You should know this. This station (maqām), in this respect (as an attribute of Allah), is entirely pre-eternal (qadīm). For the attribution (nisba) of ignorance (jahl) to Allah is impossible (muḥāl). There is nothing that was not in Allah's knowledge (ʿilm) and then later came to be in it. His knowledge is identical with His Essence (dhāt) as well as with the external object of knowledge (maʿlūm). Among these three things, there is no superiority outside of intellection. Who could possibly accede to the existence (wujūd) of the Real (al-Ḥaqq), so as to be present with Him externally? There, only the Essence exists. The objects of knowledge (maʿlūmāt) that are joined with Him externally do not, in fact, accede to Him externally. For these maʿlūmāt are identical with themselves, not with what is in the knowledge of the Creator (al-Bārīʾ). Even if it were supposed otherwise, this would only be correct for those that are perpetual. For it is categorically established that all of Allah's objects of knowledge are pre-eternal. Nevertheless, the Shaykh (Ibn ʿArabī), may Allah sanctify his secret, never claimed that any individual of this world is pre-eternal. There is nothing existent there except the Real, so that these manifestations (ẓuhūrāt) might be present in His knowledge. Even if, hypothetically, it were so, it is stated that in His knowledge, not these manifestations but only the essences (ashyāʾ), and not externally, exist in His knowledge. The ashyāʾ have not acceded to the Essence, neither in His knowledge nor externally. In this ḥāl (spiritual state), the attribution of the knowledge of other beings to manifestations is contrary to reality.
The view that accords with reality is what we intend to explain here, with the help of the noble expressions (ifādāt) of the Shaykh (Ibn ʿArabī), may Allah sanctify his secret. That is: There is no true existence (wujūd) for anything other than Allah, who is pre-eternal and All-Knowing. The existence that is originated (ḥādith) for these things is only relative to the form in which they are present in Allah's knowledge, and their consciousness (shuʿūr) will continue forever in this world and the hereafter. Thus, what is originated is nothing but consciousness (shuʿūr). As for the essences (mahiyyāt) of possible things (mumkināt), in reality, they are not originated, for in the divine knowledge (ʿilm-i ilāhī), they are pre-eternal. In essence, they have never even smelled the scent of external existence (wujūd khārijī). From this, you understand the meaning of the Shaykh's statement: "Because Allah creates a world that does not subsist upon the ashyāʾ, neither an attribute nor a relation (nisba) of Allah can be originated." The Shaykh's statement regarding tahallī (adornment with divine attributes) also supports this.
According to the Sufis, tahallī is to turn away from everything that prevents being with the Real (al-Ḥaqq) and to choose seclusion (khalwa). In our view, it is to divest oneself (tahallī) from the existence (wujūd) that is acquired (mustafād, i.e., considered to have come into being later). For this is how it is established in belief (ʿitiqād).
In reality, there is nothing but the existence of the Real (al-Ḥaqq). The subject to whom existence is ascribed remains as it is; it has not departed from its possibility (imkān, i.e., the state of being possible or contingent). Its ruling is constant, its essence is fixed. The Real is both the witness (shāhid) and the witnessed (mashhūd). It would not be proper for Allah, the Exalted, to swear by anything other than Himself. For what is sworn by must be magnificent (ʿaẓīma). Who would swear by something that is not himself?
The witness and the witnessed are among the things by which Allah swears (qasama). Yet both the witness and the witnessed are Himself. His existence is not originated; rather, He is existence itself. (Asfār, 13)
O noble son! The creed of this poor one in his youth was the path of tawḥīd (the oneness of God) of the people of tawḥīd al-wujūd (unity of being). The father of this poor one, outwardly, was also upon this path, and inwardly, he was constantly engaged in this way with a quality-less, complete turning (tawajjuh). According to the rule that the son of a jurist is half a jurist, this poor one also derived much benefit from this path in terms of knowledge, and for me, great delight was produced from this path.
(This state) continued until Allah, by His pure grace, led me to our Shaykh, our Master, and our Qibla, Muḥammad Bāqī Billāh—may Allah sanctify us by his secret!—the locus of the mine of guidance (irshād), the manifestation of gnosis (ʿirfān) and realities (ḥaqāʾiq), the supporter of the religion pleasing to Allah. He taught this poor one the Naqshbandī tariqa (a Sufi path/order). He bestowed upon this miskīn (poor one) abundant and perfect turning (tawajjuh). After beginning to engage with the exalted tariqa, in a short time the doors of tawḥīd al-wujūd were opened to me. In this unveiling (kashf), an excess occurred in me, and many sciences and maʿārif (gnoses) of this station (maqām) manifested. Indeed, not a single subtlety of this station remained hidden from me. The subtleties of the sciences and gnoses of Shaykh Muḥyiddīn Ibn ʿArabī became manifest. I was honored with the essential manifestation (tajallī-yi dhātī) that he explained in the Fuṣūṣ.
He believed that this station is the end of the ascent (urūj), and that after this station comes pure non-existence (ʿadam-i maḥḍ). (Maktūbāt, I, 41)
This manifestation, in all its details, as explained by Shaykh Muḥyiddīn Ibn ʿArabī...