The Resplendent Planet (al-kawkab al-durri)

The Resplendent Planet is the locus of manifestation of the Universal Soul (al-nafs al-kulliyah). It is the site of disclosure where the individual dots (niqaṭ) of reality join to the discontinuations of the Imaginal realm, thus assuming a shape in the sensory realm. The Resplendent Planet is where pure meaning becomes sensorial; it is where the spiritual realm (malakut) becomes physical (mulk); and the [two-dimensional] circle becomes a [three-dimensional] sphere.

God exalted says in Sura Ya Sin: “And the sun runs to a dwelling place of its own. That is the decree of the Mighty, the Knowing. And for the moon We have decreed mansions till it returns like an old palm-stalk. It befits not the sun to overtake the moon nor the nights to outstrip the day. Each glides in an orbit.” 

In commenting on this passage, Ibn ʿAjiba says in his commentary “The Vast Ocean” (al-Baḥr al-Madid),

“And a sign unto them is the night, We strip the day therefrom”

“A sign for them is that We strip the night of forgetfulness from the day of wakefulness, and the day of wakefulness We strip from the night of forgetfulness, so that the servant is perpetually suspended between forgetfulness and remembrance, sleep and wakefulness. This continues till the sun of direct knowledge of God shines upon him and finds a dwelling place in his heart.

“The sun runs to a dwelling place of its own" (wa-l-shamsu tajri li-mustaqarrin laha). 

Its dwelling place is the heart of the knower of God. 

And for "the moon" of faith, "we decreed mansions, till it returns like an old palm-stalk." 

It increases and decreases. It decreases with the branches and its orientation, and it decreases till the sun of direct knowledge shines upon it. The sun of the knower of God is forever in a state of luminosity. The knower is in a state of fixity and firm rootedness. His sun has no color. He is not overshadowed by a cloud. He is unlike the servant whose states are always in transition and take on different colors.

You should know, dear disciple —may God grant you success— that before God casts...the light of His Attribute upon your heart at the hand of the intermediacy of the Olive Tree, [that light] is qualified by the intermediacy of the [Shaykh]…through the secret of the verse:

“Each glides in an orbit” (kullun fi falakin yasbaḥuna) 

That is, you glide in an orbit of the kaf al-tashbih, the kaf of divine immanence. You do not leave or depart it except through the authority of divine permission. Your supreme goal is to fill this orbit with light, so that the circle becomes a sphere, and the Glass (zujaja) becomes a Resplendent Planet through the saintly aspiration (himma) of your Shaykh that flows through you. 

God therefore declares similitude between the encompassing of the heart and the moon, because it draws from the lights of the sun, from the spirit of the Lamp (miṣbaḥ). The mansions of the wayfaring (manazil al-sayr) are decreed by the intermediary (wasiṭa) so that you may come to learn true servanthood through the secret of “as if you see Him” (ka’annaka tarah). 

As a result, the heart turns with its entirety to the presence of union through invocation, meditation, and direct witnessing. States and stations are yielded, and the moon of the beauty of the attributes shines upon the sun of certainty, taking on different colors with expansion and contraction, the lights of the attributes, and the pure meanings of the in-rushes (waridat). 

And when the moon rises in the sky of divine knowledge and faces the station of the secret, it discloses itself as a Resplendent Planet and a full moon ... Then the “I” (ana) becomes manifest. And what a marvel is the I, al-ana. It is surrounded by the subtle graces of mercy, and it teaches you that the sun is the place from where it draws its light. It draws closer to you gradually, and every time it draws closer, the subject begins to obliterate and his essence passes away in its essence. 

This is the station of true poverty, iftiqar. 

Allow me to clarify this so that you may understand the meaning. When the moon first appears, it assumes  the form of a boat, and it begins to wax until the fourteenth day. These are the levels of the luminous letters, the disconnected letters of the Qur’an by which God swears. Then the moon begins to wane for fourteen days. These are the letters of the shadows of light. And there remain two hidden levels for the hamzah to assert its authority over, and thus the heart fluctuates between light and darkness.

The Resplendent Planet (al-kawkab al-durri) is also the phase of the White Days (al-ayyam al-biḍ) of the full moon, when the moon is a complete for the eye to behold. The beauty of the Resplendent Planet is the manifestation of the I (al-ananiyah). 

However, the heart may become preoccupied and distracted by the sweetness of the vision of the spiritual realm (malakut), and it may confuse him and distract him from his goal at this high station. The disciple may come to taste the fruits of reality and the waves of al-ana, of I, begin to roar, and the disciple exclaims, “This is my Lord” Hadha rabbi. He may come to worship his whims without even knowing it. 

Then when it the full moon begins to wane and the Resplendent Planet is curtained, the disicple comes to know that his lights are drawn from the sun of the Spirit, not from the horizon of the Soul at Peace (al-nafs al-muṭma’innah). At that point he repents and turns to God and [like Abraham, peace be upon him] says:

“If my Lord does not guide me, I will be among the misguided people” (la-in lam yahdini rabbi)

Sh. Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari (al-Mahajja al-Bayda')