Ibn 'Arabi composed poems on each of the letters of the Arabic alphabet. This is a preview translation of the poem on the Alif, which will appear in a future book by Pablo Beneito and Stephen Hirtenstein:
O Alif of the Essence! You are wholly transcendent, so
do You possess any entity and place among created beings?
He replied: ‘No, other than turning my attention [towards them], for I
am a letter that brings endless perpetuity, and comprise eternity without beginning.
I am the servant, the adaptable, receiver [of all],
and I am the one whose authority is mighty and glorious.’
