Steve Watson

A Note on the Hadith of the Hidden Treasure

Much of the Sufi theory regarding the place of Man in the created cosmos is said to derive from the so-called ‘Hadith of the Hidden Treasure’ (hadith-e kanz-i makhfi), which is a hadith qudsi (meaning it is a statement attributed to God himself.) It is mentioned, for example, by Rumi, saying (Fihi ma Fihi (pdf), Discourse 17, p. 143 in the online edition of Arberry’s translation:)

God says, “I was a hidden treasure, so I loved to be known.”

The import of the hadith is that the function of Man is the worship of God, and also that God so loved the world that he created it in order to be loved by it. The centrality of love to the Sufi way is largely explicable (or at least is explained) by reference to the centrality of love in the act of creation. Given this importance, I thought it would be worthwhile checking its provenance and the fuller context of that short quote. What I found was that it is not accepted as an authentic hadith by the orthodox schools who ought to consider it to be a false (da’if, or even mawdu’) hadith.

This is admitted by Ibn ‘Arabi (to whom it is of particular importance) who is quoted as saying (Futuhat al Makkiyya 3:399 Bab 198:) 

It came in the hadith that is sahih per unveiling (kasht) but unestablished (ghayr thabit) per transmission from the Messenger of Allah from his Lord that He said something in the meaning of this ‘I was a hidden treasure and was not known; I loved to be known, therefore I created creation and made Myself known to them so that they came to know Me.’

N1.      The reference is from Gibril Fuad Haddad [http://mac.abc.se/home/onesr/d/hth_e.pdf.] In Chittick The Sufi Path of Knowledge (Suny: Albany, 1989) p391n14, the reference to this is given as II 399.28. Since I have no access to Ibn ‘Arabi’s Futuhat, I cannot check this.

N2.      Ibn ‘Arabi did not confuse this form of hadith qudsi with other more orthodox forms, as is clear from the fact that the ‘hidden treasure’ hadith does not appear in his Mishkat al-Anwar, a collection of 101 such hadiths with their chains of transmission.

The hadith itself is, however, consistent with, and even supported by, other accepted texts. For example, in the Koran (5:54) we hear “He loves them, and they love Him,” and (51:56) “I created the Jinns and humankind only that they may worship me.” According to Al Qari in his al-Asrar al-Marfu’atu fil-Akhbar al-Mawdu’a (ref. Haddad above) ibn Taymiyya said that there was no isnad for this tradition, but that it was a true statement (ma‘nahu sahih) in any case. Haddad’s note to this deals briefly with the various opinions as to the validity of kashf – which seems to mean revelation through (waking) dream encounters with Muhammad. The general opinion is apparently not favourable, though some authorities are willing to accept that where the meaning of a hadith has achieved consensus in the ‘ulema it should not be held against it that its only positive evidence is the dream testimony reported by a saint.