| French translation |
1. Nothing is nearer to Me than any other thing, and nothing
is farther from Me than any other thing, except inasfar as I establish
it in nearness and farness.
2. Farness is made known by nearness, and nearness is made known
by spiritual experience: I am He whom nearness does not seek,
and Whom spiritual experience does not attain.
3. The least of the sciences of my nearness is, that thou shouldst
see the effects of my regard in everything, and that it should
prevail in thee over thy gnosis of it.
4. The nearness which thou knowest is, compared with the nearness
I know, like thy gnosis compared with my gnosis.
5. My farness thou knowest not, and my nearness thou knowest not,
nor my qualification knowest thou as I know it.
6. I am the Near, but not as one thing is near to another: and
I am the Far, but not as one thing is far from another.
7. Thy nearness is not thy farness, and thy farness is not thy
nearness: I am the Near and the Far, with a nearness which is
farness, and a farness which is nearness.
8. The nearness which thou knowest is distance, and the farness
which thou knowest is distance: I am the Near and the Far without
distance.
9. I am nearer to the tongue than its speech when it speaks. Whoso
contemplates Me does not recollect, and whoso recollects Me does
not contemplate.
10. As for the recollecting contemplative, if what he contemplates
is not a reality, he is veiled by what he recollects.
11. Not every recollector is a contemplative: but every contemplative
is a recollector.
12. I revealed Myself unto thee, and thou knewest Me not: that
is farness. Thy heart saw Me, and saw Me not: that is farness.
13. Thou findest Me and findest Me not: that is farness. Thou
describest Me, and dost not apprehend Me by My description: that
is farness. Thou hearest my address as though it were from thy
heart, whereas it is from Me: that is farness. Thou seest thyself,
and I am nearer to thee than thy vision of thyself: that is farness.
| French translation |
From The Book of Spiritual Stayings of Al Niffari. Edited for the first time, with translation, commentary, and indices, by Arthur John Arberry, Luzac & Co, London, 1935.