Fusus al-Hikam The Seals of Wisdom by Shaykh al ... - ImagoMundi

completely specific - not as is imagined by those who do not drink from this source. The
goal of disconnection is to make that in-timeness in knowledge belong to Knowledge. It
is the highest aspect of this question which the mutakallim (6) can comprehend with his
intellect - unless he considers knowledge to be distinct from the Essence. If he does this,
he ascribes relativity to knowledge, and not to the Essence, and because of this, he sets
himself apart from the realised ones among the People of Allah, who are endowed with
unveiling and real existence.
Let us return to those gifts which are either the gifts proceding from the Essence or the
Names. As for the favours, gifts and graces of the Essence, they only come by means of
divine tajalli. (7) Tajalli only comes from the Essence by means of the form of the
predisposition of the one to whom the tajalli is made. It never occurs otherwise. The one
who receives the tajalli will only see his own form in the mirror of the Real. He will not
see see the Real, for it is not possible to see Him. At the same time, he knows that he
sees only his own form. It is the same as a mirror in the Visible world inasmuch as you
see forms in it or your own form but do not see the mirror. At the same time, however,
you know that you see the forms, or your own form, only by virtue of the mirror. Allah
manifests that as a model (8) appropriate to the tajalli of His Essence, so that the one
receiving the tajalli knows that he does not see Him. There is no model nearer or more
appropriate to vision and tajalli than this. When you see a form in a mirror, try to see the
body of the mirror as well - you will never see it. It is true that some people who
perceive this say that the reflected form is imposed between the vision of the seer and
the mirror. This is the most that it is possible to say, and the matter is as we have
mentioned. We have clarified this in the The Makkan Revelations.
If you wish to taste this, then experience the limit beyond which there is no higher limit
possible in respect of the creature. Neither aspire to, nor tire yourself out in trying to go
beyond this degree, for in principle, there is only pure non-existence after it.
Thus Allah is your mirror in which you see yourself, and you are His mirror in which
He sees His Names. His Names are not other than Himself, as you know. The matter is
confusing. One of us implied ignorance of the matter as part of knowledge and said,
"The incapacity to achieve perception is perception." (9) Some of us know but do not
express it in this way, even though it is the highest of words. Knowledge does not give
incapacity to know as the first one said, but rather knowledge gives him the same
silence which incapacity gives. This is the highest level of those who have knowledge
of Allah.
This knowledge only belongs to the Seal of the Messengers and the Seal of the Awliyâ'.
The Messengers and Prophets only see it from the niche of the Messenger who is the
Seal. The awliyâ' only see it from the niche of the walî who is the Seal. Even the
Messengers only see it to the extent that they see it from the niche of the Seal of the
Awliya', for Message and Prophethood - by which I mean the Prophethood of bringing
the Sharî'a and its message - ceases, but wilâya never ceases. Thus the Messengers,
imuch as they are awliya', see what we have mentioned only from the niche of the Seal
of the Awliya'. How could it be different for other awliyâ'? Although the Seal of the
Awliyâ' is subject to the judgement which the Seal of the Messengers brought through
the Sharî;a, that does not diminish his station nor does it detract from what we have
said, for something which is lower from one point of view can be higher from another.
Confirmation of this occurred in the history of our Sharî'a in the excellence of the