Kitāb al-bāʼ
Author: Shaykh al-Akbar Muhyiddin Ibn al-Arabi
Editor: Abrar Ahmed Shahī
Pages: 46
ISBN:
Dimensions: 255 × 165 mm
Edition: 2021
Shaykh al-Akbar
Ibn al-Arabi
Ibn al-Arabi Foundation
Critical Arabic Edition
PDF – Book
Just as the “Book of the First Existent (Kitāb al-Alif)” points to the Divine Oneness (Aḥadiyyah) and the “First Existent,” this book, the “Book of the Second Existent (al-Bā’),” explains the reality of the “second existent” (the created universe).
The basis of this book is a dream had by a man. In this dream, all these spiritual truths were shown to him through signs and symbols. However, because the man lacked the knowledge of spiritual realization (maʿrifah), he could not understand them.
He then came and told his dream to the Shaykh al-Akbar, asking him to interpret it. It was in connection with interpreting this very dream that the Shaykh wrote this entire treatise on the “Second Existent” (al-Bā’)—so that everyone could come to know and understand these hidden truths.
The foundation of this Critical Edition of “Kitab al-Ba” is based on more than ten manuscripts, which we have divided into two categories:
These two tiers of manuscripts collectively form the basis for the modern text of this work. They provide valuable insights into the content and variations within the book, allowing scholars and researchers to study and compare different versions of this important work.
These are the manuscripts that are directly copied from the original manuscript of Shaykh al-Akbar, or were transcribed within a century of the Shaykh’s life or death. They typically present the best text and are mostly copied directly from the original manuscript. We consider these the best manuscripts for any edition and include all variations from these in the footnotes.
These are the manuscripts that are not directly copied from the original manuscript or were transcribed centuries after Shaykh’s life or death. While they still present good text quality, we treat them as corroborative evidence. Sometimes, these manuscripts may contain errors, which is why we do not include all variations in the footnotes.
Some researchers believe that this manuscript is part of a collection in which most of the treatises were written by Sheikh Akbar himself, but according to our research, this is not correct. This collection is located in the Yusuf Agha Library in Konya. The book Kitab al-Ba is the third in the collection. It is highly probable that this collection was written between 602 AH and 617 AH, and most of its treatises were written in the city of Malatya. The collection contains a total of 11 treatises: Kitab Fadl Shahadat al-Tawhid, Bab min al-Tanazzulat al-Mawsiliyya, Kitab al-Ba, Kitab al-Khutba fi Kayfiyyat Tartib al-Alam wa-Shaklih, Hilyat al-Abdal, Kitab Taj al-Tarajim, Kitab Shawahid al-Haqq fi al-Qalb, Ash’ar, Jawab Su’al Ibn Sawdakin, Kitab al-Jalala, Kitab al-Thamania wa-al-Thalathin wa-Huwa Kitab al-Azal.
This is the same collection that led the Ibn Arabi Society to collect Sheikh Akbar’s manuscripts. This collection was stolen, and then in 2000, some of the treatises from this collection, including Jawab Su’al Ibn Sawdakin, Kitab al-Ba, Kitab al-Khutba, and Hilyat al-Abdal, were found being auctioned in London. Upon receiving this information, they were returned to their original library. The remaining treatises are still available in microfilm.
As far as Kitab al-Ba is concerned, the text is written with diacritical marks. It is clear from the beginning of the manuscript that attention has been paid to punctuation marks, although this practice does not continue as consistently later on. There are 17 lines on a page, the words are easily readable, and the diacritical marks have made it even easier. There are no signs of collation in the margins anywhere in the entire manuscript, but at the end of the treatise, this phrase is written: “Quubila bi-al-asl fa-sahh wa-al-hamdulillah.” This phrase was compared and corrected. Perhaps this manuscript was copied so carefully that there were no mistakes in it. This phrase also highlights that this is not the original manuscript of this treatise, as there would be many other pieces of evidence on the original manuscript. After research, it has come to light that this presents the text copied from Sheikh Akbar’s first manuscript, because evidence from some other manuscripts has proven that Sheikh also made amendments to the text of Kitab al-Ba, and those amendments are also present before us today in the form of various manuscripts.
In our personal opinion, this is the best manuscript of this treatise.
Located in the Bayezid Library in Istanbul, this collection is a precious and rare collection of Sheikh Akbar’s books and treatises. One of its features is that the scribe – Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Muthbit – copied it in Jerusalem in the middle of the eighth Hijri century, keeping Sheikh Akbar’s original manuscripts in front of him. The complete collection consists of 17 books and treatises. The writing is in Naskh script, although the writing is not very good, but the scribe has shown excellence in copying, as the collection is largely free from spelling and writing errors. There are 20 lines on a page. There are signs of collation scattered on every page of the manuscript. Kitab al-Ba starts from page 125 and ends on page 131. At the end of the book, this phrase is present: Katabahu Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Muthbit bi-Bayt al-Maqdis fi sanat 762 min khat manshi’ih Ibn al-Arabi rahimahu Allah, wa-hasbi Allah wa-kafa. Faraghtuhu qira’atan muqabalan bi-aslih al-muktatab bi-khatt al-musannif fa-sahh in sha’ Allah. In which the scribe’s name is Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Muthbit, the date of copying is 762 AH, and the place of copying is Jerusalem. In our opinion, this is the best manuscript of this treatise, and its text is quite similar to the Yusuf Agha manuscript.
The glory of the Veliyuddin Library, this collection is one of the most authentic collections of Sheikh Akbar, which is not only of historical importance, but the samā’āt (hearings) present in it have also been very helpful in learning about his life. Mrs. Jane Clark and Dennis McAuley highlighted the importance of this collection in a paper in 2006, in which every aspect of it was discussed in detail. They write:
“This collection is of great importance for many reasons. One is that it presents many books and treatises of Sheikh Akbar copied from the original manuscript. And its scribe is the same person who copied it in Jerusalem in the middle of the eighth century. Secondly, this manuscript tells the story of the promotion and development of Sheikh Akbar’s sciences or the Akbari tradition, how his sciences began to become common after his death. How the scribe arranged this manuscript. Thirdly, many of the footnotes in this manuscript also confirm when and where the original treatise was written. This information also describes Sheikh Akbar’s life. Then, from several samā’āt, it is known which people were present with him in which place, who had the privilege of reading and listening to these books or treatises in front of him. Uthman Ismail Yahya and Mrs. Claudia Addas have proven Sheikh Akbar’s presence in different places from this very manuscript.” For more details, read this article:
http://www.ibnarabisociety.org/articles/mssveliyuddin51.html
Written in Maghrebi script, this is a very fine manuscript. The complete text of the manuscript is adorned with diacritical marks, bold ink is used for titles, and red ink is also used in some places. On page number 15 of this collection, this phrase is written: that this treatise was compared with the author’s original manuscript and was read in front of the author, and then the text of the manuscript was corrected as much as possible.
Kitab al-Ba starts from page number 53 and ends on page number 61. The last page of the manuscript is missing, so it is not known when it was copied. But from this single reference in the collection, it is clear that the entire collection was written and read in front of Sheikh Akbar. We found this to be the best manuscript of this treatise.
In its present state, this manuscript contains the following books and treatises of Sheikh Akbar: Kitab al-Azama, Kitab al-Sha’n, Insha’ al-Dawa’ir (incomplete), Kitab al-Azal, Kitab al-Jalala, and Kitab al-Ba (incomplete).
On page 77 of the manuscript, its date of writing, Dhu al-Hijjah 748 AH, is recorded. This is an excellent manuscript of this book, which was copied from a manuscript written by Sheikh Akbar himself, and that original manuscript was given by Sheikh to Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Sawdakin? in 620 AH. At the end of the manuscript, this phrase is recorded: Katabahu manshi’uhu bi-khatti yadihi li-sahibihi Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn… fi Dhi al-Qa’dah sanat ishrin wa-sittami’ah. Naqal Kitab al-Ba’ wa-al-hamdulillah al-Ali al-A’la, wa-huwa hasbuna wa-kafa, min nuskha katabaha al-Sheikh qaddasa Allah sirrahu bi-khatti yadihi al-sharif. Harrarahu al-faqir Yusuf ibn Ibrahim fi Dhi al-Hijjah hujjat thaman wa-arba’in wa-sab’ami’ah.
Black and red ink has been used in the writing of the manuscript. The text of the book is written in black ink, while most of the poems are highlighted in red ink. A red line has been drawn under the full stop and important phrases after each sentence to distinguish them. The book is divided into subheadings, and these subheadings are written in red ink on the margins of each page, which makes it very easy to reach the topics discussed on that page. In the margins, the meanings of difficult words and the titles of the list are recorded by another hand in various places. In our opinion, this is an excellent manuscript
This manuscript is housed in the National Library of Pakistan, Islamabad. The scribe was from Hyderabad, India. The first page bears the mark of the Asafiyah Library, Hyderabad Deccan, and the number 39. It was copied by the scribe Nawab al-Dīn, Head Teacher of Dār al-‘Ulūm, in the year 1324 AH [1906 CE].
The manuscript is in excellent condition and is executed with great calligraphic finesse. Headings are written in red ink, while the main text is in black ink. There are very few signs of collation in the manuscript, and at some points, errors in Arabic orthography are found. A primary reason for this is the scribe’s origin in the Indian subcontinent and a lack of native proficiency in Arabic.
The manuscript’s principal importance lies in it being a copy from the manuscript of Shaykh Zāhidi. This is recorded in a note at the end of the manuscript:
“The writing of this was completed; it is the ‘Book of the Bā’’ by the Shaykh Muḥyī al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn ‘Alī ibn al-‘Arabī – may God Most High have mercy on him. The copy from which this copy was transcribed is in the handwriting of my master, Shaykh Abū Bakr ibn Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm al-Zāhidi – may God Most High forgive him and benefit others through him. And he (al-Zāhidi) transcribed it from the handwriting of the author, my master, the Verifying Shaykh Muḥyī al-Dīn Muḥammad aforementioned – may God forgive him, benefit us through him, and return to us from his blessings.”
“The writer of this book and the copies that follow is the one in need of God Most High, Abū Bakr ibn ‘Abd al-Nabī al-Dahhān (the oil merchant) – may God Most High forgive him, be gentle with him, succor him with His mercy, and cause him to reach the station of spiritual excellence (iḥsān) through His beneficence, generosity, grace, and bounty, and (may He do the same) for his spiritual masters (mashāyikh), his parents, his family, the people of his homeland, the people of his city, and for all the Muslims. Amen!”
This copy, written in a Naskh script, is part of a private library’s collection in Pakistan. The Ibn Arabi Foundation possesses a digital scan of this manuscript, which was used for collation. It was copied in the year 814 AH [1411 CE] in the city of Zabid, Yemen. The scribe copied it alongside many other books and treatises by the Shaykh al-Akbar, the number of which exceeds sixty. The entire collection was copied onto large-sized pages. In this collection, the Kitāb al-Bā’ spans from page 330 to 332.
The style of handwriting suggests the copy was made with great care. Throughout the margins, clear signs of collation are evident; these are mostly words that were omitted during the initial copying and were thus added in the margin in their correct place. The text of this manuscript is, to a considerable extent, close to the original, making it an excellent copy of this treatise. Red and black ink are used in the manuscript. In this copy, poems are written inline with the main text and are not distinctly set apart. The copy date is not recorded at the end of this specific book, but it is mentioned frequently throughout the larger collection.
This copy, written in a Naskh script, is located in the Al-Khalidiyyah Library, Jerusalem (al-Quds). Nothing is recorded in this complete copy regarding the scribe’s name or the copy date; however, the library’s estimation is that it is a 12th-century AH [18th-century CE] manuscript. The entire manuscript is written in black ink. In the margins, there are occasional signs of collation. We have included it among the second-grade manuscripts in our edition.
The names of the treatises present in this manuscript are:
Kitāb al-Nuqabā’, Risālat al-Ḥaqq, al-Fanā’ fī al-Mushāhadah, Kitāb al-Jalālah, Maqām al-Qurbah, Kitāb al-Yā’ (which is Kitāb al-Huwa), Kitāb al-Azal, Kitāb al-Alif (which is Kitāb al-Aḥadiyyah), Kitāb al-Bā’.
This collection, housed in the Bayezid Library in Istanbul, is a precious and rare compilation of treatises by the Shaykh al-Akbar. Most of the treatises are transcribed from the copy of Ayyūb ibn Badr, which was read in the presence of the Shaykh in the year 621 AH [1224 CE]. It was copied by the scribe Aḥmad ibn Abī Bakr in the month of Shawwāl, 825 AH [October 1422 CE].
Black ink is used in the script, and headings are distinguished with bold letters. Throughout the margins, there are signs of collation. There is no colophon at the end of the Kitāb al-Bā’, so nothing definitive can be stated about it; for this reason, we have included it among the second-grade manuscripts.
This copy, written in a Maghrebi script, is an ancient and accurate text. According to Osman Ismail Yahia, this manuscript was copied during the lifetime of the Shaykh al-Akbar, but we could not find any text to confirm this claim. The text is written in a very small script on large-sized pages, making it difficult to read without a magnifying glass, and the complete text spans only three pages. Throughout the margins, clear signs of collation and correction are evident, which further enhances the accuracy of the text.
Regarding the Kitāb al-Bā’, this manuscript has significant deficiencies, hence it has been included among the second-grade manuscripts.
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