Before we march on to Ibn Arabi's
original text, let's look at what the word Sūrat (
Attribute, Form)
means
and its origins. Originally this word comes from the Hadith (Prophetic
Narration): Indeed
Allah created
Adam according to
Hu's
Sūrat (Attribute, Form)!
الجامع الصغير.
الإصدار 3,22 - لجلال الدين السيوطي
المجلد الثالث >> باب: حرف الخاء
3928 - خلق الله آدم على صورته، وطوله ستون ذراعا، ثم قال: اذهب فسلم على
أولئك النفر - وهم نفر من الملائكة جلوس - فاستمع ما يحيونك فإنها تحيتك
وتحية ذريتك، فذهب فقال: السلام عليكم، فقالوا: السلام عليك ورحمة الله،
فزادوه "ورحمة الله" فكل من يدخل الجنة على صورة آدم طوله ستون ذراعا، فلم
تزل الخلق تنقص بعده حتى الآن
["خلق الله آدم على صورته": أي على صورة آدم التي كان عليها من مبدأ فطرته
إلى موته، لم تتفاوت قامته ولم تتغير هيئته، بخلاف بنيه فإن كلا منهم يكون
نطفة ثم علقة ثم مضغة ثم عظاما ... وقيل الضمير (راجع) لله تعالى، بقرينة
رواية "خلق آدم على صورة الرحمن (أي أعطاه من الصفات ما يوجد مسماها عند
الله عز وجل، كالموت والحياة والعلم والكلام والرحمة، والتي لم تعط
بمجموعها للحيوان ولا للملائكة ولا للجن، وإن كان الاشتراك فقط في مسميات
هذه الصفات وليس في عينها، حيث أن المشترك بين قدرة العبد وقدرة الخالق هو
الاسم فقط، وهكذا بشأن جميع الصفات، فقدرة الله غير مخلوقة وغير محدودة،
بينما قدرة العبد مخلوقة، محدودة، تحتاج على الدوام إلى الحي القيوم، الذي
يمسك السماء أن تقع على الأرض إلا بإذنه)]ـ
التخريج (مفصلا): أحمد في مسنده ومتفق عليه [البخاري ومسلم] عن أبي هريرة
تصحيح السيوطي: صحيح
Note: According to Rāzi and Ibn Arabi below, really the Sūrat (
Attribute, Form)
means the Divine Names and Attributes i.e.
Allah is Rahman
or
Rahim i.e. The Most Merciful and due to the implications of the above
narration human being is enrobed with an infinitely vitiated version of
the Mercy!
Ibn Arabi:
… That the caller does not call you unless with the vision to relate
you to himself and keep
you close to his/her essence/Self (and do so not blindly on your part).
If you understood this and
understood the relationship of you
to the
universe, then you need to
understand the relationship of
Allah to you
and yours to Allah. And so, Allah
has endowed me with the relationship of the Divine Names to myself, so
I understand their
indented purpose.
Know that the names guide towards the named and that is due to the
correspondence (i.e. the name to the names), and no other entity
responds/understand this name (correspondence to this name) since in
its essence it is called something else. (Dara: I think he means that I
understand when I am called by the name Dara but others than me have no
understanding of the name and they wont responded in return, if I am
called by that name.)
And
Allah
willed that
Hu
should be known, vis-à-vis the
transient cognition that must be fully perfected in gradations, stage
upon
stage, and vis-à-vis the transient Wujud (
Being-ness)
that must
be perfected and it is impossible to be cognizant of something unless
by its own Nafs (
Self)
or by means of some example similar to it, as in
the case of an object that though exists within the transience of this
world yet it is also known within Allah's Eternal Divine Knowledge and
this Sūrat (
Attribute,
Form) of the object's Wujud (
Being) is
somehow
similar to its knowledge-form (within Allah's Knowledge).
Insān Kāmil (
The
integrated Human-ness via the perfected spiritual eye)
is a unique singular reality! And even if it is integrated with a
person, still it will not surpass one, since it is a unique and
singular essence! There is no object similar unto
Hu
[42:11] i.e. Allah made Insān Kāmil an example but not similar! (A
photo of an apple is an example of an apple but not similar to it)
Dara: Basically his concept comes from the Hadith (Prophetic Narration)
that once the 'person' exceeds in worship
Allah would be
his eyes. And
for this reason he is saying that Insān Kāmil or the integrated Eye
even if it is integrated further with a human being, still is only
one!
الجامع الصغير. الإصدار 3,22 - لجلال الدين السيوطي
المجلد الثاني >> [تتمة باب حرف الألف]
1752- إن الله تعالى قال: من عادى لي وليا فقد آذنته بالحرب، وما تقرب إلي
عبدي بشيء أحب إلي مما افترضته عليه، وما يزال عبدي يتقرب إلي بالنوافل
حتى أحبه، فإذا أحببته كنت سمعه الذي يسمع به وبصره الذي يبصر به، ويده
التي يبطش بها، ورجله التي يمشي بها، وإن سألني لأعطينه، وإن استعاذني
لأعيذنه، وما ترددت عن شيء أنا فاعله ترددي عن قبض نفس المؤمن: يكره
الموت، وأنا أكره مساءته
التخريج (مفصلا): صحيح البخاري عن أبي هريرة
تصحيح السيوطي: صحيح
And if
Allah
wills to setup his Wujuf (
Being) e.g. the
application of a Divine Name, this name has its own essence e.g.
letters, phonetics and so on (which are not Allah), as the application
to the human
being (e.g. Rahim is a Divine Name and is also applied to the human
being as an attribute, though the human being is not Allah) however the
correspondence of the name to the Insān Kāmil (
The
integrated
Human-ness via the perfected spiritual eye) is more applicable than
anything else. (Translation ???)
The Insān Kāmil (
The
integrated
Human-ness via the perfected spiritual eye) is a composite of
spirit
and corporeality, on the basis of the soul/spirit Insān Kāmil
corresponds to
Allah
and on the basis of Sūrat (
Attribute, Form)
corresponds to the human being.
There are Hāla (Temporary states, occasions) for human being as well as
there are Hāla (Temporary states, occasions) for Allah. And one of
these Hāla is Tajrid (Disrobing) from the human Sūrat (
Attribute, Form),
and even though in the sate of Tajrid still the names are applicable to
our souls. And when we enrobe with the Sūrat (
Attribute, Form)
again there
is a partition between us i.e. the Creator vs. the
created. (Translation ???)
And if in the universe there was no one formed according to the Sūrat (
Attribute, Form)
of
Allah
nothing would have been endeavored from Allah's knowledge and by that
we mean nothing endeavored within the transient universe of ours: 'I
(Allah) was a treasure unknown to all, and I loved becoming known so I
created the creation and bestowed upon them Ma'refat (Divine Gnosis)
that they may be cognizant of Me' i.e. Allah made
Hu's
Nafs (
Divine
Self) that of a treasure! And a treasure cannot be piled up except
within someplace of holding, and Allah did not store this treasure or
the Divine Self except within the Sūrat (
Attribute, Form)
of the Insān Kāmil (
The
integrated Human-ness via the perfected spiritual eye) i.e. within
the objectification of the
Insān Kāmil,
place for the said treasure of Allah.
For when
Allah
enrobed the human being with the gown of objectification of Wujud (
Being-ness),
thus emerged the Divine Treasure!
And Insān Kāmil (
The
integrated Human-ness via the perfected spiritual eye) can become
cognizant of the
Hu
vis-à-vis the objectification of the said treasure, though there
is no way for human comprehension of this, unless
Allah already
had taught the human being the Divine Names: And Hu taught Adam all the
Names [2:31], and the verbiage 'all the names' means generality and
with complete grasp. As the Prophet used to invoke: Allah I invoke You
by all Your Divine Names that you named Your own Nafs (
Divine Self)
with. Therefore the verbiage 'you named Your own Nafs (Divine Self)
with' renders an 'Idāfah (Annexation) of something to Allah's Nafs
(Divine Self) and this annexation means that Insān Kāmil (
The
integrated Human-ness via the perfected spiritual eye) has the
aptitude towards acceptance of all Divine Names and the corporeal names
as well.