The perfect man
In the teachings
of Ibn al-'Arabi there is a central position
to the perfect man (al-insan al-kamil). That
is why Qutb ad-din bin Ibrahim Abd al-Karim
al-Jili (d. 1403 according to Titus Burckhardt
and ca. 1428 according to Richard Gramlich)
has written a complete book dedicated to this
subject. In this book of al-Jili the 60th
chapter is the central one. In his own words:
“This chapter is the real subject of
all the chapters in this book, yes the whole
book, from its beginning to its end, is an
explanation of this chapter. Therefore understand
the meaning of these words!”
I hope to give
some attention to this important chapter.
Titus Burckhardt has given a partial translation
to the whole book and in his introduction
of ‘Universal Man’ he pays some
attention to this chapter by quoting parts
of it. Richard Gramlich in his ‘Islamische
Mystik’ is much more complete. From
his rendering of the 60th chapter I hope to
make a translation.
THE PERFECT MAN
60th Chapter:
About the perfect man and that he is Muhammad
and that he is a corresponding opposite to
the Creator and the creation.
You should know
that this his chapter is the real subject
of all the chapters in this book, yes the
whole book, from its beginning to its end,
is an explanation of this chapter. Therefore
understand the meaning of these words!
Every individual of the human species is completely
a copy of the others. In no one of them there
is any lack in regard to what the others have
and limitations are but accidental like when
someone may have lost his hands or his feet
or someone may be born blind because of what
happened when he still was in the womb of
his mother. When there are no intervening
accidental conditions, then individuals are
like two opposing mirrors, in which each one
fully reflects the other. It so happens that
there are people in whom you can find things
present in potential while in others these
are actually there. The last mentioned ones
are the more perfect amongst the prophets
and the friends of God. And also among them
there are differences in degree of perfection:
you can find perfect ones and more perfect
ones, but no one of them has been gifted in
this world with more of perfection than Muhammad
[Allah’s blessings and peace be upon
him]. His personal qualities, his inner stations,
his deeds and several of his words testify
to this. He is the perfect man. The other
perfect prophets and friends of God connect
themselves to him like perfection to a higher
perfection… When you read in my books
the expression ‘the perfect man’
in an unlimited sense, then I refer only to
Muhammad [Allah’s blessings and peace
be upon him], this out of deference to his
elevated spiritual station and his most perfect
realisation…
You should know
- may God protect you – that the perfect
man is the pole (qutb) around which evolve
the spheres of existence/being from the first
to the last. He is unique from the beginning
of existence until eternity. He puts on different
forms and appears in many places of worship
and that is why he is given a name according
to his garb of the time and not corresponding
to different garbs. The original name that
belongs to him is Muhammad, his nickname is
Abu’l-Qasim, the name showing his qualities
is ‘Abdallah and his honarary title
is Shamsaddin. In regard to other garbs he
has other names. In every epoch, he has the
garb which corresponds to his garb of the
time. It is thus that I discovered him in
the form of my master shaykh Sharafaddin Isma’il
al-Jabarti. I did not know that he was the
prophet, but I knew he was my shaykh. That
is one of his forms in which he appeared and
in which I saw him in Zabid [in Yemen] in
the year 796/1393-4. The secret behind this
matter is that Muhammad [Allah’s blessings
and peace be with him] can adopt each form
he likes. When the initiate sees him in the
shape he had during his own life, then he
calls his by means of his own name. When he
is seen in another outward form and he knows
he is Muhammad [Allah’s blessings and
peace be with him] he calls him with the name
of that outward form.
The name Muhammad
is only used for the reality of Muhammad.
Don’t you know that when he showed himself
in the shape of Shibli, Shibli said to his
disciple: “Testify to the fact that
I am the messenger of God!” This disciple
was a man of mystical disclosures and that
is why he recognised him and said: “I
testify that you are the messenger of God!”
There is nothing to remark. It can be compared
to the situation when a dreamer sees A in
the shape of B. The lowest stage of inner
disclosure is this that with him in his waking
consciousness the same is possible as when
in sleep. There is a difference however between
sleep and inner disclosure and it is this
one: The name of the form in which one sees
Muhammad in dreams is not used - when being
awake - for the reality of Muhammad, because
the explanation is based on the world of similitudes
and that is why when being awake one speaks
of the reality of Muhammad as the reality
of the form [seen in dreams]. In case of an
inner disclosure it is different. When it
is disclosed to you that the reality of Muhammad
reveals itself in the shape of a certain person,
then you must give to the reality of Muhammad
the name of this figure. You have to deal
with the owner of this form with the same
good manners as with Muhammad, as it has been
disclosed to you that Muhammad has assumed
this outward shape. After recognising him
you cannot behave in the same way as before.
But do not imagine
that there is, in my words, some allusion
to metempsychosis. May God keep us from that
idea! And may the messenger keep me far from
such intentions! It is more like this that
the messenger of God is able to assume all
kinds of outward shapes to reveal himself
therein. And it is his habit to assume at
each epoch the shape of the most perfect among
the people in order to raise the position
of this person and restore those things which
need to be restored. They are his outward
representatives and he is their inner realty.
Know that the
perfect man comprises in himself correspondences
with all the realities of existence. He corresponds
to the translunar (higher) realities by his
own subtle nature and he corresponds to the
sublunar (inferior) realities with his crude
nature. There are several correspondences
with the realities of created beings. His
heart corresponds to the divine throne as
the prophet has said: “The heart of
the believer is the throne of God”;
his I (aniyah)
corresponds to the divine pedestral,
his station corresponds to the Lotus tree
of the seventh heaven,
his intellect corresponds to the supreme pen,
his soul correspond to the guarded table,
his nature corresponds to the elements,
his receptivity corresponds to matter,
his judgment corresponds to the starless 9th
sphere.
