Sh. Muhyiddin Ibn al-ʿArabī

10b Knowing - - Recognizing

The locus classicus for the intellectual tradition’s use of the word maʿrifa is the famous maxim, ‘Whoever recognizes himself recognizes his Lord.’ Most people, including myself, have translated this as ‘Whoever knows himself knows his Lord.’^[9]

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But when we use the word know in this saying and then bring up the topic of gnostics, we miss the connection – especially when the verb ‘recognize’ is used repeatedly in the discussion, as is so often the case.^[10]

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In terms of this saying, the ‘recognizers’ are those who have recognized themselves for who they truly are and, as a consequence, have recognized the Real for who He truly is.

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Once they achieve this recognition, they have reached what Samʿānī calls ‘the heart’s life with God,’ a point that can be inferred from a saying of Abū Yazīd Bastāmī (d.ca.874) often cited by Ibn al-ʿArabī: ‘You take your knowledge dead from the dead, but I take my knowledge from the Living who does not die.’