Whoever knows their Self, knows their Lord.
Praise belongs to God — before whose Oneness there is no before, unless the Before is God; and after whose Singleness there is no after, unless the After is God.
That is — and there is not with It any before or after, above or below, closeness or distance, how or where or when; time or moment or duration; manifested existence or place; and that is Now as It has always been.
It is the One without Oneness, and the Single without Singleness…
It is not composed of Name and Named: for the Name is That, and the Named is That — and there is no Name, or Named, other than That.
It is the First without Firstness, and the Last without Lastness… It is The Apparent without Appearance, and The Hidden without Hiddenness… It is the very existence of the Letters of the Names, the First and the Last, the Apparent and the Hidden.
There is no First or Last, Apparent or Hidden, except That.
Without the Letters which form these Divine Names becoming That, and without That becoming these letters… understand this, so as not to make the mistake of those who believe in incarnation. It is not in anything, and no thing is in That: whether entering into That, or coming out of That.
It is in this way that you should know Him, and not through theoretical knowledge, reason, understanding or conjecture. Not with the senses, the external eye, or interior sight or perception. No one sees Him except Himself. No one reaches Him except Himself. And no one knows Him, except Himself.
He knows Himself through Himself, and it sees Himself by means of Himself.
No one but That sees It, Its veil is its Oneness, since nothing veils it, other than That: Its own Being veils it. Its Being is concealed by its Oneness without any condition.
No one other than That sees It. No sent prophet, perfect saint or angel brought close knows It: Its Prophet is That, Its Messenger is That, Its Message is That — and The Word is That. He sent Himself, from Himself, through Himself, to Himself. There is no intermediary or means other than That.
There is no difference between The Sender, That which is sent, and The One to whom it is sent. The very existence of the Prophetic Message is Its Existence. There is no existence to any other who could pass away or could have a name or be named.
Because of this, the Prophet said, whoever knows their Self, knows their Lord.
He also said, “I knew my Lord through my Lord.” What the Prophet pointed out by that is that you are not you, but you are That — and there is no you. It is not That that enters into you, or that you enter into That, or that It comes out of you, or that you come out of That… it does not mean that you have being and you are qualified by this or that attribute. What is meant is that you never were, and never will be. Whether through yourself or through That or in That or with That — you have never ceased to be, nor are you existent. You are That and That is you: without any of these imperfections.
If you know your existence in this way, then you know God. And if not, then not.
Most of those who claim to know God make the knowledge of God dependent on the passing away of existence, and on the passing away of that passing away. That is clearly an error and misconception. The knowledge of God does not require the passing away of existence or the passing away of that passing away: because things have no existence, and what does not exist cannot pass away.
Passing away implies the prior existence of the thing that passes away. If you know yourself without existing and passing away then you know God; and if not, then not.
The Prophet said: “Whoever knows their Self, knows their Lord.” He did not say ‘Whoever annihilates their Self, knows their Lord.’ Your being is no thing, and whatever is nothing cannot be placed in relationship to anything else: whether it is capable of passing away or not, and whether it is existent or nonexistent.
The Prophet alluded to the fact that you are nonexistent now, as you were non-existent before creation, because Now is Eternity without beginning, and Now is Eternity without end, and Now is timelessness. God is the very Being of Eternity without beginning, Eternity without end, and Timelessness.
Even though in reality there is no Eternity without beginning, Eternity without end, or Timelessness. If it were otherwise, That would not be alone, without any associate.
If someone asks, ‘What is the way to knowledge of the Self and knowledge of God?’ The answer is: “It consists in being aware that God is, and nothing is with Him; and He is Now as He has always Been.”
If someone then says, ‘I see myself as other than God, and do not see God as myself.’ The answer is: “The Prophet meant by the word Self, your Being and your essential Reality, and not the self which is called the blaming self, or the lower self, or the self which is known as the confident and peaceful self.”
So The Prophet saw Things as they are, that is: he saw them as the Essence of God, Who is exalted — without how or where. The word Things applies to the Self, and to other things, because the existence of the Self, and the existence of Things, are equal, in terms of being Things. When you know the Things, you know your Self, and when you know your Self, you know The Lord. Because what you think is other than God is not other than God, but you do not know it.
You see Him, and you do know know that you see Him. When this secret is revealed to you, you will know that you are not other than God, but that you Yourself are the object of your quest. You do not need to get rid of yourself. You have not ceased, nor will you cease to exist, without time and without moments. You will see God’s Attributes as Your Attributes, God’s Exterior as God’s Exterior, Your Interior as God’s Interior, your First as God’s First, and your Last as God’s Last — without any doubt or uncertainty.
You will see your Attributes to be God’s attributes, and your Essence to be God’s essence: without you becoming God, and without God becoming you — in the least degree. Everything passes away except God’s Face, both outwardly and inwardly. This means that there is no existent, but Him. Nothing other than Him has Being, and therefore has to pass away, so that God’s Face remains. There is nothing except God’s Face. It is as if a person who does not know something, then comes to know it: their existence does not disappear, but their ignorance disappears. Their existence remains as it was, without being exchanged for another, and without the existence of the ignorant person being added to or mixed with the knowing person: ignorance simply disappears.
That is why the person who has reached the Essential Truth is allowed to say I Am The Truth, or Glory to Me.
No one has truly reached God, unless they see their attributes to be the Attributes of God, and their essence to be the Essence of God. They see that their Self has never been their own, nor that it was — and then it passed away.
Know Yourself, Part 2 - Ibn Arabi