The Meccan Revelations

«The essence of what is included in this work comes from what God inspired in me while I was fulfilling my circumambulations of His Temple [the Ka‘ba, bayt Allah], or while I was contemplating it while seated in its holy precincts.» — Ibn al-Arabi declara el origen del libro en el pasaje inicial de las Futuhat (I 10) que Morris traduce dentro de su introducción: lo inspirado por Dios durante las circunvalaciones del Templo o contemplándolo sentado en el recinto sagrado; el volumen II vierte el mismo pasaje con otras palabras

«We said: From time to time it occurred to me that I should place at the very beginning of this book a chapter concerning (theological) creeds, supported by definitive arguments and salient proofs. But then I realized that that would distract the person who is properly prepared and seeking an increase (in spiritual knowledge), who is receptive to the fragrant breadis of (divine) Bounty through the secrets of being.» — Ibn al-Arabi explica, en el pasaje de su Introducción a las Futuhat que Morris traduce, por qué desechó abrir el libro con un capítulo de credos probados: distraería a quien viene preparado y receptivo; la capa de texto imprime *breadis* por *breaths*

«For if the properly prepared person persists in dbikr (‘remembering’ God) and spiritual retreat, emptying the place (of the heart) from thinking, and sitting like a poor beggar who has notliing at the doorstep of their Lord—then God will bestow upon them and give them some of that knowing of Him, of those divine secrets and supernal understandings, which Fie granted to His servant al-Khadir.» — Ibn al-Arabi condiciona el don del conocimiento divino a una práctica: persistir en el dhikr y el retiro, vaciar el corazón del pensamiento y sentarse como un mendigo a la puerta del Señor; la capa de texto imprime *dbikr* y *notliing*

«For He said (of al-Khadir): a servant among Our servants to whom We have brought Mercy from Us and to whom We have given Knowledge from what is with Us» — Ibn al-Arabi apoya esa promesa en el versículo sobre al-Khadir, sura 18, aya 65, que cita dentro de su Introducción

«And He said: So be mindful of God, and God will teach you [2:282]; and Ifyou are aware of God, He will give you a Criterion (of spiritual discernment); and He zvill give you a light by which you will walk» — Ibn al-Arabi encadena dos citas coránicas —sura 2, aya 282, y sura 57, aya 28— para cerrar el argumento: de la conciencia de Dios vienen la enseñanza, el criterio de discernimiento y la luz

«AbuYazid (al-Bastami) said:‘You all took your knowledge like a dead person (receiving it) from another dead person. But we took our knowing from the Living One who never dies» — Ibn al-Arabi cita el dicho de Abu Yazid al-Bastami que opone el saber recibido de muerto a muerto al saber tomado del Viviente que nunca muere, y le adosa la referencia coránica 25:58

«So the person with concentrated spiritual intention (himma) during their retreat with God may realize through Him—how exalted are His gifts and how prodigious His grace!— (forms of spiritual) knowing that are concealed from ever)7 theologian on the face of the earth» — Ibn al-Arabi declara que quien está en retiro con intención concentrada —*himma*— puede realizar formas de conocimiento ocultas a todo teólogo de la tierra

«Next I shall follow it, God willing, with the creed...in which I’ve alluded to the sources of the (theological) proofs for this religious community I’ve named it ‘The Treatise Concerning What is Well-Known Among the Beliefs of the People of External Forms (ahi al-rusum)/ Then I shall follow that with the creed of the elite among the people of God, the ‘verifiers’ (muhaqqiqun) among the people of the path of God, the people of (spiritual) unveiling and finding. ... And that completes the Introduction to this book.» — Ibn al-Arabi enumera los credos de su Introducción y nombra al último destinatario: la élite de la gente de Dios, los verificadores —*muhaqqiqun*— entre la gente del camino de Dios, la gente del desvelamiento y el hallazgo

«But as for presenting the credo of the quintessence (of the spiritual elite), I have not given it in detail in any one place, because of the profundities it contains. Instead I have given it scattered throughout the chapters of this book, exhaustively and clearly explained—but in different places, as we’ve mentioned. So those on whom God has bestowed the understanding of these things will recognize them and distinguish them from other matters. For this is the True Knowing and the Veridical Saying, and there is no goal beyond It. 'The blind and the truly seeing are alike" in Its regard:2' It brings together things most far and most near, and conjoins the most high and most low» — Ibn al-Arabi declara que el credo de la quintaesencia no está reunido en un solo lugar sino disperso por los capítulos del libro, y que solo lo reconocerá quien haya recibido su comprensión

«Now this was the credo of the elite among the people of God. But as for the credo of the quintessence of the elite concerning God, that is a matter beyond this one, which we have scattered throughout this book because most intellects, being veiled by their thoughts, fall short of perceiving it due to their lack of spiritual purification. The Introduction to this book is finished. God speaks the Truth, and He guides on the right Way.» — Ibn al-Arabi cierra la Introducción dando la razón de esa dispersión: la mayoría de los intelectos, velados por sus pensamientos, no alcanzan a percibir el credo de la quintaesencia por falta de purificación espiritual

«The “origin of creation” is the Dust (al-haba’)2. The “first existent within it” is the Muhammadan Reality pertaining to the AJ1-Merciful (al-baqiqa al-muhammadiyya al-rahmaniyya), [a Reality] which is not restricted by position, since it is not spatially confined» — Ibn al-Arabi responde a la primera pregunta del capítulo 6: el origen de la creación es el Polvo, y el primer existente en él la Realidad Muhammadí perteneciente al Todomisericordioso, no restringida por posición

«from what did [creation] come into existence?” From the Known Reality which is described neither by existence nor nonexistence. “Within what did it come into existence?” Within the Dust.“In what likeness did it come into existence?”The form (sura) known within God’s Self (nafs al-haqq). “Why did it come into existence?” To make manifest the divine real» — Ibn al-Arabi encadena las respuestas del capítulo 6: de la Realidad Conocida que no se describe por existencia ni inexistencia, dentro del Polvo, según la forma conocida en el Sí mismo de Dios, y para manifestar las realidades divinas

«“What is its goal?” Deliverance from mixture (mazja), so that each world (‘(Ham) may know its share (bazz) from its Producer (munsbi). So its goal is to make manifest its own realities.» — Ibn al-Arabi da el fin de la creación: la liberación de la mezcla, para que cada mundo conozca su parte de su Productor y manifieste sus propias realidades

«The “true knowledge of the spheres of the Greater World”—which is everything other than man (ma 'add al-insan) in the technical terminology of the [Sufi] Community (istilah aljamd'a)—“and of the Smaller World,” i.e., man, has to do with the spirit, cause, and occasion of the world.The world’s “spheres” are its stations (inaqdmatf its movements (barakat),and the differentiation of its strata (tafsil tabaqatibi).This is everything contained in the present chapter.» — Ibn al-Arabi define Mundo Mayor y Mundo Menor con la terminología técnica de la comunidad sufí —todo lo que no es el hombre, y el hombre— y llama esferas del mundo a sus estaciones, movimientos y estratos

«Just as man is small by way of his body, so he is paltry by way of his temporal origination (buduth). But his theomorphism» — Ibn al-Arabi contrapone la pequeñez del hombre por su cuerpo y su origen temporal a su teomorfismo, que declara un hecho

«Know that man’s most perfect plane (nash’a) is in this world (al-dunya). As for the next world (al-dkbiraf the state of each person of the two groups6 will be one half, though not his knowledge, since each group has knowledge of the opposite state. For [in this world] man is nothing if not faithful and infidel at once: felicity and wretchedness, bliss and chastisement, blissful and chastised. Hence knowledge (ma*rifa) in this world is more complete (atammf while theophany (tajalli)1 in the next world is more elevated» — Ibn al-Arabi sostiene que el plano más perfecto del hombre está en este mundo, porque aquí es fiel e infiel a la vez, y de ahí deriva que el conocimiento sea más completo aquí y la teofanía más elevada allá

«So understand, and open this lock! For those who understand, we have composed an intimation; though its words are repulsive and loathsome, its meaning is marvelous.» — Ibn al-Arabi anuncia el poema que sigue advirtiendo del contraste entre sus palabras, que llama repulsivas, y su sentido

«The spirit of the Great Existence is this small existence. If not for him, He would not say,“I am the Great, the Powerful» — el poema del capítulo 6 abre identificando el espíritu de la Gran Existencia con esta existencia pequeña, sin la cual no cabría el nombre divino

«Let not my temporal origination veil you, nor my annihilation and resurrection. For I—if you regard me closely—am the All-Encompassing, the Great. In my essence I belong to the Eternal, though I am manifest in the newly arisen.» — el poema sigue pidiendo que ni el origen temporal ni la aniquilación velen a quien mira de cerca, y afirma pertenecer por esencia al Eterno aunque se manifieste en lo recién surgido

«As for knowledge of the Essence’s reality (baqiqat aidbat), that is prohibited. It cannot be known through logical proof (dalil) or rational demonstration (burhan ‘aqli), nor can definition» — Ibn al-Arabi declara prohibido el conocimiento de la realidad de la Esencia: no se alcanza por prueba lógica ni por demostración racional, ni la definición la abarca; capítulo 6

«For He—glory be to Him—is not similar to anything, nor is anything similar to Him. So how should he who is similar to things know Him to whom nothing is similar and Who is similar to nothing?» — Ibn al-Arabi da la razón en forma de pregunta: cómo habría de conocer el semejante a las cosas a Aquel a quien nada se asemeja; el tramo se corta a media palabra por el renglón

«So your knowledge of Him is only that “ Nothing is like ///m” (Qur’an 42:10) and “God warns you of His Self (Qur’an 3:27).11 Moreover, the Law (al-sbar) has prohibited meditation upon the Essence of God.» — Ibn al-Arabi reduce el conocimiento de Dios a las dos citas coránicas —suras 42 y 3— y añade que la Ley misma prohíbe meditar sobre la Esencia

«Know that the objects of knowledge (al-ma‘lumat) are four. [The first is] God, who is described by Nondelimited Being (al-wujud al-mutlaq), for He is neither the effect (ma'lul) nor the cause (ilia) of anything. On the contrary, He exists through His very Essence.» — Ibn al-Arabi enumera cuatro objetos de conocimiento y describe el primero, Dios, por el Ser no delimitado: ni efecto ni causa de nada, existente por su propia Esencia

«No objects of knowledge—whether eternal or temporally originated—are known until this reality is known, but this reality does not exist until those things described by it exist.» — Ibn al-Arabi enuncia la doble dependencia de la Realidad Universal: nada se conoce hasta conocerla, y ella no existe hasta que existen las cosas descritas por ella; el tramo se corta a media palabra

«But in every existent it maintains its own reality, for it does not accept division (tajazzi), since it has neither whole nor part. It cannot be known disengaged from form (mujarracla 'an al-sura) through logical proof or demonstration.» — Ibn al-Arabi niega que esa realidad admita división —no tiene todo ni parte— y que pueda conocerse desprendida de la forma por prueba o demostración

«In short, the world has come into existence by means of God (bi wasatat al-haqq) from this reality; but it is not an existent, such that God might have brought us into existence from an eternal existent and we should be established as eternal.» — Ibn al-Arabi acota la consecuencia: el mundo viene de esa realidad por mediación de Dios, pero ella no es un existente, y por eso no somos eternos

«You should also know that this reality is not qualified by precedence (taqaddum) in relation to the world, nor the world with subsequence (ta’akbkbur) in relation to this reality. Rather, it is the root (asl) of all existents, the root of substance» — Ibn al-Arabi niega precedencia y subsecuencia entre esa realidad y el mundo, y la declara raíz de todos los existentes y raíz de la sustancia

«The third object of knowledge is the entire world: the angels, the spheres and the worlds they contain, and the air and the earth and everything of the world contained by these two. This is the Greater Kingdom» — Ibn al-Arabi da el tercer objeto: el mundo entero, ángeles, esferas, aire y tierra, al que llama Reino Mayor

«The fourth object of knowledge is man, the vicegerent whom God placed within this world, which is subdued under his subjection (taskhir). God says, 'And He has subjected to you what is in the heavens and what is in the earth, all together, from Him» — Ibn al-Arabi da el cuarto objeto: el hombre como vicegerente puesto en el mundo que le está sometido, apoyado en la sura 45

«He who knows these [four] objects of knowledge has no other object of knowledge to seek, for among them is that of whom we only know the existence—i.e., God—and whose Acts and Attributes are known through various kinds of likenesses (mitbal)\ among them is that which is only known through likeness, such as knowledge of the Universal Reality, and among them is that which is known in these two manners as well as through quiddity (mahiyya) and quality (kayfiyya), and these are the world and man.» — Ibn al-Arabi declara que quien conoce esos cuatro objetos no tiene otro que buscar, y distingue lo que se conoce solo por existencia, lo que solo por semejanza y lo que además por quididad y cualidad

«When God brings the world into existence, no Attribute that He did not possess comes to be ascribed to Him. On the contrary, before His creation He is described and named in Himself by the Names by which His creatures call Him.» — Ibn al-Arabi niega que al crear el mundo Dios reciba atributo nuevo: ya antes se nombra a sí mismo con los Nombres con que sus criaturas lo llaman

«So when He desired the existence of the world and when He originated it in accordance with His Knowledge of it within His Knowledge of Himself, there arose from that sacred Desire (al-iradat al-muqaddasa)—through one kind of theophany of Incomparability directed toward the Universal Reality—a reality called the Dust.» — Ibn al-Arabi describe el surgimiento del Polvo desde el Deseo sagrado, por una teofanía de Incomparabilidad dirigida a la Realidad Universal

«It can be compared to the plaster that a builder throws down in order to mold within it whatever shapes and forms he desires; it is the first existent» — Ibn al-Arabi compara el Polvo con el yeso que el albañil echa para moldear en él las formas que quiere

«Within the Dust nothing is nearer to the Light in reception than the Reality of Muhammad, which is called the Intellect. So he is the lord of the world in its entirety and the first thing to become man» — Ibn al-Arabi pone a la Realidad de Muhammad, llamada el Intelecto, como lo más cercano a la Luz dentro del Polvo y señor del mundo entero; el tramo se corta a media palabra

«Hence his existence derives from the Divine Light, the Dust, and the Universal Reality, while his entity (‘ayn) comes into existence within the Dust; then the entity of the world stems from his theophany. The nearest of mankind to him is ‘Ali ibn AbiTalib and the inmost consciousnesses (asrar) of die prophets.» — Ibn al-Arabi deriva de esa Realidad la entidad del mundo y nombra como los más cercanos a ella a Ali ibn Abi Talib y a las consciencias íntimas de los profetas; la capa de texto imprime *die* por *the*

«Then God manifested Himself in theophany through His Light to that Dust, which is called by the People of Reflection (ashab al-afkar)2x “Universal Hyle” (al-hayuld al-kull)\ within the Dust was the entire world in potentiality (quwwa) and readiness (salabiyya). Each thing in the Dust received from His Light in accordance with its own preparedness (isti'dad) and potentiality, just as the corners of a room receive the light of a lamp and, to the degree of their proximity to that light, increase in brightness and reception» — Ibn al-Arabi describe la teofanía sobre el Polvo, al que los Gentes de la Reflexión llaman Hyle Universal, y mide lo que cada cosa recibe por su propia preparación, como los rincones de un cuarto reciben la lámpara

«As for the likeness in which the world—the whole of it without differentiation—came into existence, that is the Knowledge subsistent in God’s Self (al-ilm al-qcTim bi nafs al-haqq). For He knows us through His Knowledge of Himself and brings us into existence in accordance with His Knowledge of us, so we are upon the shape entified (al-shakl al-mu‘ayyan) in His Knowledge. If this were not the case, this shape would have been assumed by chance (bi hukm al-ittifdq), not by intention» — Ibn al-Arabi da por semejanza de la creación el Conocimiento subsistente en el Sí mismo de Dios, y niega que la forma pueda venir por azar

«Here by jinn is meant everything hidden,24 including the angels and other things. God said in respect of the heavens and the earth, “‘Come willingly or unwillingly! They said, ‘We come willingly’XQxrt^ 41:11). In the same way He said, “[We offered the Trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains], but they refused to carry it” (Qur’an 33:72). That was because it was an “offer.” If it had been a command, they would have obeyed and carried it, since disobedience from them is inconceivable» — Ibn al-Arabi lee *jinn* como todo lo oculto, ángeles incluidos, y distingue el ofrecimiento del mandato apoyándose en las suras 41 y 33

«As for our questions, “Why did [creation] come into existence?” and “What is its goal?” [the answer is as follows]: God says, “I did not create jinn and men except to serve Me"(Qur’an 51:56). Thus He made explicit why He brought us—and likewise the entire world—into existence, while He singled out us and the jinn for mention.» — Ibn al-Arabi responde al porqué de la creación con la sura 51: no creó a los genios y a los hombres sino para servirle; el tramo se corta a media palabra

«The People of Reflection, those who occupy themselves with speculation (nazar) and proofs restricted to the senses and to necessary and self-evident matters, maintain that the person for whom [a command] is prescribed must be intelligent so as to understand what is addressed to him, and they are correct. Such is the situation in our view also: The whole world is intelligent, living, and speaking25—in respect of the unveiling that breaks the customary views (kharq al-‘ada) of people; that is, in respect of the knowledge that we attain in this way. But the People of Reflection say, “This is an inanimate object (jamad)\ it has no intelligence.» — Ibn al-Arabi opone su posición a la de los Gentes de la Reflexión: para él el mundo entero es inteligente, viviente y hablante por el desvelamiento que rompe la costumbre, mientras ellos se detienen en lo que da la vista

«Note: This edition, the first of two volumes, incorporates all English text and translations from the original 1988 bi-lingual, French-English edition, Les Illuminations des la Mecque, published by Sindbad (Paris), and edited by Michel Chodkiewicz. The original (French) introduction by Mr. Chodkiewicz has been replaced with a new one by James W Morris for this edition.» — la nota de la página de derechos declara el reparto de los dos volúmenes y advierte que la introducción francesa de Chodkiewicz fue sustituida por una nueva de James W. Morris para esta edición

«Text and translation copyright ©1988 by William C. Chittick and James W. Morris Revised edition: Introduction copyright ©2002 by James W. Morris Copyright ©1988 by the Rothko Chapel (edition: Sindbad, Paris) Copyright ©2002,2005 by Pir Press» — la cadena de derechos que imprime el volumen I: texto y traducción de 1988 a nombre de Chittick y Morris, introducción revisada de 2002 a nombre de Morris, la Rothko Chapel por la edición de Sindbad y Pir Press por esta

«ISBN 1-879708-16-7 Pir Press 227 West Broadway New York, New York 10013» — el ISBN y el pie editorial que imprime la página de derechos del volumen I; el volumen II imprime otro ISBN

«Anyone who has ever attempted to study that immense and utterly unique work—which would require perhaps fifty volumes of this scale to translate in its entirety—will recognize the daunting challenges of selection, translation and adequate explanation actually involved.» — Morris mide la desproporción entre la obra y cualquier traducción: cincuenta volúmenes de esta escala harían falta para verterla entera

«Fortunately, Mr. Chodkiewicz was quickly able to assemble an international team of scholars to begin work in late 1984, and thanks to the financial support of the Rothko Chapel (and Mme. D. De Menil), as well as the tireless editorial work of our colleague Dr. Martine Gillet, the resulting volume (of some 653 pages), entitled Les Illuminations de La Mecque, was published in Paris by Sindbad» — Morris fecha el arranque del equipo en 1984 y nombra a quienes lo sostuvieron: la Rothko Chapel, madame D. De Menil y la editora Martine Gillet

«The impetus that this project gave to the further study and communication of Ibn ‘Arabi’s works, and especially the Futubat, went far beyond the publication itself.» — Morris sostiene que el efecto del proyecto sobre el estudio de las Futuhat excedió a la publicación misma

«As a result, the years since the first appearance of our translations have seen an ongoing worldwide transformation—in the Islamic world at least as much as in Western academic and spiritual circles—in the understanding and appreciation of the nature and wider significance of Ibn ‘Arabi’s writings.» — Morris describe lo ocurrido desde la primera aparición de las traducciones y acota que el cambio se dio tanto en el mundo islámico como en los círculos académicos y espirituales de Occidente

«Unfortunately, the French edition—whose size, cost and foreign publication made access difficult in the English-speaking world from the beginning—soon became entirely inaccessible due to problems at the original publishers.» — Morris da las causas de que la edición francesa quedara inaccesible: tamaño, costo, publicación extranjera y problemas en la editorial

«Thus we are all immensely grateful to Pir Publications, to its editors, Ann Everds, Sixtina Friedrich and Matthew Brown, to Margot Abel, the copyeditor of this edition, and to the others who contribute to the existence of the press, for their far-sighted initiative in undertaking to publish separately in this first volume the English-language translations that formed more than two-thirds of the original Sindbad edition.» — Morris nombra uno a uno a los responsables de Pir Publications y declara que este primer volumen recoge más de dos tercios de la edición de Sindbad

«Pir Publications has promised a forthcoming English volume that would include translations of both the original French chapters and Professor Chodkiewicz’s original long Introduction to the key themes and opening chapters of the Futubat.» — Morris anuncia desde el volumen I lo que será el volumen II: los capítulos franceses y la introducción larga de Chodkiewicz

«In particular, we have chosen passages that are long enough, in most cases, to give readers some taste of the inseparable connection between Ibn ‘Arabi’s utterly unique style and forms of writing and the process and purposes of realization for which they were designed.» — Morris declara el criterio de selección: pasajes largos, para que el lector perciba el vínculo entre el estilo de Ibn al-Arabi y el proceso de realización al que están destinados

«However, every reader should pay attention to one absolutely essential point: the notes to these translations—as indeed to any accurate and intelligible translation of Ibn ‘Arabi—are an integral and indispensable part of the translation.» — Morris advierte que las notas no son accesorias sino parte integrante e indispensable de cualquier traducción fiel de Ibn al-Arabi

«First, he constantly uses what might otherwise be taken as “normal” Arabic terms, particularly ones drawn from the Islamic scriptural background of the Qur’an and hadith (traditions related from the Prophet), in specifically technical, personal senses (often profoundly based in the etymological roots of the underlying Arabic) that were already unfamiliar, and sometimes intentionally provocative, even to his original readers.» — Morris da la primera razón de la abundancia de notas: Ibn al-Arabi usa términos árabes corrientes, muchos del Corán y del hadiz, en sentidos técnicos y personales que ya extrañaban a sus lectores

«To take one recurrent and fundamental example, in most of his writing, the expression Muhammadan carries the profound meaning of “spiritually universal” or “spiritually all-inclusive.”» — Morris da el ejemplo mayor de ese uso técnico: *Muhammadan* significa en casi toda su obra espiritualmente universal

«Second, Ibn ‘Arabi—whether in his poetry or prose—constantly plays with the multiple, often very different meanings and registers of key Arabic terms (especially from the Qur’an), which in his writings are normally closer in their polyvalence to musical chords or the symbols of the I Ching than to the prosaic “equivalents” of any possible English translation.» — Morris describe la polisemia de los términos clave como más cercana a un acorde musical o a los símbolos del I Ching que a un equivalente inglés

«That semantic reality is what explains the translators’ frequent interpolation of transliterations of the underlying Arabic terms, useful at least to those with some familiarity with Sufi and Qur’anic Arabic terminology.» — Morris explica por eso la interpolación frecuente de transliteraciones árabes en la traducción

«Third, Ibn ‘Arabi’s usual procedure throughout The Meccan Revelations is to shift constantly between multiple registers and references to the terminology, structures and intellectual assumptions of a host of fields of traditional learning that are often unfamiliar to most modern readers.» — Morris da la tercera razón: el desplazamiento constante entre registros y campos de saber tradicional ajenos al lector moderno

«And at the very least, explanatory notes are essential in such cases to help readers begin to reconstruct the experience of what it would be like to read through the Futuhat from the very beginning.» — Morris declara para qué sirven las notas cuando no alcanzan a más: reconstruir lo que sería leer las Futuhat desde el principio

«guiding intention behind this project, as it was originally conceived by Michel Chodkiewicz (the foremost French student of Ibn ‘Arabi, a professor at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes, and then head of the major French publishing house Editions du Seuil), was to provide, in a bilingual edition, the first representative overview of Ibn» — Morris atribuye a Michel Chodkiewicz la concepción del proyecto y lo describe por su cargo, y declara el propósito: una primera panorámica representativa en edición bilingüe; el tramo empieza en minúscula porque el renglón anterior queda cortado por la capitular

«Finally, The Meccan Revelations are replete with allusive cross-references to other writings or discussions of related topics elsewhere in the same book, which are absolutely indispensable to understanding the particular passage, symbol or allusion in ques» — Morris da la cuarta razón de las notas: las referencias cruzadas internas son indispensables para entender cada pasaje; el tramo se corta a media palabra por el corte de renglón

«In either of these key cases, modern-day presuppositions (shared by Muslim and non-Muslim readers alike) are likely to suggest diametrically opposite meanings to readers who have not studied the corresponding notes of explanation or otherwise assimilated Ibn ‘Arabi’s technical terminology.» — Morris advierte que las presuposiciones modernas, compartidas por lectores musulmanes y no musulmanes, sugieren sentidos opuestos a quien no haya estudiado las notas

«Eventually he settled for a time in Konya (in present-day Turkey) and then in Damascus, where he died on November 9, 1240/638. His place of burial there has been a famous pilgrimage site since Ottoman times.» — Morris fecha la muerte en Damasco el 9 de noviembre de 1240/638 y señala que la tumba es sitio de peregrinación desde época otomana

«he rigorously lived up to his own ideal of the hidden, “solitary” Friends of God (the afrad or malamiya') as the highest of the spiritual ranks,“invisible” in their outward conformity to the normative practices of the revelation and the ethical and social obligations common to all—carefully avoiding the public, visible “spiritual gifts” (karamat) popularly associated with many shaykhs and the then-nascent forms of institutionalized Sufism.» — Morris sostiene que Ibn al-Arabi vivió conforme a su propio ideal de los amigos de Dios ocultos y solitarios —los afrad o malamiya—, evitando los dones visibles y las formas entonces nacientes de sufismo institucionalizado

«Ibn ‘Arabi seems to have been best known in his own day as a religious scholar and student of hadith, an impression that could only have been encouraged by his phenomenally prolific literary output of hundreds of works, of which the Futuhdt was apparently by far the longest and most comprehensive.» — Morris señala que en su propio tiempo se lo conocía sobre todo como estudioso religioso y de hadiz, y da las Futuhat por la más larga y comprensiva de sus obras

«Even Ibn ‘Arabi’s most skeptical biographers have been compelled to note the remarkable way subsequent history has come to confirm his self-conception of his destined role as the “Seal of Muhammadan Sainthood”» — Morris consigna que aun los biógrafos más escépticos han tenido que notar cómo la historia posterior vino a confirmar la autoconcepción de Ibn al-Arabi como Sello de la Santidad Muhammadí

«was born in present-day Murcia, in Andalusia, in 1165/560; was raised in the great cultural centers of Islamic Spain, where his extraordinary' spiritual gifts were already apparent by his adolescence; traveled and encountered innumerable spiritual teachers and ‘Friends of God” throughout Spain and North Africa in his youth» — Morris sitúa el nacimiento de Ibn al-Arabi en Murcia en 1165/560, su crianza en los centros culturales de la España islámica y sus encuentros con maestros y amigos de Dios por España y el norte de África; el tramo empieza en minúscula porque el sujeto queda en la plana anterior

«At the time of his death, Ibn ‘Arabi himself was virtually unknown, in any wider public sense, in that Mongol/Crusader period when Islamic public authority almost vanished for some decades from all but a handful of Arab cities (and permanently from most of his native Andalusia).» — Morris consigna que Ibn al-Arabi era prácticamente desconocido en sentido público al morir, en el período mongol y cruzado en que la autoridad islámica casi desapareció de las ciudades árabes y de al-Ándalus

«Moreover, all of his “books” discussed here existed only in a handful of manuscript copies, left behind in the Maghreb or restricted to the assiduous students and future transmitters of his teachings during his final years in Damascus.» — Morris añade la otra razón del desconocimiento: los libros existían en unas pocas copias manuscritas, dejadas en el Magreb o restringidas a los discípulos de Damasco

«Yet within a few centuries, through one of those mysterious developments so familiar to the historian of religions, his writings—foremost among them the Bezels of Wisdom (Fusus al-Hikam) and these Meccan Revelations—had come to constitute the constantly cited source of inspiration, and justification (and, as a result, a frequent polemic target) for that vast movement of religious, cultural, social, and literary creativity that brought into being the institutions and masterworks of the Islamic humanities.» — Morris traza la vuelta de la fortuna: en unos siglos los Fusus y las Futuhat pasan a ser fuente citada de inspiración y justificación —y blanco polémico— de la creatividad que levantó las humanidades islámicas; el tramo empieza a media palabra por el corte de renglón

«It was through those creative developments, in a wide gamut of languages, cultures and new institutions, that Islam became a true world religion, with its new cultural and political centers stretching from Southern and Eastern Europe and sub-Saharan Africa across to Central Asia, India and Southeast Asia.» — Morris adjudica a esos desarrollos que el islam se hiciera religión mundial, con centros del sur y el este de Europa al África subsahariana, Asia Central, la India y el sureste asiático

«Even his later honorific title, “the greatest Master” (al-Shaykh al-Akbar), does not really begin to suggest the full extent of those influences.» — Morris acota que ni el título de *al-Shaykh al-Akbar* alcanza a medir el alcance de esas influencias

«A second, equally mysterious stage in Ibn ‘Arabi’s ongoing influence has been the ways his writings and concepts have served, over the past century, to inspire contemporary intellectuals and students of religion and spirituality outside traditionally Islamic cultures.» — Morris nombra una segunda etapa de la influencia: la que llega a intelectuales de fuera de las culturas tradicionalmente islámicas

«The inspirations that gave rise to The Meccan Revelations—as its title suggests10—took place in the course of Ibn ‘Arabi’s first pil» — Morris data las inspiraciones que dieron lugar a la obra en la primera peregrinación de 1202/598, como sugiere el título; el tramo se corta a media palabra por el renglón

«However, the actual composition of his first complete version of this immense work, composed during a time of constant travels and the simultaneous production of dozens of other works, lasted until 1231/629.» — Morris fecha la primera versión completa en 1231/629, compuesta entre viajes constantes y decenas de obras simultáneas

«And a few years later, in 1233/632, Ibn ‘Arabi began a revision and expansion of the text, which he finished in 1238/636, shortly before his death; the complete autograph manuscript of that final version, preserved by his famous disciple Qunawi, survives.» — Morris fecha la revisión y ampliación entre 1233/632 y 1238/636 y declara que sobrevive el manuscrito autógrafo de esa versión final, conservado por Qunawi

«Despite the multitude of his later learned and artistic followers and interpreters, no one has really attempted any sort of detailed imitation of that distinctive Arabic literary style, which remains as unique, in its own way, as the equally inimitable Qur’aninspired structures of Rumi and Hafez.» — Morris sostiene que nadie ha intentado imitar en detalle ese estilo árabe, y lo pone junto a las estructuras inimitables de Rumi y Hafez; el guion de fin de renglón se pierde al unir y el programa devuelve *Qur’aninspired*, por *Qur’an-inspired*, y así se conserva

«If the experience and practice of centuries of assiduous and admiring readers lends a certain external “authority” to Ibn ‘Arabi’s assertions in this domain, this does not at all mean that his books closely resemble each other.» — Morris acota la autoridad que dan siglos de lectores: no implica que los libros se parezcan entre sí

«In particular, readers approaching the Meccan Revelations after having studied Ibn ‘Arabi’s Bezels of Wisdom (Fusus al-Hikam) and the many traditions of later Islamic (and more recent Western) commentary on them, as we once did, will immediately feel that they are discovering a new continent.» — Morris describe el efecto de llegar a las Futuhat tras los Fusus: la sensación de descubrir un continente nuevo

«The essential guiding ideas are of course the same, but here they are expressed with a constant careful, vivid and enthralling attention to the “living” phenomenology and experiential roots—including, above all, a constant reference to the words and practices of Islamic revelation—underlying the typically ontological and metaphysical formulae of the Fusus tradition.» — Morris acota la diferencia entre las dos obras: las mismas ideas rectoras, pero aquí con atención a la fenomenología viva y a las raíces experienciales bajo las fórmulas ontológicas del Fusus

«Indeed, the single most useful contribution of these (and other) translations from the Futuhat may be precisely to undermine and call into question—in a particularly constructive and indispensable fashion—many of the notional “doctrines,” slogans and ostensible teachings so often connected with the name of Ibn ‘Arabi.» — Morris declara cuál puede ser el aporte mayor de estas traducciones: poner en cuestión las doctrinas y consignas que suelen asociarse al nombre de Ibn al-Arabi