1

Mystery of negation-affirmation

You had asked, Whatever that is seen or understood (did, danish)

should be negated by the verse la. For the object of seeking that is
being armed (matlub-i mathbat) is beyond being seen or being
understood. So we should negate even Muhammad the rasul of Allah
(salla 'llahu ta`ala `alaihi wa alihi wa sallam) when it is witnessed, and
should recognize that the object being sought [i.e. God] is beyond him
as well.

O brother! Muhammad the rasul of Allah (salla'llahu ta`ala `alaihim,

wa alihi wa sallam) was indeed very exalted, but he was still a
human being (bashar). And he was branded by the mark of newly-
arrivedness and contingentness (huduth, imkan). What can man attain
from his creator?

What can a created thing take from the Necessary? How can the
newly arrived thing (hadith) encompass the ancient (qadim)?
Knowledge may not encompass him (La yuhituna bihi `ilman).42
(Quran)

As Shaykh Attar composed,

Even the emperor who is the greatest prophet
When even he did not get the universal poverty
What good is there by straining in vain
For sure, you would not get this ONIBAR

Namiy biniy keh shahi chun PAMIBAR

Nayaft uw faqr kulli to ranj kambar

 2

Beloved! This needs to be explained in detail. So listen with inner

awareness. You may know that the pleasant verse La ilaha illa 'llah
has two stations (maqam):

1. the negation (nafiy)

2. the affirmation (ithbat)

Each of these two stations, the station of negation and the station of
affirmation, has in turn two levels (i`tibar). [So, at the end, there are
two pairs of negation-affirmations, one for each level. They are:]

1. Level 1 pair of negation-affirmation:

To negate the deservingness of worship for the false gods (nafy-i

istihqaq-i `ibadat-i aliha'-i batila), and to affirm the deservingness of
worship for the true god (ithbat-i istihqaq-i `ibadat-i ma`bud-I haqq).

2. Level 2 pair of negation-affirmation:

To negate all that suspends from false objects of intention, and

fraudulent objects of seeking (na_-I muta`alliq shud maqsudat-i ghayr
maqsudeh, va muta`alliqat-i ghayr matlubeh). As a result, now, on the
side of a_rmation, nothing remains save the true object of seeking
(matlub-i haqiqi), or nothing remains beyond the original intended
thing (maqsud-i asli), who is God (va muta`allaq-i ithbat juz matlub-i
haqiqi nabashad, va wara'-i maqsud-i asli nabud).
 3

1.1 Perfection in the first level

1. The perfection in the first level (i`tibar) [associated with the _rst
pair of negation- affirmation] begins (Kamal dar i`tibar-i awwal dar
ibtida an-ast) when all that can be known or witnessed (mashhud) are
brought under the la, i.e. negation, [and is negated]. And on the side
of affirmation, the term istithna [i.e. Allah] is indeed pronounced
(takallum) [as in the zikr] but nothing is observed.

2. After some time, the eye of knowledge (sairat-i hiddat) gets

sharpened, and the kohl of the dust of the path to God the object of
seeking is put onto that eye. Then that which is the object of the istithna
(mustathna), [i.e. the word Allah], is witnessed in the color of the
mustathna, indeed, however, along with it, the salik finds himself
captivated to things that are beyond those witnessed things (gereftar-I
ma wara-iy an mashhud mi-miyabad), and he seeks that sought thing
beyond it (matlub radar berun-i an mitalaband).

3. At the beginning of this period of acquisition of perfection,

whatever that fell under the term la [and removed], all that are
included in the circle of the contingent things (da'ira'-i mumkinat). So
they did not deserve to be the object of worship (istihqaq-i `ibadat
nadasht). Also
because the salik recited this pleasant term so many times, those [false
gods] were separated (juda gasht) from the true god that deserved to
be worshipped.
 4

4. However, as he had a weak eye-sight, the salik failed to see the

level of necessariness (martaba-i wujub) that is deserving of worship,
and was established by the term illa. As a result, he failed to receive
anything from that station [of necessariness] save the term illa onto
which istithna had been applied (mustathna). On the other hand, when
his eyesight grew stronger, he witnessed the object of the istithna
(mustathna) in the color of the object
of the istithna amongst them.

5. When the level of necessariness brings together the names and

the attributes of God (ilahi) (jalla sultanahu), and when the aspiration
of the salik suspends from (muta`alliq) the disengaged one-in-
numberness (ahadiyat-i mujarrada), then the things that deserve
worship (istihqaq-i `ibadat) are also left on the street like the things
that do not deserve worship, in that abode (mawtin). As a result,
necessarily, the salik keeps seeking what he seeks beyond the names
and the attributes, and keeps away from getting captivated by them.

2.1 Perfection in the second level

If the second level [i.e. the second pair of negation-affirmation] is

taken, then the method is this:
Negate the intentions that do not deserve to be the intentions (na_-i
maqsudat-i ghayr maqsudeh).
And it begins to get perfect when the witnessings of the necessary
level (shuhud-i martaba'-i wujub) are also, like the witnessings of the
contingent levels (dar rang-i shuhud-i maratib-i imkani), put under the
 5

la, [and are negated]. And on the side of affirmation (ithbat), nothing
is observed, instead only the word that has undergone istithna (kalima-
i mustathna) [i.e. Allah] is pronounced.

Truly, only those with high ambition, and exalted aspiration (_trat-i
`ulya, himmat-i quswa) want such exalted purposes. e.g. the purpose
that nothing of God comes into their hands, instead nothing is even
perceived (idrak).
The vision of God in the last world is indeed true, but I get disturbed
thinking about it. Everyone is well-pleased by the promise of the vision
of God in the last world, but my purpose is nothing but the unseen of
the unseen (ghaybu 'l-ghayb). I aspire (himmat) that not even the the
amount of the head of a hair of the sought after thing (matlub) is
brought from the unwitnessed realm to the witnessed realm (az ghayb
be-shahadat), so that God does not come from the ears to the lap,
and from knowledge (`ilm) to vision (`ayn). What can I do when I was
created as such.
For different task, God has made different people Har kasi ra har kari
sakhtand
In this place, although I feel a lot of madness, still
I cannot open up my lips for the sake of adab.