مكتبة كتيبة محمّد بن نصير Muhammad bin Nusayr's Library Bibliothèque de Muhammad bin Nusayr کتابخانه کتیبه محمد بن نصیر

مَكْتَبَةُ كَتِيبَةِ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ نُصَيْرٍ

Al-Usayfir - Muhammad ibn Shu‘ba al-Harrani

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Page 102 of 133

Speech Regarding Gnosis

However, among the Intelligible Propositions (Al-Qadaya al-Ma'qula) which arise from Demonstrative Premises (Muqaddimat Burhaniyya):

The First Cause among them—being a cause for the existence of the Second—is the Deity who is not seen, and to whom no description attaches from the attributes of generated existence (Nu'ut al-Kawn), such as Will, Knowledge, Pre-eternity (Qidam), and other things which cause the opinion to be expounded upon the Demonstrative Intellectual Ranks (Al-Maratib al-'Aqliyya al-Burhaniyya)1.

And that is because the Sages (Hukama') forbade saying of Him "Ancient" (Qadim), because ancientness is within time. And they also forbade saying of Him "All-Knowing" ('Alim), because this attribute attaches to the nature of one for whom ignorance is possible.

Footnotes

1The Demonstrative Intellectual Ranks: By which researchers have inferred the Unique God (Allah al-Ahad). Among them: The Naturalists (Tabi'iyyun): Infer the Mover from the existence of Motion. And by the impossibility of the chain of movers continuing ad infinitum, they arrive at the existence of a First Mover who has no mover, and He is Allah the Unique. The Theists (Ilahiyyun): Infer by looking at Existence as either Necessary (Wajib) or Possible (Mumkin). They arrive at affirming the Necessary of Existence by His Essence. The Sufis: Rely on the stability of a Pure Existence totally incapable of non-existence. The Illuminationists (Ishraqiyyun): Rely on the Theory of Light. They say: If the Abstract Light is in need of a Self-Subsisting Light for its realization, then the Self-Subsisting Lights whose chain is ordered cannot go on ad infinitum. Thus, the upright, accidental, and isthmian lights must end at a Light beyond which there is no light—the Light of Lights (Nur al-Anwar). (Hikmat al-Ishraq). The Philosophers: Infer the Cause from the Effect. They say: The Existent is either Necessary (which is the goal) or Possible (needing a cause). The Cause is either the Necessary One (proving the goal) or another Possible One, necessitating the end of the chain of causes at the Necessary. The Conclusion: The Causer of Causes is the Meaning (Ma'na) (The Almighty) from whom issued the Cause of Existents (The Great Name, authorized to create the Part and the Whole). The Causer of Causes is the Absolute, Original, Unitary Light.He was, and there was no place, no epoch, and no time. He has no attribute that can be attained, nor limit by which parables are struck. No speaker has speech regarding Him, nor is it correct for anyone to claim seeing Him with instruments.
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