6.5.2 - The Bezels of Wisdom (Damascus, end of Muharram 627/1229)

For the books of the Greatest Shaykh Muhyiddin Ibn al-Arabi, the book of the “Bezels of Wisdom” is like the crown on the head of the king. Despite its small size, and despite the limited topics it presents, when compared to the Meccan Revelations for example, this book is a deep sea full of pearls and jewels, and a spacious space where stars are swimming at large.

In his introduction to the book, which was the subject of his PhD thesis at the University of Cambridge with the famous orientalist Reynold A. Nicholson, Abu-l-Ula Afifi says: “It is no exaggeration to say that the book of al-Fusus is the greatest of all Ibn al-Arabi’s most profound and deepest books and the most influential in shaping the Sufi doctrine of his time.” [Fusus al-Hikam, edited by Abu-l-Ula Afifi (Beirut, n.d.), p. 7]. In fact, this statement is not very accurate, because the Meccan Revelations is still the most important, most comprehensive and most influential and widespread. However, this illustrates the importance of the Fusus, which is a brief and intensive masterpiece much shorter than the Futuhat. For this reason, many scholars have worked on studying and commenting on it and trying to decipher its hidden mysteries.

One such commentaries is Ibn al-Arabi’s own book: “Naqsh al-Fusus” [OY: I.250], which is an imprint describing the pattern of the Fusus by briefly summarizing its main discussions. Other famous scholars who have book-long commentaries include Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi in the “Fukuk”, Dawud al-Qaysari, Abdul-Rahman Jami and Abdul-Ghani Al-Nabulsi. In total, there are about two hundred commentaries and translations, most of which are listed in Othman Yahya’s classification.

Some scholars, however, have stood firmly against this book and considered that it includes some statements contrary to the Islamic law and that it is difficult to interpret many of its discussions. Therefore, some scholars criticized Ibn al-Arabi for this book, such as al-Dhahabi who described it as one of the worst, and he said: “If there is no infidelity in it, then where on Earth is infidelity!” [Al-Dhahabi, The Conduct of Elite Nobles: c. 23, p. 48]. It should be noted that al-Dhahabi is one of the disciples of Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah, who classified many treatises in response to Ibn al-Arabi, including one he called “the most correct response to what is in the Fusus al-Hikam” as we will mention in the final chapter, God willing.

Though it also means: “jewels”, the literal meaning of the word “Fusus”, or: “Fussuss”, singular: “Fass”, is: “Lobes”, which describes major divisions of something, or like the “Cloves”, which are the aromatic flower buds. This word is also used to describe the wide section of the hoop of a ring, which may contain a gem, thus it is often translated as “Bezels”. Other translations also include: Seals, Gemstones, or Pearls.

The Greatest Shaykh opens up this great book by saying in the prologue that he saw the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, in a promising vision in the last ten days of the month of Muharram of the year 627 AH, in Damascus, with a book in his hand, and he said to him: “This is the book of Fusus al-Hikam, take it and bring it out to people so that they may benefit from it.” Ibn al-Arabi replied with affirmation and obedience. Then he said:

Therefore (after received the book from the Prophet, peace be upon him, in this vision), I accomplished the request, with sincere intention, and I focused my purpose on the task of formulating it as defined for me by the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, without any addition nor omitting. I asked Allah to make me in this, and in all of my other states, among the servants whom the devil has no authority over them, and to honor me in all what my fingers write or my tongue speaks, or that which is imagined in my heart; all to be supported by the sacred casting and spiritual injection in my psychological form, with the most protected support, so that I can be a translator, not a judge, in order that those who may challenge it from the people of Allah, who have a (cleansed) heart, that they know it is originated from the highest state sanctified from any the psychological purposes that may be confused with ambiguities. I hope that when the Real heard my call He has answered my prayers; so that I only transfer what it has been conducted to me, and I only bring about what it has been brought to me. I am not a Prophet nor Messenger, but I am an inheritor, and I am watchful of my afterlife:

From Allah you hear, and to Allah you return.

Then if you hear what I brought to you, you should comprehend.

Then after understanding you should clarify the brief statement and collect (the conclusions).

Then, after that, you can pass it to the seekers, without holding.

This is the mercy that encompassed you, thus do not be constrained.

It is from Allah that I ask to be one of those who were supported and supporting, and bound by the purified Muhammadan law and restricted and denoted, and I ask that we are counted into his group just as He made us among his nation.

Then Shaykh Muhyiddin, may Allah be pleased with him, began to list the chapters of the book, which are twenty-seven Bezels, each he named as the bezel of certain wisdom in the word (or logos) of certain prophets, which include profound comments and brief discussion on mysterious wisdom that the Shaykh saw in the realities of those prophets.

These are the titles of the 27 bezels:

eginenumerate

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of Divinity (ilhiyyah) in the Logos of Adam

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of Breathing (nafathiyyah) in the Logos of Seth

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of Transcendence (subûhiyyah) in the Logos of Noah

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of Sanctity (quddûsiyyah) in the Logos of Idris

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of Rapture (muhaymiyyah) in the Logos of Abraham

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of Truth (haqqiyyah) in the Logos of Isaac

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of Exaltedness (aliyyah) in the Logos of Ishmael

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of Spirituality (rûhiyyah) in the Logos of Jacob

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of Light (nûriyyah) in the Logos of Joseph

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of Uniqueness (ahadiyyah) in the Logos of Hud

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of Opening (futûhiyyah) in the Logos of Salih

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of the Heart (qalbiyyah) in the Logos of Jethro (Shuayb)

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of Power (malkiyyah) in the Logos of Lot

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of the Decree (qadariyyah) in the Logos of Ezra

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of Prophecy (nubûwiyyah) in the Logos of Jesus

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of Compassion (rahmâniyyah) in the Logos of Solomon

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of Being (wujûdiyyah) in the Logos of David

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of the Self (or Breath) (nafsiyyah) in the Logos of Jonah

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of the Unseen (ghaybiyyah) in the Logos of Ayyub (Job)

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of Majesty (jalâliyyah) in the Logos of John

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of Ownership (mâlikiyyah) in the Logos of Zachariah

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of Intimacy (inâsiyyah) in the Logos of Elijah

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of Beneficence (ihsâniyyah) in the Logos of Loqman

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of the Leadership (imâmiyyah) in the Logos of Aaron

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of Eminence (ulûwiyyah) in the Logos of Musa (Moses)

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of Refuge (samadiyyah) in the Logos of Khalid

item The Bezel of the Wisdom of Singularity (fardiyyah) in the Logos of Muhammad

endenumerate

The Shaykh, may Allah be pleased with him, did not mean to examine or explain the biographies or attributes of those prophets, but the respective wisdom Allah mentioned in the Quran in connection with them, each prophet is considered as a setting for this particular wisdom.

In the introduction to Fukuk, Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi said that the Bezel is the conclusion of the knowledge of each of the prophets mentioned in this book, while the Logos are the characteristic entities of those prophets [al-Fukuk, p. 3]. Therefore, this book contains twenty-seven seas of knowledge, each corresponding to the prophet in whose name the Bezel is titled.

=\%==== ghurab === Fusus al-Hikam ("The Precious Stones of the Wisdoms"). The attribution of this work in its present form[1] to Ibn ’Arabi is undoubtedly incorrect as the Fusus contradicts some of the most basic tenets of Islam[2] expounded by Ibn ’Arabi himself in his authentic works, such as the finality of Prophethood, the primacy of Prophets over non-Prophets, the abrogation of all religious creeds other than Islam, the everlastingness of the punishment of Hellfire and its dwellers, the abiding therein of anyone that does not accept the Prophet after his coming, Pharaoh’s damnation, etc.

\%Nevertheless the Fusus have received commentaries by the following scholars among others: Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi (d. 671), ’Afif al-Din al-Tilimsani (d. 690), Mu’ayyid al-Din al-Jundi (d. 700), Sa’d al-Din al-Farghani (d. 700), Kamal al-Din al-Zamalkani (d. 727), Dawud al-Qaysari (d. 751), Kamal al-Din al-Qashani (d. 751), Sayyid ’Ali al-Hamadani (d. 766), Khwaja Muhammad Parsa (d. 822) the intimate friend of Shah Naqshband -- Allah be well-pleased with him --, Mawlana Jami (d. 898), Isma’il al-Anqarawi (d. 1042), ’Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi (d. 1144), and others.