḍīla, the Garden of the Names, for the truthful (al-ṣiddīqūn); then the Lofty Degree, the Garden of the Attributes, for the near-stationed, the people of the divine vicegerency. And the eighth tier: the Praised Station (al-Maqām al-Maḥmūd), which is the Garden of the Essence; its ground is the roof of the Throne, and none has a way to it; it belongs to Muhammad (God bless him and grant him peace) alone, by his saying: “The Praised Station is the highest place in the Garden, and it is only for a single man, and I hope that I am that man.”
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
ثم اعلم أن الصورةَ المحمدية لما خلق اللهُ منها الجنةَ والنارَ وما فيهما من نعيم المؤمنين وعذاب الكافرين، خلق اللهُ صورةَ آدمَ عليه السلام نسخةً من تلك الصورة المحمدية. فلما نزل آدمُ من الجنة ذهبت حياةُ صورته لمفارقته عالمَ الأرواح؛ ألا ترى آدمَ كيف كان في الجنة لا يتصوَّر شيئًا في نفسه إلا أوجده اللهُ في حسه، وجميعُ من يدخل الجنةَ يتمُّ له ذلك؛ فلما نزل إلى دار الدنيا لم يبقَ له ذلك، لأن حياتَه المصوَّرة في الجنة كانت بنفسها، وحياتُها في الدنيا بالروح، فهي ميتةٌ لأهل الدنيا، إلا من أحياه اللهُ بحياته الأبدية، ونظر إليه بما نظر به إلى ذاته، وحقَّقه بأسمائه وصفاته، فإنه يكون له من القدرة في دار الدنيا ما سيكون لأهل الجنة في الدار الأخرى، فلا يتصوَّر شيئًا في نفسه إلا أوجده اللهُ في حسه. والله يقول الحقَّ ويُثبته ولا ينفيه.
Then know that, since God created from the Muhammadan Form the Garden and the Fire and the bliss of the believers and the torment of the disbelievers within them, God created the form of Adam (peace be upon him) as a copy of that Muhammadan Form. So when Adam descended from the Garden, the life of his form departed, by his parting from the world of spirits. Do you not see how Adam, while he was in the Garden, would imagine nothing in himself but God brought it into being in his senses — and this is completed for everyone who enters the Garden? But when he descended to the abode of this world, that no longer remained for him, because his imaged life in the Garden was by itself, while its life in this world is by the spirit, so it is dead for the people of this world — except for one whom God revives with His everlasting life, and looks upon with the look by which He looks upon His own Essence, and verifies by His Names and Attributes: for such a one will have, in the abode of this world, the power that the people of the Garden will have in the next abode, so that he imagines nothing in himself but God brings it into being in his senses. And God says the truth, and establishes it, and does not negate it.
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.