Ibn Al-Arabi's Fusus Al-Hikam

An Annotated Translation of "The Bezels of Wisdom"

Binyamin Abrahamov

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781138831315
• eBook ISBN: 9781317567646
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Islamic Theology

Ibn al-Arabi's Fusus al-Hikam is a translation of one of the most important works written on Islamic Mysticism.

Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-Arabi (1165-1240) is deemed the greatest mystic of Islam and his mystical philosophy has attracted the attention of both Muslims and non-Muslims from his time to the present day. Believing that the world is the self- manifestation of God, he claimed that all religions are equal and that the perfect human being is he who knows all the religious phenomena in the world. Fusus al-hikam examines the singular characteristics of twenty seven prophets of Islam and constitutes the best summary of Ibn al-Arabi's thought. The translation of these twenty seven chapters is preceded by an introduction that explains the main ideas of Ibn al-Arabi and is accompanied by explanatory notes to the text.

Providing an easily accessible translation of one of the greatest mystics of Islam, Ibn al Arabi' Fusus al-Hikam is essential reading for students, scholars and researchers of Islamic Philosophy, Mysticism and Islamic Mysticism in particular.

1 The bezel of the wisdom of divinity exists in the essence of Adam

Preface

(47) In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

Praise be to God who has sent down from eternity (many) kinds of wisdom (ḥikma, pl. ḥikam)¹ upon the hearts² of the perfect humans (kalim)³ in a unique right way, even if the sects and religious communities vary because of the variety of nations. May God bless and protect him (Muḥammad) who bestows (on people) spiritual aspirations⁴ from the treasuries of (His) generosity (khazāʾin al-jūd)⁵ and kindness through the most valuable statements.

I saw God’s Messenger in a vision (mubashshira)⁶ during the latter part of the month of Muḥarram in the year 627 (1229) in Damascus. Seizing in his hand a book, he said to me, “This is Kitāb Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam (the book of The Bezels of Wisdom); take it and bring it to people so that they might benefit from it.” I said, “I hear and obey God, His Messenger and those in authority⁷ among us as we are commanded.” Therefore, I implemented the Messenger’s wish with sincere intention and pure aim and aspiration and made this book manifest as God’s Messenger determined without increase or decrease. I asked God to include me, both in this (mission) and in all my states (aḥwālī), among His servants over whom the Devil has no authority.⁸ I also asked Him that in all that which my fingers may write, in all that which my tongue may utter, and in all that which my heart may contain, to bestow only upon my mind glorified revelation (ilqāʾ subbūḥī)⁹ and spiritual blowing (nafth rūḥī)¹⁰ through His protective support. (I asked this for the purpose) of my being a transmitter (mutarjim) and not one who writes according to his own thoughts (mutaḥakkim).¹¹ Consequently, those who learn it (the book), among the people of God (ahl allāh),¹² the people of contemplation, may be certain that it originates in (48) the Place of Sanctification (in God) that is exempt from personal interests¹³ in which deception is involved. I hope that God (al-ḥaqq),¹⁴ having heard my prayer, will accede to my call, for I shall convey (literally: cast into – alqā)¹⁵ only that which He conveyed to me, and I shall not send down (unazzilu)¹⁶ in this book anything except that which God sent down to me. I am neither a prophet nor a messenger, but only an heir (of prophets and messengers)¹⁷ preparing for the world to come (li-ākhiratī ḥārith).¹⁸

Hear from God!/And return to God!

When you hear what I bring/pay attention!

Then through understanding detail/the whole and combine the details into a whole

Then bestow it¹⁹ upon//its seekers and do not withhold (them from it)

This is the Mercy that/embraces you,²⁰ so make it known (to others)²¹

I asked God to be one of those who are given revelation and accept it, and of those who are restricted (quyyida)²² by the pure Muḥammadan Law and accept its restriction and restrict (others). May God gather us in His group²³ as He made us part of His community. The first (chapter) which the Lord reveals to the servant is as follows:

The bezel²⁴ of the wisdom²⁵ of divinity exists in the essence²⁶ of Ādam²⁷

(48) The Real,²⁸ from the perspective of His Names,²⁹ wanted to see the essences of His uncountable Most Beautiful Names (asmāʾ ḥusnā),³⁰ as they really operate, or if you wish, say to see His Essence, in an all-inclusive being containing all of them and qualified by existence. Through this being, His mystery will be revealed to Him. That is, because one’s self seeing is not like one’s seeing oneself in another, which serves as a mirror for the seer. (The reason for this preference) is that the mirror reveals to the seer himself in a shape which is (49) given by the substrate (maḥall) which one observes. If such a substrate does not exist and does not appear to the seer, he cannot see himself.

(Because of this idea),³¹ the Real brought the whole cosmos into existence (awjada),³² an existence of an indistinct shape without a spirit in it, and it was like an unpolished mirror. According to God’s customary rule, He does not make a substrate unless it receives the divine spirit, which is expressed by “breathing into it.”³³ This breathing means the coming to be of a predisposition (istiʿdād) of this created form to receive the constant revealed overflow (fayḍ) which has not ceased and will never cease. There is only a receptacle (qābil), which derives from His holy overflow (fayḍ aqdas).³⁴ All existents³⁵ come from Him, their beginning and their end, and “all things are brought back to God,”³⁶ just as they begin from Him.

(The revelation of) all things required the disclosure (jalāʾ)³⁷ of the mirror of the world. Ādam was equal to the clearness of this mirror³⁸ and the spirit of this form (that is, the mirror). The angels were among the faculties of this form, that is, the form of the world, which is expressed in popular terminology through “the Great Human Being.” The angels relate to the world like the relationship between the spiritual and sensual faculties in the human structure (to the body). Each of these faculties is veiled through itself from seeing something better than its essence, for it claims that it (the human structure) has competence for every high position and exalted rank with God, because it has the divine all-comprehensiveness (al-jamʿiyya al-ilāhiyya),³⁹ which goes back to the divine side (al-janāb al-ilāhī)⁴⁰ and to the side of the Reality of Realities (ḥaqīqat al-ḥaqāʾiq), and with respect to the structure which possesses these qualities, (it goes back) to that which is required by the Universal Nature which comprises all the receptacles of the world, higher and lower.⁴¹

This (idea)⁴² is not known by the intellect (ʿaql) through rational observation (naẓar fikrī),⁴³ but rather this kind of perception originates only in divine unveiling (kashf ilāhī). Through this divine unveiling the foundation of the forms of the world which contain its spirits is known.

The (entity) mentioned above is called (50) a human being and the vicegerent (khalīfa)⁴⁴ (of God). As for his humanness, it derives from his comprehensive structure and his comprising of all the realities, (because) the human being (insān) relates to the Real (al-ḥaqq – God) as the pupil (insān al-ʿayn) relates to the eye, and through the pupil seeing (naẓar, baṣar) occurs. Hence, he is called insān (meaning human being and pupil), because through him the Real looks (naẓara) at His creation and has mercy (raḥima)⁴⁵ on them. This human being is both created in time and is eternal, coming into being and living forever.⁴⁶ He is both the separating and unifying principle (literally: word – kalima).⁴⁷ The world owes its existence to him. His relation to the world is like the relation of the bezel of the seal ring to the seal ring. The human being is the tool (literally: place or substrate) and the sign by which the King seals His treasure. Because of (this function) God calls him the vicegerent, for through him God preserves His creation, as the seal ring preserves the treasures. So long as the King’s seal is on the treasures, no one dares to open them, except with His permission. For this reason, God has appointed him as a vicegerent who preserves His possessions (mulk). So long as the Perfect Human Being remains, the world will not cease to exist.⁴⁸ Do you not see that when he disappears and the seal of the treasure of the world is broken, nothing of what the Real preserved in the treasure will remain, and all the parts which exist in it will go out being united with each other, and all of them will move to another world (al-Ākhira) and he (the Perfect Human Being) will be an everlasting seal on the treasure of another world.⁴⁹

All that exists in the divine forms,⁵⁰ that is, (God’s) names, appears in the human structure. Hence these forms attained the rank of being encompassed and included in the existence of the human structure. And through this existence God argues against the angels.⁵¹ So take care, because God teaches you a lesson through (telling you the story of) another, and think⁵² what is the reason for blaming someone. That is, the angels were neither aware of the structure of this vicegerent nor of the essential servitude (ʿibāda dhātiyya) required by the presence of the Real. For no one knows about the Real except that which is given to him by one’s essence.⁵³ The angels neither had the comprehensive (nature) of Ādam nor perceived the divine names (51) which particularize his nature and through which God is glorified and sanctified. Moreover, the angels did not know that God has (other) names by which they can glorify and sanctify Him as Ādam did. This situation which we have mentioned overwhelmed them and caused them to say concerning the structure of the human being: “How can You put someone there who will cause damage and bloodshed?” (Qurʾān 2:30, trans. AH). These words express only quarreling and the essence of their behavior, that is, what they said regarding Ādam equals their attitude toward the Real. If their structure had not imposed on them such (an ignorance of God’s names), having been unaware of this imposition (wa-hum lā yashʿurūn),⁵⁴ they would not have said what they said concerning Ādam. If they had known their souls (or selves – nufūs), they would have known (their predisposition),⁵⁵ and if they had known, they would have been protected (ʿuṣimū) (from ascribing sins to the human being). Moreover, the angels did not cease disparaging Ādam, but added the claim that (contrary to Ādam) they glorify and sanctify God (Qurʿān 2:30). Ādam knew the divine Names which the angels did not know, hence they could neither glorify their Lord nor sanctify Him through these names as Ādam did.⁵⁶

The Real described to us what happened (between Him and the angels) so that we know i...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 The bezel of the wisdom of divinity exists in the essence of Adam
• 2 The bezel of the wisdom of expiration exists in the essence of Seth
• 3 The bezel of the wisdom of transcendence exists in the essence of Noah
• 4 The bezel of the wisdom of holiness exists in the essence of Enoch
• 5 The bezel of the wisdom of excessive love exists in the essence of Abraham
• 6 The bezel of the wisdom of reality exists in the essence of Isaac
• 7 The bezel of the wisdom of loftiness exists in the essence of Ishmael
• 8 The bezel of the wisdom of spirituality exists in the essence of Jacob
• 9 The bezel of the wisdom of light exists in the essence of Joseph
• 10 The bezel of the wisdom of unity exists in the essence of Hūd
• 11 The bezel of the wisdom of opening exists in the essence of Ṣāliḥ
• 12 The bezel of the wisdom of the heart exists in the essence of Shuʿayb
• 13 The bezel of the wisdom of spiritual power exists in the essence of Lot
• 14 The bezel of the wisdom of predetermination exists in the essence of Ezra
• 15 The bezel of the prophetic wisdom exists in the essence of Jesus
• 16 The bezel of the wisdom of mercy exists in the essence of Solomon
• 17 The bezel of the wisdom of existence exists in the essence of David
• 18 The bezel of the wisdom of breath exists in the essence of Jonah
• 19 The bezel of the wisdom of the unseen exists in the essence of Job
• 20 The bezel of the wisdom of the majesty exists in the essence of John
• 21 The bezel of the wisdom of the dominion exists in the essence of Zakariah
• 22 The bezel of the wisdom of the intimacy exists in the essence of Elias
• 23 The bezel of the wisdom of virtue exists in the essence of Luqmān
• 24 The bezel of the wisdom of leadership exists in the essence of Aaron
• 25 The bezel of the wisdom of exaltation exists in the essence of Moses
• 26 The bezel of the wisdom of recourse exists in the essence of Khālid
• 27 The bezel of the wisdom of uniqueness exists in the essence of Muḥammad
• References
• Index