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4.0 - THE NOONTIME: Traveling to the East for the purpose of Hajj and his stay in Holy Mecca - (597/1200 - 600/1203)

“He saw the lightning eastward, thus he longed for the east. If he had seen it westward, he would be longing for the west.
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My desire is for the lightning and its gleam, and not for the places or grounds.
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The East zephyr narrated after them, a hadith handed down successively: from heartache, from my passion, from anguish, from my tribulation,
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from rapture, from my reason, from yearning, from ardor, from tears, from my eyelid, from fire, from my heart:
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that he whom you love resides between your ribs; the breaths toss him from side to side.
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I said: Bring a message to him and say that he is the enkindler of the fire within my heart.
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If it shall be quenched, then everlasting union, but if it shall burn, thus no blame to the lover!
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Ibn al-Arabi (Tarjuman, p. 54) ... See the comments on this poem in section 4.7 at the end of this chapter.

Having concluded his farewell trip in Andalusia, and after more than a year of retreat, in which his heart is overwhelmed with lights, and his spirit is rejoiced with pleasure, his soul is now yearning, more than ever, to the source, to the origin of all divine lights. Thus, he decided to return to the orient, tracing back the path of the Sun, towards the east, from where his sun rose in the first place, before he is born in Murcia. His aim is now to visit Mecca, the original point from which the divine knowledge is flooding, from that holy spot, that contains the most sacred point, the Kaaba, the origin of the earth and the center of the universe, in which resides the Black Stone, Allah’s Right-hand on earth, whomever touch they have pledged allegiance to Allah, Almighty [Kanz: 34729, 34730, 34744]. Thus, when the divine Command was revealed to him in his vision, he lifted his packs towards the east, tracing the same path that he had followed when he was still in the unseen world.

The Greatest Shaykh began his journey to the Orient in 597/1200, from Morocco, where he met the famous Shaykh Abu Abbas al-Sabti, and other friends of Allah. There, he was also ordered in the vision to accompany with him a person named Mohammed al-Hassar, whom he will meet in the city of Fez, of course together with his faithful friend Abdullah Badr al-Habashi.

On their way, they also visited his old comrade in Tunisia, Abdul al-Aziz al-Mahdawi, and stayed with him several months, before proceeding to Egypt, maybe by sea. In Egypt, however, his companion al-Hassar died, so, after spending the month of Ramadan, he continued his journey, to reach Mecca before the Hajj of the year 598 AH. On the route, he passed by the city of al-Khalil to visit Prophet Ibrahim, peace be upon him, and then he went to al-Quds and prayed at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, that had been just liberated by Saladin before fifteen years.

After completing the pilgrimage, the Greatest Shaykh remained in Mecca until the end of the year 600 AH, where he shall start some other rounds of traveling to the North.

During this stay in Mecca, his fame multiplied, and he became known among the prominent scholars. He also started lecturing in the Grand Mosque, where more and more students encircled around him. There also, he began writing his comprehensive encyclopedia of mysticism and divine wisdom, the Meccan Revelations, which will take him about thirty years to complete its first edition.

4.1- His Farewell Trip in Morocco

4.2- His Second Stay in Tunisia (Shawwal 597 - Rajab 598)

4.3- His First Stay in Egypt and Passing through Palestine

4.4- Settling in the Holy Mecca

4.5- Getting Married and His Wives

4.6- Writing the Meccan Revelations and Some Other Books

4.7- Comments on the Opening Poem