God is the root of all "noble character traits". He is also the root of the "base character traits, though the relationship here is more subtle and will need some explanation. ... Having been created in the divine form, man embraces all the divine names and contains within himself all God's character traits. The task of the spiritual traveler is to bring the names and character traits from latency into actuality in perfect balance and harmony.
Since this is the case, the use of the term "assumption of traits" is problematic since the literal meaning of the term takhulluq is "to exert oneself in acquiring character traits" whereas strictly speaking, man already possesses the character traits. ...
God creates the good and the evil, the ugly and the beautiful, the straight and the crooked, the moral and the immoral. Does the Gnostic become manifest in these attributes? The answer, of course, is "Yes and no." Between the yes and the no lie the manifold dangers that face the traveler and would-be traveler on the path to God. ...
Man faces a predicament as real as himself, and he is forced by his own nature to choose between the straight path which leads to balance, harmony, and felicity and the crooked paths which lead to imbalance, disequilibrium, and wretchedness. ...
As delimited creatures faced with perfection and imperfection, likes and dislikes, ambitions and desires, and the demands of "the law", human beings are forced to discern between good and evil at every stage of their existence in this world. If they could say that God is Incomparable and they, like Him, are infinitely beyond this world, they could ignore reality. But that would be absurd and discourteous toward God who has created Reality also. Reality assumes the properties of the "Names of God, and the cosmos is full of life-giving and slaying, forgiveness and vengeance, exalting and abasing, guidance and misguidance on all sorts of levels.
In each case where human interests are involved, man is required to see the secondary causes, [the events and situations and relationships of reality] as either good or evil. Even if he could, by some miracle, be totally indifferent to life and death, pleasure and pain, love and hate, still, he would be commanded by the Law to put each thing in its proper place. Hence, human beings must always separate "God's point of view" from their own point of view.
Ibn al-'Arabi sometimes distinguishes these two points of view by speaking of two divine commands. In respect of the first command, God says "Be!" and the whole cosmos comes into existence. In respect of the second, He says to human beings, "Do this and avoid that, or you will fall into wretchedness." The first command is known as the "engendering command" or the command without intermediary. The second is known as the "prescriptive command" or the command by intermediary [of "learning."] All created things obey the engendering command, so in this respect there is no evil in existence. But when the prescriptive command is taken into account, then some [learn and apply what they learn, and some do not." People bring both good and evil down upon themselves in respect of the prescriptive command. ...
If the engendering command alone is considered, there is no imperfection in the cosmos, since all creatures follow what God desires for them. In this respect, what is normally called "imperfection" is in fact perfection, since it allows for the actualization of the various levels of existence and knowledge. In other words, were there no imperfections - in the sense o9f diminishment, decrease, and lack - there would be no creation. Were there no creation, the Hidden Treasure would remain hidden. Hence Being would be unseen in every respect. There would be no self-disclosure of the Divine Reality, Light would not shine, and God would be the Non-manifest but not the Manifest.
But THIS is absurd because it demands the imperfection of Being Itself which by definition is nondelimited perfection. Being's perfection requires the manifestation of its properties. The effects of the names and attributes must be displayed for God to be God.
In short, the nondelimited perfection of the Divine Reality is made possible only by the existence of imperfection, which is to say that this "imperfection" is demanded by existence itself. It is to lack the divine attributes, beginning with Being.
But it is precisely the "otherness" which allows the cosmos and all the creatures within it to exist. If the things were perfect in every respect, they would be identical with God and there would be nothing "other than God." But then we would not even speak about the cosmos, since there would be no cosmos and no speaking. Hence it is imperfection which separates the creatures from their Creator and makes possible the existence of the cosmos. Imperfection is itself a kind of perfection.
Without imperfection, existence's perfection could not be actualized. All things are "imperfect" and thereby perfectly adapted to the roles they play in creation.
In their roles as human beings, those who have not attained to the station of human perfection are no less perfect than other creatures. However, because of the peculiar human situation, people are born with the possibility of actualizing a second kind of perfection. Unlike other creatures, they are not fixed in a specific ontological situation, but can change their situation through the gifts they have been given - such as knowledge, desire, and speech - by following the prescriptive command, the Scale of the Law.
The moment an animal is born, it is clearly this or that - a horse, an elephant, a mole, a mouse - and will never be anything else. But when a human being is born, only God knows what the person will be. He has the potentiality to become any one of a tremendous variety of human types, summarized by Ibn -al-'Arabi as unbeliever, believer, friend of God, prophet, and messenger. Whatever man becomes is"perfection" in one sense at least; but he will not be perfect in both sense unless be becomes a "perfect man."
Both mankind and jinn - called, in Koranic terms, the two "weighty ones" - are born into an ambiguous situation which, from their own point of view, remains ambiguous until death... Their freedom allows them to make choices which effect their becoming. Whatever they do, they follow the engendering command, but the extent to which they follow the prescriptive command determines whether they will join the felicitous or the wretched.
In contrast, all other creatures - like angels - are born into a "known station" which does not change.
ibn al-'Arabi said:
The Angels say, "None of us there is, but has a known station." So also is every existent thing except the two weighty ones. Though the two weighty ones are also created in their stations, these stations are designated and ordained within God's knowledge and unseen by them. Each individual among them reaches his station at the end of his breaths. So his last breath is his "known station" upon which he dies. That is why they have been called to travel. Hence they travel, either upwardly by answering the summons of the Law, or downwardly by answering the command of Desire from whence they know not, until after the object of the Desire has been attained.
Hence each individual among the two weighty ones reaches in his traveling the known station for which he was created. Among them are wretched and felicitous.
The fact that some people follow the divine guidance by obeying the prescriptive command, while others refuse to follow it, goes back to the engendering command, since everything is rooted in God. On the one hand, the prescriptive command is itself created by the engendering command, and on the other, it is God who says "Be"" to the [desire for law and acquisition of knowledge within the individual].
But this does not mean that God compels the servant to choose the wrong path and then punishes him for it. God compels no one, though one might say that each person compels himself, since his destiny stems from his own immutable being, his own reality according to the engendering command. [he is what he IS.]
God brings the entities into existence as they are in themselves. God does not make a pear tree into a pear tree; a pear tree is what it is. God merely brings it into existence and it yields pears. God does not make a person into his friend or enemy since the person has been immutably fixed as His friend or enemy for all eternity. Once in existence, the friend is a friend and the enemy an enemy, without anyone having made them so.
God creates all things on the basis of His knowledge of the things, and His knowledge of the things is identical with His knowledge of Himself. Hence, the things become manifest upon the form of God...
When God creates something, He does so on the basis of His knowledge of that thing, and He knows it through knowing Himself. His knowledge has no effect upon what He knows. Rather, the object of knowledge determines the knowledge. In Ibn al-'Arabi's way of speaking, "Knowledge follows its object." God does not "make" the thing the way it is, He merely knows the way it is. ...
Even the Gnostics do not know if God's engendering command will allow them to follow the Straight Path laid down by the prescriptive command, or if they will swerve from this path because their own realities demand deviation. ...
ibn al-'Arabi said:
The Gnostics experience nothing more difficult than the command of God to go straight... In other words, do not leave aside His command because you find in yourselves that He has created you upon the divine form. Do not say, "The likes of us are not the objects of this command." For the knowers of God do not know if God's command will conform to His will in them. Will they obey His command, or will they oppose it? Hence God's command is difficult for them and they become distressed. This is indicated by the Prophet's words, "Hud has whitened my hair," since Hud is the sura within which "Go thou straight as thou has t been commanded" was sent down. ...
The determining property belongs to the divine knowledge, not to the command. "God is never unjust toward His servants" since he only knows what the objects of knowledge give to Him, since knowledge follows the object of knowledge. Nothing becomes manifest in existence except the actual situation of the object of knowledge. ..
But man is ignorant of what will come into existence from him before it comes to be. When something happens from him, it only happens on the basis of God's knowledge of him. And God knows nothing except what the object of knowledge is in itself.
The fact that the servants are ignorant of God's knowledge concerning them is of particular importance, for the feeling of freedom to which this gives rise allows them to assume responsibility for their own choices. Moreover, they do in fact share in the reality of freedom, since they are made upon God's form....
Since the straight path takes one to Allah, and Allah as such is absolutely nondelimited, we have to inquire about the mode in which the straight path takes to Allah. In other words, does the path end up with the All-merciful and the All-compassionate? Or does it end up with the Vengeful and the Terrible in Punishment? ... Hence, concludes Ibn al-'Arabi, the "straight path of Allah" is a fact of existence, but it cannot guarantee our felicity.
ibn al-'Arabi said:
There is no path which is not straight, since there is no path which does not take one to Allah. But God said to His Prophet, "Go straight _as thou hast been commanded_" He did not address him in terms of _unqualified_ straightness. It has been established that, "Unto Allah all things come home" and that He is the end of every path. However, the important thing is which divine name you will reach and to which you will come home. For that names' effect - whether felicity and bliss or wretchedness and chastisement - will exercise its influence upon the one who reaches it.
"The paths to God are as numerous as the breaths of the creatures, since the breath emerges from the heart in accordance with the belief of the heart concerning Allah. The general belief is His existence. He who makes Him Time will reach Allah in respect of His name Time, since Allah brings together all the contrary and non-contrary names. ... When someone believes that Allah is Nature, Allah will disclose Himself to him as Nature. When someone believes that Allah is such and such - whatever that might be - He will disclose Himself to him in the form of his belief.
There are innumerable paths to Allah, but each one of them yields a different result for those who follow them.
ibn al-'Arabi said:
The path of the Blessing-giver is "the path of those whom" God "has blessed." It is mention in His words, "He has laid down for you as Law what he charged Noah with, and what We have revealed to thee, and what We charged Abraham with, and Moses, and Jesus". He mentions the prophets and the messengers, and then says, "those are they whom God has guided, so follow their guidance. This is the path that brings together every prophet and messenger. It is the performance of religion, scattering not concerning it, and coming together in it.
Just as there is nothing but good in existence and all paths lead to Allah, so also all character traits are noble and none is base. But the character traits are noble only in relationship to their ontological roots. As soon as the four levels of good and evil are taken into account, some are noble and some are base. In order to tell the difference between noble and base in what concerns ultimate felicity, human beings have need of [knowledge/Law] or, what comes down to the same thing, the light of faith.
ibn al-'Arabi said:
Perspicacity through faith is a divine light which God gives to the person of faith in the eye of his insight, just like the light which belongs to the eye of sight. When a person has this perspicacity, its mark is like the light of the sun through which sensory objects appear to sight. When the light of the sun is unveiled, sight differentiates among the sensory objects. It discerns the large from the small, the beautiful form the ugly, the white from the black, red, and yellow, the moving from the still, the far from the near, and the high from the low. In the same way, the light of perspicacity through faith discerns the praiseworthy from the blameworthy.
The reason that the light of perspicacity is attributed to the name Allah, which is the name which brings together the properties of ALL the names, is that this light unveils both the praiseworthy and the blameworthy, both the movement of felicity pertaining to the next abode and the movements of wretchedness. ...
If the light of perspicacity were attributed to the name Praiseworthy, for example, the possessor of this light would see only the praiseworthy and felicitous. In the same way, if it were attributed to any divine name, the perspicacity would accord with what is given by the reality of that name. But since the light is attributed to Allah, its possessor perceives the good things and the evil which occur in matters of this world and the next, the blameworthy qualities and the praiseworthy, the noble character traits and the base, and what is given by Nature and by the spiritual domain.
Man gains the light of perspicacity through assuming the noble character traits in perfect harmony, balance and "equilibrium".
Just as physical illness is caused by"disequilibrium" of the constitution, so also moral illness is caused by disequilibrium of the character traits. In order to bring the traits into balance, man has need of the divine physician. It is his task to show the seeker how to employ his innate character traits, since nothing can be added to man's creation. The "assumption of traits" which a person should undergo, cannot mean that he comes to possess traits which did not already belong to him. On the contrary, the traits which he possesses innately are redirected such that they will always be pleasing to God.
ibn al-'Arabi said:
The person in disequilibrium will display blameworthy and base character traits. He will seek his own individual desires and will not care what outcome he may reach by attaining them.
The disciplining [divine] physician leads him on step by step, state after state, by explaining to him the proper occupations, as mentioned. He comes to him with the perspicacity of faith and has knowledge of the best interest of this person. When he sees him perform an action which leads to something blameworthy, or that action itself brings about something blameworthy, he guides him to the extent he can...
If the person is in disequilibrium, his travel will consist of struggle and ascetic discipline. If he is in equilibrium, he will be cheerful and joyous in his wayfaring, full of gaiety and happy. Affairs which are difficult for others will be easy for him, and he will not have to force himself in any of the noble character traits.
When the soul becomes limpid and wholesome, joins up with the world of purity, looks with the divine eye, hears through the divine ear, and acts through the divine strength, and then it knows the origins of things and their destinations, where they rise up and whence they return. This is called "perspicacity through faith." It is a gift from God which is attained by those who are sound in nature and those who are not.
The function of the prophets and the friends of God are to help bring out the noble character traits which are intrinsic to human nature. They must also provide proper guidance for the base character traits, since all character traits, noble and base, go back to man's essence. In the last analysis, a character trait is called base not because of its ontological root, but because of the way in which it is put to use.
Everything that comes from God is good and follows the engendering command. Good and evil, as we saw above, need to be defined in terms of various relative factors: the Law, agreeableness to the constitution, perfection, and individual desire. The defining factor in questions of morality and character go back primarily to the Law, though the other factors may also be taken into account in certain cases and in various respects. The Law directs all character traits into proper channels so that people will employ their own innate attributes in the mode which corresponds to God's approval and satisfaction. Then these attributes are called "noble character traits." If employed wrongly, these same attributes become "base character traits."
The revealed law - revealed via knowledge - can transform the blameworthy traits into praiseworthy ones. The means of this transformation is to change the manner in which the so-called base character traits are applied or employed.
ibn al-'Arabi said:
The Prophet explained for us how to apply what are called "base character traits," such as eager desire, envy, covetousness, miserliness, timidity, and every blameworthy attribute. He explained for us proper occupations for these attributes such that, if we employ them in these occupations, they will turn into noble character traits, the name of blame will disappear form them, and they will become praiseworthy. ...
The attributes found in man's innate disposition do not change, since they are essential to this world's configuration and man's specific constitution. These include cowardice, avarice, envy, eager desire, tale bearing, arrogance, harshness, seeking subjugation, and the like.
Since no one can set out to change them, God explained various proper applications for them toward which they can be directed by the rulings of the Law. If the soul directs the properties of these attributes toward these applications, it will attain to felicity and high degrees.
These proper applications are as follows: The soul should be cowardly toward committing forbidden things because of the loss it can expect. It should have avarice in respect to [knowledge of reality]. It should envy him who spends his possessions in seeking knowledge. It should be eagerly desirous toward doing good and [acting generously toward those that ask]. It should tell tales that [convey knowledge]. It should be arrogant in spirit toward him who is arrogant toward God's commands. It should be harsh in its words and acts in the places where it knows that God would be harsh. It should seek the subjugation of him who is hostile toward God and resists him.
Such a soul does not leave its own attributes, but it directs them toward applications for which it can be praised. ... The Law has brought only that which aids nature. I do not know how it is that people suffer hardship, since they are not forbidden those attributes which their natures require. On the contrary, the Law explains their proper applications. Hence, people perish only when they are controlled by individual desires. It is that which allows them to suffer pain and to dislike things.
If man would direct his desire toward that which his Creator wants for him, he would be at rest.
