📿 al-Ḥikam of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh — Wisdom #16 كَيْفَ يُتَصَوَّرُ أَنْ يَحْجُبَهُ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ الَّذِي أَظْهَرَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ؟ كَيْفَ يُتَصَوَّرُ أَنْ يَحْجُبَهُ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ الَّذِي ظَهَرَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ؟ كَيْفَ يُتَصَوَّرُ أَنْ يَحْجُبَهُ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ الظَّاهِرُ لِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ؟ كَيْفَ يُتَصَوَّرُ أَنْ يَحْجُبَهُ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ الْوَاحِدُ الَّذِي لَيْسَ مَعَهُ شَيْءٌ؟ كَيْفَ يُتَصَوَّرُ أَنْ يَحْجُبَهُ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْكَ مِنْ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ؟ يَا عَجَبًا كَيْفَ يَظْهَرُ الْوُجُودُ فِي الْعَدَمِ؟ أَمْ كَيْفَ يَثْبُتُ الْحَادِثُ مَعَ مَنْ لَهُ وَصْفُ الْقِدَمِ؟ "How can it be conceived that anything could veil Him — when He is the One who manifested everything? How can anything veil Him when He appears through everything, and is more evident than everything? How can anything veil Him when He is the One alongside Whom is nothing else — and closer to you than everything? O wonder! How can existence appear in nothingness? Or how can the temporal stand alongside the One who is beyond time?" The illusion of a veil between us and Allah is itself the veil. He is not hidden behind creation — creation is what makes His signs known, and He is more manifest than what He manifests. Nothingness cannot stand against existence, nor the created against the Eternal. The veil, then, is only in the eye of the one who looks — never in the One who is seen. — Sharḥ al-Ḥikam, commentary by Ibn ʿAbbād al-Rundī #Islam #Hikam #IbnAtaAllah #Tasawwuf #Spirituality