Presented by OmarKN
Some interpolation was done, especially inside [ ] brackets. Verbatim quotes and edited text.
The possible thing is that reality whose relationship to existence and non-existence is equal, meaning it may or may not exist.
These ’entities’ are,
- either the possible things as they exist in God’s knowledge, but nonexistent in the cosmos,
- or they are the possible things when given existence in the cosmos.
To come into existence depends on the Will of the Necessary Being[12] (Allah).
The Necessary Being will give preponderance (tarjīḥ )[6] to the existence of the possible thing over its non-existence, in order to become an existent thing in the world.
Then the Preponderator[6] (Allah) has brought it into the cosmos.[9]
→ From this follows that all things are possible things. Their reality is either existence or nonexistence.
To summarize:
The entities[4] are called the “possible things” (mumkināt ), since they may or may not exist in the cosmos. In respect to their own possibility, which is their defining characteristic, their relationship to existence and nonexistence is the same.[5]
SPK12LC
اعلم ان العالم عبارة عن كل ما سوى الله و ليس الاالممكنات سواء وجدت أولم توجد
Know that the cosmos is an expression of everything other than Allah. It is none other than the possible things, whether or not they exist.…
(III 443.5) [8]
فان الامكان حكم لها لازم فى حل عدمها و وجودها
Possibility is their necessary property in the state of their nonexistence as well as in their existence … (III 443.5) [8]
بل هو ذاتى لها لان الترجيح لها لازم فالمرجح معلوم و لهذا سمى عالما من العلامة لانه الدليل على المرجح
It is intrinsic to them (dhātī ), since preponderation (tarjīḥ ) is necessary for them. Hence (through the possible things) the Preponderator is known, and that is why the cosmos is named ’cosmos’ (ʿālam ) - from ’mark’ (ʿalāma ) since it is a proof of the Preponderator.[13]
God creates the cosmos in accordance with His eternal knowledge of it. This also means He gives each ’immutably fixed’ (thābit ) entity or ’thing’ within His knowledge[14] existence in the universe.
The fixed[3] immutable entities (ayān al-thābit ) are the things themselves ”before” they are given existence in the world.[2]
“Fixedness” (thubūt ) is a mode of existence with God possessed by the entities over and above any existence they may have in the cosmos.[7]
لان المعطى و المعطى اياه ما هو سوى عين ملكه فما خرج شىء عن ملكه
This is because the giver and the receiver of the gift are nothing other than His kingdom, since there is nothing outside of His kingdom. (IV 320.13)
الا أن ملكه منه ما هو موصوف بالوجود و منه ما هو موصوف بالثبوت
However in His kingdom there is that which is described by existence and that which is described by fixedness. (IV 320.14)
فالثبوت و الوجود لا بد أن يكون متناهيا و الثابت لا نهاية له
That which is both fixed and existent must be finite, but that which is fixed is infinite.… (IV 320.15)
There is no difference between the entity known in God’s knowledge and the entity in the cosmos except that in the first case it is ”nonexistent” while in the second case it is existent, [and they are both possible things.]
The existent entity (ʿayn mawjūda ) and the fixed entity (ʿayn al-thābita )[11] are the same reality, one exists in the cosmos and the other does not. The difference between the two corresponds exactly to the difference between the possible thing before it is given existence and the same possible thing after it comes into existence.
However the attribute thābita, ”fixed”, helps remind us that the possible thing never leaves its state of possibility in the Divine knowledge. Though the entity may “exist” in the cosmos, it is still immutably fixed and “nonexistent” in God’s knowledge.[10]
SPK81-83, The Sufi Path Of Knowledge, Ibn Arabi's Metaphysics of Imagination; W C Chittick; p81
Other Texts in This Series
The Possible Things The Veil of Otherness Being and Existence 1 Being and Nonexistence 2 Wujūd and Infinity Being, Names, and Nonexistence Acquiring Knowledge The Nonexistent Entities Insights Into The Nature Of Being And Existence Sh. Muhyiddin Ibn al-ʿArabī
And the Unfolding of the Islamic Intellectual Tradition How God Brought The Cosmos Into Existence Disclosing Himself, M. Ibn ʿArabi Muhyiddin Ibn ʿArabi; Presentation of About 30 TextsRelated texts
Insights Into The Nature Of (Being) And Existence From Sh. Muhyiddīn Ibn ʿArabī
Sh. Muhyiddīn Ibn al-ʿArabī And the Unfolding of the Islamic Intellectual Tradition
الفتوحات المكيّة
التي فتح الله بها على الشيخ الإمام العامل الراسخ الكامل خاتم الأولياء الوارثين برزخ البرازخ محيي الحق و الدين أبي عبد الله محمد بن علي المعروف بابن عربي الحاتمي الطائي قدّس الله روحه و نوّر ضريحه ٱمين
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The Platonic ideas would ≈ correspond to the Divines Names according to Muhyiddin Ibn ʿArabi’s teachings. ↩
William C. Chittick originally translated the (ʿayān al-thābit ) as ’immutable entities’, but later (in SDG) changed it to ’fixed entities.’ ↩
Short: So what are entities?
Entity (ʿayn, pl. al-aʿyān ) refers to specificity, particularization, and designation, i.e. what sets one thing apart from another thing. Related is taʿayyun, meaning “to be or to become an entity” or ”the state of being specified and particularized."
SPK83R ↩
A “fixed entity” is a nonexistent possible thing. If God “gives preponderance (tarjīḥ )” to the side of existence over nonexistence, it becomes an existent entity, an existent possible thing. SPK12LC
NB:
Existent things are distinguished from relationships. [The Names of God are relationships.]
SPK83R ↩
The Preponderator is none other than God, Allah.
From Latin praeponderat- ‘of greater weight’, from the verb praeponderare, from prae ‘before’ + ponderare ‘weigh, consider’.
tarjīḥ from *rjḥ weighing more, be the one in control;
therefore: preponderate, primacy, precedence
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At this instance reference is made to the hadith qudsiy: “O My servants, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you to be as pious as the most pious heart of any one man of you, that would not increase My dominion in anything.…” Muslim, Birr 55.
Also online: sunnah.com
SPK85ro
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SPK83LCO
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Among the terms Necessary Being, possible thing, and impossible thing, Muhyiddīn Ibn al-ʿArabī devotes most attention to the possible thing, in order to explain the nature of existence that is attributed to the possible thing once brought into the cosmos.
SPK92Lu
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SPK84ro
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The fixed entities are the things themselves ’before’ they are given existence in the world. (ʿayn al-thābita )
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The Necessary Being (al-wājib al-wujūd ) is that which by its very nature is and cannot not be, this is what otherwise is being referred to as ’Being’ (al-wujūd ).
SPK12L
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Quoting Muhyiddīn Ibn al-ʿArabī, SPK83L
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… while there is nothing outside His knowledge.
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