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A glossary of Taçawwuf by sidi Ibn 'Ajiba (on going project)

ببسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

This will be, insha'allah, an attempt to translate sidi Ibn Ajiba's mi'raj at-tachawwuf ila haqa'iq at-taçawwuf (معراج التشوف إلى حقائق التصوف), which is really a glossary of this discipline (sometimes called sufism quite erroneously), hopefully posting an 'entry' here each day.

Please bless this effort with any remarks you may have.

توكلت على الله

Taçawwuf (at-taçawwuf): A science through which one knows how to proceed toward the presence of the king of kings, or the purification of the inward from vices and adorning it, instead, with kinds of virtues, or absence of Creation in witnessing the Creator, or absence with return to the trace. Its beginning is knowledge, its middle is action, and its end is pure gift

The word is derived either from purity [safa'] because the orbit of this science is purification, or from character [sifa] for it's a characterization by forms of perfection, or from the long, narrow chamber affixed to the Mosque of the Prophet called suffa as the people of this science are comparable to the People of the Suffa in their focus and self-separation from the outside world, or from wool [suf] since most of their clothing is made of it out of disinterest in the current life, they’ve chosen it because it was the clothing of the prophets, peace be upon them. The last derivation is the most adequate linguistically and the clearest etymologically as wearing wool is a matter of the exterior, whereas attributing them to something else is an internal matter, and judgment by the exterior is more correct. It is said that one taçawwafa [the verb derived from taçawwuf] if he wore wool [suf], just how it's said that one taqammasa if he wore a qamis [an article of clothing]. The attribution to taçawwuf is sufi.

Sahl has said: "A sufi is he who became pure without muddiness and free from calculation, and devoted himself to God cutting all ties with men, one for whom gold and clay became equal, which means he no longer has a desire for anything except his Lord".

Al-Junaid has said: "The sufi is like the earth, everything that is bad is thrown on it, yet nothing comes out of it except for that which is good". He has also said: "The sufi is like the ground, both the righteous and the wicked step on it, and like the sky casting his shade on everything, and like the rain spraying everything.

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Taçawwuf (at-taçawwuf): A science through which one knows how to proceed toward the presence of the king of kings, or the purification of the inward from vices and adorning it, instead, with kinds of virtues, or absence of Creation in witnessing the Creator, or absence with return to the trace. Its beginning is knowledge, its middle is strife, and its end is pure gift

The word is derived either from purity [safa'] because the orbit of this science is purification, or from character [sifa] for it's a characterization by forms of perfection, or from the long, narrow chamber affixed to the Mosque of the Prophet called suffa as the people of this science are comparable to the People of the Suffa in their focus and self-separation from the outside world, or from wool [suf] since most of their clothing is made of it out of disinterest in the current life, they’ve chosen it because it was the clothing of the prophets, peace be upon them. The last derivation is the most adequate linguistically and the clearest etymologically as wearing wool is a matter of the exterior, whereas attributing them to something else is an internal matter, and judgment by the exterior is more correct. It is said that one taçawwafa [the verb derived from taçawwuf] if he wore wool [suf], just how it's said that one taqammasa if he wore a qamis [an article of clothing]. The attribution to taçawwuf is sufi.

Sahl has said: "A sufi is he who became pure without muddiness and free from calculation, and devoted himself to God cutting all ties with men, one for whom gold and clay became equal, which means he no longer has a desire for anything except his Lord".

Al-Junaid has said: "The sufi is like the earth, everything that is bad is thrown on it, yet nothing comes out of it except for that which is good". He has also said: "The sufi is like the ground, both the righteous and the wicked step on it, and like the sky casting his shade on everything, and like the rain spraying everything.

As Salamu alaikum,

I think Sheikh Nuh Keller is translating this work.

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As Salamu alaikum,

I think Sheikh Nuh Keller is translating this work.

وعليكم السلام

Thanks for the insight, brother. I'm already done with a few pages, so it would be interesting to see how worse my version will turn out to be in comparison with the sheikh's.

Is there a way to contact the sheikh or his students?

You translated struggle/striving as strife (the middle of the path...). Strife refers to disagreement.

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You translated struggle/striving as strife (the middle of the path...). Strife refers to disagreement.

Thank you for noting that. I've changed it to that just before posting the text here. I think I've had it as 'striving', but putting a gerund next to a noun like that didn't seem right.

I've changed it now to the literal translation, action ('amal in Arabic), which reflects the 'ilm/'amal (knowledge/action) duality better.

Repentence (at-tawba): Return from all vile acts to good acts, or return from a low attribute to the confirmation of every Prophetic attribute, or return from witnessing the Creation to the immersion in witnessing the Creator.

Its conditions are regret, quitting and dropping insistence. As for giving those one wronged their rights back, it's an independent obligation without which repentance is valid. Repentance from one sin is also valid even while insisting on a sin from an other nature. Repentance of the common is from sins, while that of the elite is from flaws, and repentance of the elite’s elite is from everything which hinders one's secret from witnessing the presence of the knower of all secrets. All of these stations lack repentance, for repentance itself lacks another repentance when it’s sincere, and fear lacks it after security reigns, and hope after despair, and patience after anxiety, and abandonment of the current life [zuhd] after thoughts of excessive desire, and scrupulousness [wara’] after taking advantage of permissions and thoughts of greed, and trust in God [tawakkul] with thoughts of calculation and choice and with interest in means of subsistence, and acceptance of the will of God [rida] and surrender to it [tasleem] with aversion and objection when destiny unfolds, and observance [murqaba] with external misbehavior and internal malicious thoughts, and self-examination [muhasaba] with wasting time in what does not get one closer to the Truth, and love by the heart’s leaning toward others than the Beloved, and witnessing [mushahada] by the secret’s turning away from the witnessed or its occupation with sensual matters instead of the advancement through the ascension paths of secrets, and it is for this reason that he, peace and blessings be upon him, used to ask for forgiveness from God seventy or one hundred times in each setting.

As-Salamu 'alaykum,

Thank you for posting these very helpful translations. You might note that a translation of this text is appearing through Fons Vitae:

https://www.fonsvitae.com/OnlineStor...of-Sufism.aspx

I think it is sometimes helpful to have multiple translations, so I applaud your efforts, but thought you might be interested to know of the existence of another translation...or perhaps you are one of the authors?

Wa Salam

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[ Al-Junaid has said: "The sufi is like the earth, everything that is bad is thrown on it, yet nothing comes out of it except for that which is good". He has also said: "The sufi is like the ground, both the righteous and the wicked step on it, and like the sky casting his shade on everything, and like the rain spraying everything.
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Assalaamu 'alaykum warahmatullaah
jazaakallaahu khayran for this effort, may Allah subhaanahu wata'ala accept it, make it beneficial for us all and and make it a means of attaining his pleasure....may I post the above quote on the blog?