Ibn Arabi on Vigilance

Peace, one and all…

In this final section, Ibn Arabi discusses sahar, or vigilance.

Vigilance (sahar)

Vigilance is the fruit of hunger, for an empty stomach drives away sleep. There are two kinds of vigilance: vigil of the eye and vigil of the heart. The heart’s vigil is awakening from the sleep of forgetful-ness and seeking contemplation, while the eye’s vigil is the desire to maintain the spiritual intention in the heart to pursue the quest for night-converse (musāmara). For when the eye sleeps, the activity of the heart ceases, but if the heart is not asleep when the eye is, its objective is contemplation of its previous vigil, no more. Indeed, for the heart to observe anything else is not possible. The benefit of vigil is in keeping the heart active and in ascending to the high abodes which lie in the safekeeping of God, exalted is He.

The spiritual state of vigilance is to cultivate the present moment, for both the seeker and the verifier, except that the verifier also has an increase in assuming the lordly attributes (takhalluq rabbāni), unknown to the seeker. Its spiritual station is that of Everlasting Self-Existence (qayyumīya). Sometimes some of our companions have declared it impossible that someone could be realized (tahaqquq) in Self-Existence, while others could not admit the possibility of assuming its attributes
(takhalluq). I myself met ‘Abd Allah b. Junayd and found that he denied this possibility. As for us, we do not agree with that view, since the realities have shown us that for the Perfect Man there exists no Name in the Divine Presence that he is not the bearer of. If there is anyone of our company who is undecided about this question, that is due to his lack of true knowledge concerning what Man is in his essential reality and
origin. If he knew himself, this matter would not be difficult for him.

Vigilance bequeaths knowledge of the self.

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