THE BOOK OF CERTAINTY

THE BOOK OF CERTAINTY
By Abu Bakr Siraj Ed-Din (Martin Lings)
Samual Weiser New York 1974 (First published 1952)
Introduction
Moses said to his household:

"Verily beyond all doubt I have seen a fire. I will bring you tidings of it or I will bring you a flaming brand that ye may warm yourselves."
(Quran xxvii.7)

In every esoteric doctrine there are references to three degrees of faith, and in Islamic Mysticism, that is, in Sufism, these three degrees are known as

• Lore of Certainty (‘ilmu ‘l-yaqin). the
• Eye of Certainty (‘ainu ’l-yaqin) and the
• Truth of Certainty (‘haqqu ‘l-yaqin).

The difference between them is illustrated by taking the element fire to represent the Divine Truth. The lowest degree, that of the Lore of Certainty belongs to one whose knowledge of fire comes merely from hearing it described, like those who received from Moses no more than “tidings” of the Burning Bush.

The second degree, that of the Eye of Certainty, belongs to one whose knowledge of fire comes from seeing the light of its flames, like those who were shown a firebrand.

The highest degree, that of the Truth of Certainty, belongs to one whose knowledge of fire comes from being burnt in it. This ultimate possibility is represented in the above verse by the direct experience of those who are allowed to “warm themselves” at the fire. But Arabic word used here (tastalun) is in itself open to the full range of possibility of experiencing the fire directly and could be translated, apart from its literal context, “that ye may be consumed”.