This page is not a commentary but a record. While reading the Futuhat we collected the hardest places that did not fit our reason, those that did not make it into the pages on the forms, in the eight densest sections. Each line carries Dost's sentence (or a short summary of it) and the form label we gave that sentence. We have not read any of them side by side with physics, and we say nothing about any of them.
The meaning of the labels is on the introduction page. The section number c12k147 = volume 12, section 147; if you click the number you go to the page of that section.
c12k147 — Point and Circumference: The Circle Diagram Dost Drew Himself
- Of the three letters in the verse "Be", two are visible and one is hidden; al-Dahr (Time) brings out the precedence, delay and order in speech; Dost relays the Prophet's words, "Do not curse Time, for Time is Allah." (p. 332-334) (form: Time, Relation)
«Even if these causes are above you in terms of the rank that appears, the aim is you, the existent; those causes exist because of you and so that you may appear.» (c12k147, p. 286-287)
Form: Cause, Time.
«al-Haqq conceals Himself in the form of the perfect human, that is, in the thingness of his fixity (ayn-ı sabite).» (c12k147)
Form: Both-and, Inside-outside, Viewpoint.
«The perfect human has gathered all of this in himself by his very essence. This quality is not found in anyone else. Before al-Haqq he is a like, an opposite and a contrary.» (c12k147, p. 296-297)
Form: Both-and, Relation.
«He is the perfect human and the deputy of al-Haqq. al-Haqq is his tongue and his powers.» (c12k147, p. 298)
Form: Indistinguishability, Inside-outside.
«The world too is the barzakh between light and darkness. By its essence it can no more be described by darkness than by light.» (c12k147)
Form: Both-and, Bewilderment.
«The point is al-Haqq; the void outside the circumference is non-existence, or darkness. Between the point and the void outside the circumference lies the possible... We mentioned the point because the point is the origin of the circumference of the circle. Just as the circle appears through the point, the possible appears through al-Haqq.» (c12k147, p. 313-314)
Form: Relation, Wholeness.
«The point from which the line goes out toward the circumference is the beginning of the line. So it is the first and the last... The lines that go out, and the possibles, begin from Allah and return to Him. 'All things return to Him.'» (c12k147, p. 314)
Form: Both-and, Time.
«For the whole of the world other than you consists of horizons, and they are your circumference.» (c12k147, p. 311)
Form: Inside-outside, Relation.
«Existence is one-many... Just as we too exist by dependence (tâbi). Had it not been for al-Haqq, we would not be.» (c12k147, p. 312-313)
Form: Both-and, Wholeness, Relation.
- Animals, plants and inanimate things are in truth speaking beings (they perceive and speak); the people of unveiling and faith witness this. What shows life is called living; what keeps its life hidden is called plant or inert. (p. 264-266) (form: Viewpoint, Both-and)
- The possibles are heard and seen by a hearing and seeing of fixity (subûtî) that has no outer existence; when al-Haqq's command "Be" is made audible to them, they rush to the command. (p. 265) (form: Both-and, Time)
c16k222 — The Seal of the Saints and the Ranks of the Divine Names — Closing of Volume XVI
«Thus the divine names rest on, and are tied to, the divine names again; and the names are the named itself. So the matter and the command are from Allah to Allah.» (c16k222, p. 305)
Form: Both-and, Wholeness, Indistinguishability.
«For just as every form has a spirit, the spirit of hearing is the understanding concerning what is heard.» (c16k222, p. 306)
Form: Indistinguishability, Inside-outside.
«There are not three persons without Him being the fourth» (c16k222)
Form: Indistinguishability, Relation.
«Decree is to give a ruling about a thing according to the state it is in.» (c16k222)
Form: Cause, Knowledge, Relation.
«So in existence there is only justice (inclination), for existence appeared through inclination, and inclination means justice.» (c16k222, p. 318)
Form: Cause, Relation.
«The reason Allah's kindness stays hidden from perceptions is its intense manifestation.» (c16k222, p. 323)
Form: Both-and, Bewilderment, Wholeness.
«Allah does not return to non-existence what He has once brought into being; rather He is continually the one who brings into being.» (c16k222, p. 330)
Form: Non-repetition, Continuity.
«In truth Allah has given thanks to Himself, for the one who bestows the favor is He, and there is no one but Him who accepts or receives the favor. The giver is He, and the receiver is He!» (c16k222, p. 337)
Form: Indistinguishability, Wholeness.
«Everything other than Allah is His Throne.» (c16k222, p. 339)
Form: Both-and, Inside-outside.
«The one who holds this rank is called Abd al-Kabir, and greatness is the servant himself. For greatness (kibriya) is the cloak of al-Haqq, and His cloak is none other than you.» (c16k222, p. 345)
Form: Indistinguishability, Knowledge, Both-and.
«two gazes do not come together in one place. Had they come together, the whole world would have burned.» (c16k222, p. 349)
Form: Viewpoint, Indistinguishability, Containment.
«This rank is the rank between knowledge and ignorance.» (c16k222, p. 359)
Form: Both-and, Inside-outside, Wholeness.
c17k224 — The Thirty-Fourth Sifr: Truths and Secrets from Various Stations
- From chapter 102: Knowledge changes as what is known changes, and what is known is transformed only through knowledge. (p. 279) (form: Knowledge, Relation)
- From chapter 113: The affirmation of oneness by the one who affirms oneness is association. Whoever says 'I have unified' has, without doubt, spoiled absolute unity, that is, ahadiyya. (p. 288) (form: Both-and, Reason)
- From chapter 148: The strongest truth that has appeared in the world is the created one's passing judgment upon al-Haqq. (p. 317) (form: Relation, Cause)
- From chapter 158: Whoever abandons another has, without doubt, seen it as 'other'; yet what is called other has no real existence. (p. 325) (form: Indistinguishability, Viewpoint)
- From chapter 174: How the word "Be" adds the non-existent (the madûm) to the existent! (p. 336) (form: Cause, Bewilderment)
- From chapter 181: The journey of the one whom Allah has chosen takes place from Allah to Allah and in Allah. (p. 341) (form: Inside-outside, Wholeness)
- From chapter 184: The known is the essence while what is known are the attributes. Whoever knows himself knows his Lord. (p. 342) (form: Knowledge, Viewpoint)
- From chapter 185: Had there been no claim of love, obligation would not have come about. (p. 343); You can draw near to Me only with something that is not Mine. (p. 343) (form: Both-and, Relation)
- From chapter 201: Weariness arises from not knowing how to create anew. (p. 354); one of the verses: Who knows Him: the one who accepts that the world is created at every moment (p. 354) (form: Non-repetition, Continuity)
- From chapter 211: Just as you must know whom you are looking at, you must also learn who is looking. (p. 360); For this reason the only proof of Allah is Allah (p. 360) (form: Viewpoint, Knowledge, Indistinguishability)
- From chapter 229: The believer's heart holds the Widest within itself. (p. 368) (form: Containment)
- From chapter 237 (exile): It is told that Layla asked Qays, "Who are you?", and Qays answered, "Layla" (p. 374). (form: Indistinguishability)
c9k124 — 'Searching Is Left to You': The Longest Section of Volume IX and Its Silent Closing
- It is discussed that time and space have no outer existence and are of an imagined (mevhum) nature; the difference in motion and rest between the sphere and the element. (form: Time, Reason)
- Chapter 255: Mahk means your becoming annihilated (fani) in Him, while mahku'l-mahk means your being fixed (sabit) in Him (p. 400); mahk is to appear with Him in becoming by way of caliphate and deputyship; the caliphate is tied to learning the meanings of the letters at the beginning of the surahs (Alif, Lam, Mim) (p. 401-402). At any one time only one person (the Ghawth, the Qutb) remains alone with al-Haqq (p. 402). (form: Both-and, Indistinguishability, Bewilderment)
- Chapters 260–261: nearness (qurb) is the state of the two ends of a circle cut by a line, or of being closer (p. 411); But in truth there is no possibility of distance from Allah. Distance is a relative state (p. 415); Nearness is gathering, and distance is dispersal and separation; there is nothing in the world farther from Allah (p. 418). (form: Both-and, Viewpoint)
- Chapter 264: All thoughts are divine addresses, not self-disclosures. For this reason Allah has constructed them as forms that come about in the Amā — which is the breath of the All-Merciful (p. 430). (form: Reason, Cause)
- Chapter 199: The saying of Sahl b. Abdullah, "Lordship has a secret which, if it appeared, would make lordship void," is explained (p. 195); the secret is at three ranks: the secret of knowledge, the secret of state, the secret of reality (p. 193). (form: Knowledge, Bewilderment)
- Chapter 202: the etiquette of reality is to see al-Haqq in things as the very self of things — not as them (p. 201). (form: Both-and, Indistinguishability, Viewpoint)
- Chapter 206: In the year 593, in Fez, at the afternoon prayer, he saw the light behind him more clearly than the light in front of him and could no longer tell the directions apart: Rather I was as if a sphere (p. 213-214). The lights are counted as front, right, left, back, above and below according to their sources. (form: Containment, Bewilderment, Inside-outside)
- Chapter 207: So the cause ('illa) is to take a reason to exist, while Allah is the reason itself (p. 223); Any reason that does not turn you back to Allah, warn you about Him or awaken a consciousness of Him is not a cause ('illa) (p. 224). (form: Cause, Reason)
- Chapter 209: we said that witnessing (muşâhede) is the seeing of the witness. That witness is what is in the heart from al-Haqq (p. 237); Bilqis's throne, "as if it is it," and the Companions' saying of Gabriel in the form of Dihya, "it is Dihya," are compared. The chapter ends with You can never see al-Haqq and creation together (p. 238). (form: Viewpoint, Both-and, Inside-outside)
- Chapter 213: accept multiplicity in respect of fixity, but negate it in respect of existence! Affirm unity in existence, but exclude it from fixity! (p. 256). (form: Both-and, Inside-outside)
- Chapter 214: For us freedom is the removal of the servant's attribute by the attribute of al-Haqq (p. 257); In truth one cannot say 'free' of al-Haqq, but one can say 'not a slave' (p. 258); In truth freedom does not have an existence (p. 259). (form: Both-and, Cause)
- Chapter 218: the contraction (qabz) in the divine rank is tied to the hadith, My believing servant's heart contained Me, and to al-Haqq's self-disclosure in the forms of belief (p. 278). (form: Containment, Both-and)
c13k151 — The Matter Is a Cycle: Closing of Volume XIII
«You must know that the wisdom in all things and in all events belongs not to the beings themselves but to the ranks.» (c13k151)
Form: Relation, Cause.
«It is not possible for the lower to rise to the upper» (c13k151)
Form: Both-and, Containment.
«The example whose shape we have drawn is the Amā. It is the encompassing circle... The points in the circle are the example of the beings of the spirits of the Muhaymin. The big point among the points is the intellect... The circle in the middle of the big circle is the substance of the prime matter (heyûlâ). The quadrangle within it is the Throne. The circle inside the quadrangle... is the Footstool. The circle in its middle is the sphere of the Atlas, the eight circles are the paradises. The circle below the eight is the sphere of the Mukewkeb... Below its base is hell.» (c13k151, p. 322-323)
Form: Containment, Wholeness.
«The Amā is the origin of things and of all forms, and it is the first unique one to appear from that origin. In other words, it is not a tree with a root but a plant without a root.» (c13k151, p. 322)
Form: Cause, Non-repetition, Bewilderment.
«Allah is, for the heart of the believing and knowing person, like the human heart. So Allah is 'the heart of the heart.'... He is the inward and the unseen of al-Haqq; He Himself has become manifest, and in Him and through Him the world has become manifest.» (c13k151, p. 331)
Form: Inside-outside, Wholeness.
«The Word was a single mercy at the Throne» (c13k151)
Form: Non-repetition, Wholeness.
«One more thing has been created, of which it can be said that it is both existent and non-existent: imagination» (c13k151)
Form: Both-and, Containment.
«If we look at the world we look at Him, if we hear we hear Him, if we see we see Him, if we reason we reason from Him.» (c13k151)
Form: Both-and, Indistinguishability, Knowledge.
«al-Haqq looks at Himself in His servant's heart and sees that He is the point of the circle. At the same time, He also looks at Himself while He is established on the Throne. In this case the perfect human sees that he is the circumference of the circle... While the line that goes out from the point ends at the circumference, the line that goes out from the circumference, when it moves from within, reaches the point... Everything goes out from Him and reaches Him, begins from Him and returns to Him. His encompassing and circumference are His names, while His point is His essence.» (c13k151, p. 390-391)
Form: Relation, Wholeness, Both-and.
«Not every eye looks at Him; the pupil looks at Him. Had it not been for the pupil, the human eye would not have been able to see. So when a human looks with the pupil (insanü'l-ayn), al-Haqq has become manifest through al-Haqq.» (c13k151, p. 391)
Form: Viewpoint, Inside-outside.
«Allah the Exalted brought us out of the darkness of non-existence into the light of existence... Then we were carried from light into the darkness of bewilderment.» (c13k151, p. 299)
Form: Both-and, Indistinguishability, Time.
«The Quran comes anew and descends to everyone who recites it.» (c13k151)
Form: Non-repetition, Time.
c11k135 — The Presence of Imagination: Where the Unseen and the Witnessed Meet
«Allah created the spirits in three ranks, and these ranks have no fourth. The first group is the spirits whose only work is to exalt the rank of al-Haqq. They have no face turned toward the world or toward themselves» (c11k135, p. 43)
Form: Bewilderment, Inside-outside.
«Allah created the rank of imagination wider than the world of witnessing, and brought about there a power called 'imagination'» (c11k135, p. 43)
Form: Containment, Both-and.
«That is the highest barzakh. In other words, it is the barzakh of barzakhs. One side of that barzakh looks to existence and one side to non-existence» (c11k135)
Form: Both-and, Inside-outside.
«From the side where the possible looks at pure non-existence, it has no existence. For this reason it is told 'Be.' 'Be' is a particle of existence. Had the possible existed, it would not have been told 'Be' and then not come to be» (c11k135, p. 64)
Form: Both-and, Cause, Time.
«These possible beings... in relation to the fixed entities (a'yan-ı sabite) that the barzakh contains, stand in the position of a shadow for bodies. Indeed they are true shadows and are things that al-Haqq describes as prostrating. Yet their existences prostrate» (c11k135)
Form: Time, Both-and.
«You, however, are found between these two shadows as an existent with measure. So you came to exist from a rank that has no measure, and from you a shadow that has no measure has come forth» (c11k135)
Form: Containment, Relation.
«Allah knows the possible from Himself, and the possible gains its attribute from its creator» (c11k135)
Form: Time, Knowledge, Relation.
«The world of the unseen — the presence — cannot contain the witnessed, because in it there is no void. The presence of the witnessed does not contain the world of the unseen either» (c11k135, p. 53)
Form: Containment, Both-and.
«When you eat alchemy, you have eaten it, yet you do not feel full... The station we speak of, however, is not like that (...) In that station, if you hold gold or a garment or anything, it stays with you in the state it is in and does not change» (c11k135, p. 56)
Form: Both-and, Continuity.
«Young man! Had you known who you are, you would have known who He is. For Allah is known only by 'the one who knows himself'... al-Haqq knew you from Himself and taught you that you can know Him only from Himself» (c11k135, p. 59)
Form: Inside-outside, Knowledge, Indistinguishability.
- Does the turning of the possibles from state to state depend on will: No, because will has no choosing and no free choice... It belongs to volition (meşiyet). If He wills it is, if He does not will it is not. Since knowledge belongs to the essence, the scent of necessity comes about together with knowledge, while free choice appears together with volition... it is knowledge that gives the ruling (p. 67-68). (form: Cause, Both-and)
- In the index it is asked whether on the Day of Resurrection each letter of the basmala will come as a form like al-Baqara and Al Imran, and whether these forms will exist by their numbers or by the one who pronounces them (p. 48-49). (form: Bewilderment, Reason)
c11k136 — The Circular Straightness of al-Haqq's Path
«the descent of anything, which is 'descent' for those in the world, can be 'ascent' in relation to al-Haqq» (c11k136, p. 83)
Form: Viewpoint, Relation.
«The rank of the pens is below the rank of the Supreme Pen and of the Preserved Tablet, because what the pen writes does not change» (c11k136)
Form: Both-and, Non-repetition, Time.
«A person hesitates over doing or not doing something: this hesitation lasts, and finally one of the things he hesitated over comes about. Thus that thing comes to exist and one of those matters happens, and the hesitation is lifted. What happened is what became fixed on the tablet among the things hesitated over» (c11k136, p. 101)
Form: Both-and, Cause, Time.
«Had it not been for that divine reality, two things in the world would not differ from each other, nor would any person fall into bewilderment and hesitation about a matter; all things would come about with certainty» (c11k136, p. 102)
Form: Cause, Relation.
«The straightness of al-Haqq's path, however, is circular. For the Sufis have not been able to know what straightness means in things. Circular straightness means being a perfect circle. So that every line that goes out from the point is equidistant from all the lines around it» (c11k136, p. 108-109)
Form: Wholeness, Relation, Both-and.
«Therefore, had Allah been hidden from the world, the world would have perished» (c11k136)
Form: Both-and, Knowledge.
«Water is the origin of life, and everything is alive. Relations depend on it.» (c11k136)
Form: Relation, Non-repetition.
«Its shape is like a horn: its upper part is wide, its lower part narrow like the shape of the world» (c11k136, p. 113)
Form: Containment, Inside-outside.
«By the essential life with which Allah veils the eyes of some creatures from Himself, on the Day of Resurrection the skins, tongues, hands and feet will bear witness against people.» (c11k136)
Form: Viewpoint, Both-and, Wholeness.
«Therefore Allah is the spirit of the world, its hearing, its sight and its tongue. Through Him the world hears, with Him it sees, with Him it speaks, with Him it walks.» (c11k136)
Form: Indistinguishability, Inside-outside, Wholeness.
«O Muhammad! Stop, your Lord is praying.» (c11k136)
Form: Both-and, Inside-outside, Bewilderment.
«Not everyone knows how to ask a question. There is something inside the one who asks, but it is not fitting for him to ask it. When he asks, his question spoils that thing, and he is answered in a state other than the one that was within him» (c11k136, p. 88-89)
Form: Viewpoint, Relation.
c18k225 — Sifr 35 — From Open Association to the Great Sickness
«The closing of the door on the matter of acquisition (iktisâb)» (c18k225)
Form: Time, Non-repetition.
- There is no goal in the goal: the goal of the world is to seek al-Haqq, while the goal of al-Haqq is the created (p. 132) (form: Relation, Both-and)
- In the discussion "Existence is in prostration," the Prophet's saying: If you were to let down a rope, it would fall upon Allah (p. 144) (form: Containment, Inside-outside)
«Open association (shirk) is the association brought about by one's act through an instrument, while hidden association is relying on the instrument and the means in a matter that can be done with an instrument. In this respect everyone is an associator. For everyone has knowledge, and only knowledge brings about association, and knowledge is sought by al-Haqq.» (c18k225)
Form: Knowledge, Both-and.
«The one who dies before dying rises» (c18k225)
Form: Containment, Wholeness.
«The difference between messiah and messiah» (c18k225)
Form: Indistinguishability, Both-and, Viewpoint.
- The eye of the heart in the heart: Allah created the human constitution inverted: his afterlife is within him while his world is outside and on his exterior (p. 115) (form: Inside-outside, Both-and)
- Seeing is a veil; the only door of gnosis is seeing. Nothing is clearer than it (p. 117) (form: Both-and, Viewpoint)
«The one who sees al-Haqq has seen himself» (c18k225)
Form: Indistinguishability, Inside-outside, Viewpoint.
- Entry of chapter 265: Allah speaks, they speak; Allah listens, they listen too; Allah answers, they answer too. Until the time of dawn the matter goes on like this (p. 18) (form: Indistinguishability, Both-and)
- Chapter 294 (when al-Haqq/the reality (ayn) appears, the cosmos (kevn) vanishes): The letter Kaf split the sun of the sky in two. This happened after the night prayer, and at that moment I was in a state of annihilation (fena) (p. 32) (form: Bewilderment, Reason)
- Title of chapter 405: Time cannot limit the one whom space cannot contain. (form: Containment, Time)