Introduction You yourself are the object of your quest
(Ibn Arabi and the world as divine self-revelation)
For some, it may serve a purpose in shattering preconceived notions and presenting an entirely new perspective which opens up a compassionate and responsive universe. It reflects an ardent desire to reach beyond the peripheral uncertainties of everyday life and discover, for ourselves, a certainty in the oneness of being which constantly flows through everything that is.
The sheer quantity of manuscripts available shows how popular this book has remained for more than seven centuries and how many times it has been copied and recopied by hand.
Ibn ʿArabi (d.1240) The world is imagination, Yet in reality it is Real.
a young teenager, he felt a strong calling from God and went into retreat. During this time he had a spiritual vision, under the guidance of the three prophets of the Abrahamic religions, Jesus, Moses and Muhammad.
Throughout his life, he continued to have innumerable mystical experiences, visions and realizations and had countless encounters with extraordinary individuals engaged on the spiritual way.
Ibn ʿArabi continued to travel extensively in Anatolia, Iraq and the major cities of the Middle East. All the time he was writing and giving spiritual advice to those who sought it. Finally he settled in Damascus, where he is buried.
Ibn ʿArabi wrote more than 300 books of which about 93 have survived to the present day.
Ibn ʿArabi describes the world as the exteriorization of a single hidden reality. All that we see as creation is a divine self-revelation which is constantly renewed in different forms at every moment.
Every human being has the potential to become a complete mirror to Reality, therefore integrating all aspects of life in a balanced and appropriate way. Above all, the movement of existence is the movement of love for the sake of the revelation of beauty.
Awhad al-din Balyani (d.1287) The Truth: you can’t see any other than God, For no doubt both worlds aren’t other than Him!7
Despite the many differences between the understanding of what became known as the oneness of being or unity of existence (wahdat al-wujud) in Ibn ʿArabi and Ibn Sabʿin, it is quite likely that Ibn ʿArabi’s work and thought made a definite impression on Ibn Sabʿin.
Ibn ʿArabi, on the other hand, does not deny the reality of the world but rather he sees the world as the place of God’s self-revelation.
misunderstandings about the nature of reality when taken without the support of its entire spiritual and cultural context, and the practical training which that entails. This may well have been true in past times, but in today’s global society, where information about anything and everything is generally so readily available, each individual needs to discriminate and discern the value of what is offered, for themselves. At the same time, it does not remove the need to find reliable, practical guidance on the spiritual path, to use one’s common sense, to apply rational consideration and intellectual rigour, and to observe appropriate moral obligations and responsibilities. This book is a brief, poetic glimpse emerging from a whole spiritual and cultural framework. Although it can be read as a self-standing work, the cautionary tale that follows should also be taken into account.
(God is: no before or after, no how or where, He as He always was)
Know Yourself An explanation of the oneness of being
Whoever knows their self, knows their Lord In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful
Praise belongs to God, before whose oneness there is no before unless the before is He and after whose singleness there is no after unless the after is He. He is, and there is not with Him any before or after, above or below, closeness or distance, how or where or when, time or moment or duration, manifested existence or place. And He is now as He has always been. He is the one without oneness and the single without singleness. He is not composed of name and named, for His name is Him and His named is Him and there is no name or named other than Him. He is the first without firstness and the last without lastness.
Understand this so as not to make the mistake of those who believe in incarnation. He is not in anything and no thing is in Him, whether entering into Him or coming out of Him.
No one sees Him except Himself, no one reaches Him except Himself and no one knows Him except Himself. He knows Himself through Himself and He sees Himself by means of Himself.
No one other than He sees Him. No sent prophet, perfect saint or angel brought close knows Him. His prophet is He, His messenger is He, His message is He and His word is He. He sent Himself from Himself, through Himself to Himself. There is no intermediary or means other than Him. There is no difference between the sender, that which is sent and the one to whom it is sent.
(You are not you — you are Him, and there is no you)
What the Prophet pointed out by that, is that you are not you but you are Him and there is no you.
What is meant is that you never were and never will be, whether through yourself or through Him or in Him or with Him. You have neither ceased to be nor are you existent. You are Him and He is you, without any of these imperfections. If you know your existence in this way, then you know God, and if not, then not.
That is clearly an error and misconception.
If you know yourself without existing and passing away, then you know God, and if not, then not.
there is an affirmation of something other than God. The Prophet said, Whoever knows their self, knows their Lord. He did not say, Whoever annihilates their self, knows their Lord.
The Prophet alluded to the fact that you are nonexistent now as you were nonexistent before creation, because now is eternity-without-beginning and now is eternity-without-end and now is timelessness. God is the very being of eternity-without-beginning, eternity-without-end and timelessness even though in reality there is no eternity-without-beginning, eternity-with-out-end or timelessness.
(The way to self-knowledge: God is, and nothing is with Him)
If someone asks: What is the way to knowledge of the self and knowledge of God? The answer is: It consists in being aware that God is, and nothing is with Him. And He is now as He has always been. If someone then says: I see myself as other than God and I do not see God as myself. The answer is: The Prophet meant by the word ‘self’ your being and your essential reality, and not the self which is called the blaming self or the lower self or the self which is known as the confident and peaceful self.
When this secret is revealed to you, you will know that you are not other than God but that you yourself are the object of your quest. You do not need to get rid of your self. You have not ceased, nor will you cease, to exist, without time and without moments, as we have already mentioned.
It is as if a person who does not know something, then comes to know it. Their existence does not disappear, but their ignorance disappears. Their existence remains as it was, without being exchanged for another, and without the existence of the ignorant person being added to, or mixed with, the knowing person: ignorance simply disappears.
(The knower and the known are one; no union or separation)
When the secret of an atom is discovered, the secret of all created things is made clear, whether they are apparent or hidden. You do not see the two worlds as other than God, without the two worlds and their names and what they name existing – or rather, their names and what they name and their existence are Him, without any doubt.
He manifests Himself in His oneness and hides Himself in His singularity. He is the first in His essence and His self-subsistence and the last in His everlastingness. He is the very being of the name the first and the name the last, of the name the apparent and the name the hidden.
Because of this, the Prophet said, Die before you die, that is, Know yourself before you die. He also said, God says, ‘My servant continues to approach Me with free acts until I love him. And when I love him, I am his hearing, his sight, his hand…’, which refers to the fact that whoever knows their self sees their whole being as the very being of God, without any change in their essence or attributes. There is no need for any change since that person was not the existence of their own essence but was simply ignorant of the knowledge of their self. When you know yourself, your egoism disappears and you know that you are no other than God.
The benefit of the knowledge of the self is to know for certain that you are neither existent nor nonexistent, that you are not, never have been and never will be. In this way, the meaning of There is no god but God becomes clear: there is no divinity other than Him, being belongs to none but Him, there is no other except Him, there is no god but He.
He was every day in a different configuration when no thing existed, so He is now as He has always been, although there is no thing or day, just as there has been from all eternity no thing or day. The existence of the creatures and their nonexistence are the same. If it were not so, it would require the origination of something which was not already in His oneness. That would imply imperfection and His oneness is far more exalted than that.
If someone asks: We understand union without union, but what does closeness without closeness and distance without distance mean?
When knowledge comes upon you, you know that it is through God that you know God, not through yourself.
Therefore the knower and the known, the one who arrives and what he arrives at, and the seer and the seen are one. ‘The knower’ is His attribute and ‘the known’ is His essence, and ‘the one who arrives’ is His attribute and ‘what he arrives at’ is His essence. In fact, the attribute and that to which it is attributed are one. That is the explanation of the saying, Whoever knows their self, knows their Lord. Whoever understands this example knows that there is no union or separation. The knower is He and the known is He, the one who sees is He and what is seen is
All these expressions are unadulterated polytheism because whoever accepts that there could be anything other than Him which is subsequently capable of passing away, then of passing away from passing away, affirms that there is something other than Him, and whoever affirms that is a polytheist. May God guide them and us to the right path.
(Your being was never your own — it was always His)
other with God, For associating other with God is debasing. If someone says: You point out that your knowledge of yourself is the knowledge of God, but the one who knows their self is other than God. So how can that which is other than God know God and reach union with Him? The answer is: Whoever knows their self knows that their being is not their being, nor other than their being, but that they are the very being of God, without their being becoming the being of God or entering into God or coming out of Him, and without their being existing along with Him or in Him. They see their being as it was before coming into being, without the need for passing away, effacement or the passing away of passing away. For the passing away of something implies that it was previously existent and that in turn implies that it exists by itself and not by the power of God, which is clearly impossible. It is evident that the knowledge that the knower has of their self is the knowledge that God has of Himself, because their self is no other than He.
One of those who know has said, The Sufi is uncreated. It is like that after the complete unveiling and dissipation of doubts and conjecturing. But this spiritual nourishment is only for the person whose nature is larger than the two worlds. As for the person whose nature is only as large as the two worlds, it is not suitable for them, for it is greater than the two worlds.
Finally, you need to know that the seer and the seen, the one who finds and what is found, the knower and the known, the creator and the created, the perceiver and the perceived are one. He sees, knows and perceives His being by means of His being, beyond any manner of sight, knowledge and perception and without the existence of the form of sight, knowledge and perception. Just as His being is beyond all condition, so the vision, knowledge and perception which He has of Himself are without condition.
Our conversation is with God, not with other than God and not with the inwardly blind. Whoever reaches this spiritual station knows that they are no other than God. we are speaking with those who have determination and energy in seeking knowledge of their self in order to know God, and who keep fresh in their heart the image of their seeking and longing for union with God, and not with those without aim or intention.
If someone objects: God has declared that Eyes do not perceive Him but He perceives the eyes, He is the subtle and well-informed one, yet you maintain the contrary, so what you are saying is not true.
The answer is this: These words are for those who see nothing other than God. we have no discussion with those who do see something other than God, for they only see what they see. whoever knows their self sees nothing except God, but whoever does not know their self, does not see God.
As for the person who has not reached union, they will not arrive by theoretical teaching, instruction, repetition, reason or learning, but only by putting themselves in the service of an eminent master who has arrived and a wise teacher, following the spiritual path in order to be guided by their light and progress by means of their spiritual will, and reaching in this way what they are seeking, if God wills.
(The self, passing away, and Ibn Arabi’s teaching on subsistence)
Translator’s notes on the text The self or soul (nafs)
The Prophet meant by the word ‘self’ your being and your essential reality, and not the self which is called the blaming self or the lower self or the self which is known as the confident and peaceful self.
The Quran also refers to three levels, or stages of development, of the self or soul. While the spirit within is always in a state of perfection, the soul may become tarnished. For many Sufis the perfecting of the self is a path of transformation which requires determination and effort, even though it is acknowledged that it can only be achieved through divine grace.
when it is God that is being referred to, as an ontologically active aspect of the one Reality, ‘He’ continues to be used. Of course, the ultimate ineffable Reality is without gender.
Many possible stages of passing away have been discussed. Sufis often refer to successive levels of realization where it is seen that ultimately the only actor is God, all names and attributes belong to God and even a person’s individual essence is not their essence but an individuation of the One Essence.
Everything passes away (or perishes) except His face. The face reveals a person’s identity and it refers to the essence or reality. Ibn ʿArabi mentions the saying of one of the early Sufi masters: passing away is the annihilation of he who was not whereas remaining is the subsistence of Him who has always been.
Ibn ʿArabi explains that, at every moment, the hidden essence appears in a different form according to its place of appearance. It is apparent in all that we see while at the same time remaining hidden and invisible. Since there is nothing in existence but God, He is seen everywhere, according to the Quranic verse, Wherever you turn, there is the face of God. Yet at the same time, God remains beyond our perception, Eyes do not perceive Him:14 He is both transcendent and immanent, and He unites all opposites in Himself.