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

and destroy them by the west wind. (5) The wind takes them by the forelocks and
carries them on, and it is the source of the passions which take them to Jahannam. It is
the distance (6) which they imagined. When it carried them to that abode, they reached
the source of nearness, and so distance vanished. What is called Jahannam vanished in
respect to them. They win the bliss of nearness in respect to merit since they were
wrong-doers.
This pleasurable station of taste was not given to them as a favour. They received it by
what they realities merited from the acts which they were doing. They were running
with their actions on the Straight Path of the Lord because their forelocks were in the
hand of the One who has this attribute. They did not walk by themselves, but by the
principle of compulsion to reach the source of nearness. "We are nearer to him than you,
but you cannot see." (56:85) Rather it is seen, and so the covering is stripped away, and
"his sight is sharp." (7) What is specified as dead is from the dead, i.e. what
distinguishes the happy from the wretched in usage. "We are nearer to him than his
jugular vein." (50:16) What is specified as man is from man, so divine nearness is from
distance as is not hidden in divine transmissions. There is no nearness nearer than that
His He-ness be the source of the limbs of the slave and his faculties. The slave is not
other than these limbs and faculties, so he is Allah witnessed in illusory creation.
Creation is intelligible and Allah is felt and witnessed with the believers and the people
of unveiling. Allah is intelligible with other classes, and creation is witnessed. So they
are in the station of the salty, brackish water. The first group is the station of the sweet
water which is pleasant to drink.
People are of two classes those who walk on the path recognising it and its end, for it is
a straight path in respect to him; and those who walk on the path being ignorant of it
and not knowing its end. It is the same path which the other class knows. The gnostic
calls to Allah by inner sight, and the non-gnostic calls to Allah by limitation and
ignorance. This is a special knowledge which comes from the lowest of the low (8)
because the feet are the lower part of the person, and what is lower than them is none
other than the path. Whoever recognises that Allah is the same as the Path, recognises
the matter for what it is. Then Allah is travelling on it since there is no known except
Him, and He is the source of the wayfarer and the traveller. There is no knower except
Him. He is you, so know your reality and your Path (tariqa). The matter has been made
clear to you on the tongue of the interpreter, (9) if you but understand. It is the true
tongue, so the only one who will understand is the one whose understanding is Real.
Allah has many ascriptions and their existence varies. See how 'Ad, the people of Hud,
said, "This is a storm cloud which will give us rain." (46:24) They thought good of
Allah, and He is with the opinion of His slave. (10) Allah turned this word away from
them. He informed them of what was more perfect and higher in nearness. When it
rained upon them, that was the earth's portion and the seed was watered. He told them,
"No, rather it is what you desired to hasten a wind containing painful punishment." He
made the wind (rîh) an indication of what rest (râha) it contained for them. By this
wind, He gladdens their spirits (arwah), delivering them from dark forms, difficult paths
and black veils. There is punishment ('adhab) in this wind, i.e. a matter which they find
sweet (ista'dhaba) when they taste it. It only pains them by the separation from familiar
things. Thus punishment gives them good news. And the command is nearer to them
than they imagine.