 Excerpted from Volume I of The Meccan Revelations (al-Futûhât al-Makkiya) by Ibn 'Arabi. Published by Pir Press (2002, 2005), translated from the Arabic by Michel Chodkiewicz, William C. Chittick and James W. Morris. The final outcome of the affair (al-amr) is the return from the many to the One, for both the man of faith and the polytheist (mushrik). This is because the man of faith who is granted the unveiling of "things as they really are" is granted [the immediate vision of] this, as He said: "Now We have removed from you your veil, so your vision today is keen" (Qur'an 50:22). And this is before he leaves this world. For everyone who is taken [by physical death] is in [a state of spiritual] "unveiling" at the moment he is taken, so that at that point he inclines toward God (al-Haqq) and toward faith in Him and [the true awareness of] divine Unity. Hence the person who attains this certainty before being brought into the presence [of God at the time of physical "death"] is absolutely sure of his felicity and his conjunction with [that condition of blessedness]. For certainty which comes from sound [rational] inquiry and unambiguous [experiential] unveiling prevents him from straying from the Truly Real, since he has "a clear proof" (Qur'an 6:57, etc.) in the matter and "discerning inner vision" (Qur'an 12:108).
But the person who attains this certainty [only] when he is brought into the presence [of death] is subject to the [ineluctable] divine Will. And although the final outcome is [also] felicity, however that is only after the imposition of torments and afflictions with respect to the person who is punished for his sins. For one is only "brought into the presence [of death]" after having witnessed that (al-amr) to which the creatures (al-khalq) are transferred [after death]. So long as he has not witnessed that, death has not come near him (Qur'an 4:18; etc.), nor is that [what we mean here by] "being brought into [its] presence." ...Now God has brought two Resurrections into existence, the lesser Resurrection and the greater Resurrection. The lesser Resurrection is the transferring of the servant from the life of this world to the life of the intermediate world (barzakh) in the imaginal body, as in [the Prophet's] saying: "When someone dies, his Resurrection has already begun." Thus whoever is among the People of Vision actually sees his Lord. For [as] God's Messenger says, in warning his community about the Antichrist: "No one sees God until he dies." The greater Resurrection is the Resurrection of the Raising (ba'th) [of all men from their graves] and the supreme Gathering (al-hashr al-a'zam) in which all men are joined.... Know that these bodies are the coffins of the spirits and what beclouds them; they are what veil them so that they do not witness [the spiritual world] and are not witnessed. So the spirits do not see, nor are they seen, except through being parted from these [bodily] tombs (cf. Qur'an 102:2)―by becoming oblivious (fanâ) to them [in their absorption in spiritual things], not through [physical] separation. Therefore since they have inner vision, when they become oblivious to witnessing the bodies then they witness the One Who gives them Being in the very act of witnessing themselves. So "he who knows his self knows his Lord." Likewise he who witnesses his self witnesses his Lord, and thereby moves from the "certainty of knowledge" to the "certainty of seeing." Then when he is returned to his [bodily] tomb he is returned to [the highest stage of] "true certainty" (yaqîn haqq), not to the "certainty of knowledge." This is how man learns the [inner] differentiation of the Truly Real (al-Haqq), through His informing [us] of the true saying concerning the true reality of certainty (Qur'an 56:95), the seeing of certainty and the knowing of certainty (cf. Qur'an 103:3-7). So for [the person who reaches this stage] every property [of reality] becomes firmly established in its proper rank, and things are not confused for him (cf. Qur'an 2:42; 3:71). And he knows that the [prophetic] announcements did not mislead him (cf. Qur'an 6:5, etc.). Therefore whoever truly knows God in this way has truly known and understood the wisdom [underlying] the formation (takwîn) of the pearl in its shell from fresh sweet [water] in salty bitter [water] (Qur'an 25:53): the shell is its body and its saltiness is its [physical] nature. So the influence of nature predominates in its shell, but the salt is [also] its whiteness―and that is like the Light which is revealed through it. So realize [what is meant by] this sign!
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 (Excerpted from Volume I of The Meccan Revelations (al-Futûhât al-Makkiya) by Ibn 'Arabi. Published by Pir Press (2002, 2005), translated from the Arabic by Michel Chodkiewicz, William C. Chittick and James W. Morris) Chapter 351The voluntary return to God is something for which the servant is most thankful. God said: "The whole affair is returned to Him" (Qur'an 11:123). So since you know that, return to Him willingly and you will not be returned to Him by compulsion. For there is no escaping your return to Him, and you will surely have to meet Him, either willingly or against your will. For He meets you in [the form of] your attributes, nothing else but that―so examine yourself, my friend! [The Prophet] said: "Whoever loves to meet God, God loves to meet him; and whoever is averse to meeting God, God is averse to meeting him...."
Now since we knew that our meeting with God can only be through death, and because we knew the inner meaning of death, we sought to bring it about sooner, in the life of this world. Hence we died, in the very Source of our life, to all our concerns and activities and desires, so that when death overcame us in the midst of that Life which never passes from us―inasmuch as we are that [Life] with which our selves and our limbs and every part of us glorifies and praises [God] ―we met God and He met us. And ours was the case [mentioned in the hadith above] of "those who meet Him while loving to meet Him" [so that He loves to meet us]. Thus when there comes what is commonly known as death, and the veil of this body is removed from us (Qur'an 50:22), our state will not change and our certainty will not be any greater than what we already experience now. For we tasted no death but the first death, which we died during our life in this world, because our Lord protected us from the torment of hell as a bounty from your Lord; that is the Supreme Achievement (Qur'an 44:56-57). [As the Imam] 'Alî said: "Even if the veil were removed, I would not be any more certain." So the person who returns to God in this way is among the blessed, and he does not even feel the inevitable, compulsory return [of physical] death, because it only comes to him when he is already there with God. The most that what is [ordinarily] known as death can mean for him is that his soul, which is with God, is kept from governing this body that it used to govern, so that the soul remains with God, in its same condition, while that body reverts to its origin, the dust from which it was formed (Qur'an 3:59, etc.). For it was a house whose occupant has traveled away, then the King established that person with Him in a firm position (Qur'an 54:55) until the Day they are raised (Qur'an 23:100, etc.). And his condition when he is raised up will be just like that: it will not change insofar as his being with God is concerned, nor with regard to what God gives him at every instant. It is also like this in the general Gathering (al-hashr al-'âmm [on the Day of Resurrection]) and in the Gardens [of Paradise] which are this person's residence and dwelling place, and in the realm [of being (nash'a)] which he inhabits. For there he sees a realm created without any [fixed] pattern, a realm that provides him in its outward manifestation what the realm of this world provides in its inner [psychic and spiritual] dimension (bâtin) and its imagination (khayâl). So this is the way he freely controls the outward dimension (zâhir) of the realm of the other world. He enjoys all that he possesses in a single instant. Nothing that belongs to him, whether his wives or other things, is ever separated from him, nor is he ever separated from them: he is among them [simply] through his being desired, and they are in him through their being desired. For the other world is an abode of swift reaction, without any delay, [where external appearances constantly change] just as is the case with passing thoughts (khawâtir) in the inner dimension of the realm of this world. Except that for man the planes are reversed in the other world, so that his inward dimension permanently maintains a single form―just as his outward dimension does here―while the forms of his outward dimension undergo rapid transformations like those of his inner dimension here. [God] said: "...by what a reversal they will be transformed!" (Qur'an 26:227), yet when we have undergone our transformation, nothing will have been added to the way we were. So understand...  Excerpted from Chapter 7 of Essential Sufism, edited by James Fadiman and Robert Frager. Published by Castle Books (1998).
Divine breezes from your Lord waft through the days of your life. Listen! Be aware of them. Would you have me tell you about actions that are better than fasting, prayer, and charity? Bring goodness and high principles between people. When God desires goodness for a human being, he will discover a voice of wisdom within his own being that shall lead him to the road of goodness. Success will follow patience, opening will follow hardship, and ease will follow difficulties. Wish for others whatever you wish for yourself. Belief [faith] is the knowledge of the heart, the words of the tongue, and the actions of the body. If your words are beautiful, if you are good-tempered, if you are moderate in taking food, and if you are trustworthy, then you are rich and should not regret the possessions that you may not have. These four qualities are enough possessions and wealth for a wise person. The signs of misfortune lie in four conditions: eyes that have never experienced tears, a heart that is cruel and hard, long chains of desires that never end, and wishing for an extremely prolonged life. One who can control himself when in anger, in passion, in fear, and in attraction is safe from the hands of the devil and the fires of hell. Have pity upon three groups of people: a dear person who has lost his loved ones, a rich person who has lost his wealth, and a learned one who is trapped among the ignorant. Have mercy on people so you may receive mercy; forgive people so you may be forgiven. I do not worry about the things that you do not know, but I am cautious in appraising how you apply what you do know. Avoid three qualities: jealousy, greed, and arrogance. Be pious in your inner self and outer life: if you have behaved badly, then do a good deed right away; do not ask anything from anyone; do not borrow anything from anyone; and do not make yourself a judge between two people. The first stage of worship is silence. Do not commit yourself to lengthy discussions of religion—such talk only succeeds in making religion a complex and confused matter. God has made religion easy and simple. If you want to live more freely, borrow less. Avoid greed, for greed in itself is poverty. The most ignorant among you is the one who does not learn from the changes in the world. The richest among you is the one who is not entrapped by greed. There is an organ in the body that, if it is righteous, ensures that the whole system will be righteous; and if it is corrupt, the whole body will become corrupt. This organ is the heart. The strongest among you is the one who controls his anger. Jealousy destroys good acts just as fire burns wood; charity consumes sin the same way that water quenches fire. God despises the tyrannical wealthy, the ignorant elderly, and the selfish poor. Follow truthfulness even if you think it may harm you, for truthfulness never harms but instead saves. Do not lie even if you think it will protect you. Lying never protects, it only destroys. Protect and honor the earth, for the earth is like your mother. Value the worth of five things before they are replaced by the other five conditions: value your youthfulness before old age arrives, value health before sickness strikes, value your wealth before you become needy, value peacefulness before hardship comes, and value life before death arrives. Generations before you were destroyed because they declined to punish the powerful thieves yet were relentless in punishing the small pickpockets. The cure of ignorance is to ask and learn. Avoid noise, excessive talking, too many questions, too many answers, and wasting your wealth. The old are our bounty, and whoever is not compassionate toward our elders and our youth, and whoever does not honor them, does not belong to my people. Worship God as if you see Him; and remember that even if you see Him not, He still sees you. There are those who believe that if they study the Koran, and so learn the words of the knowledge of religion, and then go to kings and princes to seek favor from them, that they can keep safe their piety. It is not so. From a thorny tree you will get naught but thorns, and likewise you will get nothing from kings except sins to commit. Avoid stubbornness, for it begins in ignorance and ends in regret. Be kind to people whether they deserve your kindness or not. If your kindness reaches the deserving, good for you; if your kindness reaches the undeserving, take joy in your compassion. Promise me six conditions so that I may promise you Paradise: be truthful, do not break your promises, return whatever you are given to safeguard, keep yourself from impure friendships, keep your eyes from unfair glances, and keep your hands from worthless actions. Oh God, bring peacefulness among us, bring unity into our hearts; guide us to equilibrium, take us from darkness to light and away from ugliness; bless our ears, our eyes, our hearts, and our families; accept our repentance. Moderate spending is half the earning; making friends with people is half the wisdom; and asking good questions is half the knowing. God will not show mercy to him who does not show mercy to others. The believer is a mirror to the believer. Trust in God, but tie your camel’s leg. Envy consumes good deeds as fire consumes wood. Happy are those whose own faults preoccupy them too much to think of the faults of others. Heaven lies under the feet of mothers. None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself. The person who repents is like one who has never sinned. God exalts the humble and humbles the proud. True wealth is not abundance in property but a generous heart. Surely God does not judge you by appearance or property but by [the goodness of your] heart and deeds. God was asked why creation came into being. “I was a hidden treasure. I longed to be known, so I created all of creation.” God is beautiful and loves beauty. There are as many ways to God as there are created souls. Wealth does not reside in the amount of one’s property, but rather in one’s own needlessness. An hour of contemplation is better than a year of prayer. For none of you will faith be rectified unless your hearts be made right, nor will your hearts be rectified unless your tongues be made right, nor will your tongues be rectified unless your actions be made right. Two believers that lend support to each other are like a pair of hands that wash each other clean. One who suffers oppression and forgives the oppressor is the most favored for aid from God. Asceticism for the sake of the world brings relief to the body; asceticism for the sake of the hereafter brings relief to the heart; and turning one’s face toward the Divine brings relief to the Spirit. Whenever God loves a devotee, He subjects him to ordeals. Should he endure patiently, God singles him out; should he be content, God purifies him.  Then a ploughman said, "Speak to us of Work."
And he (Almustafa the Prophet) answered, saying: You work (on your ego) that you may keep pace with the earth (הארץ ha'arets) and the soul (נְשָׁמָה Neshamah) of the earth (מלכות Malkuth, the sephirah bearing the sacred name of אדוני הארץ Adonai Ha'aretz, Lord of the Earth in the world of Atziluth). For to be idle (spiritually and psychologically) is to become a stranger unto the seasons (the path of the soul in its Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter), and to step out of life's procession (through Mahavan and Chotavan, the great and little rhythms of the soul, the Christ and His Bodhisattva), that marches in majesty and proud submission (Islam) towards the infinite (the Absolute). When you work (in the annihilation of your ego, fana) you are a flute (the reed of the spinal column that produces the Word, the Recitation) through whose heart the whispering (inquietudes) of the hours turns to music (within your soul). Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison (as all the awakened souls praise the Army of the Voice)? Always you have been told that work is a curse and labour a misfortune. But I say to you that when you work (on your defects) you fulfil a part of (Divine Mother) earth's furthest dream (the highest hope mentioned by Nietzsche, the aspiration to become a Superman, the first covenant or agreement between the soul and divinity: to work in the Self-realization of the Being until achieving the goal), assigned to you when that dream was born (in الله Allah, the Absolute Abstract Space, when your Ain Soph asked you, “Am I not your Lord?” [Qur’an 7:172] before you entered into manifestation in this universe; and when your Ain Soph exhaled you from the great womb of the primordial emptiness or abyss and into the Tree of Life, so that He could obtain knowledge of Himself), And in keeping yourself with labour (on your defects) you are in truth loving life (חיה Chaiah, the Divine Mother Kundalini), And to love life (the Divine Mother Kundalini) through (spiritual) labour is to be intimate with life's inmost secret (the Being-Partkdolg-Duty of Gurdjieff). But if you in your pain call (spiritual) birth an affliction and the support of the flesh (that does not belong to Adam, but to God) a curse written upon your brow (your Sensual and Intermediate Minds), then I answer that naught but the sweat of your brow (through initiation) shall wash away that which is written (for the seven P's, the seven instances of 'peccatum,' "sins, defects, errors," written on the forehead of Dante are washed clear by ascending the seven terraces of Purgatory, the Second Mountain of Resurrection. Ablution or wudu within Sufism and Islam also demonstrates the path of sexual purity and dissolution of lust through profound transmutation and comprehension / death of the ego). You have been told also (spiritual) life is darkness (ignorance), and in your weariness (like the Soothsayer in Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra) you echo what was said by the weary (those morbid disciples who have lost the meaning of their work). And I say that life is indeed darkness save when there is urge (willpower, Thelema), And all urge (will) is blind save when there is knowledge (דעת da'ath, gnosis, marifah), And all knowledge is vain save when there is (spiritual) work, And all (spiritual) work is empty save when there is love (גדולה Gedulah); And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God (for this is the meaning of religare, religion). And what is it to work with love (גדולה Gedulah, the Innermost)? It is to weave the cloth (of the soul, the solar bodies, the garments of reverence within the Qur'an [7:26]) with threads drawn from your heart (since the Divine Mother only awakens and rises within the spinal column in accordance with the merits of the heart, תפארת Tipehreth), even as if your beloved (the Innermost) were to wear that cloth (through initiation). It is to build a (spiritual) house with affection (in scientific chastity), even as if your beloved (the Innermost) were to dwell in that house (your physical and internal bodies). It is to sow seeds (of charity) with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved (the Intimate Christ) were to eat the fruit (of your sacrifice). It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit (the רוח אלהים Ruach Elohim, גדולה Gedulah, the Innermost), And to know that all the blessed dead (the initiates who have completely died in their ego) are standing about you and watching (since no disciple is ever left alone on this path). Often have I heard you say, as if speaking in sleep, "he who works in marble, and finds the shape of his own soul in the stone (of יסוד Yesod by chiseling it to perfection), is nobler than he who ploughs the soil (who only plants the seeds of spirituality in מלכות Malkuth through teaching, by following the third factor: sacrifice). And he who seizes the rainbow (the light of Christ in the seven spiritual rays, the seven colors of the rainbow) to lay it on a (solar) cloth in the likeness of (the internal) man, is more than he who makes the sandals for our feet (who initially shows us the path of the sandals, symbol of יסוד Yesod in Kabbalah; for one thing is to be introduced to the path, another thing is to walk it)." But I say, not in sleep (of the consciousness) but in the over-wakefulness of noontide (when the Christ-Sun is in its zenith above our head, the Chakra Sahasrara), that the wind (of Prana) speaks not more sweetly to the giant oaks (the great self-realized masters) than to the least of all the blades of grass (the newly-budded souls initiating their awakening); And he alone is great who turns the voice of the wind (the Voice of the Silence) into a (mantric) song made sweeter by his own loving (in sexual alchemy: Allah-kimia, and meditation). Work is love made visible (the spiritual work is manifesting God within מלכות Malkuth). And if you cannot work with love (גדולה Gedulah) but only with distaste (morbidity and resentment), it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple (of initiates) and take alms (advice) of those (initiates) who work with joy (Froh, the Nordic Christ). For if you bake bread (in alchemy) with indifference (without careful attention and psychological works), you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man's hunger (because the quality of our transmutations resides in our psychological work and can only feed the soul when there is comprehension and the Buddhist Annihilation). And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes (if you do not take joy in your transmutations), your grudge distils a poison in the wine (if you do not annihilate the "I," your mind will poison the wine of God within your sexual organs). And if you sing though as angels (when you are not), and love not the singing (if you do not fully identify yourself with גדולה Gedulah in the sexual act through mantra), you muffle man's ears to the voices of the day (the solar forces of man) and the voices of the night (the lunar forces represented in woman, which are joined in the sacred sexual crucible).  Then said Almitra, "Speak to us of (Conscious) Love."
And he (Almustafa, the Chosen and Beloved of الله Allah) raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them. And with a great voice he said: When love (גדולה Gedulah, the Spirit, the Innermost) beckons to you follow him, Though his ways are hard and steep (through the path of the spinal column, the reed or staff of initiation). And when his (solar) wings (that open upon the Caduceus of Mercury) enfold you yield to him, Though the sword (of Kundalini) hidden among his pinions may wound you (your ego). And when he speaks to you believe in him, Though his voice (the Voice of the Silence) may shatter your (egotistical) dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden. For even as love (גדולה Gedulah, the Spirit, the Innermost) crowns you (with a crown of life, כתר Kether, the Father; Revelation 2:10) so shall he crucify you (through initiation). Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning (of your inner tyrant, your egos; Isaiah 25:5). Even as he ascends to your height (of the Tree of Life)and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun (the Solar Logos, the Trinity: כתר Kether, חכמה Chokmah, בינה Binah), So shall he descend to your roots (at the tree of زقوم Zaqqum, the tree of death in Islam, the Klipoth of Kabbalah, the inferior worlds) and shake them in their clinging to the earth (מלכות Malkuth). Like sheaves of corn (plants which assimilate the Solar Christic Force) he gathers you unto himself (He strives to unite all the diverse parts of the Being). He threshes you (provides you ordeals) to make you naked (innocent, like Adam and Eve before the fall). He sifts you to free you from your husks (egos, Klipoth, shells). He grinds you to whiteness (through the wheel of Karma). He kneads you until you are pliant (in contemplation and meditation); And then he assigns you to his sacred fire (the Kundalini awakened through the perfect matrimony), that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast (the sacred initiations within the temples of the Superior Worlds). All these things shall love (גדולה Gedulah, the Spirit, the Innermost) do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart (the Universal, Abstract Absolute Space, the Spirit of Life Free in its Movement). But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure, Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness (your shame born from fornication, as Adam and Eve were after the fall) and pass out of love's threshing-floor (the ordeals of a matrimony and of initiation), Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears. Love (גדולה Gedulah, the Spirit, the Innermost) gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself. Love (גדולה, the Innermost) possesses not nor would it be possessed; For love is sufficient unto love (for "my God is God," אליאל). When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, I am in the heart of God (the Absolute Abstract Space, الله Allah)." And think not you can direct the course of love (the straight path of the Bodhisattvas), for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course. Love (גדולה Gedulah, the Spirit, the Innermost) has no other desire but to fulfil itself. But if you love (consciously) and must needs have desires, let these be your desires: To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night (the Divine Mother Space). To know the pain of too much tenderness. To be wounded by your own understanding of love; And to bleed willingly and joyfully (to die to the animal ego with happiness and contentment). To wake at dawn (for runes, meditation, and esoteric exercises) with a winged heart (or the longing to know divinity) and give thanks for another day of loving (through a perfect matrimony); To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy; To return home at eventide with gratitude; And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved (الله Allah, the divine) in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips. |
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