The Horizons of Being

The Metaphysics of Ibn al-ʿArabī in the

Muqaddimat al-Qayṣarī

Translation and Commentary by

Mukhtar H. Ali

LEIDEN | BOSTON
Cover illustration: Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque, Isfahan, Iran. Photograph by Mohammad Reza Domiri Ganji.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Qayṣarī, Dāwūd ibn Maḥmūd, -1350 or 1351, author. |

 Ali, Mukhtar H., translator.
Title: The horizons of being : the metaphysics of Ibn al-ʻArabī in the
 Muqaddimat al-Qayṣarī / translation and commentary by Mukhtar H. Ali.
Other titles: Sharḥ Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam. Muqaddimah. English
Description: Leiden; Boston : Brill, 2020. | Includes bibliographical
 references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020005888 (print) | LCCN 2020005889 (ebook) |
 ISBN 9789004425248 (hardback) | ISBN 9789004425330 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Ibn al-ʻArabī, 1165-1240. Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam. | Qayṣarī,
 Dāwūd ibn Maḥmūd, -1350 or 1351. Sharḥ Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam.
 Muqaddimah. | Sufism—Early works to 1800.
Classification: LCC BP189.26.I253 Q2913 2020 (print) | LCC BP189.26.I253
 (ebook) | DDC 297.4—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020005888
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020005889

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Contents

Introduction 1

Muqaddimat al-Qayṣarī (‫)مقدمة القيصري‬

Translation and Edition of the

Author’s Preface 21
‫مقدمة الشارح‬

‫في الوجود وأنه هو الحق‬

1 On Being, and that it is the Truth 25

‫في أسمائه وصفاته تعالى‬

2 The Divine Names and Attributes 67

3 The Permanent Archetypes and a Comment on the

Manifestations of the Names 93
‫في الأعيان الثابتة والتنبيه على المظاهر الأسمائية‬

‫في الجوهر والعرض على طر يقة أهل الل ّٰه‬

4 Substance and Accident According to God’s Folk 113

‫في بيان العوالم الكلية والحضرات الخمس الإلهي ّة‬

5 The Universal Worlds and the Five Divine Presences 133

6 The Imaginal World 147

‫فيما يتعلق بالعالم المثالي‬

7 The Degrees of Unveiling and its Main Types 163

‫في مراتب اللكشف وأنواعها إجمالا‬

8 The World is the Form of the Human Reality 181

‫في أن العالم هوصورة الحقيقة الإنسانية‬

9 The Vicegerency of the Muḥammadan Reality

and that it is the Ultimate Pole 189
‫في بيان خلافة الحقيقة المحمدية وأنها قطب الأقطاب‬
vi Contents

10 The Supreme Spirit, its Degrees and Names in the Human World 203
‫في بيان الروح الأعظم ومراتبه وأسمائه في العالم الإنساني‬

11 The Spirit’s Return to God with its Manifestations

upon the Greater Resurrection 215
‫في عود الروح ومظاهره إليه تعالى عند القيامة اللكبرى‬

12 Prophethood, Messengership and Sainthood 225

‫في النبوة والرسالة والولاية‬

Bibliography 239
Index 249
Introduction

Muḥyī-l-Dīn Ibn al-ʿArabī (d. 638/1240), one of the most revered and influential
figures of Islam, has been accorded the title the Greatest Master, al-Shaykh
al-Akbar, across the Islamic world. The name “Ibn al-ʿArabī” refers to his pure
Arab ancestry from the lineage of the legendary Arabian poet, Ḥātim al-Ṭāʾī. He
was born in the Andalusian city of Murcia in southern Spain as Abū ʿAbd Allah
Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. Muḥammad b. al-ʿArabī al-Ḥātimī al-Ṭāʾī, in 560 H/1165 CE,
but during his lifetime he was given the honorific title “Muḥyī-l-Dīn”, meaning
the Reviver of the Religion.1 His influence in the development of Sufism is due
to the articulation of mystical concepts and insights and the elaboration of
complex spiritual disciplines often only alluded to by the Qurʾān and hadith.
Aside from his profound intellectual achievements, he is considered the great-
est master due to his unparalleled spiritual station, as attested by various Sufi
masters on the basis of their own spiritual awareness.
Ibn al-ʿArabī wrote over 100 works of which his magnum opus, The Meccan
Openings (al-Futūḥāt al-makkiyya), alone comprises 10,000 pages divided into
560 chapters, which include descriptions of his visions, spiritual experiences,
insights, dreams and inspirations, covering virtually every sphere of the tradi-
tional Islamic sciences. One of his most influential works, however, is Fuṣūṣ
al-ḥikam, which he reports to have received by Prophet Muḥammad through
a vision.2 It is considered the quintessence of his thought, elaborating on the
spiritual realities of twenty-eight prophets beginning with Adam and ending
with Muḥammad. Perhaps no other work in the Islamic tradition has received
as much attention as the Fuṣūṣ given that from the 7th until the 11th centuries
alone there are over 195 commentaries.
Among the numerous commentaries on the Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam, the first was writ-
ten by ʿAfīf al-Dīn al-Tilmisānī (d. 690/1291) and then by the earliest disciples
Muʾayyid al-Dīn al-Jandī (d. ca. 700/1300), Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Qūnawī (d. 673/1274),

1 See Claude Addas, Quest for the Red Sulphur: The Life of Ibn ʿArabī, trans. P. Kingsley, Cambridge
1993; Ali, “Ibn al‐ʿArabī, the Greatest Master: On Knowledge, God, and Sainthood” in A
Companion to World Literature, ed. K. Seigneurie, 2020.
2 Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam is arranged into twenty-seven chapters, each devoted to a prophet who is the
central figure in existence during his time. The faṣṣ is the gemstone and here it means quin-
tessence (khulāṣa) or reality (ḥaqīqā). Just as the gemstone bears the seal or imprint, each
chapter of the Fuṣūṣ depicts the logos or “kalima” which is the perfect human. Thus, the faṣṣ
symbolizes the essential reality or wisdom of each prophet.

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2020 | doi:10.1163/9789004425330_002

2 Introduction

ʿAbd al-Razzāq al-Kāshānī (d. ca. 730/1330)3 and Dāwūd al-Qayṣarī (d. 751/1350).
Qūnawī, Ibn al-ʿArabī’s step-son, is considered to be the greatest expositor
of his works and the foremost of his students, although his commentary on
the Fuṣūṣ is not exhaustive. Other prominent Sufis and intellectuals that es-
poused his doctrines include Fakhr al-Dīn al-ʿIrāqī (d. 688/1289), Saʿīd al-Dīn
al-Farghānī (d. ca. 699/1300), ʿAzīz al-Dīn al-Nasafī (d. ca. 661/1262), Shams
al-Dīn al-Fanārī (d. 834/1431), ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Jīlī (d. ca. 831/1428), Maḥmūd
Shabistarī (d. 741/1340), Ṣāʾin al-Dīn b. Turka Iṣfahānī (d. 835/1432), Sayyid Ḥaydar
Āmulī (d. 787/1385), ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Jāmī (d. 898/1492) and Ṣadr al-Dīn Shīrāzī
(d. 1050/1640). The development of the commentarial tradition surrounding Ibn
al-ʿArabī’s works is a worthwhile yet separate study. One of the most informa-
tive studies to appear on Ibn al-ʿArabī and the earliest architects of his school is
Caner Dagli’s Ibn al-ʿArabī and Islamic Intellectual Culture, which compares the
foremost commentators of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s oeuvre on the question of existence
in particular.4
To explore the teachings of Ibn al-ʿArabī, it is worthwhile to begin by examin-
ing Dāwūd al-Qayṣarī’s Prolegomena (muqaddima) to his commentary entitled,
Maṭlaʿ khuṣūṣ al-kilam fī maʿānī Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam5 (A Preamble of Select Discourse
on the Meanings of the Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam), popularly known as Muqaddimat
al-Qayṣarī. While his commentary represents the third in a direct line going
back to Ibn al-ʿArabī through Kāshānī, Jandī and Qūnawī, it remains one of the
most popular due to its thorough and accessible treatment of the Fuṣūṣ that
frequently synthesizes the ideas of his predecessors.
The Muqaddima stands on its own as an independent work and has been the
subject of careful study. If the Futūḥāt contains the entirety of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s
metaphysics which is distilled in the Fuṣūṣ, then Qayṣarī’s Muqaddima can be
read not just as a précis of the Fuṣūṣ but as a summary of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s doctrine.
Qayṣarī writes in the preface to the Muqaddima that without comprehending
all of these essential topics, it is not possible to understand the original text of

3 Kāshānī wrote the most comprehensive lexicon of Sufi terminology entitled Laṭāʾif al-iʿlām
fī ishārāt ahl al-ilhām and a commentary on ʿAbd Allah al-Anṣārī’s (d. 481/1089) Manāzil
al-sāʾirīn, the archetypical manual of wayfaring. He also wrote a Sufi commentary on the
Qurʾān, al-Ta ʾwīlāt al-Qurʾān, published as Tafsīr Ibn al-ʿArabī.
4 For an overview of this school and its key figures see W. Chittick, “The School of Ibn ‘Arabī”
in History of Islamic Philosophy, eds. S. H. Nasr and O. Leaman, London 2001. Ḥaydar Āmulī’s
introduction to his commentary of the Fuṣūṣ has been published as Al-Muqaddimāt min kitāb
naṣṣ al-nuṣūṣ, ed. H. Corbin and O. Yahya, Tehran and Paris, 1974.
5 Kilam is the plural of kalima in the dialect of Banū Tamīm, whereas the more common plural
of kalima is kalim. See Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-ʿArab.
Introduction 3

the Fuṣūṣ. It is in light of this approach that he wrote the Muqaddima, which
contains what he considers to be the fundamental issues in Sufism, such as Being,
the divine names, prophethood, sainthood, unveiling, the Perfect Human and
the Muḥammadan Reality.
The late Jalāl al-Dīn Āshtiyānī (d. 1426/2005), a famous Iranian scholar of
philosophy and mysticism, wrote a lengthy commentary on the Muqaddima
entitled Sharḥ-i muqaddima-yi Qayṣarī bar Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam, treating it as an inde-
pendent work and establishing it as a primary resource for philosophical Sufism.
Āshtiyānī’s commentary is a philosophical exposition of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s school in
which he often incorporates the views of the other major Islamic philosophical
schools: Peripatetic, Illuminationist, and the Transcendent Philosophy of Mullā
Ṣadrā. This work serves as an excellent sourcebook for mystical doctrines within
the larger context of Islamic philosophy.
Often a reading of the Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam with a qualified instructor in the
traditional study circles is preceded by a complete and independent reading
of Qayṣarī’s Muqaddima, which, as mentioned, addresses some of the most
important themes of Sufism. Often this is accompanied by a close reading of
Ibn Turka’s Tamhīd al-qawāʿid.6 After the Fuṣūṣ, one studies Qūnawī’s Miftāḥ al-
ghayb by way of Fanārī’s commentary, Miṣbāḥ al-uns, and finally Ibn al-ʿArabī’s
al-Futūḥāt al-makkiyya.7

6 Ibn Turka, a major intellectual figure of Islamic philosophy and mysticism was an illuminationist
interpreter of Peripatetic philosophy as well as a commentator of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s writings. He
produced over fifty-five works and wrote an important commentary on the Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam.
His most famous work, Tamhīd al-qawāʿid (The Principles of Divine Unity), is a synthesis of
Peripateticism, Illuminationism and the Sufism of Ibn al-ʿArabī. It has been studied in the
theological seminaries of Tehran and Isfahan with glosses by Āghā Muḥammad Rezā Qomshāʾī
(d. 1306/1888), who taught the text several times after having studied it under Sayyid Rezā
Larijānī (d. 1270/1853–4), with whom he also studied Qayṣarī’s Sharḥ Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam. See
Nasr and Aminrazavi, An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, 4:457.
Ḥasanzāda Āmūlī, one of the most respected scholars of the theological seminary in Qom,
advises that Tamhīd al-qawāʿid should be studied before Qayṣarī’s commentary on the Fuṣūṣ
al-ḥikam, given that Tamhīd has one of the most elaborate discussions on Being, the subject
of the first and foundational chapter of the Muqaddima.
7 Although these four books comprise of the basic texts of philosophical Sufism, Ḥasanzāda
Āmūlī includes Ṭūsī’s Sharḥ Ishārāt, Ṣadrā’s Asfār and his own work, Sarḥ al ʿuyūn fī sharḥ
al-ʿuyūn, on spiritual psychology (ʿilm al-nafs).
4 Introduction

1 Dāwūd al-Qayṣarī: Life and Times

Sharaf al-Dīn Dāwūd b. Maḥmūd b. Muḥammad al-Rūmī al-Qayṣarī was born in

the central Anatolian town of Kayseri (Qayṣariyya),8 present-day Turkey, around
660/1260 and died in 751/1350. His early education was in Kayseri and after
having spent several years in Egypt, returned to Asia Minor and studied under
Tokat-Niksar Niẓāmiyyah school under Muḥammad b. Sartak al-Marāghī who was
a student of Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī. Under the tutelage of al-Marāghī, Qayṣarī studied
philosophy and mathematics, and became acquainted with Greek thought and
the writings of Ibn Sīnā, Ṭūsī and Abū-l-Barakāt al-Baghdādī.9
In Sufism, he was a disciple of ʿAbd al-Razzāq Kāshānī in Kāshān, with
whom he studied Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam, and who was at the same time his spiritual
preceptor on the path (ṭarīqa).10 Although there is no entry on Qayṣarī in ʿAbd
al-Raḥmān Jāmī’s hagiography, Nafaḥāt al-uns, Zayn al-Dīn Muḥammad ʿAbd
al-Ra ʾūf al-Munāwī (d. 1031/1621) mentions him in his Irghām awliyāʾ al-shayṭān
bi dhikr manāqib awliyāʾ al-Raḥmān as follows: “[Dāwūd al-Qayṣarī was] the
scholar given to religious devotion, the ascetic Sufi (al-ʿālim al-ʿābid) who
used to partake in spiritual struggle (al-zāhid al-ṣūfī al-mujāhid). He stud-
ied the religious disciplines in his hometown and then went to Egypt and
studied the three religious disciplines with the scholars versed in them. He
studied intensely and became accomplished in the intellectual disciplines
(wa baraʿa fī-l-funūn al-ʿaqliyya). Then he occupied himself with Sufism, excelling
in and mastering it and devoting himself to writing about it. He commented
upon the Fuṣūṣ and attached an introduction to it in which he finely explains
the principles of Sufism. Sulṭan Awrkhān b. ʿUthmān [Orhān Ghāzī] built a
religious school for him in the town of Iznik, which was the first one built in
the Ottoman Empire. He died in the eighth century [AH].”11
Besides Maṭlaʿ khuṣūṣ al-kilam fī sharḥ maʿānī fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam, Qayṣarī’s works
include al-Khamriyya, Sharḥ Qayṣarī ʿalā Tāʾiyyat Ibn al-Fāriḍ, Sharḥ qaṣīda Ibn
al-ʿArabī, Sharḥ taʿwīlāt al-basmala bi-l-ṣūra al-nawʿiyya al-insāniyya, Inshāʾ
al-dawāʾir, Risāla fī ʿilm al-ḥaqāʾiq, Risāla fī īḍāḥ baʿḍ asrār Taʿwīlāt al-Qurʾān
li-l-Kāshānī, Taḥqīq māʾ al-ḥayāt and Kashf asrār al-ẓulām. There are three trea-
tises compiled by Jalāl al-Dīn Āshtiyānī entitled Rasāʾil-i Qayṣarī comprising of

8   See “Kayṣariyya” in The Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd edition, 4:842–3.

9   Dagli, Ibn al-ʿArabī and Islamic Intellectual Culture, 119.
10  Zarrīnkūb, Donbāla-yi justujū dar taṣawwuf-i Īrān, 132.
11  Munāwī, Irghām awliyāʾal-shayṭān bi dhikr manāqib awliyāʾ al-Raḥmān (al-Ṭabaqāt al-ṣughrā),
ed. M. al-Jādir, 4:284, cited in Rustom, “Dāwūd Qayṣarī: Notes on his Life, Influence and
Reflections on the Muḥammadan Reality” in Journal of the Ibn ʿArabī Society, V. XXVIII
(2005), 52.
Introduction 5

al-Tawḥīd wa-l-nubūwwa wa-l-wilāya, Asās al-waḥdāniyya wa-mabnā al-fardāniyya,

Nihāyat al-bayān fī dirāyat al-zamān.12

2 Qayṣarī’s Influence

In 1336, as mentioned by Munāwī, Sultan Orkhān Ghāzī (d. 761/1360) appointed

Qayṣarī to direct the first Ottoman school system, a post he served until his
death in 1350. Because of this academic and political appointment, Qayṣarī was
instrumental in the dissemination of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s teachings throughout the
Ottoman Empire. Two important figures in Ottoman scholarship include Mullā
Shams al-Dīn Fanārī (d. 834/1431), the author of Miṣbāḥ al-uns (The Lantern of
Intimacy), a commentary on Qūnawī’s Miftāḥ al-ghayb (The Key of the Unseen),
and the famous commentator of the Qurʾān, Ismāʿīl Bursevī (d. 1137/1725).13 In
the Persian tradition of Sufism, Qayṣarī’s influence is evident in the writings of
Sayyid Ḥaydar Āmulī and Ṣadr al-Dīn Shīrāzī, also known as Mullā Ṣadrā. Āmulī
was one of the most important medieval heirs to the teachings of Ibn al-ʿArabī
and key intellectual and mystical figure of Shiʿism, and Ṣadrā, the culminating
figure of Persian philosophy who synthesized the three epistemic modalities,
revelation, reason and gnosis in the formulation of his school, Transcendental
Philosophy.14

12  Al-Khamriyya, Istanbul, Süleymaniye Kütüphanesi, MS 1028/28; Sharḥ Qayṣarī ʿalā al-tāʾiyya
Ibn al-Fāriḍ ed. Aḥmad Farīd al-Mazīdī, Beirut 2004; Istanbul, Nurosmaniye, MS 2521/1–2;
Sharḥ taʿwīlāt al-Basmala bi-l-ṣūra al-nawʿiyya al-insāniyya, ed. Mehmet Bayrakdar, Qayṣarī
1418/1997; Rasāʾil-i Qayṣarī, ed. J. Āshtiyānī, Tehran 1381.
   Recent studies on Qayṣari include: Rustom, “Dāwūd Qayṣarī: Notes on his Life, Influence
and Reflections on the Muḥammadan Reality” in Journal of the Ibn ʿArabī Society, V.
XXXVIII (2005); Kalin, “Dāwūd al-Qayṣarī on Being as Truth and Reality” in Knowledge is
Light: Essays in Honor of Seyyed Hossein Nasr, ed. Zailan Morris, Chicago 1999; Mehmet
Bayrakdar, La Philosophie Mystique chez Dawud de Kayseri, Ankara 1990; James Morris,
“The Continuing Relevance of Qayṣarī’s Thought: Divine Imagination and the Foundation
of Natural Spirituality”, in Papers of the International Symposium on Islamic Thought in the
XIIIth and XIVth Centuries and Daud al-Qaysari, ed. T. Koç, Kayseri (Turkey) 1998, 161–171;
J. Morris, “Ibn ʿArabī and his interpreters”, Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 106
(1986), 539–551 and 733–756, and vol. 107 (1987), 101–119.
13  Dagli, Ibn al-ʿArabī and Islamic Intellectual Culture, 120.
14  Ṣadrā’s most famous work, al-Ḥikmat al-mutaʿāliya fī-l-asfār al-ʿaqliyya al-arbaʿa (The
Transcendent Wisdom Concerning the Four Intellectual Journeys), is a compendium of
traditional philosophy that includes ontology, natural philosophy, theology, eschatology
and soteriology, synthesizing rational and mystical approaches. See Kalin, “An Annotated
Bibliography of the Works of Mullā̄ Ṣadrā with a Brief Account of His Life” in Islamic
Studies, 2003, (42/1), 21–62; Meisami, Mulla Sadra, 2013; Kalin, Mullā̄ Ṣadrā, 2014; Rustom,
6 Introduction

3 Qayṣarī and Philosophy

One of the salient features of Qayṣarī’s exposition is that it brings to light

the experience of the mystics in the language of the philosophers. It is an at-
tempt to reconcile their experiences in the terminology and world view of the
philosophers—given that philosophy is the closest discipline to Sufism—and
is not an attempt to arrive at the truth solely by means of the intellect.15 Dagli,
however, effectively argues, “Qayṣarī’s goal in writing the Prolegomena is, in-
stead, to provide the serious student intellectual preparation before taking on
the study of the notoriously difficult Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam, and in doing so he bridges
the conceptual space between falsafa (philosophy) and taṣawwuf (Sufism) to
an extent no one had done before.”16
The reader will find that in the first four chapters of the Muqaddima there is
a certain dialectic between Sufism and philosophy. Qayṣarī’s intent here, as it
was with his predecessors, is to present Sufi metaphysics and theosophy within
the framework of the philosophical discourse of his time. He is addressing a
pre-existing tradition of scholarship steeped in the language of philosophy and
theology, while at the same time, refuting certain doctrinal stances inconsistent
with Ibn al-ʿArabī’s metaphysics. Thus, he discusses key terms such as quiddity,
substance and accident, predication, the First Intellect and the nature of divine
knowledge. The philosophical tenor in the Muqaddima is intended not simply
to indulge the rationalists, but to a certain extent, show the cross-pollination be-
tween Sufism and philosophy, setting the stage for the reception of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s
doctrines in mainstream Islamic thought. The Muqaddima does indeed have a
multidisciplinary approach, intertwining linguistic, theological, philosophical
and Qurʾānic themes throughout. Dagli writes, “Qayṣarī represents the outcome
of a trajectory begun by Qūnawī … [using] the prevalent metaphysical language
of Islamic culture.” With the passage of time, the distinction between gnostic,
philosopher and theologian becomes increasingly unclear, and as Chittick notes,
“It is often impossible to classify a particular thinker as only a philosopher, or
a theologian, or a Sufi.”17

The Triumph of Mercy: Philosophy and Scripture in Mulla Sadra, 2012; Nasr, Ṣadr al-Dīn
Shīrāzī and his Transcendent Theosophy, 1997.
15  Caner Dagli’s Ibn al-ʿArabī and Islamic Intellectual Culture work highlights the interaction
between Sufism, philosophy and theology by juxtaposing Ibn al-ʿArabī’s ideas with those
of Ibn Sīnā (d. 428/1037), Ghazālī (d. 505/1111) and Suhrawardī (d. 587/1191), the towering
intellectual figures of Islam.
16  Dagli, Ibn al-ʿArabī and Islamic Intellectual Culture, 121.
17  Chittick, “Mysticism versus Philosophy in Earlier Islamic History: The al-Ṭūsī, al-Qūnawī
Correspondence” in Religious Studies 17/1 (1981), 88.
Introduction 7

4 The Pedagogy of the Muqaddima

Qayṣarī’s mastery of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s ideas expressed in clear and lucid style
highlights its importance as an introductory text to the field. Āshtiyānī writes
in his introduction, “We have compared Qayṣarī’s commentary with those of
other commentators and found Qayṣarī’s to be the best in many respects, even if
Kāshānī’s is more profound.”18 Similarly, just as it can be said that Qūnawī’s style of
exposition of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s ideas was more organized and clear than that of the
master himself, given the abstruse nature of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s voluminous writings,
Qayṣarī’s commentary is erudite, yet accessible. Āshtiyānī maintains that the
Muqaddima is the best of Qayṣarī’s writings.19 For this reason, the Muqaddima
has become a seminal text studied in the traditional learning centers as well as
in private circles.
Numerous scholars attest to Qayṣarī’s mastery of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s doctrine and
consider him to be a great scholar of this discipline. This is on account of both
his ability to communicate philosophical and mystical doctrines as well as the
fact that he was himself an accomplished Sufi, which can be considered one
of the most important qualifications for the exposition of a mystical treatise.
In the opening paragraph of the Muqaddima, Qayṣarī acknowledges that he
experienced visionary states. He also relates that while he was studying the
Fuṣūṣ with Kāshānī he became the recipient of divine assistance. He says in the
preface, “I was singled out amongst my companions to have received knowledge
and perceive meanings without prior reflection and learning. It was assistance
from God, the Generous, and a grace from the merciful Lord because He affirms
by His support whomever He wills from among His servants, forging success in
the mystery of his origin and return.”
Since Sufism is fundamentally a practical discipline and the gnostic’s fore-
most concern is spiritual wayfaring, it can be said that its theoretical aspect is
only an elaboration of the visionary experience and a means to communicate
its realities to others. Nevertheless, philosophical Sufism helps to establish the
correct understanding of metaphysical principles, even if they are derived from
mystical experience. Rarely are these principles founded on discursive reasoning

18  Āshtiyānī, Sharḥ-i muqaddima-yi Qayṣarī bar Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam, 56.

19  See Sharḥ al-Qayṣarī ʿalā Tāʾiyat Ibn al-Fāriḍ. For articles in English, see Chittick, “The Five
Divine Presences: From al-Qūnawī to al-Qayṣarī”; Kalin, “Dāwūd al-Qayṣarī on Being as
Truth and Reality”; Turan Koç, “All-Comprehensiveness According to Daud al-Qaysari, and
its Implications”, JMIAS, Vol. XXVII (2000), 53–62; Akiro Matsumoto, “Unity of Ontology and
Epistemology in Qayṣarī ’s Philosophy” in Consciousness and Reality: Studies in Memory of
Toshihiko Izutsu, ed. J. Āshtiyānī, H. Matsubara, T. Iwami and A. Matsumoto, Leiden 1999,
367–86.
8 Introduction

even when they appear in the form of philosophical arguments. Thus, Qayṣarī
must be considered, first and foremost, an accomplished Sufi and secondarily
a philosopher. It is this distinction that lends credibility to a commentary on a
work whose very source is gnosis.

5 Jalāl al-Dīn Āshtiyānī’s Introduction to the Muqaddima20

The subject of Sufism (ʿirfān)21 is the most sublime of all the disciplines for
which the theosophers have given the following reasons: The nobility and value
of any discipline is in proportion to its comprehensiveness. Any discipline that
sets the foundation and principles of another is considered more valuable and
nobler, since the subject of the lesser discipline is based on the principles and
arguments set forth in the higher. That is why philosophy, which discusses the
very nature of existence, is considered a nobler discipline than mathematics,
which discusses quantities, which are essential accidents of existence. Similarly,
the science of music is considered dependent and subsidiary to the science of
mathematics.
Qayṣarī defines the subject, principles and issues of Sufism as such: The subject
of this discipline is the unitary Essence, eternal qualities, everlasting attributes,
the emergence of multiplicity from God’s unitary Essence and its return to the
Essence. Furthermore, it discusses the manifestation of the divine names, the
methodology of wayfaring of God’s folk, their practices and disciplines, the
outcome of their efforts, and the result of their actions. Thus, it can be said that
the subject of this discipline is God, Almighty, and His relation to His creation.
The principles of this discipline consist of the divine names and attri-
butes. They can be divided into three types, names of the Essence, names
of the attributes and names of the acts. The names of the Essence are those
that refer to the Essence of God since their governance is comprehensive,
such that other names are subsumed under them. The Attributes of Life,
Knowledge, Power, Will, Light, Oneness, Necessity, and others, fall under
this category.
They are the names of the Essence because contemplating their unity with the
Essence does not necessitate either contemplating the other names or creation.

20  This selection is a translation of Āshtiyānī’s introduction to his Sharḥ-i muqaddima-yi

Qayṣarī bar Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam.
21  Āshtiyānī uses the term ʿirfān, which is derived from the Arabic maʿrifa, denoting, deep
understanding or esoteric knowledge.
Introduction 9

They refer to the Degree of Singularity (al-aḥadiyya), which excludes any kind
of multiplicity, and do not take into consideration their referents.
Some of the names of the Essence possess individuation (al-taʿayyun), but are
witnessed from behind a veil for the virtuous. While the foremost of the wayfarers
and perfect gnostics witness them without any veils whatsoever. Some names
of the Essence are not individuated and hidden in the Unseen, as mentioned
by the Prophet, “O God, I ask you by the names which You have named Yourself,
revealed in the Book and taught to Your servants, or have reserved for Yourself
in the knowledge of the Unseen.”22
As mentioned, the worth and nobility of any discipline is in accordance with
its comprehensiveness. Another criterion for the classification of the disciplines
is in light of the subject matter that is studied. Since the subject of medicine
is the human body, the worth and nobility of the science of medicine is in ac-
cordance with the worth of the human body.
Whereas, since Sufism studies the existence of God, His names and attributes,
and the perfection of the human being, naturally it ranks as the foremost in
nobility and importance. It may be argued that the subject of theology is also
the existence of God, His names and His acts, the origin and the resurrection
of man, why has it not been placed as the foremost discipline?
The answer is that Sufism not only studies the existence of God and His at-
tributes, but also the method by which the wayfarer acquires perfection through
attainment to God, which is the very purpose of knowledge and the highest
aim for mankind.
Sufism is not only a theoretical discipline but also a spiritual way that describes
the very path the wayfarer must take for his perfection, which lies in servitude
and devotion to God.23

6 Notes on the Translation

There are inherent difficulties in translating a complex work such as the

Muqaddima. The first problem is that Sufism is first and foremost an expe-
riential discipline that is then expressed in the form of language, which is
only truly understood by the perceiver or by one whose heart and intellect
have been illuminated. The second immediate problem is that Arabic words
have multiple meanings and the Sufis use them in novel ways to describe
spiritual realities.

22  These refer to the Reserved Names (al-asmāʾ al-musta ʾthara).

23  Āshtiyānī, Sharḥ-i muqaddima-yi Qayṣarī bar Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam, 99.
10 Introduction

For example, the word “kalima”, which commonly means “word”, is defined by
Ibn al-ʿArabī in the Futūḥāt, “existent beings are the words of God which do not
cease,”24 and Kāshānī defines “word” as reality, essence or Permanent Archetype.25
The word can also refer to the human being, as Jesus is described in the Qurʾān,
“The Messiah, son of Mary was only a messenger of God, His Word that He cast
into Mary and a spirit from Him.”26 Jāmī, commenting on the Fuṣūṣ, writes,
“What is meant by the word (kalima) of each prophet is the path and qualities
that God has specified for him and his community. In the mystical tradition, it
is the form of the letter arising from the Breath of the Merciful. According to
this, every entity is a word of God.”27
Sometimes, Qayṣarī refers to a word’s common usage and at other times its
technical usage. Translating the same Arabic word differently naturally causes
confusion for the English reader, but since the Arabic language is semantically
multilayered, one must account for apparent inconsistencies in translated terms.
Another point to bear in mind is that Sufi authors intentionally concealed mean-
ings through technical terminology from outsiders and lay people who were not
qualified to receive such knowledge.28 Despite this trend, Kāshānī, Jurjānī29 and
others devoted themselves to compiling lexicons which established a scholarly
foundation for posterity. In this regard, the Muqaddima was also considered
an authoritative text by successive generations for the clarification of mystical
terms and concepts.
The Muqaddima is a text on philosophical Sufism. I have continued to use
the term Sufism to describe the subject of this study in keeping with the con-
ventions of modern scholarship. One must keep in mind, however, that Qayṣarī
rarely uses the term Sufi, which in many cases is synonymous with the term
ʿārif, but historically carried some negative connotations. Qayṣarī uses the terms
maʿrifa and ʿārif, which refer to esoteric knowledge or the gnosis of God, and
the ʿārif (pl. ʿurafā) is the one who possesses maʿrifa. He also frequently refers
to God’s folk (ahl al-Allah) and the Group (ṭāʾifa) but does not use the term Sufi.

24  “Know that existent beings are the words of God which do not cease … Therefore, we say
that existent beings are the words of God. God’s speech is His knowledge and His knowledge
is His Essence.” Ibn al-ʿArabī, al-Futūhāt, 2:385. See Ebstein, Mysticism and Philosophy in
al-Andalus, 53.
25  Kāshānī, Laṭāʾif al-iʿlām fī ishārāt ahl al-ilhām, 486.
26  Qurʾān (al-Nisāʾ) 4:171. I have used The Study Quran and Abdel Haleem’s translations of the
Qurʾān, with emendations.
27  Jāmī, Naqd al-nuṣūṣ fī sharḥ Naqsh al-fuṣūṣ, 83.
28  See Ernst, “Mystical Language and the Teaching Context in the Early Sufi Lexicons” in
Mysticism and Language, 184.
29  ʿAlī b. Muḥammad Jurjānī’s (d. 817/1414) Kitāb al-taʿrīfāt is one of the important lexicons
of Sufi terminology used in this study.
Introduction 11

Nevertheless, ʿārif is more precise and relates more directly to knowledge of God
and the perception of divine realities rather than the historical and cultural
phenomenon that is Sufism.30 For readability, I have chosen to translate ʿārif as
gnostic and maʿrifa as gnosis. Qayṣarī also uses the term sayr (wayfaring) and
muḥaqqiq (realized gnostic) to draw attention to the experiential or practical
dimension of Sufism, namely, the inward movement of the human reality and
its various states and stations.
I have translated wujūd as Being when it refers to the divine Being and exis-
tence when it refers to creation. This term, which is borrowed from philosophy,
is the most important and versatile in Ibn al-ʿArabī’s metaphysics. As for the
divine name al-ḥaqq, which means truth and reality, the Sufis use it to denote
God, because He is the Truth and the sole reality. While Allah is the proper name
of God in Arabic, one may call on another attribute and still refer to God, as in
the verse, “Call on Allah or call on the Merciful (al-raḥmān); whichever one you
call upon, to Him belong the most beautiful names.”31 I have translated al-ḥaqq
as Truth when the context places emphasis on that particular aspect, such as
in the verse, “We will show them Our signs on the horizons and in their souls
and it becomes evident that He is the Truth (annahu-l-ḥaqq),”32 but elsewhere I
have translated it simply as God, when it refers to the most general name for the
divine being and the ultimate reality. A specialist might prefer Chittick’s transla-
tion “the Real” for al-ḥaqq; for readability, I prefer to render it simply as God.
I have translated the term taʿayyun as individuation, not entification as
Chittick and others have done. Taʿayyun, is derived from the Arabic word ʿayn,
which can mean thing, entity, identity, essence and quiddity. Because of its
multivalence and versatility, Ibn al-ʿArabī coins various technical terms such as
ʿayn al-thābita and taʿayyun. Taʿayyun is the particularization of the Essence in
its descending degrees. In other words, the planes of Being are the successive
particularizations and individuations of the Essence, even if the Essence qua
Essence is absolute and undetermined. Thus, taʿayyun is any type of specifica-
tion or individuation, not only that of entities. There is some debate concerning
the correct translation of the term, “al-aʿyān al-thābita”. I have chosen to keep
Izutsu’s translation, Permanent Archetypes throughout although Chittick renders
the term as “fixed entities”.33

30  See Chittick, “Sufism” in The Cambridge Handbook of Western Mysticism and Esotericism,
83; Nicholson, “A Historical Enquiry Concerning the Origin and Development of Sufism,”
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1906).
31  Qurʾān (al-Isrāʾ) 17:110.
32  Qurʾān (Fuṣṣilat) 41:53.
33  See Izutsu, Sufism and Taoism, 159 and Chittick, Self Disclosure of God, xxxviii. See also,
Todd, The Sufi Doctrine of Man, 90–93, where the author translates the term as Immutable
12 Introduction

The term maẓhar means manifestation, or as some have translated it, the
locus of manifestation, since the form of the Arabic term denotes the adverb
of place. Lexically, it is more accurate to use “locus of manifestation” but if one
posits that the distinction between the “place” of manifestation and the phe-
nomenon itself is theoretical and in reality, they are one and the same, then it
can be translated simply as “manifestation”. In some cases, the emphasis is on
the locus but not in others. Thus, I have used either “locus of manifestation” or
“manifestation” depending on the context.
The term ḥaḍra has been translated generally as Presence but sometimes as
plane, referring to the planes of Being.34 The Presence refers to that identifiable
plane of divine manifestation as well as where God is specifically present. When
God reveals Himself (yatajalla) in the heart of the servant, He is ever-present there,
while at the same time, He is not absent from the rest of creation. The Arabic
form of the word yatajallā denotes reflexivity to mean self-manifestation. Tajallī
is a more immediate divine self-disclosure and ẓuhūr is a general and stable form
of manifestation implicit in the structure of Being. Chittick writes, “In using the
word tajallī the Shaykh stresses the side of manifest reality, thereby emphasizing
that everything is as it is because God has disclosed Himself in that form. At other
times he employs the term self-disclosure as a synonym for unveiling, thereby
stressing the awareness or ‘witnessing’ (shuhūd) that is the human perception
of God’s self-display.”35 I have translated tajallī as “theophany” throughout, as
Chodkiewicz has done, although Chittick renders it as self-disclosure. By and
large, Chittick’s translations are superb, but I have noted here, as well as in the
footnotes, those instances in which I have departed from his translation choices.
Another term which has no English equivalent is wilāya. Lexically, wilāya stems
from the root letters waw, lām and yāʾ and denotes a contiguous chain. It is a
relationship between the two things occurring one after another, as expressed
in the word tālī (subsequent) in relation to the word muqaddam (prior).36 The
original root denotes proximity, love, devotion, loyalty, assistance, patronage and
governance.37 Ibn Manẓūr states in Lisān al-ʿArab, that it is one of the names God.
“The walī is the helper and wālī is the owner of all things who governs them.” Ibn
Athīr says, “The meaning of wālī somehow encompasses governance, power and
activity; if these three attributes are not present in him, he is not considered a
wālī.” Sībawayh says, “The walī of orphans is the guardian who manages their

Essences based on Qūnawī’s discussion on the subject.

34  See Chittick, “The Five Divine Presences: From al-Qūnawī to al-Qayṣarī”, 109.
35  See The Self-Disclosure of God, 52.
36  See Muṣṭafawī, al-Taḥqīq fī kalimāt al-Qurʾān al-karīm, 13:223.
37  Muʿjam maqāyīs al-lugha.
Introduction 13

affairs. The walī of a woman is one who affiances her in the marriage contract.
Or the statement of our master, ‘He who took me as his master (mawlā), ʿAlī
is his master,’ that is, he who supports me supports ʿAlī, and his saying, ‘God,
love the one who loves him.’”38
When it is spelled walāya it means proximity, contiguity, love and friendship,
and when it is spelled as wilāya it means governance, authority and sainthood.
The walī (pl. awliyāʾ) is the saint who occupies the station of wilāya, which is
that of spiritual authority. This is in contrast to the terms prophet (nabī) and
messenger (rasūl) who are also saints inwardly but divinely appointed for a
specific mission. I have translated wilāya as sainthood and this distinction will
be clarified in chapter twelve.
As with all translations, there are often alternatives for a single Arabic word
and the reader is encouraged to refer to the original text or the key terms that
have been transliterated in the translation. While it might seem cumbersome
to have a word appear in both the original Arabic as well as transliteration, the
intent is to help the reader keep in mind the Arabic word. For example, the
discussion of sainthood actually refers to the Islamic concept of wilāyā in all
of its multifaceted meanings. This version of the parallel Arabic-English text
is aimed at readers who are either completely new to the subject or have not
yet attained the requisite level of Arabic that would allow them to dispense
with translations entirely.

7 Sources of the Commentary

I first studied the Muqaddima with my teacher, Professor Akram al-Majid, then
again in Berkeley with Professor Hamid Algar, my doctoral thesis advisor. What
follows is an analytic commentary in the form of footnotes. These notes draw
on the vast commentarial tradition of Akbarian metaphysics, the teachings
of my instructors, as well as my own explanatory glosses. I have also relied on
Āshtiyānī’s commentary on the Muqaddima, Sharḥ-i muqaddima-yi Qayṣarī bar
Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam since it exhaustively explores major themes in Sufism, clarifying
difficult passages and providing a general framework for the organization of ideas.
Since one of the primary aims of the commentary has been to elucidate key
concepts and terminology in the text, ʿAbd al-Razzāq Kāshānī’s lexicon of Sufi
terminology, Laṭāʾif al-iʿlām fī ishārāt ahl al-ilhām, has been an essential resource.
Kāshānī’s lexicon is perhaps the most relevant work to explain Qayṣarī’s usage

38  Referring to Imām ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib (d. 40/661). Amir-Moezzi, The Spirituality of Shi’i Islam,
270; Chodkiewicz, Seal of the Saints, 21.
14 Introduction

of terms since Qayṣarī produced his commentary on the Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam after
having studied it with Kāshānī who was his spiritual master.
Furthermore, I have sourced other Sufi authors or exponents of the Ibn al-
ʿArabī commentarial tradition, such as Qunāwī, Jāmī, Ḥaydar Amūlī, Jīlī, Najm
al-Dīn Rāzī and Mullā Ṣadrā who shed new light on the Great Shaykh’s works.
Finally, recent studies in English from experts such as Nasr, Chittick, Murata,
Morris, Chodkiewicz, Dagli, Todd, Khalil and Rustom have greatly informed my
commentary and have been instrumental in clarifying the text. In many cases,
I have left their translations intact, citing their works for reference and further
reading. Thus, my methodology is a synthesis of comments and clarifications
of past and present masters.

8 Outline of the Muqaddima

The present work is the first English translation of the Muqaddimat al-Qayṣarī,
drawing attention to some of the most fundamental ontological and epistemo-
logical issues in Islamic thought. The Muqaddima is divided into twelve chapters
as outlined in the following:
The first chapter of the Muqaddima discusses ontology, given that the subject
of Being is the foundation of every other discipline. Any work that presents a
metaphysical system must investigate the nature of Being, which in the case of
the Muqaddima, includes the fundamental issues concerning divine unity, the
divine attributes, the universal worlds and God’s relation to the world. Qayṣarī
furnishes proofs for divine unity often found in the standard works of theology
and philosophy, while at the same time, disputes many of the accusations leveled
against the Sufis. This is in part to create a rapprochement between philosophy
and Sufism, but largely to elucidate these principles according to Ibn al-ʿArabī’s
school and shed light on some key differences between the other schools.
The second chapter discusses the divine names, their divisions, the positive
and privative attributes, the names of Beauty and Majesty, the Mothers of the
Names, the Keys of the Unseen and the names of the Essence, attributes and
acts.39 Qayṣarī describes their engendering, the universal and the particular,
their dominion, governance, and relationship with creation. Finally, Qayṣarī
discusses the subject of God’s knowledge in relation to the contingent entities.

39  The names of God that have been mentioned in the Qurʾān are called the Most Beautiful
Names, which are ninety-nine in number , according to the traditional enumeration based
on a hadith.
Introduction 15

The third chapter contains an exposition of the Permanent Archetypes and

other divine realities such as contingent quiddities that are manifestations of
the divine names. According to Ibn al-ʿArabī the manifestation of Being occurs
initially through the Holiest Effusion (al-fayḍ al-aqdas) bringing forth the divine
names, then through the Holy Effusion (al-fayḍ al-muqaddas) bringing forth the
Permanent Archetypes (al-aʿyān al-thābita), which are the pre-existent realities
in the divine knowledge. This chapter investigates the appearance of the levels
of manifestation and the presence of the divine Essence in all things. Qayṣarī
further discusses God’s knowledge and its relation to the creation.
The fourth chapter discusses substance and accident according to the gnos-
tics. This chapter bridges some shared terms between philosophy and Sufism.
Qayṣarī writes that substance is the shadow of the Essence, which is also
called Expansive Being (al-wujūd al-munbasiṭ), the First Engenderer (al-ṣādir
al-awwal), the Outstretched Parchment (al-riqq al-manshūr), the Muḥammadan
Light, or as he restates in the commentary, “If the Breath of the Merciful is
realized externally and individuated, it is called substance.”40 Whatever exists
externally, by definition, is substance. Substances externally are differentiated
by accidents and are unified in their nature as substances in the same way that
human beings are unified in their being human. They differ only with respect
to their attributes, which are accidents.
The fifth chapter describes the fundamental degrees of Being, which are the
five Universal Worlds. These divisions are also called the five divine presences
(al-ḥaḍarāt al-ilāhiyya al-khams), since the term “presence” (ḥaḍra) indicates
that God is present in all the worlds. Qayṣarī also introduces the concept of the
Perfect Human (al-insān al-kāmil), which is the fifth plane, the comprehensive
book containing the entirety of existence and the microcosm of the Great World.
The sixth chapter discusses the properties of the Imaginal World (al-ʿālam
al-mithāl). The Imaginal World is a spiritual world that is divested from the cor-
poreal world with respect to matter but not with respect to form. It is considered
an isthmus between the corporeal world and the Intellectual, which is without
dimension or corporeality. “The common people do not know Imagination nor
enter into it, except when they dream and their sensory faculties return to it.
The elite (al-khawāṣ) see it in wakefulness through their power of realizing it.”41
Qayṣarī also touches on spiritual intuition or perspicacity (firāsa), dreams, and
the posthumous intermediary realm (al-barzakh).

40  Qayṣarī, Sharḥ Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam, ed. Ḥ. Āmulī, 750.

41  Ibn al-ʿArabī, Futūḥāt , trans. W. Chittick, J. Morris, The Meccan Revelations, 1:173.
16 Introduction

The seventh chapter discusses one of the most important subjects in Sufism
which relates to epistemology, the theory or discipline that investigates the origin,
nature, methods and limits of knowledge. The focus of this chapter is the levels,
varieties and places of unveiling. Qayṣarī writes that unveiling (kashf ) techni-
cally signifies gaining awareness of that which is behind a curtain from among
Unseen meanings and existential realities, through “finding” or witnessing, in
meaning and in form.42 He writes that the origin of unveiling is the human heart
and expounds on the differences between unveiling and revelation, unveiling of
form and unveiling of meaning, and those that are categorized in accordance
with the theophany of the divine names to which they refer.43
The eighth chapter investigates the relationship between the Great Man
(al-insān al-kabīr), the Small Man (al-insān al-ṣaghīr), the Great World
(al-ʿālam al-kabīr) and the Small World (al-ʿālam al-ṣaghīr) to denote the mac-
rocosm and microcosm, respectively. The focus of this chapter is the divine
vicegerency of the human being. It is the manifestation of the Supreme Name
or the Muḥammadan Reality because, “The Spirit attributed to God is the
Muḥammadan Reality” and “The Muḥammadan Reality was endowed with
existence, and then out of it He drew the Universe.”44
The ninth chapter discusses in greater detail the Muḥammadan Reality and
its relationship to the reality of the other prophets. Since the Muḥammadan
Reality is the manifestation of the name Allah its governance also extends in
every realm and in every period; thus, it possesses lordship over every manifesta-
tion. Just as the name Allah acts as lord (rabb) over the rest of the divine names,
the Muḥammadan Reality acts as lord over the forms of the worlds. The term
“lord” refers to the divine name of the Essence that possesses a relationship
with creation. “The relationship of lordship includes ownership, possession,
leadership, bestowal, nurturing, management of affairs and bringing things to
their perfection.”45
The tenth chapter discusses the Supreme Spirit, which is the first indi-
viduation in existence emanating from the divine Essence, possessing all the
perfections of the Essence in the form of the names and attributes. In the
terminology of the gnostics, it is the first manifestation of all realities on the
plane of the Unity, also referred to as the First Intellect, the Muḥammadan

42  “Unveiling is gaining awareness of matters concerning the Unseen and the verities of things
that are customarily behind the veil.” Jurjānī, Kitāb al-taʿrīfāt, 193.
43  The Prophet said, “In the body of the son of Adam is a piece of flesh, which when it is
sound, the entire body is sound, and when it is corrupt, the entire body is corrupt. Indeed,
it is the heart.” Tradition recorded by Bukhārī, Muslim.
44  Ibn ʿArabī, ʿAnqā Mughrib, cited in Chodkiewicz, Seal of the Saints, 69.
45  Durūdābādī, Sharḥ al-asmāʾ al-ḥusnā, 96.
Introduction 17

Reality, or the Muḥammadan Light and the Pen, as mentioned in various hadith,
“The first thing that God created was my light,”46 and “The first thing that God
created was the Intellect,”47 and “The first thing that God created was my spirit.”48
This chapter gives one of the most compelling descriptions of the human spiri-
tual constitution, defining the mystery (sirr), the hidden (khafī), the spirit (rūḥ),
the heart (qalb), the word (kalima), the mind (rouʿ), the inner heart (fuʾād), the
breast (ṣadr), the intellect (ʿaql), and the soul (nafs).
The eleventh chapter describes the return of the Spirit on the Day of
Resurrection through the governance of some divine names over others. Qayṣarī
states that the hereafter occurs because of the removal of veils and the true
manifestation of divine unity, since everything will appear in its true form. This
is because everything possesses form and meaning, or an external form and a
hidden, spiritual form. The Resurrection is thus characterized by the removal
of the dense veil of corporeal matter, which is the lowest ontological realm.
The twelfth chapter discusses the reality of prophethood and sainthood
(wilāya) and their differences. Even if the reality of Being possesses essential
unity, multiplicity is present in every realm, including the plane of Unity, which
is prior to the multiplicity of divine names and the divine knowledge. However,
the multiplicity to which Qayṣarī is referring is that of the outward, visible realm,
which is true multiplicity since it accompanies individuation and form. It is the
multiplicity and conflict that arises from the intrinsic necessity of each divine
name to become manifest in creation, seeking the realization of its intrinsic
properties, governance and period, namely the contrary properties of the names
of Beauty and Majesty.
This conflict is resolved by the manifestation of the name, the Just, which
guides each name to its perfection and protects the entities from infringing
upon one another. The just arbitrator is the true prophet and the eternal Pole of
existence that guides and brings all things to their ontological perfection; the true
prophet is the Muḥammadan Reality, the lord of the hidden and manifest realms.
Sainthood is the inner aspect of prophethood since wilāya is a universal
reality of the divine Essence, the source of manifestation and the origin of in-
dividuation. Describing the Essence, it is the fountainhead of individuation for
the individuation of the divine names and attributes.”49 Thus, the circle of this
station is more complete and greater than the circle of prophethood.

46  Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, 1:97.

47  Ṣadūq, al-Khisāl, 589, no. 13.
48  Biḥār al-anwār, 1:97, no. 7, 8.
49  Āshtiyānī, Sharḥ-i muqaddima-yi Qayṣarī bar Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam, 866.
18 Introduction

These twelve chapters represent the horizons of Being, the ontological ori-
entations through which reality unfolds. A horizon is a conceptual boundary
which does not have independent existence, but a relative one, appearing fixed
only to the observer. Just as there are infinite horizons, divine manifestation is
perpetual. Thus, the horizons of Being are both the universal planes of existence
as well as the particular entities permeated by the divine Essence. God, or
Absolute Being, is a singular reality that manifests through the prism of created
existence, a single ray of light dispersing into a spectrum of colors. In relation to
these manifestations, God is at once, transcendent and immanent, and hidden
and manifest, as eloquently expressed by Imām ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, “God is in all
things but not by being admixed within them and separate from all things but
not by being isolated from them.”50
What follows is a parallel English-Arabic edition of the Muqaddimat al-Qayṣarī,
of which the Arabic corresponds to Ḥasanzāda Āmulī’s annotated edition of
Qayṣarī’s Sharḥ Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam, published in Iran, 1424/2003. I hope to convey, as
faithfully as possible, the original Arabic text along with the erudition of past and
present masters who have inherited and contributed to this enduring tradition.

50  Nahj al-balāgha, Sermon 1.

 Translation and Edition

‫مقدمة القيصري‬
of the Muqaddimat al-Qayṣarī

∵
 ‫مقدمة الشارح‬

‫بسم الل ّٰه الر ّحمن الر ّحيم‬

‫الحمد لل ّٰه الذي عيّن الأعيان بفيضه الأقدس الأقدم‪ ،‬وقدّرها بعلمه في غيب ذاته‬
‫برش نور ا�تجلّي عليها وأنعم‪ ،‬وأظهرها بمفاتيح خزائن الجود وا�لكرم‪،‬‬
‫وتم ّم‪ ،‬و�طَف ّ ِ‬
‫عن مكامن ا�غيوب ومقارّ ا�عدم‪ ،‬ووهب �كل منها ما قبل استعداده فأكرم‪،‬‬
‫وأوجد منها ما كان ممكنا‪ ،‬وأحكم بإظهار ملابس أسمائه في ا�قدم‪ ،‬ودب ّرها بحكمته‬
‫فأتقن وأبرم‪ .‬فسبحان الذي تجلّى بذاته لذاته‪ ،‬فأظهر آدم‪ ،‬واستخلفه على مظاهر‬
‫أسمائه المنعوتة با�عالم‪ ،‬وأجمل فيه جميع الحقائق وأبهم‪� ،‬يكون صورة اسمه الجامع‬
‫ل به عليه فيعلم‪.‬‬
‫ا�عزيز الأكرم‪ ،‬وحامل أسرار ا�عليم الأعلم فيد ّ‬
‫وصلّى الل ّٰه على من هو الاسم الأعظم ا�ناطق بلسان مرتبته ﴿أنا سي ّد ولد آدم﴾‬
‫المبعوث بالرسالة إلى خير الأمم‪ ،‬وعلى آله وأصحابه المصطفين من ا�عرب وا�عجم‪،‬‬
‫الرافعين بأنوارهم أستار ا�ظلم‪ ،‬وعلى وارثيه من الأو�ياء ا�لكم ّل ا�سا�لكين للطر يق‬
‫الأَ م َم المطّلعين بالحقّ على الأسرار والحكم‪.‬‬
‫وبعد‪ ،‬فيقول ا�عبد ا�ضعيف داود بن محمود بن محمد الرومي ا�قيصري مولدا ً‬
‫وف ّقني الل ّٰه تعالى وكشف عل َىّ‬‫فلم ّا َ‬
‫ا�ساوي محتداً‪ ،‬أنجح الل ّٰه مقاصده في الدارين‪َ :‬‬
‫أنوار أسراره‪ ،‬ورفع عن عين قلبي َ‬
‫أكن ّة استاره‪ ،‬وأي ّدني با�تأييد الر ب ّاني بأعلام‬
‫رموزه‪ ،‬وا�توفيق ا�صمداني بإعطاء كنوزه‪.‬‬
Author’s Preface

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

All Praise be to God, who individuated the Archetypes through the eternal,
Holiest Emanation, and determined and completed them with His knowledge
in His unseen Essence. He blessed and graced them by sprinkling the light of
theophany upon them. He manifested them through the keys of the treasuries
of bounty and generosity from the depths of the Unseen and the abode of non-
being. He bestowed generously to each according to its receptivity, engendering
the possible entities, decreeing their manifestation in the raiment of the divine
names, arranging them through His wisdom, and perfecting and establish-
ing them. So glory be to Him who revealed His Essence to Himself. Then, He
manifested Adam and appointed him vicegerent over the manifestations of His
names, described as the world. He summarized and concealed in him every real-
ity so that he would be the form of His comprehensive name, the Mighty and
Magnanimous, and the bearer of mysteries of the Omniscient, the All-knowing,
so He reveals [Himself] through him and thus becomes known.1
Blessings upon him who is the Supreme Name, who speaks from his station,
“I am the master of the children of Adam,” and has been sent with the mes-
sage to the best of nations; and [blessings] upon his progeny and his chosen
companions among the Arab and the non-Arab, those who lifted the curtains
of darkness through their lights; and upon their inheritors among the perfected
saints, the wayfarers on the clear path, who are aware of the Truth by way of
mysteries and wisdom.
Thereafter, says the weak servant, Dāwūd b. Maḥmūd b. Muḥammad al-Rūmī
al-Qayṣarī, originally born as al-Sāwī — may God gave him success in both
worlds: God unveiled for me the lights of His secrets, lifted the curtain from the
vision of my heart, aided me with divine assurance and the communication of
His symbols and granted everlasting success by the bestowal of His treasures.

1  Ibn al-ʿArabī describes the significance of Adam’s creation in the opening paragraph of the
Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam, “God wished to see the essences (ʿayān) of His Beautiful Names, which are
infinite—or if you will, to see His Own Essence in a comprehensive being (kawn jāmiʿ) who
embraces the divine order so that His mystery would be revealed to Himself. This is because
the vision a thing has of itself is not the same as the vision it has through something else which
acts like a mirror.” Ibn al-ʿArabī, Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam, 48.

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2020 | doi:10.1163/9789004425330_003

‫‪22‬‬ ‫مقدمة ا�شارم‬

‫وساقتني الأقدار إلى خدمة مولانا الإمام ا�عل ّامة ا�كامل المكم ّل‪ ،‬وحيد دهره‪،‬‬
‫وفريد عصره‪ ،‬فخر ا�عارفين‪ ،‬قر ّة عين ذات الموحّدين‪ ،‬ونور بصر المحقّقين‪ ،‬كمال‬
‫الملّة والحقّ والدين‪ ،‬عبد الرزّاق بن جمال الدين أبي ا�غنائم ا�قاساني‪ ،‬أدام الل ّٰه على‬
‫المستفيدين بركة أنفاسه‪ ،‬وأنار بمعارفه قلوب ا�طا�بين وجل ّاسه‪.‬‬
‫وكان جملة من الإخوان المشتغلين بتحصيل ا�لكمال‪ ،‬ا�طا�بين لأسرار حضرة ذي‬
‫الجمال والجلال‪ ،‬شرعوا في قراءةكتاب ﴿فُصوص الحكم﴾ الذي أعطاه ا�نبي‪ ،‬صلى‬
‫الل ّٰه عليه وسلم‪،‬ا�شيخ ا�كامل المكم ّل‪ ،‬محيى الملّة والحقّ والدين‪ ،‬رضى الل ّٰه عنه‪.‬‬
‫وكان الحقّ قد أطلعني على معانيه المتساطعة أنوارها‪ ،‬وألهمني بفحاو يه المتعا�ية‬
‫أسرارها‪ ،‬وأراني في سرّي م َن بشّرني بمعرفتي هذا ا�كتاب‪ ،‬وخصّ صني با�علم به‬
‫من بين سائر الأصحاب‪ ،‬من غير تأمّل سابق فيه‪ ،‬أو مطا�عة واستحضار لمعانيه‪،‬‬
‫عناية ً من الل ّٰه ا�لكريم‪ ،‬وفضل ًا من الرب الرحيم‪ ،‬لأن ّه هو المؤي ّد بنصره من يشاء‬
‫من عباده‪ ،‬والموف ّق با�ظفر على أسرار مبدئه ومعاده‪.‬‬
‫ولمّا كان ا�علم بهذه الأسرار موقوفا ً على معرفة قواعد وأصول اتفقت عليها هذه‬
‫ا�طائفة‪ ،‬قدمت �بيانها فصول ًا‪ ،‬وبي ّنت فيها أصول ًا‪ ،‬تبتني قاعدة ا�توحيد عليها‬
‫وتنتسب هذه ا�طر يقة إ�يها‪ ،‬بحيث يعلم منها أكثر قواعد هذا ا�علم‪ ،‬لمن وف ّقه الل ّٰه‬
‫تعالى وأنعم عليه با�فهم‪ ،‬وجعلتها اثني عشر فصل ًا‪.‬‬
Author’s Preface 23

Providence allowed me to be at the service of the perfected master, authority,

sage and mentor, unique in his time, singular in his era, the pride of the gnostics,
the apple of the eye of the monotheists, the light of the verifiers, the epitome
of the creed, truth and religion, ʿAbd al-Razzāq Jamāl al-Dīn Abī-l-Ghanāʾim
al-Kāshānī—may God sustain those who benefit from his blessed breaths, illu-
minate the hearts of his students and companions through his gnostic sciences.
A group of brethren was busy in attaining perfection, seeking the secrets of
the Possessor of Majesty and Beauty when he [Kāshānī] began the exposition
of Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam, which was given by the Prophet, peace and blessings upon
him, to the perfected Shaykh, the reviver of the creed, truth and religion—may
God be pleased with him.
God had granted me an understanding of meanings possessing brilliant
luminosity and inspired me of significances containing lofty mysteries. He
showed me in my inner secret a bearer of good tidings who would lead me to my
gnosis of this book. I was singled out among my companions to have received
knowledge and acquire meanings without prior reflection and learning. It was
assistance from God, the Generous, and a grace from the merciful Lord because
He is affirms by His support whomever He wills from among His servants, forg-
ing success in the mystery of his origin and return.
Since the knowledge of these mysteries is dependent on the knowledge of
the tenets and principles that are agreed upon by the exponents of this Group,
I set out to explain its chapters and elucidate its principles that are built on
the principle of Oneness, to which this path is attributed. One whom God has
granted success and blessed with understanding may come to know most of
the principles of this discipline. Thus, I have explained them in twelve chapters.
 ‫ا�فصل الأوّل‬

‫في ا�وجود وأنه هو الحق‬

‫ن ا�وجود من حيث ﴿هو هو﴾ غير ا�وجود الخارجي والذهني‪ ،‬إذ كل‬
‫اعلم أ ّ‬
‫منهما نوع من أنواعه‪ ،‬فهو من حيث ﴿هو هو﴾‪ ،‬أي لا بشرط شيء ‪ -‬غير مقي ّد‬
‫خاص‪ ،‬ولا واحد‬
‫ّ‬ ‫بالإطلاق وا�تقييد ولا هو كل ّي‪ ،‬ولا جزئي‪ ،‬ولا عامّ‪ ،‬ولا‬
‫با�وحدة الزائدة على ذاته‪ ،‬ولا كثير‪.‬‬
‫بل يلزمه هذه الأشياء بحسب مراتبه ومقاماته‪ ،‬المنبّهة عليها بقوله‪﴿ :‬ر َف ِي ُع ال َد ّر ِ‬
‫َجات‬
‫ذ ُوا� ْعَرْشِ﴾‪ .‬فيصير مطلقاً‪ ،‬ومقيداً‪ ،‬وكلياً‪ ،‬وجزئياً‪ ،‬وعامّا ّ‪ ،‬وخاصاً‪ ،‬وواحداً‪،‬‬
‫وكثيراً‪ ،‬من غير حصول ا�تغي ّر في ذاته وحقيقته‪.‬‬
‫و�يس بجوهر‪ ،‬لأنه موجود في الخارج لا في موضوع‪ ،‬أو ماهية‪� ،‬ووجدت‬
‫�كانت لا في موضوع‪ ،‬وا�وجود �يس كذلك وإلا يكون كالجواهر المتعي ّنة المحتاجة‬
‫إلى ا�وجود الزائد و�وازمه‪.‬‬
‫و�يس بعرض لأنه عبارة عم ّا هو موجود في موضوع‪ ،‬أو ماهية �ووجدت �كانت‬
‫ن له وجودا ً زائداً‪ ،‬فضل ًا عن أن يكون‬
‫في موضوع‪ .‬وا�وجود �يس موجوداً‪ ،‬بمعنى أ ّ‬
‫موجودا ً في موضوع‪ ،‬بل موجوديته بعينه وذاته لا بأمر آخر يغايره عقل ًا أو خارجاً‪.‬‬
 Chapter 1

On Being, and that it is the Truth

Know that Being (al-wujūd)1 qua Being is neither external existence nor men-
tal, since each one is a type of existence. Being itself is not conditioned nor is
it restricted by either absoluteness or restriction. It is neither a universal nor a
particular, nor categorized by generality or particularity.2 It is one, but not with
a oneness superadded to its Essence,3 nor a multiplicity.
Rather, each one of these accompanies Being, in accordance with its respective
degrees and stations, indicated by the verse, “Raiser of Ranks, possessor of the
Throne.”4 Being, therefore, becomes absolute, limited, universal, particular, general,
specific, unitary or multiple, without experiencing any change in its Essence
and reality.5
It is not a substance, because [a substance] is an external entity that does
not [inhere] in a locus, or a quiddity, which were it to exist, would not exist in
a locus. Being is not so, otherwise it would be like specific substances, which
need Being and its requisites for its realization.
Nor is it an accident, because it is defined as an entity that [inheres] in a locus,
or a quiddity, which were it to exist, would exist in a locus. Being is not an entity
in the sense that it has a being superadded to it, let alone inhere in a locus, but
its existence is essential and established by itself and not by something separate
from it, mentally or externally.

1  Sufi authors use the term wujūd to mean God in the most general sense. The term al-ḥaqq
means truth, reality, fact, rightness, established and necessary, and is also one of the epithets
of God, referring to the fact that He is the Truth, the sole reality, the established, the necessary,
and one whose existence and reality are proved to be true. It also refers to Absolute Being, the
divine Essence or that through which all things are known, so that the gnostic who obtains
awareness of God, distinguishes that which is real and that which is false and illusory in exis-
tence. See al-Tahānawī, Kashshāf iṣtilāḥāt al-funūn, 329.
2  Attributes such as universality or particularity cannot be applied to Being qua Being but only
to its manifestations. Only when Being becomes manifest does it become external, mental,
universal or particular, unitary or multiple, according to its planes of manifestation.
3  Essence means existence and reality. “The Essence of God, the Glorified, refers to His very
existence because He exists through Himself. His Essence is the Unseen Singularity (ghayb
al-aḥadiyya). It also means Absolute Being divested of conditions, attributes and entities.” Jīlī,
al-Insān al-kāmil, 27.
4  Qurʾān (Ghāfir) 40:15.
5  Reality (ḥaqīqa) is the true meaning of a thing as opposed to its metaphorical meaning
(majāzī). It also signifies the heart of a thing or matter, its true nature, its essence, and thus,
the inviolable innermost self of a thing and its sanctity (ḥurma). See Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān
al-ʿArab, cited in Chodkiewicz, Seal of the Saints, 60.

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2020 | doi:10.1163/9789004425330_004