Kashani Tafsir — Ali 'Imran 3:1 – Al-Ma'idah 5:120

Alif Lām Mīm.

God! There is no god except Him, the Living, the Eternal: the interpretation of this [verse] has already been [given].

He has revealed to you the Book by the truth, He has elevated you from level to level and from grade to grade by sending down the Book to you showing the way to the knowledge of the affirmation of the Oneness which is the Truth with respect to the union called the Gathering-intellect (ʿaql qirānī), confirming what was before it, of the pre-eternal affirmation of Oneness that has preceded, and which is known in the first covenant that is stored in the Unseen of preparedness, and He revealed the Torah and the Gospel,

before, in that way, [as guidance to people] then, He revealed the Criterion, that is, the differentiated affirmation of Oneness with respect to the dispersion called the Differentiating-intellect (ʿaql furqānī), which is the source of uprightness and the starting point of the mission. As for those who disbelieve in God's signs, that is, those who have veiled themselves from these two aspects of the affirmation of the Oneness by the loci of manifestation and the engendered things which in reality constitute the signs of the affirmation of the Oneness, for them awaits a terrible chastisement, by way of distance and privation, for God is Mighty, that is, vanquishing, Lord of Retribution: whose description cannot be made nor its quintessence fathomed nor its like be paralleled by any retributer.

Truly God, nothing whatever is hidden from Him, in the worlds, knowing as He does the times and places of retribution.

He it is who forms you in the wombs as He wills. Talk of this has two sides: the affirmation of the form of the Creator, and the explication of His power over creatures and favor toward them through predetermination and form-giving. As for affirming the form of the Creator, in a sound report MuṣṬafā said, “God created Adam in His form, and his height was sixty cubits.” It has also been narrated as, “in the form of His face.” The folk of interpretation-the foundation of whose religion is adulteration, interpretation, and negation-have turned the referent of the pronoun away from the Real and rejected the out- wardness. The folk of the Sunnah-the foundation of whose religion is hearing, accepting, and surrendering-have left aside interpretation and gone by the outwardness. They say that in this report the pronoun refers to God, that investigation, reflection, and interpretation are not allowed, and that fancying similarity is an error, for the Real is without peer in all attributes. Concerning vision there are many reports that the Real has a shining face and form. Ibn ʿAbbās narrates that MuṣṬafā said, “I saw my Lord in the most beautiful form.” In the narrative of Abū Umāma Bāhilī, MuṣṬafā said, “My Lord was shown to me in the most beautiful form. He said, 'O MuḤammad!' I said, 'Here I am, obeying Thee.' About what are the Higher Plenum disput- ing?” This report is a long one and will be discussed in its place, God willing. The narrative of Jābir ibn Samura is this: “Surely God disclosed Himself to me in the most beautiful form.” The narrative of Anas is this: “My Lord came to me in the most beautiful form.” Anas also said, “Among the favors God will bestow on Adam on the Day of Resurrection is that He will say, 'Did I not bestow upon you My form?” Ibn ʿAbbās said, “Moses was angry with the Children of Israel, so when he came down with interdiction, he said to them, 'Drink this, you donkeys!' God said to him, 'Do you liken creatures whom I created in My form to donkeys?'” It is well known that in the reports of the resurrection MuṣṬafā said, “God will come to them in other than the form in which they recognize Him.

He it is who has sent down upon thee the Book, wherein are firm verses, which are the mother of the Book, and others ambiguous. He is neither a name nor an attribute. Rather, it is an allusion to being. It means that our Lord is, He is fitting to be, and He has been-beyond location and transcendent in attributes. ShurayḤ ʿābid said, “I saw a dervish in the mosque of the Sanctuary calling upon God by saying, 'O He who is He! O He other than whom there is no he! Forgive me.' A voice came from the Unseen: 'O dervish, you received so much reward for saying that the first time that the angels will be writ- ing it out until the resurrection.'” Huwa is two letters, h and w. The place of articulation of h is the last part of the throat, and the place of articulation of the w is the first part of the throat. This alludes to the fact that the letters begin from Him at first and return to Him at last. From Him they begin and to Him they return. It has also been said it alludes to the created things and engendered beings: all things come in the beginning from His power and return in the end by His decree. A dervish in the state of rapture was asked, “What is your name?” He answered, “He.” They said, “Where have you come from?” He said, “He.” They said, “What do you want?” He said, “He.” They said, “Perhaps you mean 'God'.” When the dervish heard the name God, he gave his spirit to the name and left this world. The painters depict Your name in a hundred meanings; remembering You and Your name they give up their spirits. They scatter their lives for the scent of union with You with nothing in hand of Your description but incapacity. Wherein are firm verses, which are the mother of the Book, and others ambiguous. These are the two great divisions of the Qur'an, one apparent and clear, the other abstruse and difficult. The ap- parent belongs to the majesty of the Shariah, and the difficult belongs to the beauty of the Haqiqah. The apparent is so the common people may reach joy and blessings by perceiving it and putting it into practice. The difficult is so the elect may reach the mystery of the Beneficent by surrendering and attesting to it. From the place of blessings and joy to the place of intimacy and mystery are numerous ups and downs. Given the exaltedness of this state and the eminence of this work, He did not lift up the curtain of abstruseness and ambiguity, lest any of the non-privy walk into this street, for not everyone is worthy to know the secrets of kings. Go, don't wander round the pavilion of secrets! Why try? You're no man for this battle. It needs a man cut off from both worlds to drink down the dregs of the friends' draft.

Our Lord, let not our hearts stray after Thou hast guided us, and give us mercy from Thee. When they were truthful in the beauty of asking for help, He assisted them with the lights of suf- ficiency. When the heart is limpid, the present moment empty, and the tongue flowing with the Real's remembrance, the arrow of supplication inevitably reaches the target of response. But the work is in this: When will this limpidness, loyalty, and supplication come together and how will they join with each other? The meaning of this supplication is this: “O God, keep our hearts far from confusion and straying and make us firm on the carpet of service with the stipulation of the Sunnah.” And give us mercy from Thee: And give what you give, O Lord, as Your bounty and mercy, not as the recompense for our works or the compensation for our acts of obedience! Our acts of obedience are not worthy for the Presence of Your Majesty, so the only thing to do is to efface them and ignore them. One of the pirs of the Tariqah said, “The gall-bladders of the travelers and the obedient ser- vants burst in fear at the verse: 'We shall advance upon what deeds they have done and make them scattered dust' [25:23]. But, of all the Qur'an's verses, I find this the sweetest.” He was asked, “What does it mean?” He said, “We will finally be released from these displeasing deeds and unworthy acts of obedi- ence and attach our hearts totally to His bounty and mercy.”

Our Lord, You shall gather mankind for a day of which there is no doubt, that is, He will gather them for the Day of Gathering which is the arrival at the station of the unity that comprehends the entirety of creation, the first and the last, such that they shall have no lingering doubt in that locus of witnessing of theirs.

As for the unbelievers, their possessions will not take away their need for God, neither their children, and it is they who will be fuel for the Fire. What a majestic God, generous, lovingly kind, who promises the faithful in the midst of warning the unbelievers and who caresses these while blaming those! He is saying, “Tomorrow at the res- urrection possessions and children will be useless to the unbelievers and will not profit them.” In other words, they will be useful to the faithful whenever they have carried out what is rightfully due to them, making them the snare of their own religion and seeking through them their endless felicity. MuṣṬafā said, “How excellent are wholesome possessions for the wholesome man! What ex- cellent assistance are possessions for being wary of God!” This is just what the Lord of the Worlds says: “And, with what God has given thee, follow after the Last Abode” [28:77]. He is saying, “In that of this world which He has given you, bring the next world to hand! Seek the felicity of the next world!” The felicity of the next world lies in recognition of God. Recognition comes from the light of the heart. The light of the heart comes from the lamp of tawḤīd, and the root of this lamp is the divine bestowal. As for its material, that comes from the deeds and obedient acts of the body. Obedient acts come from the strength of the soul, and the soul's strength comes from food, drink, and clothing. Food, drink, and clothing are nothing but possessions. Hence possessions, by this series of steps, are the cause of endless felicity. But, one must not pass beyond the measure of sufficiency, for then these will become the cause of rebellion, just as He says: “No indeed; surely man is rebellious because he sees himself without needs” [96:6-7]. This is why God's Messenger supplicated, “Lord God, make the food of Muhammad's family in the measure of sufficiency!” When the measure of sufficiency is for the leisure to worship, then it itself is nothing but worship, for it is the supplies for the road, and the road supplies are also part of the road. Shaykh Abu'l-Qāsim Kurragānī had a lawful landed estate from which he received his suffi- ciency.

There has already been a sign for you, O wayfaring folk, [a sign] that is proof of your perfection and your attainment of the affirmation of Oneness, in two hosts that met, one group, constituting the spiritual faculties, which are God's folk and His hosts, fighting in the way of God; and another, constituting the hosts of the soul and the assistants of the devils who are veiled from the Truth. You will see the former group twice the number of these [latter] when the two [groups] meet one another in the battle of the body, [and that is] because of the former group is aided by the light of God and His granting of success, while the latter group is forsaken and abased, incapable, too weak and severed from the world of [divine] aid and power. Thus the former group defeat the latter and subdue them with God's aid and assistance, and expend their property, namely, the objects of their perception and the objects of their knowledge in for the cause of knowing God and affirming His Oneness; for God confirms with His help whom He will, from among the recipients of His solicitude who are prepared for His encounter. Surely in that is a lesson, that is, a consideration or something to be considered in order to arrive at the truth for those endowed with the faculty of vision, the eyes of whose insights have been opened and coloured by the light of the certainty that comes from knowledge, from among the people of the spiritual path (ṭarīqa), by which they consider their states at the end.

Adorned for people is love of appetites, like women, children, heaped-up heaps of gold and silver, horses of mark, cattle, and tillage. That is the enjoyment of the life of this world. The paragon of the world and master of the children of Adam, MuṣṬafā, reported that when the Eternal Enactor created paradise, He said to Gabriel, “'O Gabriel! Go look at it.' Go gaze on this paradise and see once what I have made and created for My servants and friends.” Gabriel went and saw those adorned paradises with their infinite joy and bliss, that place of revelry made and prepared in the neighborhood of God's Presence for the exalted ones of the road and God's friends. When Gabriel came back he said, “Lord God, 'By Thy exaltedness, no one will hear of it and not enter into it!' By the exaltedness of Your Lordhood, no one will hear the attributes of this para- dise without aiming for it and becoming obedient so that he may enter it.” Then the Lord of the Worlds surrounded paradise with all the hardship and suffering of unwor- thy things and unreached desires, and He made its road a bridge of trial so that everyone who aims for the Patron must first pass over that bridge of trial. Shaykh al-Islām Anṣārī said, “How should I have known that suffering is the mother of hap- piness and that beneath one disappointment lie a thousand treasures? How should I have known which gate this is or what is the answer to the story of friendship? How should I have known that companionship with You is the greatest Resurrection and that the exaltation of union with You lies in the abasement of bewilderment?” O spirit of the world! The Kaabah is a sweet place, the nest of God's friends and the lodging place of the sincerely truthful, but there is a man-eating desert before it, mile after mile and way station after way station. Who in the end will have the seeking to pass over all those miles and way stations until he reaches the magnificent Kaabah? A world is wandering in the desert of Your love- who will be given access to the Kaabah of Your acceptance? [DS 210] After He made the road of paradise that of unreached desires and disappointment, the command came, “O Gabriel: Look again.

Shall I tell you of something better than that? For those who are godwary there shall be with their Lord gardens beneath which rivers flow, therein dwelling forever, and spouses made pure, and approval from God. After talking about the enemies, describing their life, and explaining their furthest goal, God in this verse comes back to the story of the friends. Tomorrow, the final outcome of those whose watch- word today is godwariness will be paradise and approval. He says, “For those who are godwary there shall be with their Lord gardens.” Just as godwariness has levels, so also paradise has degrees. The first degree is the Garden of the Shelter, and the first level of godwariness is to avoid the forbidden and the soul's caprice. The Splendorous Qur'an ties the two together in its words, “As for him who fears the standing place be- fore his Lord and prohibits the soul its caprice, surely the Garden shall be the shelter” [79:40-41]. The highest degree is the Garden of Eden, and better than the Garden of Eden is the Greatest Approval. So, the furthest goal of the paradise-dwellers is the Greatest Approval, just as the Lord of the Worlds says: “And goodly dwellings in the gardens of Eden; and approval from God is greatest” [9:72] The Greatest Approval belongs to those who reach the utmost godwariness. The utmost god- wariness is that someone takes whatever has the scar of new arrival and the mark of creation as his own enemy, as Abraham said: “Surely they are an enemy to me, save the Lord of the Worlds” [26:77]. You must turn away from all things and, with detached heart, busy yourself with the suf- fering of passion for the Haqiqah. You must know for certain that the intrusion of others finds no room in passion's suffering. You must cut off your heart and spirit from everything. The heart is Your garden-take it all, for this heart has room either for my intrusion or Your image. In gratitude I will also send my spirit to You- a whiff of union with You does what a hundred spirits cannot. Tomorrow, all will be taken to the furthest limit of their goals and aspirations. Here someone hopes for the Garden of the Refuge and is told, “Flee from the unlawful and be just, and that will not be held back from you. ” Someone hopes for the Abode of Everlastingness and is told, “Avoid the doubtful and be a renunciant, and that will not be held back from you.” Someone else desires Firdaws and is told, “Keep back from the lawful and be a recognizer, and that will not be held back from you.” A group remain who have no hopes and no desires. They desire what the Beloved desires and choose what the Beloved chooses. The paradises are presented to them, and the maidens and serv- ing boys are made to sit on the turrets scattering precious gifts for them, but they are detached from it all and turn their faces away. They say, “If we must give our heart to someone, well, let us give it to someone who will enslave it.” Suddenly I gave my heart to the one with the tulip face. She was worthy of my heart-that's why I gave it. Let me now speak of the Greatest Approval and finish with that. It is narrated from Anas ibn Mālik that he said one day God's Messenger kept them waiting. When he came out, they asked him what had held him back. He said, “That was because Gabriel came to me holding in his hand something like a mirror with a black spot. He said, 'This is Friday, within which there is an hour of good for you and your community. The Jews and the Christians desired it, but they missed its mark.' “I said, 'O Gabriel! What is this black spot?' “He said, 'It is an hour of Friday with which no Muslim will keep company asking for good from God without God's giving it to him, or storing away the like of it for him for the Day of Res- urrection, or averting from him its like in ugliness. It is the best of days with God, and the folk of the Garden call it “the Day of Increase.”' “I said, 'O Gabriel, and what is this Day of Increase?' “He said, 'Surely there is in the Garden a valley in which flows white musk. Every Friday God descends into it and sets up His Footstool. Then pulpits of light are brought and placed be- hind it and surrounded by the angels. Then footstools of gold are brought and put there. Then the prophets, the sincerely truthful, the witnesses, and the faithful, who are the folk of the chambers, are brought and they sit. Then God smiles and says, “O My servants, ask of Me!” They will say, “We ask You for Your approval. He will say, “I have approved of you.”'”

Those who say: �O, Our Lord, we believe, in the lights of Your acts and attributes, so forgive us our sins, that is, the sins of our existences by Your essence, and guard us from the chastisement of the Fire�, that is, the fire of abandonment and the existence of those who remain,

The patient, the truthful, the devoted, the expenders, those who ask forgiveness at dawn. The patient, that is, with their hearts, the truthful with their spirits, the devoted with their souls, the expenders of what they are able, those who ask forgiveness with their tongues.2 The chevaliers are those whose speaking is this and whose doing is this. In the heart they are patient with the Real's command, in the spirit they walk straight in the Real's covenant, in the body they observe the right- ful due of the Real's command, with wealth they spend in the Real's road, with tongue they ask forgiveness and seek from the Real's generosity. The patient: That is, they are patient in trial and they reject complaint until they reach the Patron, nothing of this world or the afterworld holding them back. They are patient in every trial and put aside complaint. They turn their faces away from both this world and the afterworld until they reach the Patron. The truthful: That is, they speak the truth in seeking, so they aim straight, then they speak the truth until they witness. They speak truthfully and begin traveling. They travel truthfully to reach the domicile. They think truthfully to reach the destination. Then they put aside the marks bearing witness to truthfulness and throw themselves into the ocean to reach the shore of security and the seat of truthfulness, at an Omnipotent King [54:55]. The devoted: That is, in clinging to the door, drinking down sorrow, leaving aside loved ones, and rejecting companions until they realize proximity. They put on the clothing of poverty and hold up the hands of need at the door of the house of generosity: “Until You open, we will not leave, and until You caress, we will not go away.” Sometimes they are in prostration, sometimes standing, sometimes in fear, sometimes in hope. From the Exalted Presence comes this caress: “The field of friendship's road is solitariness, and the drinker of its wine is promised vision. Who- ever is truthful will one day reach his desire.” Some day good fortune will enter my door, some day the sun of elation will rise, Some day You will cast a glance at me, some day this sorrow of mine will end. The expenders: That is, they are munificent with their property to the extent they are able, then with their souls in respect of deeds, then with their hearts through truthfulness of states.

God bears witness that there is no god but He-and the angels, and the possessors of knowledge-upholding justice; there is no god but He, the Exalted, the Wise. The Real bears witness to the Real that He is the Real. He Himself praised Himself and He Him- self gave witness to Himself concerning His attributes as is worthy of Himself. In His speech He reported of His existence, His self-sufficiency, His self-standingness, and His self-lastingness. He bore witness to the majesty of His measure and the perfection of His exaltedness while there was no refusal, no ignorance, no recognition by any created thing, no intellect, no conformity, no hy- pocrisy, no new arrival, no heaven, no space, no shadows, no brightness. There was no universe and no Adam, no air and no space, no land and no sea, no light and no darkness, no understanding and no virtue, no conformity and no hypocrisy when the Lord of the Worlds spoke in the majesty of His measure and the perfection of His exaltedness, giving witness to His oneness and peerlessness and reporting of His attributes and Essence. Today He is exactly what He was and will be forever. It has never been that He was not, and it will never be that He will not be. He is the First and the Last, the Outward and the Inward. He is the First who always is and who knows the beings and nonbeings. He is the Last who always will be, and He will know what He knew. He is the Outward through His enactorship, dominating over everyone through His all-compellingness and above everything through His greatness. He is too inward for the percep- tion of how, outside the reasoning of imaginations, and pure of supposition, fancy, and being thus. In Your subtle Essence thoughts are bewildered, in Your eternal knowledge hidden things appear. And the angels, and the possessors of knowledge. Great is the eminence of the angels, the prophets, and the knowers, and magnificent the result of their work, that God should join their bearing witness to His bearing witness! This is not because His bearing witness to His unity needs to be joined with bearing witness by created things. No, no, for it is His exaltedness that recognizes Him and His exaltedness that knows His unity.

Surely the religion with God is the submission. The approved religion-by which people look up to God in servanthood, worship Him according to His decree, seek for His approval, and go back to Him-is the religion of the submission. The submission has three way stations. The first way station is the acknowledgment that spares blood and wealth: the person's neck is safe from the sword and his wealth is left with him, whether he is a conformer or a hypocrite, a follower or an innovator. The next way station is the acknowledgment that is right belief, following the Sunnah, and the loyalty of deeds. The third way station of submission is surrender, which is the utmost end of the work. It is pleasing to God and is the refuge of recognition. It is to throw oneself on the Real's exalted thresh- old and follow Him, approving of His decree, not protesting against it or turning away from it, and having reverence and respect for it. What Abraham asked for himself and Ishmael in his supplica- tion-that they be submitters-is the utmost end of this third way station: “Our Lord, make us submitters to Thee!” [2:128]. This is the same as when it was said to him, “Submit!,” he said, “I submit to the Lord of the worlds” [2:131]. It is also alluded to in His words telling about Joseph: “Receive me as a submitter and join me with the wholesome” [12:101].

So if they dispute with you, say: 'I have surrendered my countenance to God and whoever follows me'�

Those who disbelieve in the signs of God, that is, those who are veiled from [the true] religion, and slay the prophets without right, veiled as they are by their [own] religion, refusing all except that to which they are delimited [of beliefs] and which they follow by imitation, while the prophets summon them to the affirmation of Oneness and prohibit them from delimitation, and so they slay them; and slay those who enjoin to equity, from among their followers, for equity is the shadow of the affirmation of Oneness - thus he for whom this [affirmation] has not been perfected is not capable of being equitable. For they, by their delimitation to their religion have become veiled and are consequently veiled by their injustice from equity. That is why they oppose them and slay them.

Those are the ones whose works have failed, those [works] which they performed while following the religion of their prophets and that is because while they were following blindly their prophet they were still saved by virtue of their following [him], since their prophets were their intercessors mediating between them and God in order to procure for them the [divine] effusion; but when they denied the prophets and their just followers they were contravening their particular prophet, since all prophets follow one creed in reality, namely, the belief in the Oneness [of God], without distinguishing between them, being as they are [all] upon the one [single] truth. Thus he who contravenes one [prophet] has in effect contravened all. Likewise, he who contravenes the upholders of justice from among the followers of the prophets is himself unjust and he who is unjust has, by virtue of his injustice, abandoned the following [of prophets]; similarly the denier of the followers is a denier of those who are followed, and the denier of the shadow [of God's Oneness] is a denier of the Essence, abandoning Its light. Once they have contravened their prophet there no longer exists any contact or correspondence between them and him that enables [the procurement of] effusion from His light and they are thus veiled from His light. Although their works had been illumined by His light by virtue of their following [the prophet], not because of any essential light that these [works] possess, since they are not produced out of certainty, once they are veiled from their prophet the accidental light [of these works] disappears and they become dark and like all other evil deeds from among the attributes of the commanding soul. Here [the following comes to mind], something which I have heard on more than one occasion: the slaying of the disbelievers of the faculties of the commanding soul at the hands of the prophets of the hearts and the justice-commanding spiritual faculties.

Say: 'O God, Possessor of Mastery, You possess mastery of the world of bodies absolutely, disposing of it [however You wish], there being none who have mastery or disposal or effect in it other than You. You give mastery to whom You will, granting him disposal over some of it; and seize mastery from whom You will, by assigning that [power of] disposal in the hands of someone other than him, except that there really is no other [than You] there, rather You turn it about from one hand to another, for You are the [only] disposer in all cases in accordance with the different loci of manifestation; You exalt whom You will, by casting upon him a light from the lights of Your glory, for Truly glory belongs altogether to God [Q. 4:139]; and You abase whom You will, by stripping him of the garb of Your glory leaving him abased; in Your hand is good, all of it, and You are the absolute Powerful One, giving in accordance with Your will, at times self-disclosing Yourself in a certain locus of manifestation with the attributes of glory and grandeur, garbing that [locus] with the vestment of glory and splendour, and at others with the attributes of vanquisher and abaser, garbing that [locus] with the vestment of ignominy and lowliness; sometimes with the attribute of exalter but You are [in reality] abasing, and sometimes with the attribute of abaser while You are exalting; sometimes with the attribute of independent and You give wealth, sometimes with the attribute of availer but You make [that person] poor, that is, You avail him of wealth, indigent without need of anything.

You make the night to pass into the day and You make the day to pass into the night: You make the darkness of the soul enter the light of the heart rendering it dark, and You make the light of the heart enter the darkness of the soul so that it is illumined by the mixture of the two despite the lack of correspondence between them. You bring forth the living, that is, the one whose heart is alive, from the dead, that is, from the one whose soul is dead, [and You bring forth] the one with the dead soul from the one with the living heart; indeed, You bring forth the one who is alive with knowledge and gnosis from the one who is dead with ignorance, and You bring forth the one dead with ignorance from the one alive with knowledge veiling him from the light, as was the case with Balʿam b. Bāʿūrā; and You provide whom You will, in the way of both outward and inward graces, or in the way of one of the two, without reckoning'.

Let not the faithful take the disbelievers as friends instead of the faithful…. And God warns you of Himself, and God is clement to the servants. The reality of the servant's faith and the final goal of his traveling on the path of tawḤīd takes him back to God's friendship. The reality of friendship is conformity, that is, being a friend of His friend and an enemy of His enemy. The master of the Shariah alluded to this with his words, “The most reliable handhold of faith is love in God and hate in God.” The traditions say that the Lord of the Worlds sent a revelation to one of the former prophets: “Say to the servants, 'In this world you have taken up renunciation in order to hurry to your own comfort and be relieved of this world's suffering. With your obedience and worship you have sought your own exaltation and your own good name. Now look: What have you done for Me? Have you ever loved My friends? Have you ever taken My enemies as your enemies?” This is exactly what He said to Jesus: “O Jesus, if the worship of all the inhabitants of heaven and earth accompanies you in the path of the religion, but you have no love for My friends and no enmity for My enemies, then your worship has been useless and without profit.” It is reported that Abū Idrīs Khawlānī said to Muʿādh, “I love you in the path of God.” Muʿādh said, “Let it be good news! I heard God's Messenger say that on the Day of Resurrec- tion, God will place seats around the Splendorous Throne for a group whose faces will be like the full moon. Everyone will be fearful because of the awe of the resurrection, but they will be secure. Everyone will be in dread, but they will be still. It was said, 'O Messenger of God! Which group is this?' “He said, 'Those who love each other in God.'” It has also been related that God says, “I have obligated My love on those who love each other in Me, sit with each other in Me, visit each other in Me, and spend freely on each other in Me.” Mujāhid said, “When God's friends smile in each other's faces, their sins fall away like leaves from a tree.

On the day when every soul shall find the good it has done made present, and the ugly it has done. It will wish that there were a far interval between itself and that. God warns you of Himself, and God is clement to the servants. He said this here so that the servant would fall into changing states-sometimes fear, sometimes hope; sometimes contraction, sometimes expansion; sometimes harshness, sometimes generosity. The severity and harshness of God warns you about Himself throws the servant into confounded- ness and bewilderment and he becomes selfless of self. Then He caresses: “And God is clement to the servants.” He sits him on the ship of gentleness and takes him from the whirlpool of con- foundedness to the shore of intimacy. One of the pirs among the great ones of the religion said, “I wonder if I will ever escape the whirlpool of self in the ship of deliverance. Will the hand of compassion ever take my hand among the waves of wishes? Will the proof of unity ever lift the veil of dispersion from before my eyes? Will this heart ever come to rest in this body?” In the road of avarice the purses of a hundred thousand merchants have been emptied of pure gold in search of this alchemy. [DS 210]

Say: If you love God, follow me; God will love you and forgive you your sins. In terms of the Haqiqah this verse has another intimation and another taste. He is saying: “Who- ever has fervor in his breast because of these words, say to him: 'Come out in my tracks, for all the work has been made ready in my footsteps. Do not bind your heart to intellect, for intellect is a watchman, not a leader to whom the reins should be given. It is not a road that you should set out in. Do not seek what you are seeking from intellect, seek it from prophethood. Intellect carries the saddle-cloth of the religion's ruling. The exalted magnificence of the religion does not fit into the scales of intellect, nor does it come under the confines of substance and accident.'” Our religion is the same as the religion of the 124,000 prophets and messengers. The testi- mony of the Qur'an contains these words, for He says, “He has set down for you as the religion that with which He counseled Noah” and so on [42:13]. That which holds up the level of our religion is two things: “God said” and “God's Messenger said.” If everything that is the basis of the religion of the innovators-the substances, accidents, and specific differences of the Kalam experts and the determinations of their intellects-suddenly ceased to be in creation, came to nothing, and entered into the concealment of nonexistence, not an iota of deficiency would reach the threshold of the religion's exaltedness or the gate of the Sun- nah's tremendousness. By the decree of good fortune this address has come from the Exalted Lord to the folk of the Sunnah: “Today I have perfected your religion for you and I have completed My blessings upon you” [5:3]. Here there is no room for the Kalam of the theologians and the med- dling of the philosophizers, nor for their explanations of substance and accident. The path of Kalam is the path of shadows, and the worst shadows are the shadows of Kalam. You should take the road of the folk of Hadith- it is enough to have MuṣṬafā as imam. Put away confusion, for this is “the religion of old women.” You should have that, and the religion of servants.

Say: 'Obey God, and the Messenger', in other words, if you are not loving [of him] and are not able to follow My beloved, then the least that you can do is to be willingly obedient to what you have been commanded, for the willing one must necessarily follow the command and comply with what he has been commanded to. But if they turn their backs, God loves not the disbelievers, that is, if they also refuse to do that, then they are disbelieving deniers who are veiled and God does not love the disbeliever. Refraining from obedience necessarily entails disbelief, whereas refraining from following [the prophet] does not necessarily entail that, because the one who refrains from following [the prophet] may still be obedient by following the command. The meaning of 'obey God and the Messenger' is 'obey the Messenger of God', because of God's saying: whoever obeys the Messenger, verily obeys God [Q. 4:80].

Lo! God has elected Adam and Noah: 'election' is more general than love or friendship and extends to include all prophets since they are God's elect and elite. Their levels vary in excellence, just as God has said: Those messengers some We have preferred above others, and so the most specific of levels is [that of] love, alluded to by His [subsequent] words and some He raised in rank [Q. 2:253], which is why the most excellent of them was God's beloved Muḥammad, may God bless him and grant him peace; next [in rank] comes friendship, which was the attribute of Abraham, peace be upon him, while the most general is election, that is, the attribute of Adam, peace be upon him;

the seed of one another, in terms of religion and in reality, since generation by birth [read: wilādaḍ] are of two types, formal and spiritual. Every prophet is a successor to another prophet in terms of the affirmation of Oneness, gnosis and what relates to the esoteric principles of religion and is as such that [other] prophet's son, similar to the [case of] sons of [Sufi] shaykhs in our times. As they say, you have three fathers, a father that has given birth to you, a father that has nurtured you and a father that has given you knowledge. So just as the existence of the body in the formal birth is generated within the womb of the mother from the seminal infusion of the father, so the existence of the heart in the true birth becomes manifest within the womb of the preparedness of the soul [generated] by the [spiritual] infusion of the shaykh or teacher; it is to this [latter] birth that Jesus, peace be upon him, alluded in his saying: 'He who has not been born again shall not enter the kingdom of heaven' [cf. John 3:3]. Know then that spiritual birth mostly ensues from the formal one by procreation, which is why outwardly prophets were also the progeny and the fruit of a single tree: ʿImrān son of Yaṣhur, father of Moses and Aaron, was a descendant of Levi son of Jacob son of Isaac son of Abraham; and ʿImrān son of Māthān, father of Mary mother of Jesus, was a descendant of Judah son of Jacob. It is also well known that Muḥammad, blessings and peace be upon him, was a descendant of Ishmael son of Abraham, and that Abraham was [a descendant] of Noah, peace be upon him. The reason for [all of that] is that in terms of purity and impurity the spirit corresponds to the constitution in terms of equitability or lack of it at the moment of engenderment. For every spirit there is a corresponding constitution that is specific to it, since the [divine] effusion arrives in proportion to the correspondence and the varying quality of spirits from pre-eternity according to their kinds and levels in terms of proximity or distance [from the divine]. Hence constitutions vary accordingly in sempiternity so that they are connected to these [spirits].

Lo! It is You Who are the Hearer, the Knower. Know that the intentions and configurations of the soul have an effect on the soul of the child, just as foods have an effect on its body. Thus the one whose food is licit and wholesome and the configurations of whose soul are luminous, and whose intentions are sincere and directed towards the Truth, his child will be a believer, a truthful one, a saint or a prophet. The one whose food is forbidden and the configurations of whose soul are dark and vile, whose intentions are corrupt and despicable, his child will be corrupt or a vile disbeliever, since the semen from which the child issues is generated by that food, nurtured in that soul and thus corresponds to it. That is why the Messenger of God said, 'A child is the innermost secret of its father, and so the truthfulness of Mary and the prophethood of Jesus were the blessing of the truthfulness of her father.[Q. 3:37] [Whenever Zachariah went into the sanctuary, where she was,] he found her with provisions: it is possible that what is meant by this is spiritual provision in the way of gnoses, [spiritual] realities, knowledge and wisdoms that were being effused upon her from that which is with God. Since to be designated specifically by [divine] withness (ʿindiyya) is proof that these [provisions] were provisions directly from God (laduniyya).

Then Zachariah prayed to his Lord: Zachariah was an extremely old man and a leader and guardian of the people. He requested from his Lord a true child who would take his place in nurturing and guiding people, as alluded to in sūra Kāf-hāÌ-yāÌ-ʿayn-ṣād. He then bestows upon him the gift of John (Yaḥyā) from his own loins through his own ability after he had been commanded to cleave in spiritual retreat for three days. At this point you might seek the interpretation [of this] by seeking a correspondence [with this story] to your own states and the details of your existence as you have come to know. That is to say, the corporeal nature, that is, the corporeal faculty is [represented by] the wife of ʿImrān the spirit, who vowed as an offering what was in her faculty of the reassured soul to God, exalted be He, by complying with the command of the Truth and by her obedience to it and so she gave birth to the female of the soul. God thereupon placed the Zachariah of reflection in charge of her after He accepted her [offering] on account of her being pure and holy. Whenever the Zachariah of reflection entered into the sanctuary of the brain, where she was, he found her with provisions of intuitive meanings which had been unveiled to her [simply] as a result of her purity without any distinction of reflective capacity on her part. Then the Zachariah of reflection called upon the compositions of those meanings and sought from God as a bestowal a wholesome child sanctified from the pollutants of nature. God heard his call, that is, He responded. Thereupon the angels of the spiritual faculties called to him as he stood fulfilling His command putting together the components of knowledge, communing with his Lord, seeking that the lights descend upon him and approaching Him by orienting himself towards the world of holiness in the sanctuary of the brain;

that 'God gives you good tidings of John, of the intellect in act, confirming, Jesus of the heart, believing in him, as he is Word from God, sanctified as he is above the world of bodies and material generation, a lord, to all kinds of faculties, and one chaste, preventing his soul from engaging [his] corporeal nature or clothing himself in the natures of the corporeal faculties, and a prophet, informing [as he will] of forms of gnosis and universal truths and teaching virtuous character traits and correct manners of governance by the command of the Truth; of the righteous', of the dispersions and disengagement that by virtue of their acts merit being among those brought near to the divine presence after the reflection [sc. Zachariah] had attained the old age of the limit of its [creational] stage but had not reached the ability to perceive the holy truths and the universal gnoses; while his wife, who constituted the nature of the ego-centric spirit being the locus for the disposal of reflection, barren by [pure] disengaged light. The indication of that, namely, the indication of the actualisation of the disengaged light and its becoming manifested by the pure soul is the abstention [by Zachariah] from communing with the corporeal faculties as these seek to actualise their demands and desires as well as [abstaining from] mixing with them with regard to the surpluses of their pleasures and lusts for three days, each day constituting a full decade of the [various] stages of his life, ten years [in all], except for gesturing to them by some subtle token, commanding them to [perform] the glorification specific to each one of them - without drawing near to any of them with regard to their goals - and occupying himself for three days, the duration of which is thirty years starting from the age of discernment which is [after] the first ten [years], with the remembrance of his Lord in the sanctuary of the brain and [with] the glorification specific to that always. Likewise the angels of the spiritual faculties said to Mary of the pure wholesome soul:

He said, “My Lord, appoint for me a sign.” He said, “Your sign is that you shall not speak to the people for three days, except by intimation. And remember thy Lord often and glorify Him at evening and dawn.” Zachariah asked for a mark of his child's existence. It was said to him, “The mark is that I will stop your tongue from talking to the people for three days so that all your secret whispering will be with Me, and all on your tongue will be talk of Me.” By way of allusion He is saying, “I will give you a child whom I will cut off from this world and the creatures and the face of whose heart I will turn toward Me. Then he will know that his kiblah is nothing but My Presence and he will be at ease only in talking with Me.” Only Your name, image, and passion, O Spirit of the world, appear to me in speech, heart, and eyes. This is why He commanded Zachariah, “And remember thy Lord often and glorify Him at evening and dawn.” He commanded the faithful in general to the same thing: “And remember your Lord often” [8:45]. He is saying, “Remember God, and carry out your days in obedience and service to Him. Belong totally to Him, calling upon Him and knowing Him in every state and every work! If you are at ease, be at ease with His remembrance and message, and if you are joyful, be joyful in His name and mark. Once in a while knock on the door of My house- it is not right to pass by like a stranger. And if you talk, talk only of Me, and if you drink, drink only in remembrance of Me. And remember thy Lord often. It is said that remembrance of God has three degrees: The first is outward remembrance with the tongue of laudation and supplication. God says, “And remember thy Lord often.” Second is concealed remembrance in the heart. Thus God says, “Or with more intense remem- brance” [2:200]. The Prophet said, “The best remembrance is the concealed and the best provision the sufficient.” Third is true remembrance, which is witnessing God's remembrance of you. That is His words, “And remember thy Lord when thou forgettest” [18:24].

God has elected you, because of your being above lust, and made you pure, from the vices of reprehensible character traits and attributes, and He has chosen you above the women, of the concupiscent souls variegated by despicable acts and vile natures.

O Mary: be obedient to your Lord by [the fulfilment of] the duties of acts of obedience and worship, and prostrate, at the station of brokenness, humility, poverty, incapacity and pardon-seeking, and bow, at the station of submissiveness and heartfelt humility with those who submit.

That is of the tidings of the Unseen, that is, the states of the unseen aspects of your existence. We reveal it to you, O prophet of the spirit, for you were not with them, [you were not] with the spiritual and ego-centric faculties, that is, at their rank or station, when they were casting their quills, which of them should have charge of Mary: that is, [when] they were vying against one another with their arrows and hurrying with their shares, which of them should govern Mary the soul and take charge of it in accordance with his opinion and what his nature entails, to preside over it and command it to what he sees as beneficial to his affair; nor were you with them, at the station of the breasts, which is the locus for the conflict between the spiritual faculties and the ego-centric ones, the locus of the their conflict being the breast, when they were disputing, in conflict back and forth seeking to be in charge when this [possibility] became manifest, before [engaging in] spiritual discipline, when the angels of the spiritual faculties were victorious with the success granted by the Truth after spiritual discipline and said to Mary the soul:

When the angels said, “O Mary, surely God gives thee the good news of a word from Him, whose name is the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, celebrated in this world and the next, and one of those given proximity.” In this verse the God of the universe, the enactor of the world's folk, the assigner of daily provi- sions to the servants, the bestower of bounty and the lovingly kind, the caresser of the friends, caresses Mary and honors her. With this honoring He gives her excellence over the women of the world and separates her from all of them. First, He calls her with the vocative of honor, saying “O Mary.” Exalted is this address! Exalted is this call! Thousands of thousands of prophets and friends went, either in the repose of having found it, or in remorse and hope for it. O spirit of the world! If a thousand times you call on Him saying, “My Lord, my Lord,” that is not like His calling on you once, “My servant, My servant.” Even if you accept Him in lordhood, that gains you nothing, for in any case His lordhood is inseparable from you. What does the work is that once He should accept you for servanthood. Abū Yazīd BasṬāmī said, “God stood me before Him in a thousand standing places, presenting the empire to me, but I was saying, 'I do not desire it.' In the last standing place He said to me, 'O Abū Yazīd, what do you desire?' I said, 'I desire not to desire,'” that is, I desire what You desire. “Then He said, 'You are My servant in truth.'” Even if you do not have the gall to speak with God like Abū Yazīd, you are not too small to present your need to Him, to show Him your burning and hope, and to say, “O Lord, a name and mark is enough for me! You have come from Your threshold to place a name on me. Whatever name You want, let it be.” A man went to the bazaar to buy a slave. They presented the slaves to him and he chose one to buy. He said, “O slave, what's your name?” He said, “First buy me so that I may belong to you. Then call me by whatever name you want.

He shall speak to mankind in the cradle, of the body, and in his manhood, as one having attained the stage of the shaykh of the spirit overtaken by the brightness of his light, and he is of those who are good, for the station of gnosis'.

She said, 'Lord, how shall I have a child when no mortal has touched meḍ': the soul marvels at its bearing child and giving birth without having been touched by a mortal, that is, without having been nurtured by a shaykh or taught by a mortal teacher, this being the significance of her virginity. He said, 'It is such. God creates what He will, that is, He elects whom He will through divine attraction and unveiling, endowing that person with the station of the heart without nurture or pedagogy, as is the state with [God's] beloved and some of the loving ones.

And He will teach him the Book, the wisdom, the Torah, and the Gospel. Until the end of these verses are all his miracles. Because it was in God's knowledge that the Christians would exaggerate concerning him, the Lord of the Worlds gave him speech in the cradle in the state of infancy to reject those Christians, so he said, “Surely I am the servant of God” [19:30]. In other words, it is not as the Christians say. Rather, “I am the servant of God, created by Him, and He is my Lord.” It is also a rejection of those who criticized his mother: “O sister of Aaron! Your father was not a man of ugliness” [19:28]. The Lord of the Worlds declared her in- nocence and, to brighten her eyes, He made those words come to his tongue in the state of infancy. Here there is an exalted point: Since it was in God's knowledge that Jesus would be the brightness of Mary's eyes and the joy of her heart in this world and the afterworld, the Lord of the Worlds placed the burden and pain of Jesus on her at the time of birth. That is in His words, “And the birth pangs took her to the trunk of a date palm” [19:23]. Thus what was rightfully due became incumbent for her. As the counterpart of that suffering and hardship, blessings and ease reached her. MuṣṬafā's state with his mother was the opposite of this. Since it was in God's knowledge that his mother would have no portion of him, whether in this world or in the next, He did not place the burden of MuṣṬafā upon her, and at the time of birth no suffering reached her, so that no rightful due would become incumbent for her. Similar to this is the story of Noah and his community and that of MuṣṬafā and his community. It was said to Noah, “Do not let yourself suffer for the community and do not carry the load of their trial, for they will never give you brightness of the eyes and joy of the heart: None of your community will have faith except those who already have faith” [11:36]. It was in keeping with this address that he supplicated, “My Lord, leave no disbeliever dwelling on the earth” [71:26], and God did that.

To be a messenger, to the spiritual ones who are prepared from among the children of Jacob the spirit: 'I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, that proves that I have come from His part; I will create for you, through [my] nurture and acts of purification and practical wisdom, out of the clay of the souls of the deficiently prepared ones, like the shape of a bird, the one that flies off to the Holy Side by the intensity of its yearning; then I will breathe into it, of the breath of divine knowledge and an infusion of the true life by the effects of [divine] company and nurture, and it will be a bird, that is, a living soul, flying away with the wings of yearning and aspiration towards the Side of the Truth. I will also heal the blind, the one veiled from the light of the Truth whose insight has never opened up [to the truth] and the sun of whose face has never seen the Truth or His light and has never known His folk adorned as they are by the light of guidance; and [heal] the leper, whose soul is disfigured by the sickness of vices and corrupt beliefs and the love of this world and the pollutants of lusts, with the medicine of the souls; and I bring to life, the dead of ignorance by means of the life of knowledge, by the leave of God. And I will inform you too of what things you eat, [of what things] you partake in your pursuit of lusts and pleasures, and what you treasure up in your houses, that is, in the houses of your unseens in the way of motives and intentions. Surely in that is a sign for you, if you are believers.

Likewise, confirming that which was before me of the Torah, that is, of the Torah of exoteric knowledge, and to make lawful for you some of that which was forbidden to you, of the inner lights; I have come to you with a sign, a proof, from your Lord, namely, the proclamation of Oneness concerning which no prophet has ever disagreed with me. So fear God, if you oppose me, for I am upon the truth, and obey me, when I call you to the proclamation of Oneness.

And when Jesus, the heart, sensed, on the part of the ego-centric faculties, disbelief, veiling, denial and opposition, he said, 'Who will be my helpers unto Godḍ', that is, he demanded from the spiritual faculty what he required to assist him against them in his orientation towards God. The disciples said, that is, the purest and best aspects of the mentioned spiritual elements [said]: 'We will be helpers of God; we believe in God, through proofs and by being illumined with the light of the spirit; witness that we have submitted, [that] we are obedient and compliant.

Lord, we believe in what You have revealed, of the knowledge of Oneness and the effusion of [Your] light, and we follow the Messenger; inscribe us therefore with those who bear witness', those who are present before You, observing Your command, or of those who bear witness to Your Oneness.

And they deceived, and God deceived, and God is the best of deceivers. Ibn ʿAbbās said, “The deception of God is that when they increased in unbelief and sin, He in- creased their blessings until He pulled them into total recklessness. They brought immense unbe- lief and applied their heads to rebellion and misguidance. Then He took them little by little from whence they did not know.” It has come in the traditions that someone tormented Abū Dardā. Abū Dardā said, “Lord God, bestow upon him a healthy body, long life, and great wealth!” An intelligent man who ponders these words will know that this is the worst of supplications. When anyone is given this, recklessness and heedlessness will make him heedless of the next world so that he will be de- stroyed.

'I shall gather you, that is, I shall seize you unto Me from among them, and raise you to Me, that is, to the heaven of the spirit alongside Me, and I shall cleanse you of, the impurity of being alongside, those who disbelieved, from among the vile faculties and their scheming and [from] the vileness of their company; and I shall set those who follow you, of the spiritual ones, above those who disbelieved, of the ego-centric ones until the Day of the Greater Resurrection and the arrival at the station of the Unity. Then, on that Day, to Me shall be your return, and I will decide between you, in truth, as to what you were at variance about, before unity, in terms of the contention and conflict that resulted from [those] faculties. I shall then establish each one in its rightful abode there and shall grant it what is appropriate for it from that which is with Me, whereafter disagreement and conflict shall be removed.

As for the disbelievers, I will chastise them with a terrible chastisement, by depriving them of the station of the heart and veiling them in the guises of their deeds.

But as for the believers, from among the spiritual ones, who do deeds of righteousness, of all sorts of acts of [spiritual] augmentation, adornment and purification in order to assist the heart against the soul and remaining closely behind it as it orients itself towards the Truth; He will pay them in full their wages, by way of the holy lights and spiritual illuminations that radiate upon them; God loves not the evildoers, who stint what is due by right of wages. As for the intepretation [of this verse] without [effecting] correspondences, it is that they schemed to send someone to slay Jesus, peace be upon him. But a corporeal form was presented to them as a likeness, which was the manifestation of Jesus, the spirit of God, peace be upon him, in the real form of Jesus such that they supposed it to be Jesus and so slew it and crucified it, when God had raised Jesus, peace be upon him, to the fourth heaven as his spirit, peace be upon him, was an effusion of the spiritual aspect of the sun. But in their ignorance they did not know that the spirit of God could not be slain. When he was certain of his state before being raised, he [Jesus] said to his companions: 'I am departing to my father, your heavenly father', that is, I am seeking purification from the world of impurity and connecting to the holy spirit, bestower of forms, effuser of spirits and perfections, nurturer of men by means of infusing [their] spirit with the breath. I shall reinforce you with that effusion. At that time his call was not heeded and his example was not followed and so he commanded the disciples to disperse after him across the land and to call [people] to the Truth. They said, 'How are we to do this if you shall not be amongst us and now when you are our call is not heeded'. He said [to them]: 'The sign of my reinforcement of you is that people will accept your call after me'. After he was raised, his companions would not leave anyone until he heeded their call. Acceptance of their call appeared amongst people, their word prevailed, and their religion spread in all corners of the world.

Truly, the likeness of Jesus, in other words, his attribute in God's sight, his being created by [divine] power without a father, is as Adam's likeness, in having been created without parents. Know that the marvels of [divine] power are endless and there can be no analogy in this respect to the effect that there is an analogue from the world of wisdom for the creation of a human being without parents, since there are many deficient animal beings of unusual nature that are generated from the point of creation in a short period of time then reproduce and propagate [further]. Likewise, a human being can come into being by being generated in one of several cycles, then through propagation. Similarly is engenderment without a father, for the seminal fluid of a man is much hotter than that of a woman and contains a more powerful capacity for coagulation, just as in the case of rennets with regard to [the curdling of] cheese, whereas in the woman the more powerful capacity is that of being coagulated, as is the case with milk. When the two come together coagulation takes place, the fluids coagulate and the embryo is engendered. It is possible to have a strong female constitution that corresponds to a male constitution as can be seen in the case of many women, to the extent that what is generated in her right kidney [read: ovaryḍ] is equivalent to male seminal fluid on account of its extreme heat sitting as it does next to the liver in the case of the woman the constitution of whose liver is sound and sufficiently hot, and that what is generated in her left kidney is equivalent to female seminal fluid. So when she experiences seminal emissions as a result of a male form overwhelming her imagination during sleep and consciousness because of her spirit's being joined to the holy spirit and to another angel and [by] the imagination's reproductive imitation (muḥākāt) of that [male form], as God, exalted be He says: and he became imaginalised to her as a man without fault [Q. 19:17], the two seminal fluids from both sides proceed to the womb. In the setting place on the right side is formed the stronger capacity for causing coagulation and in the setting place on the left side is formed the capacity for becoming coagulated whereupon the embryo is engendered and the spirit is attached to it.

The truth is from thy Lord, so be not among the doubters. “O MuḤammad, take care not to suppose that I have associates and partners in the power of ex- istence-giving. I do not need or require anyone in that. No one besides Me has the power of existence-giving and devising.” One of the pirs of the Tariqah said in his whispered prayer, “O Lord, the one who does the work is the one who can, and the one who bestows is the one who has. What do I have and what can I do? Who has ability like Your ability? In praising You who has a tongue? Without Your love, who has the joy of spirit?” Without the breeze of the heart-taker's love, the garden has no ease, without the radiance of that rose-colored face, there's no light or fire.

And whoever disputes with you concerning him, that is, concerning Jesus. [As for the intepretation of the rest of] the verse: mutual imprecation (mubāhala) against prophets has a tremendous consequence the cause of which is the connection of their souls to the holy spirit and God's reinforcing theirs with this [latter] which is the cause of effects in the world of elements and so the world of elements is acted upon by it in the way that our body is acted upon by our spirit by means of the configurations that occur to it such as wrath, grief, reflection upon the states of the beloved one and so on in the way of the movement of limbs when will and resolve arise and human souls act upon them just as our senses and all our other faculties are acted upon by the configurations of our spirits. Thus if a holy soul is joined to it or to certain spirits of the celestial bodies and souls of the angelic realm, its effect on the world upon the joined orientation is the effect of that to which it is joined and so the elemental bodies and deficient human souls are acted upon by it in the way that it wants. Have you not seen how the souls of the Christians were acted upon by his [Muḥammad's] soul, peace be upon him, with fear and thus refrained from the mutual imprecation [against the Prophet] and sued for peace by accepting to pay the poll-tax (jizya).

There is no god but God, that is, Jesus has nothing to do with divinity and ought not to be worshipped just by virtue of the disengagement of his essence, for the world of the angelic realm and that of the realm of the divine attributes are all similarly [disengaged].

Say: “O Folk of the Book! Come to a word common between us and you: that we worship none but God, that we associate nothing with Him, and that some of us not take others of us as lords apart from God.” In terms of realization, this is addressed to the folk of tawḤīd and the desirers on the road of the Haqiqah. He is saying, “If you who are traveling on the path of truthfulness today want to be dwellers in the seat of truthfulness [54:55] tomorrow, be careful to protect your walkway from the debris of customs, to sweep away the opacities of mortal nature from the carpet of your present moment, and to make the drinking place of your aspiration pure of the dust of others. Be one in heart, one in desire, and one in aspiration. 'When someone comes to have one concern, God will suffice him against the concerns of this world and the next.'” This is why He says, “and that some of us do not take others of us as lords apart from God”: Do not settle down in every street with each scatteredness of the heart. Do not obey the commanding soul, do not worship blameworthy caprice, and take not two gods; surely He is but One God [16:51]. As long as the talk of some defiled fellow grabs you, you're the servant of your own fancy, not a servant of God.

Do not have faith in any but those who follow your religion. Say: “Surely the guidance is God's guidance,” lest anyone should be given the like of what you have been given, or dispute with you before your Lord. Say: “Surely the bounty is in God's hand. He gives it to whomso- ever He wills.” And God is all-embracing, knowing. Some of the commentators have said that here God is addressing the Muslims and caressing the folk of recognition and faith. He is reminding them of His favor toward them with the religion of the submission. The address then has two paths. In one respect it is addressed to the common faithful of this community, and in the other respect it is addressed to the recognizers and the elect among the folk of the Tariqah. The first respect is this: “O assembly of submitters! Do not suppose or hold firm that anyone has been given what has been given to you. There is no religion like the religion of the submission, and it was given to you. There is no book like the Qur'an, and it was given to you. There is no prophet like MuḤammad, and he was given to you. There is no month like Ramadan, and it belongs to you. There is no day like Friday, and it belongs to you. All the shariahs have been abrogated by your shariah, and all the compacts have been abrogated by your compact. The perfection of the religion and the Shariah and the beauty of the Tariqah and the Haqiqah are all in your covenant.” This is in His words, “Today I have perfected your religion for you and I have completed My bless- ings upon you and I have approved the submission for you as a religion” [5:3]. “Now give gratitude for this blessing, give thanks to your Object of worship, and obey the command. The command is this: 'Do not have faith in any but those who follow your religion.' Do not exercise friendship with any but those who share your religion, and do not show brother- hood to any but the faithful. Keep away from the irreligious and the estranged.” This is just what He says in this verse: “Do not lean upon those who do wrong, lest the Fire touch you” [11:113].

He singles out for His mercy whomsoever He will. That is, He singles out for His blessings whomsoever He will. He singles out a group for provisions, He singles out a group for the blessing of character traits, He singles out a group for the blessing of worship, others for the blessing of desire, others for the success of outwardness, others for the realiza- tion of the secret cores, others for the gift of outer skins, others for the encounter with the secrets. God says, and His words are truth: “If you count God's blessings, you will not enumerate them” [14:34].7 He singles out for His mercy whomsoever He will. He brought them together obscurely and did not specify anyone so that the hopeful would increase in their hope and the fearful would not remain in their fear. In the station of worship and obedience the servants will not find any states better than hope and fear, for the Lord of the Worlds praises the servants in these two states and says, “They hope for His mercy and fear His chastisement” [17:57]. He is also calling attention to the fact that even if the servants strive to the utmost in obedience and perform all the conditions of servanthood, in the end it is God's mercy that will deliver them. Concerning this the following has been narrated from the Prophet: “No one will enter the Garden by his deeds.” It was said to him, “Not even you, O Messenger of God!” He said, “Not even I, unless God envelops me with His mercy.”

It belongs to no mortal man that God should give him the Book, the judgment, and prophet- hood, and then he should say to the people, “Be servants of me instead of God!” But, “Be you lordly ones from having taught the Book and from having studied!” Before giving existence to the universe and creating Adam, the majestic compeller, the great God, the renowned enactor, knew in His eternal knowledge who among the children of Adam would be worthy of prophethood and friendship and who would be qualified for love and suited for messen- gerhood. God knows better where to place His message [6:124]. How can he upon whom He has placed the brand of deprivation and the inscription of unawareness be sinless and truthful on the road today? And how can he to whom He has given good fortune gratis and whom He has placed on the road of truthfulness and sinlessness be roadless and bad in state today? So, what will take form and how can it enter into imagination? It could never happen that the chosen MuṣṬafā and the caressed Jesus, after the honor of prophethood, the confirmation of sinlessness, and the strength of messengerhood, take a step out of line and say to the people, “Be servants of me instead of God!” By virtue of the beginningless choice and eternal solicitude, the Lord of the Worlds answered on their behalf as their deputy: “They do not say this. Rather they say, 'Be you lordly ones!'” In other words: Be among those singled out for God, those who are described by His words, “When I love him, I am his hearing with which he hears and his eyesight with which he sees.” In keeping with the tasting of the folk of recognition, the lordly ones are those who become one for God with disengaged intention, sound trust, and intimacy's breeze. They step beyond the two worlds and seize hold of the gentleness of the Patron's love. They say the prayer of the dead for their own attributes. When someone steps into the field of passion for the beautiful, night and day will recite for him the prayer of the dead. [DS 210] They have souls undergoing annihilation and hearts full of thirst. They have burnt souls, secret cores lit by passion, and spirits hanging in hope.

He would never order you, to a particular devotion and to confine yourselves to a [particular] form for that is a veil and disbelief, nor would the Prophet order you to veil yourselves after you have submitted that your existences belongs to God.

And when God took the compact of the prophets, “I have given you of the Book and wis- dom. Then a messenger will come to you confirming what is with you. You shall surely have faith in him and you shall surely help him.” In the whole Qur'an, there is no verse more complete in explaining the excellence of MuṣṬafā, to whom this verse is devoted without the association of anyone else. The Lord of the Worlds made two covenants with His creatures and took two compacts from them. One was the compact He took from the creatures concerning His Godhood and Enactorship, as He said: “When your Lord took from the children of Adam, from their loins, their offspring and made them bear witness concern- ing themselves. 'Am I not your Lord?' They said, 'Yes indeed'” [7:172]. The other is the compact He took with the angels and the prophets concerning MuḤammad's prophethood and helping him, as He says, “And when God took the compact of the prophets.” This is an utmost bestowal of eminence and a perfect acknowledgment of excellence, for He made his name great with His own name and lifted up his measure with His measure. Several thousand years before the existence of MuḤammad, a command came, “O Gabriel! I will have a friend whose name is MuḤammad. He will be praised and caressed by Me, his name will be placed next to My name, his measure will be lifted up by My bounty, his being obeyed will be obedience to Me, his words will be My revelation, and following him will be friendship with Me. O Gabriel! You make a covenant with Me to have faith in him and help him.” This was when He said, “You shall surely have faith in him and you shall surely help him.” Gabriel said, “O Lord, I make a covenant that my hand will be one with his hand, I will help, and I will have faith in him.” God said, “O Gabriel! Keep to this covenant and do not oppose it.” He said, “O Lord, who would have the gall to oppose You?!” Then He said, “O Michael! You be a witness to Gabriel's covenant.” Then in the same way He made a covenant with Michael, and He told Gabriel to be witness to Michael's covenant.

Then whoever turns his back after that, that is, after having known God's covenant with the prophets and the prophets' communication to him of what God has pledged to them, those they are, the ones who have departed from God's religion, and there is no other religion in reality on which to rely except that it be illusion.

What! Do they desire other than God's religion, when all who are in the heavens and the earth abide by His religion, willingly, such as [all those] other than human beings and Satan, or unwillingly, such as human beings and Satan, since disbelief cannot embrace any other existent. All [these other existents] comply with what God has commanded them obediently. Man, on the other hand, veils himself of his own free will and because he has forgotten God's covenant and has accepted the call of Satan, corresponding to him by virtue of his [man's] ego-centric darkness: he does not believe, nor does he comply except unwillingly, God knows, except the one whom God has protected [from such sin] and chosen [for such protection]. Satan, on account of his veiling himself with his conceit and ego, when he said I am better than him [Q. 7:12], and because of his refusal and arrogance, disbelieved even as he knew that he was being disobedient, realising that his disbelief took place by God's will: that is the essence of faith, as God says: like Satan when he says to man, 'Disbelieve!'� he [then] says to him, 'Lo! I am absolved of you. Indeed I fear God, the Lord of the Worlds [Q. 59:16]. He also says: And that Satan adorned their deeds for them and said, 'Today no person shall overcome you, for I shall be your protector'. But when the two armies sighted each other, he turned his back in flight saying, 'I am quit of you, for I see what you do not see. I fear God and God is severe in retribution' [Q. 8:48]; and in another place: And Satan says, when the issue has been decided, 'Truly God promised you a promise of truth, whereas I promised you, then failed you, for over you I had no warrant, except that I called you and you responded to me. So do not blame me, but blame yourselves. I cannot heed your [distress] call, nor can you heed mine. Lo! I disbelieved in your making me an associate of God before [Q. 14:22]. All of these verses are proof that he [Satan] has faith, but when it shall not profit him; and to Him they shall be returned, in the final sequel, when there shall be no religion other than God's religion. Nay, all upon this return shall be upon His religion:'All are followers of the religion of the Truth if they [only] could discern, for a religion that is not for [sake of] the Truth, is not one that is lawful'.

Whosoever wants a religion other than the submission, it will not be accepted from him. Any religion that is not the submission is false. Any deed that is not following the Sunnah is the seed of remorse. The submission is the tree, the Sunnah is its water source, faith its fruit, and the Real the one who planted and nurtured it. When the wellspring of the Sunnah takes replenishment, it takes it from divine solicitude. If-refuge in God!-He should take back the solicitude, the wellspring would go dry. The tree would become ineffectual and barren, it would not give the fruit of faith, and it would be on the verge of disappearance and destruction. This is like the group who became apostates and turned away from the submission. Again, if the lordly solicitude should go forth and replenish the wellspring of the Sunnah, then the branches of the tree will be made from the goodly word [14:24] and its fruit from pure belief. The heaven of guidance will make the branch into a ladder, and in the state of life and death its fruit will become constant and never be cut off. This is why the Lord of the Worlds says by way of similitude, “God has struck a similitude: A goodly word is like a goodly tree, its roots fixed, and its branches in heaven. It gives its fruit every season by the leave of its Lord” [14:24-25]. It has also been said that if a similitude is struck for the submission, it is a lamp that has been lit by the Most Tremendous Light, its material and nurture made to appear from the light of the Sunnah. To this is the allusion in His words, “Is he whose breast God has expanded for the sub- mission, so he is upon a light from his Lord [...]?” [39:22]. He is saying, “Whenever the Exalted Lord lights the lamp of the submission in a breast, assistance from the light of the Sunnah makes it appear so that the breast may always be adorned and lit. Hence, whenever someone does not have a whiff of the Sunnah, he will have no portion of the submission. It is narrated from Shāfiʿī that he said, “I saw God in a dream and He said to me, 'Ask a wish from Me.

How shall God guide a people, to the end of the verse: He denies His guidance to a people whom He had guided initially by the light of preparedness to faith, then by the light of faith until they witnessed with their own eyes the truth of the Messenger and acquired certainty to the extent that they no longer had a single doubt; and this [certainty] was supplemented by [their] acquisition of rational proofs from clear signs. But then after all of these testimonies their souls manifested themselves in obstinacy and obduracy. The lights of their witnessing hearts, intellects and spirits, all three of them, were veiled by the Truth for the sake of the Truth, on account of the misfortune of this [act of] injustice of theirs and the mastery which their [evil-] commanding souls acquired over them, that which constitutes the utmost in evil deed. Thus God says: God guides not the evildoing folk, because of the harshness of their veil and the great extent to which they are distant from the Truth and from the reception of the light. And these [evildoing folk] are of two classes. For one class the configuration of the mastery of the commanding soul over their hearts has taken deep root and become fixed in them. They have engrossed themselves excessively in error and the pursuit of evil and have reached extreme distance [from the Truth] and obstinacy until such [behaviour] became an inherent trait that does not abandon them. In the case of the other class, that configuration has not taken deep root in them yet and their hearts have not become rusted over; [for these] there remains behind the veil of the soul a ray of the light of their preparedness that perhaps a mercy and a gift of success from God should reach them that they might then become remorseful and feel shame by virtue of the innate disposition of the intellect. He thus alludes to the first class in His statement surely those who disbelieve after they have believed to the end of that verse [Q. 3:90], and to the second [class] with His statement:

But those who repent thereafter, and make amends, for what they had rendered corrupt, by pursuing devotedly [good] deeds and acts of spiritual discipline.

[Surely those who disbelieve, and die disbelieving,] the whole earth full of gold shall not be accepted from any one of them, because at that instant only subsisting luminous matters are accepted, as the Hereafter is the world of light and subsistence wherein perishing matters of darkness shall have no effect or bearing. Besides, was the cause of their disbelief and their being veiled anything but their love of these wicked and transient thingsḍ So how then could these constitute the cause of their salvation, nearness, acceptance and remorse when they are the very cause of their destruction, distance, loss and privationḍ

You will not attain piety: any act that brings a person closer to God is piety (birr). The only way to become closer to Him is to absolve oneself (tabarrī) of all that is other than Him. Thus when one loves something he becomes veiled thereby from God, exalted be He, and is guilty of a subtle associationism (shirk) because his love is attached to something other than God, as God says Yet there be people who take to themselves compeers besides God, loving them as God is loved [Q. 2:165], preferring that their souls love these over God. Such a person has become distant from God on three accounts: the love of other than the Truth; association of others [with God]; and preferring one's soul over the Truth. But is such a person were to prefer God over his soul and voluntarily give away that [love of others to God], expending it [for God], then that distance would disappear and nearness would ensue. Otherwise, he will remain veiled, even if he were to expend many times over of something else, and will not attain piety because God knows what is being expended and [knows of] his being veiled by something other than Him.

All food was lawful to the Children of Israel, that is, [to] those possessing intellect, by virtue of [its] being the foundation, since the intellect judges that things were created for the benefit of servants absolutely and hence what pertains to the category of things eaten was created to be consumed; save what Israel, the spirit, forbade for himself, through rational consideration by trial and comparison, ascertaining what is harmful and what is beneficial at the level of differentiation after the undifferentiating stipulation that it is all lawful was made. For the intellect judges that what is harmful or what brings about ruin should be forbidden; before the Torah was revealed, that is, before the divine [prescriptions of the] law was revealed in the Torah and all of the other divine scriptures. People fell into disagreement after they had been one community following the religion of the Truth, as has been mentioned. God then sent prophets to guide them and to put right the states determining [both] their livelihoods [in this world] and their final return [in the next], and to make them return the [path of] truth and agreement. What divine wisdom required that it be forbidden was indeed forbidden, in accordance with their imbalanced states and the foolish natures of their hearts and their diseased souls, in the way of things to which they were accustomed and things which turned [them] away from the Truth and constituted veils between them and God, and which incited caprices and passions and all manner of corruptive acts and temptations that prevented them from [realising] their perfections and [achieving] guidance.

The first house established for the people: they say that it was the first house to appear on the surface of the water at the time of the creation of the heaven and the earth. He created it 2000 years before the earth; it had been a clear froth on the surface of the water under which the earth was then spread out. The House then is an allusion to the real heart; its appearance on the surface of the water constitutes its attachment to the drop of [creational] fluid at the heaven of the animal spirit and the earth of the body; its creation before the earth is an allusion to its eternity and the temporal incidence of the body; the specification of 2000 years is an allusion to its precedence over the body in two modes, the mode of the soul and the mode of the heart, a precedence of level, since 1000 constitutes one complete level, as has been alluded to before; its being a clear froth is an allusion to the purity of its substance; the spreading out of the earth below it is an allusion to the engenderment of the body by effect and the fact that its [the body's] figures, delineations, and the forms of its limbs follow on from its configurations. That is the interpretation of the narrative. Know also that the locus for the attachment of the spirit to the body and the joining point of the real heart to it is at first the formal heart, which is the first of the organs to undergo engenderment and the first to function and the last to become still, hence its being the first house established for people: was that at Bakka, the breast as a form, or the first locus of worship and place of prayer established for people, [that is] for the real heart that is located in the Bakka of the spiritual breast. That [spiritual] breast is the most noble station of the soul and the place in which swarm the faculties that are oriented towards it; a blessed place, possessing divine blessedness emanating from the effusion that it connects to all existence, faculties and life. For all of the faculties that are contained in the organs proceed to these [organs] first by way of that [place]; and a guidance to all worlds: a cause of guidance and a light by which one is guided to God.

Therein are clear signs, in the way of forms of knowledge, gnoses, wisdoms and realities, the station of Abraham, that is to say, the intellect which is the foothold of Abraham the spirit, meaning the locus wherein the light of that [house] is joined to the heart; and whoever enters it, of the wayfarers and the perplexed who wander in the deserts of ignorance, shall be secure, from the misguiding enticements of scheming demons and [from] the afreets of the insinuations of the soul and the snatches of the satans of estimation and the jinn of imaginations and the slaughter by the beasts of prey of the egocentric faculties and their attributes. It is the duty of people towards God to make the pilgrimage to the House, [to] this [House], and to circumambulate it, if he is able to make his way there, of the wayfarers who are prepared and who are sincere in their will, and have the means of the provision of piety and the mount of powerful resolve, to the exclusion of others who are of a weak preparedness and who stay behind because of weakness and [spiritual] sickness and [because of] all barriers pertaining to character traits or those egocentric or corporeal [barriers] that are accidental. As for the one who disbelieves, that is, the one who has veiled his preparedness despite its having the capacity [for spiritual growth] and who turns away from it out of the caprices of the soul, God is Independent of, him, and of, the worlds, all of them. In other words, He is not concerned with him because of the latter's distance [from God] and his being unreceptive to His mercy [existing as he does] under the ignominy of the veil, which is that privation [from God] entails being forsaken and rejected.

Whoever holds fast to God, by severing himself from all that is other than Him and [by] holding on to true affirmation of Oneness, he is guided to a straight path. For the straight path is the way of the Truth, exalted be He, as He has said: Surely my Lord is on a straight path [Q. 11:56]. Thus whoever severs himself in devotion solely to Him through annihilation in the Unity, his path becomes the path of God.

O you who have faith, be wary of God as is the rightful due of His wariness. When He says, “O people,” He says, “Be wary of your Lord” along with it. When He says, “O you who have faith,” He says, “Be wary of God” along with it. Be wary of your Lord is addressed to the common people. Their godwariness is based on seeing blessings, and their aspiration is nurturing the body to serve the Real. Be wary of God is addressed to the folk of caresses and generosity. Their godwariness is based on being watchful of the Beneficent and their aim is the repose of the spirit in witnessing the Real. What a difference between the two! Be wary of your Lord is addressed to the wage-earners, and Be wary of God is addressed to the recognizers. The wage-earners are seeking joy and blessings, and the recognizers are seeking the mystery of the Beneficent. From God the wage-earners want other than Him, but the recognizers want God Himself. AḤmad ibn Khiẓrūya saw the Real in a dream. He said, “O AḤmad! Everyone is seeking something from Me, except Abū Yazīd. He is seeking Me.” People are wishing for repose and comfort, but I, O Exalted One, wish to encounter You empty. * On the day I reach union with You I will disdain the state of the paradise-dwellers. It has been said that godwariness is of three sorts: One is wariness of God's punishment by having patience against acts of disobedience, as He says: “Be wary of the Fire that has been prepared for the unbelievers” [3:131]. Second is the godwariness of gratitude for blessings, as He says: “Be wary of your Lord” [4:1]. Third is godwariness at the vision of Unity, without taking into account reward or punishment, as He says: “Be wary of God as is the rightful due of His wariness.” The first is the godwariness of the wrongdoers, the second the godwariness of the moderate, and the third the godwariness of the preceders.

And hold fast to God's bond, together, that is, [hold fast] to His covenant, the one [mentioned] in His statement: Am I not your Lord [Q. 7:172], united in affirmation of [Hi] Oneness; and do not separate from one another, with disagreeing opinions, for to be separated from the truth results from the divergence of natures and the pursuit of caprice as well as the mutual attraction of faculties. The affirmer of [His] Oneness is far removed from such [a predicament], because his heart has been illumined by the light of the Truth and his soul has been irradiated by the effusion of the heart, such that his faculties are at peace and in friendship with one another. And remember God's grace upon you, by way of [His] guiding you to the affirmation of Oneness that entails love in the hearts, when you were enemies, because of your being veiled with egocentric veils and the coverings of nature, far removed from the light, and [by] the universal goals that allow for association and which remain, by consensus, in the abyss of darkness; and He brought your hearts together, by making you love one another for God's sake so that these [hearts] might be illumined by His light; so that by His grace you became brothers, in religion, friends through God; and you were upon the brink of a pit of fire, which is the abyss into which fall wicked nature and the locus of privation and chastisement; but He delivered you from it, as a result of your true closeness with one another in pursuit of the Lote-tree of the station of the spirit and the spirit of the Paradise of the Essence. So God makes clear to you His signs, by means of the self-disclosures of [His] subtle attributes and [by His] luminous irradiations, that you might be guided, to His beauty and the self-disclosure of His Essence.

Let there be a community of you inviting to the good. This is an allusion to peoples who stand up for God in God. They are not taken aback by the blame of any blamer nor cut off from God by relying on any causes. They have seen the shortcomings of their own souls and immersed their lives in gaining God's approval. They act for God, give counsel for God's religion, and call God's creatures to God. Their trade has profited them and they do not regret their handshake. This is the description of a people who stand through the Real's making them stand and who have been freed from their own power and strength and disengaged from their own desires and aims. They are outside the circle of deeds and states, free of the captivity of choice and self- determination. They know God, they call upon God, and they strive in God's religion. They do not think about people or their blame. In their hearts they have friendship for the Patron and in their eyes the collyrium of Self-disclosure. They see everything just as it is. Others look from the artisanry to the Artisan, but they look from the Artisan to the artisanry. They are the elect of the Presence, branded by the Empire. Be the elect servant of the king-with his brand you're safe from police by day and patrols by night. They are the ones burnt by union and killed by love. Their blood has been spilled and their prop- erty destroyed, but their hearts are in His grasp, their spirits in His embrace. This is why they say, You have a Heart-taker better than life. Don't grieve-let go of life. “When someone is destroyed in God, God takes his place.”

And do not be like those who became dispersed and disagreed. Dispersion is one thing and disagreement something else. Dispersion is the opposite of together- ness and disagreement the opposite of agreement. Dispersion is the scatteredness of the folk of the Tariqah and disagreement the scatteredness of the folk of the Shariah. Dispersion is that the servant desires one thing and the Real desires something else. Togeth- erness is that the servant's desire and the Real's desire are one. According to the report, “When someone makes his concerns one concern, God will spare him the concerns of this world and the next world.” It has been said that dispersion is to gaze on the creatures and to see the secondary causes such that you are never relieved of suffering and creaturely antagonism. Togetherness is to gaze on the Real and to know that the Real is one, the work comes from one place, and the decree comes from this one door. As for the disagreement of the lords of the Shariah, that is of two sorts: One is in the principles of the religion, the other in the branches. Disagreement in the principles is terrible and dangerous, since one must be right and the other wrong. When someone's goal lies in the west and he takes the road east, how can he ever reach the goal? The more he goes, the more he moves away from the goal day by day, and he falls farther behind. This is alluded to in His words, “Surely this path of Mine is straight, so follow it. And do not follow the paths, lest they disperse you from His path” [6:153]. As for the disagreement of the community on the branches, it is like a group who set out for one goal by disagreeing roads, some going nearer and some farther. Although they disagree in the traveling, they arrive at one goal and come together. This disagreement is mercy itself. To it the Prophet alluded: “Disagreement in my community is a mercy.” In other words, this disagreement in branches is God's mercy toward the creatures, so that the work of the religion would not become narrow for them and its road would not be difficult. This is in His words, “He placed no hardship upon you in the religion” [22:78]; and in God's words, “God desires for you ease and does not desire for you hardship” [2:185].

The day when some faces are blackened, and some faces whitened: the whitening of the face is a reflection of the illumination of the countenance of the heart by the light of the Truth by virtue of its [the heart's] orientation toward it and its turning away from the lower egocentric darkened aspect. That can only come about as a result of affirming the Oneness [of God] and remaining upright upon it by the illumination of the soul, in addition, with the light of the heart, so that the totality becomes illumined by the light of God. [As for] its blackening, that is [the result of] the darkness of the countenance of the heart when it pursues the soul that seeks its shares [of this world] and turns away from the luminous aspect of the truth, the consequence of its [the heart's] befriending of the soul and the following after desires in order to actualise pleasures, all of which ensues from following the divided satanic paths. As for those whose faces are blackened, it is said to them: 'Did you disbelieve after you had believedḍ, that is, have you veiled yourselves from the light of the Truth by the dark attributes of the soul and have taken up abodes in these darknesses after you had been guided and illumined by the light of preparedness and the purity of primordial nature and the guidance of the intellectḍ Then taste, the chastisement of privation for veiling yourselves from the Truth.

But as for those whose faces are whitened, they shall be in God's mercy, which is the spirit of connectedness and the holy light and the presential visions of [God's] beauty, abiding therein.

You are the best community [brought forth to men], by virtue of being affirmers of the Oneness and upholders of justice, which is His shadow, enjoining decency and forbidding indecency, since none but the just one who is an affirmer of the Oneness is able to do that, since he knows what is decent and what is indecent, as has been mentioned already in the interpretation of His words Thus We appointed you a midmost community [Q. 2:143]. The Commander of the Believers [ʿAlī], peace be upon him, said, 'We are the midmost saddle, with whom the [ultimate] interpretation ends and to whom the zealous extremist refers�. Thus upon the one who has fallen short [in his behaviour] they enjoin the decency that will help him attain the station of Oneness; and they forbid the zealous extremist veiled by the union from [the level of] differentiation and by the Oneness from [the level of] multiplicity; and believing in God, that is, you stand firm at the station of the Oneness which is the midmost. Such [you are] in every act of excess, immoderation and moderation in matters of character traits. Had the People of the Scripture believed, they would have been like you.

They will not harm you, except with a little hurt, because they are severed from the basis of strength and power; in affairs they follow their soul, which is the locus of enfeeblement and evil, while you are protected by God, drawing your strength from Him, in affairs following the truth, which is the source of vanquishing. Thus their power does not exceed the level of slander by the tongue, wickedness and causing hurt, which is the utmost limit of the soul's capacity. Your power surpasses every [other] power by its ability to vanquish and utterly destroy by virtue of your assumption of the attributes of God, exalted be He. No doubt they retreat before you in battle and are not aided [to victory].

Abasement shall be cast upon them, because might belongs, altogether, to God [Q. 4:139] and none can have a share in it except the one who assumes those character traits [derived] from His attributes by effacing the attributes of mortals, as is the case with the Messenger and the believers, who constitute loci for the manifestation of His might, as He, exalted be He, says: Yet the [real] might belongs to God and to His Messenger, and to the believers [Q. 63:8]. Thus the one who opposes them stands in contrareity to the attribute of might, at variance with the mighty ones, such that abasement necessarily attaches itself to him and subsumes him in whatever state he might be, except for a connection that ties him to the people of might, as where God says save by a rope of God, and a rope of the people, that is, [except for] some protection-guarantee or covenant; but that tends to me a transient affair without [solid] foundation, dependent on a contrived connection. Their essential attribute is not accepted, that [attribute] which adheres to them that is the abasement originating from the origins of their soulsl. They have merited severe wrath from God by their distance and their turning away from the truth. Poverty attaches itself to them because of their severance from God in favour of their souls and so He leaves them to the devices of their own souls.

Yet they are not all alike; some of the People of the Scripture are a community upright, that is, [upright] upon [the path of] God. He then describes them with [reference to] the states of those of uprightness. In other words, there are among them affirmers of Oneness and people of uprightness.

And whatever good you do, you shall not be denied it: in other words, everything that issues from you that brings you nearness to God is joined to its reward from Him. You shall not be denied anything of that [reward]. God, exalted be He, said: 'Whoever draws near to Me by an inch, I shall draw near to him by an arm's length. And whoever draws near to Me by an arm's length, I shall draw near to him by a fathom. And whoever comes to Me walking, I shall come to him hurrying'. He has also said, 'I am in the company of the one who remembers Me, the intimate of the one who gives thanks to Me, and the obeyer of the one who obeys Me'. In other words, just as you obey Him by purifying your preparedness and orienting yourselves towards Him, He indulges you by effusing [upon you] the effusion in kind and [by] turning to you; and God knows, those who guard against that which veils them from Him and so He discloses Himself to them in the measure that the veil recedes.

The likeness of what they expend in the life of this world, [the life] that is evanescent and its shortlived pleasures, lusting after passions or for show or for a reputation out of vanity, seeking people's praise without seeking God's face thereby, and [seeking] what destroys and totally annihilates of the wind generated by the desires of the soul, [a wind] that carries the cold of your corrupt intentions and false goals, such as the making of a show [infront of others] and the like, is as the likeness of a wind wherein is a blast that smote the tillage of a people who have wronged themselves, through associating [others with God] and through disbelief, such that it destroyed it, as a retribution from God for their wrongdoing. God did not wrong them, by destroying their tillage, but they, were wronging themselves, because that [destruction] was caused by their wrongdoing, as they say: be careful, for your hands seal your mouth while you blow.

[O you who believe] do not take as intimates anyone apart from yourselves: a person's intimate is his closest and most faithful friend, the one who keeps him hidden and is privy to his secrets. Such a friend cannot exist unless the two are united in their purpose, are in accord on religion and in attribute, loving one another for God's sake and not for some [other] purpose, as is said of friends [that they are] one soul in separate bodies. And if he happens not to be a believer, then it is far more likely that he will be secretly an enemy. He then makes clear his hypocrisy and secret enmity with His words: such men spare nothing to ruin you � to the end [of the verse]. For true and pure love can only be between believers in [God's] Oneness, since it is the shadow of [the very] Oneness: it cannot be between those who are veiled as they inhabit the world of contrareity and darkness. Where in this world of theirs is there purity and harmonyḍ Nay, it may be that the all-inclusive human genus brings them close together, sharing as they do in that species, and [in] benefits and delights, and in their need for cooperation therein. But once what they have sought of benefits and delights is not actualised, they quarrel and fall into mutual hatred. And that [initial] closeness between them dissipates, since it had been the result of something that undergoes change, because the soul is the origination point of change. This-worldly benefits do not remain in the same state, while egocentric pleasures are fleeting; therefore love based upon it does not endure, unlike the former [type of] love, since this [latter] is based on something that by its essence never changes. That [kind of enmity] ensues when it is a matter between them: how [much worse] would it be when the matter is between them and those who oppose them in principle and in attribute. How can light and darkness be of the same nature and how can the sublime and the low be compatibleḍ Thus between those [aforementioned] men there exists real enmity and essential disagreement, the effects of which cannot be hidden, as God makes clear in His words: Hatred is [even] revealed by their mouths, because the description of [a person's] essence cannot be concealed. The Prophet said: 'Never does a person hide something except that God makes it manifest in slips of the tongue and the expressions of the face; and what their breasts conceal is yet greater, because it is a fire and this is the spark: that is the source and this is its offshoot. Now We have made clear to you the signs, the proofs of love and enmity and its causes, if you understand, the import of these words.

Ha! There you are: You love them, but they do not love you. The faithful had limpid hearts and generous natures, and they did not keep tenderness and mercy back from the estranged. They wanted good for them and attached their hearts to their submission. They wanted their salvation and did not hold back God's mercy from them-whether they were acquaintances or strangers. This kept on crossing their minds: Bring the sweetmeat, for it is the heart's beloved, suited for both the elect and the common. This is the same tenderness that MuḤammad showed to the estranged. He said, “O God, guide my people, for they do not know.” As for the unbelievers, those who had no limpidness in their hearts or loyalty in their natures, they never wanted good for the people of faith, nor did they love them. They grieved at the good that reached them and became happy at the bad. God says, “If something beautiful touches you, it vexes them, and if something ugly strikes you, they rejoice at it” [3:120]. Indeed, everyone does what is fitting for him, for “The pot pours what is inside it.” The person of faith is generous and lovingly kind, for what is fitting for faith is generosity and chivalry. The unbeliever is base and bad-wanting, for what is fitting for unbelief is baseness and unseemliness. The person of faith calls God's creatures to salvation and deliverance. The unbeliever calls them to the Fire and captivity. To this He alludes with His words, “O my people! What is it with me that I invite you to salvation and you invite me to the Fire?” [40:41].

Yet if you endure, with patience what God tests you with in the way of hardships, trials and calamities, and remain firm as required by belief in Oneness and obedience [to God], and guard against, seeking their assistance in your affairs and resorting to friendship with them, their guile will not hurt you at all, because the one who trusts in God, who endures His test and seeks His assistance and not that of another, shall succeed in securing what he demands, vanquish his opponent, receiving his share of his Lord's good protection. The one who seeks the assistance of another shall be forsaken, left to the devices of his own soul, deprived of the aid of his Lord, as the poet says: 'he who seeks the help of any other than God in what he wants, shall surely have [nothing but] failure and forsakenness for his assistants. Of what they do, in the way of schemes, God is indeed encompassing, invalidating them and destroying them. They say that if you want to curb [the evil of] the one who envies you, then grow in virtue in yourself, for patience and God-consciousness are among the most beautiful virtues. If you adhere to them, you shall be victorious over your enemies.

God surely helped you at Badr while you were abased. He wrote this inscription of abasement for them in respect of number and the view of the common people. But, in respect of the view of the elect and the reality of the work, how can it be said that someone is lowly and abased when God is his helper? The Pir of the Tariqah said in his whispered prayers, “O Lord, in recognizing You we are alive, with Your help we are happy, with Your generosity we are joyful, through Your exalting we are exalted. O Lord, in You we are alive, so how can we ever die? In You we are happy, so how can we ever be sorrowful? In You we are joyful, so how can we live without You? In You we are exalted, so how can we ever be abased?” A man entered in on Hārūn al-Rashīd and commanded him to do the honorable. Hārūn be- came angry and put him inside a room with a lion, with the door firmly shut. The lion entered in upon the man with humility and did not harm him. After that, they saw him in the midst of the gar- den, happily gazing at it, and the door to the room was firmly locked as it had been. They reported his state to Hārūn, and he summoned him. He said, “Who let you out of the room?” He answered, “The one who brought me into the garden.” He said, “Who brought you into the garden?” He said, “The one who brought me out of the room.” Hārūn commanded that they should put him on a seat with exaltation and honor and carry him around the city, with a caller going before him saying, “Behold, Hārūn al-Rashīd wanted to abase a servant exalted by God, and he was unable to do so.”

Yea, if you are patient and fear, and they come against you � to the end of the verse: to endure with patience the hardship of struggle and to expend the soul in obedience of God and to bear discomfort in pursuit of God's satisfaction can only take place when there is God-consciousness with the support of the Truth and illumination by the light of certainty and its sureness, and by the sending down of the divine peace and reassurance upon that person. But to be conscious of God while contravening the command of the Truth and inclining to profit and gain, fearing the ruination of the soul can only come about when the soul is broken by the subjugating authority of the heart and the spirit. For constancy and dignity are the attributes of the spirit, while inconstancy and restlessness are the attributes of the soul. Once the authority of the spirit has acquired mastery over the heart and takes its seat [there], it protects that [heart] from falling under the mastery of the attributes of the soul and the [soul's] hosts, such that the heart becomes enamoured of it [the spirit] and feels at peace with it because of its luminosity the pleasures of which are beloved. It is able to fortify itself with it [the spirit] against the soul and its faculties, defeating it, breaking it, thwarting its [potential] overpowering and [repelling] its darkness from itself, rendering it instead meek, obedient and reassured so that it is no longer agitated and it [the soul] becomes illumined by its [the heart's] light. Thereupon mercy comes down and the heart corresponds to the heavenly spiritual realm with respect to its [the soul's] luminosity, its capacity to vanquish what is below it and its love and yearning for what is above it. Thus by that correspondence it [the heart] becomes joined to it [the illumined soul] and is able to draw on its [this soul's] faculties and [draw] its attributes into its [the heart's] acts especially when it [the heart] is stirred and spurns the lower aspect and severs itself in exclusive devotion to the higher aspect by the power of certainty and the trust. It is then able to draw upon the faculties of its [the illumined soul's] capacity to vanquish against the one with whom it [the heart] is angry: this is [the moment of] the coming down of the angels. But when it [the heart] is anxious and alarmed, changes and becomes fearful or inclines to this world, it is overpowered by the soul and subjugated by it and ac quires mastery over it, veiling it by the darkness of its attributes from the light, such that that correspondence is no longer there, the reinforcement [from the spiritual realm] is severed and the angels do not come down.

What God ordained was only as a good tiding to you, that is, He made that reinforcement [to you] with angels only so that you might rejoice at this good news and the strength of your hearts, your valour, your succour, your vitality might be enhanced in your orientation towards the Truth and disengagement [in preparation] for the wayfaring, and so that your hearts might be at peace, and so that the effusion is realised thereby in accordance with the purification [effected] and the successorship [of the earth is granted] in accordance with the relinquishing [of the worldly]. Victory comes only from God, not from angels or from any others. So do not be veiled by multiplicity from unity, nor by creatures from the Truth, for these are [merely] loci of manifestation without reality or effect; the Mighty, the strong who is victorious by His vanquishing, the Wise, who veils His vanquishing power and His assistance in the form of angels out of His wisdom.

And that He might cut off a party of the disbelievers, that He might have some of them slain in order to strengthen the believers, or suppress them, degrade them and humiliate them with defeat to make the believers glorious.

Whether He relents to them, through their submission, to bolster the numbers of the believers, or chastises them, because of their wrongdoing and their persistence in disbelief in order to bring joy to the believers. His words it is no concern at all of yours have fallen between both parts of the coordinated sentence within the narrative as a parenthetical lest the Messenger of God lapse and suppose that he is able to have any effect in these matters, and [lest he] become veiled from the affirmation of the Oneness and remains so, and his witnessings in all oaths are changed. In other words, their affair is not your concern, whatever the situation. You are but a mortal commanded to warn. Your duty is to deliver [the message to them] and their affair is with God.

O you who believe, do not exact usury, in other words, put your trust in God when seeking provision and do not try to acquire it through usury. That is a duty [enjoined] upon you just as it is your duty to trust in Him when seeking victory and [pursuing] the struggle against the enemy, lest you be cowardly despite the protection and the preservation of God [over you]. Know that the recompense of the usurer is the [same as] the recompense of the disbeliever. So beware of [being] such [a person] as he is veiled from His acts, exalted be He, in the same way that the disbeliever is veiled from His attributes and His essence. And the one who is veiled in unable to receive mercy despite its all-encompassing nature. Therefore, remove the veil through acts of obedience and refraining from contravening [God and the Messenger] so that God's mercy might reach you.

And vie with one another hastening to, conceal your acts, which veil you from the witnessing of the acts of the truth through His acts. For you are deprived from trusting [in God] and from the garden of the world of the kingdom, which is the self-disclosure of [His] acts, by your inspection of your acts. That is [vie in hastening] to what necessitates the concealment of your acts by His acts and then [to] the garden of the acts by means of acts of obedience, as mentioned [in the ḥadīth]: 'I seek refuge in Your pardon from Your retribution'. Since what is meant by the garden here is the garden of the [divine] acts, the width of which has been described as equal to the width of the heavens and the earth, because the unity of the acts is the unity of the world of the kingdom. As for its length, it has been [left to be] reckoned because acts are considered in relation to a widening chain in which every act depends on another act confined to the world of the kingdom [the extent of which] people attempt to reckon. But in terms of length, these [acts] cannot be confined therein or reckoned, because the act is the locus of manifestation for a description and the description is a locus of manifestation for the essence and as such is infinite and limitless. Thus the ones who are veiled from the essence and the attributes can only see the width of this garden, whereas for those who are apparent before God, the One, the Vanquisher, the width of their garden is its very length and since its length is without limit, neither its length or its width can be reckoned; prepared for those who are wary, those who guard against the veils of their acts and the idolatry of ascribing acts to other than the Truth.

Those who spend in prosperity and adversity, those who curb rage, and those who pardon people-and God loves the beautiful-doers. Those who spend in prosperity and adversity. It has been said that in this station people are three groups: First are those who spend nothing, whether in prosperity or adversity, whether in the vast- ness of blessings or in the days of famine and hardship. They are called “base” in an unqualified sense. They have seized the branch of niggardliness, which is a tree whose roots are in hell and whose branches are in this world. This is according to what Anas ibn Mālik reported from God's Messenger: “Openhandedness is a tree in the Garden whose branches are in this world; when someone latches on to one of its branches, it will lead him to the Garden. And niggardliness is a tree in the Fire whose branches are in this world; when someone latches on to one of its branches, it will lead him to the Fire.” Second are those who spend in vastness of blessings but not in narrowness and hardship. Most of God's creatures among the world's folk and those who take care of this world are in this station. In the work of this world they do not have the confidence for open-handedness and they are always in fear of poverty. To them alludes His words, “If He asks you for them, then presses you, you are niggardly, and He brings out your rancor” [47:37]. Third are those who spend in both of these states, both in ease and difficulty. Such a person has one of two states: Either he is an impudent and impure man who does not know whence he takes and where he gives and does not think about the outcome. He is numbered among the broth- ers of Satan. That is in His words, “Surely the squanderers are the brothers of Satan” [17:27]. Or he is a man who is confident in the sufficiency of God and His assignment of daily provision. He has recognized the secret of this report from MuṣṬafā: “Surely the holy spirit breathed into my mind that no one will die until his provision is complete. So be wary of God, and go lightly in your seeking. Never let the tardiness of provision make you seek something of God's bounty through disobedience, for what is with God will only be reached by obeying Him.

And who when they commit an indecency, a grave sin by considering their acts as issuing from power within them, or wrong their souls, [those who] stint what is due to these by committing minor sins and the manifestation of their souls in these, remember God, upon the issuing forth of their acts by seeing them as having occurred as a result of God's power and [who] absolve themselves of these [acts] before Him, seeing that these are a trial for them from Him, and pray forgiveness, asking for their acts to be concealed, [acts] which constitute their sins, by His acts, absolving themselves thereof by affirming that might and power are His alone; and who shall forgive sins, that is, the existences of acts, but Godḍ In other words, they have realised that there is none to forgive [them] except Him - and who do not persist in what they did, when they were unaware and when their souls were manifest, but who repent and returned to Him in terms of their acts, knowing, that only God acts.

excellent is the wage of those who work, according to what the [true] affirmation of the unity of the acts entails.

There have passed away before you [many] ways of life, smites and calamities from among the things that God has established in His acts as ways of dealing with those who deny the prophets when these affirm the unity of [God's] acts; so travel in the land and behold, the vestiges [of those ways] therein so that you might know how was their end came about.

This, that has been mentioned, is an exposition for mankind, of the knowledge concerning the affirmation of the unity of [God's] acts and a differentiating of the God-fearing who are the people fixed (tamkīn) in that [knowledge], [from] the repentant who are the people of variegation (talwīn), and the persistent [in sin] who are veiled from that [knowledge], being deniers of it. This [exposition] is in addition a guidance, an unveiling for eyewitnessing, an ascertainment and an admonition for those who guard against seeing their acts; or it is guidance for them to the affirmation of the unity of the [divine] attributes and the essence.

Faint not, in the struggle when the disbelievers have mastery, neither grieve, for what has eluded you of victory and [for] those brethren of yours who are injured or who have been martyred, for you are the uppermost, in [terms of] level because of your nearness to God and your more exalted degree as the people of God, if you are, affirmers of the Oneness; because the affirmer of Oneness considers that what befalls him of trials is from God and so the least of his degrees, if it is not satisfaction [with that predicament], is patient endurance from which he draws strength in such a way that he does not grieve or faint.

[Such] days: [such] events. Any tremendous affair that occurs is called 'a day' or 'days', as [in the expression] where God says And remind them of the Days of God [Q. 14:5]. The explanation of 'that God may know' has already been given to mean the manifestation of knowledge at the level of differentiation that is subsequent to the eventuality of known things; and that He may take witnesses from among you, those who bear witness to the Truth such that they are distracted from their souls. In other words, We deal out [such] events among mankind for various purposes and [on the basis of] many wisdoms which are not mentioned, from [allowing for] the actualisation of what [potential] is [contained] in their preparedness, to action in the way of patience, endurance, the strength of certainty and little concern for the soul, its being mastered and suppressed by the heart and so on; and also for the two reasons mentioned [in the verse] and to deliver the believers from sins and coverings that distance them from God through punishment and trial, when these [days] are against them; and to obliterate the disbelievers, to vanquish them and destroy them when these [days] are in their favour. Between the reasons given [by God] comes a parenthetical: and God loves not the evildoers, in order that it be known that the one who lacks the attribute of faith and witnessing, as well as [the capacity] to examine [his] sins and [lacks] the strength of steadfastness to perfect [his] certainty, but is present at the battle in pursuit of spoils or for some other purpose, such a person is an evildoer and that God does not love him.

You were longing for death before you met it, [to the end of] the verse: every person of certainty whose certainty is not a natural disposition but a passing inclination will always in some of his states long for things and claim certain states in accordance with [the desires of] his soul; likewise [when he is in] a state of other than certainty. When the heart comes forward then he is sincere, so long as he is qualified by that [state of certainty]. But when in another state and at the turning away [of his heart], there remains no trace of that [certainty]. Similar is the case with the one who has not witnessed a [particular] state or experienced it. It may be that he longs for it by virtue of its being formed [as an image] in his soul and the fact that he is not harmed by it when it is [simply] an image. However, when it does take place and he is tried [with it], he is unable to bear its hardships, as is related of Sumnūn the lover, may God have mercy upon him, when he said in one of his verses:'However You wish, then test me!'He was then afflicted with urine retention (asr) but was unable to bear the trial. He would wander the streets and give children things to play with such as walnuts, saying to them, 'Pray for this old man of yours, the liar'. It is in this sense that the poet says:'[Only] when the coward finds himself alone in some place, does he seek the challenge and lines up for battle, all alone'.Thus a state is of little concern until it becomes a station and can only be considered a station when the person has been tried in that very abode. If he makes it through the trial then it [his station] is good. This is one of the benefits of the dealing out of the days between them, that they might be trained in [the presence of] death and their certainty be strengthened, their patience abound and their station realised through the witnessing, as He says: Now you have seen it, with the slaying of your brethren before your, as you, witnessed that. Therein is a rebuke for them, for that their certainty was a state and not a station, which is why they have failed [to dwel] in the abode [of that station].

MuḤammad is only a messenger. Messengers have passed away before him. What, if he dies or is killed, will you turn back on your heels? If anyone turns back on his heels, he will not harm God in anything, and God will recompense the grateful. As much as MuḤammad is praised and chosen among all men and caressed by the God of the world's folk, as much as he is the pole of the world and the lamp of heaven and earth, the chieftain and full moon of the universe, emulated by the creatures, the paragon of the engendered beings, and the Seal of the Prophets-despite all this, he is a mortal man. Death is fitting for him and an- nihilation applies to him. As many prophets as there have been in the world, all of them went. The Real did not disappear, nor was God harmed. The Real remained after all of them, and God is their keeper in the perfection of His exaltedness. By way of allusion, the folk of realization are being addressed: “The perfection of Our ex- altedness is free of need for that which was not, then came to be. There is no link between Our lordhood and that which was not, then came to be. Our unity does not call for an existence-giver, and Our Being does not need a strengthener. Our exaltedness recognizes Our magnificence, and Our Unity knows Our exaltedness. Her own face had itself as a moon, her own eye had itself as collyrium. A sound report has come that He says, “O My servants! If the first of you and the last of you, the men of you and jinn of you, the living of you and the dead of you, had the heart of the most godwary man among you, that would add nothing to My kingdom. O My servants! If the first of you and the last of you, the men of you and jinn of you, the living of you and the dead of you, had the heart of the most depraved man among you, that would take nothing away from My kingdom.” What, if he dies or is killed, will you turn back on your heels? This verse provides evidence for the eminence of Abū Bakr, for when MuṣṬafā was taken away from this house of decrees and the steed of death was sent for his prophethood's shining face, then in the attribute of exaltedness the Divine Pres- ence snatched that shining face away from the steed of death and took him into the embrace of Unity.

It is not for any soul to die, save by the leave of God, a prescribed term, and so the one who has certainty shall witness the meaning of this and find himself the most valiant of men, as Ḥātim b. al-Aṣamm related of himself in what he witnessed with Shaqīq al-Balkhī, may God have mercy on both, in one of the campaigns into Khurāsān. He relates, 'Shaqīq found me as the battle was raging. He asked me, �How do you find your heart O Ḥātimḍ�. I replied, �Like on my wedding night, [wavering] between two states�. He then put down his weapons, saying, �As for me, mine is like this�, and laid his head down on his shield. He slept [so deeply] as the battle raged, you could hear him snoring. That is the ultimate in terms of the heart being reassured by God and its confidence in Him by virtue of the strength of its certainty.

God gave them this world's reward and the beauty of the next world's reward, and God loves the beautiful-doers. Concerning the reward of the next world He said “beauty,” which is to say that the reward is beauti- ful, but He did not say that about the reward of this world. This is because the reward of the after- world is lasting, but the reward of this world is passing. The former comes into being constantly without blight and without trouble, but the latter is soon cut off and has blights and tribulations. God loves the beautiful-doers. The beautiful-doers are the “grateful” who are mentioned in verse 3:144. The “recompense” to which He alludes there is the love that He explains here. Beautiful doing is what MuṣṬafā said in answering Gabriel: “It is that you worship God as if you see Him.” Beautiful doing is the attribute of the self-watchful, the state of the finders, the station of the approving, and the mark of the friends. Love for God is their watchword and remembering God their blanket. God's love is pouring down on them, and this pouring is like a sweetheart inside their spirit. From it the tree of happiness gives fruit and the spirit has a happy springtime. Hail, O sweet breeze of early spring! You give off the scent of that idol's tresses.

We will cast terror into the hearts of the disbelievers, [to the end of] the verse: He has ordained that the terror cast into the hearts of the disbelievers be caused by their association of others [with Him]. For valour and all the other virtues are forms of moderation within the faculties of the soul against that the shadow of the Oneness should be cast on it upon its illumination by the light of the heart which is itself illumined by the light of the Oneness. As such these [virtues] can only be perfected for the affirmer of the Oneness who has certainty in his affirmation of the Oneness. As for the one who associates others [with God], because he is veiled from the source of strength and power by what he associates with God of existents that are blemished by nonexistence and the contingency (imkān) of whose existence is [necessarily] subtle and weak and which in itself possesses no strength, existence or essence in reality and regarding whose existence God has not sent down any definitive proof of its existence in the first place, given that its nonexistence has been realised in accordance with [the nature of] its [contingent] essence, such [an associating person] possesses nothing but incapacity, cowardice and all vices, since he cannot be stronger than the object of his worship, even if he should be given a turn of fortune, a show of force or a dash of bravery then this will be something without foundation, fixedness or endurance, like the [short] fire of the arfaj bush; such were the [shortlived] fortunes of the [Meccan] polytheists.

Among you are those who desire this world, and among you are those who desire the next world. The worth of someone is his desire, and the want of someone is his leader. One person wants this world, another the afterworld, another the Patron. Wanting this world is all trickery and delusion, wanting the afterworld is all occupation with the work of wage-earners, and wanting the Patron is all celebration and joy. A seeker of this world is wounded by fantasy and delusion, a seeker of the afterworld is attached to palaces and houris, and a seeker of the Patron is in the ocean of Solitari- ness, inundated by light. Dhu'l-Nūn the Egyptian said, “O God, if I have any share of this world, I have given it to strangers. If I have anything stored up for the afterworld, I give it to the faithful. In this world, remembering You is enough for me, and in the afterworld seeing You is enough for me.” This world and the afterworld are two precious commodities, and vision is the hard cash that is given. The broker of this world is Iblis. He offers his wares at auction in the bazaar of abandon- ment and adorns them for the people. God says, reporting from him, “I shall surely adorn for them what is in the earth”[15:39]. Iblis's buyer is the unbeliever. The price is abandoning the religion and sheer associationism. As for MuṣṬafā, he is the broker of paradise. He makes his offers at the auction of solicitude in the bazaar of the afterworld. The buyer is God and the sellers are the faithful. The price is the formula, “There is no god but God.” The Prophet said, “The price of the Garden is There is no god but God.” The Pir of the Tariqah said, “I see a group distracted from Him by this world, a group dis- tracted from Him by that world, and a group distracted from both worlds by Him. They are waiting to see when the breeze of felicity will blow from the side of proximity and the sun of union will shine from the mansion of solicitude. They weep with the tongue of selflessness and say in hope, 'O generous one! How can someone who yearns for You put up with life? He who hopes for you has a breast full of blood at the hands of Your friendship!'” Without You, O ease of my spirit, how can I live? If You are not by my side, how can I be happy?

so He rewarded you with grief for grief, that is, He turned you away from them and rewarded you with grief because of a grief that befell God's Messenger from your part when you disobeyed him and lost heart and quarreled. Or [it means] grief after grief, doubled, so that you might be trained to be patient and to remain firm in adversity, and so that you might become accustomed to seeing power, victory and spoils and all things as being from God and not from your own souls, so that you might not grieve for what eluded you, of shares and benefits, neither for what befell you, of grief and harm.

Then, He spared you the grief by [granting you] security and casting sleep upon the truthful party and not the [party of the] hypocrites, whose own souls distressed them, not the soul of the Messenger, nor indeed those who manifested an indication [that they were deserving] of [God's] pardon; those for whom it had been appointed that they be slain would have sallied forth to the places where they were to lie, because of His statement No affliction befalls in the earth or in your souls but it is in a Book, before We bring it about [Q. 57:22], that God might try what was in your breasts, in other words, so that God might test what is in your preparedness of [the potential] truthfulness, sincerity, certainty, patience, trust in God, and disengagement, and all the other [virtuous] traits and stations, in order to bring them forth from potentiality to actuality; and that He might prove what was in your hearts, meaning, so that He might deliver those [potentials], which have sallied forth out of the hiding place of the breast and into the storehouse of the heart, from the stumbling blocks that are the evil whisperings of Satan, base states and the passing inclinations of the soul�For the trial is one of God's scourges by which He drives His servants towards Him by purifying them of the attributes of the soul and making manifest the perfections [dormant] in them so that they are devoted completely to Him instead of creatures and to the Truth instead of the soul. That is why it has always been the prophets, followed by the friends [of God], and then the most exemplary [of servants] that have been charged with such [trials]. The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, as an illustration of his excellence said, 'No prophet has suffered hurt to the extent that I have'. It is as though he were saying, 'No prophet has been purified like I have'. Good are the words of the one who said:'How excellent are calamities, for verily they bring rust to the ignoble, but lustre to the free'.For whatever manifests on either of the two [of rust or lustre] is only what is hidden in that person's preparedness, in the same way that they say, 'At the test a man is either honoured or disgraced'.

[Satan] made them slip, that is, he asked them to slip and called them to do so, the slip being the turning away [from the battle], through some of what they had earned, in the way of sins. For Satan is only able to whisper to people and to fulfil his task when there is an opportunity through the smallest darkness in the heart resulting from a sin or a motion of the soul, as they say: the sin that follows a sin is the punishment of the former [sin]; but God pardoned them, by their apology and their remorse;

so that God may make that anguish in their hearts, in other words, that He might make that statement and belief a constraint, a straitening and a grief in their hearts for considering that death or slaying is caused by an act [of man]. Had they been people of certainty affirmers of the Oneness they would have seen that it is [all] from God and their breasts would have been expanded [embracing God]. For God gives life, to whom He will, be they on journey or in a struggle or otherwise; and He gives death, to whom He will in the towns or otherwise.

[And if you are slain in God's way, or die] forgiveness from God and mercy, that is, your bliss in the Hereafter in terms of the garden of the acts and the garden of the attributes is better for you than that [bliss and reward] of this world, since you are working towards the Hereafter.

[And if you die or are slain] it is to God you shall be mustered, [you shall be mustered] to the place of your affirmation of the Oneness. Thus your state after death will be better than your state before it.

It was by a mercy of God that thou wert soft with them. Hadst thou been harsh and hard of heart, they would have scattered from around thee. So pardon them, ask forgiveness for them, and consult with them in the affair. And when thou art resolved, trust in God. Surely God loves those who trust. “O master of masters! O paragon of engendered beings! You are generous and lovingly kind, gentle and ever-merciful to everyone. You drive everyone by customs that hit the mark. You call everyone to the table of exaltedness and convey to everlasting felicity. You are like a father for the orphans, a husband for the widowed. You caress the familiar and you show the road to the estranged. You are mercy itself for the world's folk, a cause of generous giving to all the servants. O master, there is all of this, but take care not to see yourself. Do not consider these as your own acquisitions, for all of them are I. It is I who was, I who caressed, I who made, and I put you to that. I gave you a sweet disposition. O paragon, keep on being this way to the faithful and the friends-with the same loving kindness and the same sweet disposition: And lower thy wing to the faithful who follow thee [26:215]. But, with the unbelievers and hypocrites, you should be a bit harder and struggle against them: O Prophet! Struggle against the unbelievers and the hypocrites, and be hard with them [9:73].” There is a great difference between the Beloved [MuḤammad] and the Speaking Companion [Moses]. He commanded the Beloved to be harsh with the unbelievers and he called him back from cajolery, for in his disposition all was softness and benevolence. To the Speaking Companion He said the opposite: “Speak to him with soft words” [20:44]. He commanded him to softness and benevolence, and He called him back from the sharpness and hardness that was within him. Then He says, “Hadst thou been harsh and hard of heart, they would have scattered from around thee. O master, if you were to give the unmixed wine of tawḤīd to your companions, with- out the admixture of their own shares, they would flee and no longer come around you. O master, they do not have the capacity to put up with what your capacity puts up with.

If God helps you�to the end [of the verse: then none can overcome you; but if He forsakes you, then who is there who can help you after Himḍ Therefore on God let the believers rely].

It is not for a prophet [to be fraudelent], given the remoteness of the station of prophethood and the immunity of prophets from all vices and the impossibility of such [behaviour] issuing from them, removed as they are from the attributes of mortals, immune to the effects of the summonings of the soul and Satan on them, subsisting in God and possessing of His attributes; [whoever defrauds] shall bring what he has defrauded, that is, he shall appear in the form of his defrauding, exactly in [the form of] what he had defrauded.

Is he who follows God's beatitude, namely, [is he who follows] the prophet through the station of beatitude, which is the garden of the attributes, by his [the prophet's] possession of the attributes of God, and the defrauder who is at the station of wrath by virtue of his being veiled by his own attributes, and whose abode is, the lowest pits of the dark soul: are they the sameḍ

They are of degrees: that is, each of the people of the beatitude and the people of wrath are of varying degrees, or they differ from each other by a variance in degree.

Say: It is from yourselves: this [statement] does not contradict [His other statement] Say: Everything is from God [Q. 4:78], because the agent cause in all cases is the Truth, exalted be He, while the receptive cause is themselves. The agent effuses only in the measure that befits the [receiving] preparedness and is required by it. Thus from the perspective of the agent it is from God and from the perspective of the recipient it is from themselves. The preparedness of souls is either innate or accidental. The innate derives from His holiest effusion in accordance with His will. The accidental issues as required by His decree, which aspect also ultimately derives from Him. From another perspective, what is from themselves is also from God, if one considers His Oneness, for there is nothing else there.

and that He might know the believers.

And that He might also know the hypocrites, that is, so that the believers and the hypocrites might be distinguished at the level of differentiated knowledge.

Count not those who were killed in God's path as dead. Rather, they are alive with their Lord, provided for. O life of the spirit, what is it with me that I know nothing of my state? The spirit from You fills me, but my heart's blood is empty of You. O God, our life lies in remembering You, our happiness in finding You, our spirit in recognizing You! The Pir of the Tariqah said, “The living are three: one lives through the spirit, one lives through knowledge, and one lives through the Real. He who lives through the spirit lives on food and wind. He who lives through knowledge lives on love and remembrance. He who lives through the Real is happy indeed with Him. “O God, if the body's spirit is deprived of You, it will be a captive corpse, but if someone is killed in Your path hoping for union with You, he will live forever.” You said, “Don't pass by my street drunk lest you be killed, for my suitor is jealous.” Let me say a word, my dear, perhaps I'll be excused- “Killed in your street is better than far from your face.” Indeed, when friends are wounded in the Friend's street, that is a good omen, for gambling away the spirit in the gaming-house of passion is their habit and disposition. Wealth, gold, things-gamble them away for nothing. When the work reaches your spirit, gamble it away! Beware, beware! Take care not worry that your spirit will perish in the Friend's path. When the spirit perishes in loyalty to the Friend, that is true eminence. The precondition for your spirit's undertaking friendship's rightful due is its destruction. Love is intoxication, its craving destruction, its wilting and emaciation beautiful. He has clothed me with abasement in His love- abasement in love for the likes of Him is eminence. That tumultuous one of the time, Shiblī, said, “When someone is destroyed in God, God takes his place.” When you are loyal in friendship and gamble away your spirit, you will receive good fortune for free, for you will have the Friend in place of the spirit. If you had a hundred thou- sand spirits, you should sacrifice them to this union, for in truth that would still be something for nothing.

Joyful in what God has given them of His bounty, in the way of an honouring, graces and nearness to God, and rejoicing for, the state of their brethren, those who have not joined them but are left behind, and have not yet attained degrees like theirs [being as they are] behind them, because they will be made joyous soon with the like of their state and will join them, that no fear shall befall them, neither shall they grieve: an inclusive substitution for 'those who' (alladhīna), that is to say, they rejoice [for them] that they shall be safe and that no fear shall befall them, and that neither shall they grieve.

They rejoice in blessings from God and bounty, and that God does not leave to waste the wage of the faithful, those who answered God and the Messenger after the wound had befallen them. Those who bow their heads before the command of God and the Messenger in passion for the religion made their own dear spirits the target of the enemy's arrows. They made their spirits a gift, their bodies a path, and their hearts a sacrifice. They bought that suffering and wounding with spirit and heart. Sarī SaqaṬī said, “God appeared to me in a dream saying, 'O Sarī! We created the creatures. Some of them saw this world and clung to it. Some of them saw trial, and they fled to paradise and well-being. Some of them thought nothing of trial and took the tribulation into their spirits and hearts, asking for union with Us. Which one of these are you? What do you want?'” Sarī said, “I answered, 'You know what I desire.'” How often will you ask, why do you make me suffer? In truth you know my state better than I. “He said, 'O Sarī! By the majesty of Our measure, We will strike your head with the whip of trial, and We will make the millstone of tribulation revolve on your head.'” Sarī said, “I replied with the light of recognition by lordly inspiration, 'Are You not the one who sends trials?'” The lover's soul is patient with illness- perhaps He who made him ill will one day make him well. * Since the healing, O Heart-taker, is from Your wound and pain, make no balm for the wounded, don't cure the pain!

They rejoice in blessings from God and bounty, and that God does not leave to waste the wage of the faithful, those who answered God and the Messenger after the wound had befallen them. Those who bow their heads before the command of God and the Messenger in passion for the religion made their own dear spirits the target of the enemy's arrows. They made their spirits a gift, their bodies a path, and their hearts a sacrifice. They bought that suffering and wounding with spirit and heart. Sarī SaqaṬī said, “God appeared to me in a dream saying, 'O Sarī! We created the creatures. Some of them saw this world and clung to it. Some of them saw trial, and they fled to paradise and well-being. Some of them thought nothing of trial and took the tribulation into their spirits and hearts, asking for union with Us. Which one of these are you? What do you want?'” Sarī said, “I answered, 'You know what I desire.'” How often will you ask, why do you make me suffer? In truth you know my state better than I. “He said, 'O Sarī! By the majesty of Our measure, We will strike your head with the whip of trial, and We will make the millstone of tribulation revolve on your head.'” Sarī said, “I replied with the light of recognition by lordly inspiration, 'Are You not the one who sends trials?'” The lover's soul is patient with illness- perhaps He who made him ill will one day make him well. * Since the healing, O Heart-taker, is from Your wound and pain, make no balm for the wounded, don't cure the pain!

Those to whom people said, before their arrival at the witnessing, 'The people have gathered against you, therefore fear them', in other words, they have taken into account your existence and reckon with, so you reckon with them; but that, statement, increased them in faith, that is, in certainty and in affirmation of the Oneness by negating any other [than God] and not being concerned by it. By negating what is other than God they attained the very affirmation of God when they said: 'God is sufficient for us. So they witnessed Him before returning to the differentiated mode of the attributes with uprightness, saying: an excellent Guardian is He', which are the words that Abraham, peace be upon him, said when he was cast into the fire and it became coolness and safety for him [cf. Q. 21:69].

So they returned with grace and bounty from God, that is, they returned by means of the existence deriving from [His Name] the Truth to the garden of the attributes and the Essence, as was mentioned earlier; and evil, the remainder and the sight of other [than God], touched them not, and they followed the beatitude of God, which is the garden of the attributes during their state of wayfaring when they did not know what had been hidden for them of things that delight the eye, and that is the garden of the Essence referred to in His words: and God is of bounty abounding. For 'bounty' is an increase [granted] over beatitude.

[That is only Satan] giving fear to [or of] his friends, those people who are veiled by their own souls like him, or [it means] that he is making you fear his friends; therefore do not fear them, and do not reckon with their existence, but fear Me, if you are, affirmers of the Oneness. In other words, do not fear anyone other than Me, because that [other] has no existence in itself and no effect.

Let them not grieve you those that vie with one another in unbelief, given their innate veiledness and essential darkness, for fear that they might hurt you; they will not hurt God at all: the indulging of the disbelievers and the extending of their lifespans are [in fact] a cause for the intensity of their chastisement, their utter ignominy and abasement, since the longer their lifespan the more they become veiled and distant and the more they become distant from the Truth, with His unassailable might, the more they increase in ignominy.

It is not God's purpose to leave the believers in the state in which you are, of outward submission and affirmation [of belief] by the tongue, till He shall distinguish the evil, in the way of the attributes of the soul, the doubts of estimation, the shares of Satan, or the exigencies of desire, from the wholesome aspects of the attributes of the heart, such as sincerity, certainty, unveiling, the witnessings of the spirit, the sweet talk of the innermost heart and its night conversings, so that gnosis and love of God might be made pure through the testing [of you by God] and the befalling among you of trials and afflictions. And it is not God's purpose to apprise you of, the Unseen of your existence in terms of the realities and states that are dormant in you without the medium of the Messenger, because of the great gulf that separates you from Him, the nonexistence of any correspondence [between you and God] and the absence of preparedness to receive from Him; but God chooses of His messengers whom He will, and apprises him of His mysteries and realities through the unveiling so that He might guide you to what is hidden from you of the treasure troves of your existence and His mysteries on account of the generic compatibility in terms of the soul between you and him that necessitates the possibility of your being guided by him. So believe in God and His messengers, with an affirmation of the heart and a will and adherence to the divine law so that you might be able to receive and accept [such things] from them; and if you [continue to] believe, after that faith through verification and wayfaring towards certainty and observance of the spiritual path, and are wary, [guarding against] the egocentric veils and the bars to wayfaring, then yours shall be a great wage, by way of the unveiling of reality. The bounty that God has granted them in the way of property, knowledge, power and soul, which they do not expend in the way of God on those who deserve [them], and the [spiritually] prepared, as well as the prophets and the truthful ones in order to protect them or to be annihilated in God,

Let not those who are niggardly with the bounty that God has given them reckon that it is better for them. In the language of knowledge and according to the Shariah, “niggardliness” is withholding the in- cumbent. The incumbent in wealth is a little bit of a lot, so a man gives the poor a little and keeps a lot for himself. But in the language of the Tariqah and the folk of allusion, niggardliness is leaving a little for oneself, a tiny amount of property, or a moment of the state. “The ransomed slave stays a slave so long as a dirham is owed.” Wealth and states in the path of these chivalrous men have the form of a dog, and passion in its own world has the form of an angel. MuṣṬafā's Shariah reports that the angel gets along badly with the dog and never descends into a house that has one. “No angel enters the house within which there is a dog or pictures.” When will the angel come forth if you do not take the dog from the door and the painting from the wall? When will you arrive at AḤmad and Abū Bakr, with a spider spinning its web at the door of the cave? Lift up the veil so that down may come a litter of magnificence to the bench of the threshold. [DS 200]

[Regarding His words from] verily God has heard to where He says:

if you are truthfulḍ': it is related that for the prophets of the Children of Israel the miraculous proof [of their prophethood] was that they would bring forth an offering and invoke God whereupon a fire would come down from the heaven and consume it. The interpretation of this is that they would bring forth their souls seeking nearness to God by them and they would invoke God through renunciation and devotion whereafter the fire of love would come down from the heaven of the spirit and consume this [offering of theirs] and annihilate it in the Oneness, whereupon their prophethood would be [proven as] authentic and would become manifest. The common folk of the Children of Israel came to hear of this and came to believe in its outward form, even if this should be possible in the world of [God's] power. They thus required from every prophet that sign. They also falsely believed that 'to lend to God' - which means to consecrate wealth in the way of God by expending in order to receive the full reward, and to consecrate [one's] acts and attributes by effacing them through the wayfaring and replace them with the attributes of the Truth and His acts and to actualise the station of the substitutes (abdāl) - meant that the Truth was poor and that they were rich. Or, it means that they contested contemptuously the prophets in both instances after they had understood.

Do not reckon that those who rejoice in what they have brought, those who are delighted by what they have done of acts of obedience or selflessness and every good deed and are veiled by the sight of these [deeds], and who love to be praised, that is, that people should praise them, and who are thus veiled by the accidental praise and commendations of people, or [who love] that they should be praiseworthy in the eyes of God for this same reason, for what they have not done, but what God has done through their hands, since there is no act that is not God's - And God created you and whatever you do [Q. 37:96] - [do not reckon them] saved from the chastisement of privation, and there shall be a painful chastisement for them, because of the place of their preparedness and their being veiled from what is in it. They should have by right attributed [all] merit and virtuous act to God and declared themselves quit of any power or strength on their part not being His, and not to have become veiled by seeing the act as issuing from themselves and to expect thereby commendation or praise.

To God belongs the kingdom of the heavens and of the earth: nothing of it belongs to anyone else that they should then give of it to another person and be self-satisfied with their gift; and God has power over all things, no one other than Him has the power to act in anyway that he should then be pleased to see it and rejoice in it a rejoicing of self-centered admiration.

Who remember God, standing and sitting and on their sides, and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth. Those who remember are three: One remembers God with the tongue and is heedless with the heart. This is the remembrance of the wrongdoer, who is aware neither of the remembrance nor of the Remembered. Another remembers Him with the tongue and is present with the heart. This is the remem- brance of the moderate and the state of the wage-earner. He is seeking reward and excused in his seeking. The third remembers Him with the heart; the heart is filled with Him, and his tongue is silent in remembrance. “When someone recognizes God, his tongue is mute.” This is the remembrance of the preceder. His tongue is lost in the remembrance, and the remembrance is lost in the Remem- bered. The heart is lost in love, and love in the Light. The spirit is lost in face-to-face vision, and face-to-face vision is far from explication. Remembrance set a trap whose bait was jealousy. The wage-earner saw the trap and fled, the recognizer saw the bait and clung to the trap. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “Remembrance is not simply what you have on the tongue. True remembrance is what you have in the midst of the spirit. TawḤīd is not simply that you know that He is one. True tawḤīd is that you be one for Him and a stranger to other than Him.” And reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth. Abū ʿAlī Daqqāq asked Abū ʿAbd al-RaḤmān Sulamī whether remembrance was more complete or reflection. Abū ʿAbd al-RaḤmān answered, “Remembrance is more complete than reflection because remembrance is an attribute of the Real and reflection an attribute of creation. That by which the Real is described is more complete than that which is specific to creation.” Reflecting for the heart is like sniffing for the breath. Reflecting on one's own deeds and words is mandatory, on the artifacts of the Artisan recommended, and on the Artisan's Essence for- bidden. In the report has come, “Do not reflect upon God, for surely you are not able to judge His measure.” He is saying: “Do not reflect on God's Essence, for you will not reach His measure, nor will you recognize Him as is proper to Him, nor will you perceive the foundations of His majesty and tremendousness.

Our Lord, whomever You admit into the Fire, by way of privation, You will have abased him, by the existence of the remainder that is entirely humiliation, shame and disgrace; and none shall they have, these evildoers, who have associated others [with God] by seeing the other absolutely or [seeing] the remainder, as helpers.

Our Lord, we have heard, with the hearing channels of our hearts, a caller, from our innermost secrets, which constitute the shore of the right valley of the spirit, calling to, the belief of the eyewitnessing, saying, �Believe in your Lord!�, that is, �Witness your Lord�, and so we witnessed. So, our Lord, forgive us, the sins of our attributes through Your attributes, and absolve us of, the evil deeds of our acts by a vision of Your acts, and receive us, from our essences among the company of the pious substitutes whom You receive from their essences with Your essence, and not those pious who remain in the same state at the station of the effacement of the attributes who are not ready to be received totally.

Our Lord, and give us what Thou hast promised us through Thy messengers. O Lord, bring to pass the promise that You Yourself made, bring to fruit the tree that You Yourself planted, brighten the lamp that You Yourself lit, and keep the blight of us away from the love that You gave by Your own bounty. O Lord, we are happy that You were and we were not. Your work caught on and ours did not. You put forth Your own worth, You sent Your own Messenger. O Lord, You lifted us up and no one said, “Lift up!” Now that You have lifted up, don't put down! Keep us in the shadow of gentleness and entrust us to none but Your bounty! If You water, You Yourself planted. If You flatten the foundation, You Yourself raised it. I the servant am just what You fancied. Don't throw me down-You lifted me up.

And their Lord responded to them, “I will not waste the deed of any doer among you, male or female. The one of you is as the other. And those who emigrated, were expelled from their homes, were tormented in My path, who fought and were killed, I shall surely acquit them of their ugly deeds and enter them into Gardens under which rivers flow, a reward from God.” This is loyalty to the promise that He gave to the faithful: “Supplicate Me; I will respond to you” [40:60]. The verification of this loyalty is that He responded to the caller, He bestowed upon the asker, He assisted the striver, He gave increase to the grateful, He bestowed insight on the patient, He rewarded the obedient, He absolved the disobedient, He had mercy on the regretful, He honored the lover, He gave vision to the yearner. The command came, “O MuḤammad! There is no reason for despair. In triumph the work of the servant is not outside of three traits: If he is obedient, then his reward is in place. If he is dis- obedient, then your intercession is in place. And no matter how much he is held back, My mercy toward him is in place.” If I wipe clean all the sins of the creatures, what will be lost from My kingdom? A handful of clay. And those who emigrated, were expelled from their homes, were tormented in My path, who fought and were killed. This is the attribute of the friends, the custom of the yearners, the story of those who gamble away their spirits, and the final outcome of the work of the passionate: They have given away their hearts and gambled away their spirits. Wounded by the arrow of trial, their status and respect overthrown by the sword of the decree, they have been exiled from their homes and families. Totally effaced in the ocean of thought, of themselves they recite for all, “No home, no possessions.” Sometimes burning and melting, sometimes weeping and wailing, they see the burn but not the burner, they see the tumult but not the tumult-inciter, they see the pain but not the remedy. What is even more wondrous is that they are happy with their pain and lament at the lack of pain.

Do not be deluded by the going to and fro of the disbelievers, those who have been veiled from the affirmation of the Oneness, which is the religion of the truth with respect to all stations and states;

a little enjoyment, that is, this veiledness by stations and fluctuation within them is but a little enjoyment, then their abode is Hell, privation - an evil cradling!

But those who fear their Lord, from among the believers, that is, those who have disengaged from the three forms of existence shall have the three gardens - a hospitality, prepared, from God Himself.

Verily, there are some among the People of the Scripture, that is, the ones who are veiled from the affirmation of Oneness and the ones described with the attribute of fluctuation in states and stations, who believe in God, [who] verify the affirmation of the unity of the Essence, and what has been revealed to you, of the knowledge of the affirmation of the Oneness and uprightness, and what has been revealed to them, of the knowledge of the origin and the final return, humble before God, receptive to the self-disclosure of the Essence, not purchasing with the verses of God, which are the self-disclosures of His attributes with the price of the remnants (baqiyya), described here as a paltry one. Those - their wage, of the mentioned gardens, is with their Lord. God is swift at reckoning, reckoning with them and recompensing them such that He requites the remnants of those of whom something has remained, or He rewards these remnants in accordance with the degrees merited in the three abodes.

O you who have faith! Be patient, vie in patience, be steadfast, and be wary of God. Perhaps you will prosper. This again is another balm, another caress, a call of bounteousness, an address of generosity, and it gives witness to the servant's faith and obedience. Be patient is addressed to the soul, vie in pa- tience to the heart, and be steadfast to the spirit. He says to the soul, “Be patient in obedience and service.” He says to the heart, “Be patient in trial and adversity. He says to the spirit, “Be patient with the burn of yearning and the pain of love.” And God it is who is patient. If like Joseph you want to come out of this prison, be patient like Zulaykhā in the pain of distance from Joseph. It has also been said, “Be patient in God, vie in patience through God, and be steadfast with God.” Patience in God is the patience of the worshipers in the station of service with the hope of reward. Patience through God is the patience of the recognizers in the station of honoring with the hope of union. Patience with God is the patience of the lovers in the state of contemplation at the moment of self-disclosure, when they are looking with gazing eyes, their hearts bewildered in what is seen, their spirits lamenting at the hand of love. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, everyone is burning in separation, but the lover in vi- sion. Now that he has come to see the Friend, what does the lover have to do with patience and settledness?” And be wary of God. Godwariness is a tree whose roots are in the earth of loyalty, its branches in the air of approval, its water from the wellspring of limpidness. It is not reached by the heat of regret, nor the cold of quenching, nor the wind of farness, nor the blight of scatteredness. The fruit it brings forth is the fruit of triumph, endless prosperity, everlasting worthiness, subsistent bliss, and the kingdom of forever. This is why the Lord of the Worlds says, “Perhaps you will prosper.” The Prophet said, “You should be wary of God, for this brings together every good; you should have struggle, for it is the submitter's monasticism; and you should have the remembrance of God, for it is your light.”

O people, be wary of your Lord, who created you from one soul, created from it its mate, and scattered forth from the two many men and women. And be wary of God, whom you ask against one another, and of the wombs. Surely God is watcher over you. “O center point of human nature, O attribute of mortal nature, make godwariness your shelter and cling to it, for the life of the servants is through it and the deliverance of the travelers in it.” Godwariness is for the servant to make the commands of the Shariah into his shield so that the arrows of prohibition may not reach him. It has three levels: First, he takes refuge in the sentence of tawḤīd and avoids every associationism. Second he takes refuge in obedience and steps away from the path of disobedience. Third he takes refuge in caution and flees from ambiguity. Anyone who climbs these way stations of godwariness with truthfulness will inescapably reach deliver- ance, for the Qur'an gives this report: “God will deliver those who were godwary in their place of security; ugliness will not touch them, neither shall they sorrow” [39:61]. In another place He says, “Whosoever is wary of God, He will appoint a way out for him and He will provide for him from whence he never reckoned [65:2-3]. Whenever someone takes hold of godwariness, We will ease for him the road of deliverance from every suffering and We will send him provision from whence he has no hope.” It has been said that the sister of Bishr Ḥāfī went to see AḤmad Ḥanbal. She said, “O Imam of the Muslims! I work a spindle on the roof of my house. When the torch of the Tahirids passes by, it may happen that I join threads with the rays of that torch. Is this permissible or not?” AḤmad said, “First tell me who you are. Are you in a walkway of being able to tolerate such godwariness?” She said, “I am the sister of Bishr Ḥāfī.” AḤmad wept and said, “Godwariness like this is permissible only in the household of Bishr Ḥāfī! It is not worthy of you, so be careful not to do it, and Bishr Ḥāfī will be happy with you. Emulate your brother so that perhaps you may be like him.

Give, your orphaned spiritual faculties, who have been severed from the nurture of the holy spirit, their father, their property, that is, their objects of knowledge and perfections and use these to nurture them; and do not exchange the evil, that are the sensory objects, the imagined things, evil insinuations and the exigencies of estimation and all the [other] faculties of the soul, these being its [the soul's] property, for the good, that is their property; and absorb not their property into your property, that is to say, do not mix these such that truth and falsehood come to resemble one another and use these [properties] to actualise sensory pleasures and egoistic perfections in order to profit from them in your despicable this-worldly pursuits so that you end up making them the nourishment of your souls: surely that is a great crime, a cause for veiledness and privation.

Surely those who eat the property of orphans wrongly will be eating only fire in their bellies and will roast in a blaze. The majestic compeller, the great Lord, the renowned keeper of servants, the clement, the gener- ous, the loyal, the tremendous, the lord of everyone, the carrier of everything, who takes the hand of the weak and joins with them in love, in this verse caresses the weak and shows love to the orphans. As for those wrongdoers who skewer the livers of orphans and drink the blood of the indigent, He threatens them and warns them of a fearful punishment. He acts as the deputy of the helpless and disputes with the wrongdoers for their sake. For He is the companion of the weak, the helper of the despairing, the responder to the call of the distressed, and the listener to the voice of the grieved. He loves the servant who, when battered, incapable, and destitute, lets out a cold sigh, sheds warm tears, and lifts two empty hands toward Him, asking again to be excused. It has come in the traditions that a man was saying, “O Lord, O Lord! You have written, You have measured out, and You have decreed!” O God, all that was, is, and shall be is what You want, what You bring about, and what You write for the creatures. O God, none of this is outside Your predestination, nor does it happen without Your decree. A call came in his secret core, “That is tawḤīd. Where is servanthood?” What you have said is nothing but tawḤīd and is fit for My Godhood. What then is the mark of your servanthood? The man said, “O Lord, O Lord! Surely I have disobeyed, I have sinned, and I ask.” O God, what comes from me is fitting for me. O God, I have broken the covenant, I have no loyalty, I am disloyal and everything worse. What can I do about this story-I'm all artifice and color. I'm altogether too lame to walk on the straight road. Greed has made me all grasping claws, I'm all war with the Apportioner's apportioning. Surely those who eat the property of orphans wrongly. It is harsh to eat the wealth of orphans and foolishly crave their possessions. They say that once the marvel of the empire, the pure Jesus, was passing by a graveyard.

For you half of what your wives leave, if they have no children. Inheritance and worthiness to receive it are established either by means of a cause or by way of a lineage. The cause is marriage and the lineage is kinship. Marriage is the cause of love, as God says, “He placed between you love and mercy” [30:21]. Lineage is assistance and strength, as has come in the report: “A man is many through his brothers.” When one of the relatives by lineage or one of the near ones by cause dies, that will be a wound on a person's heart and a pain in his spirit. The Lord of the Worlds places balm on the pain. After this suffering He commands consolation through the wealth of the person who passed away. Thus, just as pain came from his passing, so also balm comes from his wealth. This is the custom of the Lord with His friends: If He places suffering on them by prescribing the Law, after the suffering He makes a treasure appear with the attribute of alleviation. Shaykh al-Islām Anṣārī said, “How should I have known that suffering is the mother of happi- ness and that beneath one disappointment lie a thousand treasures? How should I have known that hope is the courier of union and that beneath the cloud of munificence despair is impossible? How should I have known that the Lovingly Kind is so forbearing that His gentleness and loving kind- ness to the sinner are beyond reckoning? How should I have known how servant-caressing is the Possessor of Majesty and how much joy His friends have in Him? How should I have known that what I seek is in the midst of the spirit, and that the exaltation of union with Him is my opening?” In my whole life one night at the time of dawn, the image of that comfort of the spirit came to me And asked, “How are you, wounded one?” I said, “In my passion for You, that is the first opening.”

It is for God to turn only toward those who do the ugly in ignorance and then soon turn. Those-God will turn toward them. And God is knowing, wise. Turning/repentance [tawba] is the mark of the road, the leader to the court, the key to the treasure, the intercessor of union, the head of every happiness, and the basis of freedom. First is regret in the heart, second apology with the tongue, and then cutting off from bad things and bad people. It has come in the report that when someone repents but does not put aside bad friends, he is not a repenter. When someone repents but does not put aside food and drink, he is not a repenter. When someone repents but does not put aside his bedclothes and empty his eyes of sleep, he is not a repenter. When someone repents but does not expend the wealth left over after food, he is not a repenter. The precondition of repentance is that you detach your heart from all existent things and turn it toward the Real. You discipline all the blood and flesh in your seven bodily members. Repentance is the precursor of the fire that comes from the bottom of hell so that today you will do to yourself with the water of your eyes what will be done to you tomorrow by the fire. Repentance is a mes- sage sent to you from the Presence: “O chevalier! How long will you make war? How long will you break the covenant? Come back, make peace! “O falcon taken to the sky, come back, don't go! My fingers hold the end of your thread! “O free man! How long have you been asleep? Wake up, it's morning, and you are thirsty for the wine of yearning. Look, it's time for the morning draft! How long will your heart and covenant stay broken? It is time to accept advice and to repent sincerely.”

This turning will not belong to those who keep on doing ugly deeds until death is present for one of them, and then he says: “Surely now I have turned.” In the tongue of learning, one must repent before death, even if it be one moment. In the tongue of practice, one must repent before the soul has the habit of seeing itself and worshiping itself. When someone is pleased with himself and gazes upon himself habitually, the door to repentance has been shut to him and the water of deliverance taken away from him. Quit being the companion of self-nurturing habit-worshipers! Kiss the dust beneath the feet of those who have disowned self! [DS 972] Not everyone who has repented in the road of the Shariah, thereby reaching pardon and forgive- ness, has reached truthfulness in love in respect of the Haqiqah. For a long time David the prophet wept and pleaded. At last it was said to him, “O David! Why do you weep when I have forgiven you, made your adversaries content, and accepted your repentance?” He said, “Lord God, I know, but give me back those sweet moments I had in Your companion- ship and those breaths I had with You in seclusion!” He said, “David, take heed! That is a love that has passed.” From now on leave the way open for the eyes to weep for the days of limpidness have no way to return. * Oh pain, Oh regret-of that standing and sitting in prayer I have dust on the head and wind in the hand.

O you who have faith, it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will, neither debar them from marriage that you may go off with part of what you have given them, unless they commit a flagrant indecency. Consort with them honorably. For, if you are averse to them, it may be that you are averse to something within which God has placed much good. This is a call, an admonishment, an allusion, a bearing witness, and a ruling. O is the call, you is the admonishment, who is the allusion, have faith is the bearing witness. It is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will is the ruling. The explanation of the ruling is that women are considered weak, and they are imprisoned beneath your severity. Beware of tormenting them, and do not rule over them by way of scheming and deceit. Do not be severe, and do not ask of them what the Shariah does not approve. On the contrary, live with them honorably. Consort with them honorably, that is, with the teachings of the religion and by modeling one's courtesy on the character traits of the submitted.3 Show them the road of the religion and religios- ity and teach them the courteous acts of being a Muslim and the Shariah. And protect them from the Fire, as He says in another place: “Shield yourselves and your families from a fire” [66:6]. Preserve the courteous acts of companionship when consorting with them and tolerate suffering from them, but do not place on them the burden of your service, making them suffer for you. Although outwardly and specifically He is talking about women, by way of allusion He is talking generally about all Muslims. He is saying, “Watch out so that you never see yourself as having a mandatory rightful due from, or an excellence over, any other Muslim. Do not ask those above you to serve you, and do not push yourself on those beneath you. Do not use force against the folk of weakness, but rather strive to show consideration and give comfort to them and seek proximity to them.” Revelation came to David: “O David, if you see someone broken in My road, or someone whose heart has been lost in My work, take care to serve him.

If you desire to exchange a wife in place of another... This is the realization of generosity in the religion of friendship and the smoothing of the founda- tion of chivalry. He is saying, “Do not join the cruelty of separation with taking back livelihood, for this is not the work of the generous and it is unworthy of the chevaliers! You have put the scar of separation in the poor woman's heart, so do not cut off the hand of her expenditures! If you take back what you gave, you will place a scar on her scar.” Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī had a wife whom he divorced, and then he sent her plentiful wealth. He said about her, “The tribulation of our separation is enough. I must not put upon her the suffering of neediness as well.” They say the wealth was 40,000 dirhams. The woman dumped that wealth on the ground and said, “Paltry goods from a departed lover!”

Forbidden to you are your mothers and daughters, your sisters…. The allusion in this verse is that the Shariah is built on making oneself a servant, not on self-exer- tion; the canon of the religion is transmitted, not rationally derived; and the basis of the Sunnah is surrender, not looking for reasons. Surrender is an easy road, its domicile flourishing, its goal the approval of the All-Merciful. Self-exertion and self-determination are a difficult road, their domicile in ruins, their goal un- wholesome. Watch out! Jump away from the road of self-exertion and cling to surrender. Avoid self-determination and looking for reasons. Whatever the Shariah has declared forbidden, consider it forbidden-a consignment by the Desire, built upon the Will. If it had been permitted in place of forbidden, the same would be the case, for it would have been current in the holy Shariah and would have no cause or ambiguity. For He is the Real-majestic is His majesty! He does whatso- ever He wills [3:40] and decrees whatsoever He desires [5:1]. He forbids what He wills to those whom He wills and He allows what He wills to those whom He wills. His artisanry has no cause and His decree no protester.

And man was created weak. Wherever the name “man” comes in the Qur'an, a displeasing attribute is linked to it. Thus He said, “Surely man is a great wrongdoer, ungrateful” [14:34]. “Surely man was created anxious” [70:19]. “Surely man is rebellious” [96:6]. “Surely man is ungrateful to his Lord” [100:6]. “Sure- ly man is in loss” [103:2]. This is because man comes from dust, and dust is the basis of density and the root of opacity. The servant's hope is that on the day He created, He saw the faults, and then He bought along with the faults. You bought me with my faults on the first day! The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O Lord, you called me ignorant. What comes from the ignorant other than disloyalty? You called me weak. What comes from the weak other than error? O Lord, take our inability to overcome ourselves as stemming from that weakness. Take our boldness and inso- lence as stemming from that ignorance. O Lord, You lifted us up and no one said, 'Lift up!' Now that You have lifted up, don't put down! Keep us in the shadow of Your bounty!” If You water, You Yourself planted. If you flatten the foundation, You Yourself raised it. I the servant am just what You fancied. Don't throw me down-You lifted me up.

If you avoid the great sins prohibited to you, We will acquit you of your ugly deeds and admit you to a generous admitting place. The great sins of the folk of service in the path of the Shariah are what you have heard about. The great sins of the folk of companionship in the street of the Tariqah and in the tongue of allusion are another sort and have another tasting, for the folk of service are one thing, and the folk of com- panionship something else. Those who serve are the wage-earners, and the companions are the proximate. In the traditions has come the saying, “The beautiful deeds of the pious are the ugly deeds of the proximate.” Of the same sort is the saying of the Pir of the Tariqah, “The hypocrisy of the recognizers is better than the self-purification of the desirers.” The basis of this rule is the subtle point MuṣṬafā reported about cloudiness and his asking for- giveness for it. He said, “My heart becomes clouded, so I ask forgiveness from God seventy times a day.” Abū Bakr al-ṣiddīq said, “Would that I could witness that for which God's Messenger asked forgiveness.” The mark of the recognizers' great sins is that lassitude sometimes comes over them in the world of their own traveling, and thereby their innate disposition is overpowered by human attri- butes. Their life becomes susceptible to customs and habits, and the realities of their faith come to be mixed with the contaminants of personal motives and marks giving witness to their own shares. In this state of theirs, if a messenger of sound discipline, truthful poverty, and the joy of ecstasy does not come out to welcome them and take their hands, they will not emerge from the pit of their own selfhood. If you want to come out of the pit of status like a man, grab hold of the pearl-encrusted, musk-wafting chain. [DS 719] The great ones of the religion have said that as long as a man does not reach this place of danger and leave behind the station of lassitude, he will not become a pir of the Tariqah and will not be suited to take disciples. A man must have lost the road a thousand times and then returned to it if he is to bring someone who has lost the road back to the road. What is needed first is the road to the road, then the road is needed. Someone who has always been on the road knows the road, but he does not know the road to the road. The secret of the slips of the prophets and their falling into lassitude is this. And God knows best. This is knocking at a magnificent gate. Happy is he for whom it is opened and who is guided to it!

Do not wish for that whereby God has preferred some of you over others. Men shall have a portion of what they have earned, and women shall have a portion of what they have earned. But ask God of His bounty. Abū Bakr Kattānī said, “When someone has the opinion that he will arrive without expending ef- fort, he is a wisher, and when someone has the opinion that he will arrive by expending effort, he is a drudge.” Whoever fancies that he will reach the goal without toiling is a wisher, and “The incapable are those who follow their own caprice and wish for God.” Whoever fancies that he will reach the Sought by toil and by seeking the Sought is a drudge. Shaykh al-Islām Anṣārī said, “He is not found by seeking, but the seeker finds. Until he finds Him, he will not seek. Whatever can be found by seeking is of little worth. The servant finds the Real before the seeking, but for him seeking is the earliest step. The recognizer finds seeking from finding, not finding from seeking. In the same way, the obedient person finds obedience from self-purification, not self-purification from obedience; he finds the cause from the meaning, not the meaning from the cause. O God, since finding You is before the seeking and the seeker, I am seeking because unsettledness has overpowered me. The seeker is seeking and the Sought is obtained before the seeking. This is a most marvelous business! What is even more marvelous is that finding has become hard cash when seeking has not yet arisen. The Real is seen but the curtain of exaltedness is in place.” You are a sea of loveliness, a wave of beauty, the law of generous acts, the essence of life. The lovers seeking You are full of longing like Alexander seeking the water of life. It has also been said that the meaning of the verse is this: “You wish for the station of the masters without traveling in their path, clinging to their conduct, and practicing their practices.”4 You want the state of the great ones, but you have not gone on the great ones' road. You search for the Kaabah of union with eyes that have not undertaken struggle. You see the great good fortune of the friends, but you have not seen their tribulation.

The men stand over the women through that with which God has preferred some of them over others and that which they expend of their wealth. He gave the men more than the women because the burden is all on them, for theirs is the perfec- tion of strength and the eminence of aspiration. They carry burdens in the measure of strength or in the measure of aspiration. “Resolutions are made in the measure of the folk of resoluteness.”

Worship God, and associate nothing with Him, and act beautifully toward parents, and toward kinsfolk, orphans, the indigent, and the neighbor who is of kin, and the neighbor who is a stranger, and the companion at your side, and the son of the road, and what your right hands own. This verse begins by mentioning tawḤīd, which is the root of the sciences, the secret of the recogni- tions, the basis of the religion, the foundation of being a Muslim, and the partition between enemy and friend. Any act of obedience without tawḤīd has no value or weight, and its outcome will be nothing but darkness and captivity. Any act of disobedience along with tawḤīd will yield nothing other than familiarity and brightness. TawḤīd is that you say that God is one and that you be one for Him. Saying one is the submit- ter's tawḤīd, and being one is the basis of the recognizer's tawḤīd. The submitter's tawḤīd drives away the devil, washes away sin, and opens up the heart. The recognizer's tawḤīd cuts away at- tachments, washes away the creatures, and brings forth the realities. The submitter's tawḤīd takes advice, opens the door, and gives fruit. The recognizer's tawḤīd effaces the customs of human nature and burns away the veil of mortal nature so that the breeze of familiarity may blow, the beginningless reminder may arrive, and the friend may gaze upon the Friend. The submitter's tawḤīd is that you bear witness to God's one Essence, pure attributes, and beginningless names and marks. He is the God other than whom there is no god, the Creator of heaven and earth other than whom there is no enactor. No one has loyalty like Him in the whole cosmos. He is a Lord who is above all in measure, beyond all in Essence and attributes. From the Beginningless to the Endless He is the greatest Lord. When intellect holds that something is impossible, God has perfect power over it. His power makes no use of contrivance, and His self- standing has no change of state. In the kingdom He is safe from disappearance, and in Essence and attributes He is transcendent. You will never see any created thing without marks of deficiency and fault, but the Eternal Enactor is pure of deficiency, incomparable with fault, free of blights. He does not eat or sleep, nor is He the locus for newly arrived things or changing states. He is not new in attribute, nor does He accept alteration. He stands before “when,” acts before activity, creates before creation, and is powerful before the artisanries. In His Essence, attributes, and perfection He has always been just as He is now. Shaykh al-Islām Anṣārī said, “The tawḤīd of the Muslims amounts to three words: affirmation of attributes without excess, negation of similarity without declaring ineffectuality, and going for- ward according to the outwardness without mixing.” The reality of affirmation is that you acknowledge and surrender to whatever God said in explanation and whatever MuṣṬafā said plainly about Him. You stand firm in the outwardness, you offer no likenesses for it, you do not turn it away from its formulation, and you do not wander around it with imagination, for God comes into knowledge but not imagination. You avoid reflec- tive thinking about how it can be so and you do not seek any self-exertion or interpretation. You do not turn away from saying it or listening to it. You know that in reality whatever creatures know about God's attributes is only the name. To perceive it is to accept it. The stipulation is surrender, and the commentary is to remember. Know God's Essence in God's measure, not as rationally understood by creatures. Know His attributes as is worthy of Him, not as reflected upon by creatures. Know His ability in His measure, not with the artifice of creatures. He is a Being that is one, outside of imaginations and apart from qualification. Whatever He wants, He does, not because of need, for He needs nothing. Rather, He puts things straight by want, pure knowledge, precedent wisdom, and penetrating power. His speech is true, His promise correct, and His Messenger trustworthy. His speech exists in the earth in reality, always joined with Him. His argument stands through it, His decree is irrevocable, His commands and prohibitions firm. Surely His are the creation and the command. Blessed is God, the Lord of the Worlds [7:54]. This is tawḤīd as transmitted and recognition as reported. Through this tawḤīd people reach paradise, escape from hell, and stay free from the Real's anger. The opposite of this tawḤīd is the great associationism. Whoever is held back from this transmitted tawḤīd remains in the great as- sociationism, far from God's forgiveness.

Those who are niggardly, at the first instance by withholding their perfections and forms of knowledge in the hideaways of their innate dispositions and the mattamores of their natural impulses, failing to manifest them by working with them at the [right] moment; then [they are niggardly] by failing to procure the rights of those to these are due and do not consecrate their attributes and essences to the annihilation in God because of their love for them; nor do they expend of the substance of their knowledge and character traits and perfections on the deserving, in the way mentioned; and bid other people to be niggardly, inducing them to states like theirs, and conceal what God has bestowed upon them of His bounty, in the way of the affirmation of the Oneness, gnoses, [virtuous] character traits and realities in the recesses of preparedness and the darknesses of faculty, as though non-existent. And We have prepared for those that disbelieve, those who are veiled from the Truth, a humbling chastisement, in the light of their disgraced countenances and disfigured attributes.

And those who expend of their substance to show off to people, that is, who manifest their perfections from the concealment of non-existence and bring them out into actuality, veiled by their seeing these as being of their own souls and make a show to people that these [perfections] are theirs, and believe not in God, with true belief so that they might know that absolute perfection can only be His - what existence does anything other than Him possess so that such [perfection] might belong to itḍ - and that they might be rid of the veil of seeing perfection as that of their souls and might thus be delivered from the sin of vanity; and the Last Day, that is, the annihilation in God and the issuing forth before the One, the Vanquisher, that they might thus be quit of the sin of associating [others with God]. And that is because of their comradeship with the satan of estimation. Whoever has Satan for a comrade, then an evil comrade has he, because he [Satan] leads him astray from guidance and veils him from the Truth.

And what burden is on them if they were to believe in God, that is, if they were to be true to God through affirmation of [His] Oneness and annihilation in Him and the effacement of the perfections which God has provided them by attributing them to God. God is ever Aware of them, recompensing them with subsistence after annihilation and [aware] of their possessing those attributes and perfections through God and not through their own souls.

Surely God shall not wrong, that is, He does not diminish anything of those perfections with the annihilation in Him, so much as the weight of an atom, rather, He augments them by means of the reinforcement of [His Name] the Truth; and if it be a good deed, He will double it, and it cannot be a good deed unless it is [done] for Him, and He will give from Himself a great wage, namely, what He has hidden for a person of what delights the eye, that is to say, the witnessing of the essence in which there is no veiledness from the differentiations of the attributes.

So how shall it be when We bring forward from every community a witness, to the end [of the verse]: a witness (shahīd) or a sign (shāhid) is what is present to every person of the degree of gnosis which he has attained and that which prevails on him, thereby revealing his state, his work, his endeavour and the extent of his efforts, whether it be in terms of station or one of the attributes of the Truth, or essence. Thus for every community there is a witness commensurate with that to which their prophet called them and that which he has made known to them; he only calls them to that station of gnosis at which he has arrived. A prophet is always sent in accordance with the preparedness of his community. And so they know God by the light of their preparedness in the form of the perfection of their prophet. That is why it is mentioned in a ḥadīth, 'Indeed God discloses Himself in [a manner commensurate with] the form of their belief, such that members of all religious communities and schools know Him; but He then changes from that form and emerges in another form whereby the only ones who know Him are the affirmers of [His] Oneness, who enter into the Presence of the Exclusive Unity (aḥadiyya) from every gate. Just as every community has a witness, so every member of a legal school also has a witness who unveils the state of the object of the witnessing. As for the Muḥammadans, their witness is God, the beloved Who enjoys the descriptions of all attributes and that is because of the stature of the perfection of their Prophet, being the beloved [of God and of his community], the one who has been given the sum of all [excellent] speech, the completer of [virtuous] character traits. There is no doubt that they can know Him in all the forms of His transmutation if they follow their Prophet with a veritable following and are affirmers of His Exclusive Unity, beloved [to God] like their Prophet.

Upon that day, those who disbelieved, by choosing to be veiled from the Truth, those who disobeyed the Messenger, by veiling themselves from religion, will wish that the earth, of preparedness, might be levelled with them, so that their souls might be obliterated or become innocent free of the engravings of corrupt creeds and ruinous base traits. And they will not hide from God any talk: they will not be able to suppress the words of those engravings in order to avoid being chastised by His punishment.

O you who have faith! Do not approach the prayer when you are intoxicated until you know what you are saying, or defiled-except for travelers on the road-until you have made the full ablution.... Surely God is pardoning, forgiving. Intoxication is drunkenness. Drunkenness is disparate, and the drunkards diverse. One is drunk with the wine of the grape, another with the wine of heedlessness, another with love for this world, another with the frivolity of the soul and self-love. This last is the most difficult, for self-love is the basis of idol-worship, the seed of estrangement, the curtain of ill fortune, and the root of every darkness. If you are martyred a hundred times a day in the path of God you will still be an idol-worshiper if you see yourself in the midst. When will you be the man to want the heart without caprice? When you will have the pain to see the body with contempt? [DS 708] When someone is drunk with wine and is fearful and shaking in dread of punishment, the end of his work will be burning in the fire of punishment-if He does not forgive him. But He may indeed forgive him, for He says, “Surely God forgives the sins altogether” [39:53]. When someone is drunk with the soul's arrogance and with pride and self-worship, his work is in peril. His basis is loss, his deeds damage him, and he dwells in the peril of being led on and deceived and the danger of everlasting separation. Or defiled-except for travelers on the road-until you have made the full ablution. If the religion were based on reasoning, then the greater ablution would be incumbent after urination, and the minor ablution after ejaculation. Urine is impure and semen is pure. With impure urine, the lesser purity is mandatory, but with pure semen the greater purity. This is so that you will know that the religion is founded on the transmitted, not on the rationally derived; on the Book, not on reasoning; on making oneself a servant, not on self-exertion. The origin of the major ablution is from the era of Adam. When Adam came from paradise to this world, he fell into companionship with Eve. Gabriel came and said, “O Adam, make a full ablution, for God commands you to do so. ” Adam obeyed the command and then said, “O Gabriel, what is the reward for this ablution?” Gabriel said, “For every hair on your body, a one-year's reward will be written for you in the ledger. For every drop of water that passes over your body, God will create an angel that will obey and worship until the Day of Resurrection, and He will give its reward to you.” He said, “O Gabriel, is this for me specifically? Or is it for me and my children generally?” Gabriel said, “It is for you, the faithful, and your children until the resurrection.” Thus the ablution for defilement was made mandatory in all the shariahs of the prophets from the era of Adam until the time of the Master of the World-upon all of them be God's blessings and peace! One of the imams even said, “The Trust that Adam lifted up, concerning which God said, 'And man carried it' [33:72], was the trust of the ablution for defilement.” Then at the end of the verse He says, “Surely God is pardoning, forgiving.” God passes over sins, curtains the defects of those who apologize, and conceals the offenses of the sighers. The meaning of bringing these two names of pardon and forgiveness in this place is this: “Before I sent the commands and prohibitions I took away whatever you have done up until today, and I have passed over you. My servant, no one's sin can overcome My solicitude. And who finds My bounty other than the one on whom the sun of solicitude shines? My servant, if you straighten your aim, I am there for you in the road. If you ask forgiveness from Me, I am aware of your heart's thoughts. I am the forgiver of your offenses and I want good for you. Wherever there is someone with ruined life and destitute days, I buy him. Wherever there is a poor man, wounded by offenses, helpless in the hands of an adversary, I am his Patron! Wherever there is someone weeping in shame, his head bowed because of not having anyone, I am his proof. Wherever there is someone burnt because of having lost his heart, someone in pain from selflessness, I am the happiness of his spirit.” Be wherever you will in the land and you will be near My remembrance.

Have you not seen those who were given a share of the Book, that is, some part [of It], which is their admission of the truth despite their being veiled from religion, purchasing error, choosing to be veiled from religion, which is the path of the truth, in exchange for the guiding light of their preparedness and desiring that you should do the same. They are your enemy and God has knowledge of their enmity for you, then

God suffices as a Protector, protecting your affair by granting your success in finding the path of the affirmation of His Oneness and [He suffices] as a Helper to help you against your enemies by repressing them.

O you who have been given the Book, the Book of preparedness, believe, a true belief of eyewitness by bringing out what is in the Book of your preparedness [from potentiality] to actuality by the affirmation of the oneness of the Essence, before We obliterate faces, by the removal and effacement of their preparednesses, and turn them on their backs, which is the lowest of the low in the world of bodies which is posterior to every [other] world, or We curse them, We chastise them by transforming [them] as We transformed, those of the Sabbath, and God's command is done, that is, fulfilled for all eternity, none able to change it or revoke it.

Surely God does not forgive that anything be associated with Him, but less than that He forgives for whomsoever He wills. The associationism of the common people is one thing, and the associationism of the elect some- thing else. The associationism of the common people is the greater associationism, and the asso- ciationism of the elect the lesser associationism. The greater associationism is that they should say that the tremendous Enactor, the eternal Artisan, has an associate and partner, or they should consider Him to have an equal and peer, or they should make Him similar to something of creation. Whenever someone says this, he is not a worshiper of God, for he has called upon an idol. In reality, he has been held back from the religion of guidance. The right belief and pure religion is that you consider the God of the world's folk and Creator of all to be pure of and incomparable with spouse, child, and partner. He did not give birth, nor did anyone give birth to Him. He is free of new arrival, change, and birth, hallowed beyond defect, incapacity, and need, pure in attribute, fitting in artisanry, sweet in speech, and complete in love. He is pure of fault in attributes, pure of blunder in deeds, pure of negligence in speech, and pure of doubt in love. He is a God who is outside of imaginations, and no one knows how He is. He is worthy of Godhood, knower of God-work, separate from faults, without peer in Essence and attributes. Whoever believes this has been released from the greater associationism and has joined with the root of faith. As for the lesser associationism, it is of two sorts and belongs to two groups. For the faithful it is eye-service and letting go of self-purification in deeds. For the recognizers, it is paying regard to deeds and seeking deliverance thereby. Its trace in the faithful is to decrease their faith, to bring fissures into their certainty, and to close down the door of clarity. MuṣṬafā said, “I am very fright- ened of the ancient associationism for my community.” He was asked what ancient associationism was, and he said, “That someone does good deeds along with eye-service in the deeds.” Shaddād ibn Aws said, “I saw God's Messenger weeping.

Hast thou not seen those who deem themselves pure? No, God alone deems pure whom- soever He will. Do not praise yourselves, do not approve of others deeming you pure, do not look at your own good deeds, give no weight to your own traveling, and consider yourselves lower than everyone low. A friend asked, “Which group is it who have stolen reality's ball from the world's creatures?” I said, “Why do you ask for the marks of that group, for they have not shown themselves to themselves for the sake of showing. They never walk on the edge of making claims, nor do they ever sleep in the circle of meaning. More wondrous is that their worthlessness and abasement makes them like Christians and Jews in people's eyes.” Yes, at the threshold of a generous man, the more abased you make yourself, the more exalted you become. Your abasement is not despair of the Friend. Rather, it testifies to your truthfulness and straightness. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, I lament at my abasement, for I have seen no one with misery like mine. I lament at the burning because You are lost to my spirit. There is no one in the world to have pity on my days and time. O God, I wept so many tears in longing that I sowed the seeds of pain with my eyes' water. If I find endless felicity, I will approve of all this pain. If my eyes fall upon You once, I will not have seen myself with those eyes.” No, God alone deems pure whomsoever He will. When God's deeming pure reaches someone, its mark is that he is released from companionship with the scatter-hearted ones who have stooped to the path of demons and idols [4:51] and he does not again open himself up to them. But you should not fancy that the worshipers of demons and idols are simply those idol-worshipers. Any- one who is at ease with the caprice of his own soul and remains bound to what his soul desires is a man of idols and a servant of demons. The creatures are at ease in the ruins of their own makeup- wink once and throw the creatures into turmoil! [DS 696] In the tongue of the folk of allusion, placing your foot on your own soul and bringing your caprice under your own severity is the tremendous kingdom concerning which God says,

Consider how they invent falsehood against God, by claiming to purify their souls of their attributes when they have not been purified, or, because of the existence of their souls, by falsely ascribing God's attributes to their own souls.

Have you not seen, to the end [of the verse where it says]: they believe in al-Jibt and al-Ṭāghūt, by their affirmation of the existence of other [than God], and that is the way in which they lead [others] astray from religion, which is the path of the affirmation of [His] Oneness, and say, to those who have been veiled from the Truth, 'These are more rightly guided, than the affirmers of the Oneness, in their way'ḍ, since they are like them in associating [others with God], in contrast to the believers who are opposed to them in both way and goal. For when those who affirm the Oneness go astray in their way, they do not arrive at the goal which they affirmed. They are thus guilty of a subtle association (shirk) that approximates the state of those who are veiled from the Truth, those who have committed a manifest association, and thus they correspond to them and are directed towards them, claiming to be the most rightly-guided of the affirmers of Oneness, as we see is the case with certain exoterics [today] who belong to the Muslim community.

Those are the ones whom God has cursed, by transfiguring [their] preparedness: the one whom God banishes, none can help him through guidance or bringing [him] near or deliverance.

And We gave them a tremendous kingdom. It has been said, “The tremendous kingdom is having an overview of the secrets of the creatures,” or it is “gazing upon the secrets of the empire such that nothing is hidden.” This is why Abū ʿUthmān Maghribī said, “When someone responds to the Real, the empire re- sponds to him.” In other words, when something appears to him in the empire, he is given news of it. Ibn al-Barqī was one of the great shaykhs of Egypt and possessed perspicacity. Once he became ill and was given medicine. He said, “I will not drink it, for some disaster has happened in the em- pire. Until I find out what happened, I will not drink it.” Thirteen days passed before news arrived that the Qarmatians and fallen on the Sanctuary, killed many people, and worked great destruction. Shaykh al-Islām Anṣārī said, “Servanthood cannot bear more than knowing some and not knowing some, for God says, 'He does not show His unseen to anyone except someone He ap- proves as a messenger' [72:26-27]. 'And God will not inform you of the unseen' [3:179]. God knows all-no one else.” It has also been said that the tremendous kingdom is recognition of the tremendous King. When someone recognizes Him, he has found the kingdom of both worlds. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, who is like me in becoming worthy for this work? Enough for me is that I have the worth of Your companionship.” Tell them to call me nothing but lord- that's a name suited for Your serving boy.

Surely those who disbelieve in Our signs, that is, [those] who have been veiled from the self-disclosures of Our attributes and acts, since the point of departure of the verse is His being self-disclosed through knowledge and wisdom in the family of Abraham - We shall expose them, to the fire of the yearning for perfection since this is what is entailed in their natural impulses and traits in accordance with their preparedness in addition to the deep-rootedness of the veil and its adherence [to them]; or [We shall expose them] to the fire of vanquishing through the self-disclosures of the attributes of His vanquishing power, [a fire] that corresponds to their states; or to the fire of the evilness of their souls and the vehemence of their yearning and pursuit of the perfections of their attributes and their lusts which have been provoked in them but of which they are deprived; as often as their skins are consumed, [as often as] their corporeal veils are removed [from them] when they abandon them, We shall replace them, with new veils other than those, that they may taste the chastisement, the fires of privation. Surely God is ever Mighty, powerful. He vanquishes them and disgraces them by abasing the attributes of their souls and He burns them with the fires of their longing for their perfections by depriving them [of these] forever; Wise, requiting them with the chastisement which is appropriate to them and which they have chosen for their souls by their irascible and concupiscent exigencies and other [such motivations] and their inclination to corporeal pleasures; that is why veils of darkness are successively replaced for them.

And those that believe, by affirming the unity of [God's] attributes, and perform, what makes them righteous by virtue of [their] acceptance of the self-disclosures of these [attributes], We shall admit them to the Gardens, of those who have assumed these attributes and the stations thereof, underneath which rivers flow, that is, the rivers of the knowledge deriving from the self-disclosures of these [attributes] in the way of the knowledge of the heart. Here the [purified] spouses are the sanctified spirits which are the loci of the manifestations of the divine attributes that are purified through the corporeal configurations; and We shall admit them to plenteous shade, that is, [to] the shade of the divine attributes whose spirit lasts forever by the effacement of the human attributes.

Surely God commands you to deliver trusts back to their owners. In this verse the lovingly kind Lord, the generous and right-knowing, the care-taker of the servants, commands His servants to give back trusts. He is saying, “Return the trusts at your own liability to their folk.” In other words, do not intervene in them, and avoid betrayal, for after the faith and recognition of the servant, there is no attribute greater than holding in trust; and after unbelief, there is no attribute uglier than betrayal. The servant's obedience comes forth from holding in trust, and disobedience comes from betrayal. Betrayal is the basis of corruption, the beginning of every mis- fortune, and the foundation of disobedience. Holding in trust is the pillar of the religion, the per- fection of tawḤīd, and the attribute of the prophets and the angels. In the firm text of the revealed book, the Lord of the Worlds describes Gabriel by saying, “brought down by the trustworthy spirit” [26:193]. In another place He says, “obeyed, and also trustworthy” [81:21]. He reported from the daughter of Shuʿayb that she said to her father about Moses, God's speaking companion, “O my father, hire him! Surely the best you can hire is the strong, the trustworthy” [28:26]. And in describing Joseph the sincerely truthful He says, quoting the king of Egypt, “Surely today with us thou art emplaced, trustworthy” [12:54]. The trusts about which the Book and the Sunnah talk are three things: One is obedience and the religion, for the Lord of the Worlds calls them a trust. He says, “Surely We offered the Trust” [33:72]. Next are women, who are held as a trust by men. MuṣṬafā said, “You have taken them as a trust from God, and you have made their private parts lawful to you by God's word.” Third is the property you leave with someone, or the secret you tell to him, for that is a trust. The Lord of the Worlds says, “Let him who has been entrusted deliver back his trust” [2:283]. MuṣṬafā said, “Deliver the trust back to the one who entrusted you.” He also said, “If a man relates some words, pay regard, for it is his trust.” Mustāfā also said, “Sitting together is a trust.” In other words, when you sit with people, it must be on condition of holding in trust.

O you who believe, by [your] affirmation of the unity of [His] attributes, obey God, by affirming the unity of the essence and by being annihilated in the union, and obey the Messenger, by observing what is due at the level of differentiation at the source of the union and taking note of the hierarchy of the attributes after being annihilated in the essence, and those in authority among you, of those who deserve spiritual guardianship (walāya) and leadership [over you], as has already been mentioned in the story of Saul.

Have you not seen, that is, have you not marvelled at, those who claim that they believe in what has been revealed to you, of the knowledge of the affirmation of the Oneness, and what was revealed before you, of the knowledge of the point of origin and the final return, desiring to take their disputes to a false deity, when it is incompatible with their claim. For if their faith was sound, they would not have affirmed an other [in the first place] for that [other] to then have any power to arbitrate. Indeed they, by virtue of true belief, are obliged to disbelieve in any other than Him. The one who has not been stripped of his attributes and acts and whose essence has not been obliterated in God, exalted be He, constitutes some other [than God]; and the one who orients himself towards some other has verily obeyed Satan. But Satan only desires that they be led far astray, which is to deviate from the truth through association [of others with God], since to incline away from religion is to be in clear error.

We sent not any messenger but that he should be obeyed by God's leave. From the first to the last of this section is an allusion to the greatness of MuṣṬafā's rank in God's sight. It is one of the robes of honor given to him by God, for He has lifted up the intermediary and made his decree equal to His own decree. Just as approving of the Real's decision brings about the certainty of the tawḤīd-voicers, so also approving of the Messenger's decree brings about the faith of the faithful. Thus the world's folk will know that obeying the Messenger is to obey the Real, disobeying the Messenger is to disobey the Real, the words of the Messenger are the revelation of the Real, the explanations of the Messenger are the road of the Real, the acts of the Messenger are the argument of the Real, the Shariah of the Messenger is the creed of the Real, the decree of the Messenger is the religion of the Real, and following the Messenger is friendship with the Real. Thus He says, “Follow me; God will love you” [3:31]. He is saying, “O master of masters! O paragon of engendered beings! O center point of the circle of newly arrived things! Say to My servants, 'If you want God to give you access to His friendship and approve of your servanthood, travel in my tracks, for I am His Messenger. Bind the belt of following me, receive my decrees in spirit and heart without resistance. Put forth your body, put down your neck, throw yourself into the decree, and do not give narrowness and tightness any access to yourself.'” This is why He says,

Then they will not find in themselves any tightness from what thou decreest and will sur- render with full submission. “Do you not know that all the work has been bound to my tracks, and both houses have been at- tached to my street?” What rank and good fortune! What nobility and excellence! From the era of Adam until today, who has had such complete bounty and such well-arranged work, such celestial exaltedness and such god-like luster? After 500 and some years, the pillar of his Shariah's good fortune is flourishing, his branches blooming, his wood yielding fruit, his eminence elevated, his decree predominant. His splendor is in this world, his fame in the next. Each heart has a lamp from him, each tongue a burning brand from him, each heart a splendor from him, each head a call from him, each spirit a place for him. If you fancy that there is none of God's gentleness-there is. That above the world's beauties there is no king-there is. If you suppose that the spirits of good men in their passion have no familiarity with the beauty of the dust of your feet-they do. And if you think that when you lift up your tresses from your cheek the lamp of the spheres has no brightness from you-it does. [DS 821-22]

And had We prescribed, that is, [had] We made it obligatory, for them: 'Slay your souls', by curbing the caprice that is their [the souls' source of] life and by annihilating their attributes, or 'Leave your habitations', your stations, which are patience, trust, satisfaction and the like, because of their veiling [of the soul] from the affirmation of Oneness, as al-Ḥusayn b. Manṣūr [al-Ḥallāj], may God sanctify his spirit, said to Ibrāhīm b. Adham, may God have mercy on him, when he asked him about his state and [al-Ḥallāj] responded by saying, 'I wander the deserts and roam the open lands where there is neither water nor trees, and neither meadows nor rain: am I right in assuming a state of trust [in God] or notḍ', to which he [Ibrāhīm] replied, 'If you were to spend your entire life cultivating your belly: where [in all of that] is the annihilation in the Onenessḍ'; they would not have done it, save a few of them: and these [few] are the lovers [of God], those prepared for His encounter, the greatest in power, the smallest in number, as God says but few are they [Q. 38:24]; it would have been better for them, in terms of the perfection that would have been actualised for them upon the removal of the veil of the attributes of the soul by the assumption of the attributes of the Truth or by the arrival at the source of the union, and stronger in establishing, by making [them] upright in religion upon subsistence after the annihilation.

And then, We would have surely given them from Us a great wage, in the way of self-disclosures of the attributes upon the slaying of the soul.

And We would have guided them to a straight path, upon their departure from their homes, that is, [from] the waystations of the soul and the stations, which is the path of the Oneness and [the path of] uprightness in the affirmation of the Oneness.

Whosoever obeys God and the Messenger-they will be with those whom God has blessed: the prophets, the sincerely truthful, the witnesses, and the wholesome. What beautiful compan- ions they! Ibn ʿAbbās says that this verse came down concerning Thawbān, who had become wasted and weak in love for God's Messenger, his back bent and his face yellow. One day the Messenger said to him, “O Thawbān, what is it with you? Has your face turned yellow because you stay awake at night?” He said, “O Messenger of God, this and that, as you know.” He said, “O Thawbān, are you placing a great deal of suffering on yourself through various sorts of discipline? You have become so weak and your back is bent over!” Thawbān said, “Yes, O Messenger of God, it has been something of all that.” The Messenger said, “O Thawbān, is it that you are desiring?” Thawbān's eyes filled with tears when he heard talk of desire. How long will you ask me, “Why are you suffering?” In truth, you know my state better than I. “O Messenger of God, I do not know how the nights pass until day comes and I see you again.” Wishing for you by day is the veil of my idleness, aching for you by night is the chamber of my wakefulness. Separation from you is the adornment of my sorrow, fervor for you is the capital of my awareness. “O Messenger of God! The hardest sorrow is that in the next world you will be in the highest of the High Chambers, and I will be held back from seeing you.” While they were in the midst of this came Gabriel, the messenger of the Presence, the courier of mercy, bringing a verse: “Whosoever obeys God and the Messenger-they will be with those whom God has blessed,” and so on to the end. God's Messenger recited it to him and made his heart happy, placing a balm on his woundedness. Yes, it wants a pain like this for there to appear a balm like that! Until you burn, you will not find a way out. Until you drown in Remember Me! in the ocean of remembrance, you will not reach the shore of security by the hand of I will remember you [2:152]. A man with nothing will never find an accomplished friend- pain for Ishmael calls for the burn of Abraham.

That bounty, in other words, [that] facilitation granted for the actualisation of perfection by which they have acquired a correspondence to prophets and those with them, thus becoming their companions [is from God]; [God suffices] as Knower, knowing the potential in their preparedness for perfection and thus makes it manifest upon them.

[O you who believe] take your precautions, that against which you exercise caution, such as Satan's casting [of his insinuations] and his evil whisperings and his leading of you to perdition by means of [his] deception, and [such things as] the manifestation of the attributes of your souls and their acquisition of mastery over you, for these are the most hostile of all your enemies; then move forward in companies, wayfare in the path of God in groups, each party [following] the spiritual path of a perfect, knowledgeable shaykh, or move forward all together, along the path of the affirmation of Oneness and that of submission (islām) following closely [the path of] the Prophet.

And if a good thing befalls them, they say, 'This is from God', to the end [of the verse]: proving that they are Qadarites, since they ascribe good to God and evil to man, imitating Magians in affirming independent efficient causes in existence and ascribing evil to the Messenger but not to themselves, since he was the one who sent them forth [to battle] and who incited them to [suffer] the evil that they encounter because of him. Thus the Messenger is commanded to call them to the belief in the unity of acts and the denial of efficient cause on the part of others and to the affirmation that He is the agent of good and evil by His words Say, 'Everything is from God'. What is wrong with this people that they do not understandḍ, because of their being veiled by the attributes of [their] souls and [by] the failure of the hearing of their hearts which are the vessels for audition and understanding. Then it is made clear that God is bounteous and just by the fact that good things and perfections are all out of His bounty, and that evil things are from His justness. In other words, He decrees them for us and afflicts us with them because of a preparedness and a meriting [of that] in us that requires it be so. That meriting occurs by the soul's manifesting of itself in its attributes and its commission of acts of disobedience and sins that necessitate punishment and not because of any other act, as when they attributed the evil that befell them to the Messenger. For the meriting [of such evil] is dependent on the preparedness [of that individual], such that what is entailed by the preparedness of one person does not interfere with another, just as God says And no burdened soul shall bear the burden of another [burdened soul] [Q. 6:164]. Thus He has shown them to be liars in their ascription to � by proving that the efficient cause for [both] good and evil is none other than God alone as required by His bounty and justice. As for the receptive cause, even if in reality that is also from Him, the receptivity for good relates to the original preparedness [of an individual], that derives from the holiest effusion on which our acts and choices have no bearing. Receptivity of evil derives from the preparedness temporally created by the soul's manifesting itself in its attributes and acts, which veil the heart and tarnish its substance such that it needs to be polished by means of calamities, afflictions, trials and misfortunes, and does not derive from the part of the Messenger or anyone else.

When you are greeted with a greeting, greet with one more beautiful than it, or return it. In this verse, the majestic compeller, the magnificent God, the lovingly kind beautiful-doer, teach- es His servants the courteous acts of social intercourse and companionship, for anyone not adorned with courtesy is not worthy of companionship. Companionship is of three sorts: the courtesy of conformity with the Real, the courtesy of sincerity with people, and the courtesy of opposition to the soul. Anyone not nurtured by these sorts of courtesy has nothing to do with the path of MuṣṬafā and has no worth in the world of No god but God. The exalted Lord first adorned MuṣṬafā with courtesy, as his come in the report: “My Lord taught me courtesy, so how beautifully I have been made courteous!” Thus on the night of the miʿrāj in that most tremendous station, he acted courteously toward the Presence, such that the exalted Lord says about him, “The eyesight did not swerve, nor did it trespass” [53:17]. He observed the courtesy of companionship with people, such that He says about him, “Surely thou hast a tremendous character” [68:4]. The principles of the courteous acts of companionship in interacting with the Real are that you put knowledge to work in every interaction, you revere the Shariah, you avoid putting into practice what your wishes command, you honor the Sunnah and its folk, you avoid innovation and its folk, you leave aside suspicion and supposition, you stay far from disquieting thoughts and the habits of eye-service, ignorance, and laziness in worshiping God, you avoid adorning yourself as a worship- ful servant in other than the Sunnah, you keep supererogatory acts hidden, you not mention the name God in heedlessness, you not mix levity with seriousness, you not play with the Shariah and the religion, and you put scrupulosity to work in speaking, acting, seeing, eating, sleeping, moving, and resting. Even if you pass your days with truthfulness and limpidness, you never approve of yourself. Rather, you must always be displeased with yourself, and you must make it incumbent upon yourself to repent in every state. The Messenger said, “My heart becomes clouded, so I ask forgiveness from God one hundred times a day.” Abū Yazīd BasṬāmī was so displeased with his own limpidness and self-purification that his glorification sometimes consisted of pointing at himself with his finger and saying, “You are the miserable man of the time.

O you who have faith! When you strike forth on the path of God, look clearly, and say not to him who offers you peace, “You are not of the faithful,” seeking the chance goods of this world's life. By way of allusion, He is saying that when you go on a journey, go for the sake of reaching one of the friends of God so that he may be the intimate of your days and the witness of your heart and spirit. No matter how far you go, never be at ease from seeking and do not hold back the foot of effort. The friends are the favorites of the Exalted Threshold and accepted by the Presence of Divinity. Not everyone sees them, not every eyesight perceives them. When you find them, give ear, and when you see them, cling to them, for the brightness of the heart lies in witnessing them and endless felicity in being their companion. The pir of the Tariqah Junayd was asked, “Which do you prefer? Two cycles of voluntary prayer or an hour of witnessing the poor.” He said, “An hour of witnessing the poor, for witnessing the poor is God's love, for He says, 'It is incumbent on Me to love those who love each other in Me and who visit each other in Me.' Bringing God's love to hand is an obligatory act for everyone. Leaving aside this obligatory act and choosing a supererogatory act is not the work of the clever and the conduct of the chevaliers.”

And those whom the angels receive [in death], to the end [of the verse]: al-tawaffī is to receive fully the spirit (istīfāÌ) from the body by having it seized from it, which can be in one of three ways: the reception of [it by] the angels, the reception of [it by] the angel of death, and the reception of [it by] God. As for the angels' reception [of the spirit], that is for the folk of the souls who are either fortunate, being the good folk, those of the praiseworthy attributes and virtuous character traits from among the righteous, the Godfearing, those whom the angels receive [in death] while they are goodly, saying to them, 'Peace be upon you! Enter Paradise because of what you used to do' [Q. 16:31-32]: their final return shall be to the garden of the acts. Or they are the damned, the evil folk, those of the base attributes and the wicked character traits, whose spirits are only received by the powers of the angelic realm which in this world are the equivalent of their faculties which constitute their station, veiled as they are by attributes of the soul and the pleasures of the imaginative, estimative, predatorial and bestial faculties, the disbelievers, those whom the angels receive [in death] while they are wronging themselves [Q. 16:27-28]: their final return shall be to the Fire. As for the reception of the angel of death, that is for the possessors of hearts, those who have emerged from the veil of the soul to the station of the heart and have returned to the primordial nature and have become illumined by it. The spirits of these [latter] are seized by the universal rational soul, which is the heart of the world, because of their conjunction with it; this is the case if it is the angel of death himself who seizes their spirits. If he seizes [these spirits] by means of his assistants and their powers, then they belong to the first group [mentioned above]. He [the angel of death] may seize them himself and turn them over to the angelic realm of chastisement so that they might be brought to reckoning and requited in accordance with their vices and be rid [of them]; that will be on account of [their] perfection or deficiency of knowledge, as in the case of the one who is delivered from ignorance and associating [others with God] and becomes adorned with knowledge and the affirmation of Oneness, but upon whose heart there had accumulated dark configurations and base natures because of wicked deeds and reprehensible character traits; or on account of having knowledge of the affirmation of the Oneness but ignorance of the final return, as in the case of the affirmer of the Oneness who denies the [final] recompense and is ensconced in acts of disobedience, as God, exalted be He, says Say: the angel of death, who has been charged with you, shall receive you [in death] [Q.

Except the oppressed among the men, that is, those of strong preparedness, those whose concupiscent and irascible faculties have been strengthened while their preparedness has also been strong but who have not been able to curb these by wayfaring along the path of truth; nor have they turned to their estimative and imaginative faculties and invalidated their preparednesses with corrupt beliefs. They have thus remained captive in their corporeal faculties, their preparedness illuminated by the light of knowledge but unable to remove their fetters in order to wayfare; women, those whose preparedness falls short of the level of perfection of knowledge and wayfaring along the path of realisation, those of weak faculties and the simple-minded regarding whom it was said, 'The majority of the inhabitants of Paradise shall be those simple souls'; and children, that is, the deficient who fall short of attaining the degree of perfection because of a jealousy (ghayra) on the part of the attributes of the soul that affects them; who are unable to devise a plan, because of their inability and incapacity to break the attributes of the soul or curb caprice through spiritual discipline, and are not guided to a way, because they do not know how to wayfare and because of their being deprived of the light of the guidance of the religious law.

As for such, perhaps God will pardon them, by effacing these dark configurations because these have not taken deep roots [in their souls] and because of the soundness of their beliefs, for God is ever Pardoning, of sins as long as the primordial nature has not changed, Forgiving, covering up the attributes of their souls with the light of His attributes.

Whosoever emigrates in the path of God will find in the earth many a road and expanse. In this verse the Lord of the Worlds, the God of the world's folk, the keeper of all, the knowing and lovingly kind, gives a mark of His mercy and shows His gentleness to the servants. He invites the faithful to emigrate and praises those who do. The emigrants are of three sorts: One sort emigrates for the sake of this world. They under- take trade or the search for livelihood. Even though this is allowed in the Shariah, it is not clear where it will lay down its head at the end and what its outcome will be. MuṣṬafā said, “Love for this world is the beginning of every offense.” He also said, “Do not take a landed estate, lest you become eager for this world.” This sort of emigrant is always in suffering and hardship, caught in the hands of thieves and on the verge of destruction. Hoping to gain something that is allowed, he leaves aside something obligatory. Then he burns, and he loses the basis for both. God says, “You desire the chance goods of this life, and God desires the afterworld” [8:67]. The second sort are the renunciants. Their emigration is for the sake of the afterworld and their traveling goes by way of meanings. They pass over the way stations of obedient acts and tra- verse the stages of worship on the feet of aspiration. Sometimes they make the hajj, go off to battle, struggle, make pilgrimages, perform the prayers, remember God's name, and meditate on God's blessings. Concerning them God's Messenger said, “Travel! The solitary will be the preceders.” They said, “O Messenger of God! Who are the solitary?” He said, “The engrossed-those who are engrossed by the remembrance of God. Remem- brance has lifted away their loads, and they come forth unburdened on the Day of Resurrection.” The Exalted Lord says about them, “Whosoever desires the afterworld and strives after it with proper striving while having faith-those, their striving shall be thanked” [17:19]. The third sort are the recognizers, whose emigration is for the sake of the Patron. They emi- grate within their own makeup. They emigrate inside the curtains of the soul until they reach the heart, they emigrate inside the curtains of the heart until they reach the spirit, and they emigrate inside the curtains of the spirit until they reach union with the Beloved.

And when you are journeying in the land of preparedness along the path of knowledge in pursuit of certainty, you would not be at fault if you shorten, that is, [if] you curtail the corporeal deeds and the fulfilment of the duties of servanthood (ʿubūdiyya) such as gratitude and presence, for the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said, 'Whoever has been given his [full] share of certainty, let him not be [overly] concerned with what he has missed of prayers and fasting', if you fear that you may be afflicted, that you may be deceived and led astray, by those who do not believe, that is, [by] those that have been veiled such as the faculties of estimation and imagination and the human devils who are astray and who lead [others] astray, given what we know from the words of the Prophet, 'A single man of [deep] understanding is more difficult for Satan [to lead astray] than a thousand worshippers'.

When you have completed the prayer, remember God, standing and sitting and on your sides. Know that the prayer is secret whispering between God and the servant. In this secret whisper- ing, there is both need and joy. Today there is need, tomorrow joy; today suffering, tomorrow the treasure; today a heavy burden, tomorrow repose and ease [56:89]; today toil and work, tomorrow pleasure and the bazaar; today bowing and prostrating, tomorrow finding and witnessing. Part of the eminence of the prayer is that the Exalted Lord has mentioned it 102 times in the Qur'an and given it thirteen names: prayer, devotion, Qur'an, glorification, book, remembrance, bowing, prostration, praise, asking forgiveness, declaring greatness, beautiful deeds, and subsistent things. MuṣṬafā said, “The prayer is the miʿrāj of the person of faith.” He said, “The prayer is God's banquet in the earth.” The ulama of the past have said, “The prayer is the throne of the desirers, the pleasure of the recognizers, the means of approach of the sinners, and the scented garden of the renunciants.” They have also said, “The person performing the prayer has received seven generous bestow- als: guidance, sufficiency, expiation, mercy, proximity, degree, and forgiveness.” The first step in associationism is not to say the prayers, for the Exalted Lord will say, “'What brought you into Saqar?' They will say, 'We were not of those who said the prayers'” [74:42-43]. And He placed the name faith in the prayer, where He says, “But God would never leave your faith,” that is, your prayer, “to waste” [2:143]. He promises daily provision with prayer, where He says, “And command thy folk to the prayer, and be thou patient therein. We ask thee for no provi- sion. We shall provide for thee” [20:132]. The number of obligatory prayers came as five in conformity with the roots of the Shari'ite rules. Concerning the roots of the Shari'ite rules MuṣṬafā said, “The submission is built on five.” The roots of the obligatory prayers are five prayers in one day and night. In other words, when the servant performs these five prayers with their stipulations and at their times, the Exalted Lord will give him the reward of all the roots of the Shari'ite rules. The guises of the prayer are four: standing, bowing, prostrating, and sitting.

Surely We have revealed to you the Book, that is, the knowledge of the differentiations of the attributes and the rules governing their self-disclosures, with the truth, apparelled in justice and sincerity, or [it means] upheld by the Truth and not by your soul, so that you might judge between creatures, by that which God has shown you, of His justice. And do not be, for traitors, those who do not restore to God the trust which He has deposited in them since pre-eternity by virtue of the possibility embedded in their preparedness of knowing Him perfectly, but who have betrayed their souls and [those of] others by pillaging what is their due and expending it in inappropriate ways, a disputant, who wards off [their] chastisement for them and the fact that God has given power to [other] creatures over them to hurt them, [or a disputant] who remonstrates in defence of them against others or against God by objecting that he has put right their [state of] having been forsaken and vanquished [by God]. For verily they are the evildoers. They have no argument [against God], rather the [burden of] proof is against them.

And pray for forgiveness from God, for your soul by refraining from objecting and remonstrating on their behalf so that We might forgive you your variegation, which has manifested itself on you by the presence of your heart and its attributes.

And do not dispute: the interpretation of this has become clear from this [preceding statement].

They hide themselves from people, by concealing from them their vices and the attributes of their souls, which are the sources of their shame; but they do not hide themselves from God, by eliminating them and eradicating them, even though He is the witness over them, knowing their inner selves, while they contrive, [while] they lend weight to, in the world of the darkened soul and nature, what is displeasing to Him of suppositions, in the way of illusions and corrupt machinations which they string together in order to actualise what they desire of the transient things of this world and its pleasures. God is ever Encompassing of what they do, recompensing them in accordance with their attributes and their deeds.

Ah! There you are: [the interpretation of this is] clear from what has already been mentioned.

Whoever does evil, by the manifestation of one of the attributes of his soul, or wrongs his soul, by diminishing something of his [potential] perfections, [perfections] entailed in his preparedness by falling short [of something] therein or by committing a deed that is incompatible with it, [but] then asks God to cover up that attribute or configuration that is concealing his perfection by orienting himself towards Him and renouncing sinful behaviour, he shall find God is Forgiving, covering up that evil deed and dark configuration with the light of His attribute, Merciful, bestowing [on that person] what his preparedness entails.

And whoever commits a mistake, by manifesting his soul, or a sin, by effacing what is in his preparedness or by acquiring a configuration that is incompatible with [the realisation of] his perfection, and then casts it upon an innocent one, by saying [something like], 'So and so drove me to do it, or so and so prevented me from seeking the truth, or this is the crime of so and so', as is the habit of those who are given to brandishing excuses, he has thereby burdened himself with calumny, by [falsely] attributing his own [mis]deed to another. For had there not been a proclivity in his soul towards what is opposed to his perfection and a correspondence to those who agree with him and obey him [in that], it would not be accepted from him. So it is only of the doing of his own soul, as Satan says to them, Truly God promised you a promise of truth, whereas I promised you then failed you, for over you I had no warrant except that I called you and you responded to me. So do not blame me, but blame your own souls [Q. 14:22]. For if there had not been a darkness in their souls which they had acquired and which resulted from the manifesting of their attributes, there would not have been in them a locus for his [Satan's] evil whisperings or a receptivity for his call; and a manifest sin, one that is manifest and multiplying, composed as it is of the configuration of the mistake and their refusal to confess [their sin] and to ascribe the shortcoming to their own souls so that it might be broken and become too weak to hold sway over the heart or to prevent it from perfection.

Were it not for God's bounty to you, that is, His granting [you] of success and His reinforcement [of you] for the wayfaring along His path with what brings out your perfection [from potentiality] into actuality and accentuates the knowledge that is latent within you; and His mercy, His gift [to you] of that absolute perfection which He has deposited in you from pre-eternity, that mercy beyond which there is no [greater] mercy; but they lead only their souls astray, since that errancy the product of their original preparedness, moulded as they are upon wretchedness from pre-eternity: how then can that errancy that has been kneaded into them affect anyone other than themḍ God has revealed to you the Book, that is, the complete differentiated knowledge after the existence bestowed [on you from Him], and wisdom, knowledge of the rules governing the differentiations and the self-disclosures of the attributes and how to implement this [wisdom], and He has taught you what you did not know, since it is God's knowledge, which only He possesses, and so when He revealed to you His Essence upon your annihilation in Him, then made you subsist through the existence derived from [His Name] the Truth and your heart came to be and He veiled you with the veil of that heart, He taught you of His knowledge, as the attribute is consequent to the essence, and God's bounty, in manifesting that perfection upon you by facilitating for you the performing of deeds that have helped you arrive at where you have arrived, is ever great.

No good is there in much of their whispering, except for him who bids to charity, or the honorable, or making things wholesome among the people. Whosoever does this, seeking God's approval, We shall give him a tremendous wage. The best deeds of the servants are the three things in this verse: charity, the honorable, and making things wholesome among the people. The good in this verse is not specified for one individual, but rather its profit reaches others. The wonder is not that you should open a door for yourself, the wonder and chivalry are that you should open a door to yourself for another. Pir Bū ʿAlī Siyāh said, “So what if you make yourself happy? The work is done by making someone else happy.” MuṣṬafā alluded to this: “The worst of men is he who eats alone.” As for charity, it is of three sorts: with possessions, with the body, and with the heart. Char- ity with possessions is giving comfort to the poor by expending blessings. Charity with the body is undertaking for them the duty of service. Charity with the heart is being loyal to the beauty of intention and the consolidation of aspiration. This is charity toward the poor. There is also charity toward the rich. It is that you act with munificence toward them and do not expose your need to them; you take back your hope from their charitable gifts and do not covet anything from them. When charity, the honorable, and making things wholesome come together in someone, from head to foot he becomes veneration itself, the oyster shell for the mysteries of lordhood, and he is accepted by those who bear witness to the divinity. His name is given out as “sincerely truthful,” and tomorrow he will be gathered up along with the sincerely truthful. This is the great wage that the Exalted Lord has promised: “We shall give him a tremendous wage.”

What they pray to instead of Him are but females, that is, [these are but] souls, since anyone who associates others with God is a worshipper of his own soul by his obedience of its caprice and a worshipper of the Satan of estimation by accepting its misguidance and obeying it; or [females means] all that is worshipped besides God, since that [object of worship] is a contingent being and every contingent thing succumbs to the effect of another and is liable to its effects, in need of it, which is an attribute of females.

[And he [Satan] said, 'Assuredly I will take to myself] an appointed portion, that is, other than those who shall be saved because they have been sincere in their religion by their affirmation of the Oneness.

Surely I will misguide them and fill them with wishes. When misguidance is consigned to Iblis, this is because of the secondary cause. Otherwise who is Iblis? Yes, he instills disquiet, for that is his job, and then, in the tracks of this disquieting, the Exalted Lord creates misguidance, for guidance and misguidance, felicity and wretchedness, come from God: Whomsoever God guides, he is guided, and whomsoever He misguides, you will not find for him a guiding friend [18:17]. Then He mentions the outcome, the end, the final issue, and the returning place of the two groups: About the misguided sort He says, “Their refuge is Ge- henna” [4:121], and about the guided sort He says, “We shall enter them into gardens underneath which rivers flow, therein dwelling forever and ever” [4:122].

But those who believe, with [that] true faith, the affirmation of the Oneness, since they are the antitheses of those who associate [others with God], and perform, what sets them on the right path to arriving at the union, or what sets people right all together by making them upright before God and in God after the annihilation and the actualisation of subsistence, We shall admit them, to the three mentioned gardens.

It, the actualisation of what is promised, is not according to your desires nor the desires of the People of the Scripture, that is, [it is not by] your subsisting in your souls, their attributes and acts, for your will is merely wishful desire, and wishful desire is to ask for what habitually is not forthcoming.

Who is more beautiful in religion than he who submits his face to God while he is a beautiful-doer and follows the creed of Abraham, an unswerving man? And God took Abraham as a bosom friend. In this verse the Lord of the Worlds, the God of the world's folk, the Enactor who knows the hid- den, praises the self-purifiers and shows that He is pleased with self-purification in deeds. The first person to dress the Kaabah of deeds in the cloak of self-purification was MuṣṬafā, who said, “Deeds are only through intentions.” Self-purification in deeds does the work of color in jewels. Just as a jewel without the cape of color is a worthless stone, so also deeds without self-purification is to knock oneself out without hitting the mark. Maʿrūf Karkhī used to beat himself with a whip and say, “O soul! Purify thyself and be de- livered!” It has been said that knowledge is the seed, deeds are planting, and self-purification is the water. The work is done by self-purification, salvation lies in self-purification, and endless felicity lies in self-purification, but self-purification itself is exalted and does not come down just any- where, nor does it show its face to just anyone. The Exalted Lord said, “It is one of My secrets that I deposit in the hearts of those whom I love among My servants.” There was a worshiper among the Children of Israel. He was told that in such-and-such a place there is a tree that people worship. For the sake of God and the zeal of the religion he became angry, left his place with a mattock over his shoulder, and went to dig up the tree by its roots. Iblis went into the road with the attributes of an old man. He asked him where he was going and he replied, “To that place to dig up the tree.” Iblis said, “Go, busy yourself with your worship, for this will not done by your hand.” Iblis struggled with him and fell, and the worshiper sat on his chest. Iblis said, “Let go of me and I will speak some beautiful words to you.” He let go of him, and Iblis said, “O worshiper, God has prophets. If this tree needs to be dug up, He will command a prophet to dig it up.

To God belongs everything in the heavens and everything in the earth, and God encom- passes everything. In these verses, He says three times “To God belongs everything in the heavens and everything in the earth.” Each is an admonishment for a different group and specific to a designated meaning. The first is an admonishment for the common Muslims, the second an admonishment for the wor- shipful servants and godwary, and the third an admonishment for the sincerely truthful and elect. First He says for the common Muslims, “Everything in heaven and earth is My possession and kingdom. All is My creation and artisanry. My knowledge reaches all and I am aware of all. I have made certain rightful dues incumbent among you and set apart obligatory acts for you. So comply with the rightful due of women, orphans, and the weak and put My commands into action. Strive to give comfort and achieve peace. Whether you do good or bad, whether you are at peace or war, know that in reality I know and I see, for all is My creation and My artisanry. How can My creation and artisanry be concealed from Me? Does He who created not know, while He is the Gentle, the Aware? [67:14].” In the second verse He says,

To God belongs everything in the heavens and everything in the earth, and We have charged those who were given the Book before you, and you, to be wary of God. “You who are worshipers and abstainers, come totally into the street of godwariness and make godwariness your shelter. Leave aside the road of uncertainty and suspicion.” He says this and commands it. Then He gives success to one group, and He puts another group into the road of abandonment. To all of them He gives awareness: “I am without needs. I have no benefit from the obedience of the one given success, nor any loss from the disobedience of the one abandoned. Everything in the heavens and the earth is My possession and kingdom. All are My predetermined things and artifacts. Had I wanted, I would have created all successful, or all abandoned. No one can protest against Me, and there is no turning away from My decree.” In the third verse, He says,

To God belongs everything in the heavens and everything in the earth, and God is suf- ficient as a trustee. This is an admonishment to the sincerely truthful and the lovers: “The seven heavens, the seven earths, and everything within them all belong to Me. I did not create them that you should turn your face toward them and attach your heart to them, remaining with them and being held back from Me. Rather, I created them to show them to you and to adorn them for your soul. Then, when you put aside everything and bring your face to Me, I will bring all of them into your service and put them all in your hands.” This meaning is in the report, “O this world! Serve those who serve Me, and trouble those who serve you!” The story of Sahl Tustarī is well known. The caliph of the day offered great wealth to him, but he did not accept anything. Someone asked him why he had not accepted. Sahl called upon God to lift the veil from the eyes of the questioner, who then looked and saw a world full of gems and pearls. Sahl said, “O chevalier! I have no need for the wealth of the caliph. The whole world is at my command. The storehouses of the earth have been offered to me, but I do not want them.” Why do you stay in this low place like crows looking for carrion? Break the cage and fly at once like peacocks to the heights. All on the face of gold and gems is unbelief and satanity- if you have the religion's fervor, step beyond the gold. [DS 52]

Whoever desires the reward of this world, satisfied to remain with the caprice of the soul: why does such a one seek the vilest of things and remain at the lowest levelsḍ then God has the reward, of both abodes at once, if he should desire it [the reward of this world] by being annihilated in it, for He is the Existence that encompasses everything and nothing escapes Him. God is ever Hearer, of the conversations of your souls, Seer, of what your intentions and desires are in your deeds.

O you who believe, with the affirmation of the Oneness through knowledge and by the desire for the reward of both abodes, be, firmly established at the station of justness, which is the noblest of virtues, upright, in fulfilling its duties such that it becomes a deeply-rooted trait in you alongside which no injustice or tyranny can issue from you in any matter nor the manifestation of a soul-attribute as a result of the pursuit of some whim in order to draw some worldly profit or to ward off some harm.

O you who have faith! Have faith in God and His Messenger. Faith is two sorts, one based on proof, the other on face-to-face vision. Faith by proof is the road of inference, and faith by face-to-face vision is finding the day of union. Faith by proof is to employ the evidence of intellects, and faith by vision is to reach the degrees of arrival. In terms of allusion He is saying: “O you have acquired faith by proof, strive to acquire faith by face-to-face vision!” What is faith by face-to-face vision? Gazing with the eye of response on the Responder, gaz- ing with the eye of solitariness on the Solitary, gazing with the eye of presence on the Present, being near to God's nearness by being far from self, being present with His generosity by being absent from self. He-majestic is His majesty!-is not far from the strivers nor absent from the desirers. He says, “We are nearer to him than the jugular vein” [50:16]. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O Lord! You are found by the souls of the chevaliers, You are present to the hearts of the rememberers. They give marks of You up close, but You are far beyond that. They fancy You from afar, but You are closer than the spirit.” Lovely idol! Are you then my beloved? Now that I look close, You are my spirit. It is also said that the meaning of the verse is this: O you who have faith by assenting, have faith by realizing! You have accepted the Shariah, now accept the Haqiqah. What is the Shariah? What the Haqiqah? The Shariah is a lamp, the Haqiqah a burn. The Shariah is a bond, the Haqiqah advice. The Shariah is need, the Haqiqah joy. The Shariah is the outer pillars, the Haqiqah the inner pillars. The Shariah is not having evil, the Haqiqah is not hav- ing self. The Shariah is service based on conditions, the Haqiqah exile based on witnessing. The Shariah is by intermediaries, the Haqiqah by unveiling. The folk of the Shariah keep obedience and leave aside disobedience, the folk of the Haqiqah flee from themselves and take joy in oneness. The folk of the Shariah hope for everlastingness and subsistent bliss, the folk of the Haqiqah boldy busy themselves with the Cupbearer.

Verily, those who believed, and then disbelieved, to the end [of the verse]: in other words, those who were perplexed and wavered between the two aspects of the upper lordship [of God] and the lower one [of themselves] by the intensity of their hypocrisy, with at times the victory of the light of the primordial nature and at others the mastery of the darkness of the soul and caprice. That is because both states were equal in them until [finally] the darkened configurations were able to establish themselves [in their souls], veils multiplied, corrupt beliefs and stagnant disposition took deep root as a result of the sway and absolute mastery that the attributes of the soul acquired [over them], such that they rusted over their hearts; it was not for God to forgive them, because of the veiling rust, the corruption of the heart's substance and the disappearance of preparedness, nor to guide them to a way, to truth, to perfection, or to the original primordial nature because of their non-receptivity to guidance and their chastisement is described as painful because of the status of their preparedness at the point of origin.

Those who take disbelievers for friends, by virtue of their correspondence to them in terms of being veiled, instead of believers, because of the lack of [their] generic compatibility [with believers] - do they desire, to assume power through them in this world and to draw strength from their assets and their statusḍ There is no possibility of that. Moreover they are mistaken, because power altogether is one of God's attributes, exalted be He, unassailable is He in His powers and might. His is the power to vanquish and to overwhelm all. Therefore power is actualised [for a person] in the measure that one is near to Him, receptive of His light and strength, and possessive of His attributes. So the people of faith are more deserving of this [power], while the people of the veil and disbelief are more deserving of making errors.

[When they stand up to pray] they stand up lazily, because the lack of yearning on their part for the presence and their aversion towards it which is due to the darkness of their preparedness that is the result of the mastery [over them] of caprice.

[O you who believe] take not the disbelievers as friends, lest their disbelief and their veiledness infect them through [their] companionship and mixing with them. For there nothing influences more than companionship. Moreover, the tendency towards friendship of them cannot [ultimately] be free of a generic compatibility between [the disbelievers and] them, as there must exist with them [these believers] some latent caprice and a voracity for a vile habit that subsumes [both of] them. One cannot be assured that they will not fall into disbelief [by such friendship] as a result of the overpowering of caprice and the soul; [do you desire to give God over you] a clear warrantḍ, a manifest argument in favour of requiting you, as a result of the taking root [in you] of that configuration through which you incline to friendship of them by being their companions and mixing socially with themḍ

[Verily, the hypocrites will be] in the lowest level [of the Fire], on account of his increased chastisement, the severity of his torture and burning, and not on account of its being the lowest level, for the effect of the Fire on the hypocrite is more severe and more painful given that there is a remnant of preparedness in him. As for the original bovine disbeliever, because of the lack of any preparedness in him does not suffer in his chastisement the pain which the hypocrite suffers, even if he should be in a worse state than him and endure a greater chastisement and degradation; [and you will never find for them] a helper, to help them from God's chastisement, because both their connection and the raising of their love [to God] together with [that of] the folk of God are severed [from them].

Save those who repent, [those] who return to God through a remnant of the light of [their] preparedness and [their] acceptance of the support of divine assistance, and make amends, for what they have corrupted of their preparedness by curbing caprice, breaking the attributes of the soul, and eliminating the veils of the faculties by means of renunciation and spiritual discipline; and hold fast to God, by grabbing hold of the rope of volition and the strength of resolve in turning towards Him, and make their religion purely God's, by annihilating the impediments to wayfaring such as the attributes of the soul, and [by] eliminating subtle idolatrous association and desisting from the contemplation of the other [than God] during the wayfaring, those are with the believers, who are certain, and God will certainly give the believers a great wage, in the way of witnessing the self-disclosures of the attributes and the garden of the acts.

Those who disbelieve, [those] who veil themselves from the Truth and from religion, and from the union and from differentiation, and seek to divide between God and His messengers, by veiling themselves from religion but not the Truth and from differentiation but not the union, and so deny the messengers estimating that unity is incompatible with multiplicity and that union is inconsistent with differentiation: that is how they end up believing in some things and disbelieving in others: [and say, 'We believe in some, and disbelieve in some'] and seek to adopt, a way between total faith, in union and differentiation, and total disbelief.

Those are the disbelievers, the ons who are veiled, truly, by their essences and attributes, for their knowledge [of God] is illusory and erroneous, their affirmation of Oneness a clandestine unbelief. They are following neither religion nor truth; [and We have prepared for the disbelievers a chastisement] that is humiliating, humiliating them by the existence of the veil and the ignominy of the soul and its attributes.

And those who believe in God and His messengers, at the levels of union and differentiation, [We shall surely give them] their wages, in the way of the three gardens. God is ever Forgiving, concealing from them their essences and attributes, which constitute their sins and their veils, with His essence and attributes, Merciful, to them by granting them the bliss of the three gardens and of the existence that is bestowed from [His Name] the Truth and of timeless subsistence.

[The People of the Scripture will ask of you to cause] a Book from the heaven, a certain knowledge, [to be revealed to them], by means of an unveiling from the heaven of the spirit. [They asked Moses for] something greater than that, since witnessing is greater and more exalted than unveiling, [for they said, 'Show us God openly' so the thunderbolt seized them] for their evildoing, for demanding the witnessing while their essences subsisted, because the existence of remnants at the moment of witnessing is to have something in a place where it does not belong. To demand a witnessing while there are remnants is a tyranny of the soul that arises from its contemplation of the perfections of the attributes for itself, and that is an injustice; [and We bestowed upon Moses clear] authority, the capacity to have mastery over them through a proof against them after his return to consciousness.

[From where He says] Nay, God raised him [Jesus] up to Him, to where He says, but will assuredly believe in him: the raising of Jesus, peace be upon him, is the conjunction of his spirit to the upper world upon separation from the lower world; his being in the fourth heaven is an allusion to the fact that the source of the effusion of his spirit is the spirituality of the solar sphere which is the equivalent of the heart of this world and to which was his [Jesus'] return. This spirituality is a light that puts the said sphere into motion by virtue of its being the lover and the irradiation of its rays on his soul, which carries out the moving of that [sphere]. Since his return was to his original resting place and he did not arrive at true perfection, it is necessary that he will come back down at the end of time by attaching himself to another body. Thereupon everyone will know him and the People of the Scripture will believe in him, that is, the folk of knowledge, the knowers of the origins and the final return every single one of them before Jesus [finally] dies by being annihilated in God. When they believe in him that will be the Day of Resurrection, that is, the day in which they will emerge from their corporeal veils and their rise from their state of forgetfulness and the life of ease in which they are now.

[he will be] a witness, witnessing them, the Truth disclosing Himself to them in his form, as has been alluded to.

And for the wrongdoing of those who are Jews, We forbade them certain good things. Embarking on prohibited things necessitates the forbidding of licit things. If you see gentleness and generosity reaching a servant, it is because he has preserved the outward of the Shariah and has wanted to show reverence to it in spirit and heart. Inevitably, he has reached the repose of whispered prayers and the gentle favors of union's gifts. In contrast, if you see harshness and severity, it is because he has looked with denial on the sanctuary of the Shariah and has put to work the religion's prohibited things in following the commanding soul. Yes, that is the way it is: When someone holds back from the outward of the Shariah, the beauty of the Haq- iqah veils its face from him. If someone disdains commands and prohibitions, what wonder if faith and recognition take their bags away from his heart? If not for the Shariah, the turning wheel would stop; if not for the religion, the Twins would quit the sky. [DS 56]

And because of their taking, the usury of the excesses of knowledge, such as disputation and argumentativeness, corporeal pleasures and shares from which they had been forbidden; and their consuming people's wealth through falsehood, through the vice of covetousness and [their wicked] nature, as in the acceptance of bribes and wages for falsification and deception, or [through] the use of the knowledge of the spiritual faculties from reflection to speculative or scientific reason in order to secure foods and drink, and the acquisition of the useless ephemera [of this world], as well as the actualisation of sensory pleasures and lusts and predatorial and beastly goals, [We have prepared] a painful chastisement for the existence of their preparedness.

But those who are firmly rooted in knowledge The firmly rooted in knowledge are those who have obtained the varieties of knowledge: knowl- edge of the Shariah, knowledge of the Tariqah, and knowledge of the Haqiqah. Knowledge of the Shariah is to be learned, knowledge of the Tariqah is to be practiced, and knowledge of the Haqiqah is to be found. Concerning knowledge of the Shariah He says, “Ask the folk of the remembrance” [16:43]. Concerning knowledge of the Tariqah He says, “Seek the means of approach to Him” [5:35]. Concerning knowledge of the Haqiqah He says, “We taught him knowledge from Us” [18:65]. He turned knowledge of the Shariah over to a teacher, He turned knowledge of the Tariqah over to a pir, and He turned knowledge of the Haqiqah over to Himself. Whoever fancies that he has no use for the intermediary of a teacher in knowledge of the Shari- ah is a heretic. Whoever claims that knowledge of the Tariqah is possible without a pir is a tempter. Whoever says that the teacher of knowledge of the Haqiqah is other than the Real is deluded. It has been said that those firmly rooted in knowledge are those who learn the knowledge of the Shariah and then put it into practice with self-purification to the point that they perceive the knowledge of the Haqiqah in their secret core. Thus MuṣṬafā said, “When someone acts on what he knows, God will bequeath him knowledge of what he does not know.” When someone does not put the knowledge of the Shariah into practice, he has wasted his knowledge, and it becomes an argument against him. When someone puts it into practice, his outward knowledge becomes an argument to his benefit, and he receives the knowledge of the Haqiqah as a gift.

Surely We have revealed to thee as We revealed to Noah, and the prophets after him. The two worlds are built on the foundation of prophethood's exaltedness, and prophethood's fruit is the beauty of the Shariah. The Shariah is the right path, and the prophets are the marks of the path. Until the leader sees the road, he does not lead. I invite to God upon insight, I and whosoever follows me [12:108]. The Exalted Lord sent the prophets to the people so that they would make apparent the road of obedience, and the servants, on the basis of that obedience, might reach gener- ous bestowal and reward; and, so that they would make apparent the road of disobedience and warn against it. Then the servants may avoid disobedience and not be deemed worthy for punishment. This then is infinite bounty and endless generosity. If He had left the servants in place, not sent the Messenger, and not held the lamp of guidance with the hand of the Messenger in their road, the servants would have remained within the wrap of their createdness and the darkness of their own opinions. They would have eaten everything that is their poison and done everything within which is their destruction. So, you should believe that the prophets are mercy and leaders for the world's folk. They are the best of the creatures and the chosen among mortal men. They are the callers at the top of the street of friendship and the cupbearers at the lip of the water of life. They are the title-page of the Shariah and the proof of the Haqiqah. If there is a goal in creating the engendered beings, it is they. If the Haqiqah has a treasure, they are its keepers. Surely We have revealed to thee…. The command came, “O paragon of east and west, O emulated in the two realms of being! A shining light has reached you from the world of revela- tion called 'messengerhood.' Before you We gave to the messengers, each in his own measure. As for that which is beyond the world of messengerhood and accords with the drinking place of your good fortune, it was not fitting to reach any wrongdoer or be grasped by the good fortune of any traveler.” The allusion to this by the paragon of the world was this: “I was given the Qur'an and the like of it along with it.” In other words, “As much as I have spoken to you from the world of prophethood with the tongue of messengerhood, just as much has been spoken to me from the world of the Haqiqah with the tongue of revelation.” This is exactly what he said elsewhere: “I have a moment with God embraced by no proximate angel, nor any sent prophet.”

messengers bearing good tidings, of the self-disclosures of the attributes of [divine] gentleness, and warning, of the self-disclosures of the attributes of the [divine] vanquishing, so that people might have no argument against God, [no] manifestation [of their souls] or mastery by the existence of some attribute after these have been removed and effaced as a result of the [spiritual] reinforcement of the messengers. God is ever Mighty, Powerful, vanquishing them by effacing their attributes and annihilating their essences, Wise, only doing that out of the wisdom entailed in their assumption of His attributes or their subsistence in His Essence.

But God bears witness with what He has revealed to you, since you are at the station of the union, while they are veiled and do not affirm it [the revelation]; rather He Himself bears witness that, He has revealed it through His knowledge, clothed with His knowledge, that is, in the state of His being Knower, such that it constitutes knowledge specifically His, neither your knowledge nor that of anyone other than you other than Him; and the angels also bear witness, because of your being mindful of the differentiated modes outside the union. Thus He is the witness through His Essence, His Names and His Attributes, and God suffices as a Witness, in other words, the Essence together with the Attributes suffice as testimony since there is no existent other than Him.

[Surely those] who disbelieve, [those] who are veiled from the Truth by virtue of their errancy being, far gone.

Surely those who disbelieve, [those] who have been veiled from religion, and who have done wrong, who have prevented their preparednesses from [realising] what is their right in terms of [realising their] perfection, by committing vices and unleashing the attributes of the soul upon their hearts, it is not for God to forgive them, because the configurations of these vices are firmly rooted in them and their preparedness has been invalidated, nor to guide them to any path, because of their composite ignorance, their corrupt belief, and their lack of knowledge of any of the paths of perfection,

except for the path of Hell, the fires of the yearnings of their souls for their pleasures while they are deprived of them; and that is, an easy matter for God, because they are by nature drawn to these [pleasures].

O people, the Messenger has come to you with the truth from your Lord, so have faith; that is better for you. But if you disbelieve, to God belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth. The allusion of the verse is that the threshold of Lordhood and the majesty of Unity has no need for the obedience of the obedient. He is pure of the worship of the creatures in heaven and earth. If all that is creation-the spheres and heavens, the existing things and the things coming to nothing- ness-went back to the concealment of nonexistence, that would not harm His purity and lordhood. There is no need for them to be joined with Him. The beauty of His Unity is His eternity, and the majesty of His eternity is His solitariness. There is a sound hadith from Abū Dharr Ghifārī, from God's Messenger, from God, that He said, “O My servants, I have forbidden Myself to do wrong, and all of it is forbidden to you. So My servants, do not wrong each other! Surely you are the ones who err by night and day, and I am the one who forgives sins and does not care. So ask forgiveness of Me, and I will forgive you. “O My servants, if the first of you and the last of you and the men of you and the jinn of you had the heart of the most godwary man among you, that would add nothing to My kingdom. O My servants, if the first of you and the last of you and the men of you and the jinn of you had the heart of the most depraved man among you, that would diminish nothing from My kingdom. O My servants, if the first of you and the last of you and the men of you and the jinn of you were to ask from Me and I were to give every man among them what he asked for, that would diminish nothing from Me, except as the ocean is diminished when a needle is dipped into it once.” But if you disbelieve, to God belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth. He is saying, “If all creatures were to put aside the activity of servants and loosen the belt of obedience, they would not be able to go outside of servanthood, nor could they lift away from themselves the bonds of slavehood in respect of creation.

O People of the Scripture, do not go to extremes in your religion: as for [the extremism of] the Jews, it is their absorption in the exoteric and the denial of the esoteric aspects [of things], and [their] demotion of Jesus from the rank of prophethood and the station of the possession of the attributes of lordliness. In the case of the Christians, it is their absorption in the esoteric aspects and their denial of the exoteric as well as the elevation of Jesus to the station of divinity; and do not say about God except the truth, by combining [belief in both] the exoteric and esoteric aspects as well as the union and the differentiation, as is the case with the Muḥammadan affirmation of Oneness and with the statement that Jesus was the locus for the manifestation of the divine attributes, drawing life from His life and calling to the station of the affirmation of descriptions; and [Jesus is] His Word, a disengaged soul, a word from among the words of God, that is, one of His spiritual realities, a spirit from among [many] spirits. So believe in God and His messengers, at the level of union and differentiation, and do not say, 'Three', by adding life and knowledge to the essence such that the divinity becomes three things and Jesus becomes a part of His life at the breathing [into Mary]; or [do not say 'Three'] by differentiating between the essence of the Truth and the world of light and the world of darkness such that Jesus becomes generated by His light; rather believe in all [as one], since He is all and hence knowledge and life constitute His very essence, as well as the world of light and that of darkness, and Jesus becomes annihilated in Him, existing by His existence, alive by His life, knowing by His knowledge, all of which constitutes His essential unity, expressed in His words: Verily, God is but One God. Glory be to Him, exalted above that there should be an existent other than Him such that it can be generated from Him, separate itself [from Him] and share in His genus by being an existent like Him; nay, He is the [only] existent in the sense that He is existence. To Him belongs all that is in the heavens, spirits, [and in] the earth, bodies, being His Names and His exoteric and esoteric aspects; [God suffices] as a Guardian, standing in for creatures in terms of their acts, their attributes and their essences upon their annihilation in the affirmation of the Oneness, as the Commander of the Believers ʿAlī [b. Abī Ṭālib], peace be upon him, said, 'There is no god except God after the annihilation of creatures'.

The Messiah would never disdain to be a servant of God, at the station of differentiation, since if one considers the union neither the Messiah nor anyone else has any existence, and so it is impossible in the first place [for him to disdain anything]. If one considers the level of differentiation, any thing that has become manifest through entification is [necessarily] contingent and a contingent thing has no existence in of itself independent of any thing other than it, and so it is a needy, lowly servant that is dependent and is not disdainful of the submissiveness entailed in servanthood, even if it should have no need of being attached to a body by virtue of pure disengagement and being sanctified from the impurities of [physical] nature, such as the nigh angels, who are the disengaged spirits and the pure lights Whoever disdains to worship Him, by the manifesting of his ego, and waxes proud, in the tyranny of manifesting himself through his attributes, He will assuredly muster them to Him, all of them, by manifesting the light of His countenance and [by] His self-disclosure in the attribute of His vanquishing power so that they might be annihilated totally in the source of the union, as He has said, To whom does sovereignty belong todayḍ To God, the One, the Vanquisher [Q. 40:16]. The Prophet said, 'God, exalted be He, has seventy thousand veils of light and darkness. If He were to remove them, the august glories of His countenance would burn up everyone whose eyesight perceived Him'.

As for those who believed, in the annihilation at the source of the union by the effacement of attributes and the obliteration of essence, and who did righteous deeds, by being upright in [their] deeds and mindful of the differentiations of [God's] attributes and their self-disclosures, He will pay them in full their wages, and their attributes from the gardens of His attributes, and He will give them more of His bounty, by means of the existence that is bestowed on the essence after annihilation, and as for them who disdain, by manifesting their ego, and are too proud, becoming tyrannical upon the self-disclosures of the [divine] attributes and their being illumined by their light by manifesting themselves in these [attributes] and ascribing them to their own souls, as with [Pharaoh] the one who said I am your most high lord! [Q. 79:24], He will chastise them with a painful chastisement, for their veiling themselves behind the remnants of their essences and attributes, depriving them of the station of union; and they shall not find, besides God, any supporter, to support them in removing the veil of the essence, or helper, to help them [successfully] remove the proof-veil of the attributes, which is the affirmation of the Oneness of essence and the clear light, that is the differentiation at the source of the union, namely, the QurÌān, which is the knowledge of the union, and the Distinguishing Criterion, which is the knowledge of the differentiation.

O people, a proof has come to you from your Lord, and We have sent down to you a clear light. The majestic Unity is placing a favor on the center point of mortal nature: “We have lit two lamps for you, one in the heart, the other in front of you. The one in front of you is the lamp of the Sun- nah, which is the proof itself, and the one in the heart is the lamp of faith and the shining light. Happy is the servant who walks between these two lamps! Who is more exalted than he in whose heart the greatest light is shining and the eyes of whose heart sees the eyes and face of the Friend face-to-face! One breath with the Friend is worth the two worlds. One vision of the Friend for a hundred thousand spirits is gratis!” In gratitude I will also send my spirit to You- a whiff of union with You does what a hundred spirits cannot.

As for those who have faith in God and hold fast to Him, He will make them enter into mercy from Him, and bounty, and He will guide them to Him on a straight path. From the servant come faith and holding fast by way of servanthood, and from the Exalted Lord bounty and mercy in the attribute of loving kindness. Then He says, “He will guide them to Him on a straight path.” He will give them the guidance and rectitude to know that the recompense they find and the generosity they see come from God's bounty and mercy, not from their faith and holding fast. As the Prophet said, “There is none of you who will be saved by his deeds.” They said, “Not even you, O Messenger of God?” He said, “Not even I-unless God envelops me with His mercy.”

They will ask you for a pronouncement. Say: 'God pronounces to you concerning indirect heirs. If a man perishes, having no children, but he has a sister, hers is half of what he leaves, and he is her heir, if she has no children. If there be two sisters, theirs are two-thirds of what he leaves; if there be siblings, men and women, then the male shall receive the equivalent of the portion of two females. God makes clear to you, lest you go astray; and God has knowledge of all things'.

O you who have faith! It is narrated that Jaʿfar ibn MuḤammad said that these words have four traits through which the Lord of the Worlds honored and caressed the community. One is that they are a call, second an intimation, third an allusion, and fourth a bearing witness. O is a call, you is an intimation, who is an allusion, and have faith is a bearing witness. The call is an honor, the intimation of mercy, the allusion to love, and the bearing witness to recognition. “He called them before He made them appear, and He named them before He saw them.” They were in the concealment of nonexistence when He called them to honor. They had not yet come into the circle of existence when He named them with a beautiful name: He named you sub- mitters from before [22:78]. He saw the faults and He approved of the faults. He saw the offenses, and He bought the offenses. He saw the pure ones of the high world, and He chose the tainted ones of the low world, for “The sinner's sobs are more beloved to Me than the glorifier's murmur.” Given the beginningless solicitude of the Unneedy Threshold toward the Adamite, his situ- ation is like that of a child whose mother sews him new clothes. She says, “Beware, beware, O child! Do not let this fancy garment get dirty!” The child goes outside and busies himself playing with the other children and dirties the clothes. He comes back home with dirty clothes, so he hides in a corner, helpless and bewildered. He keeps on saying, “Mother, I'm sleepy.” The mother knows that the child is afraid of her rebuke. “Dearest,” she says, “come. I only sent you outside after I had soap and water in hand, for I knew what you would do.” The Adamite's state is like this. When that center point of good fortune and chosen one of the empire was sent out from the concealment of nonexistence to the confines of existence, the pure spirits and holy ones began to shout, and they aimed arrows of denial at the world that God was setting forth: “Wilt Thou set therein one who will work corruption there? [2:30]. You are creating a group who will blacken the garment of Today I have perfected your religion for you [5:3] with the smoke of disobedience and the dust of associationism.

[O you who believe] do not profane God's sacraments, in the way of the stations and the states by which the state of the wayfarer in his wayfaring is known, such as patience, gratitude, trust, satisfaction and their like. In other words, do not commit the sins of the states and do not infringe the bounds of the station, for these are the sacred waymarks of God's pure religion. Just as these acknowledged places are marked out by the ritual that is performed thereat, such as the circumambulation, the pacing and the sacrifice and others, and [just as] the acknowledged acts of the pilgrimage are waymarks by which the pilgrim perceives his way, so these stations, levels and states are [also] waymarks by which the wayfarer perceives his state. And just as manifestly according to the [divine] law it is not permitted that one change the places of these [waymarks] or infringe its rules, so it is with these [spiritual waymarks] according to the law of the lovers, as is related of one of them who used to talk [at length] about [the station of] patience. When a scorpion pounced onto his leg and began to sting him, he remained as he was and did not cast it off. He was asked about this and said, 'I am ashamed to speak so much of a station then do what it is contrary to it'; nor the sacred month, meaning the moment of entering into pilgrim sanctity for the true pilgrimage, which is the moment of the wayfaring and the arrival, [profaning it] by infrining its bounds and occupying oneself with what is incompatible with it and bars him from his orientation and slows him down in his journeying; nor the offering, nor the prepared soul that is made ready for the sacrificial offering upon arrival at the courtyard of the divine presence, in the way mentioned, [profaning it] by using it for a purpose that distracts it from its path or weakens it, or by making it bear more than it has the capacity for in terms of spiritual discipline such that the person is severed [from the goal of wayfaring] before he has even reached [the desired] locus; nor the garlands, nor what the soul has garlanded itself with of the distinguishing mark of the wayfaring folk and of the [good] customary practices and outward deeds, by abandoning them or changing their condition; nor those repairing to the Sacred House, nor those purposeful seekers who are conscientious and industrious in their wayfaring, by causing them to change or preventing them from [pursuing their] spiritual discipline, or by belittling their resolve by interfering [with them] or reducing [their] ceremonious pacing, giving them the illusion that they have no need for any of that, or by distracting them with what bars them [from their spiritual purpose] or causes them to be idle, while they seek bounty from their Lord, by means of the self-disclosures of the acts, and beatitude, by means of the self-disclosures of the attributes.

Forbidden to you are carrion and blood, the flesh of swine, that which has been offered up to other than God, the strangled, the beaten down, the fallen, the gored, what has been eaten by predators-except what you slaughter-what is sacrificed on stone alters, and that which you al- lot by divining arrows-that is ungodliness. Today those who disbelieve have despaired of your religion, so fear them not, and fear Me. Today I have perfected for you your religion and I have completed My blessings upon you, and I have approved for you the submission as a religion. Although carrion is vile and forbidden, a measure of it is still allowed at the time of constraint. Among the sorts of carrion is the flesh of a brother Muslim that is eaten by backbiting. In this there is never a concession in any state, whether by constraint or free choice. Hence this carrion is worse than that carrion, and its prohibition is greater. God says, “Do not backbite one another. Would one of you love to eat the dead flesh of his brother? You would abhor it” [49:12]. It has been said that an animal whose flesh is eaten has two states: One is that, when it is killed by the stipulation of the Shariah, it is pure. Taking it is allowed and eating it is permitted. When it dies by itself, it is defiled, and eating it is forbidden. By way of allusion He is saying that when this Adamic soul is killed by the sword of struggle in the path of discipline according to the Shariah-that is, when it has been subjugated by the religion and come to be commanded by the Shariah, made a servant and abased by the burden of obedience-the soul with this description is pure. Nearness to it is allowed, being its companion is lawful, seeing it is the heart's repose, and companionship with it is the spirit's happiness. But whenever a soul dies in the darkness of its own heedlessness such that it no longer perceives the work of the religion and exerts no effort in the limits set down by the Shariah, this soul is like the carrion whose body is defiled and nearness to which is forbidden. The strangled, the beaten down, the fallen to death, the gored. Beneath each of these words is an allusion in keeping with the tasting of the chevaliers of the Tariqah and according to the creed of the wayfarers of the Haqiqah's road. The strangled is an allusion to someone who places himself in the bonds of wishes, puts the chains of avarice on his own hands and feet, and throws the rope of wanting around his neck until he is killed by avarice and appetite. It is forbidden for the wayfarers and desirers to walk on the path of someone like this or to follow someone like this. The beaten down is an allusion to someone who stays a prisoner of caprice and a captive of Satan, beaten down by the fanciful notions of his soul and the disquieting thoughts from Satan, so that his heart dies in that beating and imprisonment. He becomes the carrion of the Tariqah, and companionship with him is forbidden. The fallen to death is an allusion to someone who has fallen into the valley of dispersion and been destroyed, losing the road of the Haqiqah. The gored is an allusion to someone who quarrels with his likes and similars for the sake of this world of carrion and is gored such that his adversary wins; he becomes carrion under the blows of a carrion-eater. What has been eaten by predators is that toward which the seekers of this world turn their heads; it is carrion and its seeker is like a dog. Only dogs eat carrion. It is nothing but rotting carrion which dogs try to drag away. Then He says, “except what you slaughter.” In the outward Shariah, He is saying that whenever a Shari'ite slaughtering takes place in the forbidden things that He mentioned such that it is allowed by the Shariah, then it is allowed and eating it is permitted. So also in the road of the Tariqah, whatever may be the traveling supplies of the road of the next world and the goods of this world necessary for life, taking them and having them is permissible in the religion and seeking them is allowed. The supplies for the religion's road pertain to the road of the religion. God says, “And take along supplies, but the best of supplies is godwariness” [2:197]. What is sacrificed on stone alters. Everything that is done for the caprice of wanting and not in conformity with the Shariah is sacrificed on stone alters. Making the caprice of your soul your ob- ject of worship and going forth according to what it desires is not the work of the religious, nor is it the state of the faithful. God says, “Hast thou seen him who has taken his caprice as his god?” [25:43]. And that which you allot by divining arrows-that is ungodliness. Every transaction and companionship that does not go forth with the permission of the Shariah and in conformity with the religion, the goal being to obtain this world and what is desired by the soul, is nothing but gam- bling. Its form is deception and deceit, its result ungodliness and corruption, and its final outcome punishment and chastisement. Today I have perfected for you your religion and I have completed My blessings upon you. Jaʿfar ibn MuḤammad said that “today” is an allusion to the day when MuṣṬafā was sent to creation and the crown of messengerhood was placed on the head of his prophecy. The carpet of his Shariah was pulled around the world and the rug of mercy was spread out. The smoke of associationism was wrapped up in its own misfortune and the traces and remnants of unbelief were effaced and dissolved. From the four corners of world the sound of the drum of Muhammad the Arab's good fortune rose up: “The truth has come, and falsehood has vanished away” [17:81]. God bless the son of āmina, who brought him forth open-handed and generous. Say to those who hope for Ahmad's intercession, “Bless him and wish him great peace.” * O you whose visage is everyone's gazing place before you all have fallen in the road. O Venus of the months and moon of all, your beauty has taken away everyone's luster and rank! The night of mortal nature still did not exist when the sun of his prophethood was set firmly in place in the heaven of its loftiness, for “I was a prophet when Adam was between water and clay.” “O great one! Show your beauty, so all of existence may become a sun. O master! Open the oyster shell of mercy, so these destitute ones may fill their pockets with pearls. “Why don't you take that face to the idol-worshipers- why not display it and take the unbelief from their hearts? “O master, We will mention your innate beauty only within By thy life! [15:72].

Say: 'The good things are made lawful for you, from among the realities and the truth-derived gnoses and cognitive virtues that are actualised for you through your intellects, your hearts and your spirits; and what you have taught, of the predatory creatures of your internal and external senses and all your faculties and corporeal limbs to acquire virtues and refined dispositions, inciting [them], teaching them of what God has taught you, in the way of knowledge relating to character traits and divine prescriptions that elucidate the means by which shares are secured in an equitable manner; so eat what they have caught for you, what these [senses] have procured for you as a result of your teaching of them in the proper way, with an intention and a will that derives from the heart and a sound purpose that leads to the perfection of the individual or the species, without that these [senses] stir, bear their teeth and heave in agitation over it [the quarry] out of an inclination and a covetousness for the pursuit of their pleasures and lusts. And mention God's name over it, and be present with your hearts to [declare] that this quarry is being sought and desired for the [fulfilment of the] perfect human form and not for any other purpose. And take God as a guard for your when you do that so that it might be virtuous. Indeed, God is swift at the reckoning, for He reckons with you instantly concerning this and not over periods of time, as [can be seen] in the [sorts of] configurations that result in your souls as [soon as] you commit these [acts].

O you who have faith, when you stand for the prayer, wash your faces and your hands up to your elbows.... If you find no water, have recourse to goodly dust. Outward purity has three sections: First is purity after impurity. Second is purity after excretion and sexual activity. Third is purity from the sheddings of the body, such as nails, hair, dirt, and so on. Each of these three sections has an explanation and an explication, and these will be spoken of elsewhere, God willing. Inward purity has three duties: First, purity of the limbs from disobedience, such as back- biting, lying, eating the forbidden, betrayal, and looking at women illicitly. When this purity is gained, the servant is adorned with obedience and reverence. This is the degree of the faith of the pious. Its mark is that the remembrance of the Real is always on their tongue, the fruit of the prom- ise in their heart, the freshness of His favors in their spirit. They are always visiting the sick, going to cemeteries, hurrying to supplicate for good people, and reaching for paradise. The second duty is purity of the heart from unapproved character traits, such as self-admira- tion, envy, pride, hypocrisy, avarice, animosity, and frivolity. Self-admiration ruins the mirror of friendship, envy reduces the worth of people, pride darkens the mirror of the heart, hypocrisy dries up the wellspring of obedience, avarice puts aside respect for people, animosity blocks up the water of familiarity, and frivolity takes away the tent-pole of companionship. When the servant has be- come pure of these defilements, he is numbered among the godwary. His mark is that he flees from concessions, he does not cling to ambiguity, he is always fearful, trembling, and fleeing from hell; he is content with a morsel and a tattered cloak, he has put aside the world and the world's folk, and he has melted himself in the crucible of sorrow. Faith is his basis, godwariness his traveling sup- plies, the grave his way station, and the afterworld his goal. With all this, he constantly weeps with the tongue of pleading and says, “O God, everyone is upon something, but I don't know what I'm upon. I fear only the moment when who I am appears. O God, I am always talking and speaking. So long as You do not show Yourself I will be searching and seeking. Because of unsettledness I run in the field of incapacity. I'm in the midst of the work, but I smell no scent. O God, my mount has stood back, my feet are worn down, my fellow-travelers have gone, and nothing has increased except bewilderment.” I am bewildered in Thee, take my hand, O guide of those bewildered in Thee! The third duty is purity of the secret core from everything except the Real. God says, “Say 'God,' then leave them” [6:91]. This purity is their adornment today, for tomorrow the cup of pure wine [76:21] will be in their hand. Today the light of hope shines in their hearts, but tomorrow the light of face-to-face vision will shine in their spirits. Today in their yearning the liver's water flows from their eyes, but tomorrow contemplation's water will flow in the stream of gentle favor. Today the dawn of happiness has come up from the rising place of freedom, but tomorrow the sun of so- licitude will advance in the heaven of face-to-face seeing. The mark of this purity is that one washes away love for this world, effaces the tracks of hu- man nature, and burns the veils of dispersion, so the heart is joyful in the garden of intimacy, and the spirit is occupied with the Real in the seclusion of face-to-face vision. How well was it said by that chevalier! “At last will be a day then this drum will give forth a sound, and that Generous One will whisper in secret to the lover's spirit. What a wonderful work, what a marvelous bazaar! Here we have intimate togetherness without being the same in kind. Since there is no one of the same kind, what is this intimacy? Since there is no one like Him, what is this love? Since you have not seen Him, what is this incapacity? Since the wine is still in the grape, what is this existence? Since waiting is all tribulation, what is this happiness in the heart? Since the eye of the secret core is veiled from Him, what is this ecstasy like fire? Since this path is all trial, what is this enjoyment in the midst of trial?” Though Your ache has put me in the fire, how I will ache if Your ache ever leaves me! Wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows.

[And remember] God's grace upon you, in guiding [you] to the path of arrival, and His covenant, that is, the bonds of the resolutions made for His sake as mentioned, since you accepted these from the source of prophethood by the purity of [your] primordial nature.

that is nearer to God-fearing, that is to say, the intellect is more able to disengage from the doubts that garb the attributes of the soul and to assume the attributes of God, exalted be He, as a protective guard, as it is the noblest of excellent qualities which if actualised is followed by all [the rest]. And fear God, take Him as your guard to ensure that equity issues forth from you, for the fountainhead of perfections and excellent virtues is His Essence, exalted be He; surely God is aware of what you do, whether this issues from the attributes of your souls or from Him.

God has promised those who believe, among you, with the cognitive affirmation of Oneness, and perform righteous deeds, that help them to arrive at the entific affirmation of Oneness and prepares them for it, they shall have forgiveness, by their attributes, and a great wage, from the self-disclosures of His attributes, exalted be He.

when a people, from among the faculties and attributes of your veiled souls, purposed to extend their hands against you, by holding sway [over you], vanquishing [you] and dominating you in order to actualise their goals and pleasures, He restrained them from you by means of the methods of purifying [yourselves] and exalting [Him] which He has shown you; and fear God, and take Him as a shield by which you can vanquish this [people] and restraing them, and in God let the believers put their trust, by seeing that all acts are from Him.

[God had made] a covenant with the Children of Israel, the covenant mentioned [below]. The twelve leaders are the five external senses, the five internal ones, as well as the considerative intelligent faculty and the cognitive intelligent faculty. And God said: 'I am with you, in the subsequent bond [ensuing from the covenant], granting you assistance and help, that if you fulfil the dues in terms of self-purification and withdrawal in the way of refraining from corporeal felicities by means of devotions and abandoning the external felicities by means of renunciation and giving preference to the third, which is belief in the messengers of the intellect and in the inspirations, correct reflective thoughts, sincere thoughts coming in from the spirit, the heart, and [from] the reinforcement of the angelic realm, and by succouring these [messengers], that is, exalting them by unleashing them against the devils of estimation, reinforcing them and protecting these [messengers] from their [these devils'] whisperings and [their] casting [upon them] of illusory, imaginary and ego-centric thoughts, and lend to God a goodly loan, by acquitting yourselves totally from [claims to] the might, strength, knowledge and power that belong [only] to God in terms of the acts and attributes in their entirety, then from the Essence by means of [your] effacement, annihilation and surrender of these [acts and attributes] to God, I will absolve you of your evil deeds, that is, [of] the existences of these three, which constitute your veils and your impediments, and I will admit you to gardens, of My acts, My attributes and My essence, underneath which rivers flow, [these rivers being] the forms of knowledge relating to trust [in God], satisfaction, surrender, and the affirmation of the Oneness, which as a whole constitute the knowledge of the self-disclosures of the acts, the attributes and the Essence. Thus whoever remains veiled after this covenant and [after] the sending forth of leaders from among you, surely he has strayed, from the way that is made straight by the truth.

[So because of their breaking their covenant, We cursed them and made their hearts] hard: these [hearts] hardened as a result of the soul's attributes holding sway over them and because of their inclination towards solid and hardened earthly affairs, and so they have become veiled from the lights of the angelic realm and the realm of the divine attributes, which constitute the words of God; they exchanged the faculties of their souls for these [affairs] and implemented their illusions and imaginations instead of their gnoses and realities in the way of intelligible concepts, or they mixed them together, which is [what is meant by] the distortion of words from their contexts; and they have forgotten a share, that is, a substantial portion of what they were given in a former covenant in terms of the latent perfections within their preparedness [that reside therein] in potentiality and they were therefore reminded of this [share] in the subsequent covenant; and you will never cease to discover some treachery on their part, that is, some infraction of the covenant or the withholding of some trust because of the sway acquired over them by the attributes of the soul and by Satan and because of the hardness of their hearts [except for a few of them. Yet pardon them, and forgive; surely God loves] the virtuous, who witness such folk as they endure God's trial but do not counter them with requital; rather they treat them with forgiveness and pardon.

So We have stirred up among them enmity and hatred, that is to say, We have forced this upon them because of the mutually opposed exigencies of their predatorial, bestial and satanic faculties and [because of] their inclining towards the lower aspect, that which necessarily entails contrareity and mutual resistance by virtue of their veiledness from the light of the affirmation of the Oneness and their distance from the world of Holiness wherein lie purposes in their entirety entailing neither mutual attraction nor mutual resistance, until the moment of their rising by the manifestation of the light of the spirit and the major resurrection by the manifestation of the light of the affirmation of the Oneness; and God will assuredly inform them, of the punishment for what they have wrought at the point of death and the manifestation of privation and loss at the manifestation of the despicable and hurtful configurations deeply rooted in them.

They indeed are disbelievers those who say, 'God is the Messiah, by confining divinity to him and restricting the Deity by entifying Him; [if He desires] to destroy the Messiah, son of Mary, to where He says, all togetherḍ', by annihilating them in the affirmation of the Oneness and obliterating them in other than the union, as He has said Everything will perish except His countenance [Q. 28:88]ḍ And to God belongs the kingdom of the heavens, that is, the world of the spirits, and the earth, the world of bodies, and all that is between them, of forms and accidents, the manifest and the hidden in their entirety, as well as His names, His attributes and His acts.

[O my people] enter the Holy Land, that is, [into] the presence of the heart, which is the self-disclosure of the attributes, for in relation to the heaven of the spirit it [the heart] is the earth, which God has ordained for you, [which] He has specified for you in a preceding decree, having deposited in your preparedness [the means to achieve] the arrival to it and the stationing [of yourselves] therein, and do not turn back in flight, by inclining to the city of the body and pursuing it by seeking to actualise its [the body's] desires and pleasures, seeking to satisfy it and to adorn its configurations, for it [the body] constitutes a station that is anterior to your station and baser and inferior to your level, or you will end up as losers, in exchanging the lights of the heart for the darknesses of the body, and the goodly aspects of the former for the vile aspects of the latter.

[They said, 'O Moses] there are a tyrant people in it, in the way of the sultan of estimation and the princes of caprice, wrath, lust and all the other pharaonic attributes of the soul which they have seized by force and by subjugation and they have mastery over them, dominating them and compelling all to [follow] their whims; we have no strength against them and are unable to resist them. They said that because they had become habituated to physical pleasures and carnal appetites and because of their being overcome by caprice. Thus they were unable to pursue spiritual disciplining, or to curb desire, or to curtail the attributes of the soul through spiritual struggle; we will never enter it until they depart from it, that is, [until] God should turn them out of it withouth any spiritual discipline or struggle on our part, or [until] they depart out of [their own] nature, despite the impossibility of this, or [until] their sway be weakened as is the case with [the advent of] old age, despite the fact that they would not be able to enter it then.

There said two men of those who feared: the two were from among the twelver leaders - and they were the considerative intellect and the cognitive intellect, who feared the evil sequel of contiguity with the body and the evil consequence of being punished with its dark configurations - to whom God had been gracious, by guiding them to the straight path and the upright religion: 'Enter against them by the gate!, the gate of the village of the heart, which is trust through the self-disclosures of the acts, just as the gate of the village of the spirit is satisfaction. For if, you enter by the station of trust which is the gate of the village, you will be victorious, by having departed from your acts and your states and by being agents through God. For if might and strength are [procured] through God, the Satan of estimation and imagination as well as caprice and wrath shall flee from you and you shall be made victorious. That the gate is trust is indicated by His words: Put your trust in God, if you are, truly, believers, for faith when it is absent to the one adhering to it is the least of the degrees of presence at the self-disclosures of the acts.

They said, 'O Moses, that is, they persisted in their refusal and their refraining from entry. So go forth, you and your Lord, and fight, that is to say, if you are [truly] a prophet then drive them away by the power of your soul and curb the caprice and those faculties in us without any spiritual discipline or struggle on our part, and ask your Lord to drive them away from us, as shrewd scoundrels [are given to] say when you admonish them, rebuke them and threaten them, 'Why don't you rid us of this wretchedness by your own resolve!', either in mockery and out of obduracy, or earnestly and out of conviction; we will be sitting here, we will adhere to our place at the station of the soul, cleaving to the whims of our souls and the pleasures of our bodies, as they said, 'Ḥiṭtan samqāthā!'

He said: 'Then it shall be forbidden them for forty years; they shall wander lost in the land: this constitutes the duration of their subsisting at the station of the soul. In other words, they remained in the wilderness of nature wandering perplexed for forty years [searching] for the village of the heart. For entry into the station of the heart when it is under the mastery of the tyrannical attributes of the soul is forbidden and prohibited. That is why He says [elsewhere] until when he is attained maturity and has attained forty years [Q. 46:15], for that is the moment of true maturity. It is related of this story of the wandering in the wilderness that they would journey earnestly all day the distance of six parasangs, but when it came to evening they found that they were still at the same station from which they had departed [earlier]. In other words, their endeavour was focused on the actualisation of carnal satisfactions and corporeal desires, which were confined to the six aspects and did not depart from these [six] aspects by disengaging. Thus they were [still] at the first station because they failed to orient themselves towards the azimuth of the heart by seeking disengagement and rising above corporeal configurations and ego-centric attributes. At night a column of fire would descend from the heaven by whose light they could journey and benefit; that is to say, there would descend upon them the light of the intellect of livelihood from the heaven of the spirit and they would be guided thereby to their welfare. It is described as being 'of fire' because it is an intellect that is blemished by illusion and not a pure intellect, for otherwise they would have been guided thereby to the path of the heart. As for the clouds, the manna and the quails, these have already been mentioned along with their interpretation. It is said that every child born in the wilderness had a shirt that was the length of his body and would grow as the child grew; by this they meant the garb of the body, but God knows best. If you wish to effect the correspondence between this story and your state, then you should interpret Moses as the heart and Aaron as the spirit, since he was his elder brother, which is why he said he is more eloquent than me in speech [Q.

And recite to them the story of the two sons of Adam, [Adam] of the heart, of the two who are Abel of the heart and Cain of estimation. Each of them had a twin. As for the twin of the intellect, this is the cognitive intelligence (āqila ʿilmiyya) that manages the affairs relating to livelihood and the final return by means of beneficial opinions that require righteous deeds and excellent characters traits which are able to infer all types of handiwork and rules of governance. As for the twin of the estimative faculty, this is the imaginal faculty that has free disposal of objects of sensory perception and particular meanings for the purpose of actualising satanic opinions. Thus the Adam of the heart commanded that the estimative faculty be married to the twin of the intellect, namely, the cognitive intelligence so that it might acquire mastery over it by means of rational proof-based analogies and that it might train it by means of obedience-inducing forms of spiritual disciplining and spiritual manipulation, making it subject to the intellect so that it might become obedient to the father-heart, be kind to him and be dutiful towards him and designate him in righteous deeds and refrain from being disobedient to him through corrupt satanic enticements and embellishments and by tempting the soul to these through wicked configurations and evil deeds. As for the marrying of the intellect the twin of estimation, that is in order to make it righteous and to prevent it from lusting after corrupt imaginations and from the goading of the mendacious conversations of the soul so that its father [the heart] might find rest from it and exercise it in intelligible and sensory objects as well as universal and particular meanings so that it then becomes a reflective entity that works to actualise forms of knowledge and its father thereby profits. The Cain of estimation was envious of the Abel of the intellect since his [Abel's] twin was more beautiful to him [Abel] and more beloved [to him] on account of its correspondence to him. Their father the heart commanded that each of them offer a sacrifice, a ritual slaughter, with which to draw nearer to God by means of the effusion of the result [of the sacrifice] and the annihilation of the analogous form and the acceptance of the universal intelligible form [of the sacrifice] that corresponds to the very thing that is his ritual sacrifice by which he seeks nearness to God.

'I will not extend my hand against you to slay you, because I shall not invalidate your deeds, which in their contexts are intense, in the way of objects of sensory perception; nor shall I sever from you your life which is the sustenance of the soul and of desire; nor shall I prevent you from any act that is specific to you, for the intellect knows that the particular benefits, the rules governing sensory objects and the particular meanings attached to these and the hierarchic arrangement of the means to livelihood are not actualised or facilitated except by means of estimation. Were it not for hope and the actualisation of wishes and aspirations produced by the estimation, no one would have any means of acquiring a livelihood. I fear God, the Lord of the Worlds, because I know Him - He says Indeed only those of God's servants who have knowledge [truly] fear Him [Q. 35:28] - and I know that He created you for a purpose and brought you into existence for a wisdom and so I do not [suppose to] interfere with His purpose in that.

I desire that you should end up with my sin, the sin of slaying me and the sin of your slaying in the way of false opinions and corrupt conceptualisations because of which your sacrifical offering was not accepted, and so become an inhabitant of the Fire, of veiledness and privation. That is the requital of the evildoers, of those who place things in other than their contexts such as your application of the rules governing sensory things in the context of intelligible things.

Then his soul prompted, facilitated and enticed, him to slay his brother, so he slew him, by preventing him from his specific acts and veiling him from the light of guidance, and became one of the losers, because of his suffering harm by his assumption of mastery over the intellect and exchanging the guidance and rightness of the intellect for his own misguidance and wrongness. For when estimation suffers the severing of the support of the intellect, it prompts the soul by all manner of temptations and [seductive] embellishments to indulge in things by which both the soul and the body suffer harm, such as those reprehensible acts of immoderation in the way of bestial and predatorial pleasures such as extreme covetousness in the pursuit of wealth and repute and excess, and therefore estimation is weakened or even invalidated.

Then God sent forth, the raven of covetousness, scratching into, the earth of the soul, to show him how he might hide the nakedness of his brother, meaning, estimation, because by its severing of the intellect from the light of guidance and its veiling of it from the journeying in the upper world to actualise perfection and to pursue the felicity of the end, becomes perplexed regarding itself, whereupon covetousness was sent forth and guided it in the wilderness of misguidance and showed it how to hide and bury its nakedness, that is, its slain corpse which estimation bore upon its shoulders until it had putrified. Thus the intellect of livelihood ended up under the soil of the earth, which is the form of the intellect that has been severed from the life of the spirit, blemished by estimation and caprice, veiled from its world in the darknesses of the earth of the soul, within which it lies buried as it is being consumed by the worms of the natural faculties which use it in order to actualise their pleasures and goals. He said, 'Woe to me! Am I not able to be as this raven, which has buried its youngling, that is, its herald or its perfection, in the earth of the soul by annihilating what can be actualised for it and suppressing it therein, and so hide my brother's nakednessḍ', by concealing it in the darkness of the soul and thus profit from it. And he became one of the remorseful, upon this loss and the resulting privation;

it shall be as if he had slain mankind altogether, because every individual [human] entails what is entailed by every individual of that species, for a species subsists in the one as it subsists in all outwardly and number has no bearing in this respect, for a species is not augmented in reality by the number of its individuals nor is it diminished by its being restricted to the one.

O you who have faith! Be wary of God, and seek the means of approach to Him. And struggle in His path. Perhaps you will prosper. Here you have a call of generosity, here you have an address with gentleness, and here you have an arrangement to be applauded, sweet to the hearts. It is a cause of familiarity and an aid to clarity. It makes one secure from distance and permits response. He is saying, “O you who are the faith- ful. You have heard the message, bowed your heads, and approved of the intermediary. Be wary of God. Fear God, avoid His anger, and think about Him, for everything is from Him. Say: All is from God [4:78]. Who in the world is like Him in loving kindness and servant-caressing? The hope of the disobedient is in Him, the remedy for trials is with Him. No one has pride save in His name, no one has ease save through His mark. There is no deliverance and joining without His guidance and kind favor.” This is why He says, “Seek the means of approach to Him.” This is the means of nearness, and nearness is the cause of joining and deliverance. The means of approach is the intermediaries that mark the friendship between the servant and the Patron. The cause of the conjunction between the two is obvious. From what come union and conjunction? Revering the commands, respecting the prohibitions, tenderness towards people, serving the Real, striving in the various supererogatory acts, and building up the spirit and heart. Striving in the various supererogatory acts can be done with three things: first, remembering the gaze of God; second, keeping one's days away from damage; and third, recognizing one's pov- erty at the halting place of exposure. When you remember God's gaze, you are one of the godwary. When you keep your days away from damage, you are one of the worshipers. When you recognize your poverty at the halting place of exposure, you are one of the humble. One can build up the heart with three things: listening to knowledge, mixing little with people, and curtailing wishes. As long as you are listening to knowledge, you are in the circle of the an- gels. As long as you are apart from the people, you are counted among the sinless.

[Truly, as for the disbelievers, if they possessed] all that is in the earth, that is, what is contained in the lower aspect, as these are the causes for the increase of the veil and [of] distance, and the only success can be found in the upper aspect in the way of gnoses and luminous realities.

For every one of you We have appointed an avenue and a method.... So vie in good deeds. The avenue is the Shariah, and the method is the Haqiqah. The avenue is the customs of the Sha- riah and the method is the road toward the Real. The avenue is what MuṣṬafā brought, and the method is a lamp that the Real holds next to the heart. The avenue is following the Shariah, and the method is finding access to the light of that lamp. The avenue is the message that you heard from the Messenger, and the method is the light that you find in the secret core. The Shariah belongs to everyone, and the Haqiqah belongs to some rather than others. So vie in good deeds. The vying of the renouncers is through rejecting this world, the vying of the worshipers is through cutting off caprice, the vying of the recognizers is through negating wishes, and the vying of the tawḤīd-voicers is through abandoning people and forgetting both this world and the afterworld.

[God desires to smite them] for some of their sins, the sins of the Jews are the veilings of the acts, while the sins of the Christians are the veilings of the attributes. Thus the wickedness of the Jews is the infringement of the rules governing the self-disclosures of the divine acts by the soul's inspection of its own acts, while the wickedness of the Christians is the infringement of the rules governing the self-disclosures of the attributes of the Truth by the soul's inspection of its own attributes and its being veiled thereby. The wickedness of the Muḥammadans is their turning of their attention to their essences and infringing the rules governing the unity of the Essence.

Do they desire the judgement of paganismḍ, meaning that what they desire by their ignorance is but a judgement issuing from the station of the soul and not issuing from divine knowledge.

O you who have faith, take not the Jews and Christians as friends. They are friends of each other. Whoso of you takes them as a friend is one of them. Surely God does not guide the wrongdoers. The majestic compeller, the great Lord, the knower to perfection, the exalted Possessor of Maj- esty, calls to His servants with a call of generosity. By way of gentleness He caresses them and in the attribute of clemency and mercy He turns the faces of their hearts away from others toward Himself. He is saying, “Do not take the stranger as friend, and do not approve of the enemy for your companionship. When you take a friend and take a companion, approve of him for the sake of God. Take the friend in God's work and approve of the companion in God's religion. When you seek the realities of faith, seek them from friendship with God's friends and enmity with the enemies of the religion.” MuṣṬafā said, “The firmest handle of faith is love in God and hate in God.” The enemies of the religion whose enmity is obligatory are first Satan, and second the com- manding soul. The soul is harder than Satan, for Satan does not go after the faith of the faithful, but rather their disobedience. The soul, however, pulls him to unbelief and wants his unbelief. Satan flees from [the formula] “There is no power and no strength but in God,” but the soul does not flee. Joseph the sincerely truthful suffered many trials-he was thrown into the well, sold into slav- ery, and remained in prison for years-but he never lamented the way he did at the commanding soul: “Surely the soul commands to ugliness” [12:53]. MuṣṬafā said, “Your worst enemy is the soul between your two sides.”

O you who have faith, if any of you turn back on your religion, God will bring a people whom He loves, and who love Him. This verse contains an allusion for the knowers and good news for the faithful. The allusion is that God is the guardian and defender of the creed of submission, the unswerving religion, the Muhammadan Shariah, and that it will always remain. What will this religion lose if some people turn away? If some people turn back, the Lord of Mightiness will bring others who embrace this religion with spirit and heart and nurture it joyfully. With them God will preserve the signposts of His commands and the foundations of His prohibitions. With their places He will decorate the carpet of the Shariah. Upon them He has inscribed the letters of love, for He says, “whom He loves, and who love Him.” Upon the page of their hearts He has written with the divine script: He wrote faith in their hearts [58:22]. He has illuminated their inmost eye with the lamp of recognition: So he is upon a light from his Lord [39:22]. The Divinity is their nurturer, the lap of prophethood their cradle, beginninglessness and endlessless their warders, the playing field of gentleness the lodge of their gaze, and the carpet of awe the resting place of their aspiration. This is just what God says in another place: “So if they disbelieve, we have already entrusted it to a people who do not disbe- lieve” [6:89]. The Prophet said, “A group among my people will never cease supporting the Real. None who oppose them will harm them, and then God's command will come.” The good news is that whoever does not turn back is counted among the friends, the folk of love and faith. Those who do not fall into the abyss of turning back have the good news that the name of love will fall upon them. God says, “If any of you turn back on your religion, God will bring a people whom He loves, and who love Him.” First He affirms His love, then the servants' love. Thus you know that so long as God does not love the servant, the servant will not love. WāsiṬī said, “Gehenna was nullified when He mentioned His love for them with His words, 'Whom He loves, and who love Him. ' What do defective attributes have to do with beginningless and endless attributes?” Ibn ʿAṬāÌ was asked what love is. He said, “Branches that grow in the heart and give fruit in the measure of intellect.” The Pir of the Tariqah said, “The sign of finding friendship's response is approval, the water of friendship increases through loyalty, the basis of friendship's treasure is light, the fruit of friend- ship's tree is joy. Whoever fails to keep away from the two worlds is excused from friendship. Whoever seeks from the Friend something other than the Friend is ungrateful. Friendship is friend- ship for God, all the rest disquiet.” Whom He loves, and who love Him. A great work and a magnificent bazaar rose up in water and clay and became the kiblah of the Real's friendship and the target of union's arrow. How could the traveler not be delighted that friendship is the nearest way station to the Protector? The tree that produces only the fruit of joy is friendship, the soil that grows nothing but the flowers of intimacy is friendship, the cloud that rains nothing but light is friendship, the drink whose poison turns into honey is friendship, the road whose dust is musk and ambergris is friendship. Friendship's inscrip- tion is beginningless, and friendship's burning brand endless. When the Friend's friendship is my habit and disposition, I am all from the Friend, and all of me is the Friend. Behold how long friendship's good fortune lasts! Listen how fitting is the tale of the friends! The field of friendship is a vast heart, and the kingdom of paradise is one branch of friendship's tree. He who drinks friendship's wine is promised vision. Whoever is truthful will one day reach his desire. God revealed to David, “O David, he who seeks Me will in truth find Me, but how can those who seek others find Me? “O David, tell the people of the earth, 'Turn toward companionship and intimacy with Me! Become intimate with My remembrance! Then I will be your heart's intimate.' “I have created the clay of my friends from the clay of My bosom friend Abraham, from the clay of My speaking companion Moses, and from the clay of My beloved MuḤammad. “O David, I have created the hearts of those who yearn for Me from My light and nurtured them with My majesty.

Your friend is only God, and His Messenger. Abū Saʿīd Kharrāz said, " When God desires to take one of His servants as a friend, He opens for him the door to His remembrance. When he takes pleasure in the remembrance, He opens for him the door to proximity. Then He lifts him up to the sitting place of intimacy. Then He seats him on the throne of tawḤīd. Then He lifts the veils from him, puts him into the abode of solitariness, and unveils majesty and tremendousness to him. When his eyesight falls on majesty and tremendous- ness, he remains without himself. At this point he becomes a servant in annihilation, so he falls under His protection and is rid of the claims of his soul. " Abū Saʿīd is saying, " When God wants to choose a servant and make him His friend among His servants, the first caress that He places upon him is to keep him in His remembrance such that he turns away from his own work toward the Real's work and turns away from remember- ing himself to remembering the Real. He comes forth from love for himself to love for the Real. Once he is at rest in remembering and loving the Real, He brings him near to Himself. The mark of nearness is the sweetness of obedience, dislike of disobedience, retiring from the people, and pleasure in seclusion. Then He sits him in the sitting place of seclusion, on the carpet of inti- macy, on the throne of tawḤīd, free of creatures, happy with the Real, unsettled in passion, the veils lifted, brought into the playing field of solitariness, with majesty and tremendousness un- veiled. He is a stranger to himself, one with the Real, consumed within himself, having reached the Patron. " He keeps on saying, " With reports I went forth seeking certainty, fear my resource, hope my companion. The goal was hidden from me and I was striving in the religion. All at once the lightning of self-disclosure flashed from ambush. With thought they see days like that, with the Friend like this. " Listen with your spirit to these words spoken beautifully by the Pir of the Tariqah: " O most generous supervisor! O most merciful Fount of Bounty! O veiled by majesty and disclosed by generosity, apportioner before Tablet and Pen, displayer of the celebration of guidance after a thousand misfortunes! May I be delivered one day from the bother of Eve and Adam and be freed from the bonds of existence and nonexistence! May I remove this remorse and regret from my heart and take ease with the Beloved for a breath, the cup of happiness in hand again and again in the sitting place of intimacy! " How long talk of Adam's attributes and creation? How long debate about the world's time and eternity? How long ambushing the servants, how long not disowning the world and Adam?

Whoever affiliates with God and His Messenger and the believers, he is of the folk of God and verily the folk of God, they shall have the victory, of God.

And you see many of them vying, that is, indulging in all manner of vices in earnest because of their habituation to them and their having been trained in them, and because they constitute natural traits of their souls. Sin is the vice of the rational-speech faculty because it is mendacity; enmity is the vice of the concupiscent faculty

But had the People of the Scripture believed, [with] the faith of the true affirmation of the Oneness, and feared, and guarded against the idolatrous association of their acts, their attributes and their essences, We would have absolved them of their evil deeds, from among their remnants, and We would admitted them to, the three gardens.

And had they observed the Torah, by ascertaining the exoteric aspects of knowledge [therein] and fulfilling the duties arising from the self-disclosures of the acts and observing their rules in transactions, and the Gospel, by ascertaining the esoteric signs and fulfilling the duties arising from the self-disclosures of the attributes and observing their rules, and, consolidated, what was revealed to them, of the knowledge of the origin and the final return as well as the affirmation of the unity of the kingdom and the spiritual realm of the world of lordship, which is the world of the [divine] Names, they would surely have received nourishment from above them, that is, they would surely have been provided from the higher spiritual world with divine forms of knowledge, rational realities of certainty and the gnoses of the Truth by which they are guided to knowledge of God and to knowledge of the angelic spiritual realm and the realm of divine power, and from beneath their feet, that is, [they would have also been provided] from the lower corporeal world with knowledge of the natural [physical] world and of sensory objects of perception by which they are guided to knowledge of the world of the kingdom and would come to know God by His exoteric and esoteric name, nay, by all of the names and attributes and would arrive at the station of the two mentioned affirmations of unity. Some of them are a just community, equitable, having arrived at the affirmation of the unity of the names and attributes, but many of them, have not arrived at the affirmation of the unity of the acts yet, let alone the affirmation of the unity of the attributes and thus their deeds are evil since they arise from the attributes of their souls, this being their densest veil.

[And We made a covenant with the Children of Israel] and We sent messengers to them, in accordance with their [spiritual] levels. Thus when they were veiled from all aspects, We sent [them] Moses to remove the veil of the acts and to call [them] to proclaim the unity of the kingdom but their souls did not desire it, because his call was opposed to their caprices greedy as these are in their acts and because of their vaunting of these [acts of theirs] and of their pleasures and lusts. Thus they denied him and took to worshipping the calf of the soul and transgressed in the Sabbath and did what they did, until when he who would believe in him believed in him and emerged from the veil of the acts, but supposed that this was absolute perfection [that he had attained]. So We then sent Jesus to remove the veil of the attributes and to call to the esoteric and to the proclamation of the unity of the spiritual realm, but their souls did not desire it, because his call was opposed to their caprices supposing [to have attained] perfection. Thus they denied him and they did what they did until he who would believe in him believed and emerged from the veil of the attributes, but remained in that state supposing that his soul had attained absolute perfection. Then We sent Muḥammad to remove the veil of the attributes and to call to the proclamation of the unity of the Essence, but their souls did not desire it and they denied him,

and they thought there would be no trial, [no] idolatrous association upon the affirmation of the unity of the acts and the manifestation of the call of Jesus, and so they were wilfully blind, to the self-disclosures of the vision of the attributes, and deaf, to hearing the knowledge thereof. Then God relented to them, by opening up the audition-channels of their hearts and their eyes, and they repented and so He accepted their repentance; then they were wilfully blind and deaf, during the call of Muḥammad to the witnessing of the Abiding Face and to hearing the knowledge of the affirmation of the unity of the absolute union; and God sees what they do, at all three stations, including [their] rejection of the calls, [their] denial of the prophets and so He will requite them in accordance with their state.

[For the Messiah said, 'O Children of Israel] worship God, my Lord and your Lord, that is to say, make your acts of worship specific to the Essence that is qualified by all of the attributes and names, that which constitutes absolute existence. Do not designate Him with any one name or attribute, for His Lordship is equally related to all [of these names and attributes]. Whoever restricts His divinity to any one form and specificies it by a particular name, word or attribute, has verily affirmed the existence of some other than Him, by the necessity of names, forms and attributes existing besides Him, and whoever affirms other than Him, has verily committed an idolatrous act of association with Him, and whoever has committed an idolatrous act of association with Him, to him God has made forbidden, the garden of the witnessing of Him through His essence, His attributes and His acts, namely, the absolute all-encompassing garden, in other words He has veiled him in an absolute way; and his abode shall be, the Fire of privation on account of the injustice which he committed by his act of idolatrous association, and for wrongdoers there shall be no helpers, to help them and save them from the chastisement.

They have indeed disbelieved, [they have indeed] been veiled, those who say, 'God is the third of three', [that He is] one thing comprising three things: the act, the exoteric aspect of the world of the kingdom; the attribute, which is the esoteric aspect of the world of the spiritual realm; and the essence, in which the attribute subsists and from which the act issues. But He is not that 'one' they have imagined. Rather the act and the attribute are in reality the essence itself and there is no distinction [between them] except in relative terms. God is but the absolute One, for otherwise there would be a god for every one of His names and there would be a plurality of deities, glorified and exalted be He greatly above what the evildoers claim. If they do not desist from what they say, of the attribute and the act being other than the essence, those [of them] who are veiled, shall suffer a chastisement, that is painful because of their falling short in their knowledge of God despite their possessing the preparedness [for it].

Will they not turn in repentance to God, by falling back from their affirmation of a plurality in God to the absolute source of the union and seek His forgiveness for the sin of inspecting their existence and the existence of others besides them; God is Forgiving, shielding them with His essence, Merciful, to them by [bestowing upon them] perfected knowledge [of Him] and affirmation of the Oneness.

[Say: 'Do you worship besides God] what cannot hurt or profit youḍ, since that [which they worship besides Him] possesses no agency by which to hurt or profit, nay possessing no existence quite besides agency. He says what besides God [cannot hurt or profit you], even though Jesus is what is meant, in order to point out that he [Jesus] can be considered as a thing [besides God] insofar as he is an entity, though he has no [independent] existence in reality.

[Say: 'O People of the Scripture] � [do not follow the whims of a people] who went astray formerly, by becoming veiled to the lights of the attributes, and have led many astray, and strayed, now, from the even way', the path of the [inclusive] unity of the essence, which is to be upright before God.

You will truly find, to the end [of the verse]. Friendship and enmity are [to be understood] in terms of correspondence and oppositeness. Whenever someone affiliates with another that is an indication of an interconnecting factor of genus between them, and whenever he displays enmity towards another that is an indication of discrepancy and contrareity between them. Since the Jews were veiled from the essence and the attributes and only engaged in the affirmation of the unity of the acts, their correspondence to the idolaters who are veiled absolutely was stronger than their correspondence to the believers who are affirmers of unity absolutely. As for the Christians, because when they emerged from the veil of the attributes they affiliated only to the veil of the essence, their correspondence to the believers was stronger, which is why they are nearer in love of them than others, while the idolaters and the Jews are the most hostile because of the intensity of their veiledness. Do you not see how He has explained the reason for their nearness in terms of their knowledge and worship [of God] and their lack of disdain. For worship leads to the garden of the acts in which they become disengaged from the acts of their souls, doing what God commands [of them]; and knowledge leads to the garden of the attributes, [knowledge] by which they are exalted above the garden of the souls and [by which] they arrive at the station of the heart which is the locus for the [divine] unveiling. [Their] reception of divine knowledge and their lack of disdain are indications that they do not see their souls as qualified by the attributes of worship and knowledge; nor do they ascribe their acts and knowledge to them [their souls], rather to God, since otherwise they would be disdainful and would manifest pride;

And when they hear what has been sent down to the Messenger, thou seest their eyes over- flow with tears because of the truth they recognize. They say, “Our Lord, we have faith, so write us down among the witnesses.” This verse alludes to the fact that faith is to be heard, seen, recognized, spoken, and done. They hear is evidence that it is to be heard. Thou seest their eyes overflow with tears is evidence that it is to be seen. Because of the truth they recognize is evidence that it is to be recognized. They say is evidence that it is to be spoken. Then, at the end of the verse, He says “That is the recompense of the beautiful-doers” [5:85]. Beautiful-doers is evidence that its deeds are to be done. He began with hearing because first there is hearing. The servant hears the truth, it makes him happy, he accepts it, he comes into work, and he acts upon it. The Lord of the Worlds is pleased with the group in whom all these traits are found. It has been said that three things are the marks of recognition, and that this group has all three to perfection: weeping, supplication, and approval-weeping for disloyalty, supplication for be- stowal, and approval of the decree. Anyone who claims to have recognition and does not have these traits is not truthful in his claim, is not counted among the recognizers, and has no standing among the chevaliers and the religious. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “Recognition is two: the recognition of the common people and the recognition of the elect. The recognition of the common people is by hearsay, and the recogni- tion of the elect is by face-to-face vision. The recognition of the common people comes from the source of munificence, but the recognition of the elect comes from what they find.” Concerning the recognition of the common people He says, “When they hear what has been sent down to the Messenger.” Concerning the recognition of the elect He says, “He will show you His signs, and you will recognize them” [27:93]. When they hear is praise of the folk of the Shariah, and He shall show you His signs is a felici- tation for the folk of the Haqiqah. When someone speaks of the Shariah and turns his back in any respect, he becomes a heretic. When someone speaks of the Haqiqah and looks at himself in any respect, he becomes an associater.

And why should we not believe, in His essence with a true faith and in what has come to us of His words, or not believe in God as all-comprehensive, and what has come to us of the truth, in differentiated mode; [and hope that our Lord should admit us] with the righteous peopleḍ', who have remained upright in the subsistence after [experiencing],

Gardens underneath which rivers flow, in the way of the three self-disclosures together with the knowledge of these [three]: that is the requital of those who are virtuous, who witness the unity at the source of multiplicity by their uprightness before God.

But those who, have been veiled from the essence and, disbelieve, in the signs of the attributes - they are the people, of total privation in the Hell-fire of the attributes of the soul.

O you who believe, with a cognitive knowledge, do not forbid the good things that God has made lawful for you, of the unveilings of states and the self-disclosures of the attributes by falling short of your wayfaring, and do not transgress, by the insolence of the soul and the manifesting of itself through its attributes. Rather make God your shield for actualising those perfections by seeing them from Him and for His sake, not from you or for your sake, lest you then become insolent, if you are [truly] affirmers of [His] Oneness.

God will not take you to task for idle talk in your oaths, but He will take you to task for the oaths you have bound. The expiation thereof is the feeding of ten indigent people with what you usually feed your own family, or clothing them, or freeing a slave. When overpowered by ecstasy the chevaliers of the Tariqah sometimes swear oaths renewing the covenant and affirming the compact. They say things like, “By your rightful due, I will not gaze at other than You, I will not speak to other than You, and I will not leave Your covenant!” By virtue of tawḤīd these oaths are idle talk and negligence in the witnessing of Unity. How can it be the servant's place to give himself worth, to fancy that he is someone, or to consider his own words to have such status that he can swear an oath to Him? Rather, what is fitting for the servant is to welcome His rulings with beautiful approval. Whether He summons or drives away, he should not protest and not turn away. He should not speak of the realities of union and separation. He should take what He gives, and accept what comes. He should know that in reality it is He who is lovingly kind to perfection and it is He who determines and governs in every state. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O closer to us than ourselves, O more lovingly kind to us than ourselves, O caresser of us without us by Your generosity-not because of our worthiness, not because of our works. The burden is beyond our capacity, the practice not proper to us, the favor not within our ability. Whatever we have done has damaged us, whatever You have done subsists for us. Whatever You have done in our place You have done by Yourself, not for our sake.” Expiation in the Shariah is well-known to the folk of knowledge-freeing slaves, feeding people, and clothing them. So also, in the tongue of allusion, expiation in the Tariqah is of three sorts: expending the spirit by virtue of ecstasy, expending the heart in the soundness of intention, and expending the soul by constant effort. If you are not able to do this, then abstain and fast from prohibited and blamable things.

O you who have faith! Wine, arrow-shuffling, idols, and divining arrows are a filth and of the deeds of Satan. The Prophet said, “Wine is the gatherer of sin and the mother of loathsome things”: Wine is the root of loathsome things and the key to great sins, the basis of misdeeds, the seed of misguided acts, and the source of discord. It dries up the springhead of obedience, holds back the water of remembrance, and opens the door to heedlessness. The soul becomes drunk from wine and is held back from the prayer. The heart becomes drunk from heedlessness and is held back from secret whispering. The Pir of the Tariqah spoke to these heedless people in the tongue of admonition: “O drunk- ards full of appetite! O sleepers in heedlessness! Have shame before that Lord who knows the treachery of the eyes and sees the inside of the hearts! He knows the treachery of the eyes and what the breasts conceal [40:19]. Oh, where is a whip like that of ʿUmar or a sword like that of ʿAlī to give these discourteous drunkards the Shari'ite punishment in the world of justice and to get these sleeping, heedless people to move! Does the poor wretch who drinks wine not know that when he puts the cup in his hand, the Throne and the Footstool tremble? From the Exalted Presence comes the call, 'By My exaltation and majesty, I will give them to taste of My chastisement in boiling water and Zaqqūm!'” Arrow-shuffling is gambling. When someone plays everything and loses all in a gambling house, he is considered great and recognized as a preceder. This is an allusion to the path of the chevaliers: They throw themselves down on the highway of predetermination so as to become abased before every piece of straw and to come out from the bonds of every color, counting them- selves as nothing. As long as you stay in bond to color, nature, the spheres, and the stars, how can you be allowed to say, “Speak like a Qalandar”? [DS 972]

And obey God, by being annihilated in Him so that you become compliant in what He uses you for, as [compliant as] one who is dead; and obey the Messenger, by subsisting after the annihilation so that you become upright therein, mindful of the differentiations, alive through his life; and beware, of the manifestation of [your untransformed] remnants at the point of uprightness; but if you turn away, then know, that the shortcoming is yours and the Messenger's duty is only to proclaim openly [the message] and not to commit [you to it].

There shall be, upon those who believe, with faith based on the unseen by the affirmation of the unity of the acts, and who perform, in accordance with what their faith entails, deeds that bring them out of the veils of the acts and set them right for the vision of the acts of the Truth, no fault or constraint in what they enjoy of different types of shares, so long as they avoid the remnants of their acts and take God as their shield against acts issuing from themselves, and believe, in the unity of the attributes, and perform deeds, that bring them out of the veils of the attributes and set them right for the witnessing of the divine self-disclosures by their effacement therein, and then guard themselves, against the remnants of their attributes and take God as their shield upon the issuing of His attributes upon them, and believe, in the unity of the essence, then guard themselves, the remnants of their essences and take God as their shield upon their existence through the pure annihilation and [their] consumption in the source of the essence and who are virtuous by witnessing the differentiations at the source of the union and by their uprightness at the subsistence after the annihilation; for God loves the virtuous, those who witness the unity at the source of multiplicity, who are mindful of the dues of the differentiations at the source of the union by means of the Truth-given existence.

O you who believe, in the unseen, God will surely try you, at the point of your wayfaring and your entry into pilgrim sanctity for the visiting of the Kaʿba of arrival, with something, of the shares that come your way and by which you are given to consider that these are a means to arriving at this [Kaʿba of arrival], so that God may know, at the level of differentiated knowledge that is consequent to the event from which recompense ensues; who fears Him, in the state of absence, since fear (khawf) only applies in the case of those who believe in the unseen, as it is connected in the narrative that is addressing acts. As for the state of presence, then [what applies is] either reverential trepidation (khashya), in which case, by the self-disclosure of Lordship and Exaltedness, or awe (hayba), in which case, by the self-disclosure of the Essence. Thus fear is an attribute of the soul, reverential trepidation is an attribute of the heart, while awe is an attribute of the spirit. Whoever transgresses thereafter, by committing acts [entailing the enjoyment] of shares after the [divine] trying, his shall be a chastisement, that is painful for his veiling himself from [divine] love by his act.

O you who have faith, do not slay game when you are ritually consecrated. He forbade hunting to the ritually consecrated because such a person has the intention of visiting the Kaabah. In terms of allusion, He is saying, “When someone aims for My house and turns his face to the eminent, holy Kaabah, hoping to be in My neighborhood, at least desert game should be protected and secure from him, for in his undertaken goal he has brought himself into the crowd of the pious and the good, and the attribute of the pious is this: 'They do not harm an ant, nor do they have hidden thoughts of evil.'” It has been said that ritual consecration is of two sorts: the hajji's consecration in the body, and the recognizer's consecration in the heart. As long as the hajji is consecrated in the body, game is forbidden to him. As long as the recognizer is consecrated in the heart, seeking, wanting, and free choice are forbidden to him. The mark of the heart's consecration is three things: to be on loan to the creatures, to be a stranger to oneself, and to be at ease from attachment. The fruit of the heart's consecration is three things today and three things tomorrow. Today it is the sweetness of whispered prayer, the birth of wisdom, and the soundness of perspicacity; tomorrow it will be the light of contemplation, the call of gentleness, and the cup of wine.

Permitted to you is the hunting of the game, of the sea of the spiritual world in the way of gnoses, intelligibles and cognitive shares amidst the celestial bodies of the divine presence, and food from it, in the way of profitable knowledge, the learning of which, for the purposes of transactions and for [the refinement of] character traits, is an obligatory duty, a means of enjoyment, for you, O wayfarers along the path of truth, and for the travellers, those journeying to the Hereafter, seeking to obtain the gains of the everlasting bliss; but forbidden to you is the hunting of the game, on the land of the corporeal world in the way of sensory objects and ego-centric shares. Take God as your shield in your journeying so that you might journey with Him. And make your souls God's shield [for you] against the issuing from them of preventive evils, and be certain that, to Him you shall be gathered, at the annihilation in the Essence, so expend effort in wayfaring and do not stop because of the impediments behind the veil.

God has appointed, the Kaʿba of the presence of the union, the House, that is forbidden to the entry into it of other [than God], as they say: 'Majestic is the Truth's Eminence above that It should serve as a watering-place for every water-seeker; as a rising for mankind, from their true death and a revivification for them thereby and by His life, His power and all of His attributes; and the sacred month, that is, the time of arrival, which is the time of the true pilgrimage in which the manifestation of the attributes of the soul is prohibited; the offering, that is, the soul sacrificially slaughtered in the courtyard of that Kaʿba, and the garlands, and especially the noble and obedient soul that is strong and compliant, for to seek nearness by means of such [a soul] is better and its status upon subsistence and the resurrection through the second existence and the true life shall be more exalted; that, in other words, appointing that presence as a rising for you, is so that you may know, by His knowledge upon your resurrection through it, that God knows, the realities of things in the world of the unseen and the witnessing, and that His knowledge encompasses all things; and since your knowledge cannot encompass His, then:

Know that God is intense in punishment and that God is forgiving, ever-merciful. He is intense in punishment toward the enemies and forgiving, ever-merciful toward the friends.5 The intense in punishment is severity and harshness toward the enemies. The forgiving, ever- merciful is caresses and generosity for the friends. He combined severity and gentleness in one verse so that the servant would live in fear and hope between severity and gentleness. When he looks at severity, he fears, and when he sees gentleness, he hopes. Fear is the fortress of faith, the antidote to caprice, and the weapon of the faithful. Hope is the steed of service, the supplies for striving, and the provision of worship. It has also been said that the servant's faith and certainty have two wings: fear and hope. How can a bird fly with one wing? In the same way, the faithful cannot travel the road of the religion in fear without hope or in hope without fear. True faith is like a balance: One pan is fear, the other pan hope, and the beam is love. The pans are hung from knowledge. Just as a balance must have pans, so hope and fear must have knowledge, which is why He put Know that at the beginning of the verse. Fear without knowledge is the fear of the Khawarij, hope without knowledge is the hope of the Murji'ah, and love without knowledge is the love of libertines.

The duty of the Messenger is only, to convey [the Message], not to effect conjunction, and God knows, your secrets and your outward acts, what you reveal, of deeds and character traits, and what you hide, of intentions, knowledge, and states, and whether these are good for you to seek nearness to Him therewith, and whether you are preparing therewith for the encounter with Him or not.

Say: “The vile and the goodly are not equal, even if the manyness of the vile stirs you to admiration.” In the tongue of the Shariah, the vile is the forbidden, and the goodly is the permitted. In the tongue of the Haqiqah, every occupation that is empty of the mention and remembrance of the Real is vile; and every occupation at the beginning of which comes the Real's name, in the middle of which is the witnessing of the Real, and at the end of which is praise and gratitude is goodly. ʿāÌisha the sincerely truthful commanded that a shirt be sewn. The person who was sew- ing seems to have been heedless of remembering the Real. His heedlessness became known to ʿāÌisha. She commanded him to undo the sewing. She said, “This is vile, and the vile is not ap- propriate for me.” It has been said that every wealth from which God's rightful due is taken and the alms tax given is goodly, and everything from which it is not taken is vile and on the edge of destruction. MuṣṬafā said, “No property is wasted in the land and the sea except by holding back its alms tax.” It has also been said that the vile is what you accumulate and store up in this world, holding it back from the hand of expenditure and good. The goodly is what you send forth for yourselves, spend in the good, and store up for the next world. This is the meaning of “What we sent forward was our gain, and what we left behind was our loss,” which was already mentioned.

O you who have faith, do not ask about things which would harm you if they were made to appear to you. He is saying, “Do not circle around the stations of the great ones, do not seek access to their states, and do not ask about their way stations, for then you will see that your level falls short of that and you will despair, and despair is the seed of remorse and the foundation of idleness.” A merchant from the bazaar came to Junayd and said, “O Pir of the Tariqah! If servanthood is what you have, then what do we have? What can we hope for? This is a place for despair.” That pir said, “The army of the commander is not all special friends and boon companions. There are also dog-keepers and herdsmen. In the empire, all are useful and all live in their own places and their own measures.” Though you be beautiful, do not disdain the ugly, for in this realm flies are as useful as peacocks. [DS 307] You should consider exalted the state of the dervish who said in his whispered prayer, “O God, approve of me as a lover! If you do not approve of me as a lover, approve of me as a servant! If you do not approve of me as a servant, approve of me as a dog!” O friend, if you won't give me the forefront of respect, at least keep me outside the door like the dogs.

O you who have faith! Against you are your own souls. Those who are misguided cannot hurt you if you are guided. The tongue of commentary is what I explained. The tongue of allusion in keeping with the tasting of the folk of desire is this: “O faithful, beware! Subjugate your own soul before it subjugates you. Busy it with obedience before it busies you with disobedience.” When Abū ʿUthmān was asked about this verse, he replied, “Against you is your own soul. If you occupy yourself with making its corruption wholesome and concealing its shameful parts, you will be too busy to gaze on the creatures and to occupy yourself with them.” Ḥusayn Manṣūr Ḥallāj gave advice to his disciple, saying, “Against you is your own soul-if you do not keep it busy, it will keep you busy.” MuḤammad ibn ʿAlī said, “Against you is your own soul-if you spare the creatures its evil, you will have taken care of most of its rightful due.” The nature of the soul is always to be at rest with this world and to hurry toward disobedience. It counts disobedience as a small thing and is lazy in obedience. It is conceited and acts with eye- service toward the creatures. Within it are found associationism, eye-service, and hypocrisy. It is said, “The soul is duplicitous in all its states, hypocritical in most of its states, and an associater in some of its states.” Abū Yazīd BasṬāmī said, “If in that world the Lord says to me, 'Make a wish,' I will ask per- mission to enter hell to punish this soul, for in this world it has always made me writhe and suffer.” MuṣṬafā said, “Your worst enemy is your soul between your two sides.” He said this because when you get along with an enemy, you become secure from his evil, but when you get along with your own soul, you will perish. If you act well toward someone, he will thank you at the resurrec- tion, and if you act badly, he will complain. The state of the soul is the opposite: If you act well toward it in this house, it will be your antagonist in that house, and if you act badly toward it in this house, it will thank you in that house.

on the day when God shall gather the messengers, at the source of absolute union, or the source of the union of the Essence, and He will say: 'What, answer have your communities given to you when you summoned them to Me. In other words, 'Do you [messengers] have any insight into their [spiritual] levels with regard to the perfections to which they oriented themselves when they followed youḍ'; they shall say, 'We have no knowledge, that is, all knowledge belongs to You, comprehensively and in differentiation, and none other than You has any knowledge, because our attributes have been annihilated in Your attributes. You, only You, are the Knower of things unseen', and so the unseens of our innermost aspects and their innermost aspects all constitute knowledge that is Yours.

[When God said, 'O Jesus, son of Mary, remember] My favour to you, in the way of special guidance and the station of prophethood and sanctity through [divine] friendship (walāya), and to your mother, in terms of purification, cleansing and election, [when I strengthened you with the Holy Spirit] such that you spoke to people, in the cradle of the body, and in maturity, attaining the light of the grey hairs of perfection by the disengaging from the body and its garments, and when I taught you, the scripture of realities and gnoses that are fixed in the Preserved Tablet by means of reinforcing [you] with the Holy Spirit and the wisdom of [the method of] wayfaring to God by the actualisation of [virtuous] character traits, states, stations, outer disengagement and inner solitude; and [taught you] the Torah of the exoteric forms of knowledge, judgements concerned with acts and the states of the soul and its attributes, as well as the Gospel of the esoteric forms of knowledge in the way of the knowledge of the self-disclosures of the attributes and the rules governing them, and the judgements concerning the states of the heart, its attributes and its deeds; and how you create, out of the clay of the intellect of primordial matter, which is the pure preparedness, by the hand of nurture and practical wisdom, the likeness of, the bird of the heart that flies to the Holy Presence because of its disengagement from its world and [because of] its perfection, by My permission, that is, by My knowledge, My power and My facilitation upon the self-disclosure to you of My attributes of life, knowledge, and power, and [My] vindicating you and calling you to prophethood, and you breathe into it, from the spirit of perfection the life of true knowledge by perfecting [it] and [by] correlation, and it becomes a bird, a perfect disengaged soul flying off to the Holy Side by the wings of love; and you heal the blind, the one veiled from the light of the Truth, and the leper, the one blemished by the sickness of the love of this world and the overpowering of caprice; and you raise, those dead by ignorance from the graves of the body and the earth of the soul, by My permission; and how I restrained the Children of Israel, those veiled from the light of the self-disclosures of the attributes, the ignorant who are opposed to you because of their ignorance of your state and station, from you, when you brought them clear signs, definitive arguments and clear proofs, and those who, were veiled, among them, from the religion of truth, said, �This is nothing but manifest sorcery�, because of their bewilderment regarding it.

And when I revealed to the disciples, that is, [when] I inspired into their hearts, those luminous ones who had cleansed their souls with the water of beneficial things and purgative deeds, until they accepted your call, due to the purity of their souls, and loved you with complete volition, due to their correspondence to you in terms of the light of [their] primordial nature and the purity of [their] preparedness: �Believe in Me, with a true fatih, by affirming the unity of the attributes and [by] effacement, and in My Messenger�, by being mindful of the dues of the self-disclosures of these [attributes] at the level of differentiation; they said, �We believe; bear witness, O God of ours, by Your all-inclusive knowledge that encompasses all things, that we are obedient to You, submitting the existences of our attributes to You.

When the disciples said, when your companions made a request of you, saying: is your Lord able, that is, [is] your witness from the world of Lordship [able] - for the lord of each person is the name that nurtures him and perfects him. Every person worships only what he knows of the world of Lordship and he knows only what he has attained of [an understanding of] the levels of the divinity, drawing therefrom an effusion of knowledge and drawing down therefrom blessings and draws therefrom spiritual reinforcement, which is why, despite their affirmation and their submission, they said 'your Lord' and not 'our Lord', since 'their Lord' is not able, to send down on us a Table from the heavenḍ', a law from the heaven of the world of the spirit that subsumes various types of knowledge, wisdoms, gnoses and judgements, wherein is nourishment for the heart and nutrition for the soul, its life and its tastings. He said: 'Fear God, beware of Him lest the attributes of your souls manifest themselves, and take Him as your shield with regard to the character traits and acts that issue from you, so that you are delivered from the [evil] consequences of these, are victorious and prosper, for if your faith is realised, you have no need of any new law.

They said, 'We desire, to profit, from it, and to implement it and draw strength from it, and that our hearts be reassured, because knowledge is the nourishment of the heart and its source of nutrition, and that we may know, your truthfulness in what you inform of your Lord, your prophethood and your authority therein and thereby, and that we may be among the witnesses thereof', who are present, possessors of knowledge, to inform others who are absent about it, to teach them and to call them to God by it.

that it shall be a celebration for us for the first and the last of us, by command, that is, [that it shall be] a law and a religion referred to in celebration by those in our times from among our correligionists and by those after us who will be from among the Christians, and a sign from You, a token and a knowledge from You by which You might be known and worshipped. And provide for us, that law and beneficial knowledge and guidance, You are the Best of Providers', providing [us] only with what benefits us and in which our best interest resides.

but whoever disbelieves, [whoever] is veiled from this religion after it is sent down and has become clear, I shall surely chastise him with a chastisement wherewith I chastise no other being from among all the worlds', by virtue of the path having become clear and the religion and proof having been clarified and their preparedness existing, so that when they deny it they are doing so only out of obstinacy. Chastisement in the case of knowledge is more intense than chastisement in the case of ignorance, since the sensing of the fact that one is veiled from that [truth] necessitates a severe painfulness [in the chastisement].

['O Jesus, son of Mary] did you, call people to [worship of] yourself or your mother, or [it means: did you call people] to the station of your heart and your soul. For the one in whom there remains the existence of egoism and the remnants of the soul and caprice, or in whom there is variegation by the existence of the heart and its manifestation in its attribute will call creatures either to the station of his soul or to the station of his heart, and not to the truth. He [Jesus] says, 'Glory be to You!: an affirmation of the exaltedness of God above [that He should have] partnership and an absolution for him [Jesus] of the existence of any remnants [in him]. It is not mine to say what I have no right to, since I possess no existence in reality and as such it is not mine nor is it right that I should say something that I am not entitled to in reality, as statements, acts, attributes and existence all belong to You [alone]. If I indeed had said it, You would have known it, that is to say, had there issued from me any [such] statement then it would have been by Your knowledge, but there is no existence for that which You do not have knowledge of and there exists only what exists by Your knowledge. You know what is in my soul, encompassing as You do all things and so my knowledge is but a part of Your knowledge; but I do not know what is within Your Self, that is, Your Essence as I do not encompass all things [in my knowledge].

I only said to them, and I only commanded them that which You have charged me with saying and which you have obliged me to [say]: �Worship God, my Lord and your Lord�. In other words, I only called them to the union in the form of differentiation, the relationship of whose lordliness to all is equal. But they fell into error and saw that [lordliness] in only some of the differentiations because of the narrowness of their [spiritual] receptacles. And I was a witness over them, a watcher, present, looking after them and teaching them, whilst I was amongst them, that is, while there remained in me the existence of some remnant, but when You took me [to You], [but when] You annihilated me totally in You, You were Yourself the Watcher over them, given my having been annihilated in You, and You Yourself are Witness over all things, [You are] present; through You a thing comes into existence, for otherwise that thing would not be.

If You chastise them, by maintaining the veil [over them] forever, verily they are Your servants, deserving of the veil and of privation. You are most entitled to dealing with them as You wish, and if You forgive them, by removing the veil, You, only You, are the Mighty, the Powerful One able to do that and Whose might is not compromised by bringing them near or by the removal of their veil, the Wise', exacting what You exact in the way of chastisement through veiling and privation, or drawing [them] near [to You] through gentleness and forgiveness by Your absolute wisdom.

[God says] 'This is the day, when your truthfulness shall profit you and the truthfulness of every truthful person [shall also profit him], constituting as this [truthfulness] does the ferment of perfections and the specific quality of the spiritual realm. Theirs will be the Gardens, of the attributes the token of which is the fruit of satisfaction, for satisfaction can only be after the annihilation of will and their will can only be annihilated after theirs are overcome by God's will which then annihilates theirs. That is why God's being satisfied with them is mentioned before their being satisfied with Him. In other words, since God, exalted be He, willed that they be pre-eternally in the manifestation-locus of His will and in the locus of His satisfaction, being satisfied with them in terms of locus and as deserving of that [locus], He strips them of their will by appointing His will in its place, giving It to them in place of theirs, so that He is satisfied with them and has satisfied them - that is the great triumph', that is, the prospering that has an awesome status. Had it been the annihilation of the essence [meant here], this would have been the greatest triumph and the most awesome prospering.

To Him belongs what is in the upper world and in the lower world, both in its exoteric and its esoteric aspect; and all that is in them: His names, His attributes and His acts, and He has power over all things, if He should desire it, He annihilates by the manifesting of His essence, or if He should desire He brings into existence by concealing Himself in His names and attributes.