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

(9)
When it happens that the gnostic neglects to preserve what he created by concentration,
that creature ceases to exist, unless the gnostic has mastered all the presences and does
not neglect anything. Rather, he must witness at least one of these presences. If the
gnostic creates something by his aspiration and possesses this encompassment, that
creature's form will appear in every presence, and the form will preserve itself. If the
gnostic neglects a presence or many presences while seeing one of the presences, and
while preserving the form of what he created in the presence he is in, all the forms will
be preserved by the preservation of that form in the presence which he does not neglect.
For neglect is never universal, either among the common or the elite. I have exposed a
secret here which the People of Allah have guarded jealously, for it contains a refutation
of their allegation of being the Real. For the Real is never unconscious of anything, and
the slave must be unconscious of something in favour of something else. Inasmuch as
he preserves that which he has created, he says, "I am the Real," (10) but he does not
maintain it the way the Real maintains it that is the difference. Inasmuch as he is
unconscious of any form and its presence, the slave is distinguished from the Real. He
must be distinct, although all the forms are maintained by his preservation of a single
one of these in the presence of which he is conscious. This is preservation by inclusion,
and the preservation of the Real of what He created is not like that. Rather, His
preservation is of each form in particular. This matter which I have just communicated
has never been written about by anyone - neither by me nor by any others - except in
this book. It is unique in time. Take care lest you forget it!
The presence which you remain conscious of, with the form which resembles it, is like
the Book about which Allah said, "We have not omitted anything from the Book."
(6:38) It therefore integrates the tangible and the intangible. None will recognise what
we have said except the one who is himself a Qur'an. (11) The one who fears Allah will
have a furqân, (12) which is, as we mentioned, this matter in which the slave is distinct
from the Lord. This furqân is the highest furqân.
At one moment, the slave is the Lord without a doubt,
and at another the slave is most certainly the slave.
If he is the slave, he is vast by Allah,
and if he is the Lord, he is in a restricted life.
Insofar as he is the slave,
he sees the source of himself,
and without a doubt
his hopes expand from him.
Inasmuch as he is a lord, he sees all of creation,
from the presence of angels and the kingdom, demanding from him,
And he is unable to answer their demands by his essence.
For this reason, some of the gnostics weep.
Be the slave of a Lord, and do not be the lord of His slave,
so you will not be suspended and tested in the fire.
Notes to Chapter 6:
1. Famous Sufi who studied under Sufyan ath-Thawri. d. 282/896. Wrote a short