SECTION X - THE ENDINGS

Ascertainment

التَّحْقِيق

Allah, the Almighty, said:

{…[Allah] said: Have you not believed? He said: Yes, but [I ask] only that my heart may be satisfied…}802 [al-Baqarah 2:260]

قَالَ اللهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ: "أَوَلَمْ تُؤْمِنْ قَالَ بَلَى وَلَكِنْ لِيَطْمَئِنَّ قَلْبِي"

Ascertainment 803 is the distilling of your wants from the Real, then by the Real, then in the Real.804 These are the names of its three levels.

التَّحْقِيقُ: تَلْخِيصُ مَصْحُوبِكَ مِنَ الْحَقِّ، ثُمَّ بِالْحَقِّ، ثُمَّ فِي الْحَقِّ، وَهَذِهِ أَسْمَاءُ دَرَجَاتِهِ الثَّلَاثِ.

As for the first degree, it is distilling your wants from the Real, and this is when your knowledge does not contend with His. 805

أَمَّا الدَّرَجَةُ الْأُولَى - وَهِيَ تَلْخِيصُ مَصْحُوبِكَ مِنَ الْحَقِّ - فَأَنْ لَا يُخَالِجَ عِلْمُكَ عِلْمَهُ"

As for the second degree, it is when your beholding does not contend with His. 806

وَأَمَّا الدَّرَجَةُ الثَّانِيَةُ: فَأَنْ لَا يُنَازِعَ شُهُودُكَ شُهُودَهُ.

As for the third degree, it is when your [temporal] form does not mask His antecedence. Then the testimonies fade away, the expressions expire, and the gestures vanish. 807

وَأَمَّا الدَّرَجَةُ الثَّالِثَةُ: أَنْ لَا يُنَاسِمَ رَسْمُكَ سَبْقَهُ فَتَسْقُطُ الشَّهَادَاتُ، وَتَبْطُلُ الْعِبَارَاتُ، وَتَفْنَى الْإِشَارَاتُ.

802 Ibrâheem (peace be upon him) never doubted the power of his Lord but wanted his ascertainment to move from ‘ilm al-yaqeen (certainty of knowledge) to ‘ayn al-yaqeen (certainty of eyesight).
803 This is when you ascertain your subsistence by Allah and distill that from the remnants staying with you of you, like your knowledge and your beholding.
804 You ascertain what you want from Allah, then you want what you want by Him, and then you realize you did not want anything other than Him.
805Everything that is yours will be denied. Allah said:

يَوْمَ يَجْمَعُ اللَّهُ الرُّسُلَ فَيَقُولُ مَاذَا أُجِبْتُمْ ۖ قَالُوا لَا عِلْمَ لَنَا ۖ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ عَلَّامُ الْغُيُوبِ

{[Be warned of] the Day when Allah will assemble the messengers and say: What was the response you received? They will say: We have no knowledge. Indeed, it is You who is Knower of the unseen.} (al-Mâ’idah 5:109)

Imam Ibn al-Qayyim remarks in Madârij that they denied their temporal knowledge of the exteriors because it vanishes when it is compared to God’s eternal and encompassing knowledge.
806 Now, after your annihilation, your beholding of Him is, in fact, His, so you attribute it to Him.

Manâzil as-Sâirin

by

Shaykhul-Islam Abu Isma‘il Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Ansari al-Harawi (396-481H)

Translation and Footnotes

By

Hatem al-Haj