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Introduction by Sheikh al-Jili, may God be pleased with him
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
To proceed: Since knowledge of God is the greatest of sciences in value, the most exalted in glory, the most subtle in meaning, and the most sublime in secret, being the necessary and perpetually obligatory goal, its authority is absolute in this world and the hereafter. All other sciences cease to have authority with the end of this world.
It is the purpose of acquiring all other sciences, and it is through it, and nothing else, that minds and understandings find their glory. Those who possess knowledge of it are the people of supreme sainthood and the highest station. They are the best of scholars—absolutely—in detail and in general, and they possess the most complete and praiseworthy attributes of glory and perfection. They are the successors, the perfect ones, the learned ones, the trustworthy ones. And concerning them, God said: “Only those of His servants who possess knowledge truly fear God” [Fatir: 28]. I intended—by God’s permission—to grant God’s servants a drink from the ocean of knowledge, and to reveal to them the sweetness of learning by arranging wisdom in the blessings and insights. The Meccan Revelations, authored by the greatest saint and most exalted pole, the embodiment of scholarly attributes, the manifestation of tangible and intangible perfections, the voice of truth and the master of the path, the one followed and adherent to the paths of the Sharia: Muhyiddin, the foremost of the close saints, Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Muhammad ibn al-Arabi al-Hatimi al-Ta’i al-Maghribi al-Andalusi (d. 638 AH), may God sanctify his secret and elevate his station and rank with Him, is the most beneficial of all books written on this science, the most comprehensive in its collection of its wonders and marvels, and the most expansive and profound.
In it, he spoke in many languages, and articulated profound and extraordinary meanings; sometimes he explicitly stated a state, and at other times he alluded to another. Sometimes he explicitly stated his intention, and at other times he subtly incorporated his intended meaning into the text.
He—may God be pleased with him—continued to discuss the true nature of things in this book, until he became so verbose and verbose that it became difficult for most to grasp, and its meaning and interpretation eluded the majority.
People were thus left with two options:
One who was unable to acquire the book and benefit from it, and was thus disappointed;
And another who acquired it but was unable to understand what the Sheikh intended through his wondrous allusions and strange hints, and was thus completely cut off from comprehending his knowledge, for: the mind of every learned and intelligent person is perplexed in deciphering the enigmatic nature of that strange symbol. But he—may God be pleased with him—declared that he had compiled the meanings of the detailed sciences in that book and encoded them in the five hundred and fifty-ninth chapter.
He then ceased publication and incorporated that great and highly esteemed knowledge, with its wondrous arrangement and unique, precious style. Thus, the understanding of what he placed in that chapter became completely inaccessible to many of the most discerning minds.
Therefore, I intended, through this explanation of this specific chapter, to resolve all the difficulties of the book.
I have kept the text concise to avoid excessive detail and prolixity, and I have named it: *Explanation of the Difficulties of the Meccan Revelations and the Opening of the Closed Doors of Divinely Inspired Sciences*.
However, I will refine it and arrange it according to the book’s style. It is from God that I hope for widespread benefit and that it will ignite the ears of the discerning, so that all who hear or examine it may understand its meanings. He is the One who answers prayers and grants success.
He is the One from whom help is sought, and upon Him is reliance.
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