At first He created man as an atom in the shape of a beautiful jewel, upon which He gazed with love and compassion. When His sight fell upon it the jewel melted into water, and each drop of this water burst with divine knowledge.

Then He poured this water upon the roots of a sapling made out of divine harmony, which gave it the life of knowledge and beauty. He named the tree Human Being.

He gave the human being the faculties of seeing and feeling. He also made the human the wisest of His creation, teaching it all there is to know in His creation. He made it powerful and sovereign over everything. Then He gave the human being the Mind. And God kept man’s secrets within His secrets, and hid his origin and nature within His Beautiful Names: the Gentle, and the Mighty One.

Next He presented the human being to the rest of His creation. When they gazed upon him, they felt the presence of divine wisdom, although God had hidden that in the infinite width and depth of His creation. All creation revered the human, and man felt pride in the power that God had placed in him.

Then God manifested His own power upon Him. Man tried to escape from his Creator in fear of His fire, His awe-inspiring grandeur, and His wrath. but God caught him gently, without his even feeling it, and dipped him time after time into the waters of the azure ocean of hope. Thus the divine power revived in man again, and found its right place within him.

God showed man his place in the universe and traced his life upon this earth. He also set him free, not binding him to any place or time, and covered him under the veil of protection of an eternal life.

Thus He placed man above even His angels. He made them prostrate in front of him in allegiance. That is how God taught man His Names.

God made the human being His deputy in the universe and assured his success and predominance over everything. And He gave him Intellect as his prime minister, to help him govern his realm. To him He gave the secret of the word, made him speak even though a red-hot coal should touch his tongue. He gave a staff into his hand, a staff that swallows the snakes of sorcerers: with that staff He broke the backs of all the tricks of all liars and illusionists.

He gave the human being the measuring stick, as a warning, to differentiate the great and the small. And man learned to fear Him.

Then God took the benefits of His whole creaton and divided them among humanity as He saw fit. He put signs on the backs of each of His destined blessings, which come to all. The heart knows these signs, but the mind does not.

Then the human being was sent to his home — in the middle of the desert, without a drop of water — and was taught to seek the secrets under the earth. He taught these to others in turn, and turned the desert into a garden.

God taught man to do, while he could not do. God did for him what he thought he did. God gave all that he has to man only as a bridge to pass over. Blessed is he who passes this bridge in safety.

God knows how to keep His creation clean, or to sully it with what He puts in it, as He wishes. It is all calculated. This world is a testing ground for the believer and the unfaithful one alike.

God has created His kingdom in the human being as a pulpit from which He may be recalled in this universe. He has planted His divine knowledge in the man, and covered it, and forbidden him to divulge His knowledge as his own. He tells man to look out to the skies to see His signs, in so many heavens filled with so many stars, all swimming in the infinite ocean of space in accordance with His ordinances — while all of it is already within man.




From The Divine Governance of the Human Kingdom by Ibn 'Arabi, interpreted by Shaykh Tosun Bayrack al-Jerrahi al Halvet. Louisville, Ky.: Fons Vitae, 1997. Reproduced with permission.
Copyright © 1997 by Fons Vitae