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2.2 - The Text of al-Qunawi's Auditions

The following is the full text of these auditions and certificates from Sheikh Muhyiddin Ibn al-Arabi to Sheikh Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi, according to the collection of Yusuf Agha No. 7838, written in the hand of Sheikh Sadr al-Din, and authenticated by his Sheikh. Within this collection, the manuscript is from page 346a to 349a, and we will mention them below in order of their occurrence on these successive pages, although they are written on different dates without succession. As we did in the first chapter, we will put a serial number in brackets, but if the title was already mentioned in the Index we will give it the same number given in chapter I, which included 255 titles, and if it has not been mentioned before we will give it a new number starting with (256), that is, from where we finished numbering the books of the Index. Again, there will be some additional statements in bracketed for more clarification.

Our Master Sheikh Muhyiddin Ibn al-Arabi says at the top of page 346a (See the attached image in Figure[ref:ijazaqunawi1):

"I say, and I am Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Muhammad Ibn of al-Arabi al-Taie, and this is my hand-writing: the blessed pure son Sadr al-Din Muhammad, son of my late sincere companion Majduddin Ishaq ibn Muhammad al-Qunawi, heard from me of my books, by him reading on us:

(52). - The Meccan Revelations, in twenty volumes,

(48). – The Positions of the Stars,

(35). – The Divine Measures,

(55). – The Mosulean Descends,

(189). – The Book of Knowledge,

(72). – The Diwan (the Grand Diwan, or the Divan of Divine Knowledge),

(191). - The Precious Repository in Expounding the Discloser of Desires."

(This is a total of seven books, and in the side note below that from the same page, Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi adds:)

"The date (of the above reading) was mentioned elsewhere in the hand of the Sheikh may Allah bless him and forgive him, that's Jumada the First 629 AH. The dates are detailed at the beginning of each volume of them (i.e. from the Meccan Revelations) and in each situation."

(Page 346b is empty, then at the top of page 347b we find the following note in which Sadruddin mentions the birthrate of Sheikh Muhyiddin, saying:)

"My Master, the knowing and well-established Imam, who is honored with the help of Allah, and encompassed by His benevolence, Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Ali bin Muhammad bin al-Arabi al-Ta'i al-Hatimi, then al-Andalusi, was born in the Month of Ramadan on the twenty-seventh or twenty-ninth [then the "twenty-ninth" was crossed, and he wrote the word "correct" over "twenty-seventh"] in the year 560 in the city of Murcia of Andalusia, may Allah keep him and benefit us and the creation with the length of his life.

(Then on page 347b, see the attached image in figure[ref:ijazaqunawi2, Sheikh Sadruddin says:)

[Some hearings of Sheikh Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi of some books on his Sheikh, from the manuscript of Yusuf Agha 7838.] Part of page 347b of the manuscript of Yusuf Agha 7838 showing some hearings of Sheikh Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi of some books on the Greatest Sheikh.

"In the name of Allah the All-Merciful and Most-Merciful, and on Him I depend, praise is to Allah, the full praise, and the prayers on Muhammad, His messenger and His servant.

The servant Muhammad ibn Ishaq says: What I have heard on my sheikh and master and lord, the knowing and well-established Imam, the realizing, who is honored with the help of Allah and His benevolence, Muhyiddin Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Ali bin Muhammad bin al-Arabi al-Ta'i al-Hatimi al-Andalusi, may Allah be pleased with him, what we shall detail, including his works:

(62). - The book of the treatise of the Lights,

(256). – The Book of the Image of the Real

nuskhat al-ḥaqq - (نسخة الحق)

(this title is also mentioned in the Supplement of the Leave for the Triumphant King),

(22). - The book called "The Exposition of the Gestures of the People of Inspiration",

(257). – The Book of the Ranks of the Gifted Knowledge

(this book is also mentioned in the Leave),

(258). – The Book of Captains

al-nuqabāʾ - (النقياء)

(this book is also mentioned in the Leave),

(259). – Explaining the Words Used by the People of the Way of Allah Between Themselves

sharḥ al-alfāẓ al-latī yastʿamiluha ahl ṭarīq Allāh fī mā baynahum - (شرح الألفاظ التي يستعملها أهل طريق الله فيما بينهم)

(This book is not mentioned in other sources),

(189). - The Book of Knowledge, (i.e. reading it again, so we will not count it because it is repeated)

(185). – The Book of Abadila (plural of Abdullah: the Servant of Allah),

(63). - The Book of the Fabulous Phoenix,

(260). – The Book of Manifestations

al-tajalliyāt - (التجليات)

(This book is also mentioned in the Leave)."

(These are 10 books, which brings the total 16, where the book of "Knowledge" is mentioned twice.)

(Then followed on the same page, Sheikh Muhyiddin Ibn al-Arabi says:)

"The pious son, the righteous, the virtuous, the wise, the intellectual Sadr al-Din Muhammad, the son of my late companion Majduddin Ishaq ibn Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Yusuf al-Qunawi, may Allah bless him, and he is the writer of these lines above this, he read on me all what he mentioned of the books attributed to us, and I authorize him to narrate them all, and kinds of my works and narrations, according to the well-grounded condition. Myself, the man-in-need-of-Allah, Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Muhammad, Ibn al-Arab al-Ta'i al-Hatemi, wrote this in his handwriting, on Muharram in the year 627. And thanks to Allah, and peace be upon his servants who were chosen."

(Then on page 348a:)

"After that, I also heard then on my master and sheikh, the Imam, the well-established knower, who is honored with the help of Allah and His benevolence, to whom belongs the divine realities and the lordly knowledge, Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Ali bin Muhammad bin al-Arabi al-Ta'i al-Hatimi, then al-Andalusi, may Allah be pleased with him, in the month of Muharram in the year of twenty-seven and six hundred:

(64). - What is Known of the Doctrines of the Scientists of Formalities

This is from his works, may Allah bless him, and keep his shadow perpetuated (on us) and keep him amen (Sheikh Sadr al-Din confirms here that these books belong to the Greatest Sheikh because he mentions in the same collection that he heard other works that are not written by Sheikh Muhyiddin, thus we did not mention them here). Also among his works are:

(261). – The Station of Proximity

maqām al-qurba - (مقام القربة)

(This book is also mentioned in the Meccan Revelations: III.10), in the mentioned month, as well as:

(118). – The Keys to the Unseen,

(262). – The Book of Annihilation in Witnessing

al-fanāʾ fī al-mushāhada - (الفناء في المشاهدة)

(This book is also mentioned in the Meccan Revelations: II.632, and it may be the same book of (217) Annihilation and Endurance mentioned in the Index under number 213 above.)

And the Book of :

(50). - The Ornament of Substitutes,

also in the month in question,

Muhammad ibn Ishaq wrote in his hand."

(These are five additional books, so the total becomes 21, and then in the hand of Sheikh Muhyiddin:)

"It is true what he mentioned above of books he heard on me, and Ibn al-Arabi wrote in his hand in this date."

(Then in the hand of Sheikh Sadr al-Din again:)

"I also heard on out master and sheikh, the Imam, the well-established knower, who is honored with the help of Allah and His benevolence, to whom belongs the divine realities and the lordly knowledge, Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Ali bin Muhammad bin al-Arabi al-Ta'i al-Hatimi, then al-Andalusi, may Allah be pleased with him, and benefit us and the Muslims by his long endurance, amen:

(80). – The Book of Greatness,

(89). – The Book of Eternity, also called Thirty-Eight,

(67). – The Book of the Veils,

(125). – The Book of the Real,

(263). – The Book of Solitude

al-khalwa - (الخلوة)

(This book is also mentioned in the Leave),

(72). - And the Zeinabiyyat Part of the Diwan (thus we will not count it because the Diwan is mentioned above), in his words, may Allah bless him.

(60). – The Treatise of the Persuasive (Argument) in Explaining the Refraining Plain,

(65). – The Treatise of the Cosmic Union,

(14). – And a Book of the Essence of What the Seeker Needs,

(56). – The Book of the Gestures of Qur'an in the Human Realm,

(259). – And the Explaining the Words Used by the People of the Way of Allah, from another version in another script (thus we did not count it as a new book),

Wrote the most vulnerable servant of Allah, the disciple of the Sheikh, and the stepson of his sight, Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Muhammad, may Allah forgive him, his parents and all Muslims."

(These are eleven books, but one is repeated from another copy, and the Zeinabiyyat is part of the Diwan, so the total becomes 30 books. After that we find in the handwriting of Sheikh Muhyiddin:)

"I confirm that he heard the books mentioned above, and Ibn al-Arabi wrote in this date."

(On page 348b, Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi says, a month later:)

I also heard from may Master, the Imam, the well-established knower, who is honored with the help of Allah and His benevolence, the Reviver of Religion and Nation, Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Ali bin Muhammad bin al-Arabi al-Ta'i al-Hatimi, then al-Andalusi, may Allah be pleased with him:

(264). – All of the Index

al-fihrast - (الفهرست)

(That was) by my reading in the month of Safar.

(265). – The Straight Answer on the Answers to the Issues of the Questions Asked by the Wise Tirmidhi

al-jawāb al-mustaqīm fī ajwibati al-masaʾi al-latī saʾala ʿanhu al-Tirmidhī al-ḥakīm - (الجواب المستقيم في أجوبة المسائل التي سألها الترمذي الحكيم)

(This book is mentioned in the Supplement of the Leave, under the name: The Meccan Answers in the Mystery of the Questions of the Tirmidhi, and it is included in chapter 73 of the Meccan Revelations)

(266). – Explaining the Beautiful Names of Allah

sharḥ al-asmāʾ Allāh al-ḥusna - (شرح أسماء الله الحسنى)

(This book belongs) To him, may Allah be pleased with him. He also heard it from me, reading and hearing (and maybe this is the same book (190) Explaining the Names, and see also a book: (17) Exposing the Meaning of the Mystery of Allah’s Beautiful Names).

And he heard from the original six volumes of the Meccan Revelations, the eighth, the seventh till the end. I also heard twelfth, the thirteenths, and I also heard the Revelations, eighteen volumes, from the beginning of the book to the end of the chapter of the names (i.e. chapter 558)." (Thus we didn't list all these readings because they're not any new book, since his reading of the Meccan Revelations is already mentioned at the beginning.)

(These include three new books, for the total to become 33, and then Sheikh Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi says, a year later:)

And I also heard:

(184). - The Discloser of Desires, with the reading of the Sheikh.

I also heard, by my reading:

(55). - The Mosulean Descends,

(for the second time, so we will not count it),

(48). - The Positions (of the Stars),

(also mentioned before, so we will not count it).

These hearings were completed on the fourth of Rabii the Last 628.

(76). – And the Book of Unicity,

(78). – and the Book of Majesty (which is itself the Book of the Collective Name),

(191). - And the Book of the Precious Repository in Expounding the Discloser of Desires (again, so we will not count it),

(54). – The Book of the Treatise of the Holy Spirit in Self-Counseling,

And this hearing, I mean that of the Precious (Repository) and the Self-Counseling, was completed in Jumada the Last in 628 in the city od Damascus, at the house of our master who was the reader.

(Then he added without mentioning the date:)

And I heard: (267). – The Book of (the letter) Baa

al-bāʾ - (الباء)

(This book is not mentioned in other sources, although its name is wrongly mentioned in the edition of Awwad, as stated in chapter I above, in book No. 77, the Book of the He.)

(78). - And the Book of Majesty (and we will not count it because it is repeated),

(35). - The Book of Divine Measures (we will not count it because it is repeated, i.e. read again)".

(These are five new books, so the total becomes 38 titles, and then the Greatest Sheikh says in his handwriting:)

"He also read on me the Meccan Revelations from the beginning to the end, from the copy in my handwriting, which is twenty volumes, so let him narrate all this after me, the mentioned Sadruddin Muhammad ibn Ishaq al-Qunawi. Ibn al-Arabi wrote in his hand in Jumada the First 629.".

Then Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi says at the end of the page:

"I also heard from him::

(38). – The Book of the Ascension to the Highest Station, that belongs to him, as well as:

(39). – The Sacred Scenes,

as well as:

(198). – The Book of Arabic Gestures in the Commentary of Yusufiyya Advice,

(194). – And the Bezels of Wisdom,

(196). – And the Results of Commemorations,

All this in my reading."

(These are five new books, so the total becomes 43 different titles, and then on page 349a there are other hearings for books in Hadith that do not belong to Sheikh Muhyiddin, thus we will not mention them.)

(In conclusion, the total number of books that Sheikh Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi heard on his sheikh, during the period in question, is 43, after omitting any repetition, and most of them are mentioned in other sources, except for a few titles that are unique to these lists and not found elsewhere. These hearings do not add many new titles, but they confirm the well-known books, especially the book of the Bezels of Wisdom.

In summary, there are twelve new titles that these hearings add to the Index that is the first source edited in chapter I:

(256). – The Book of the Image of the Real

(257). – The Book of the Ranks of the Gifted Knowledge

(258). – The Book of Captains

(259). – Explaining the Words Used by the People of the Way of Allah Between Themselves

(260). – The Book of Manifestations

(261). – The Station of Proximity

(262). – The Book of Annihilation in Witnessing

(263). – The Book of Solitude

(264). – The Index

(265). – The Straight Answer on the Answers to the Issues of the Questions Asked by the Wise Tirmidhi

(266). – Explaining the Beautiful Names of Allah

(267). – The Book of (the letter) Baa