In the Name of Allah the Merciful, the One Who is visible with All His beautiful names and attributes in the realm of images.

Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi is known as "the greatest Shaikh" and "the pole of Knowledge" in Sufism. He was born in 1165 in Murcia, Spain and died in 1240 in Damascus. According to Annemarie Schimmel his influence "on the general development of Sufism can hardly be overrated. For most of the Sufis after the thirteenth century his writings constitute the apex of mystical theories." This essay, "The One Alone," is reproduced here from his extensive treatise on the spiritual practice, "What the Seeker Needs."

"He who knows himself, knows his Lord"

All praise and thanks to Allah, Almighty, the First with no other before Him. He is the only First, and there is no last but His Oneness. The end is with Him alone, and He is the End. He is all-existing : with Him there is no end. Neither is there nearness or farness; nor is there a will or wish, or time, or above, or below, or place; neither is there a universe. Allah is now as He was before. He is eternal. He is One without oneness and Alone without loneliness. He is not named with a name, for it is He whose name is "He," the self-named one. There is no name other than "He," and none other than He is named.

He is the First without anything before Him. He is the Last without anything after Him. He is visible in all that is seen. He is known, clearly, in all that is hidden. He is in all forms and images without any relation to any appearance. He is the secret and the appearance of the first letter announcing the beginning of existence. He is the presence of all the letters that belong to the First and all the letters that belong to the Last and is the presence in all the letters that are visible and all the letters that are hidden. Therefore, He is "the First" and "the Last" and "the Visible" and "the Hidden." He is the First and the Last and the Visible and the Hidden. All the letters that form the words, from the first to the last of realms seen or unseen, are without any relation to His Being and are without effect on His Being.

Do no fall into the blasphemous error of the sect called Hulluliyah, who believe that another soul, even another being, can be infused into them and that they may have God materially existing in them. Know that He is never in anything, nor is anything in Him. He is neither inside nor outside of anything. None can see Him, whether with the eyes of the head or with an inner eye; nor can any conceive Him through the senses, the mind, intelligence, knowledge, or imagination. Only He can see Himself; only He can conceive Himself. None can know Him; only He can know Himself. He sees Himself by Himself; He conceives Himself by Himself; He knows Himself by Himself. None other than He can see Him. None other than He can know Him. That which hides Him is His oneness. None but Himself can hide Him. The veil that hides Him is His own being. He hides His being with nothing other than His being the Only One; therefore, none other than He can see Him.

Neither a prophet whom He has sent to humanity, nor a saint, a perfect man, nor an angel close to Him can see Him, for they are not apart from Him. His prophets, His messengers, His perfect men, are none other than He, for He has sent Himself, from Himself, for Himself, without any other cause or means besides Himself. He sent His essence, from His essence, by His essence, to His essence. There is no difference between the One who sent and His messengers who were saint. The letters of His being are the being of His messengers. There is no other being than He. Neither does He become another; nor does His name become another's name; nor is there any other named by His name. That is why our Master, the Light of the Universe, the Prophet Muhammad (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him), said:

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