by al-Junaid

Abu al-Qasim al-Junaid ibn Muhammad al-Baghdadi (d. 910 CE) was the undisputed master of the Baghdad school of Sufism — the fountainhead of what later generations called the "sober" tradition of Islamic mysticism. His students included al-Hallaj and al-Shibli; his teachings on tawhid (divine unity), fana' (annihilation), and baqa' (subsistence) became the doctrinal bedrock of classical Sufism.

The Kitab al-Mithaq — Book of the Covenant — is one of al-Junaid's most theologically original works. It takes its name from the Quranic verse of the Covenant (7:172), in which God addresses the souls of all humanity before creation and asks: "Am I not your Lord?" They answer: "Yes." Al-Junaid's treatise is a sustained meditation on the metaphysical implications of that primordial moment — a moment in which the souls existed only through God's existence of them, and answered a question they could not have understood, with a voice that was not their own.

The prose is among the densest in the Arabic mystical tradition — recursive, paradoxical, and deliberately resistant to paraphrase. Al-Junaid's sentences loop through annihilation and subsistence, presence and absence, gathering and scattering, in a rhythm that enacts the very states it describes. To read the Book of the Covenant is to experience what it means for meaning to exceed the capacity of language.

Praise be to God who made what He bestowed upon His servants, from the dawning of His grace, a guiding proof leading them to knowledge of Him — through what He granted them of understanding and perception, by which they comprehend the return of address.

I praise Him with praise perpetual and everlasting, and I thank Him with thanks enduring and self-sustaining.

I bear witness that there is no god but God — the Single, the Unique, the One, the Alone, the Eternal Refuge, the Holy.

And I bear witness that Muhammad — may God bless and grant him peace — is complete in prophecy and perfect in the Message. May God bless him and all his family.

Then truly God — exalted and glorious — has an elect among His servants and chosen ones among His creation. He selected them for closeness, refined them for honour, and set them apart through Him for Him.

He made their bodies worldly and their spirits luminous, their imaginations spiritual, their understanding throne-like, and their intellects veiling. He made the homelands of their spirits in the unseen of the Unseen. He granted them free roaming through the mysteries of the Kingdom's hidden realms. They have no shelter except in Him, no resting place except with Him.

Those are the ones He brought into existence before Him, in the being of pre-eternity with Him, upon the vehicles of Oneness in His presence. When He called them they answered swiftly — out of His generosity upon them and His grace. He answered through them on their behalf when He brought them into being, for they themselves were the call from Him. He made them know Himself when they were nothing but a will He established before Him. He transferred them by His volition, then made them as particles. He brought them forth by His will as creation, and deposited them in the loins of Adam — peace be upon him.

He said — exalted and glorious: "And when your Lord took from the children of Adam, from their loins, their seed, and made them testify concerning themselves: Am I not your Lord? They said: Yes." [al-A'raf 7:172]

He has declared — glorified be His remembrance — that He addressed them while they did not exist except through His existence of them. For they were finding the Real without any existence of their own. The Real was, through the Real, existent in that — by a meaning none but He knows, and none but He finds.

He was finding, encompassing, witnessing over them. He declared them righteous in their state of annihilation — those who were in pre-eternity for pre-eternity. Those are the ones existent and annihilated in their annihilation, abiding in their abiding. The attributes of Lordship encompassed them, and the traces of pre-eternity, and the marks of everlastingness.

He manifested these upon them when He willed their annihilation — so that He might perpetuate their abiding there, and open for them within the knowledge of the unseen His own unseen, and show them the mysteries of His hidden knowledge. He gathered them through Him, then scattered them. Then He concealed them within their gathering, and brought them present in their scattering. Their concealment was the cause of their presence, and their presence the cause of their concealment.

He seized them through the witnesses appearing from Him upon them when He brought them present, and stripped them of those witnesses when He concealed them. He perfected their annihilation in the state of their abiding, and their abiding in the state of their annihilation.

All matters encompassed them as He ran His will upon them from wherever He willed, through His transcendent attribute in which none partakes. That existence was the most complete existence. He is more worthy and more exalted and more entitled to overwhelming power and dominion and true sovereignty over what appeared from Him upon them — until their traces are effaced, their marks obliterated, and their existence dissolved.

For there is no human attribute, no existence of knowability, no trace of intelligibility. These are but disguises upon the spirits — what they possess from pre-eternity. A tasting of the existence of bliss unlike any bliss — transformed in meanings, concordant in names, truthful in the tasting of their bliss, variegated in the marks of their witnesses. They appear in their bliss through the risings of their witnesses, and shift in colour through the tasting of the bitternesses of their flavour.

Their thoughts were lost in their Beloved, and their remembrances groaned in their secrets. Upon them then surged the seas of divine jealousy, with waves crashing against waves. The trial grew immense as they turned the pages of what came upon them, and their selves dissolved in their expectation of it. Everything known stood up against them as unknown, and every unknown was established as known.

They emerged through the knowledge of Reality before the Real — when the reality of the Real brought them into existence as a relation from Him, not attributed to the one who finds it. That was the perfection of striving in His presence.

Then He gave their trial no names, so that they might not rest. And He gave their striving no knowledge, so that they might not take pleasure. He distracted some of them from others, and separated some from others. They are, in their presence, loss; and in their enjoyment of witnessing, the perfection of hardship — because every mark and meaning they found through themselves, and every witness they beheld from where they are, has been effaced from them, since He overwhelmed them and effaced them, and annihilated them from their own attributes.

The meaning of this is that Reality performs from the Real whatever He wills — howsoever He established through them and upon them, and stood on their behalf with what was theirs, and fixed the causes of that upon them and within them, of the nature of His perfection and His completeness.

So bliss was found that was not of the nature of bliss, and trial was found within the known of bliss, and existence was found on other than the path of existence — through the concealment of the Real and the dominion of overwhelming power.

When the spirits lost that unseen bliss which the selves cannot perceive and the senses cannot approach, they grew accustomed to their own annihilation, and were cast into desolate wildernesses of trial. Then they grew accustomed, after their familiarity with annihilation, to an annihilation — so that they might find no known taste and rest in no existent thing.

He was filled with them with no indication toward their attributes, no marks from the marks of description, no impulses from Him toward them. His witnesses were effaced in the traces, when no path was found to attain healing from the pure existence that overwhelmed from the Real — exalted be He. Such is the one in His exalted attribute, in the power of His witness, through the incoming of His sovereignty.

The way of trial ran its course upon the people of trial — when they struggled and stood firm, and held fast and were not deceived.

There was established upon them what annihilated them in the very midst of power and height of rank and nobility of station and radiance of relation. Then He brought them present to annihilation within their annihilation, and made them witness existence within their existence. What brought them present from themselves and made them witness existence in their existence was a hidden veil and a subtle curtain — through which they realized the magnitude of loss and the severity of illumination.

That which knowledge does not befit, and traces do not accord with His attribute — they sought Him through what was their seeking, and He withheld from them what was their withholding. They came to know from Him what He made known to them, not through them. They alighted at the station of power, and attained the realities of favour, and rose to the reality of the Presence.

He established upon them a witness from Him within them, and they attained from Him through Him what they attained. He halted each one of them at their attainment, and singled out whatever was singled out from Him.

Exalted be God above the attribute of creatures, and too mighty for creatures to resemble Him — a great exaltation.

Colophon

Kitab al-Mithaq (Book of the Covenant) by Abu al-Qasim al-Junaid ibn Muhammad al-Baghdadi (d. 297 AH / 910 CE). Good Works Translation from Classical Arabic by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, March 2026.

Translated independently from the Arabic source text as published in Al-Imam al-Junaid: Sayyid al-Ta'ifatayn, ed. Shaykh Ahmad Farid al-Mazidi, from the edition of Abdul-Qadir (p. 43). The Arabic text was accessed via the Internet Archive digital edition.

The Arabic original is dense, recursive prose that deliberately resists linear paraphrase. The translation preserves al-Junaid's characteristic paradoxical pairings — annihilation within subsistence, presence as loss, witness as trial — and follows the rhythm of the source as closely as English permits. Where al-Junaid's sentences loop, the English loops. Where the Arabic is opaque, the opacity is preserved rather than explained away, following the principle that a sacred text's difficulty is itself part of its meaning.

This is believed to be the first freely available English translation of the complete Kitab al-Mithaq.

Translated by Safa (صفا), Arabic Sufi Translator, life 53. Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

See also: Five Treatises of al-Junaid — five treatises on spiritual remedy, negligence, the etiquette of need, divine impulses, divinity, and the distinction between sincerity and truthfulness. Letters of al-Junaid — fourteen letters and exchanges by the same author. Book of Annihilation — al-Junaid's masterwork on mystical annihilation (fana'), the theological consequence of the primordial covenant described in this text. Short Treatises of al-Junaid — eight bab chapters on breaths, the divine ruse, witnessing, knowledge, love, jealousy, reality, and aspiration.

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Source Text: كتاب الميثاق

Arabic source text from Al-Imam al-Junaid: Sayyid al-Ta'ifatayn, ed. Shaykh Ahmad Farid al-Mazidi, from the edition of Abdul-Qadir (p. 43). Originally accessed via Internet Archive. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

كتاب الميثاق

الحمد للّه الذي جعل ما أنعم على عباده من إبزاغ نعمته دليلا هاديا لهم إلى معرفته ، بما أفادهم به من الإفهام والأوهام التي يفهمون بها رجع الخطاب ؛ أحمده دائما ديموميا ، وأشكره شكرا قائما قيّوميّا .

وأشهد أن لا إله إلا اللّه الفرد الفريد الأحد الوحيد الصمد القدوس .

وأشهد أن محمدا صلى اللّه عليه وسلّم الكامل بالنبوة والتام للرسالة ، صلى اللّه عليه وعلى آله أجمعين .
ثم إن للّه عزّ وجلّ صفوة من عباده وخلصاء من خلقه ، انتخبهم للولاية ، واستخلصهم للكرامة ، وأفردهم به له . جعل أجسادهم دنيويّة وأرواحهم نورانيّة ، وأوهامهم روحانيّة ، وأفهامهم عرشيّة ، وعقولهم حجبيّة . جعل أوطان أرواحهم غيبيّة في مغيب الغيب . جعل لهم تسرّحا في غوامض غيوب الملكوت . ليس لهم مأوى إلا إليه ، ولا مستقر إلا عنده .

أولئك الذين أوجدهم لديه في كون الأزل عنده ومراكب الأحديّة لديه ؛ حين دعاهم فأجابوا سراعا ، كرما منه عليهم وتفضّلا ؛ أجاب به عنهم حين أوجدهم ، فهم الدعوة منه ؛ وعرّفهم نفسه حين لم يكونوا إلا مشيئة أقامها بين يديه ؛ نقلهم بإرادته ، ثم جعلهم كذرّ ، أخرجهم بمشيئته خلقا ، فأودعهم صلب آدم عليه السلام ، فقال عز وجلّ :وَإِذْ أَخَذَ رَبُّكَ مِنْ بَنِي آدَمَ مِنْ ظُهُورِهِمْ ذُرِّيَّتَهُمْ وَأَشْهَدَهُمْ عَلى أَنْفُسِهِمْ أَ لَسْتُ بِرَبِّكُمْ قالُوا بَلى[ الأعراف : 172 ] ، فقد أخبر جل ذكره أنه خاطبهم وهم غير موجودين إلا بوجوده لهم ، إذ كانوا واجدين للحق من غير وجودهم لأنفسهم ، فكان الحقّ بالحقّ في ذلك موجودا بالمعنى الذي لا يعلمه غيره ، ولا يجده سواه . فقد كان واجدا محيطا شاهدا عليهم ، برّاهم في حال فنائهم ، الذين كانوا في الأزل للأزل ، أولئك هم الموجودون الفانون في حال فنائهم الباقون في بقائهم ؛ أحاطت بهم صفات الربانية وآثار الأزليّة ، وأعلام الديموميّة .

أظهر هذه عليهم لمّا أراد فناءهم ، ليديم بقاءهم هناك ، وليفسّحهم في علم الغيب غيبه ، وليريهم غوامض مكنونات علمه ويجمعهم به ، ثم فرّقهم ، ثم غيّبهم في جمعهم ، وأحضرهم في تفريقهم ، فكان غيبهم سبب حضورهم ، وحضورهم سبب غيبهم . اختطفهم بالشّواهد البادية منه عليهم حين أحضرهم ، واستلبهم عنها حين غيّبهم . أكمل فناءهم في حال بقائهم ، وبقاءهم في حال فنائهم .

أحاطت الأمور بهم حين أجرى عليهم مراده من حيث يشاء ، بصفته المتعالية التي لا يشارك فيها . فكان ذلك الوجود أتمّ الوجود ، وهو أولى وأعلى وأحقّ بالقهر والغلبة وصحة الاستيلاء على ما بدا منه عليهم ، حتّى يمحى أثرهم ويمتحي رسومهم ويذهب وجودهم ؛ إذ لا صفة بشريّة ، ولا وجود معلومية ، ولا أثر مفهومية ؛ إنّما هي تلبيسات على الأرواح ما لها من الأزليّة ؛ ذوق وجود نعيم لا كالنّعيم ؛ مستحيلة في المعاني ، متّفقة الأسامي ، متصادقة في ذوق نعيمها ، متلوّنة في رسوم شواهدها . تبدو بنعيمها في طوالع شواهدها ، وتتلوّن في ذوق مرارات طعمها . لهج أفكارهم في محبوبهم ، وتذمّت أذكارهم في أسرارهم . هاجت عليهم عند ذلك بحار الغيرة تتلاطم أمواجها ، عظم البلاء عند تصفّحهم لواردها ، واضمحلّت نفوسهم عند توقعهم إيّاها ، وقام عليهم كلّ معلوم نكرا ، وثبت كلّ نكر معلوما . برزوا بعلم الحقيقة لدى الحقّ ؛ حين أوجدهم حقيقة الحقّ نسبة منه لا إلى الواجد لها ؛ كان ذلك كمال الجهد لديه . ثم لم يجعل لبلائهم أسامي فيستريحون ، ولا لجهدهم معلوما فيتنعّمون ، شغل بعضهم عن بعض ، وأفرد بعضهم عن بعض ، فهم في حضورهم فقد ، وفي متعهم بالمشاهدة كمال الجهد ، لأنّه قد محي عنهم كلّ رسم ومعنى يجدونه بهم ، ويشهدونه من حيث هم ، لما استولى عليهم فمحاهم وعن صفاتهم أفناهم .

وإنما معنى ذلك أن تؤدّي الحقيقة من الحقّ ما يشاء ، كيف أثبت بهم وعليهم ، وقام عنهم بما لهم ، وثبّت دواعي ذلك عليهم وفيهم من جنس كماله وتمامه ، فوجد النّعيم من غير جنس النّعيم ، ووجد البلاء في معلوم النّعيم ، ووجد الوجود في غير سبيل الوجود ، باستتار الحقّ واستيلاء القهر . فلما فقدت الأرواح النعيم الغيبيّ الذي لا تحاسّه النفوس ولا تقارفه المحسوس ، ألفت فناها عنها ، وطرحتهم في مفاوز مهلكات بلواها ، ثم ألفت بعد إلفهم للفناء فناء ، لأن لا يجدوا طعما معلوما ، ولا يستريحوا إلى موجود ، امتلأ بهم بلا إشارة إلى صفاتهم ، ولا رسوم من رسوم المواصفات ، ولا البواعث منه إليها ، وامتحت شواهده في الآثار حين لا يوجد السّبيل إلى درك الشّفاء على خالص الوجود المستولي عليه من الحقّ تعالى ، كذلك من في صفته العليا وقوّة شاهده بوارد سلطانه ؛ وإنما جرت سنّة البلاء على أهل البلاء حين جاذبوا وأقاموا ، وثبتوا ولم ينخدعوا .

أقيم عليهم ما محقهم في نفس القوّة وعلوّ المرتبة وشرف المنزلة وسناء النّسبة ، ثم أحضرهم الفناء في فنائهم ، وأشهدهم الوجود في وجودهم ، فكان ما أحضرهم منهم وأشهدهم الوجود في وجودهم « سترا خفيا وحجابا لطيفا » ، أدركوا به عظيم الفقد وشدة

الاستينار ما لا يليق به العلم ولا « تليق » الآثار بصفته ، فطالبوه فيما كان مطالبهم ، ومانعوه ما كان مانعهم ، وتعرّفوا منه ما عرفوه إليهم لا بهم ، حلّوا بمحلّ القوّة ، ونالوا حقائق الحظوة ، وتعالوا إلى حقيقة الحضرة ، فأقام عليهم شاهدا منه فيهم ، وأدركوا منه به ما أدركوا ، وأوقف كلّ واحد منهم عند إدراكه ، وأفرد كل ما انفرد منه تعالى اللّه عن صفة الخلائق ، وعزّ أن تتشبه به الخلائق علوا كبيرا .

Source Colophon

Arabic source text from Al-Imam al-Junaid: Sayyid al-Ta'ifatayn (The Imam al-Junaid: Master of the Two Groups), ed. Shaykh Ahmad Farid al-Mazidi, Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyyah. Text of the Kitab al-Mithaq from the edition of Abdul-Qadir (p. 43). Accessed via Internet Archive digital edition. The text is in the public domain.

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