الكبرياء رداء من سجدت له — Ibn Arabi

الكبرياءُ رداءُ من سجدت له

كلُّ الجباه وسخَّرالأقيالا

Majesty is the mantle of Him before whom

all foreheads have bowed, and who has subdued the kings.

أنت الردآء وعلمكم بمن ارتدى

علمٌ لذا لا يقبلُ الإشكالا

You are the mantle; your knowledge of Him who wears it

is knowledge that therefore admits no ambiguity.

وصفُ النفوسِ جزاؤها وهذا أتى

نصُّ الكتابِ ففصَّلوا الإجمالا

The souls' description is their recompense; this is stated

in the Book's text, so unfold what is condensed.

ولتتخذ إنْ كنتَ تعقل قولنا

وصف الإله لما يرون مَجالا

And take—if you understand our words—

the description of God as a realm for what they see.

إن البيانَ لذي عمى في نفسه

ما زاده إلاّ عمى وضلالا

Explanation, for one inwardly blind,

has added only blindness and error.

لو يدري ذو السمعِ السليمِ مقالتي

ونصيحتي عن حكمها ما زالا

If one with sound hearing understood my words

and my counsel, he would not depart from its judgment;

وبدتْ له كالشمسِ تشرق بالضحى

ورأى عليه نورها يتلالا

it would appear to him like the sun shining at forenoon,

and he would see its light glittering upon him.

ما يصدق الكنز الذي يجدونه

العارفون يرون ذاك مُحالا

The treasure they find is not believed;

the knowers deem that impossible.

ختم الإله على قلوبِ عبادِه

إنْ لا يكونوا كِبراً ضَلالا

God has sealed the hearts of His servants,

if they are not in error through pride.

وإن أظهروا إضلالهم وتكبروا

فالعالمون يرون ذاك خَيالا

And if they display their misleading of others and grow proud,

the learned regard that as an illusion.

فلذاك يظهر ذله في موقف

ويذله ربُّ الورى إذلالا

For that reason his abasement appears at a gathering,

and the Lord of creation utterly abases him.

كالذر ينشرُه الإله بموقفٍ

ليذوقَ فيه خزيه ونكالا

Like a tiny ant, God raises him at a gathering,

so that he may taste his disgrace and punishment there.

لما تكبّر بدرُه في ذاته

لحق الصَّغارُ به فعاد هلالا

When his full moon grew proud within its own being,

abasement overtook it, and it became a crescent again.

لا بل أزال الحقُّ عنه ضياءَه

مَحقاً فكان المحْقُ فيه وَبالا

No—rather, the Real removed its radiance from it,

effacing it; that effacement became its ruin.

لو يشهدون كما شهدت مقامه

رفعوا له أصواتهم إهلالا

Had they witnessed its station as I did,

they would have raised their voices to acclaim it.

وأفادهم ما قد رأوه شهادة

وتربة في قلبه ونوالا

And what they had seen bestowed witnessing upon them,

and soil within its heart, and bounty.

لا يشهد البدرَ المنير هلالا

إلا عيونٌ أبصرَته كمالا

The radiant full moon is not seen as a crescent

except by eyes that have beheld it in perfection.

لما بدا للعينِ خلفَ حجابه

كنت الحجابَ له فكنت حجالا

When it appeared to the eye behind its veil,

I was its veil, and so became bridal curtains.

ورأى الذي عاينته من حكمة

في ستره عمن يريد فشالا

And He saw the wisdom I had beheld

in His concealment from whomever He wills; then the veil rose,

لنراه حتى لا نشك بأنه

هو عينه فأتى الحجاب زوالا

so that we might see Him and no longer doubt that

He is His very self; thus the veil vanished.

فعلمتُ أنَّ الأمر لا ينفك عن

ستر عليه وكان ذاك ظِلالا

Then I knew that the matter is never free of

a covering over it, and that was shade.

العرشُ ظلُّ الله في ملكوته

وبذا أتت أرساله أرسالا

The Throne is God's shadow within His dominion,

and with this His messages came, one after another.

تاه الذين تحيَّروا في ذاته

عجباً بذاك وجرّروا الأذيالا

Those bewildered about His Essence grew proud

in self-admiration at that, and trailed their hems.

وتقدَّسوا لما تقدس عندهم

وأنالهم تقديسهم إجلالا

They sanctified themselves when He was sanctified in their eyes,

and their sanctification bestowed veneration upon them.

ما عظم الأقوام غير نفوسهم

في عينه سبحانه وتعالى

The people magnified nothing but their own selves

in His sight—glory be to Him, exalted is He.

لما علمت بأنني متحيِّر

فينا وفيه ما رددت مقالا

When I knew that I was bewildered

about ourselves and Him, I rejected no statement.

وعلمتُ أن العجزَ غايةٌ علمنا

بوجودِه سبحانه وتعالى

And I knew that incapacity is the limit of our knowledge

of His existence—glory be to Him, exalted is He.

فموحد ومشرك ومعطِّل

ومشبِّه ومنزِّه يتغالى

Thus a monotheist, a polytheist, a denier of divine attributes,

an anthropomorphist, and an advocate of transcendence go to excess,

حتى يكذبَ ما يقولُ بنفسه

عن نفسِه ويردَّه إضلالا

until he calls false what He Himself says

about Himself, rejecting it as misleading.

قد كنتُ أحسب أنَّ في أفكارنا

عين النجاةِ لمن أراد وصالا

I had thought that within our thoughts

lay salvation itself for whoever desired union,

حتى قرأتُ كتابه وحديثه

عن نفسه في ضربه الأمثالا

until I read His Book and His discourse

about Himself, as He set forth parables.

فعلمت أن الحقَّ في الإيمان لا

في العقل بل عاينت ذاك عقالا

Then I knew that truth lies in faith, not

in reason; rather, I beheld reason as a fetter.

في آية الشورى تحارُ عقولُنا

وتواصل الأسحار والآصالا

In the verse of al-Shura, our minds are bewildered,

and continue through the predawn hours and late afternoons.

إن كنتَ مشغوفاً برؤية ذاته

فاقطع إليه سباسباً ورمالا

If you are enthralled by seeing His Essence,

then cross toward Him barren plains and sands,

حتى تراه وما تراه بعينه

إن التنزبه يباعد الأشكالا

until you see Him, yet do not see Him in His own essence.

Indeed, transcendence keeps likenesses at a distance.

مثل الذي جاء الكتابُ بنصه

في رميه بتلاوتي الأنفالا

Like that which the Book states explicitly

about His casting, in my recitation of al-Anfal.

إن اللبيبَ يحاز في تكييف من

هو مثله وينازلُ الأبطالا

The discerning person is hemmed in when defining the nature of one

who resembles him, and he contends with champions.

لله بيتٌ بالحجاز محرَّمٌ

لا يدخل الإنسانُ فيه حلالا

God has a sacred House in the Hijaz,

which no person enters unconsecrated.

ما إن رأيتُ له إذا حققته

حقاً يقيناً في البيوتِ مثالا

When I examined it, I found for it no

true, certain counterpart among houses.

قد أذنَ الرحمن فيه بحجه

فاتوه رُكباناً به ورجالا

The All-Merciful has permitted pilgrimage to it;

so come to it, mounted and on foot.

بيت رفيع بالمكانةِ سابقٌ

أضحى له البيتُ الضراحُ سَفالا

A lofty House, foremost in rank:

the House al-Durah has become lowly beside it.

هو للدخول وذا يُطاف بذاته

كالعرشِ أصبحَ قدره يتعالى

It is for entry, while this is circumambulated in its very being;

like the Throne, its rank has risen high.

والقلبُ أشرف منه في ملكوته

ملك الوجود وحازَه أفضالا

And the heart is nobler than it in His dominion:

it possesses existence and has gained it as bounty.

لولا اتساعُ القلبِ ما وسع الذي

ضاقَ السما عنه فأصبح آلا

Were it not for the heart's vastness, it would not contain Him

whom heaven could not hold, and who thus became a mirage

بالقيعة المثلى من أرضِ وجودِنا

ولذا كنى عنه بلا وبلالا

on the ideal plain of the earth of our existence;

hence it was alluded to by 'no' and 'no-no' [unclear reading].

لا شيءَ يشبهه لذاك وجدته

في الفقدِ منصوباً لكم تمثالا

Nothing resembles Him; hence I found Him

in absence, erected as an image for you.

وفاكم الرحمن فيه حسابكم

قولاً وعقداً منةً وفعالا

The All-Merciful settled your account there in full,

in speech and belief, as grace, and in deeds.

لا يلتفتُ من قال فيه إنه

يفري الكلى ويقطع الأوصالا

He pays no heed who says of Him that He

rends kidneys and severs limbs.

بالحفظ كان وجودُه لمكانه

ولذاك يحمل عنكم الأثقالا

Through preservation it existed, owing to its place;

and therefore it bears the burdens on your behalf.

لولا وجودي ما عرفت وجوده

ولذاك كنتُ لكونه مغتالا

Were it not for my existence, I would not have known His existence,

and thus I was an assassin of His being.

من بحثه كان اغتيالي كننه

فالبحثُ لي وله علوٌّ حالا

Through investigating Him came my assault on His essence [unclear reading];

thus inquiry is an elevation of state for me and Him.

أمسيت فيه لكونه ذا عزة

دون الأنام مخادعاً محتالا

In Him I became, because He possesses might,

apart from mankind, a deceiver and schemer.

لما رأيت الأمر يعظم قدرُه

ورأيته يزهو بنا مختالا

When I saw the matter's stature grow

and saw it glory in us, strutting proudly,

حصلت أسبابُ الخداع بذلة

وتمسكن فيه فزدت دلالا

the means of deception arose through lowliness

and self-abasement in it; so I grew in coy intimacy.

إذلاله إذلاله لوجودِنا

فلذاك لم تظفر به إذلالا

His abasement is His abasing of our existence;

hence you did not succeed in humbling Him.

لولا وجودُ صفاتِه في غيره

مشهودةٌ ببراعةِ ما نالا

Were His attributes not present in another,

witnessed with brilliance, he would have gained nothing.

إن الإله يغار أن يُلقى به

فبكفركم قال الذي قد قالا

God is jealous lest He be cast aside;

so because of your unbelief He said what He said.

لما تأهل بالذي ما زلته

أصبحت للأمر العظيم عيالا

When He became at home with what I had always been,

I became a dependent of the mighty matter.

وأتى الحديثُ بثرة وبنظمه

فشربتُ ماء كالحياةِ زُلالا

And the discourse came [unclear, perhaps 'in prose'] and in its verse,

so I drank water, limpid as life.

الله أعظم أنْ يحيط بوصفه

خلقٌ ولو بلغ السماءَ ونالا

God is too great for His description to be encompassed

by creation, even if it reached heaven and attained

ما ناله أهلُ الوجودِ بأسرهم

من نعته سبحانه وتعالى

what all the people of existence have attained

of His attributes—glory be to Him, exalted is He.

العجز يكفيهم وقد بلغوا المنى

والجاهل المغرور مَن يتغالى

Incapacity suffices them, and they have attained their desires;

the deluded ignorant one is he who goes to excess.

لا تغل في دينِ الشريعةِ إنه

قد جاء فيه نهيه وتوالى

Do not go to excess in the religion of the Law; indeed,

His prohibition has come within it, repeatedly,

من خطابُ النهى في أسماعنا

حتى رأينا نورَه يتلالا

from reason's address within our hearing,

until we saw His light glittering.

لا تغلُ في دينِ الحقيقةِ والنقل

في الله ما قال الإله تعالى

Do not go to excess in the religion of Reality; and transmitted teaching

concerning God is what God Most High has said.

فهو اعتقادُ المؤمنين فلا تزد

إذ بلغوا في ذلك الآمالا

That is the believers' creed, so add nothing,

since in that they have attained their hopes.