The Mahdi and His Helpers - Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi Society

6the the Companions (of the Prophet) who sincerely fulfilled what they had pledged toGod. These Helpers are from the non-Arab peoples; none of them is Arab, although theyspeak only Arabic. And they have a guardian, not of their kind, who never disobeys Godat all; 13 he is the most elect of the Helpers and the most excellent of (the Mahdi's) TrustedOnes.Now in this verse (30:47)--which the Helpers take as their constant prayer 14 (by day) andtheir inseparable companion at night--God has given them the most excellent knowledgeof true sincerity (sidq), as their inner state and direct experience. So they know that truesincerity is God's sword on earth: God always gives His victorious support (nasr) towhoever stands up for someone (in the divine cause) while being distinguished by thistrue sincerity....The long following passage (III, 328.18-329.25) is devoted to a detailed analysis, at oncepsychological and metaphysical, of this inner condition of sidq or pure spiritual intention(himma), which Ibn 'Arabi sees as one of the distinguishing signs of the highest forms of truefaith in God, and to its natural effect of divine "victorious support" (nasr). Thus "the trulyfaithful person whose faith is perfect is forever divinely supported (mansur), which is why noprophet or saint is ever defeated" (III, 329.9). To be sure, for Ibn 'Arabi this divine support andtriumph flows from the saint's inner realization of pure and unquestioning identification withwhat is required by the divine Will and purpose, not necessarily with what might be considered aworldly "victory" from external, less enlightened points of view:...Now since the rightly-guided Imam (Mahdi) 15 knows this (i.e., the victorious divinesupport flowing from the sincerity of perfect faith), he acts accordingly and is the mostto God) and of their spiritual "authority" (wilaya) in general. Throughout this section regarding theconjunction of faith, true inner sincerity, and divine support (as in this chapter more generally), Ibn 'Arabiclearly has in mind the paradigmatic example of the Prophet and his Companions.13 The description of this hafiz cannot but recall Ibn 'Arabi's repeated insistence on his ownspiritual realization--which he apparently viewed as unique in his own time--of the rare condition of "pureservanthood" ('abd mahd khalis) or absolute "spiritual sincerity" (ikhlas), without any trace of inneropposition to the divine Lordship. See his revealing autobiographical remarks about this in chapters 311(III, 26-27), 367 (III, 350; section IV-I in our translation here), and 29 (O.Y. ed. III, 228-229) of theFutuhat, along with additional references in Hakim, Mu'jam, pp. 765-778.14 hijjir: i.e., their constantly repeated formula of divine invocation (dhikr), or simply theirspiritually representative "motto" from the Koran. See Ibn 'Arabi's detailed discussions of the "hijjirs"--which are all symbolically significant verses from the Koran--of the seven abdal, in chapter 15 of theFutuhat (O. Yahya edition, II, 381-384), and especially of a long series of different spiritual "Poles"(aqtab), in chapters 464-556 (Cairo ed., IV, 88-195). In addition, there also is an apparent pun here onanother possible reading of the same Arabic written form as "midday sun" (hajir).15 al-Imam al-Mahdi: in the rest of this chapter Ibn 'Arabi more often refers to this figure simply as"the Imam" (i.e., the "guide" or leader) or "the Imam of the Age" (see n. 19), without any specific