Kashani Tafsir — Al-An'am 6:1 – Hud 11:120

Praise belongs to God who created the heavens and the earth and made the darknesses and the light. He begins by lauding Himself, thereby praising Himself with His own beginningless laudation and reporting of His own self-sufficient brilliance and unitary elevation. This is praise of the tremendous Lord, the wise Enactor. He is subsistent through His own subsistence, transcendent through His own attributes, magnificent through His own magnificence. His elevation is everlasting, His brilliance self-standing, His existence unitary, His being self- sufficient, His face majestic, His power perfect-Glory be to Him! And God is the One, the All- Subjugating [39:4], the exalted, the all-compeller, the great, the transcendent. One of the great ones of the religion and leaders of the Tariqah said, “Who is worthy of praise other than He whose power created the heavens and the earth and made the darknesses and the light?” Who is fitting and who is worthy to be praised for purity and named for greatness other than He who created heaven and earth, created day and night, set up heaven like a roof, adorned earth like a cradle, readied the day for your livelihood, and made the night your time of rest? It has also been said that heaven is an allusion to the heaven of recognition, which is the hearts of the recognizers. Earth is an allusion to the earth of service, which is the souls of the worshipers. He decorated heaven with the form of the stars, adorned it with sun and moon, and made it the gaz- ing place of the earth-dwellers. In the same way, He adorned the heaven of recognition with the sun of knowledge, the moon of tawḤīd, and the stars of thoughts, and then He made it the gazing- place of the heaven-dwellers. Whenever the satans aim to listen stealthily, they are subjugated from the heaven of exaltedness by the stoning of stars. This is why the Exalted Lord said, “We have made them stonings for the satans” [67:5]. In the same way, whenever Satan aims to instill disquiet, a lightning flashes in the heart of the faithful servant from the heaven of recognition and burns Satan. This is why He says, “Surely the godwary, when a visitation from Satan touches them, remember, and then see clearly” [7:201]. On the expanse of the earth there are seven seas in which are benefits and livelihood for creatures.

He it is who created you from clay. Adam was two things: clay and spirituality. His clay pertained to the World of the Creation, and his spirituality to the World of the Command. What pertains to creation is “He fermented Adam's clay in His hand.” What pertains to the command is I have blown into him of My spirit [15:29]. Surely God chose Adam [3:33] pertains to the beauty of the command, and Adam disobeyed [20:121] to the taint of creation. In Adam were both rose garden and field of clay, so the clay was the place of roses. Every rose, however, has a thorn. A rose like the bosom friend Abraham had a thorn like the rebellious Nimrod. A rose like Moses had thorns like Pharaoh and Haman. A rose like Jesus had thorns like those impure Jews. A rose like MuḤammad the Arab had a thorn like Abū Jahl the wretched. Who knows the secret of Adam's innate disposition? Who recognizes Adam's good fortune and rank? No eagle of anyone's mind has alighted on the branch of the tree of Adam's good for- tune. No eye of anyone's insight has perceived the beauty of the sun of Adam's limpidness. When he was at rest in the highest paradises, he supposed that the same tent of safety would be pitched for him endlessly. Then he was addressed by the side of the Compeller and the court of the Exalted: “What, one who is reared amidst ornaments? [43:18]. O Adam, We want to make a man of you. You have become satisfied with color and scent like pretty brides! “How long will you sit like a woman in hope of color and scent? Fix your aspiration on the road and set out like a man! [DS 205] “O Adam! Pull your hands back from the neck of Eve, for you must use your hands for the neck of passion's crocodile. You must become the drinking companion of the Shariah's lion. Pull back from the attributes of being, for you must travel with the feet of discipline and the boots of blame into the open horizons of poverty. Go, sit on the dust-pile, and be content with a piece of bread, ragged clothes, and ruins, so that you may become a man. “Throw away life, travel the road, live upright, and be a man! Then you will subsist-when you empty your skirt of these ruins.

And He is God in the heavens and in the earth. One can say that He is in heaven through Essence, everywhere through knowledge, in the spirit through companionship, and in the soul through proximity. The soul comes to nothing in Him, and He takes the place of the spirit that comes to nothing in Him. He is in finding where found, and in recognition where recognized. Reports do not spoil the Haqiqah, nor does the Haqiqah nullify the reports. Say “He sat” [7:54], for He is upon the Throne through sitting. Recite “He is with you” [57:4], for He is with you wherever you are. He does not take up place through need, but rather displays places through mercy. He built the Throne for the God-seekers, not for the God-recognizers. If the God-recognizer should take one breath without Him, he would have bound the sash of unbelief. O boast of my tongue in the two worlds and delight of my spirit in tomorrow's vision! O my occupation in the two worlds, remake my situation's occupation with Yourself! I have no spirit to scatter before the finding of You, no tongue to acknowledge Your favors. He who sees You is concealed in vision, and he who seeks You is neither on earth nor in heaven.

And had We appointed him, [Muḥammad] the Messenger, an angel, We would assuredly have made him a man, that is to say, We would have given him corporeal form, because an angel is light which is imperceptible to vision; they are a folk [aware only] of externals and are unable to perceive anything except what is sensory. But every sensory thing is either a body or a corporeal form. There is no form that corresponds to an angel who utters the truth such that he might be able to assume it physically, except for the human form, either because he should be a rational-speaking soul which would require such a form, or because of the necessary existence of genus-correspondence without which they would not be able to hear or receive speech from him.

Say: “To whom belongs what is in the heavens and in the earth?” Say: “To God. He has written mercy against Himself.” Ask them, O MuḤammad! Does anyone dwell in the house? In verified truth, does the rightful due of the realm of being have any weight with the Real? If they fail to answer, that will be a healing. So say, “God in His lordhood is enough.” God, and that's it. The rest is folly. O God! It is not from anyone to You, nor from You to anyone-all is from You to You, all is You, and that's it. Glory be to God! A world full of things and full of people-He overthrows it all in one breath. A hundred eyes would not be enough for me to gaze on this work. He has written mercy against Himself. Before He began to create the newly arrived things and to originate the engendered beings, He struck the coin of mercy in the mint of the Unseen as the hard cash of the servants' states and deeds: Surely I am God; there is no god but I [20:14]. “My mercy takes precedence over My wrath.” Tomorrow on the Day of Mustering, the Messenger will call out at the top of the bazaar of the resurrection: “O King, here is a handful of the disobedient. Let me be instructed to clothe them in the shirt of Your mercy, for You have said, 'We sent thee only as a mercy to the worlds' [21:107]. O Lord, it is the day of the bazaar for these beggars. I was catching them with the lasso of the invitation, so I made them many promises. O Lord, do not shame MuḤammad in this gathering of the multitudes! Turn Your promise of mercy and generosity into reality, for You Yourself said, 'O My servants who have been immoderate against yourselves, despair not of God's mercy' [39:53].” From the Court of Majesty will come the call of generosity and mercy: “O MuḤammad! The work of your community is not outside of three: Either they are people of faith, or they are recognizers, or they are disobedient. If they have faith and are hoping for paradise, then here is My paradise. If they are the disobedient hoping for My forgiveness, then here is My mercy and forgiveness.

And His is whatsoever dwells in the night and the day, and He is the Hearing, the Knowing. The newly arriving things are God's as a kingdom, in God as manifestation, from God in appear- ance, and unto God in return. And He is the Hearing of the moans of the yearners, and the Knowing of the longing of the finders. It has been said that night is a general darkness that appears around the world, and day is a general brightness that reaches the whole world. Before the creation of the world and before the creation of light and darkness, there was neither night nor day. In paradise there is no sun, but all is day, for in reality the general brightness is there. Whatever is closer to God has a more complete light and luminosity. ʿAbdallāh ibn Masʿūd said, “Surely there is no day or night with your Lord- He illuminates the heavens with the light of His face.” It is mentioned in the traditions that the Lord of the Worlds created a tremendous angel, plac- ing night in one of his fists and day in the other. Whenever the angel closes one fist and opens the other, that is the ruling power of the day. When he closes this fist and opens the other, that is the ruling power of the night. By way of allusion, God is saying: “I placed the disk of the sun in the fist of the angel, but I did not give the hearts of My friends to anyone. The angel has no interven- tion in or power over the hearts of the friends.” Know that the disk of the sun is in the fist of the angel, but the heart of the lovers is in the fist of the King-majestic and high is He! MuṣṬafā said, “The hearts of the servants are between two fingers of the All-Merciful.”

Say: “Shall I take as friend other than God, the Originator of the heavens and earth, who feeds and is not fed?” “After He has honored me with His beautiful friendship, shall I take another as friend? After the brightness of His solicitude has fallen upon me, shall I gaze on someone else in the two houses?”5 “The sun of solicitude and kind favor has shone upon me from the Majestic and Exalted Threshold and taken care of my business without me in the two worlds, lighting up my heart with the eternal love and adorning it with the ornament of intimacy. He gave me such eminence at the forefront of acceptance that sometimes He puts up with my disdain: By thy life! [15:72]. Some- times the grasp of the attributes explains the polish of my heart's mirror by virtue of solicitude: Did We not expand for thee thy breast? [94:1]. Sometimes the assessor of the beginningless and endless register turns over the acceptance and rejection of the creatures to my threshold: Whatever the Messenger gives you, take; whatever he prohibits you, forgo [59:7]. With all this good fortune, rank, solicitude, and kind favor, how would it be appropriate for my heart to request someone else or to gaze upon this world and the afterworld?” Hence he said concerning this world, “What do I have to do with this world?” And concerning the afterworld: “The eyesight did not swerve, nor did it trespass” [53:17]. Neither this world, nor the afterworld-rather, seeing the Patron. The Originator of the heavens and earth, the God who created earth and heaven. He is the enactor of the world and the world's folk, the knower of the apparent and the hidden. He does not partake of daily provision, but He assigns daily provision to the servants. Who feeds and is not fed. To Him belongs the attribute of generosity, so He feeds. To Him belongs the rightful due of eternity, so He is not fed.

And if God touches thee with harm, none can remove it but He. Just as in creating harm, He is one and unique, so also in repelling harm, He is unique and without equal. If all the world's folk were to gather together, the jinn and mankind holding hands to bring about a pain that is not there, they would not be able to do it; or to remove a pain that is there with- out God's wish, they would not find a way. Know that the wellspring of pain and remedy is one! Recognize that the source of blessing and trial is one! And see that the rising place of unbelief and faith is one! In the circle of togetherness these have one color, and in the way stations of dispersion they are multicolored. This is what that chevalier put into verse: On your two cheeks are both unbelief and faith, in your two lips are both pain and remedy. [DS 810]

And He is the Severe over His servants. He breaks the pleasures of the servants, and in Essence and attributes He is above all the travelers. For the poor He is the good fortune of the heart and the life of the spirit. He perceives the unper- ceivable and sees the unseen face-to-face. One breath with the Real in exchange for the two worlds is cheap, one vision of Him for a hundred thousand spirits is gratis, one moment of intimacy with Him is sweeter than the spirit. He who is slain in this work is between fire and joy, and he who is unaware of this work is jailed in the prison of mortal nature. O God, vision of You is close, but at such closeness the work is too subtle. 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. Since he who is in remembrance is happy with You, why is he who is happy with You lamenting? When someone has a sweetheart like You in his arms, how would he be aware of the noise of the Resurrection?

Say: “What thing is greater in bearing witness?” Say: “God.” There is no bearing witness more truthful than the Real's own bearing witness to what He wit- nessed at the first. That is His words, “God bears witness that there is no god but He” [3:18]. This is the Real's bearing witness that the Real is the Real. On the first day, at the beginningless covenant, with true words and pure speech, He reported of the unitary existence, the self-sufficient being, the endless majesty, the eternal beauty, the con- tinuous Essence, and the self-standing attributes. Abū ʿAbdallāh Qurashī said, “This is a teaching for the servants and a right guidance for the seekers. With His own gentleness He is teaching the servants to bear witness in their measure to His oneness and solitariness, just as He bears witness as is fitting for Him. Put aside the path of resistance, lest you fall into the pit like the abandoned Iblis.” One of them said, “God bears witness to His oneness, His unity, and His self-sufficiency. Oth- ers, like the angels and the possessors of knowledge, bear witness by assenting to the truth of that to which He bears witness concerning Himself.” He Himself bore witness to His lordhood, greatness, and oneness, for no one else was worthy of bearing witness. The creatures cannot reach the core of His majesty and tremendousness, and their bearing witness is nothing but assenting to the truth of the Real's bearing witness. Jaʿfar ibn MuḤammad said, “The bearing witness of people is built on four pillars: first fol- lowing the commands, second avoiding prohibitions, third contentment, and fourth approval.” It is said that people's bearing witness is of three sorts: the bearing witness of the common people, the bearing witness of the elect, and the bearing witness of the elect of the elect. The bear- ing witness of the common people is to emerge from associationism. The bearing witness of the elect is to enter into contemplation. The bearing witness of the elect of the elect is the breeze of companionship from the side of proximity for the sake of union. The self-purifier sees all from Him, the recognizer sees all in Him, the tawḤīd-voicer sees all as He. Every named being is a loan. True being is He-the rest are suspect. Say “God,” then leave them [6:91]. Oh, all is You, and that's it! How could anyone appear alongside You?

And who does greater evil than he who invents a lie against God, by affirming the existence of any other than Him, or denies, His attributes by manifesting the attributes of his own soul and thus commits idolatrous association with Him, when the utmost in evildoing is to associate [others] with God. They the evildoers shall not prosper, because of their being veiled by what they have placed in the place of God's essence and attributes.

And on the day We shall gather them all together, at the source of the union of the Essence, then We shall say to those who associated [others] with God, by affirming [the existence of] others: 'Where are those associates of yours whom you were claimingḍ', for the universal annihilation in the self-disclosure of the Essence.

Then, upon the self-disclosure of the state and the issuing forth of all before the Vanquishing King, the ultimate in their idolatrous association and its consequence, was only to say, 'By God, our Lord we were never idolaters', because of the impossibility of anything existing with which to associate God.

See how they lie to their souls, by falsely ascribing existence and attributes to these [souls], and how that which they were forging has failed them!, such that they do not find it to be anything, rather they found it to be nothing except the forgery [itself]; or [it means] that they lied to their own souls by denying their idolatrous association, despite the firm-rootedness of that tendency in them.

If you could see when they are made to stand before, the fire of privation and the torture of the configurations of their dark souls and the mastery that forms of forged things have acquired over them in chastisement; and they say, 'Oh if only we might be returned and not deny the signs of our Lord, such as the self-disclosures of His attributes, and be among the believers!', who are affirmers of the Oneness, then [our situation] would be what cannot be described.

No, what they had been concealing beforehand now appears to them, and even if they were sent back, they would return to what had been prohibited to them. This is an allusion to the Day of Resurrection, which is the day of the unveiling of states and the manifestation of secrets, the day secret cores will be tried [86:9] and hidden things will become manifest. There will be many who were counted among the renunciants in this world and who wore the color of the friends and the dress of the familiar but who will see on that day the burning brand of wretchedness on their own foreheads, having been brought down to the dwelling place of the strangers. There will also be many whom you recognized as shameless and knew as bound for the manacles, who had nothing in this world, who were no one and nameless, yet in whose name on that day will be brought the treasuries of the unseen and the robes of generosity. The holy ones of the Higher Plenum and the dwellers in the Gardens of the Shelter will be staring and astonished at His work. It will be as the poet said: Many a prayerful pir will be left behind without steed, many a tavern-going scoundrel will saddle a roaring lion. [DS 110] And even it they were sent back, they would return to what had been prohibited to them. Even if the folk of punishment were sent back to this world of theirs, they would return to their refusal and denial. And even if the folk of limpidness and loyalty were sent back to this world of theirs, they would return to the beauty of their deeds.

If you could see when they are made to stand before their Lord, at the major resurrection, and this [that follows] is an imagined representation of their state in terms of their veiledness and distance, for otherwise there would be no words and no response at that [moment] because of their being deprived from the presence and the witnessing, even though they might be at the source of nondelimited union. Know that 'to stand before' (waqafa ʿalā) something is different from 'to stand with' (waqafa maʿa) it, for to stand with something is voluntary and willingly done, whereas to stand before something can only be by coercion or out of aversion. Thus the one who stands with God in [his] affirmation of Oneness - like the one who said, 'Desire stands whence you [stand] and I can neither walk behind it nor ahead [of it]' - will not be made to stand for the reckoning. Rather he will be among those of the greatest prize of whom He says: and restrain yourself along with those who call upon their Lord at morning and evening, desiring His countenance [Q. 18:28]; you are not accountable for them in anything [Q. 6:52]; and he will be rewarded by all kinds of bliss in all of the gardens. As for the one who stands with the other through idolatrous association, he will stand before the Lord and will be chastised with all manner of chastisement in the [various] levels of all the fires, because of his veil being denser and his unbelief greater. As for the one who stands with the human realm (nāsūt) by his love of pleasures and desires and lingers in the veil of the vestiges [thereof], he will stand before the spiritual realm (malakūt) and chastised with the fires of privation from what is desired and unleashed on him shall be the Zabāniya angels [cf. Q. 96:18] of [his] dark configurations and he will be bounded together with the devils of [his] ruinous caprices. As for the one who stands with the acts, having emerged from the veil of the vestiges, he will stand before the realm of divine power (jabarūt) and will be chastised with the fire of ambition and hope and is returned to the station of the spiritual realm (malakūt).

They indeed are losers who, are veiled, who are deniers of the encounter with the Truth, until when, the minor resurrection, comes upon them, they are remorseful for being remiss about it, and they shall be bearing their loads, in the way of the burdens of attachment [to the material] and the acts arising from the love of corporeal things, as well as the evil consequences of misdeeds and the sins arising from the configurations of sensory things, on their backs: in other words, these [burdens] shall mount them and assume mastery over them, firmly rooted as these are in their souls, veiling them, causing them [to suffer] chastisement and impeding them from what they desire.

The life of this world, that is, the sensory life - since what is sensory is closer to creatures than what is intelligible - is nothing but a game, nothing but something without foundation or reality, quick to perish and become extinct; surely the abode of the Hereafter, that is, the world of spiritual beings, is better for those who, disengage from the vestments of the attributes of mortals and corporeal pleasures. What, do you not understandḍ, so as to prefer the nobler, the more wholesome to the viler, the lowlier that is perishing.

We know indeed that it grieves you: this is a reprimand to the Messenger of God for the manifestation of his soul by means of grief; they do not deny you, to the end [of the verse]: that is, their denial is not a denial of you, since in this summoning you do not subsist by means of your own soul, nor is this speech an attribute of yours. Rather you summon them by means of God and His attributes: this is an established habit [of God].

Messengers indeed have been denied before you; yet they endured patiently, through God. He has given him solace through Himself after reprimanding him, lest he subsist within the variegation and so that he might not be sorry after it has departed from him and end up in [a state of] constriction, but rather so that his heart might be reassured, which is why He follows that with His words: There is none to change the words of God, that is, the attributes of God by which He discloses Himself to His servants. These are not replaced, nor are they changed by the denial of the deniers; nor are these [deniers] able to change [His attributes]. He then denies him any power and declares him as incapable with His words:

And if their aversion is grievous for you, then, if you can, to the end [of the verse] is lest that his soul should manifest itself by means of its attributes. So do not be among the ignorant, who are unaware of the wisdom [inherent] in the discrepancy between preparednesses, and then be sorry about the veiledness of those who are veiled. For the divine will has decreed that some be guided and some be deprived because of the wisdom with which the [spiritual] system is organised and [because of] the manifestation of outer and inner perfections. So the only ones to respond [to God] are those the auditory channels of whose hearts God has opened by means of primordial guidance (hidāya aṣliyya) and on whom He has bestowed true life by means of the attributes of preparedness and the light of primordial nature. Not the dead of ignorance [is it who respond to God], whose natural instincts are dead by means of composite ignorance or by means of the veils of innate disposition, or who did not possess any preparedness in accordance with primordial nature. Such are unable to hearm, rather:

God will resurrect them, through restoration at the second creation, and then to Him they will be returned, at the source of nondelimited union for the recompense or reward, despite their veiledness. It is possible the veils are removed in the Hereafter for the latter group exceptionally from among all of the rest.

[And they say, 'Why has a sign not been sent down to him from his Lordḍ' Say, 'Surely God has the power to send down a sign] but most of them have no knowledge': about the sending down of signs. For the manifestation of each one of His attributes in every one of the loci of engendered beings is a sign of Him by which those who have knowledge are able to know Him.

There is no animal on the earth, to the end [of the verse], but can undergo transfiguration (maskh), being communities like you in terms of veiledness, enmity, and the commission of vices, such as the people of the [breaking of the] Sabbath, who were transfigured into apes and swine. We have not neglected, We have not diminished [anything] of their Book which contains the forms of their deeds, which is the scroll of the soul of the celestial sphere, or the scroll of their intention in which the forms of their deeds are fixed; then to their Lord they shall be gathered, for the recompense, veiled at the source of the nondelimited union. Manifestly it seems that what is meant [here] is that they are communities like you under the care of a Lord in terms of what they need in the way of their [sources of] livelihood, with their provisions sufficiently taken care of by a measure determined by God and [by] His wisdoms. We have not left out anything from the Book of the Preserved Tablet that might benefit them; rather We have fixed therein their provisions, terms of life, deeds and everything which they might need; then to their Lord they shall be gathered to be recompensed for their deeds, as related in a ḥadīth about the gathering of beasts and the mutual retaliation between them for deeds [committed in this life], every one of which is a sign for you [a sign] by which your states, your provisions, your terms of life and your deeds can be known. Heed these [signs] then and do not expend your resolves (himam) and your efforts in the pursuit of provision or to rectify the affairs of the life of this world and then end up forsaking your souls, harming them and being wretched because of them in the Hereafter.

And those who deny, the self-disclosures of Our attributes, because of their being veiled by the coverings of the attributes of their souls; are deaf, in the ears of their hearts and thus do not hear the words of truth, and dumb, in the tongues of these [hearts], which constitute their intellects and so they cannot speak the truth in the darknesses of the attributes of their souls and the cloaks of their bodies and the coverings of their natural traits, like animals: how then are they to affirm your truthfulness when God has not through His facilitation guided them theretoḍ He whom God wills, He sends astray, by letting the veils of His Majesty hang down, and whom He wills, He sets him on a straight path, by allowing for the irradiation of the light of His face and the august glories of His beauty.

Say: “Do you see: Were God's chastisement to come to you or were the Hour to come to you, would you supplicate other than God, if you are truthful?” If harm touches you, whom will you want to remove it? If an affair turns against you, from whom will you hope for gentleness in it? The poor child of Adam who does not know the worth of this gentleness and does not recog- nize the danger of this exaltedness! This verse is both a manifestation of His exaltedness, majesty, and unneediness toward the servants, and a preparation for His gentleness, bounteousness, and largesse of mercy toward them. He is saying, “If in My lordhood I should assault these creatures because of justice, who is it that will hold that assault back from them and come to their aid? Were I suddenly to bring forth the banner of the resurrection from the ambush of the Unseen, where will these servants flee? Whose hand will they grasp? Whom will they call?” Then, with His own generosity, he answers:

No, He it is whom you will supplicate, so He will remove that for which you supplicate Him if He will, and you will forget what you associated with Him. “You will call upon Me, you will know Me, and you will ask Me to remove the trial. It is I who am powerful to perfection, I who am bounteous with bestowal, I who am the beautiful doing, beautiful- wanting friend and companion.” In the reports of David has come this: “O David! Ask the earth-dwellers why they do not be- come friends with Me, for I am worthy of friendship. I am the Lord with munificence and without niggardliness, with knowledge and without ignorance, with patience and without incapacity. There is no change in My attributes and no alteration in My words. I am the bestower upon the servants and vast in mercy. I have never turned back from bounty and generosity. In the Beginningless I wrote mercy toward them against Myself and burned the incense of love. I lit up their hearts with the light of recognition.” The tongue of the servants' state says in the tune of thanksgiving, “Love for Your Essence, my God, is the belief of the friends, remembering Your description, O Lord, dispels the grief of the grieving. The cash in hand of the servants is the treasure-house of Your bounty, so the hopeful keep on sewing the purse of hope.” “O David, if those who turn away from Me knew how I wait for them and how I yearn to put aside their acts of disobedience, they would die in yearning for Me and would cut off all their ties be- cause of love for Me. O David, this is what I desire for those who turn away from Me. How then is My desire for those who turn toward Me?! “O David! I give blessings, and they show gratitude to others. I fend off trial, and they see that from others. Their shelter is My Presence, and they take shelter in others. All right, let them go, let them flee, and they will return at last.” You also have brightness from Me- you'll keep wandering, then you'll come to Me. “O David! I am the friend of him who befriends Me. I am the companion of him who takes Me as companion.

Indeed We sent to nations before thee, and We seized them with misery and hardship that perhaps they would plead. Ibn ʿAṬāÌ said, “'We seized from them all the paths so that they would return to Us.'9 I shut down all the roads to them so that they would turn away totally from the realm of being and busy them- selves with My companionship, putting love for Me in their hearts.” Conforming with this is the story of Majnūn. He was seen circumambulating the Kaabah, out of touch with himself and agitated. The sea of passion was sending up waves in his breast, and his hands were raised in prayer: “'O God, increase me in love for Laylā!' Lord God, increase the passion for Laylā in my heart and multiply the trial of her love a thousand times!” His father, who was the prince of the time, said, “O Majnūn! Many antagonists have risen up against you. Go away for a few days, and perhaps they will forget about you, and this madness for Laylā will become less.” Majnūn went and on the third day came back. He said, “Father, excuse me. Passion for Laylā has closed all the roads to me, and I can only take the road to Laylā's street.” Each has a prayer-niche in some direction, but SanāÌī's prayer-niche is Your street. [DS 1004]

And warn therewith those who fear, that is to say, warn with what has been revealed to you the prepared ones who are the folk of fear and hope, and turn away from those whose hearts have hardened for it [the warning] brings no results with them, as He said at the beginning of the Book [that It is] a guidance for the God-fearing [Q. 2:2], that they shall be gathered to their Lord: apart from Him they have no protector and no intercessor, so that they know through the purity of their preparedness that the return to God is inevitable, that they might fear to be gathered before Him in a state in which they are veiled from Him by the veils of their attributes and acts, with no protector other than God to assist them and deliver them from the humiliation of remoteness and the chastisement of privation and no intercessor to intercede for them and bring them near to Him and bestow dignity on them, because all essences and powers are annihilated in God and [in] His vanquishing of them, as He says the day when they will emerge nothing about them will be hidden from God. 'To whom does sovereignty belong todayḍ' 'To God, the One, the Vanquisher' [Q. 40:16]; and that they might be admonished by listening to it [sc. the revelation] so that there arises in them hope [for salvation] and they then embark upon the wayfaring in earnest and with industry, so that they might be wary, that they might be wary of the veils of their acts, their attributes and their essences and disengage from these through effacement and annihilation in God. It would be correct [to understand] that the protector [here] is the heart and the intercessor the spirit, in other words, that they have not yet arrived at the station of the heart, which is the protector of the soul that delivers it from chastisement and assist it against privation, nor [have they arrived] at the station of the spirit that it might intercede for them by reinforcing [the soul] with the support of propinquity, deriving its strength from God, and [by] acting as a means between them and God.

And drive not away those who supplicate their Lord morning and evening, desiring His face. The unbelievers came before MuṣṬafā and said, “O MuḤammad, we want to have faith in you, but it is beneath our dignity to sit with these beggars and smell the unpleasant scent of their shabby clothes. Keep them away from you so that we may have faith in you.” God's Messenger desired eagerly for them to have faith, which is why God said, “Perhaps thou art consuming thyself with grief that they do not have faith in this talk” [18:6]. One narrative has reported that God's Messenger sent ʿUmar with a message to these poor men, telling them to come less often for a few days so that perhaps those people would have faith. ʿUmar had not taken three steps before Gabriel came and brought this verse-“And drive not away! O MuḤammad, do not drive them away, for I have not driven them away. Do not caress those whom I have not called.” Yes, those accepted by the Presence are one thing, those driven away by severance something else! Those poor men were the ones called by And God invites to the abode of peace [10:25], and those estranged ones were the ones driven away by Slink into it, and do not talk to Me! [23:108]. God's Messenger called ʿUmar back. The unbelievers returned and said, “If you can, at least give us a turn one day and them a turn another day, and then we may have faith in you.” God's Messenger aspired to set these turns as they wanted. Gabriel came and brought this verse: “And keep thy soul patient with those who supplicate their Lord [18:28]. Be with them, for I am with them. You should want them, for I want them.” When the unbelievers despaired of his setting down turns day by day, they returned and said, “If you do not set down turns, we allow that. We will sit along with them for a time, and you look at us, not at them. You show respect to us, and then we will have faith in you.” MuṣṬafā called ʿUmar and sent him to the poor men to make their hearts happy and to seek their heart's approval for this so that perhaps those unbelievers would have faith.

And even so We have tried, that is, with the like of such tremendous trial and affliction, We have tried, some of them, who are the veiled, by others, for those who are veiled, seeing from those [others] nothing but their form and their evil state outwardly as well as their poverty and need and not seeing their worth and their [spiritual] level and their goodly state inwardly, despise them and their eyes scorn them with regard to what they enjoy of wealth, repute, comfort and an easy life, and so they say [the following] about them: 'Are these the ones whom God has favoured from among usḍ', with guidance, sarcastically, when by God these they are the ones whose living is the most wholesome, their state and their waystation the most exalted and their measure and level the most magnificent before God and before those who know them, as Noah, peace be upon him, said Nor do I say to those whom your eyes scorn that God will not give them any good [Q. 11:31]: nay indeed, good and nothing but good is what God has given them. Is God not best aware of those who are thankfulḍ, who are thankful to Him in reality by employing the grace of their existence, their attributes and their limbs and what He sustains them with in the way of provisions and sources of livelihood in acts of obedience to God. Thus they give thanks to Him in return for the outward grace by worshipping [Him] and conceptualising this [grace] as issuing from the Gracious One and expending it in acts that are pleasing to God; and in return for the grace of [having] limbs [they give thanks to Him] by using these [limbs] to worship Him and to wayfare upon His path, to actualise knowledge of Him and to know His attributes; and in return for the grace of attributes [they thank Him] by effacing them in God and by admitting their inability to [truly] know Him, thank Him and worship Him; and in return for the grace of existence [they thank Him] by means of annihilation in the source of presential vision such that God shows His appreciation of their effort by means of [granting them] existence bestowed from [His Name] the Truth and teaches them that He is the Appreciative One who is thanked for Himself by means of Himself, and that none except Him is able to [truly] thank Him. Hence they say, 'Glory be to You: we have not come to know You in the way You truly deserve. Glory be to You: we have not worshipped You as You truly deserve to be worshipped'. That is His knowledge of their gratitude and His recompense [of it] from Him.

And when those who have faith in Our signs come to thee, say, “Peace be upon you. Your Lord has written mercy against Himself, that whosoever of you does an ugly deed in ignorance, and thereafter repents and makes wholesome, He is forgiving, ever-merciful.” “The faithful are one thing, the recognizers something else. The faithful first look at the artifacts and the signs, then they reach Us from the signs. The recognizers first reach Us, then they return from Us to the signs. “O MuḤammad! Unto those who have faith in Us by the intermediary of the signs, convey Our greeting of peace by the intermediary of yourself! Unto those who recognize Us without interme- diary and find Us without the artifacts, We will convey Our greetings of peace without intermedi- ary.” That is in His words, “Peace-a word from an ever-merciful Lord” [36:58]. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, he who recognizes You through the artifacts depends on the secondary causes, he who recognizes You through the attributes is imprisoned by reports, and he who recognizes You by allusion seeks companionship. He who is snatched away by You is protected from himself.” Although He has turned you over to the angel who writes your slips against you, He Himself has undertaken to write mercy for you. His writing for you is beginningless, and that writing against you is temporal. The temporal does not nullify the beginningless. WāsiṬī said, “By His mercy they arrived at worshiping Him. It is not that by worshiping Him they arrived at His mercy. By His mercy they attained what is with Him, not by their acts, for the Prophet said, 'Not even I, unless God envelops me with His mercy.'” Whosoever of you does an ugly deed in ignorance, and thereafter repents and makes whole- some, He is forgiving, ever-merciful. It has been narrated in a report, “You called upon Me, and I said 'Here I am!' You asked from Me, and I bestowed upon you. You stood up against Me, and I gave you respite. You left Me, and I took care of you. You disobeyed Me, and I curtained you. If you return to Me, I will accept you. If you turn away from Me, I will wait for you.” He is saying, “My servants, My creatures! You called out to Me, I answered you with 'Here I am!' You asked for blessings from Me, I bestowed gifts upon you.

And thus We distinguish the signs, that is, just like that clarification that We have made to these believers, We clarify to you Our attributes, and that it may become clear [to you] the way, of those who are veiled by their attributes, those who act on them in the [evil] way that they do, which is their crime.

Say: 'Truly I have been forbidden to worship, those besides God whom you worship by your caprice in the way of wealth or soul or lust or corporeal pleasure or otherwise, but no: 'I shall not follow your whims, by worshipping these and then end up astray by being veiled thereby and fail to be guided to the affirmation of Oneness. The significance of the [use of the] past tense [here of the verb qad ḍalaltu] is that my error would have been realised in such a situation and I would be nowhere near guidance.

And with Him are the keys of the Unseen, to the end [of the verse]: know that the unseen is made up of levels, the first of which is the unseen of unseens which is the knowledge of God called first solicitude; then comes the unseen of the world of spirits which is the engraving in an all-encompassing manner of the forms of all that has existed and will exist from pre-eternity and sempiternity in the first intelligible world which is the spirit of the world called the Mother Book, which is the preceding decree; then comes the unseen of the world of the hearts which is that very engraving itself differentiated in cognitive detail universally and particularly in the world of the universal soul, which is the heart of the world called the Preserved Tablet; then comes the unseen of the imaginal world, which is the engraving of engendered beings in their entirety within the particular souls of the celestial spheres imprinted in the celestial bodies therein entified, individuated and joined to their moments in accordance to the very thing that occurs: this world is the one referred to in the [revelations of the] law as the heaven of this world (al-samāÌ al-dunyā), since it is the nearest of the levels of the unseen to the world of witnessing and the tablet of divine predestination, which is the differentiated form of His decree. God's knowledge, which is the first solicitude, entails His encompassing of all things by the presence of His essence in all of these worlds, which constitute the very source of His essence, such that He has knowledge of them together with all of the forms within them as individual entities and not through some additional form: [His] knowledge of these is the very thing that they are. Not even the weight of an atom escapes Him in the heavens or in the earth [Q. 34:3]. Thus if mafātiḥ is [taken as] the plural of maftaḥ, which is a 'store' (makhzan), then it means that with Him are those storehouses that subsume all of the unseens, by virtue of His essence being present therein; none but He knows them. If it is [taken as] the plural of miftaḥ, in the sens of 'key' (miftāḥ), then either it has that very meaning [of 'keys'], in other words, that its doors are closed and the keys are in His hand such that no one accesses them, or [it has the meaning] that the causes of its [the unseen's] manifestation and its being brought out from its place to the world of witness such that creatures are able to know it lies in His power and His disposal, preserved with Him, none other than Him is able to extract it from Him in order to know what it contains, being His Names, exalted be He; as for the 'clear book', this is the heaven of this world by virtue of these particulars being entified therein despite their number and individuations.

Then He raises you up therein, that is, in the sound deeds that you have committed and [in] what you have earned, for recompense, so that a term, which He has specified for resurrection and revivification, may be accomplished, whereafter you shall be returned to your Lord at the source of the nondelimited union so that He might inform you [of what you used to do] by making manifest upon you the forms of your deeds and recompense you therewith.

He is the Vanquisher over His servants, by His disposal over them as He wishes and His annihilation of them in the source of nondelimited union, since there is nothing that will not be vanquished therein. And He sends over you guardians, namely, their faculties wherein is imprinted every state in accordance with the extent of its firm-rootedness or lack thereof, manifesting itself on them upon their being stripped off from the body and assuming a form that corresponds to it, being either subtle and spiritual leading it to the spirit and to reward, or dark and corporeal leading it to chastisement. Indeed these forms will be manifested upon their limbs and organs, becoming configured according to their configurations and will speak against them through their deeds by the tongue of the state; and [these guardians] are also the heavenly faculties, to which we have alluded and the engraving therein of all particular accidents, that are manifested on them in their entirety upon their separation from the body, leaving out neither small nor great but having counted it against them [cf. Q. 18:49], these being the very messengers that receive them upon death.

The 'restoration' shall also be to the source of the nondelimited union for the reckoning. He is the swiftest of reckoners, since their reckoning takes place at the same time as their death.

Say: 'Who delivers you from the darknesses of the land, that are the veils of the corporeal coverings and the ego-centric attributes, and, the darknesses of, the sea, that are the veils of the attributes of hearts and the reflection of the intellects; you call upon Him, to remove these [veils], openly, in your souls, and secretly, in your inmost consciousness, �Verily, if He were to deliver us from these, veils, we shall truly be among, those who are thankful for the grace of deliverance through uprightness and fixity.

Say: 'God delivers you therefrom, by removing those veils by means of the lights of the self-disclosures of His attributes, and from every distress, that is, [from] what remains in your preparedness of the potential for your perfections, [delivering you therefrom] by bringing these out, even if a remnant of the remnants of your existence should be a distress for you because of your preparedness for annihilation and for the deliverance of yourselves from this [remnant] totally by the potency of [your] preparedness and the perfection of [your] yearning, then He would deliver you therefrom, yet you, after coming to know this noble station and what has been kept in store for you, associate, with Him your souls and your caprices worshipping them.

Say: 'He has the power to send forth upon you a chastisement from above you, by your being veiled by intelligibles and spiritual veils, or from beneath your feet, by your being veiled by the veils of nature, or to confound you in parties, or to mix you together as separate parties, each party following the religion of one of your faculties which they take as their imam and by which they counterpose the other party, so that confusion and chaos or fighting ensues between you; or [He mixes you] as parties with differing creeds, each party following the religion of a false messiah or a human devil or a jinn which they adopt as their imam; or He makes your souls as parties by making each one of your faculties hold sway over your hearts so that it [the soul] seeks its own particular pleasure through that [faculty], with one drawing him to wrath while the another [draws him] to lust or covetousness or otherwise. The heart thus becomes overwhelmed and incapacitated between them, captive in their hold, every time it resolves to actualise the pleasure of this [faculty], the other one prevents it. Confusion and chaos ensues between these [faculties] within your existences since they are not disciplined by the rule of one subjugating master who is able to vanquish them and to govern them with a unified command and establish each one of these [faculties] in its [proper] station where it would reside obedient and compliant, so that the kingdom of existence stands in order and the dominion is established for the master of the heart. According to this [last] interpretation, every one of them would constitute a party or separate parties following different religions and not any one individual.

Your people have denied it, that is, your people [have denied] this chastisement; yet it is the, fixed, truth, that shall descend upon them. Say: 'I am not a guardian over you: [I am not] one who has been charged with guardianship [of you], to protect you and defend you from this chastisement.

For every, thing concerning which a tiding comes, there is a locus in which it will occur and reside. And you will come to know', when the coverings of your bodies are removed from you and the pain of this chastisement reveals itself upon you in the forms deserved by your souls.

When you see those who engage in discourse about Our signs, that is, Our attributes, by manifesting the attributes of their souls and affirming that they possess knowledge and power; turn away from them, for they are veiled and are idolaters. And if Satan should make you forget, by seducing you with falsehoods and superstitions and through the evil insinuations of your soul such that you manifest yourself through some of its attributes and end up corresponding to these [idolaters] in genus, inclining to companionship of them, then do not sit after, having remembered by Our reminding of you, with the folk, who have committed evil against their souls by placing their attributes in place of My attributes and veiling these [souls] with their attributes. For companionship of them has influence and you are on the verge of succumbing to becoming veiled by the misfortune of their company by means of variegation.

And upon, those who are affirmers of Oneness, who disengage from the garments of their attributes and shun their configurations, there shall be no [obligation to] account for those [others] who are veiled, in any way [whatsoever]: in other words, they shall not become veiled as a result of their mixing with them and thus end up being equal to them [in veiledness]. Rather, We have mentioned them so that perhaps they will guard against keeping company with them and [against] any variegation which they might fall into or [against becoming involved in] their evil fate, their affair and their account and keep company with them. Instead, let them remind them from time to time with the minimum of interaction so that perhaps they might guard against acts of idolatrous association and being veiled and be delivered by the blessedness of the companionship of those [God-fearing ones]. Or [it means] that they are not accountable for the deeds of those [veiled ones] and their evil consequences; but let them mention these [deeds] to them with censure and prohibition that perhaps they might guard against such [deeds].

And forsake those who take, that is, shun those whose religion and habit are caprice and diversion, since they pay no attention to this [Reminder] because of the firm-rootedness of that conviction in them and [because of] their being deluded by the sensory life. Turn away from them and warn by means of the QurÌān lest a soul should be veiled for what it has earned when the religion and custom of such [a soul] is not like that and in whom that conviction has not taken a firm rooting, but [a soul] which nevertheless commits by natural inclination deeds that are similar to the deeds of those [veiled ones] and might thus become veiled because of them. For such [a soul] will be influenced by this [Reminder] and will take heed and desist: so warn such [a soul] lest it should become like them and be prevented by its deeds from guidance whereafter, once it has been veiled by what it has earned, no ransom will be accepted from it. The draught of boiling water constitutes the intensity of its yearning for perfection because of the potency of its preparedness; the painful chastisement is its privation from that [perfection] because of its being veiled by its deeds and configurations.

Say: 'Shall we call upon, instead of God: that is, shall we worship that which in reality has no power or existence to profit or cause hurt, and so be turned back, to idolatrous association, after God has guided usḍ, with true guidance to the affirmation of [His] Oneness - Like one whom, the devils of estimation and imagination have carried off in the pursuit of the earth of the soul, bewildered, not knowing in which direction to walk or what to do, without a path or a purpose; he has companions, escorts in the way of reflection and practical and considerative reason, who call him to guidance, saying: �Come to us, for this is the path [of guidance]!�, but he does not hear because the auditory channels of his heart are sealed [shut] with caprice. Say: 'Truly, the guidance of God, which is the path of the affirmation of Oneness, is [the true] guidance, and nothing else; and we have been commanded to submit to the Lord of the Worlds, so that we might be willingly led to the attribute of lordship by the effacing of our attributes in the One disclosing Himself in that [attribute of lordship] and submitting It to Him,

and so that we might establish the prayer of the presence of the heart, fear Him and take Him as a shield for us against [the manifestation of our] attributes so that He might be the One whose attributes are assumed [by us] and that through Him we might be rid of our existence so that He might be the One to Whom the gathering will be by His essence upon our annihilation in Him.

He it is Who created, the heavens of the spirits and the earth of the body, upholding justice, which is the exigency of His essence. And the day He says, 'Be', and it is, that is, the moment of timeless time which is the pre-eternity of the pre-eternal manifestation of things in the pre-eternity of His essence, which is the absolute beginninglessness of pre-eternity, being when His eternal will became attached to the manifestation [of that will] in the entifications of His essence, expressed in His statement 'Be': this is after the beginninglessness of pre-eternities, considered rationally, but not in the sense that these [entifications] are posterior to that beginninglessness, rather in terms of the hierarchy of rational consideration of His essence, exalted be He. For entifications are posterior to the absolute pure Ipseity by virtue of reason and in reality: the manifestation of these [entifications] through [His] will referred to by His words 'Be and it is' without any interval or posteriority, is expressed by [the form] 'and it is', because in pre-eternity it was not but then came to be. His words are the truth: that is, at that moment especially the timelessness of His will, which entailed the existence of originated things in the way that they were, fixed in their state and immutable, also entailed that these be in the most excellent way possible in terms of organisation and hierarchy and in the most equitable way in terms of configuration and composition; the day when the Trumpet is blown, the moment of His blowing into the Trumpet, namely, [the moment of] giving life to the forms of engendered things (mukawwanāt) by effusing their spirits upon them, there is no kingdom other than His, for in themselves these [things] are dead, having neither existence nor life, let alone any ownership (mālikiyya). He is the Knower of the Unseen, that is, the realities of the world of spirits, which constitute His dominion (malakūt), and the visible, that is, the forms of the world of bodies, which constitute His kingdom (mulk). He is the Wise, who has brought these into existence and placed them within a hierarchy in accordance with His wisdom, effusing upon each form the spirit that befits it; the Aware, who knows their innermost aspects and outward ones, their specific qualities and their acts.

And when Abraham said to his father, that is, remind of the moment of Abraham's wayfaring along the path of the affirmation of Oneness when We gave him insight and guidance and apprised him of the idolatry of his people and their veiledness by the manifestation of the world of the kingdom from the realities of the world of the dominion and His lordship, exalted be He, of [all] things through His names, believing [instead] in the effective power of celestial bodies and engendered beings, distracted thereby from the Engenderer Himself, which is why he [Abraham] censures them for that, saying to their leader and their most senior one, his father: 'Do you take idols as godsḍ, believing in their efficacyḍ I see you and your people in manifest error', [error] that is manifest and can be known sensorially.

So also We were showing Abraham the dominion of the heavens and the earth, that he might be one of those with certainty. When night darkened over him, he saw a star. He said, “This is my Lord.” When it set he said, “I love not those that set.”... Then when he saw the sun rising, he said, “This is my Lord, this is greater.” When it set he said, “O my people, I am quit of what you associate. Surely I have turned my face toward Him who originated the heavens and the earth, unswerving, and I am not of the associaters.” First He showed him the dominion of heaven and earth so that he would derive evidence of the exis- tence of the Artisan by way of inference. He looked at the stars and said, “This is my Lord,” that is, “evidence of my Lord, for my Lord has no beginning or end, but this has set.” He said, “I love not those that set.” At last the beauty of the Haqiqah showed its face to him. By means of inference and proofs he went back to witnessing and face-to-face vision. He turned away from everything and said, “Surely they are an enemy to me, save the Lord of the Worlds” [26:77]. He said to Gabriel, “As for turning toward you, no.” First he was like a knower, then he became like a recognizer. WāsiṬī said, “The world's creatures are going to Him, but the recognizers are coming from Him.” He also said, “If someone says, 'I recognized God through the evidence,' ask him how he recognized the evidence.'” True, at the beginning there is no escape from evidence, as was the beginning of Abraham's path. All that evidence came into Abraham's path-the star, the moon, the sun. When he reached each piece of evidence, he would cling to it and say, “This is my Lord.” When he passed beyond the degrees of the evidence, he saw the beauty of tawḤīd with the eye of face-to-face vision. He said, “O my people, I am quit of what you associate,” that is, I am quit of inference from the crea- tures to the Creator, for there is no evidence for Him save Himself. This is the same as that great one of the religion said: “I recognized God through God, and I recognized that which is beneath God through God's light.

So also We were showing Abraham the dominion of the heavens and the earth, that he might be one of those with certainty. When night darkened over him, he saw a star. He said, “This is my Lord.” When it set he said, “I love not those that set.”... Then when he saw the sun rising, he said, “This is my Lord, this is greater.” When it set he said, “O my people, I am quit of what you associate. Surely I have turned my face toward Him who originated the heavens and the earth, unswerving, and I am not of the associaters.” First He showed him the dominion of heaven and earth so that he would derive evidence of the exis- tence of the Artisan by way of inference. He looked at the stars and said, “This is my Lord,” that is, “evidence of my Lord, for my Lord has no beginning or end, but this has set.” He said, “I love not those that set.” At last the beauty of the Haqiqah showed its face to him. By means of inference and proofs he went back to witnessing and face-to-face vision. He turned away from everything and said, “Surely they are an enemy to me, save the Lord of the Worlds” [26:77]. He said to Gabriel, “As for turning toward you, no.” First he was like a knower, then he became like a recognizer. WāsiṬī said, “The world's creatures are going to Him, but the recognizers are coming from Him.” He also said, “If someone says, 'I recognized God through the evidence,' ask him how he recognized the evidence.'” True, at the beginning there is no escape from evidence, as was the beginning of Abraham's path. All that evidence came into Abraham's path-the star, the moon, the sun. When he reached each piece of evidence, he would cling to it and say, “This is my Lord.” When he passed beyond the degrees of the evidence, he saw the beauty of tawḤīd with the eye of face-to-face vision. He said, “O my people, I am quit of what you associate,” that is, I am quit of inference from the crea- tures to the Creator, for there is no evidence for Him save Himself. This is the same as that great one of the religion said: “I recognized God through God, and I recognized that which is beneath God through God's light.

So also We were showing Abraham the dominion of the heavens and the earth, that he might be one of those with certainty. When night darkened over him, he saw a star. He said, “This is my Lord.” When it set he said, “I love not those that set.”... Then when he saw the sun rising, he said, “This is my Lord, this is greater.” When it set he said, “O my people, I am quit of what you associate. Surely I have turned my face toward Him who originated the heavens and the earth, unswerving, and I am not of the associaters.” First He showed him the dominion of heaven and earth so that he would derive evidence of the exis- tence of the Artisan by way of inference. He looked at the stars and said, “This is my Lord,” that is, “evidence of my Lord, for my Lord has no beginning or end, but this has set.” He said, “I love not those that set.” At last the beauty of the Haqiqah showed its face to him. By means of inference and proofs he went back to witnessing and face-to-face vision. He turned away from everything and said, “Surely they are an enemy to me, save the Lord of the Worlds” [26:77]. He said to Gabriel, “As for turning toward you, no.” First he was like a knower, then he became like a recognizer. WāsiṬī said, “The world's creatures are going to Him, but the recognizers are coming from Him.” He also said, “If someone says, 'I recognized God through the evidence,' ask him how he recognized the evidence.'” True, at the beginning there is no escape from evidence, as was the beginning of Abraham's path. All that evidence came into Abraham's path-the star, the moon, the sun. When he reached each piece of evidence, he would cling to it and say, “This is my Lord.” When he passed beyond the degrees of the evidence, he saw the beauty of tawḤīd with the eye of face-to-face vision. He said, “O my people, I am quit of what you associate,” that is, I am quit of inference from the crea- tures to the Creator, for there is no evidence for Him save Himself. This is the same as that great one of the religion said: “I recognized God through God, and I recognized that which is beneath God through God's light.

So also We were showing Abraham the dominion of the heavens and the earth, that he might be one of those with certainty. When night darkened over him, he saw a star. He said, “This is my Lord.” When it set he said, “I love not those that set.”... Then when he saw the sun rising, he said, “This is my Lord, this is greater.” When it set he said, “O my people, I am quit of what you associate. Surely I have turned my face toward Him who originated the heavens and the earth, unswerving, and I am not of the associaters.” First He showed him the dominion of heaven and earth so that he would derive evidence of the exis- tence of the Artisan by way of inference. He looked at the stars and said, “This is my Lord,” that is, “evidence of my Lord, for my Lord has no beginning or end, but this has set.” He said, “I love not those that set.” At last the beauty of the Haqiqah showed its face to him. By means of inference and proofs he went back to witnessing and face-to-face vision. He turned away from everything and said, “Surely they are an enemy to me, save the Lord of the Worlds” [26:77]. He said to Gabriel, “As for turning toward you, no.” First he was like a knower, then he became like a recognizer. WāsiṬī said, “The world's creatures are going to Him, but the recognizers are coming from Him.” He also said, “If someone says, 'I recognized God through the evidence,' ask him how he recognized the evidence.'” True, at the beginning there is no escape from evidence, as was the beginning of Abraham's path. All that evidence came into Abraham's path-the star, the moon, the sun. When he reached each piece of evidence, he would cling to it and say, “This is my Lord.” When he passed beyond the degrees of the evidence, he saw the beauty of tawḤīd with the eye of face-to-face vision. He said, “O my people, I am quit of what you associate,” that is, I am quit of inference from the crea- tures to the Creator, for there is no evidence for Him save Himself. This is the same as that great one of the religion said: “I recognized God through God, and I recognized that which is beneath God through God's light.

So also We were showing Abraham the dominion of the heavens and the earth, that he might be one of those with certainty. When night darkened over him, he saw a star. He said, “This is my Lord.” When it set he said, “I love not those that set.”... Then when he saw the sun rising, he said, “This is my Lord, this is greater.” When it set he said, “O my people, I am quit of what you associate. Surely I have turned my face toward Him who originated the heavens and the earth, unswerving, and I am not of the associaters.” First He showed him the dominion of heaven and earth so that he would derive evidence of the exis- tence of the Artisan by way of inference. He looked at the stars and said, “This is my Lord,” that is, “evidence of my Lord, for my Lord has no beginning or end, but this has set.” He said, “I love not those that set.” At last the beauty of the Haqiqah showed its face to him. By means of inference and proofs he went back to witnessing and face-to-face vision. He turned away from everything and said, “Surely they are an enemy to me, save the Lord of the Worlds” [26:77]. He said to Gabriel, “As for turning toward you, no.” First he was like a knower, then he became like a recognizer. WāsiṬī said, “The world's creatures are going to Him, but the recognizers are coming from Him.” He also said, “If someone says, 'I recognized God through the evidence,' ask him how he recognized the evidence.'” True, at the beginning there is no escape from evidence, as was the beginning of Abraham's path. All that evidence came into Abraham's path-the star, the moon, the sun. When he reached each piece of evidence, he would cling to it and say, “This is my Lord.” When he passed beyond the degrees of the evidence, he saw the beauty of tawḤīd with the eye of face-to-face vision. He said, “O my people, I am quit of what you associate,” that is, I am quit of inference from the crea- tures to the Creator, for there is no evidence for Him save Himself. This is the same as that great one of the religion said: “I recognized God through God, and I recognized that which is beneath God through God's light.

But his people disputed with him, over [his] denial of the effective power of celestial bodies and engendered beings and [over] shunning the worship of all that is besides God. He said, 'Do you dispute with me concerning God when He has guided me, to the affirmation of His Onenessḍ I, shall, have no fear of what you associate with Him, and [what] you claim of its effective power, ever, except, at the moment, that my Lord should will something, to befall me from its part in the way of some mishap or harm, but that would be from Him [in reality] and with His knowledge, not from it. My Lord encompasses all things through His knowledge, knowing my state and wherein lies my welfare: if in His knowledge He should deem it better for me to suffer harm from its part, He will do so; will you not remember, and thus distinguish between what is incapable and one who is Powerfulḍ

Those who believe, with the affirmation of the unity of the essence, and have not, confounded, their belief with evildoing, in the way of the manifesting of the soul of the heart, or the existence of some remnant, [both of] which are subtle [forms of] idolatrous association, theirs is, true, security, alongside which there is no fear, and they are rightly guided, in reality to the Truth.

That argument of Ours, that is, the argument for affirming [God's] Oneness with which Abraham used against his people.

And We bestowed upon him Isaac and Jacob; each one We guided. And Noah We guided before, and of his seed, David and Solomon and Job and Joseph, and Moses and Aaron; and so We requite the virtuous.

[And Zachariah and John, and Jesus, and Elias] all were of the righteous, those who uphold the rigtheousness of the world and keep its organisation in check, managing it in order that they might become upright through the existence bestowed by [His name] the Truth after the annihilation of human existence.

[And Ishmael and Elisha, and Jonah and Lot:] all We preferred above, the two worlds of their time.

They measured not God with the rightful due of His measure.... Say “God,” then leave them to play in their plunging. In other words, they did not recognize Him with the rightful due of His recognition, they did not describe Him with the rightful due of His description, and they did not venerate Him with the right- ful due of His veneration. No one has recognized Him as is worthy of Him. No one has known Him as is worthy of Him. They encompass nothing of His knowledge [2:255]. You have been given no knowledge save a little [17:85]. Majestic is the Unity, so how can there be finding? Holy is the Self-Sufficient, so how can there be arrival? He is known, but encompassing Him in knowledge is absurd; He is seen, but perceiving His attribute is impossible; He is recognized, but having an overview of His descrip- tion is not correct. He took away His attribute and measure so that no one exalted would reach His exaltation, no understanding would perceive His extent, no knower would know His measure. What familiarity has water and dust with Him who always was and always will be? What affinity has eternity with new arrival? How can the subsistent Real join with the trace of what undergoes annihilation? How can the worthy link up with the unworthy? How can the prisoner of variegation reach the guise of stability? If others were of any use in His gentle presence, the passionate for His beauty would have a hope for union. It would be possible to search, were there a way to seek; He would be known in the end, were there a way to ask. Say “God,” then leave them. This is an eloquent allusion to the reality of solitariness, the center point of togetherness, making the aspiration one-pointed, recognizing the Real as one, and turning away from others toward Him. Say “God,” then leave them: Keep the heart turned toward Him and leave aside the others. What does someone seized by His love have to do with others? In this work, this world and the next are like a wall, and, for the recognizer, talking about the two is noth- ing but defect and shame. Shiblī said to one of his companions, “Stick to God, leave everything else, and be with Him. And say, “God,' then leave them to play in their plunging.”

Who does greater wrong than he who forges a lie against God? In the tongue of commentary placing lies on God and tying lies to Him is what we explained and clari- fied in the story of Musaylima and ʿAnsī.12 As for the tongue of the folk of allusion and the tasting of the chevaliers of the Path, this has another secret and intimation, by virtue of the report given by MuṣṬafā, “Every verse has an outwardness and an inwardness.” The reality of this secret is that anyone who claims recognition of God is a forger in reality, for the majesty of Unity is pure and not in any need of recognition by water and dust. This is why the pirs of the Tariqah have said, “Whoever remembers has forged, whoever shows patience has been audacious, and whoever recognizes is cut off.” Junayd said, “My greatest sin is my recognition of Him.” In other words, “It is that I should fancy and claim that I have recognized Him as is fitting for Him in the rightful due of His reality and the limits of His exaltedness.” But such recognition does not come from the Adamite, nor do his understanding and imagination reach it. This recognition fits only into the Lordhood's own knowledge, for in reality He recognizes Himself and knows Himself. God says, “They measured not God with the rightful due of His measure” [6:91]. The attributes of new arrival have no access to eternity, and everything that comes from the compass of power to the world of ignorance is im- prisoned by variegation, and variegated things have no access to stability. Whenever someone is guided by gazing and inference, he is walking in his own tracks. Whoever walks in his own tracks is nothing but deluded. Whoever hopes for recognition is seeking his own portion, and whoever seeks his own portion is nothing but self-nurturing and self-worshiping. Quit being the companion of self-nurturing habit-worshipers! Kiss the dust beneath the feet of those who have disowned self! [DS 972] The Adamite was not, then he was. That which was not, then was, is nonbeing. How can recogni- tion of being come from nonbeing? Someone who exists between two nonexistences is nothing at all. How can all things come to a nothing? Good fortune does not come by artifice, nor recognition by causes. Felicity does not come by worship, nor recognition by sufficiency. Shiblī said, “You did not recognize Him with your recognition. On the contrary, you perceived Him with your knowledges and your opinions and you intellected Him with your imaginations and your understandings. You measured Him with your beliefs and your hearts, and all that is turned back upon you and created like you.”

And now you have come to Us singly, disengaged from attributes, attachments, family, relations and existence by being absorbed in the source of the Essential union, as We created you the first time, by producing the atoms of your ipseities in pre-eternity at the taking of the covenant [cf. Q. 7:172], and you have left what We conferred on you, of means, forms of knowledge and qualities of excellence, behind your backs; and We do not see with you, your means, your causes and what you preferred by your caprices and attached yourselves to of your beloved things and your objects of worship, whom you claimed to be associates amongst you, out of your love for them and your devotion to them and your ascribing of [the power of] effect to them, and your heeding of them and equipping of yourselves with them. Now that separation has befallen you as a result of the mutation of states and the changing of forms and figures, and that which you claimed, as a thing possessing existence, has failed you, by your witnessing: [this statement] constituting universal laudation of God.

Surely God is the splitter apart of the grain and the date-stone. He splits open the seeds of food so that plants will come out and be suited for nourishment. In the same way He splits open the seed of the heart so that the jewel of self-purification, within which is the servant's deliverance, will show its face. The former becomes the cause of the abidance of the servant's soul, and the latter the cause of the firm fixity of the servant's faith. He Himself nurtures both and provides daily provision to both. He nurtures the heart with witnessing Him, and He nur- tures the soul with His blessings. Then He makes the soul the steed of the heart. It rides upon it in the playing field of worship and makes it pass over the way stations of the acts of worship, arriving at the goal of Surely the final end is unto your Lord [53:42]. This is the day of triumph, endless felicity, and boundless good fortune, risen up gratis for the servant-the fragrant herb of boasting sprung from the thorn of poverty, and the dawn of happiness risen from the horizon of freedom.

Splitter apart of the dawn; and He has made the night as a stillness. If He brightens the regions of the world with the morning of being, what wonder is it that He should brighten the secret regions of the heart with the morning of recognition! One of the pirs of the Tariqah said, “Splitter apart of the dawn means that He splits open the hearts with the explanation of the lights of unseen things and He illuminates the secret cores with the remembrance of the good things and the repose of the reports.”

And He it is Who appointed for you, the stars of the senses, that you may guide your course by them amid the darkness, of the land of bodies, to the welfare of livelihood and [to] the sea of hearts by acquiring knowledge by these [senses]. Verily We have distinguished the signs, that is, the spirit, the heart and the senses, for a people who know, that.

He it is who has configured you from one soul. By way of allusion He is saying, “I created you from Adam, that unique soul, and among all the created things, I gave no one else the good fortune I gave to him and the rank and level I appointed for him.” He called Himself, “the most beautiful of creators” [23:14], and He said of Adam, “in the most beautiful stature” [95:4]. In other words, God is the most beautiful of creators, and Adam is the most beautiful of creatures. “O Adam, in creativity, I am the unique, and among the creatures you are the unique.” This is the same that is brought in one of the reports concerning the attribute of Adam's creation: The Exalted Lord said, “I loved something, so I created it solitary for the Solitary.”

And He it is who sent down out of heaven water, by which We bring forth the growth of everything.... Gaze at their fruits when they fructify and ripen. Surely in these are signs for a people who have faith. He alludes to the Essence of the Unity, who alludes to the attributes of the Lordhood, sent down alludes to the artisanry of the Divinity. He is a Lord who is existent by Essence, described by at- tributes, and recognized through artifacts and signs. It has also been said that He alludes to what is beyond being, so that the listener will give ear to it, the seeker will find access to it, and the gazer will look to it. Who alludes to being, so that the listener will become familiar, the seeker will come to see, and the wanter will come to know. He it is comes in the Qur'an thirty-nine times, twenty with and, and nineteen without. Sent down out of heaven water until the end of the verse-all these are marks that the Creator is one and has no peer in Godhood. He is without contrivance in power, without changing of state in self-standingness, secure from cease in kingship, transcendent in Essence and description. The Lord of the Worlds is calling the servants to this tawḤīd. Do you not see that at the end of the verse He says “Gaze”? Look carefully so that you may know, and know so that you may perceive! Here He speaks of gazing. Elsewhere He says, “None will remember but those who are penitent” [40:13]: No one will gaze, accept, and recognize the reminder except the one whose heart is right with the Real and who gazes upon Him before his eyes. This is the allusion at the end of the verse: “Surely in that are signs for a people who have faith.” The ones who find access to the signs of power are those who have faith in the signs of the attributes, the ones who have shame before God are those who are aware of His gaze, and the ones who will fear God are those who know that God is powerful over them.

Yet they ascribe to God as associates the jinn, that is, they assign the jinn of illusion and imagination as associates of God by their obedience and submission to them, when they know that God created them: how then do they worship other than Himḍ And they falsely impute to Him, they are at variance in [their] pure calumny, [ascribing to Him], sons, from the intellects, and daughters, from the souls, believing them to be effective and to be disengaged entities like Him, generated from Him, without any knowledge, on their part that these are His names and attributes that have no effect except through Him. Glory be to Him and exalted be He, transcendent is He above that He should be a disengaged existent specified by one particular single entification from among entified existents from whom there issue the existences of disengaged intellects and souls, and greatly magnified and extolled be He, above what they describe, Him with!

The Originator of the heavens and the earth, that is, One without analogue or equal in the heavens of the world of spirits and the earth of the world of bodies: how should He have a son, that is to say, how can anything be equal to Him, when He has no consort, since a consort can only be [a consort] through a correspondence in genus, whereas He does not share a correspondence with any genus and since He does not share a correspondence in genus with anything nothing can be equal to Him. Thus there can be no equal of Him from whom something would be generated; and He created everything, by His specification [thereof], [each] entified in His essence and is existentiated through His existence and not because that thing is an existent like Him; and He has knowledge of all things: His knowledge encompasses intellects, souls and other things just as His existence encompasses theirs, while these [things] are encompassed and cannot encompass His knowledge and has no knowledge except through His knowledge and do not exist except through His existence. Thus they are not equal to Him since in themselves they are non-existent and how can a non-existent be equal to the Absolute Existentḍ

That, Originator Who is without equal, described by all of these attributes, then is God, your Lord. There is no god, in existence, but Him, that is, there is no existent except Him when considering the union; the Creator of all things, when considering the differentiations of His attributes. So single out worship for Him [alone], that is, for the Existence that is qualified by all attributes, Who is God, to the exclusion of what is besides Him. And He is Guardian over all things: in other words, only the Originator of all things is worthy of worship; yet despite that He is Guardian over all, preserving them, governing them and furnishing them with provisions and what is needed so that they might attain the perfection that is attached to them.

Vision cannot perceive Him, that is, it cannot encompass Him, because He is too subtle and majestic for its perception. How can it perceive Him when it cannot perceive its own soul which is but a light from Himḍ Yet He perceives [all] vision, because He encompasses all things and [because of] the subtlety of His perception.

Clear insights have come to you from your Lord, that is, clear signs, being the forms of the self-disclosures of His attributes which are the lights of the insights of the heart, for insight is a light by which the heart perceives, much as eyesight is the light by which they eyes perceive; whoever perceives, that is, [whoever] becomes perceptive by these [insights], then the benefit of his perceptions and guidance is only for his own soul; and whoever is veiled from these [insights], then the hurt of his veiledness does not extend to anyone else, rather to him alone. And I am not a keeper over you, a watcher to watch over you and preserve you from misguidance; rather it is God who is the Keeper, preserving you and preserving your deeds.

Had God willed, they would not have been idolaters: in other words, everything that takes place only occurs by the will of God and there is no doubt that the preparednesses by which they fell into idolatry and the causes of such [error] in the way of the teachings of their parents, habits and otherwise take place also by the will of God, for otherwise these things would not take place. If they believe in that, then it will have been by the guidance of God; if not, then be easy on yourself; and We have not set you as a keeper over them, to preserve them from misguidance, nor are you, appointed as a guardian to make them believe. This does not contradict what He says to them in censure later on, where He says, The idolaters will say, 'Had God willed, we would not have been idolaters [Q. 6:148], because they said that out of obstinacy and as a way of pushing away [the need for] faith by that pretext and not out of conviction. Thus with this statement of theirs, even if it might be true in the same case, they were lying and denying the Messenger. For had they been sincere, then they would have known that the affirmation of Oneness on the part of the believers was also by God's will; such is the case with any set of beliefs (dīn) but without obduracy or enmity towards anyone. Had they known that everything occurs only by the will of God, they would not have remained idolaters. Rather they would have become affirmers of [God's] Oneness. Nay, they said that with the purpose of imputing lies, to be obstinate and to prove that they were incapable of desisting from their idolatry. That is why God censures them with that [statement of theirs] and not because it is not so. For they have not been apprised of God's will and just as He willed that they be idolaters at a previous point in time, so now He does not will that they have faith. It is not that the heart of each one of them has been imprinted [with disbelief]: the proof of this is the faith of some of them. Why can it not be that some of them were prepared for faith and affirmation of the Oneness, yet were veiled by habit and by what they received from their fathers and thus fell into idolatry, but that then when they heard the warning and witnessed the signs of the Oneness, they yearned for the Truth and their veil was lifted and they affirmed [His] Onenessḍ That is why He rebukes them with their own statement and demands of them proof that God had always willed that for them, and warns them with the threat of punishment given to those before them, so that perhaps the one in whom there is a modicum of preparedness, when he has been severed from his [false] argument and has heard the threat of punishment given to deniers before him, his veil might be lifted and his heart might soften and he might believe, all of which would be a facilitation for him [from God] and a graciousness in his case; for the world of wisdom is built upon [such] causality.

They have sworn by God the most earnest oaths that if there came to them a sign, to the end [of the verse]: they demanded that habits [within the natural world] be broken and refused clear proofs, because they were veiled by sense and all that is sensory, which is why the call [made] on the basis of wisdom and confirmation through proof, that works with the intelligent ones who are prepared, was of no use with those. Say, 'Signs, that is, the breaking of the habits [of nature] which they requested belong to the world of power which is only with Him. But what will make you realise, that they will not believe when these [signs] comeḍ In other words, I know better than you do that they will not believe in them. Or [it means] what will make you realise that they will believe if these [signs] were to comeḍ Perhaps if they were to come, they would not believe in them. For in the case of he from whom God does not want belief, He will turn his heart and his eyesight over upon the coming of the sign which he had requested and upon the coming of which he claimed that he would believe, such that he will say, 'This is sorcery!' and will not believe in it just as he did not believe before the coming of the sign. He [God] will then leave him to the manifestation of his soul in its attributes and his veiling of himself therewith; that is why He says [the following] at the end of the second verse [in this narrative]:

Were We to send down the angels to them, were the dead to speak to them, and were We to muster all things in front of them, they would still not have faith, unless God willed. He is speaking about those rejected by the Presence, those driven away by severance. “If We were to send the angels of heaven-the proximate and the cherubim, the emissaries and the pi- ous, the watchers over the decree and the measuring out, the trustees of the Exalted Threshold- to the earth to invite the abandoned to Us and to report about Us; and if We were to muster the dead in the earth to direct them to Our threshold; and if We were to bestow eloquence on all the animals and inanimate things, the entities and bodies of the created things, the form and essence of the determined things, and the instances and individuals of the known things and send these to them to offer them the signs of Our divinity and the signposts of Our lordhood so that they may see and know all of the reports, still, as long as I, who am the Lord, did not want and did not show them the road, they would not have faith and they would not find the way to recognize Us. How can a handful of dust talk about the eternal were it not for the eternal solicitude and want of the Generous?” Who is the heart that it should scatter pearls without You? What is the body that it should run a kingdom without You? By God, intelligence does not know the way without You, the spirit has not the gall to remain without You The belief of the Folk of the Sunnah is that as long as the Exalted Lord does not make Himself recognized to the servant's heart, and as long as He does not fix the marks that bear witness to the eternal attributes in the servant's heart, the servant will not find the road to recognition of Him. This is why the ulama of the Sunnah and the leaders of emulation have said, “Recognition becomes necessary when transmitted, requisite when conveyed, and acquired when made known.” Indeed, it is a candle, but when will He light it? It is a pearl, but where will He deposit it? God says, “It is one of My secrets that I deposit in the hearts of those whom I love among My servants.

Thus have We made for every prophet an enemy, satans of jinn and men. When someone's rank is higher, his trial will be more complete. When someone is nearer to the Real and his heart more limpid, his soul will be more captured by the hand of the enemy. Yes, without the grief of tribulation, the story of love cannot be told. Without the venom of trial, the honey of friendship cannot be found. Look at what Adam the Chosen, that sapling honored by the Real and nurtured by hallowing, saw from his enemy Iblis. God says, “Then Satan made them slip therefrom and brought them out from what they were in” [2:36]. And that other elder of the prophets and father of the world's folk, Noah-look at what he saw from his own people. For nine hundred and some years he invited them, and every day they beat him so much that he became unconscious, and they advised his own children to be his enemies. That paragon was patient in this trial and he kept hoping that they would have faith. Finally it was said to him, “None of your community will have faith except those who already have faith” [11:36]. He said, “Lord God, since my hope has been cut off and there is no way to wholesomeness, their being in this world will do nothing but increase corruption and cause ruin. Leave no disbeliever dwelling on the earth [71:26].” After that Abraham, the prophet who was the tree of tawḤīd, fell to his knees night and day, placing his white old age in his hands: “Keep me and my sons away from worshiping idols” [14:35]. Look at what reached him from the rebellious Nimrod and what hardship he suffered from his arrogance and obstinacy! So also the prophets one by one-Hūd, ṣāliḤ, Lot, Zachariah, John, Jesus, Moses-came to lamentation at the hands of the tyrants, the arrogant, and the refractory, weeping to the Real. Then, after all of them, MuḤammad MuṣṬafā's trial was more complete and his torment from enemies greater. Thus he said, “No prophet whatsoever has been tormented as I have been tormented.” Those estranged and disrespectful people did not know the measure of that paragon. They did not have the eyes to recognize him. They set out to kill him and bound their belts in cruelty toward him.

And that the hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter may incline to it, and that the veiled ones might incline to it by their correspondence [to it], and that they may be pleased with it, because of their love of it, intensifying their errancy and causing them to make common cause [against the Prophet] and causing the evils within them to come out into actuality, that they might increase in insolence and transgression against the Prophet, thereby enhancing the potential for his perfection and also for that reason stirring the exigencies of the believers and those in whose preparedness there is a correspondence to the Prophet, provoking their vehemence and increasing their love of the Prophet and their support of him such that their perfections are manifested upon them and the Prophet is fortified by them, as the saying goes that the renown of shaykhs and the great number of their disciples is only [precipitated] by [the great number of] those who deny them.

What, shall I want other than God as a judge? “Shall I take other than God as an object of worship? Certainly not! Should I know a god other than God? No, never.” The object of worship without peer is He, for He is one and unique. In activity and all-compellingness He has no equal, in running the work and mastering the work He has no similar. In caressing servants He is well known, in loving kindness and showing love, He is the one described. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, You are found by the recognizers, You are the wish of the hearts of the yearners, You are mentioned on the tongue of the praisers! How should I not want You, for You hear the voice of the supplicators. How should I not praise You, for You make the hearts of the servants happy. How should I not know You, for You are the adornment of the universe. How should I not love You, for You are the delight of the spirit.”

Perfected is the word of your Lord in truthfulness and justice, that is, His decree has been completed in pre-eternity, in the sense of what He has decreed and determined of the submission of those who will submit and the disbelief of those who will disbelieve, the love of those whom He will love and the enmity of those to whom He will be an enemy, a decree concluded and a judgement that is truthful and corresponding to what will happen, equitable in the correspondence of every speech, every perfection and state to the preparedness of that person from whom they will issue and their being entailed in him; none can change, His pre-eternal judgements. He is the Hearer, of the predetermined words and acts which they manifest, the Knower, of what they hide.

Wert thou to obey most of those in the earth, they would misguide thee from the path of God. In terms of number, God's delegates are few, but they have weight and gravity. The folk of false- hood are many, but they have no weight or meaning. For a world of metaphor, one iota of reality is enough. For a world of foolishness and falsehood, one breath of the lords of finding is enough. One swat of the Lion for a world full of carrion-eaters, one blast of the Trumpet for a hundred thousand Pharaoh-natures! [DS 184] “O MuḤammad! If you see them in terms of number and manyness, they will throw you into trouble. If you seek to get along with them, they will hold you back from the Real. Obey Our command, and turn away from them. So shout out what thou art commanded, and turn away from the associaters” [15:94].

So eat, to the end [of the verse]: this is known from what has already been mentioned in [sūrat] al-MāÌida [Q. 5:1-5] and constitute a cause for the prohibition against obeying or following the leaders of misguidance.

Leave aside the outward of sin and its inward. Know that the Exalted Lord created the creatures with His majestic power and perfect exaltation and arranged them in keeping with His subtle artisanry, wise gaze, and limitless generosity. He completed their limitless blessings both outwardly and inwardly. He said, “He has lavished on you His blessings, outward and inward” [31:20]. Then He asked the servants to be grateful for the blessings: “And be grateful for the blessings of God, if He it is whom you worship” [16:114]. If you want to show what is stipulated for servanthood, then display gratitude for His blessings and do not employ the blessings of your Lord in opposing Him, whether outwardly or inwardly. This is why He said, “Leave aside the outward sin and the inward.” Just as He made blessings two sorts, the outward and the inward, so also He made opposition two sorts, the outward and the inward. The outward blessing is the perfection of creation, and the inward blessing is the beauty of character. The counterparts of these are outward sin, which is op- position that enters the outward bodily parts, and inward sin, which is love for disobedience that enters the heart. This is why Sahl Tustarī said concerning the meaning of this verse, “Abandon acts of disobedience with your limbs and also love for those acts in your heart.” It has also been said that outward sin is seeking this world and inward sin is seeking paradise. Even though seeking paradise is not disobedience in the tongue of learning, in the path of the che- valiers and the tasting of the recognizers, seeking paradise is to seek blessings. When someone seeks blessings, he is held back from the mystery of the Beneficent and the joy of the Presence. They count anything that holds you back from that mystery and joy as association and disobedi- ence, even if, for some people, it is obedience and worship. In this meaning they sang, Any talk that keeps you back from the road-let it be unbelief or faith. Any picture that holds you back from the Friend-let it be ugly or beautiful. [DS 51]

What, is he who was dead, and We gave him life, making for him a light whereby he walks among the people, like one who is in the darknesses, not coming out from them? The life of recognition is one thing, and the life of mortal nature something else. The world's folk live through the life of mortal nature, and the friends live through the life of recognition. The life of mortal nature comes to an end when this world ends and the term arrives. When their term comes, they shall not put it back by an hour, nor put it forward [7:34]. But it is fitting that the life of recognition never come to an end, for recognition will never be finished. Day by day it is more and closer to the Real. God says, “We shall surely give him to live a goodly life” [16:97]. Junayd was washing the corpse of one of his disciples. He took hold of Junayd's index finger and said, “This one is being transferred from abode to abode. His friends do not die. Rather, they are taken from their secret cores to another house.” Junayd said, “Yes, I know, such is the case. But you must let go of my finger so that I can wash you and carry out the custom of the Shariah.” Abū ʿAbdallāh Khafīf said that Abu'l-Ḥasan Muzayyan said, “I went to Mecca, and Shaykh Abū Yaʿqūb AqṬaʿ was in the state of going. They said to me, 'If he looks at you, present the Sha- hadah to him.' They took me as inexperienced because I was a child. I sat at his pillow, and he looked at me. I said, 'O Shaykh, bear witness that there is no god but God!'” He said, “You mean me? By the exaltedness of Him who does not taste death! Nothing re- mains between Him and me save the veil of exaltedness.” Shaykh al-Islām said, “The curtain of His exaltedness is He, for He indeed is He, and you are you.” Abū ʿAbdallāh Khafīf said, “A man was burning in the Divinity beyond the curtain of exalted- ness, and they came and presented him with the Shahadah!” Abu'l-Ḥusayn Muzayyan for a time used to say, “A beggar like me came so that I could pres- ent the Shahadah to His friends!” Shāh Kirmānī recited this verse and then said, “The mark of this life is three things: Finding intimacy by losing dread, being filled with solitariness by the constancy of remembrance, and be- ing aware of awe by the purity of watchfulness.

And thus, We have made in every town, by virtue of the wisdom mentioned whereby prophets are exalted. So it is also in the town of man's existence, which is the body: We have made them great ones, its sinners from among the faculties of the commanding soul, that they may plot therein by leading the heart astray, tempting it and enticing into error; but they plot only against their souls, because the sequel of their plotting shall return against them by causing them to be consumed by the fires of the loss of instruments and means in the Hell-fire of caprice and privation from pleasures and lusts and [by] the actualisation of the corporeal instruments in the vilest of forms and in the worst of states upon the disintegration of the body and at the final return and the sending forth [for the resurrection].

And when a sign comes to them, in the way of an attribute of the heart, a luminous radiation from an angelic character configuration, or knowledge, wisdom and an effusion from a spirit, they deny them by turning away therefrom and [instead], from the part of the estimation and the imagination, they wish for perceptions similar to those intellective and reflective perceptions, and [desire] imaginary compositions and estimative fallacies with which to oppose the veridical proofs in order to believe in them and to yield thereto. God knows best where to place His Message, placing it only where it belongs among the spiritual faculties that are disengaged from primordial substrata. Those who have sinned, by being veiled and plotting to lead astray those who have prepared themselves to be guided, or [those] who pure hearts that have become guided, shall be smitten with humiliation from God, by the elimination of their capacities and their empowerment at the disintegration of the body, and a terrible chastisement, by depriving them of what is favourable for them and the procurement [to them] of what is incompatible for them at the physical resurrection in return for their plotting.

Whomsoever God desires to guide, He expands his breast to the submission. The mark of this expansion is that at three moments He throws three lights into the heart of the servant: the light of intellect at the beginning, the light of learning in the middle, and the light of recognition at the end. Then, with the sum total of these lights, all his difficulties are solved and he begins to see something of the Unseen. MuṣṬafā said, “Be wary of the perspicacity of the man of faith, for he gazes with the light of God.” With the light of the beginning he knows his own defects, with the light of the middle he rec- ognizes his own loss, and with the light of the end he perceives his own nonbeing. With the light of the beginning he escapes from associationism, with the light of the middle he escapes from op- position, and with the light of the end he escapes from himself. Disown yourself, for what harms you is you. Don't talk about stars, for your heaven is you.

This is the path of thy Lord, straight. The straight path is undertaking servanthood while realizing lordhood. This is a dispersion con- firmed by togetherness, and a togetherness delimited by the Shariah. Dispersion without togeth- erness is the effort of the Mu'tazilites, who fell off the road and did not reach the station of the Haqiqah. Togetherness without dispersion is the path of the libertines, who let go of the Shariah and fancied a Haqiqah that was not. It is said that dispersion is the Shariah's place, and togetherness is the Haqiqah's place. If the Shariah is empty of the Haqiqah, this is deprivation, and if the Haqiqah is empty of the Shariah, this is abandonment. The Shariah is explication, the Haqiqah face-to-face vision. MuṣṬafā was possessor of both face-to-face vision and explication. If the Shariah and the Haqiqah are not brought together in the servant, the Abode of Peace will not be his place and home.

Theirs will be the abode of peace, of safety from every deficiency, fault, fear of the manifestation of an attribute or the existence of a remnant, with their Lord, in the presence of His attributes, or the presence of His essence; and He will be their Friend, granting them His love and perfection and admitting them into the shade of His attributes and His essence, placing them within His security by means of timeless subsistence after the annihilation of the misfortunes precipitated by the deeds of their hearts and their [spiritual] moulds during their wayfaring.

And, the day when He shall gather them, on the day of the source of the nondelimited union, all together, We shall say: 'O assembly, of the jinn of the ego-centric faculties, you have garnered much of mankind', that is, [much] of the senses and the external organs, or of the human forms, making them your adherents and the folk whom you obey and your seducing of them and adorning for them the ephemera of this world and corporeal pleasures and your evil whisperings to them to [commit] acts of disobedience. Then their friends from among mankind, who befriended them, will say, 'Our Lord, we enjoyed one another, by profiting each from the other in the form of the concentration (jamʿiyya), but, verily, now we have arrived at the term which You have appointed for us', at death, or at the physical return in the vilest of forms and the most evil of living. He will say, 'The Fire, the fire of being deprived of pleasures and the finding of pain, is your lodging to abide therein' - except what, moment, God wills, that it be lessened or that from among you should be delivered he the cause of whose chastisement is not idolatrous association that had been firmly-rooted in his beliefs. Surely your Lord is Wise, not chastising you except for the configurations of your souls that you have acquired, commensurate with what is entailed by [His] wisdom, Knowing, of the one who is chastised for his beliefs and whose chastisement thus endures, or [who is chastised] for the configurations of his evil deeds and who is thus chastised in the measure commensurate with these [configurations] but is then delivered therefrom.

So, We let some of the evildoers become associate of others, in other words, just like that tremendous and awesome assignment [of chastisement], We assign some to be associates of others by virtue of the consonance of their gains and their mutual correspondence. Thus they become associates of one another and are gathered together in the chastisement, as in the case of the jinn and humans that We have mentioned; or We assign some of them to be masters of others by chastising one for what he [the other] has earned, in the Fire.

['O assembly of jinn and mankind: did not] messengers come to you from among you, from among those mortals who are of your own species - and on the basis of intepretation - the [messengers] mentioned from among your intellects which are faculties from among your own speciesḍ These questions, responses and testimonies are all [spoken] by the tongue of the state and the manifestation of descriptions - as in the saying: 'The wall said to the nail, �Why do you split meḍ�, to which the nail replied, �Ask the one who is hammering me!�' - and as the witnessing of hands and legs in the forms that correspond to the configurations of their deeds and by which they are chastised.

That: a reference to the sending of messengers [to them], the explanation of signs and the reinforcing of arguments through warning and threat. In other words, the matter is that, because your Lord would never destroy towns while they were heedless through [an act of] injustice, since that is contradictory to [His] wisdom.

All shall have degrees, of proximity and remoteness as a result of the deeds that they have committed.

If He will, He can remove you, by annihilating your very being, and leave to succeed after you, from the folk who are obedient to Him, by His mercy.

Surely what you are promised will come. Take what is to come as come, take what is to go as gone, take this bright day as dark, and take this world's delusion as a day that has ended. A chevalier was seen limping without a cause. They asked him, “Why are you limping?” He said, “Tomorrow I am going to the thorn-field.” They said, “Then tomorrow!” He said, “Take tomorrow as come, take this curtain as torn, and take the disgrace as arrived!” How long making the abode of delusion an abode of joy? How long making the abode of flight an abode of lodging? [DS 182] O chevalier! The life of this world is wind-as soon as you look, it's gone. This world is like a mad man's laughter and a drunkard's weeping. The mad man laughs without happiness, and the drunkard weeps without grief. This world is like ice placed in the sun, and it passes in anguish. Or it is like a sugar cube put in the mouth, and it falls apart. Yes, the taste is so sweet, but the body melts away. As soon as you put it in your mouth, it melts. This world is a pleasant gazing place, a verdant disclosure, but as soon as you look, it passes. As soon as you bind your heart to it, it goes. “If not for death, every man would claim lordhood.” Were it not for the abasement of death, from all sides of the world would rise up the call, “I am your Lord the most high” [79:24]. You will see all these seats of honor emptied of chiefs. They bloomed like roses on the wall, then they dropped from the wall and slept in the dust. Why do you not take heed and think about your final end? The Lord of the Worlds says, “You shall surely know whose outcome shall be the Abode” [6:135]. Yes, know what this world will reach and who shall have the house of triumph and foreverness! See how the poor and broken will be brought on steeds of generosity, and the chieftains empty of meaning will be driven by whips of severity! Wait-you'll find those you see as parts today are wholes. Wait-you'll see those you see as thorns today are roses. The exalted ones who'll be good fortune's garden there- don't take and treat them like lowly thorns here. The rosebush that yesterday's cruelty makes appear to you like firewood- wait till the hand of Spring's justice brings it to display! [DS 185]

That, namely, the prohibiting to them of wholesome things is a requital with which, We requited them, for their insolence; verily We are truthful, in promising them requital for insolence.

So, if they deny you, [by saying] that God is the Lord of all-embracing mercy and will not chastise us for our insolence, then say: 'Yea! Your Lord is the Lord of all-embracing mercy, but He is also the Lord of severe vanquishing whose mercy will not repel His might, from the sinning folk'. Rather, it may be that He has deposited His vanquishing in the form of His graciousness and His graciousness in the form of His vanquishing.

So, those who were before them gave the lie, that is, [so] the deniers gave the lie to messengers before them by making their disbelief [as something] dependent on the will of God, out of obduracy and recalcitrance, and they were [indeed] chastised for their disbelief. Say: 'Have you any knowledge, such that you can adduce for usḍ, that is to say, if you were to have any knowledge or proof of that, then illustrate [it]. He says this by way of allusion to their statement 'Had God willed, we would not have been idolaters [Q. 6:148], for had they said that on the basis of some [factual] knowledge, they would have known that the faith of those who believe in the Oneness [of God] and everything else only comes to be through the will of God. So on the basis of what are they [the deniers] hostile to them when they [the believers] have not rejected them, but even associated with them until there remained no disagreement between them and the believers. By God, had they said that out of knowledge, they would not have actually been idolaters, nay, rather affirmers of Oneness. But they followed supposition regarding that and based themselves on estimation (taqdīr) and conjecture, their purpose being denial and recalcitrance; and what they have heard from the messengers constitutes an indictment of them and proof that they are not prevented from [the call of] the messengers. [All of that is] because they are veiled at the station of the soul: whence certainty for them then and how could they know what God's will might beḍ

Say: 'To God belongs the conclusive argument: in other words, if your supposition were sincere, in terms of making your idolatry contingent upon the will of God, then you have no argument against the believers or other religious folk, since every religion would then be the result of God's will, in which case you ought to be in agreement with them and to believe them. Nay, God has the conclusive argument against you in that there is an obligation upon you to believe them [the messengers] and to affirm that you have ascribed to the One without whose will nothing takes place partners whose will there is no trace of outright. Hence you are pre-eternally wretched, deserving of banishment and punishment; for had He willed, He could have guided all of you', in other words, yes you are correct [in one sense], but just as He willed that you be unbelievers, had He willed He could have guided you all. On the basis of what, however, do you [think that you] know that He willed not that you be guided for you to then insist [on your idolatry]. This [statement] is meant to incite those among them who may have the preparedness to curb [the inclination to unbelief] and be guided and thus revert from idolatry and become a believer.

Say: 'Come, I will recite that which your Lord has made a sacred duty for you: having proven that in terms of what they deem licit and make illicit idolaters are [merely] following their caprices, since idolatry in itself is simply the worship of caprice and Satan - and so when they became veiled in the attributes of the soul from the attributes of the Truth and made caprice master over them, worshipping it and obeying its commands and its prohibitions in terms of what it [caprice] deems licit or illicit - He makes it clear that the act of deeming things licit or illicit that is pursued regarding these has been commanded by God, exalted be He; and given that the discourse is directed at them with regard to their prohibiting what are goodly things, He enumerates the things that are forbidden in order that the permitted things be inferred therefrom. By forbidding genera of vices, He has encompassed all the types of excellent things. He begins by forbidding the vice of the speech faculty, which is the noblest of them [the faculties] - for the vice thereof is the worst of grave sins, entailing as it does all [other] vices, in contrast to the vices of its two sister-faculties, the bestial and the predatory - and says: that you associate nothing with Him, since idolatrous association is the result of its mistaken consideration and its shortcoming in employing the intellect and perceiving the proof. He then follows it with [the mention of] being dutiful to parents. For knowledge of the rights due to them comes after the knowledge of God in terms of existentiation and lordship, as they [the parents] are two causes that are close in terms of existence and nurture and two means which God, exalted be He, has made loci for the manifestation of His two attributes of existentiation and lordship. That is why he [the Prophetḍ] said, 'Whoever is obedient to his parents is indeed obedient to God and His Messenger'. Disobedience to them comes after idolatry, since ignorance of what is due to them can only be out of the ignorance of what is due to God and of the knowledge of His attributes. Then [He mentions] the prohibition against the slaying of one's children for fear of poverty.

And that you do not approach the property of the orphan, in any way whatsoever, save with that which is fairer, except through that trait which is more virtuous, in the way of preserving that [property] or making it multiply, until he is of age, and profits from it, as opposed to [approaching it] by consuming it and spending it for your use or wasting it, since that is most vile. Then after He has illustrated the illicitness of the four genera of vice in their entirety in detail, He enjoins the obligation of the four virtues in a generalised form, because the detailing of the vices avails of the need to detail their counterparts [from among the virtues] since they are included all of them in [the virtue of] justice and so He has enjoined it in all of its aspects, whether in acts or speech, saying: And give full measure and full weight in justice, that is, observe justice between you and [other] creatures in an absolute way. And if you speak, then be just, in other words, say only what is the truth, even if he, the one concerning whom it is spoken, should be a kinsman: so do not be biased in speaking for him or against him by adding or withholding [facts]. And fulfil God's covenant, that is, the affirmation of Oneness and obedience and all that is between you and God in terms of what the former covenant entails for the subsequent one. And since the wayfaring upon the path of virtue, that is the path of the unity and the orienting of oneself towards the Truth, is difficult - being, as they say, 'finer than a hair and sharper than [the edge of] a sword' - especially [difficult] in terms of acts, since to be mindful of moderation regarding them without inclining in some way to the side of excess or immoderation is extremely difficult, He, after saying And give full measure and full weight in justice, says, We do not charge any soul beyond its capacity, illustrating that in this instance [of the QurÌān] He has combined the prohibition against all vices and the enjoining of all virtues in their entirety in such a way that no particulars of the subdivisions of these [two categories of vice and virtue] have been omitted, which is why Ibn ʿAbbās, may God be satisfied with him, said: 'Verily these are clear verses of which nothing has been abrogated by anything in any of the scriptures'.

And that this, the path of virtues, since the source of virtue is the unity. Do you not see how these [virtues] are middle ways and forms of moderateness between the two aspects of immoderation and excess which can only be in reality pursued in terms of designation (taʿyīn) by the one who is upright following the religion of God and whom God reinforces by facilitating [for him] the wayfaring along the path of the Truth until he arrives at [the stage of] being annihilated from his attributes, then from his essence, then in the state of subsistence after the annihilation he acquires the attributes of God, exalted be He, such that he subsists through God and becomes upright for Him and by Him. Thereupon his path becomes the path of the Truth and his journeying the journey to God, My path, it is a straight one, that is, My path can only be wayfared upon by the one who subsists in Me upright, inclining not to the right or to the left for some purpose; so follow it and do not follow other ways, such as [those of] schismatic creeds and differing religions, as these are coventions invented by those who are veiled in habits and caprices, that is to say, a convention for them lest they increase in darkness, insolence and bewilderment. Ibn Masʿūd related from the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, that he [the Messenger] drew a line [in the sand] and said, 'This is the path of right guidance', then drew lines to the right and to the left of it and said, 'These are [other] paths, upon each of them is a devil summoning [man] to that [path]'; he then recited this verse: lest it separate you away from His way, that is, from wayfaring along the path of unity and virtue. [This is what] He has ordained for you, that perhaps you will be wary', of the divided paths, by avoiding what is entailed in caprices and the exigencies of the souls and by making God your shield for adhering to virtues and avoiding vices.

Then We gave Moses the Scripture: that is to say, after He charged you with wayfaring along the path of virtue in ancient times, We gave Moses the scripture, complete for him who does good, that is, to consummate the nobleness of sanctity and the grace of prophethood over and above the virtuousness of Moses in his wayfaring along the path of perfection and the station he attained of communion [with God] and proximity [to Him] by means of the existence divinely-endowed after the annihilation in the unity, as God says and when he recovered his senses he said, 'Glory be to You! I repent to You and I am the first of those who believe' [Q. 7:143], in perfection and in [the necessity of] calling creatures to the Truth, and a detailing of all things, which creatures will need for the final return, and as a guidance, for them to their Lord in wayfaring along His path, and a mercy, to them, in effusing unto them His perfections by means of Moses and the scripture given to him, that perhaps they might believe in the encounter with their Lord, with either cognitive faith or that [faith] of presential vision.

And this is a Book which We have revealed, blessed, by the addition of guidance to the simple affirmation of Oneness and the direction to the even way, guiding by the shortest of paths to the most exalted degrees of perfection; so follow it, and be wary, of all that is besides God, even your own essences and attributes, that perhaps you might be shown mercy, the mercy of being upright through God and in God by means of the endowed existence.

Or lest you should say, 'If the Scripture had been revealed to us, we would have surely been more rightly guided than they are', because of the potency of our preparednesses and the purity of our minds, were you to be telling the truth. Now indeed a clear proof has come to you from your Lord, illustrating the modality of how you should wayfare, and a guidance, to your goal, and a mercy, by easing for you the path and its facilitating for you [the way] to the noblest of perfections.

Are they waiting for nothing less than that the angels should come to them, to receive their spirits in death, or that your Lord should come, by His self-disclosure in all of the attributes, as has already been alluded to in terms of the transmutation of form at the Resurrection such that none but the perfected affirmers of Oneness know Him, whereas the people of the creeds and [other] differing religions only know Him in the form of their belief [regarding Him]; or that one of your Lord's signs should comeḍ, His self-disclosure in an attribute which they never knew of Him. On the day that one of your Lord's signs comes, a self-disclosure of His with which they were never intimate, or which they never knew, it shall not benefit a soul to believe if it had not believed theretofore, for people are either veiled absolutely or otherwise, and they are either believers by their knowledge of some attributes or all of them. Those who believe in Him and know Him in all of these [attributes] are either lovers of the Essence or lovers of [His] attributes. So when the Truth discloses Himself in one of the attributes, the faith of those who are veiled absolutely is of no avail, nor the faith of those believers who did not know Him in that attribute prior to that self-disclosure, since faith is only beneficial when it has become a fixed and firmly rooted conviction embodied in the heart and one by which the soul is illumined and by which the spirit witnesses, and not that [faith] which comes about suddenly out of some urgent necessity; or earned in its faith some good, such as the faith of the knowers and lovers of the attributes, for these, even if they should believe in Him and have come to know of His self-disclosures in all of the attributes, because they have not acquired the Essential love and the absolute perfection and have loved Him through one of the attributes, such as the Gracious, for example, or the Gentle or the Merciful, when He discloses Himself in the attribute of the Vengeful or the Vanquisher or the Tester, their faith in Him shall not benefit them then, since they will not have been obedient to Him before that description and will not have been disciplined by that self-disclosure of His and loved the Essence to experience the pleasure of witnessing Him in whatever attribute it may be.

Those who have divided their religion, that is, who have made their religion a collection of divided caprices, such as those overcome by the attributes of the soul some of which draw them to this, while others draw them to that, such that there issue in them varying caprices and they thus remain bewildered without direction or goal, and have become parties, groups differing depending on which of the caprices has overcome [them], with some overcome by wrath, others by lust. And if they were to have a religion, they make their religion, depending on the caprice that has overcome them, the very substratum of their partisanship and the reinforcement for the sway of that faculty that has overcome the heart. Their acts of worship are but habits and innovations, obeying as they do only caprices and deceptions, each of them worshipping a deity conjured by his illusion and conceived in his imagination and making that [deity] a cause for his arrogance towards, and division from, the other, as we witness in the case the adherents of the exoteric schools; you have no concern with them at all, that is to say, it is not your concern to guide them or to call them to the affirmation of Oneness in any way, since they are the folk of schism and of being veiled by multiplicity, their goal never being one. Their case will go to God, in terms of the recompense for their division, and not to you. Then He will inform them, upon the manifestation on them of the configurations of their differing souls and divided caprices at the separation of bodies, of what they used to do, of evil deeds.

Whoso brings a beautiful deed shall have ten the like of it, and whoso brings an ugly deed shall be recompensed only with its like. The former will be bounty and the latter justice. O Lord, if You show bounty, Your bounty has no limit, and if You show justice, Your justice cannot be rejected. If You show bounty, let others be just or unjust! If You show justice, others' bounty is like the wind. If You show bounty, bounty is appropriate for You. If You show justice, not increasing is appropriate for You. Part of His bounty is that one beautiful deed of the servant becomes ten, and by His bounty, ugly deeds change into beautiful deeds. God says, “Those-God shall change their ugly deeds into beautiful deeds” [25:70]. Abū Dharr narrates: “I said, 'O Messenger of God, teach me a deed that will bring me near to the Garden and keep me far from the Fire.' “He said, 'When you do an ugly deed, follow it with a beautiful deed.'” “I said, 'Is “There is no god but God” one of the beautiful deeds?' “He said, 'It is the most beautiful of the beautiful deeds.'' The beautiful deeds of the worshipers are one thing, the beautiful deeds of the recognizers something else. The worshipers are in the station of service, but the recognizers are on the carpet of witnessing in the station of nearness and the intimacy of contemplation. Each one's beautiful deeds are in the measure of his traveling. The beautiful deeds of the re- nunciants are an aspiration greater than this world, the beautiful deeds of the desirers are an object of desire greater than the afterworld, the beautiful deeds of the sincerely truthful are a yearning to see the Patron. The renunciants have service according to the Sunnah, the desirers have recogni- tion in contemplation, the sincerely truthful have laudation in the Reality. This is the end of the traveling of the wayfarers, the final goal of the levels of the sincerely truthful, and the beginning of the Real's attraction. MuṣṬafā was in this station when he opened the tongue of laudation and said in the attribute of confoundedness, “I do not number Thy laudations-Thou art as Thou hast lauded Thyself.”

Say: “As for me, my Lord has guided me to a straight path.” The straight path has a beginning and an end. The beginning is the Sunnah and the congregation, and the end is the intimacy of finding and the continuity of contemplation. The Sunnah and the congrega- tion are that you accept the verses and reports about the unperceived attributes with spirit and heart. You come forward with assent and surrender and you stand with the name and the outwardness. You do not wander around it with imagination. You avoid self-exertion, interpretation, and reflective thinking about it. You stipulate it in its entirety, without addition or subtraction, without judgment, declaring similarity, or concealment. And you convey it exactly as you received it. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “Everyone who enters by the door of surrender and assent is given one of three drinks: Either he is given the drink of recognition, so his heart comes to life through the Real, or he is given poison through which the commanding soul is slain beneath his own severity, or he is given a wine through the finding of which the spirit becomes drunk and per- plexed. From here begins the finding of the Haqiqah and the intimacy of companionship. He finds the pleasure of service and the sweetness of obedience. He joins with the joy of recognition and reaches the repose of whispered prayer. Then he falls into an occupation that cannot be expressed until he becomes all life in that.” 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. * You are not empty of me, but I do not see Your face, You are a spirit with me, but I do not see You.

Say: “My prayer and my sacrifice, my life and my death, belong to God.” He who knows that he is in God knows that he belongs to God. When he knows that his soul belongs to God, no portion of him remains for other than God. He surrenders to God's decree, he does not protest against God's predetermination, he does not oppose God's chosen ones, and he does not turn away from embracing God's command. This verse about MuṣṬafā alludes to the station of union. Union is joining with the Real and being released from oneself. The mark of this work is a heart alive through meditation and a tongue loosed in remembrance. One becomes a loan to the creatures, a stranger to oneself, at ease from attachment, at rest with the Real. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, ever since You called me, I have been alone in the crowd. When You said 'Come!,' my seven bodily parts heard. What comes forth from the Adamite? The Adamite's worth is clear: His purse is empty, he treads on air. “This work was before Adam and Eve, a bestowal before fear and hope, but the Adamite undergoes trials because of seeing. He alone is joyful who is free of seeing causes and disloyal toward his own self. Though the millwheel of the states is turning, so what? The pivot of His will is in place.” O friend, I have become all yours. In truth these words have no lying, no deceit. Were you to jump right out of your own selfhood, I would likely be there in your place, my dear.

No associate has He, in that, [either] in the union or the differentiation. And to this I have been commanded, that is, I have been commanded to see nothing other than Him at the source of the union, or in the form of the differentiations, so that I might strive for Him as He has described me, exalted be He, in His words The eye did not swerve, nor did it go beyond [the bounds] [Q. 53:17], and so He is the one who commands and the one commanded, the one seeing and the thing seen, and I am the first of those who submit', of those who yield to the annihilation in Him, by submitting my countenance to Him according to that level within the differentiations of the Essence, for otherwise there would be no first or last, submitter or disbeliever.

Say: 'Is it any other than God, whose affair is as [described] here, that I should seek for a lord, and hence demand the impossible, or [should I] seek as a goal [something] other than the Essence that subsumes all of the attributes, that is the All qua all, for it then to turn out to be merely a subject of a lord and not a lord in itself, when He is the Lord of all thingsḍ', all that is other than Him, in consideration of the differentiations of His attributes, being subject to the Lord. Every soul earns only, something that is of evil consequence, against itself: for the earnings of the soul constitute an idolatrous association with His acts, exalted be He, and every individual guilty of such association, the evil consequence [of his action] shall be upon him by virtue of his being veiled, and no burdened soul shall bear the burden of another, by virtue of the fact that the configuration of that burden is firmly rooted [only] in that [particular soul] and adheres to it [alone], such that it [that soul] veils itself therewith: how then can it [the burden] pertain to another [soul]ḍ

And He it is Who has made you successors, in His earth by manifesting His perfections in you as loci of manifestation to enable you to execute His command, and has raised some of you above others in degrees, within the manifested forms of His perfections in accordance with the varying degrees of your preparednesses, so that He may try you in what He has given you, of His perfections in accordance with preparednesses, [to ascertain] who observes the dues of that [perfection] which is manifested upon him, who fails to observe [them] and who observes what is due to Me by wayfaring in the path of these [perfections], until God makes these [perfections] manifest by concealing the attributes of that person's soul such that he will have fulfilled the trusts of God, and [to ascertain] who does not observe [them] and is thus a treacherous one; and [until] your deeds are manifested upon you in accordance with [the fulfilment of] these [dues] such that it results in recompense for these [deeds] all together either by the requital of veiling in the case of shortcomings, where your Lord is swift in punishment, or by the reward of exteriorisation (burūz) and unveiling, where He is Forgiving covering up your acts and the attributes of your souls, which had covered and veiled those divine attributes and lordly perfections, being Merciful to you by manifesting these [attributes and perfections] upon you. Yet God knows best the realities of matters.

Alif Lām Mīm Ṣād.

A Book that is revealed to you, to where He says as a reminder for those who believe: Alif is an allusion to the Essence of the [exclusive] unity (aḥadiyya); lām [is an allusion] to the Essence combined with the attribute of knowledge, as has already been mentioned; mīm [is an allusion] to the all-comprehensive talisman (tamīma) which is the meaning of Muḥammad, that is, his soul and his reality; and ṣād [is an allusion] to the Muḥammadan form which is his body and his external aspect. It is related from Ibn ʿAbbās that he said, 'Ṣād is a mountain outside Mecca atop of which was the Throne of the Compassionate (ʿarsh al-Raḥmān) before there was either night or day'. By the mountain he was alluding to Muḥammad and by the Throne of the Compassionate to his heart, as stated by the ḥadīth [to the effect that]: 'The heart of the believer is the Throne of God'. It has also been related that: 'Neithe My earth nor My heaven can embrace Me, but the heart of My believing servant embraces Me'. As for his words, 'before there was either night or day', these are an allusion to the unity, since when the heart falls under the shadow of the earth of the soul and is veiled by the attributes of this [soul] it is night for it; but when there rises over it the light of the sun of the spirit and it finds light by the light of this [spirit] then it is day. When it [the heart] arrives at the true unity through gnosis and presential vision of the essence and both light and darkness become equal for it, then for it that moment will be neither day nor night and the Compassionate's Throne will only be at that moment. Thus the meaning of the verse is that the existence of the All from beginning to end is a Book that has been revealed to you, that is to say, a Book the knowledge of which has been revealed to you. So let there be no inhibition in your breast because of It, that is, [let there not be] any constraint [in your breast] to bear it, lest it not be able to embrace it by virtue of its tremendousness such that it then dissipates in the annihilation in the unity and the absorption in the source of the union and the distraction from the differentiation, since he [Muḥammad], peace be upon him, was at the station of annihilation veiled by the Truth from creatures: each time that existence was restored to him and he was veiled from the presential vision of [his] essence and [that existence] manifested itself upon him at [the level of] differentiation, his vessel (wiʿāÌ) narrowed and he became laden with a burden and a weight.

The weighing that day is true. The weighing of deeds with the scales of self-purification is true, and the weighing of states with the scales of truthfulness is just. Hapless and deprived is he whose deeds are tainted with eye- service and whose states are mixed with self-admiration, for in the station of the scales these states will have no value and those deeds will have no weight. God says, “On the Day of Resur- rection, We shall assign them no weight” [18:105]. Among the traditions of ʿUmar is this: “Take an accounting of yourselves before you are brought to account, weigh your deeds before they are weighed, and prepare for the Greatest Exposure.” He is saying, “Weigh your own deeds before they are weighed against you, take an account of yourself and gaze upon your own works: What have you made ready for the Greatest Exposure and the gathering place of the resurrection?” This is why the Lord of the Worlds said, “Let every soul consider what it has forwarded for tomorrow” [59:18]. A report has come that an intelligent man has four hours in which to seek his felicity and adorn his days: the hour in which he takes an accounting of himself and weighs his own deeds and states, the hour in which he whispers secretly with the Real and shows his need to Him, the hour in which he takes care of his own livelihood, and the hour in which he takes his ease in whispered prayer and in what he has been given of this world. The weighing that day is true. The pirs of the Tariqah and the lords of recognition say that the scales are diverse. The soul and spirit have a scale, the heart and intellect have a scale, and recogni- tion and the secret core have a scale. The scale of the soul and spirit is commands and prohibitions, and its two pans are the Book and the Sunnah. The scale of the heart and intellect is reward, and its two pans are threats and promises. The scale of recognition and the secret core is approval, and its two pans are fleeing and seeking. Fleeing is to escape from this world and to cling to the after- world. Seeking is to leave aside the afterworld and seek the Patron.

And as for those whose scales are light, whose weighed things [are light], being those perishing sensory things, those are the ones who have lost their souls, by having sold them in exchange for hasty pleasures that are quick to disappear and by annihilating them in the abode of annihilation despite their [the souls'] being the commodity [to be exchanged] for subsistence. Know that the tongue of the scale of Truth is the attribute of justice. One of His two palms is the world of the senses, while the other palm is the world of the intellect. Thus the one earnings were the enduring intelligibles, virtuous character traits, and the good deeds that are joined to sincere intentions, then these [acquisitions] will have weight, that is to say, they will be have value and weight, since there is no weightier value than everlasting subsistence. As for the one whose acquisitions were the ephemeral sensory things, transient pleasures, corrupt passionate desires, despicable character traits and ruinous evils, these [acquisitions] will weigh in lightly, that is to say, they shall have no value and are useless, there being no lightness lighter than what has perished. Their loss then resides in their having forfeited their original preparedness when they sought the ephemera of this world and the actualisation of egoistic goals by virtue of their having manifested themselves through the attributes of their souls and of their not having done justice to the attributes of God, exalted be He, by denying them, that is, by concealing them with the attributes of their souls.

We created you, then We formed you, then We said to the angels, “Prostrate yourselves before Adam.” The wise Lord, the renowned and tremendous all-compeller, the enactor, the knowing keeper of ser- vants, is reminding the children of Adam of His favors. He is teaching them about His good Godhood and His holding to the Covenant. He is saying, “I created you, and I sculpted your beautiful faces. I drew your tall statures and gave you two seeing eyes, two listening ears, and a speaking tongue. I am the Lord who makes being from nonbeing, who brings forth what is from what was not, and who makes things newly from the outset. The painter of faces is I, the adorner of beauties is I, the one who pairs everything with its companion is I, the maker of every being in a fitting way is I. I created heaven, earth, and the inanimate things to manifest power. I created the angels, satans, and jinn to manifest awe. I created Adam and the Adamites to manifest forgiveness and mercy. “For 700,000 years Gabriel, Michael, Seraphiel, the Cherubim, the Circlers, and the Row-keep- ers circumambulated the Kaabah of All-Compellingness saying 'The Glorified! The Holy!' They never gained access to or recognized My names of love, loving kindness, and friendship. They never had the gall to claim friendship with Me, but I claimed friendship with the dust-dwellers: We are your friends [41:31]. He loves them [5:54]. I derived several of My names from My friendship and loving kindness toward them: the Forgiving, the Loving, the Clement, the Ever-Merciful. To the angels I showed only severity and all-compellingness. I kept them behind the veils of awe. To the dust-dwellers I showed only clemency and mercy. I kept them on the carpet of expansiveness.” Among the angels, Gabriel was honored and foremost, and he was singled out for the special favors of proximity. His name was Servitor of the All-Merciful. He was standing constantly on the carpet of justice with the attribute of awe. He had never seen the carpet of bounty and expansive- ness. Before Adam the Chosen came, there was no separation or union, no rejection or acceptance. There was no talk of heart, sweetheart, and friendship. These wonders and storehouses all pertain to the register of passion.

[He [Iblīs] said, 'I am better than him.] You created me from fire, while him You created from clay': You created the estimative faculty from the subtlest parts of the animal spirit that comes into being in the heart as a result of the vaporousness and delicateness of the mixtures and rises to the brain. That spirit is the hottest element in the body, which is why he referred to as 'fire'. Heat necessitates ascent and rising. We have already mentioned how every spiritual faculty (quwwa malakūtiyya) is aware of the specific qualities of the one below it but not of the one above it and [is aware] of the perfections of the body and their specific qualities as well as the perfections of the animal spirit and their specific qualities: this [faculty's] veiledness from the spiritual human perfections and those [perfections] of the heart represents the image (ṣūra) of its denial and the causative factor in its recalcitrance, its haughtiness and its transgressing [the bounds] of its stage in judging intelligible meanings and disengaged realities. The refusal to accept the judgement of the intellect is [represented by] the image (ṣūra) of its refusal to prostrate.

[Said He, 'Then go down from it] - it is not for you to be haughty here, since to act with haughtiness, which is to feign a quality that one does not have, is of the attributes of the soul. Thus it is not befitting of the spiritual presence which you claim to belong to [by right] by your acting superior to the intellect: begone [from here]. You are not from among its [rightful] inhabitants, those who are the glorious ones, [rather] you are surely among the abased!', from among the egocentric faculties that adhere to the lower aspect, which shall be forever ignominious by virtue of its adherence to [physical] bodies,

until the day when they are resurrected', from the tombs of [their] bodies and the burial places of the attributes of the soul following voluntary death at the middle resurrection through the life of the heart and the deliverance of primordial nature from the veils of configuration. Or [it means] [until] they are resurrected after annihilation in the unity at the major resurrection through the existence that is bestowed by the Truth and [through] real life. The former [type of] resurrected individual is the one who is mukliṣ, while the latter is mukhlaṣ. Iblis has no means of leading either of these two astray.

[Said he,] 'Now, by that You have sent me astray: this is an avowal. Iblis is veiled from the Essence of the unity but not from the attributes and the acts. Thus his presential vision of the acts and his revering of them constitutes a pledge by them, as he vows by His might where God says [that Satan says] Now, by Your might, I shall surely pervert them all [Q. 38:82]; verily I shall sit in ambush for them on Your [straight] path, that is, verily I shall get in their way on the path of affirming the unity of the Essence and shall verily impede them from wayfaring along it by distracting them with what is other than You and I shall verily come upon them from all four directions, those from which the enemy comes at the [moment of] witnessing. For his coming [upon them] from below, that is, from the direction of judgements based on the senses and measures (tadābīr) based on particulars on the basis of what is in the best interest in terms of this world does not necessarily result in being led astray. Nay, it could be profitable in terms of the natural and physical sciences and the intellect could be assisted by [this coming of him] in these [sciences], as has already been mentioned in the interpretation of His words they would surely have received nourishment from above them and from beneath their feet [Q. 5:66]. As for his coming [upon them] from above, this is not possible for him since the higher aspect is the one that is adjacent to the spirit and [the one] from which issue veracious inspirations and angelic castings and [from which] are effused gnoses and spiritual realities; which leaves the four directions, the places from which issue his evil whisperings. As for 'from before him', [he comes upon him thus] by making him feel secure from God's plotting and tempting him with [the concept of] God being Forgiving and Merciful such that he does not come to fear [Him] and so [Iblis] slows him down from [the performance of] acts of obedience. As for 'from behind him', [he comes upon him thus] by making him fearful of impoverishment and [his] offspring being ruined after him and so he [Iblis] incites him to gather and store up for them and for himself in the future having entertained the hope of a long life.

And You will not find most of them thankful', employing their faculties and limbs and what God has graced them with in the path of obedience and seeking proximity to God.

As for those of them, who follow you I shall assuredly fill Hell, [physical] nature, which is the lowest of the levels of existence, with all of you', veiled from the pleasure of eternal bliss and the tasting of timeless subsistence, [and from] spiritual perfections and the perfections that come from the Truth, chastised by the fires of privation from what is desired, in the fluctuations (inqilāb) of the world of contrareity and the turbulences (taqallubāt) of engendered being and corruption.

O Adam, dwell thou and thy spouse in the Garden, and eat from wheresoever you will, but come not near this tree. Adam has four names: Adam, vicegerent, mortal, and man. He was called Adam because he was created from the surface [adīm] of the earth, drawn from every region. Thus He said, “[We created man] from an extraction of clay” [23:12]. In other words, he was extracted from every region- sweet and briny, soft and hard. In Adam's clay were salty and sweet, coarse and soft, so the natures of his children became diverse. Among them are both sweet-tempered and bad-tempered, open and closed, generous and stingy, easy-going and difficult, black and white. Elsewhere He said, “He created man from dried clay, like pottery” [55:14]. Pottery is dried clay that gives off sound and is full of noise. In other words, the Adamite is noisy, his head full of tumult and turmoil, attached to talking. Elsewhere He said, “from clinging clay” [37:11], from a clay that is sticky, clings to every- thing, and mixes with everyone. Elsewhere He said, “from fetid mud” [15:26], a clay that is dark and black. Thus He taught him his measure so that he would not transgress his stage. He was shown his own root so that, if he should see generosity, he would not see it from himself. He would know that eminence lies in nurture [tarbiya], not in soil [turba]. What arises from soil? Wrongdoing, ignorance, and harshness. Adam disobeyed his Lord [20:121]. What arises from nurture? The generosity of guidance, the acceptance of repentance, and caresses. Surely God chose Adam [3:33]. The fruit of nurture is what He says: “He loves them, and they love Him” [5:54]. MaḤmūd went to the house of Ayāz. He saw all the property, blessings, gold, silver, jewels, multicolored silks, and robes of honor that MaḤmūd had given to him and bestowed upon him. In a corner he saw an old cloak made of patches of cloth hanging from a nail. He said, “So, what is this?” Ayāz answered, “This one is me in all my helplessness and abasement. All that beauty, adorn- ment, and all that exaltedness and delight are you. When I look at this, I see my own incapacity and know my own worth. When I look at that, I see you and know that it belongs to you, so I am delighted and lift my head.

Then Satan whispered to them to show them their shameful parts that were hidden from them. This also is a mark of solicitude and a proof of generosity, for they sinned, but He turned it over to Satan's whispering. Then He increased the solicitude. He said, “to show them their shameful parts that were hidden from them.” He said: “He made their pudenda appear to them, but not to others.” They say that afterwards, Adam and Iblis met. Adam said, “You wretch! Do you know what you did to me and what dust you stirred up in my road?” Iblis said, “O Adam, I take it that I took you from the road. Tell me then, who took me from the road?” They also say that both of them turned away from the command, but there is a difference be- tween the two. Adam slipped because of appetite, and Iblis slipped because of pride. Being pride- ful is worse than satisfying appetite. When a sin arises from appetite, there is room for pardon. When a sin arises from pride, faith gets lost in it. The report has come, “Magnificence is My cloak and tremendousness My shawl-if anyone contends with Me in either, I will smash him.”

And when they tasted the tree, their shameful parts were shown to them. Anyone who follows in the tracks of the soul's appetite in opposition to the Real's command will be held back from the Real and not reach the appetite. Adam the chosen had not savored more than a taste from that prohibited tree when the whip of rebuke came down on his head and his state was changed. He did not completely satisfy the appetite, nor did God's approval remain with him. When he looked again, he did not see the crown on his head, nor the robe on his body. At first he had seen himself sitting on the throne of chosenness, leaning back on the cushion of vicegerency, adorned with the robes and trinkets of paradise. After this, he saw himself held back from all that, naked and hungry, in need of one leaf of a tree. God bless the chevaliers who set out early like kings and took their ease like the indigent! * Wonder not at my abasement-I am he with whose lifeblood time sported, then abased. The command came: “O Adam! You were not able to enjoy all those blessings without suffering and toil. Now go to the house of tribulation and adversity and work, plant seeds, take pains, and be patient.” Adam said, “All of this is trifling if one day I am again given access to this Threshold.” He lamented at the pain in his heart and placed his need and incapacity on the palms of remorse. He wept and said,

“Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves. If Thou dost not forgive us and have mercy upon us, we will surely be among the losers.” “O God, if we weep, weeping for You is sweet. If we lament over you, our lamenting is appropri- ate. O God, what comes from dust other than error? What is born from defect other than disloy- alty? And what comes from the generous other than loyalty? O God, we have come back with two empty hands. What would happen if You placed balm on the wounded? O God, You are the treasure of the poor, the traveling supplies of the distressed, the resource of the fleeing, the hand- holder of the helpless. You created, so You saw the faulty jewel, but You selected it and bought it with all its faults. 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.

[O Children of Adam! We have sent down on you] a garment to conceal your shameful parts, that is to say, a divine law that covers up the vile aspects of your descriptions and the lewdness of your acts, and feathers, that is, beauty that will distance you from any likeness to neglected cattle and that will adorn you with virtuous character traits and beautiful acts, and the garment of God-fearing, that is, the attribute of abstinence and caution against the atttibute of the soul, that is better, than the sum total of the pillars of the law, since it is the fundament and the basis of religion, much like [the role of] a restrictive diet in treatment [of maladies]; that is one of God's signs, that is, one of the lights of His attributes, since avoidance of the attributes of the soul is not actualised and is not facilitated except by the manifestation of the self-disclosures of the attributes of the Truth. This is what they [in the community] refer to when they say: 'God does not dispose of something that belongs to a servant except that He compensates him with something better of the same type'; perhaps they will remember, at the manifestation of the self-disclosures of your original spiritual garment, or the vicinity of the Truth which you used to inhabit by the guidance of the lights of the attributes.

[O Children of Adam!] Let not Satan seduce you, away from entering the Garden and remaining adhered to it by stripping you of the garment of the divine law and feigning strength [over you], as he caused your parents to go forth, from it, by stripping [them] of the luminous garment of primordial nature.

Say: “My Lord has commanded justice. Set your faces in every place of prostration and supplicate Him, purifying the religion for Him. Just as He began you, so you shall return.” In this verse the Lord of heaven and earth, the Creator of the world and the world's folk, the bestower and forgiver, the lovingly kind toward the servants, brings together the foundations of service, the signposts of practice, and the realities of recognition. He makes the faithful aware of pleasing character traits and He instructs them in beautiful worship of Himself and beautiful living with the creatures. He honors them by letting them recognize the causes of His approval. This verse is one of the all-comprehensive words concerning which MuṣṬafā said, “I was sent out with the all-comprehensive words, and knowledge was made very concise for me.” In the Qur'an there is much of the same sort. Let me speak about one of them: “Surely God is with those who are godwary and those who are beautiful-doers” [16:128]. Consider how such a short verse has so many of the meanings. All of God's caresses, the generous giving and boun- teousness of the Real toward the servant, are included in Surely God is with. All service, such as the sorts of worship and the types of practice that the servant does for God, comes under godwary. All that is rightfully due to people from each other in the various sorts of practices comes under beautiful-doers. In the same way, all the pillars of the religion, the standpoints of the Shariah, and the gates of the Haqiqah are included in the words, “My Lord has commanded justice. Set your faces in every place of prostration and supplicate Him, purifying the religion for Him.” He is saying, “God has commanded me to justice, that is, in my practice with the Real, the creatures, and the soul: with the Real by putting commands and prohibitions to work and approving of His decree in every state; with the creatures by living with good character, observing equity toward them in the varieties of practice, and not asking equity for myself; and with the soul by opposing it, pulling it into the field of struggle and discipline, and shutting the door to appetites and ease.” The equal of this verse in the Qur'an is where He says, “God commands justice and beautiful do- ing” [16:90].

A party, He has guided, them to this path, while another party have deserved, the word of, misguidance, due to the fact that they have taken the devils of the ego-centric faculties, both the estimative and the imaginative, as patrons instead of God, because of the correspondence of their essences in terms of their darkness, sulliedness and remoteness from the core essence of light to these [patrons] and [because of] the genus correspondence that exists between them in terms of dependence on the lower aspect and inclination towards the ornaments of physical nature; and they suppose that they are guided', since the authority that estimation exercises is over supposition.

O children of Adam! Put on your adornment at every place of prostration. In the tongue of learning, this is the curtaining of the pudendum during the prayer. In the tongue of unveiling, the adornment of every servant is in the station of contemplating the heart's presence, clinging to the Presence, and the continuity of witnessing the Haqiqah. It has been said that the adornment of the worshiper's soul is the traces of prostration, and the adornment of the recognizer's heart is the lights of finding. The worshiper has the attribute of servanthood in the prostration, and the recognizer is on the carpet of proximity in the repose of witnessing.

Say: “Who has forbidden the adornment of God?” The adornment of the tongue is remembrance, and the adornment of the heart is reflection. Everything has an ornament. The ornament of the soul is beautiful practice along with the attribute of struggle. The ornament of the heart is continuity of union at the moment of contempla- tion. The ornament of the secret core is the realities of proximity in the field of face-to-face vision. What the Exalted Lord said-“Who has forbidden the adornment of God?”-alludes to the fact that these adornments are not kept back from the seekers and are not withheld from those whose hearts are present. The treasure-house of blessings is full of blessings-it needs seekers. The table of gentleness and mercy is set and ready-it needs eaters. The Pir of the Tariqah said in whispered prayer: “O seekers, hurry, for the hard cash is near! O night-travelers, sleep not, for the morning is near! O hurriers, be happy, for the abode is near! O thirsty ones, be patient, for the spring is near! O strangers, be joyful, for the master of hospitality is near! O seekers of the Friend, be glad, for response is near! “O Opener of my heart! What harm if You were to open my heart and place Your balm on my spirit? How can I search for gain when my hands are empty of capital? What if You threw me into good fortune with Your bounty?”

Say: 'My Lord forbids only indecencies, that is to say, the vices of the bestial faculty, and sin, and wrongful insolence, namely, the vices of the predatorial faculty, and that you associate, to the end [of the verse]: that is to say, the vices of the angelic rational-speech faculty, since these are ego-centric attributes that bar from the aforementioned adornments that are the human perfections that stand in contrareity to them.

Then whoever is wary and makes amends, that is, [whoever] is wary of any remnants at the annihilation and makes amends by being upright at the annihilation, no fear shall befall them, neither shall they grieve, since they will be at the station of sanctity.

And those who deny Our signs, that is, [those] who have obscured Our attributes by the attributes of their souls, and scorn them, by engaging in devilry, those shall be the inhabitants, of the fires of privation.

We shall strip away all the rancor that is in their breasts.... And it will be called out, “This is your Garden; you have been made to inherit it for what you were doing.” This is the attribute of the chevaliers of the Tariqah and the wayfarers of the road of the Haqiqah. The Exalted Lord first made their hearts pure of caprices and innovations so that they would step onto the avenue of the Sunnah and find the way to the plain texts of God's Book and MuṣṬafā's Sunnah. They let go of their own imagination and understanding in the signs of the attributes and dismissed the discernment of their own intelligence. They put forth their necks in compliance, accepted with their hearing, and set out on the road of surrender so as to escape from asserting His similarity and declaring His ineffectuality. Once more He made their hearts pure of this world and the defilement of this world so that the light of recognition shone in their hearts and the eyes of wisdom appeared in their hearts. He honored them with His gaze and removed friendship for the creatures from their hearts so that they were with Him entirely. They went forward in the reality of solitariness and came back from the secondary causes to the Causer. They saw One, they heard One, and they reached One, their tongue with remembrance, their hearts with reflection, their spirits with love; their tongues in men- tioning, their hearts in secret whispering, and their spirits in joy. As soon as my heart became entranced by Your beauty, it became the slave of Your majestic loveliness. Oh, exalted is he who sees Your face, Oh, magnificent is he who goes into Your sack. Know, however, that as long as the beginningless covenant does not seize your skirt, your heart will not accept this work. As long as the Real does not join with you, this path will not get along with you. As long as the Real does not gaze upon you, your heart will not want Him. And it will be called out, “This is your Garden; you have been made to inherit it for what you were doing.” He said “for what you were doing” to soothe the heart of the servant and to increase His caressing of him. Otherwise, the servant knows that his own neglectful deeds are not fitting for that Threshold and that those way stations and degrees are not the recompense for these acts. Nonetheless, through His bounty He makes the unworthy worthy and He adorns the displeasing. In this He shows the servant His good Godhood and loving kindness.

And upon the Ramparts are men who recognize everyone by their marks. What men are they that the Exalted Lord should call them men!? They are men over whom the wind of solicitude and breeze of kind favor has suddenly passed from the side of Proximity. When the north wind passes over the rose, the rose leaves its scent in the garden. When the wind of solicitude passes over them, it brings their hearts to life with the light of recogni- tion, it makes their spirits sweet-scented with the perfume of union with Him, and it brightens their secret cores with the polish of solicitude. It lets them enjoy the togetherness of aspiration and the beauty of conduct so that they may lift their aspirations entirely away from the creatures and busy themselves with love for the Real. Yearning for You has perplexed the yearner in Your street. Separated from the creatures, he is happy with rags. His eyes are like a circle of pearls from the burning in his liver, his sighs like a string of coral from the fire in his heart. Hence in this world the Exalted Lord lets them gaze down on the secret cores and states of the servants, and in the afterworld He will let them gaze down on the way stations and degrees of the faithful. He will make their station above that of the creatures so that they will know everyone, but no one will know them. They will recognize everyone, but no one will recognize them. This is why He says, “who recognize everyone by their marks.” Everyone has a mark, and their mark is their marklessness. Everyone has remained with an attribute in himself, and their attribute is selflessness. The hell-dwellers are held back from the Real by the shackle of opposition, the paradise-dwellers are at ease in paradise with their own shares, but He keeps them away from both and gives them an overview of all. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, how lovely are the days of Your friends with You, how beautiful their practice in hoping to have a vision of You, how sweet their conversation in the road of searching for You, how magnificent their time when in Your work!”

And when their eyes are turned towards the inhabitants of the Fire: in other words, they do not look at them willingly or out of any compassion, mercy or satisfaction rather out of loathing and in passing, as though something had made their eyes turn to [look at] them; 'Our Lord, do not assign us with the evildoing folk', that is, do not cause our hearts to deviate after You have guided us [Q. 3:8], just as the Commander of the Believers ʿAlī, peace be upon him, said, 'I seek refuge with God from misguidance after guidance'. The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, 'Lord God, establish my heart firmly upon Your religion', whereupon it was said to him, 'But has not God forgiven you your past sins and those that will beḍ', to which he replied, 'And what would assure me that the likeness of the heart is not as the likeness of a feather in an open expanse the winds turning it over as they wishḍ'.

And indeed We have brought them a Book, which We have detailed with knowledge, that is, [We have given them] the human body, which is differentiated into limbs, extremities, organs and senses which can be used to attain perfection in accordance with what is decreed by Divine knowledge. The interpretation of this [verse] is [that it is a reference to] what is fulfilled by His command in the final sequel such as the transformation [of this body] into what cannot be used for that [perfection] at the Gathering in terms of configurations, forms and figures that correspond to their attributes and beliefs commensurate with His statement He will assuredly requite them for their descriptions [Q. 6:139] and where He says And We shall assemble them on the Day of Resurrection on their faces, blind, dumb and deaf [Q. 17:97].

Surely your Lord is God, who created the heavens and the earth in six days, then sat upon the Throne. Lord is the name of the Lord whose name is light and whose message is light joined with love. He is the nurturer of the world's folk, the keeper of the creatures, the requiter, the lovingly kind. He is pure and peerless, the judge of how and why, not defiled by any unworthy thing. He is appar- ent to Himself in rightness, apparent to Himself in being, apparent to the heart in friendship. He is one and enough, taking care of what everyone has, able to keep the hearts straight, the Lord of everything, the keeper of every being, the nurturer of everything apt to go higher. First He said Lord as the portion of the common people, then He said God as the portion of the recognizers and the sincerely truthful. Lord puts the hearts of good men at ease, God plunders the spirits of the recognizers. Lord bestows blessings on the askers, God throws love into the hearts of the friends. Lord pours the blessings of vision on the faithful, God lights up the lamp of love in the recognizers with vision. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “Love and vision met. Love said to vision, 'You are like light, for you brighten the world.' “Vision said to love, 'You are like fire, for you burn the world.' Then vision said, 'When I disclose myself, I pull suffering from the heart.' “Love said, 'Well, when I settle down in the heart, I plunder it.' “Vision said, 'I am a gift for those who are tested.' “Love said, 'I throw tumult into the world.'” Vision is the share of those who recognize Him in the artisanries. They reach Him on the basis of the artisanries-the engendered, determined, and newly arrived things, namely the creation of the earth, the heavens, the sun, the moon, and the subjected stars. Love is the share of those who recognize Him through Him and who come from Him to the artisanries, not from the artisanries to Him. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “Indigent is he who recognizes Him through the artisanries! Wretched is he who loves Him for the sake of blessings! Foolish is he who searches for Him with his own effort! “He who recognizes Him through the artisanries worships Him in fear and want. He who loves Him for the sake of blessings turns away on the day of tribulation. He who seeks Him by himself fancies that the not found will be found. “The recognizers recognize Him through His light, but no one can give expression to the radi- ance of finding. Burning in the fire of love, they never turn away from joy.” Then sat upon the Throne. His Throne in heaven is well known. His Throne in earth is the heart of the friends. He said about the Throne in heaven, “Upon that day eight shall carry above them the Throne of your Lord” [69:17]. The angels will lift it up. He said about the Throne in earth, “We carried them on land and sea [17:70]. We Ourselves will carry it. We will not give it over to the angels.” The angels gaze on the throne of heaven, but the God of the universe gazes on the throne of earth. Concerning the throne of heaven He said, “The All-Merciful sat on the Throne” [20:5]. Concerning the throne of earth He said, “I am with those whose hearts are broken.” “The heart of the person of faith is between two fingers of the All-Merciful.”

Supplicate your Lord in pleading and secret. MuṣṬafā said, “Supplication is worship.” Supplication is calling or asking. If it is calling, it is the same as laudation, and if it is asking, it is fitting for the servant. Both are worship and the means to salvation. YaḤyā Muʿādh said, “Worshiping God is a storehouse, the key to the storehouse is supplication, and the teeth of the key are lawful morsels.” The precondition of supplication is pleading, weeping, and throwing oneself in lowliness on the Exalted Threshold. This is why He says, “in pleading and secret.” It has come in a report that Adam mourned and pleaded over that slip of his for one hundred years. Finally Gabriel said, “Lord God, You Yourself see Adam's pleading, You hear his weeping. Is there any way for You to ac- cept his apology and place a balm on his wound?” The command came, “O Gabriel! Leave Adam to Me, for if I had not known this pleading and weeping from him, I would not have decreed the slip for him. Indeed I decreed the slip for him because I knew that when he became helpless, he would loosen the tongue of supplication and pleading, and I love that the servant should lament and weep for Me. 'The sinner's sobs are more beloved to Me than the glorifier's murmur.'” The like of this verse is “Your Lord has said, 'Supplicate Me; I will respond to you' [40:60]. He says, “Call on Me so that I may respond to you; know Me, so that I may forgive you; ask from Me, so that I may give to you.” In another place He says, “He who responds to the distressed when he supplicates Him [27:62]. That hapless and helpless man, having lost the capacity to bear the trial-who will answer his call if not I? Who will hear his supplication if not I? Who will come to the aid of his helplessness if not I?” The distressed is someone who has no handhold and gazes on his own days given to the wind. He sees that his hands are empty of all the means of approach and acts of obedience. The supplica- tion of such a person is like an arrow that goes straight to the target. Among the preconditions for supplication, one is lawful morsels.

Surely God's mercy is near the beautiful-doers. MuṣṬafā said, “Beautiful doing is that you worship God as if you see Him, for if you do not see Him, surely He sees you.” This report alludes to the heart's encounter with the Real, the secret core's convergence with the Unseen, and the spirit's contemplation of God. The verse incites the servant to self-purification in deeds, curtailment of wishing, and loyalty to what was accepted on the day of the compact and covenant of Yes indeed [7:172]. Since you know that He sees you, keep your heart on Him and take it away from other than Him. Be a self-purifier in your deeds and truthful in your states. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “When an eye has seen Him, how will it busy itself with glancing at other than Him? When a spirit has found companionship with Him, how long will it make do with water and dust? When someone has become accustomed to the presence of contemplation, how will he put up with the abasement of the veil? How will the ruler of his own city spend his life in exile? 'As if you see Him' is an allusion that the Real is to be seen, 'for He sees you' is the seeing of the Real.” The Pir of the Tariqah said, “When the awe of seeing the Real is found, what fear will there be of the denier's blame? Strive in service worthy for the Worshiped One, not the portion of water and dust, for the awe of looking on the Real is a flood, and the approval of the creatures is debris.”

He it is who looses the winds as good news before the hands of His mercy so that, when they lift up a heavy cloud, We drive it to a dead land and thereby send down water, bringing forth thereby all the fruits. When the hearts inhale the breeze of proximity, they are enraptured in the dominion of majesty and effaced of everything delineated and customary. When the breeze of the Beginningless wafts from the side of proximity and the wind of gener- osity blows from solitariness, servanthood turns into freedom and all suffering turns into happiness. The fearful one reaches the shore of security in the ship of fear, the hopeful one reaches the shore of bestowal in the ship of want, the disobedient one reaches the shore of repentance in the ship of regret, and the tawḤīd-voicer reaches the shore of solitariness in the ship of tawḤīd We drive it to a dead land and thereby send down water, bringing forth thereby all the fruits. From heaven the rain comes, and thereby the dead earth comes to life. Plants, flowers, and blos- soms appear. From the storehouse of power the rain of mercy comes, and thereby withered hearts come to life. In one the seed of regret was planted, the water of success was given, and he became a renunciant. In another the seed of solicitude was planted, the water of kind favor was given, and he became a repenter. In another the seed of awe was planted, the water of reverence was given, and he became a recognizer. The Pir of the Tariqah said, " O King, the water of Your solicitude reached a stone, and the stone became pregnant. Fruit grew from the stone, and the fruit gained flavor and became food. O King, Your remembrance brought the heart to life and threw down the seed of love. It made the tree of happiness grow and the tree gave the fruit of freedom. When the earth is soft, the soil sweet, and the clay receptive, the seed will grow only as a goodly tree [14:24] and will produce nothing but the jasmine of the Covenant. " This is why God says,

As for the goodly land, its plants come forth by the leave of its Lord. As for that which is vile, they come forth only scantily. One of them said, “Its goodliness is through the continuity of security, the justice of the sultan, and the obedience of the obedient.” Abū ʿUthmān said, “This is the heart of the faithful person, upon whose limbs the lights of obedient acts become manifest. 'As for that which is vile, they come forth only scantily.' This is the heart of the unbeliever, upon whose limbs only acts of opposition become manifest.”

[And to Thamūd their brother Ṣāliḥ. He said] � this is the she-camel of God, a sign for you: the she-camel to Ṣāliḥ, peace be upon him, is like the staff to Moses, peace be upon him, and the ass to Jesus, peace be upon him, and the winged steed (burāq) to Muḥammad, peace be upon them. For each prophet and others there is a mount which is that person's very animal soul and which carries his reality which is the human soul and its predominant attribute is the attribute that qualifies that particular animal and thus its [the animal's name] is applied to that individual's [soul]. Thus the one whose soul tends to obedience and compliance out of sheer tractability, able to bear, strong and submissive, then his mount will be a she-camel. Its [the she-camel's] attribution to God [in 'the she-camel of God'] is because it is commanded by Him, specifically His in terms of its obedience to Him and nearness. As regards what is said [in Q. 54:28] to the effect that the water was to be divided between her and them, one day she would drink, and on the other they would drink, this is an allusion to the fact that the source from which they drank was the practical rational faculty, while hers was the considerative rational one. And as regards what has been related that on her drinking day, she would become heavy with milk, so much so that when she was milked they could fill all their trays, this is an allusion to the fact that this person's soul would extract from his primordial universal knowledge, by means of consideration, knowledge that profits those who are deficient in terms of their knowledge of character traits, divine laws and refined manners. Her [the she-camel's] emergence from the rocks represents its manifestation from the body of Ṣāliḥ, peace be upon him. That is the [allegorical] intepretation [of the verse], though it is obligatory to affirm the exoteric meaning. For the manifestation of miracles and the breaking of the habits [of physical nature] is a truth, of which we can deny no aspect. What supports the [allegorical] interpretation is the Prophet's comparison of the one who hamstrung her with the one who slew ʿAlī, peace be upon him, when he said, 'O ʿAlī: do you know who the most wretched of the former generations isḍ'.

And Lot, when he said to his people, “What, do you bring an indecency with which none in the worlds has preceded you?” Each person's indecency is appropriate to his days and states. Look at a man's station in traversing the road. Where is he located? His indecency follows the measure of his mortal nature right there. The world's creatures are no more than three groups: the common people, the elect, and the elect of the elect. The indecency of the common people is explained by the tongue of the Shariah, and its penalty is either the whip or stoning. The indecency of the elect is to look at the pleasures and appetites of this world with the eye of the head, to see their enjoyment and adornment, and to give them access to themselves, even if they are permitted and far from ambiguity. For, in the case of the elect, the blight of the permitted bliss of this world is more than the blight of the forbidden in the case of the common people. In the tongue of the Master of the Shariah the penalty of this indecency is what he said: “Lower your eyes and hold back your hands.” The indecency of the elect of the elect is that they should gaze at other than the Real with the heart's awareness despite the fact that this declaration has come from the Real: “Say 'God,' then leave them” [6:91]. He is saying, “My servant, do not gaze at yourself-see everything as My act. Do not lay favors on Me with your acts-look at My success-giving. Flee from your own marks- see only My love.” What does someone seized by His love have to do with others? Keep the heart turned toward Him and let the others go. The world's tumult is all this talk of you and me- give up “me” and the whole world will be your garden. God says, “I wonder how anyone with faith in Me can depend on other than Me. Were they to gaze on the subtleties of My kindness, they would not worship other than Me.”

Had the folk of the towns had faith and been godwary, We would have opened up for them blessings from heaven and earth. Had the folk of the towns had faith; had they assented to the truth of My promise, and been god- wary, wary of opposing Me, I would have illuminated their hearts with the contemplation of Me, which is the blessing of heaven, and I would have adorned their bodily parts with serving Me, which is the blessing of earth. He called the heart's contemplation the “blessing of heaven” because the heart pertains to the celestial world, whose root is from light. He called the service of the bodily parts the “blessing of earth” because the bodily members pertain to the terrestrial world, whose root is from dust. We would have opened up for them blessings. By way of allusion He is saying, “What is taken into account is not manyness-what is taken into account is blessing.” He did not say, “We will multiply their blessings.” He said, “We will put blessing into the favors that they receive.” On the Day of the Moat, one thousand of the Messenger's companions were working. They all became hungry but there was no food. Jābir ibn ʿAbdallāh said, “O Messenger of God! We have a half-bushel of oats and one sheep. What do you command?” He said, “Make the oats into flour, prepare a dough, kill and clean the sheep, and place a pot on the fire.” MuṣṬafā went and placed his blessed hands on that dough. He moistened his finger with his mouth and put it on the top of the pot. Then they called the companions group by group and cooked bread with the dough. They ate from the pot until one thousand men had eaten, and there was still some left over. This was so that you would know that blessing gets the work done, not manyness.

Did they feel secure from God's deception? Naṣrābādī said, “How can the sinner feel secure from deception? And which sin is greater than the sin of him who witnesses something of his own acts? Is that anything other than pouncing on the Lordhood and contending with Unity?”

We found nothing of covenant in most of them; indeed, We found most of them ungodly. Junayd said, “The most beautiful of servants in state is he who halts with God in preserving the limits and being loyal to the covenants.”

Then he [Moses] cast down his staff: the apparent meaning of this is Moses's miracle [to them], as is related. The allegorical interpretation is that the staff is an allusion to his soul, on which he supports himself, that is, on which he depends for animal motions and acts and with which he shakes down for the sheep of the sound bestial faculty the leaves of beautiful manners, excellent traits and praiseworthy habits from the tree of consideration [cf. Q. 20:18]. Because of his virtuous governance and disciplining of it, his soul complied with his actions, obedient to his commands, restrained from its animal acts, except with his permission, just like the staff. When he cast it down during the showdown with [his] disputants, it [the staff] became like a serpent swallowing the false lies they were inventing and fabricating in the way of the ropes of their doubts [cf. Q. 26:44-45], [doubts] which governed their motivations, and the staffs of their errors and fanciful adornments which they held onto during the contest to establish their goals, thus overwhelming them and vanquishing them.

And he drew forth his hand, that is, he manifested his dazzling power which spellbound them and manifested the light of the truth of his summoning. It seems that the prevailing [art] in his time was sorcery, which is why he came out with the divine magic, while the prevailing [art] in the time of Muḥammad, blessings and peace be upon him, was rhetorical eloquence, which is why his miracle was the QurÌān. In the time of Jesus, peace be upon him, it was medicine, and so he brought them the divine medicine, as has been related, since each prophet's miracle must necessarily be of the genus of what is the prevalent aspect of his time, so that he might be more successful in having his call responded to.

And We promised Moses thirty nights, and We completed them with ten. So the appointed time of his Lord was completed in forty nights. And Moses said to his brother Aaron, “Take my place among my people.” How exalted is making promises in friendship! How great is sitting in the promised place of friendship! How sweet is breaking promises in the religion of friendship! Concerning the intimations of this verse the Pir of the Tariqah said, “The promises of lovers, even if broken, show intimacy.” Then he said, “You put me off, You procrastinate, You promise, but You don't come through.” It is not approved to put back the promised time and to add days before the promised moment except in the religion of friendship, for in friendship disloyalty is the same as loyalty, and disdain friendship. Do you not see what the Lord of the Worlds did with Moses in this exchange? He promised him thirty days. When those passed, He added ten more. He added them because Moses was happy with that. Moses counted the thirty days as capital and the ten days as profit. He said, “Indeed, I heard the hard cash of the Real's speech for a second time when He added that.” Come forth, by your life! Stay not away! Give hope of your encounter, then put us off. Promise and put off as you like, for we love you when you put off the passionate. If you fulfill the promise, we will be happy, but we will live with your promise, content for a time. In this journey, Moses waited thirty days without remembering food and drink or being aware of hunger, for he was carried by the Real in a journey of generosity, waiting for whispered prayer. The other time, when he was sent to Khiẓr on the first journey in search of knowledge, he did not have the capacity for a half day of hunger, so he said, “Bring us our food” [18:62]. This is because that was a journey of teaching courtesy and of hardship. At the beginning of the traveling he was carrying; he was not being carried. He was aware of his own suffering, for he was with himself. He saw the marks of hunger because he was in the road of creatures.

When Moses came to Our appointed time and his Lord spoke to him, he said, “Show me, that I may gaze upon Thee.” He said, “Thou shalt not see Me, but look at the mountain. If it stays firm in its place, thou shalt see Me.” Then, when his Lord disclosed Himself to the moun- tain, He made it crumble to dust, and Moses fell down thunderstruck. When he recovered he said, “Glory be to Thee! I repent to Thee!” Moses had two journeys: one was the journey of seeking, the other the journey of revelry. The journey of seeking was the night of the fire, as in His words, “He observed a fire on the side of the Mount” [28:29]. The journey of revelry was this one: When Moses came to Our appointed time. Moses came, having become selfless to self, lost to himself in his own secret core. He had drunk the wine of love from the cup of holiness, so the pain of this talk's yearning was pressing into him and the wave of Show me was billowing up from the ocean of his passion. He wandered around the neighborhoods of the Children of Israel and gathered the words of their messages and goals so that he could draw out his words when he arrived at the Presence. I consider it unlawful to talk with others- whenever I talk with You, I draw out my words. When he reached the presence of whispered prayer, he was drunk with the wine of yearning and burnt by listening to the Real's Speech. He forgot everything, and the hard cash of his state ap- peared like this: “Show me, that I may gaze upon Thee!” The angels threw the stones of blame at his desire: “O child of menstruating women! Do you hope to see the Exalted Lord? What does dust have to do with the Lord of lords?” How can a being made of dust and water talk to Eternity? How can someone who was not, then was, be worthy of seeking union with Him who always was and always will be? In drunkenness and selflessness Moses answered with the tongue of solitariness: “Accept my excuses, for I did not fall here by myself. First He wanted me-I did not want. I saw the Friend at my pillow when I woke up from sleep.

O Moses, surely I have chosen thee over the people through My messages and My speak- ing. So take what I have given thee, and be one of the thankful. “O Moses, I have held you back from one thing, and that is vision, but I have specified you for many virtues. I have chosen you for messengerhood and I have honored you with eminence of state. Give thanks for all this and recognize these blessings. And be one of the thankful, and do not expose yourself to the station of complaint.” In this meaning has been sung, If they turn away, they are the ones who came in tenderness. How loyal they were, so be patient with them if they break off.

And in the tablets We wrote for him of everything an admonition, and a detailing of every- thing. “So take hold of them with strength, and command thy people to take their most beautiful. I shall show you the abode of the ungodly.” It has been mentioned in the traditions that one of the admonitions that the Exalted Lord wrote in the tablets for Moses and gave to him was this: “O Moses, if you want to be respected at the threshold of My exaltation and be specified for My nearness and proximity, act beautifully toward orphans and do not abase the poor. O Moses, I am the caresser and well-wisher of orphans, and the lovingly kind and bestower of bounty on the poor. Caress those whom I caress, and do not drive away those whom I call.” MuṣṬafā said about the poor, “The poor who remain patient will be the sitting companions of God on the Day of Resurrection.” Concerning the orphans he said, “When an orphan weeps, the Throne of the All-Merciful trembles at his weeping, so God says, 'If someone makes him approv- ing, I will make that person approving.'” “O Moses, if you want Me to brag about you among the angels, be without harm and keep stones and thorns away from the road of the submitted.” [MuṣṬafā said,] “Faith has seventy-some branches, the highest of which is 'There is no god but God,' and the least of which is removal of harm from the road.” “O Moses, if you want Me to answer your supplications, deal with people beautifully, learn knowledge, and teach others knowledge, for I have honored the knowers by giving them knowl- edge. For them I make the dust sweet, I illuminate and expand their graves, and tomorrow I will muster them among the troops of the prophets.” MuṣṬafā said, “Do you know what Gabriel said to me? He said, 'O MuḤammad, do not count as lowly a servant whom God has given knowledge, for God did not count him as lowly when He gave him knowledge. Surely God will gather the knowers in one place and say to them, 'I have deposited My knowledge with you only because of a good that I desired for you. I forgive you for what has come forth from you.

I shall turn away from My signs those who are proud in the earth without the Real. Even were they to see all the signs, they would not have faith in them. Were they to see the way of rectitude, they would not take it as a way. Pride is of two sorts: one with the Real, the other without the Real. That which is with the Real is the pride of the poor toward the rich. They are high in aspiration and rich in the heart through the Real. They have turned their aspiration away from the Throne and everything beneath it, cut their hearts off from the creatures, and busied themselves with love for the Real. Their aspiration is greater than this world and better than the afterworld. Their yearning is for the vision of the Patron. WāsiṬī said, “Pride with the Real is pride toward the rich and the sinful and toward the unbelievers and the folk of innovation. It is been transmitted in the traditions, 'Meet the ungodly with dark faces.'” The pride that is without the Real is the pride of the rich and the world-rulers toward the poor. This is what is meant by His words, “who are proud in the earth without the Real.” Ibn ʿAṬāÌ said on this verse: “I shall keep back their hearts, their secret cores, and their spirits from roaming in the dominion of holiness.”5 In other words, “I will bind their hearts and secret cores from going. I will make their own being into their veil. I will turn them away from My road so that their secret cores will not be able to roam in the world of holiness and the Dominion. They will be held back from seeing the wonders of the Dominion and become intimate with their own souls and the creatures of this world. They will not taste the flavor of finding and they will remain unaware of the charismatic gifts of the folk of election. They will never see a day of good fortune for themselves, nor will the rose of union bloom for them.” The poor wretch who has never caught a scent of these words! How can he have anything of the ocean when he has no stream? Were they to see the way of rectitude, they would not take it as a way.

Those who deny Our signs and the encounter in the Hereafter, that is, those who have concealed Our attributes with their attributes and Our acts with their acts and have stopped at the effects and become blind to the encounter of the Hereafter and to the Garden of the souls and the acts; their works have failed, for had the denial of the attributes been disengaged from the denial of the encounter in the Hereafter, their works would not have failed, even if they were to be chastised for a while with some type of punishment.

And the people of Moses, after him, took of their ornaments a calf, a body that lowed. Did they not see that it did not speak to them? Sahl ibn ʿAbdallāh said, “Whatever in this world turns the servant away from the Real and holds him back from obeying Him is his calf, and he is its worshiper.” The worshipers of the calf among the Children of Israel were delivered when they killed them- selves by command, for He said, “So kill your own souls!” [2:54]. In the same way, the servant will gain deliverance in the road of the Haqiqah when he is made pure of his own portions and the secondary causes, or rather, when he disowns everything other than the Real. Thus someone said, Disown everything in the realm of being- be that Heart-taker's “companion of the cave.” Did they not see that it did not speak to them? This denotes the rightful due of the Real. His de- scription is that of a speaker who addresses the creatures and speaks to the servant, but the kings of the earth disdain to address their servitors with their tongues because of their majestic rank. In contrast, the Real put into effect His custom with His faithful servants. To the enemies He says, “Slink into it, and do not talk to Me!” [23:108]. To the faithful the Prophet said, “There is not one of you who will not be spoken to by his Lord without any interpreter between them.” In this mean- ing they have sung, The Magnificence does not add to their ease when they speak to Us and We speak a little to them.

He threw down the Tablets.... He said, “My Lord, forgive me and my brother.” In this there is an allusion that the servant must ask forgiveness in all states and realize that it is His to chastise the innocent, for all of creation is owned by him, and the owner's determination perme- ates what He owns. The Children of Israel sinned, and Moses and his brother apologized and asked forgiveness. This is the path of the chevaliers and the road of the Sufis: They also place the sin upon themselves and apologize for sins not committed. When we are ill, we come to You, we visit you. They sin, so we come to You and apologize.

He threw down the Tablets.... He said, “My Lord, forgive me and my brother.” In this there is an allusion that the servant must ask forgiveness in all states and realize that it is His to chastise the innocent, for all of creation is owned by him, and the owner's determination perme- ates what He owns. The Children of Israel sinned, and Moses and his brother apologized and asked forgiveness. This is the path of the chevaliers and the road of the Sufis: They also place the sin upon themselves and apologize for sins not committed. When we are ill, we come to You, we visit you. They sin, so we come to You and apologize.

And Moses chose his people, seventy men, for Our appointed time, and when the earth- quake took them, he said … “It is naught but Thy trial. Thou misguidest thereby whomsoever Thou wilt and Thou guidest whomsoever Thou wilt. Thou art our Friend, so forgive us and have mercy upon us, and Thou art the best of forgivers!” There is a difference between the community of Moses and the community of MuḤammad. The community of Moses was chosen by Moses, for He says, “And Moses chose his people.” The community of MuḤammad was chosen by God, for He says, “We chose them, with a knowledge, above the worlds” [44:32]. Then He said about those chosen by Moses, “They said, 'Show us God openly,' and the thunderbolt took them because of their wrongdoing” [4:153]. Here He says, “The earthquake took them.” Concerning those He Himself chose He said, “Faces that day will be radi- ant, gazing upon their Lord” [75:22-23]. The want is the want of the Real, the choice the choice of the Real. God says, “And thy Lord creates what He wants and chooses. They have no choice” [28:68]. Moses was bold on the carpet of proximity in the station of whispered prayer. He had the attribute of realization in the state of brokenness and poverty because of anguish and bewilderment, and he showed this remorse: “It is naught but Thy trial.” Then he perceived himself and returned to the attribute of incapacity and brokenness, entering from the door of awe and veneration. He threw the decree entirely back to the Real: “Thou misguidest whom Thou wilt, and Thou guidest whom Thou wilt.” He was not content with this, so he loosed the tongue of laudation and connected it with pleading and weeping: “Thou art our Friend, so forgive us and have mercy upon us.” He displayed his need and lowliness to Him and asked for mercy and forgiveness. He said, “So forgive us and have mercy upon us, and Thou art the best of forgivers!” It has come in the traditions that on the day of the whispered prayer, Moses reached the edge of Mount Sinai. With every step he took, he lauded God, called upon Him, and displayed a need. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “There is no rejecting the needy, there is no deception behind the door of need, and there is no means of approach to the Friend like need.

And write for us in this world the beautiful, and in the next world. We have turned to Thee. In other words, “We have turned toward Thy religion and we have come home to Thee entirely, without leaving anything for ourselves.” O Lord, we have come back to You entirely. We are quit of our own power and strength. We are content with whatever You have decreed. Do not turn us over to ourselves, and lift up our we- ness from before us. This is the same as what MuṣṬafā said: “Entrust me not to myself for the blink of an eye, or even less than that.” He also said, “Shield me as a son is shielded!” Revelation came to David: “O David, what do My friends have to do with the sorrow of this world? This world's sorrow will take the sweetness of whispered prayer from their hearts. I love My friends to be spiritual, not to grieve for anything, to detach their hearts from this world, to throw all their work and business to Me, and to approve of My decree.” God's Messenger said, “Approval of the decree is God's greatest gate.” There was a worshiper among the Children of Israel who had spent long days in worship. It was shown to him in a dream that in paradise his close friend would be so-and-so. He set off in search of that person to see what his worship was. He saw that he had neither prayer at night nor fasting by daytime, only the obligatory acts. He said, “Tell me what you do.” He replied, “I have never done much worship outside of what you have seen. But I do have one trait. When I am in trial or illness, I do not want to be well. If I am in the sun, I do not want to be in the shade. Whatever God decrees, I approve of that, and I do not add my want to God's want.” The worshiper said, “That is what has conveyed you to this way station.”

those who follow the Messenger, the uninstructed Prophet, at the end of time, that is, the Muḥammadans who in fear of God followed his description where He says to him And you threw not when you threw but God threw [Q. 8:17], and where He says nor does he speak out of vain desire [Q. 53:3], and where He says The eye did not swerve, nor did it transgress [the bounds] [Q. 53:17], and where, regarding the payment of alms, He says and as for the beggard, do not drive [him] away, and as for your Lord's grace, proclaim [it] [Q. 93:10-11], and where, regarding having faith in the signs, he [Muḥammad] said, 'I have been given the sum of all [excellent] speech and have been sent to complete the noblest character traits'.

Among the people of Moses is a community that guides by the truth and does justice thereby. This is the story of the friends and the description of the state of the chevaliers and the conduct of the wayfarers. The Lord of the Worlds has shown them the road of felicity, singled them out for the special favors of proximity and nearness, and honored them with the attraction of generosity. The relation of godwariness lives through them, the trodden path of truthfulness is built on the firm fixity of their feet, and the good fortune of the religion is joined with the blessings of their breaths. God's Messenger said, “Were the light of one of them to be divided among the folk of the earth, it would embrace them.” If the light of their hearts were given an open road and the glitter of its radiance were to fall on the world and the world's folk, all recalcitrant people would become tawḤīd-voicers and replace their sashes of unbelief with belts of passion for the religion. They are rare and precious, however. He does not show them to anyone, nor does He give them over to this world or the afterworld. He keeps them like fugitives in His own protection and nurtures them with the attribute of love under the domes of jealousy. Revelation came to Moses: “O speaking-companion of the empire! Be careful not to open up the oyster of your pain's pearl before those without eyes. Do not recite the verses of the form of passion for My majesty to the non-privy or those dismissed from the reality of hearing and listen- ing. O Moses! If you want to expose My mystery to someone, then do so to those who are the locus of the covenant of My secrets, who are busy night and day serving My threshold, the tent of their passion pitched in the contemplation of My majesty, having been branded with this mark of most-worthiness by the threshold of Lordhood: a community that guides by the truth and does justice thereby. This brand of most-worthiness is one of the divine secrets, a lordly subtlety that departed from the World of the Unseen and settled down only within the curtain of the stages of the clay of the poor. If you want to catch a whiff of it, go into the curtains of the soul until you reach the heart, then go into the curtains of the heart until you reach the spirit, then go into the curtains of the spirit until you reach union with the Beloved, for you will not see it placed anywhere save in the spirit of the friends.

And We cut them up into twelve tribes, communities.... And We revealed to Moses when his people asked him for water, " Strike the stone with thy staff, " and twelve springs gushed forth from it. All the people knew their drinking places. Concerning the realities of this verse Jaʿfar ibn MuḤammad said that He made twelve streams flow forth from the wellspring of recognition and He made each the drink of one group. He made drawing the water of religion's good fortune appear for each group in that watering place. This is the same thing He said briefly elsewhere by way of intimation and allusion: " If they go straight on the Tariqah, We will draw for them copious water " [72:16]. In other words, " We will appoint for them a constant watering. " There are twelve rivers, the first of which is familiarity and the last of which is friendship. The ten between the two are first the truthfulness of belief, second self-purification in deeds, third approval of the decree, fourth the eye of certainty, fifth the joy of ecstasy, sixth the lightning of unveiling, seventh the bewilderment of witnessing, eighth the dissolution of the marks giving wit- ness, ninth the observation of togetherness, and tenth the reality of solitariness. When the servant's spirit tastes these drinks and finds their sweetness, and when the divine attraction joins with that, he becomes the Wellspring of Life itself, and anyone who sips a drink from his hand will be prosper- ous forever. The Pir of the Tariqah said, " O God, I recognize the drinking place, but I'm not able to drink. Heart-thirsty, I weep in hope of a drop. The fountain cannot quench me-I'm seeking the ocean. I passed by a thousand springs and streams in hopes of finding the ocean. Have you ever seen someone drowning in the fire of passion? I'm like that. Have you ever seen someone thirsty in a lake? That's what I am. I'm exactly like someone lost in the desert. Help me! I'm at wit's end! I've lost my heart. "

[�] how their fish would come to them on the day of their Sabbath floating at the surface; but on the day they did not observe the Sabbath, they would not come to them: this is just like the state of the people of Islam in our time in terms of the confluence of all types of ego-centric shares, in the way of foods, drinks, distractions and sexual relations that are manifest in the markets, throughout the seasons, in public thoroughfares and at festivals during the days of congregation more than any other days, all of which is nothing but a trial from God because of the moral corruption [of the times].

And We cut them up into communities in the earth. Among them are the wholesome and among them other than that. And We tried them with the beautiful things and the ugly things. In terms of realization in accordance with the tasting of the Folk of Findings this is an allusion to the travelers in the community, the exiles of the Tariqah. They are constantly wandering around the world, from this region to that region, from this cave to that cave, to conceal their present moment from the people and struggle for their religion against the blights of others. MuṣṬafā alluded to this meaning: " There will come a time when those who are religious will not stay safe unless they become averse to people. You will see them like travelers fleeing from people, sometimes in the mountains, sometimes in the desert. " Rushing, running, wailing in the world, in mountain monasteries, in desert caves, Totally effaced in the ocean of thought, of themselves they recite for all, " No home, no possessions. " Bearing witness to this are the stories of the Companions of the Cave and that of the Prophet and Abū Bakr in the cave. God says, " The second of two, when the two were in the cave " [9:40]. Another meaning has also been given for their traveling and exile, namely that they were yearning. In most of their days and the generality of their states the yearners are without settled- ness and ease-perhaps they will reach someplace to see the mark of the friend or ask someone about the friend. In this meaning they have sung, Surely our traces designate us- after us, look at our traces. The Pir of the Tariqah said, " O God, the homeland of Your exiles is exile, so when will this busi- ness end? How can he who is being tested by You be worthy of relief? How can he whose home- land is exile ever reach home? O God, the yearner is slain by friendship, and the shroud of those slain by friendship is vision of You. " And We tried them with the beautiful things and the ugly things. " We tested them with plea- sure and disappointment. They are neither deceived by pleasure, nor do they turn away from Us because of disappointment. " They have in front of themselves an occupation that is more impor- tant than their own pleasure and disappointment. With people they are on loan, with themselves strangers. They are at ease from attachment, their hearts joined with the Patron, their secret cores having reached awareness of Him. They keep on saying with the tongue of poverty and the at- tribute of brokenness, " O Lord, we have come to the Threshold as servants. If You like, exalt us, and if You like, lay us low. "

When your Lord took from the children of Adam, from their loins, their offspring and made them bear witness concerning themselves. " Am I not your Lord? " They said, " Yes indeed. " In terms of understanding in the tongue of the Reality, this verse has another intimation and another tasting. It alludes to the beginning of the states of the friends and the binding of the compact and covenant of friendship with them on the first day in the era of the Beginningless, when the Real was present and the Reality was there. How blessed were Laylā and those nights when we were meeting with Laylā! What a fine day was the day of laying the foundation of friendship! What an exalted time was the time of making the compact of friendship! Those who desired on the first day will never forget their desire. Those who yearned at the time of union with the Friend know the crown of life and the kiblah of the days. How blessed was the time of Your covenant, without which my heart would have no place for ardor! The command came, " O Master, remind them of the days of God [14:5]. These servants of Ours have forgotten Our covenant and have busied themselves with others. Remind them of the day when their pure spirits made the covenant of friendship with Us, and We were anointing their yearning eyes with this collyrium: 'Am I not your Lord?' " O indigent man! Remember the day when the spirits and the very persons of the friends were drinking the wine of passion for Me from the cup of love in the assembly of intimacy. The proxi- mate angels of the Higher Plenum were saying, 'These indeed are a people with high aspiration! As for us, we have never tasted this wine, nor have we found a scent of it. But the roaring and shouting of these beggars has risen to Capella: " Is there any more? " [50:30].' " Of that wine not forbidden by my religion my lips will not stay dry till I'm back in nonexistence. One day that paragon of the world and master of the children of Adam was saying, " This is a moun- tain that loves me and that I love.

[�] These, they are like cattle, by [their] having lost the capacity to perceive realities and gnoses which would draw them closer to God by means of the heart, and [like cattle] by [their] failure to take heed with [their] eyes and to remember and to understand with [their] ears - nay, rather they are further astray, by virtue of the devilry existing within them, that which necessarily results in distance [from God] because of the corruption of beliefs and the proclivity to plotting.

And to God belong the most beautiful names, so supplicate Him by them, and leave those who deviate concerning His names. God has names, and those names are His attributes. By those names He is renowned, praised, and recognized. They are names full of blessing, sweet to the hearts. They are a pure arrangement and pure words from the pure Lord, a worthy arrangement and beautiful words from the one Lord, the ornament of the tongue, the lamp of the spirit, and the everlasting laudation. He Himself says, " 'My light is My guidance, 'No god but God' is My word, and I am He': The servant who gains access gains it with My light, when he finds the way he finds it with My lamp-the lamp of the Sunnah, the lamp of recognition, the lamp of love. I light the lamp of the Sunnah in their hearts, I light the lamp of recognition in their secret cores, and I light the lamp of love in their spirits. " Happy is the servant who walks among these three lamps! Who is more exalted than he in whose heart the greatest light is shining and who sees the Friend face-to-face in his heart? Then He said that " No god but God " is My word and My attribute. " God " is My name, and I am the name that I am, for My name is requiter and lovingly kind, the God of all, the keeper of the world, the giver of turns to the world's folk. The Pir of the Tariqah has a few words appropriate to this place. He said, " O worthy of Your own laudation, O grateful for Your own bestowal, O You who show Your own trial as sweet! In myself I am incapable of lauding You, in my intellect I am incapable of recognizing Your favor, in my ability I am incapable of what is worthy of You. O generous one! I am captive to the pain for which You are the remedy. I am slave of that laudation of which You are worthy. What do I know of You? You know. You are what You Yourself have said, and what You Yourself have said, You are that. " This is the same as MuṣṬafā said: " I do not number Thy laudations-Thou art as Thou hast lauded Thyself.

[They will question you about the Hour]: what is meant by the Hour is the moment of the manifestation of the major resurrection, that is, the Essential unity, by the presence of the Messiah (Mahdī). But none except God knows that moment, as the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said regarding the time of the emergence of the Messiah, 'Those who ascribe [to the Hour] a time are liars. By God, even when it comes it is also only God that knows it, just as [the case] is before its time comes'. It weighs heavily in the heavens and the earth, since the inhabitants of these are unable to embrace [any] knowledge of it.

He it is who created you from one soul and made of it its spouse so that it may rest in her. Great and magnificent is the lovingly kind Lord, the beautiful in name, the keeper of the servants, the creator of the world's folk, the caretaker of all! He is pure and faultless in name and mark, pure of offspring and Himself unborn, pure of partner and helper, pure of spouse and of similar. When He created the creatures, He created them as pairs linked to each other. He made male and female together, He bound similar to similar and genus to genus, as He says, " and made of it its spouse, so that it may rest in her. " It is God who is one, who is peerless in attributes and separate from faults, the creator, the keeper, and the nurturer. When He wants to show power in creation, He brings forth a hundred thousand subtleties and wonders from one drop of feeble water. First some dust, then some water, then a clot, then tissue, then bones and skin, then an animal. When it becomes four months old, it comes to life in that firm settledness [77:21] in three-fold darknesses [39:6]. In this individual He creates three pools: one the brain, one the liver, and one the heart. From the brain the streams of the nerves open out to the whole body so that the strength of sensation and movement will go there. From the liver the veins open out to the whole body so that nourishment will go there. From the heart the arteries open out to the whole body so that the spirit will go there. He created the brain in three strata. In the first He placed understanding, in the second He placed intellect, and in the third memory. He created the eye in seven strata and placed brightness and sight therein. What is more wondrous is the pupil, its measure that of a single lentil, but within it appears the form of heaven and earth with all this vastness. More surprising is the forehead, which He created stiff and hard so that it would not grow hair and take away beauty. In the midst He created the skin of the eyebrow, so that a bit of hair would come up and not become too long.

Truly those on whom you call besides God, whoever they may be, be they humans or otherwise, are servants like you, in terms of [their] incapacity and lack of effective agency; call them then, for something which God has not facilitated for you, and let them answer you, and facilitate it, if you are truthful, in attributing effective agency to other [than God], as in where the Prophet said to Ibn ʿAbbās, 'Young man: be mindful of God and He will be mindful of you. Be mindful of God and you will find Him looking towards you. If you ask [for something], ask [it] of God. If you seek assistance, seek the assistance of God and know that if the [entire] community were to agree to benefit you with something they will not benefit you except with something that God will have prescribed for you, and that if they were to agree to harm you with something, they will not harm you except with something that God will have prescribed against you [already]. The [heavenly] pens have been put aside and the scrolls [of divine decree] have [had their ink] dried'.

Have they feet wherewith they walk: an interrogative meant as a denial, in other words, do they have feet by which they do not walk, nay it is by God [that they walk or not], since it is He who makes them walk with them, as is the case with all of their other limbs. Say: 'Call upon your associates, from among the jinn or mankind, then scheme against me, if you can, for the One who is in charge of my affair, my Preserver and the One governing me is:

God Who, instructs me by revealing [to me] the Book, and He takes charge of, every righeous one, that is, every one who subsists through Him in the state of uprightness. As has been related [in one report] by 'righteous person', according to the description of one of the prophets, is meant the one who subsists in the Truth through uprightness and fixity after annihilation in the source of the union, the one who upholds the amending of the species by the leave of the Truth.

And you see them staring at you, but they do not perceive, in other words, if you were to call to guidance those from among the idolaters or others upon whose hearts there is a seal, they will not listen or obey. You will see how that despite the soundness of their perception and sight, they do not perceive the Truth nor your reality, because in reality they are blind in their hearts.

Take to pardoning and command the honorable and turn away from the ignorant. The command came from the generous, lovingly kind Lord, the Lord God of all lords and mas- ters, the generous and gentle in name and mark, to MuḤammad, the Seal of the Prophets and the emulated of the world's folk: " O master, pass over the sins of the sinners, cover over their defects, and draw the pen of pardon across the register of the bad-doers. O master, take from Us a pleas- ing character, praiseworthy activity, truthful speaking, and peace with the people; be the friend of the good in companionship and attend to them in seclusion. O master, I am a clement Lord and I love the clement. I hear the unworthy from enemies and I see their insolence in private, but I keep the curtain lowered over them. I do not hurry to punishment, I offer them repentance and pardon, and I call them back to My Threshold, for if they desist, He will forgive them what is past [8:38]. " Among the traditions has come that God says, " You called upon Me, and I said 'Here I am!' You asked from Me, and I bestowed upon you. You stood up against Me, and I gave you respite. You left Me, and I took care of you. You disobeyed Me, and I curtained you. So, if you return to Me, I will accept you. If you turn away from Me, I will wait for you. " He is saying, " My servants, My creatures, you called out to Me, and I answered with 'Here I am.' You asked for blessings from Me, and I bestowed gifts. You came out foolishly, and I gave you respite. You put aside My command, and I did not take away My kind favor from you. You disobeyed, and I lowered the curtain over you. With all of this, if you come back, I will accept you, and if you turn away, I will await your coming back. I am the most munificent of the munificent and the most generous of the generous. " In a report has come, " When an old man repents, God says, 'Now?! When your strength has gone and your appetite has been cut off? Indeed, I am the most merciful of the merciful, indeed, I am the most merciful of the merciful.

And if any insinuation from Satan should provoke you, that is, [if] some goading or powerful urge should impel you to dispute with them by seeing acts as issuing from them and ascribing sins to them, seek refuge in God, by witnessing and being present before His agency, He is Hearing, able to hear the conversations of the soul and the evil whisperings of Satan in the breast, Knowing, of intentions and secrets.

Truly those who are wary, of idolatrous association, when a visitation, a call, from Satan touches them, [inciting them] to ascribe acts to other [than God], they remember, the station of the affirmation of unity and the witnessing of acts as being from God, and then see clearly, the agency of God, and so in their eyes there remains no Satan and no agent other than God.

And their brethren, the devils who are the veiled ones, they lead them further, to ascribing acts to other than Him such that they never fall short of [engaging in] obduracy, pretence and ignorance.

[they say,] 'Why have you not chosen oneḍ', that is, 'Why do you not summon it from your own selfḍ'. Say: 'I follow only that which is revealed to me from my Lord, in other words, I do not create anything of my own doing, but simply communicate on behalf of God and I do not say except that which is revealed to me from Him, because I subsist through Him and not through my own soul.

And when the Qur'an is recited, listen to it and give ear. Perhaps you will be shown mercy. Listening [samāʿ] is the reality of giving ear to the Qur'an. Listening gives more life to a man's days than the spirit gives to the body. Listening is a spring that bubbles up from the midst of the heart, nurtured by the well of truthfulness. Truthfulness is to listening as the sun's body is to its rays. As long as the darknesses of mortal nature do not lift away from the heart, the reality of lis- tening's sun will not be permitted to disclose itself in the desert of a man's breast. Know that listening is of two sorts: The listening of the common people is one thing, the listening of the elect something else. The common people's share in listening is sound and its melodies, and the elect's share in listening is a subtlety in the midst of the sound and its meanings and allusions. The common people listen with the ear of the head, the organ of discernment, and the movement of the natures so as to be freed of sorrow and at ease from their preoccupations. The elect listen with a dead soul, a thirsty heart, and a burnt breath. They reap the fruit of the breeze of intimacy, endless reminder, and everlasting happiness. It is said that the reality of listening is remembering the eternal call that came forth on the Day of the Compact from the Court of All-Compellingness and the Side of Unity: " Am I not your Lord? " [7:172]. It became connected to the hearing of the servants and its tasting reached their spirits. This is a call whose repository is in that world and whose lodging place [11:6] is in the spirit. What bears witness is the mark, what it expresses is the title-page. What is supposition in reports is face-to-face vision in finding. The servant's seven bodily members listen to the Friend- the call of the Friend does not belong to the now, for it is everlasting.

And remember thy Lord in thyself. The rememberers are three men: One remembers with the tongue while the heart is unaware. Another remembers with both tongue and heart, but his work is in danger, as has been said, " The self-purifiers are in grave danger. " Still another is silent with the tongue but his heart is drowned in Him. The Pir of the Tariqah said, " O God, how can I remember, for I myself am all remembrance? I have given the harvest of my marks to the wind. How can I remember Him whom I have not for- gotten? O remembrance of the spirits, remembered by the hearts, and mentioned by the tongues! Remember me with Your bounty and make me happy with gentle remembrance! "

Surely those who are with thy Lord do not have too much pride to serve Him. Surely those who are with thy Lord alludes to the center point of togetherness and do not have too much pride to serve Him reports of the attribute of dispersion. Their with-ness affirms their nobility and preserves them in the ruling properties of servanthood. Thus the servant goes forth be- tween togetherness and dispersion. Togetherness shows the Haqiqah, and dispersion explicates the Shariah. For every one of you We have appointed an avenue and a method [5:48] alludes to this.

They question you concerning the spoils of war: they veiled themselves with their acts and so objected to the act of God and His Messenger, that is, God's act as manifested in the locus of the Messenger. Accordingly they were commanded to guard against acts, in other words, to avoid them by seeing God's act [therein] and to set things right [between themselves] by effacing the attributes of the souls, which are responsible for producing their acts, [acts] which necessarily bring about conflict and disagreement, so that they might return to mutual affection [towards one other] and love [for one another] that stems from the heart by the manifestation of the different types of attributes; and obey God and His Messenger, by the annihilation of its [the soul's] attributes so that it might be easier for you to accept the matter with the volition of the heart, if you are believers', with true faith.

The faithful are only those whose hearts quake when God is remembered. The faithful are those who fear God. In this verse He makes fear a precondition of faith, just as He says elsewhere: “Fear Me if you have faith” [3:175]. Fear is the protection of faith, the fortress of the religion, and the interceder for sins. When a heart does not have fear, that heart is in ruins, a source of trouble and deprived of God's gaze. In this verse He says that the faithful are those whose hearts fear and tremble at the remembrance of God. In another place He says, “Those who have faith and whose hearts are serene in the remem- brance of God” [13:28]. This alludes to the fact that the faithful are those whose hearts are at ease and rest in the remembrance of God. The former is the mark of the beginners, and the latter is the description of the advanced. At the beginning of his traveling, the servant always weeps, wails, and moans. He weeps so much in dread of separation that the call “Fear not!” [41:30] reaches his secret core. He comes away from the dread of separation to the repose of union. In this station he is at ease and delighted, his heart at rest. This is why He says, “whose hearts are serene in the remembrance of God.” It has also been said that whose hearts quake is the description of the desirer, and whose hearts are serene is the attribute of the desired. Whose hearts quake is the watchword of the folk of the Shariah, and whose hearts are serene is the blanket of the folk of the Haqiqah. Whose hearts quake is the station of the travelers, and whose hearts are serene is the mark of the snatched away. The travelers are in the road of the Shariah in the station of service hoping for blessings, and the snatched away are caressed on the carpet of the Haqiqah, given access to proximity and nearness by the Patron of Blessings.

Those who perform the prayer and expend from what We have provided them, it is they who are the faithful in truth. They have degrees with their Lord and forgiveness and a generous provision. In the previous verse, He counted out some of the inward deeds, such as godwariness, fear, and truth. Then, in this verse, He joins them with the outward deeds, such as prayer and alms tax. The former are marks of the Haqiqah, and the latter stipulations of the Shariah. Thus you know that these two are joined together. Without the Shariah the Haqiqah is of no use, and without the Haq- iqah the Shariah is not correct. When the two are combined, then it is they who are the faithful in truth. The faithful in reality are they, for they are sound in both the Shariah and the Haqiqah. They have undertaken the Shariah, so they have degrees in the Garden and forgiveness; and they have truthfulness in the Haqiqah, so they have a generous provision. This is the provision of the secret cores through the unveilings and joinings which belong to them alone. It has also been said that the traits counted out in this verse are the realities of servanthood in the encounters [with God] and the unveilings of the Haqiqah in the finding [of Him]. These are reverence for remembrance, quaking at the time of listening, being overcome by increase at the time of recitation, the reality of trust in God, and undertaking the stipulations of servanthood in full loyalty. When these descriptions are perfected, they become realizers through faith. Hence it is said, “It is they who are the faithful in truth.” In other words, in reality the most beautiful has already gone forth to them from God, so for them it has become blessedness, nearness, and the most beautiful with their Lord.

Those who perform the prayer and expend from what We have provided them, it is they who are the faithful in truth. They have degrees with their Lord and forgiveness and a generous provision. In the previous verse, He counted out some of the inward deeds, such as godwariness, fear, and truth. Then, in this verse, He joins them with the outward deeds, such as prayer and alms tax. The former are marks of the Haqiqah, and the latter stipulations of the Shariah. Thus you know that these two are joined together. Without the Shariah the Haqiqah is of no use, and without the Haq- iqah the Shariah is not correct. When the two are combined, then it is they who are the faithful in truth. The faithful in reality are they, for they are sound in both the Shariah and the Haqiqah. They have undertaken the Shariah, so they have degrees in the Garden and forgiveness; and they have truthfulness in the Haqiqah, so they have a generous provision. This is the provision of the secret cores through the unveilings and joinings which belong to them alone. It has also been said that the traits counted out in this verse are the realities of servanthood in the encounters [with God] and the unveilings of the Haqiqah in the finding [of Him]. These are reverence for remembrance, quaking at the time of listening, being overcome by increase at the time of recitation, the reality of trust in God, and undertaking the stipulations of servanthood in full loyalty. When these descriptions are perfected, they become realizers through faith. Hence it is said, “It is they who are the faithful in truth.” In other words, in reality the most beautiful has already gone forth to them from God, so for them it has become blessedness, nearness, and the most beautiful with their Lord.

As your Lord brought you forth: in other words, this state, meaning, the state in which they are objecting to you, in terms of translocation, is like their objection when your Lord brought you forth [from your home], because they, having veiled themselves from the act of God with their acts, saw both acts as issuing from you and so were averse to your going forth just as they were averse to your being granted the spoils of war [by God]. Nor did they understand [the significance of] your Lord's bringing you forth, from your home with the truth, that is, garbed in the truth, going forth with it and not with your soul. In this way bi'l-ḥaqq ('with the truth') is a circumstantial qualifier of the direct object of [the verb] akhrajaka ('brough you forth'); or [it means] a going forth garbed in what is the correct action and wisdom.

They dispute with you concerning the truth, veiled as they are by their acts and attributes, after it, the state of that [truth], had become clear, disclosed as it was on your person, or [it means] after the vestiges of that [truth] had become clear to them formerly through miracles, or by your apprising of them that victory shall be theirs;

And when God promised you one of the two parties would be yours, and you wished that the one not armed would be yours. By way of allusion He is saying, “So long as the servant does not suffer he will not reach the treasure.” The Pir of the Tariqah 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 life is in death and that what is desired by all lies in unreached desires?” Life is the life of the heart, and death the death of the soul. Until you die in yourself, you will not come to life through the Real. “Die, O friend, if you want to live!” [DS 52]. That chevalier said it beautifully: “Passion does not accept living souls, falcons do not hunt dead mice.” [DS 202] O God, when someone's life is You, how can he die? When someone's occupation is You, how can his occupation come to an end? O Found and Findable, nothing other than recognizing You is happiness, and nothing other than finding You is life. He who lives without You is imprisoned like a corpse, and he who finds companionship with You is neither of this world nor of that world.

When you sought the aid of your Lord, He responded to you. Seeking aid is of three sorts: One is from the creatures against the Real; it is the mark of being estranged and despairing of response. Another is from the Real against the creatures; it is the road of being a Muslim and the precondition of being a servant. Another is from the Real against the Real; it is the means of approach to friendship, and the response is an add-on. Someone who complains of the Real to the people increases in pain. Someone who complains of the creatures to the Real finds the remedy. Someone who complains of the Real to the Real sees the Real. The Pir of the Tariqah Shiblī was saying the following words with the attribute of bewilder- ment in his encounters with Him: “O God, if I seek You, You drive me away, and if I leave You, You seek me. There is no rest with You, and no escape from You. I seek aid in You from You!” He is saying: “O God, if I want You, You drive me away. If I go, You call. What should I do in this bewilderment? With You I have no rest, and without You my work is disordered-no hope of being cut off, no hope of arrival. Help me against You! For these spirits are all mad for You and these hearts are all bewildered by You.” Perhaps You will put things in order, smooth out my road to You, and give me a remedy for pain with Your balm and beautiful doing. O God, today this burning of mine is mixed with pain. I have no capacity to wait it out, no place to flee. The secret of the recognizer's present moment is a sharp blade-there is no place for repose, no way to avoidance.

And God did not appoint, that reinforcement, except, as a good tiding, for you, of victory and as reassurance for your hearts when they connect to it upon disengagement from the garb of the soul and its states. It is not that victory comes from it [the soul], for victory, comes only from God, but it is that [His] wisdom requires that [the sequence of] things are made dependent upon their causes; surely God, is powerful enough to bring assistance, victorious, Wise, doing that in accordance with the requirements of wisdom.

When He caused, the slumber of the calming of the corporeal faculties and the ego-centric attributes, to overcome you, by the sending down of the divine peace as security from God and as a reassurance; and sent down upon you, the, water, of the knowledge of certainty, from, the heaven of the spirit, to purify you thereby, from the wickedness of the whisperings of the soul and the murmurings of illusion, and to remove from you the evil, of the whisperings, of Satan, and his attempts to instill fear [in you], and to strengthen your hearts, that is, to fortify your hearts with the strength of certainty and to calm your agitation, and to make firm your feet, for valour and firmness of foot in the face of fear and mortal danger can only be through the strength of certainty.

When your Lord inspired the angels, [saying], 'I am with you: in other words, He was reinforcing the angelic realm (malakūt) with the realm of divine power (jabarūt), so that they would come to learn from the world of divine power that God was assisting them, so make those who believe, in the contiguous strengthening [from heaven], stand firm. I shall cast terror into the hearts of the disbelievers, [and they experience terror] by virtue of the fact that they are severed from the heavenly reinforcement and divine strengthening and that doubt and the force of illusion have taken mastery over them, so smite above the necks: in other words, make them firm by instructing them in the meaning of this and encourage them by casting these words unto them, or by showing them this action on your part, as the reported narrative has it.

Thou didst not throw when thou threwest, but God threw; and that He may try the faithful with a beautiful trial. When thou threwest is dispersion, but God threw is togetherness. Dispersion is the attribute of servanthood, and togetherness is the description of Lordhood. Dispersion without togetherness is of no use, and togetherness without dispersion is not correct. Sheer dispersion without togetherness is the belief of the free-willers, sheer togetherness with- out dispersion is the religion of the predestinarians, and dispersion along with togetherness is the road of the Sunnis and is correct. The free-willers are those who give themselves ability and choice and do not step outside of themselves. The predestinarians are those who lose their own hands and feet to the harshness of all-compellingness; they do not see the secondary causes and give them- selves no free choice. The Sunnis are those who say to them, “In your practice be at the threshold of Thee alone we worship; in your heart ask, weep, and supplicate at the threshold of Thee alone we ask for help [1:5].” Thou didst not throw when thou threwest, but God threw. This is an allusion to the reality of solitariness and the path of unification. He is saying: “Leave aside all other objects of desire. What does he who is seized by My love have to do with other than Me? O MuḤammad, lay no favor on Me because of your activity, but look at My success-giving! Be not delighted at your own remembrance-look at My instruction! Flee from your own marks and see only My love!” The path of unification is oneness and estrangement from self. Giving marks of “me” and “us” is duality, and duality is proof of estrangement. With duality there are today and tomorrow, but the tawḤīd-voicer is apart from today and tomorrow. As long as the tawḤīd-voicer has not found the shadow of the Sun of existence, he has not been released from self. As long as he has not been released from self, he has not found the Real. When thou threwest is the attribute of the desirer who is sitting on the road of variegation and gazing on himself from the Real. But God threw is the description of the desired; having left him- self behind and found stability, he gazes on the Real from the Real.

and do not turn away from Him while you are listening, that is, do not turn away from Him even as you listen, since the effect of listening is understanding and believing in the truth [of what is being said], and the effect of understanding is volition and the effect of volition is obedience, and so it cannot be right to claim to be listening while [simultaneously] turning away, as the two cannot be combined. Therefore, adhere to obedience through volition if you are being truthful about your claims to be listening.

And do not be as those who, claim to listen but are not in fact [listening] at all, veiled as they are from understanding and acceptance, like beasts, nay, the worst of beasts in the eyes of God given what is mentioned [in Q. 8:22].

For had God known of any good in them, or any righteousness, that is, any preparedness to receive the perfection of their hearing, so that they might then understand, accept and be obedient [He would have made them hear]; and had He made them hear, despite the absence of any good in them, so that they came to understand, their understanding would [even then] have no effect in terms of [subsequent] volition and obedience, nay, they would have turned away quickly, since that understanding in them would be an accidental matter, something that would be quick to disappear, and not essential [in them]; being averse, in their essence, such that understanding and volition would not remain in them long, as the Commander of the Believers [ʿAlī], may God be satisfied with him, said, 'Seek wisdom, even if it should be from the hypocrites, for wisdom keeps faltering in the breast of the hypocrite until it comes to rest alongside its companions in the breast of the believer'. In other words, it [wisdom] cannot fix itself in his [the hypocrite's] breast since here it is accidental and does not correspond with his essence.

O you who have faith, respond to God and the Messenger when he invites you to that which will give you life, and know that God comes between a man and his heart, and unto Him you will be mustered. In the tongue of the folk of allusion, response is of two sorts: one is the response of tawḤīd, and the other the response of realization. TawḤīd is that the faithful say “one,” and realization is that the rec- ognizers be one. TawḤīd is the attribute of the travelers, and realization is the state of those snatched away. The first is the attribute of the Bosom Friend, the second the attribute of the Beloved. The Bosom Friend was a traveler and stood before the Exalted Threshold in the station of service: “Surely I have turned my face toward Him who originated the heavens and the earth, un- swerving” [6:79]. The Beloved was snatched away, sitting in reverence at the top of good fortune. The Beginningless Presence addressed him, “Peace be upon thee, O Prophet, and God's mercy and His blessing.” The traveling of the wayfarers lies in the outward response of following the Messenger. The attraction of the snatched away lies in the secret core's response of contemplating the Knower of Unseen Things. This is why that master of the Tariqah said, “Respond to God in your secret core and His Mes- senger through your outwardness when he invites you to that which will give you life. The life of the souls is through following the Messenger, and the life of the hearts is through contemplating the unseen things.” May I be a ransom for the men dwelling in the Unseen, their secret cores roaming in all that is there! The reality of life will not be turned over to anyone among the folk of creation without the response of tawḤīd and the signet of realization. Hence this call of exaltedness came from the prophetic presence: “I have been commanded to fight the people until they say 'No god but God.'” When He invites you to that which will give you life. In reality the folk of life and the living are those who are pure of backsliding, far from suspicion, famous for friendship, released from the ruling power of the soul, their hearts joined to the Patron, their secret cores adorned with awareness of the Real, alive in the breeze of intimacy, having found the beginningless reminder and reached the Friend The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, nothing other than recognizing You is happiness, and nothing other than finding You is life.

And guard against a trial, an idolatry and a veil, which, trial, would certainly not fall upon those among you who do evil, by eliminating [their] preparedness or diminishing it in order to use it where it does not belong, or to expend it for the sake of something other than the Truth, exclusively, by virtue of their being the evildoers alone. As for the meaning of 'would certainly not fall upon', it is proscriptive, in other words, if it should fall it would fall upon these exclusively, similar to where He says and no burdened soul shall bear the burden of another [Q. 6:164]. It is possible that the meaning might be that it would not fall upon them exclusively but would subsume them and others too by virtue of the evil of keeping company with them and the transfer of their vices to those who mix with them, as in where He says, exalted be He, corruption has appeared in the land and on sea because of what people's hands have perpetrated [Q. 30:41]; and know that God is severe in retribution, by giving mastery to the dark configurations which their hearts have acquired over these [hearts] and veiling them from Him and chastising them therewith.

And remember when you were slight, in worth, by virtue of your ignorance and your being severed from the lights of knowledge, and oppressed in the land, the land of the soul, and were fearful lest men should snatch you away, that is, the men of the sensory of faculties because of the weakness of your souls, how He gave you refuge, in the [Medinese] city of knowledge, and reinforced you with His help, at the station of the affirmation of the unity of the acts, and provided you, with the good things of the knowledge of the self-disclosures of the attributes, that you might be thankful, for the grace of knowledge and the self-disclosures, by wayfaring in Him.

[O you who believe] do not betray God, by diminishing the former primordial covenant of affirming the Oneness [of God], and, betray, the Messenger, by diminishing [your] resolve and casting aside the subsequent compact, and betray your trusts, in the way of the gnoses and realities which God has deposited in you in accordance with the pre-eternal original preparedness, [betraying these] by hiding them behind the attributes of the soul, while you are aware, of the fact that you bear these [trusts], or while you are aware that treachery is the worst and most despicable of vices.

And know that your wealth and your children are a trial, that is, [they are] a veiling for you, by virtue of the fact that you are distracted thereby from God, or [that they are] a form of idolatry, because of the fact that you love them as you love God, and that with God is a tremendous wage, so seek this [wage] by disengaging from them and by being mindful of the dues of God in them.

O you who have faith, if you are wary of God, He will appoint for you a criterion, acquit you of your ugly deeds, and forgive you. And God is the possessor of a tremendous bounty. He is saying to the faithful, “If you go by the road of godwariness and take godwariness as your refuge in every state, He will give you a criterion of knowledge and inspiration through which you will separate truth from falsehood, and the straightness of the road from the losing of the road. This is complete knowledge for those of you who are knowers, and sound inspiration for those of you who are recognizers.” The criterion of the knower is the indications of the Shariah and the clear proofs reached by expenditure of effort and the acquisition of servanthood. The criterion of the recognizer is a light from the Unseen and a clear mirror for the divine bestowal and lordly inspiration. In this verse people have spoken of another intimation and beautiful subtlety: He is saying, “O you who have planted the root of the tree of faith! If you nurture it with godwariness, it will give forth three fruits: One is the criterion, as He says: 'He will appoint for you a criterion.' An- other is acquittal: 'acquit you of your ugly deeds.' Third is forgiveness: 'and forgive you.'” The criterion is bestowal of recognition, the acquittal lightening of burdens, the forgiveness bestowal of eminence. The bestowal of recognition is appropriate, the lightening of burdens beautiful, and the bestowal of eminence complete.

But God was not about to chastise them, because chastisement is the form and effect of wrath and can only result from the wrath of the Prophet or from the wrath of God, [itself] caused by the sins of the community. The Prophet, peace be upon him, was the form of mercy, because of where He, exalted be He, says: And We did not send you except as a mercy to all the worlds [Q. 21:107], which is why when they [the Meccan enemy] broke his two front teeth, he [only] responded by saying, 'O God, guide my people, for they do not know [what they do]', and did not become wrathful, as did Noah, peace be upon him, when he said My Lord, do not leave from among the disbelievers a single dweller upon the earth [Q. 71:26]. Therefore his [Muḥammad's] presence among them is protection [for them] against the sending down of chastisement [on them], as is the existence of forgiveness-seeking. Thus the principal cause for chastisement, given that the [simultaneous] existence of sin and forgiveness-seeking is a barrier to the accumulation of sin and to its become established - indeed, it necessarily brings about its disappearance - does not result in God's wrath. And so as long as there is forgiveness-seeking among them, they will not be chastised.

But what [plea] have they now, that God should not chastise them: in other words, the fact that the chastisement is not sent down is not because they do not deserve it in terms of [the state of] their souls. Nay, they deserve [it] by their essences and because of their issuing forth [with sin] and their barring of those who are prepared from the station of the heart and for there no longer existing any goodness in them. But your presence and the presence alongside you of the believers seeking forgiveness among them is preventing it. Know that contingent existence follows where goodness prevails, because necessary existence is pure good. And so that whose good outweighs its evil has existence through His existence on account of the correspondence [between them] in terms of goodness. But where evil prevails that correspondence would no longer remains and this [evil] must then necessarily be exterminated and annihilated. Thus as long as they remain in [this] combined form, good will be prevalent among them and they will not deserve destruction through chastisement. But if they were to become separated [from the believers] their evil will be pure [of any good], in which case they will have to be destroyed, as was the case in the incident at Badr. From this the verification of the second meaning becomes manifest with regard to where He says And guard against a trial which would certainly not fall exclusively upon those among you who do evil [Q. 8:25], by virtue of evil prevailing over the combined group in this case. That is why the Commander of the Believers, peace be upon him: 'In the earth there were two securities. One of these was removed, while the other remained. As for the one that was removed, this was the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace. As for the one that has remained, this is the seeking of forgiveness', whereupon he recited this [above] verse; they bar from the Sacred Mosque: this is a conceptualisation of their act of barring and their turning away from its meaning, which is the heart, by residing with the soul and its attributes and of their barring from it of those who are prepared, by tempting them with ego-centric matters and the pleasures of physical nature; though they are not its guardians, by virtue of their remoteness from this attribute [of guardianship] and because the darkness of the soul has prevailed over them and its attributes have acquired mastery over them and because they have veiled themselves from this [sacred mosque] by the disbelief that they derive from religion.

And know that, whatever booty you take, a fifth is for God, and for His Messenger and for kinsfolk, orphans, the indigent, and the son of the road, if you have faith in God…. Booty is the property of unbelievers that Muslims capture in the time of battle and struggle. It is said that struggle is of two sorts: the outer struggle and the inner struggle. The outer struggle is against the unbelievers with the sword, and the inner struggle is against the soul with severity. Those who struggle with the sword are three men: the wage-earning striver, the forgiven wounded, and the martyred slain. In the same way, the strugglers against the soul are three men: One strives, and he is among the pious; one attacks, and he is among the Pegs; one is released, and he is among the Substitutes. He who struggles against the unbelievers becomes rich by possessing the booty. He who struggles against the soul becomes rich in the heart. When someone is rich in property, the prop- erty is either permitted and a tribulation, or forbidden and a curse. When someone is rich in the heart, his aspiration is greater than this world and his desire greater than the afterworld. MuṣṬafā called struggle against the soul more magnificent and greater. He said: " We have returned from the lesser struggle to the greater struggle. " This is because you can avoid the enemy, but you cannot avoid the soul. When you get along with an enemy, you will be secure from his evil. If you get along with the soul, you will see your own destruction. One of the misfortunes of the soul is what MuṣṬafā said: " God gazes not on your forms or your deeds, but He gazes on your hearts. " He said that He gazes on the heart, but He does not gaze on the soul. It is well known that gazing is the result of love, and not gazing the result of hatred. If the Real did not consider the soul an enemy, He would gaze on it just as He gazes on the heart. This makes it mandatory to consider the soul an enemy. One must conform with the Real and not gaze on the soul with affection and love. In the battlefield of struggle, one must act against it severely with the sword of discipline.

When you were on the nearer bank, of the city of knowledge and the locus of the Discriminating intellect, and they were on the yonder bank, that is, in the lower aspect that is remote from the Truth and from the locus of knowledge, while the cavalcade of the distinguished natural faculties mounted upon the ego-centric faculties, was below you, that is, [below] the two parties; and had you agreed to meet, to do battle by means of the intellect and wisdom, instead of by means of spiritual discipline and the unity, you would have surely failed to keep meeting, by virtue of the fact that it would have been difficult in that case, necessarily bringing about failure and cowardice; but that God might conclude a matter that was to be done, [that] was predetermined, ascertained according to Him, whose eventuality was necessary. He did this, so that he who perished might perish after a clear proof, this [proof] being attached to the body that is necessarily perishing and imprinted on it, and so that he who survived might live after a clear proof, this being disengaged from him and conjoined to the world of the Holy, that is the core substance of real life and of everlasting subsistence.

When God showed them to you, O heart, in the dream-state of the inactivity of the outer senses and the tranquility of the corporeal faculties, [showing them to you] as being of little worth and feeble in [their] state, and had He shown them to you as many, in the state of the attributes of the soul being prevalent, you would have faltered and quarrelled, over the matter of breaking it [the soul] and vanquishing it, as each one of you is attracted to a [different] direction; but God saved [you], from faltering and quarrelling by means of His strengthening and protection [of you].

And do not be, like the disbelieving ego-centric faculties, who went forth from, the dwellings of their resting-places, their loci and bounds in recklessness and to show off to people and to feign stamina against the senses.

And when, the Satan of estimation, adorned their deeds for them, with [the false promise] that the kingdom of the heart and its faculties could be overcome, and said: 'Today no person shall overcome you, illuding them [into believing] that their wish would be realised by showing them that there is none from among the men of the senses that shall overcome them and that likewise would be the case with all the other faculties, and I shall be your protector', reinforcing you and fortifying you and fend off the men of the spiritual faculties from you. But when the two armies sighted each other, he turned his back in flight, sensing the state of the spiritual faculties and their power to overcome by virtue of his correspondence to these [spiritualities] in terms of [his capacity of] perceiving [their] meanings, saying, 'I am quit of you, for I am not of your genus. I see, in the way of meanings and of the arrival of reinforcement to them from the heaven of the spirit and the angelic realm of the world of the Holy, what you do not see. Verily I fear God, as I sense some of His lights and His vanquishing, and God is severe in retribution': herein is an allusion to the saying of the master of all messengers [Muḥammad], namely: 'Each person has a devil, except that my devil submitted [to islam] at my hands'.That is the instruction and the model [to be followed] in similar cases where a seeker wishes to effect a correspondence between the stories [of the QurÌān] and his own states. However, I shall rarely repeat the like of this [intepretation] henceforth because other than conceptualising the path of wayfaring and having the initiate imagine what he faces [along this path] with a view to energising him to rise and ascend [through the states], there is little in the way of a useful lesson [therein]. And God is the Guide.

Wert thou to see when the angels take those who disbelieve, beating their faces and their backs: " Taste the chastisement of the burning! " Death is of four sorts: the death of degradation and the curse, the death of remorse and affliction, the death of the gift and generosity, and the death of honor and contemplation. The death of the curse is the death of the unbelievers, the death of remorse is the death of the disobedient, the death of generosity is the death of the faithful, and the death of contemplation is the death of the prophets. About the death of the curse He says, " Wert thou to see when the angels take those who disbe- lieve. " In another place He says, " Wert thou to see when the wrongdoers are in the throes of death... [6:93]. O master! If only you were to see the unbelievers in the agonies of death and the blows and strikes of the chastising angels, before whose harshness, awesomeness, and fearsomeness heaven and earth tremble-the unbelievers caught amidst smoke, fire, unpleasant smells, and the striking of the angels, their hearts overcome by severance from possessions. If they complain, the pain increases, and if they weep, the call no good news [25:22] comes to them. The dust of unworthiness sits on their face, the fire of severance falls into their spirit, hell is filled with their moaning, and the angels disown them. Beware of the severity of severance! Beware of the wound of separation! " As for the death of remorse, that is the death of the disobedient, who passed their days in heedlessness and fell short in the acts of obedience and worship. Suddenly they fall into the grasp of the angel of death and are caught by death's agonies. On one side they see the angel of mercy, but they are ashamed because they did little good. On the other side they see the angel of chastise- ment, and they fear because they did bad and ugly things. The hapless, disobedient servant stays in the middle, his eyes toward the Unseen to see what will come. Will generosity or degradation come from there? Will he see bounty or justice? Then the angels present his obedience and dis- obedience to him, his obedience being little, his disrespect great.

That is because God would never change a grace that He had conferred on a people, to the end [of the verse]: in other words, all that reaches man is [only] that which his preparedness entails and what he requests by the supplications of his state and by the requesting of is deserved [by him]. Thus when He confers upon a person an outward or an inward grace by virute of the soundness of [his] preparedness and the remainder of goodness in him, He does not change it until that [person] corrupts his preparedness and changes his receptivity for righteousness by veiling himself and by the transmutation of the good that is in him in potentiality into evil because of the actualisation of rust [on his heart] and the accumulation of darkness therein, such that there no longer remains in him any correspondence to good nor any possibility for it to issue from him, whereupon He will change that [grace] into a disfavour, as an act of justice and generosity from Him and in response to the demand made for it by that preparedness by virtue of the attraction in terms of genus and correspondence, and not out of any injustice or tyranny [on His part].

He it is Who strengthened you with His help and with the believers;

and reconciled their hearts, because of their concord in terms of orientation and their deliverance from the shackles of the attributes of the soul which necessarily entail backsliding and obduracy by virtue of their residing in the world of contrareity and the difference between them in terms of nature. For the heart, as long as it halts with the soul and its desires and [as long as] it has acquired mastery over it by its attributes, it will attract it down towards the lower aspect and will render its [the heart's] goals particular in line with what corresponds to its best interests, such that it [the heart] ends up demanding what is forbidden it by another [heart], whereupon mutual enmity and hatred ensues [between them], and the irascible faculties that seek repute, honour, vanquishing power, victory, leadership and authority will then hold sway and haughtiness, obstinacy, pride and disdain will result, leading to a mutual boycots, alienation, warring and quarrelling. But every time it moves further away from the lower aspect by orienting itself towards the upper aspect and towards being illumined by the lights of unity of the attributes or that of the Essence, it [the heart] will rise higher from the station of the soul and will connect to the spirit and its goals will become universal, no longer being mutually exclusive or the object of rivalry, because of the possibility [now] of its being actualised for one [heart] without depriving another from it, and it [the heart] will then incline towards another with whom there is genus-correspondence in terms of purity, [inclining towards the other] with the love that derives from the essence because of the intensity of correspondence [between them]. The closer that it [the heart] is to the unity, the stronger the power of love in it, by virtue of its extreme propinquity to the one that follows its own religion, much like the radii that connect the circumference of a circle with its centre. Thus the intensity of affinity between these [hearts] is commensurate with the intensity of faith [in them]. Had you expended all that is in the earth, you could not have reconciled their hearts, because what is in the lower aspect [only] increases their mutual enmity and opposition by virtue of the intensity of their covetousness of, and their dogged rivalry over, it; but God reconciled their hearts, by means of the light of unity which bequeathes spiritual love and affinity of the heart.

Surely those who have faith, who have emigrated, and struggled with their possessions and their souls in God's path, and those who have given refuge and help, they are friends of one another. O chevalier! The pearl of union with Him is not something that falls into the hand of someone with low aspiration. It is a gem that comes to hand in the box of the self-purification of the purifiers, a jasmine that appears in the gardens of the realities of the passionate. Each of those who dove for this pearl became on his own the sun of desire, the lodging place of the covenant of good fortune, and was accepted by the Divine Presence. Their attribute is what the Exalted Lord says at the end of the surah: They " have faith, who have emigrated, and struggled with their possessions and their souls in God's path, and those who have given refuge and help. " Their decree is this: " They are friends of one another. "

Those-they are the faithful in truth. Theirs is forgiveness and a generous provision. Their created nature is this: Those-they are the faithful in truth. Their reward is this: Theirs is forgiveness and a generous provision. The generous provision is that the sun of union shines forth from the east. It shines, and all of their hopes become hard cash, their increase becomes infinite, the story of water and clay is concealed, and the beginningless Friend is seen face-to-face. Both eyes and heart see through the Friend. When the light of self-disclosure appears in someone's heart, it's no great wonder that like Moses he finds comfort in the mountain.

A declaration of immunity from God and His Messenger, [to the end of] the verse: when the Messenger was not able to sustain [his] uprightness because of the place of his variegation at times through the manifestation of his attributes and at other times because of the existence of remnants, as indicated by the QurÌān in those instances of [the Prophet receiving] rebuke and being made firm, such as [in] His saying he frowned and turned away [Q. 80:1]; and His saying And if We had not made you [stand] firm, certainly you might have inclined to them a little [Q. 17:74]; [and His saying] May God pardon you! Why do you give them leave�ḍ [Q. 9:43]; It is not for any prophet to have prisoners [Q. 8:67]; and when his [the Prophet's] companions from among the believers had not yet arrived at the station of the unity of the Essence, at times because of their veiling themselves with [their] acts and at other times with [their] attributes, there then was between them and the idolaters a correspondence, propinquity in terms of genus and a treaty, and thus by virtue of that genus-correspondence they made a covenant with them given that there was [this] connection between them. But when the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and the believers then obey His words, exalted be He, So be upright, as you have been commanded and those who repent with you [Q. 11:112], and when he had attained the utmost in fixity and the veils of the acts, thoe of the attributes and those of the essence had been removed from the faces of the wayfarers among his companions until they were able to reach the station of the unity of the Essence, that correspondence between them and the idolaters was [also] removed, and there no longer remained any sort of correspondence between them. Thereupon contrareity and opposition was realised [between them] and separation and enmity became justified and so was revealed: A declaration of immunity from God and His Messenger [Q. 9:1] to the idolaters with whom you made a pact: in other words, this state, the state of total separation and enmity between us and the declaration of true immunity from God, from the point of view of the union, and [from] His Messenger from the point of view of the differentiation given to him. Thus they declared themselves quit of them outwardly just as they were quit of them inwardly and they cast off their covenant [with them] formally just as they cast off the covenant with them in reality.

'Journey freely in the land for four months: commensurate with the number of their halting places in this world and in the Hereafter, by way of a warning for them. For since they halted in this world with the other in idolatrous association, they were veiled from religion and from the acts, the attributes and the Essence at the interstice of the human realm (nāsūt), and so it became necessary for them to make them halt in the Hereafter before God, then before the realm of divine power, then before the angelic realm, then before the Fire in the blazing furnace of vestiges, as has already been alluded to in [sūrat] al-Anʿām, where they are chastised with all manner of chastisements; and know that you cannot escape God, by virtue of the fact that you must necessarily be detained at these halting places because you halted with the other in idolatrous association: how then can you escape Himḍ and that God degrades the disbelievers', those who are veiled from the Truth by being disgracefully exposed upon the manifestation of the level of that which they used to worship besides God and its halting alongside [the disbeliever] before the Fire.

A proclamation, an apprising, from God and His Messenger to mankind on the day of the Greater Pilgrimage, that is, at the moment of the manifestation of the union of the Essence in the form of differentiation, as has already been mentioned; that God is free from obligation to the idolaters, and [so is] His Messenger, in reality, and so the outward conforms to the inward.

Excepting those of the idolaters with whom you have made a pact, and who have not diminished [their commitment to] you in anyway, in other words, this is a declaration of non-obligation towards them, except those [of them] in whom there remains some grip on preparedness or the vestige of a sound primordial nature and so are not involved in the breaking of any covenant, there remaining in them virtuous manliness, an indication of the soundness of [their] primordial nature and their adherence to God's former covenant by virtue of the existence [within them] still of preparedness and the possibility [for them] of returning to the unity; nor supported anyone against you, because of the lingering presence [within them] of the original connection (wuṣla) and the primordial affinity between you and them and [because of] the non-manifestation of [in them] of that enmity which is earned (kasbiyya); [as for these] fulfil your pact with them until the [conclusion of the] term, that is, the term during which the rust accumulates [on their hearts] and [their] veil is realised should they not relent and repent. Truly God loves those who fear [Him], those who have specifically avoided despicable traits, [such as] the breaking of a covenant, which is the mother of all despicable traits outwardly and inwardly.

Those who believe, cognitively, and have emigrated, away from the desired sensory things and the abodes of the soul by wayfaring in the way of God and have struggled with those possessions of theirs that are their knowledge, their desired goals, and their abilities by effacing their attributes with the attributes of God, and [with] their souls, by annihilating them in the Essence of God, those they are greater in degree, in terms of the affirmation of Oneness, in the eyes of God.

Their Lord gives them good tidings of mercy, [of] the reward for deeds, from Him and [divine] satisfaction, [His] attributes, for them shall be gardens, from among the three Gardens, wherein is bliss, the presential vision of the Essence, that is enduring, fixed forever.

O you who believe, do not take your fathers, to the end of this [verse]: in other words, do not let the aspect of formal kinship and natural connection prevail in you over the aspect of spiritual kinship and real connection such that there would then be bewteen you and those from among your kin who prefer the veil to unveiling a friendship that results from a formal connection [but] with loss of spiritual connection and a difference in aspect which [in itself] necessarily brings about spiritual rupture and true enmity. This is a weakness of faith and feeble resolve: faith is the opposite of that. God, exalted be He, says: but those who believe love God more ardently [Q. 2:165]. A sage [once] said, 'The Truth is beloved to us and [His] creatures are beloved to us. But if the two are at variance, then the Truth is more beloved to us.

Say: 'If, these formal ties of kinship and familiar sensory things, are dearer to you than God and His Messenger, then your faith stands weak and its vestige is not manifest in your souls or upon your limbs so as to comply with His judgements, and that is because you have halted with the vestiges of the human realm, [a halting] which would necessarily result in chastisement and veiling; then wait until God brings about His, chastisement. How can it be otherwise, when you follow the path of [physical] nature and abide by its judgements in place of the wayfaring on the path of the Truth and obeying His command. That is wickedness on your part, and the wicked one is veiled from God. He does not guide him to Him because of his failure to orient himself [towards God] and his lack of will, indeed, because of his refusal and his turning away, for which he deserves chastisement, being forsaken, veiling and privation.

God has already helped you in many homesteads, and on the Day of Hunain, when you admired your own multitude. Self-admiration is the ghoul of the road. It is the blight of the religion, the cause of the disappear- ance of blessings, the key to separation, and the basis of heedlessness. Self-admiration is that you consider your own obedience important, you consider yourself the source of your service, and you look upon your service with the eye of approval. By the decree of the reports and the fatwa of prophethood, the obedience of such a person will never go any further than his own head. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, I am trying to avoid two claims, and from each I ask the help of Your bounty: fancying that I have something of my own, and fancying that I have a right- ful due against You. “O God, I have risen up from where I was, but I have not yet reached where I want to go. “O God, anyone who has not yet been killed by selflessness is a corpse. When someone's por- tion of friendship is talk, he has been defrauded. When someone's religion is not the road of spirit and heart, what business has he with the Friend?” MuṣṬafā said, “If you did not sin, I would be afraid that you would have something worse than sin: self-admiration! self-admiration!” He also said, “What a bad servant! A servant who imagines, becomes conceited, and forgets the Great, the Transcendent. What a bad servant! A servant who dominates, transgresses, and for- gets the All-Compelling, the Highest. What a bad servant! A servant who is negligent, inattentive, and forgets the tomb and disintegration. What a bad servant! A servant who is worried, oversteps, and forgets the beginning and the end.”

And those who hoard up gold and silver, to the end of this [verse]: the amassing of wealth and the hoarding of it without expending [any of it] can only be the result of the taking root [within that person] of the vice of avarice and love of property. As for every burning vice with which that person will be chastised in the Hereafter and suffer degradation in this world, because the substratum with which that vice becomes firmly rooted and established is itself that wealth, then it is that [wealth itself] which is heated in the fire of the Hell of [physical] nature and the abyss of vain desire and with which he is branded. These parts of the body are specified because avarice is concentrated in the soul and the soul overpowers the heart from these aspects, and neither from the higher aspect which is the aspect in which the spirit has mastery and the passage for realities and lights, nor from the lower aspect which is from the aspect of corporeal nature because [physical] nature has no power over that. This leaves the remaining aspects from which he then suffers hurt through the four aspects and is chastised, and you also see that he is disgraced thereby in this world and degraded through these aspects, either by being confronted with it [his hoarding] openly so that he is exposed, or it is secretly mentioned to him from one side, or he is slandered for it from behind his back.

[�] God was averse that they should be sent forth, so He slowed them down: that is to say, they were wretched and there did not remain any good in their preparedness such that God would desire it from them, which is why He was averse to their being sent forth. In other words, they belonged to the latter group, the wretched rejects of whom mentioned has been made more than once.

The freewill offerings are for the poor, and the indigent.... and the son of the road.... O you whose heart has never for one day walked in poverty and who, in your whole life, have never for one hour sat like Jacob in poverty's house of sorrows! O you who have never for one day placed your own attributes with the description of poverty in the mangonel of struggle and never for an instant sacrificed your spirit in the cave of exile and the state of indigence by following the beloved Prophet and the sincerely truthful Abū Bakr. You suppose that without tasting the drink of poverty and wearing the clothes of discipline today you will dwell tomorrow in the domiciles of the High Chambers with the poor among the Companions and the men of the road of poverty. Your supposition is erroneous and your self-governance wrong. They were a thousand times more passionate about that poverty of theirs than you are about being a chief. ʿAbd al-RaḤmān ibn ʿAwf was one of the paragons among the Companions, but the beauty of poverty had hidden its face from him. One day he came in to the presence of MuṣṬafā, and Saʿd ibn Muʿādh, a poor Companion, was present. Words came forth from ʿAbd al-RaḤmān that made the poor man sad, and he became ill. Then ʿAbd al-RaḤmān made one-half of his wealth a sacrifice for the suf- fering of his heart, but he would not accept. God's Messenger said, " O Saʿd, why will you not accept? " He said, " O Messenger of God! The pearl of poverty is too exalted to be sold even for the whole of this world. " For a hundred years the sun must rise in the east and set in the west before the beginningless decree gives a recognizer the eyes to see the beauty of poverty and recognize the exaltedness of poverty. He must have a pain that makes him familiar with seeking. But this seeking is not like the seeking of other things. This pain is not like other pains, which arise from the vapor of forbidden morsels and appear at the top of the stomach. The pain of the religion and the vision of this seeking arise from the level of the liver of the free man, and the exaltedness of the poverty in the hearts of seekers appears in the measure of their pain.

[And of them are those who injure the Prophet] and say, 'He is only a listener!': they used to injure the Prophet and slander him because of the goodness of [his] heart and his being quick to accept and believe what he hears and so He affirms the truth of that and submits to them that he [the Prophet] is indeed like that, but [he is so] in terms of goodness. For the recalcitrant, coarse, crude, loathsome and harsh soul that is unyielding in matters and is not affected is not one that is prepared for perfection, since human perfection can only be [attained] through acceptance, being affected and being acted upon. Thus the more that a soul's temperament is malleable, its heart sound and more given to acceptance, the more it is receptive to perfection and the more intensely prepared it is for that [perfection]. This malleability is not a type of weakness or simple-mindedness which entails being acted upon by all that one hears, even the impossible and being affected by all that he comes across and sees, even lies, evil and error. Rather, this [malleability] is a kind of gentleness and readiness to accept the goodness and truth that corresponds to him, which is why He says: Say: 'A listener to good, because the purity of preparedness and the gentleness of soul requires acceptance of what corresponds to him of good things and not what is incompatible with him in the way of evil. Good preparedness does not accept evil, is not affected by it nor imprinted upon it, being as it is incompatible with it and remote therefrom; for you, in other words, he listens to what is beneficial for you and that wherein lies your welfare and nothing else; one who believes in God: an explanation of his malleability and receptivity, since faith can only come with soundness of heart and the gentleness and malleability of the soul; and has faith in the believers, believing their statements concerning good things and listens to what they say regarding these and accepts it; and who is a mercy to those of you who believe, being compassionate and tender towards them, delivering them thus from chastisement by purifying [them] and teaching [them], rectifying the matter of their mode of living and their final return through piety, dutiful contact and [by] teaching [them] virtuous character traits such as forbearance, compassion, enjoining decency by their emulating of him in that respect, and by laying down the divine prescriptions that bring about the [good] ordering of their affair in both abodes and inciting them to all kinds of piety, verbal and in terms of action, as well as in other ways.

God has promised the believers, both men and women, Gardens underneath which rivers flow, being the Gardens of the souls, and dwellings, that are blessed, being the stations of the masters of trust [in God] in the Gardens of the acts, as evidenced in His words, exalted be He: and a greater beatitude from God, for beatitude belongs to the Gardens of the attributes. That, beatitude, is the supreme triumph, because of the nobleness of those who receive it in the eyes of God and their extreme closeness to Him.

And the preceders, the first among the emigrants and the helpers and those who followed them in beautiful doing-God approves of them, and they approve of Him.

And others who acknowledged their sins; they mixed a wholesome deed with another that is ugly. Perhaps God will turn toward them. Surely God is forgiving, ever-merciful.

Since they were also granted success to [being of] the former division by the blessedness of companionship with the Messenger and his purification of them and his [moral] training of them, He says: Take of their wealth some alms, since wealth is the cause of the manifestation of the soul and of its being overpowered by its attributes and the [source of] reinforcement of its faculties and the substratum of its vain desires, as the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'Wealth is the substance of passionate desires'. Thus their initial state must be one of disengagement from wealth so that the faculties of the soul might be broken and its vain desires and attributes might be weakened so as to be cleansed from the dark configurations that are in it and to be purified from the vileness of sins and the impurity of Satanic motivations. That is the significance of His words: to purify them and to cleanse them thereby, and pray for them, by extending [your] aspiration [to include them] and by effusing the light of [your] companionship upon them; truly your prayers are a peacefulness for them, that is, truly the light that you effuse upon them by turning the attention of your mind to them and the potency of your aspiration and the blessedness of your companionship are the cause for the coming down of the divine peace (sakīna) upon them, their hearts finding peace therein and reassurance. The divine peace is a light that settles in the heart, remaining firm with it in the orientation to the Truth and by which certainty is strengthened and by which is removed that inconstancy which is the result of Satan's touch and his evil whisperings, as well as the conversations of the soul and its murmurings, since that person will no longer accept them then. And God is Hearer, hearing their humble beseechings and admission of their sins, Knower, of their intentions and resolve and of the remorse and distress in their consciences.

And others who are made to hope for God's command; either He will chastise them or He will turn toward them. And God is knowing, wise. In these verses the Generous Lord, the lovingly kind, the able, the pure-knowing knower, the one and unique in name and mark, divides MuḤammad's community into three groups according to the degrees of their faith, the disparity of their acts, and the difference of their character traits. This is the same classification that He provided in detail elsewhere: " Among them are wrongdoers to themselves, among them are moderate, and among them are preceders in good deeds " [35:32]. There He mentioned them together and here apart, but the classification and the ranking in terms of virtue are the same. First are the preceders, the first, and they are the preceders. Second are others who have acknowledged their sins, and they are the moderate. Third are others made to hope for God's command, and they are the wrongdoers. He begins with the preceders. In the beginningless they have the precedence of solicitude and the bounty of guidance from God. They are the first chieftains and the forebears of this commu- nity, the best of creation, the lamps of guidance, the signposts of the religion, the treasurers of the Real, the pillars of the submission, the masters of this world, the interceders of the next world, the chosen of mortal man, the boast of Adam's children. They are the Companions of MuṣṬafā and the chosen of God, the leaders of the submission and the Sunnah, the first in the religion and recogni- tion. They were the first to hear the Real's message and they were the first to accept the message- bringer and to welcome the Real. One group are the Emigrants. They left behind their homes and families and lost their means and homeland for God's sake. Another group are the Helpers, who accepted MuṣṬafā with heart and spirit and gave his companions refuge. As a bird nurtures its chick, they nurtured the submission. They made their bodies and spirits shields for the religion of the submission. They took this world as lowly and they placed their love in the religion. Another group are the Followers who came later: and those who followed them in beautiful doing.

[�] A mosque which was founded upon [pious] fear of God: since the world of the Kingdom is subject to the dominion of the world of the angelic realm and subjugated to it, the intentions and configurations of souls must concomitantly exercise an effect upon the deeds it engages in. Thus everything that is performed with sincere intention for God, exalted be He, issuing from a luminous configuration, then companionship of it is blessedness, all-comprehensiveness and purity. Everything which is performed with a corrupt Satanic intention, issuing from a dark configuration, companionship of it will result in schism, impurity, effacement and evil omen. Do you not see how the Kaʿba is honoured and exalted and a source of blessedness because it was built by the hands of one of God's prophets with sincere intention and with a noble and pure soul, as well as with perfect sincere devotion to God, exalted be He, and that we still witness the vestiges of that in people's deeds and we also find the vestiges of purity and concentration in some places and regions, as well as impurity and schism in others, and this is so only because of that [fact]. That is why He says that a mosque founded upon [pious] fear of God, from the first day is worthier for you to stand in, because corporeal configurations exercise an effect on souls, just as ego-centric configurations exercise an effect on bodies. Thus if the place in which one stands has been founded upon [pious] fear of God and purity of soul, the soul will be affected by way of the concentration of single-minded concern (hamm) and the purity of the moment and the pleasantness of state and the tasting of ecstatic consciousness. If it is founded, however, upon the desire to make a show and to [cause] harm, it [the soul] will be affected by way of impurity, schism and constriction; in it are men who love to purify themselves, that is, a folk who have the will and make the effort to purify themselves from sins. He is cautioning here that the company of the righteous folk from among the folk of volition has a tremendous effect: it must therefore be chosen, for it affects others. Similarly, a station has an effect of which one must be mindful and to which one must be committed, which is why according to the convention of our [Sufi] folk it is mentioned that one must be mindful of the time, the place and the brethren when actualising the concentration (jamʿiyya).

Surely God has bought from the faithful their souls and their possessions so that they may have the Garden.... So rejoice in your sale you have made to Him. In the tasting of the recognizers and the path of the elect, this verse is a place for the joy of the friends and a playing field for the secret cores of the sincerely truthful. It is felicitation for the faithful, a fitting felicitation and an appropriate bestowal of eminence. It is a felicitation that is the heart's intimacy and the spirit's message, the ornament of the session and the capital of the indigent, the adornment of tongues and the life of hearts. It is a generous felicitation, from a gen- erous Lord-generous in Essence, generous in attributes, generous in love, generous in caressing, generous in bestowal. The servant himself is bestowed by His bounty, and then He buys back what He Himself be- stowed. He makes the transaction, but He bestows all the profit on the servant and accepts the loss for Himself. This is beautiful doing and generosity, loving kindness and gentleness. In the Torah of Moses God said, " The Garden is My Garden and the possessions My posses- sions. Buy My Garden with My possessions! If you profit, that is yours, and if you lose, that is Mine. O children of Adam, I did not create you to profit from you. I created you only so that you would profit from Me. " In the Beginningless, before the servant's existence, the Lord of the Worlds bought him. He was the seller and the buyer. He Himself sold and He Himself bought. In the Shariah of MuṣṬafā, it is not permitted for the buyer and seller to be the same, unless it be a father, for whom it is permitted on condition of tenderness, negation of suspicion, perfect loving kindness, and fatherly love. What then do you say about someone who is more clement and merciful toward the servant than a father, a God whose loving kindness has no bounds and whose love is greater? Given that it is permitted for a father, it is more appropriate and more complete in the case of the loving Creator. Moreover, the Exalted Lord knew that the servants are bad-tempered, breakers of the Cov- enant, and disloyal to it.

The repenters, the worshipers, the praisers, the journeyers, the bowers, the prostra- tors, the commanders to the honorable and prohibiters of the improper, the keepers of God's bounds-give good news to the faithful! These are the attributes of the faithful, the conduct of the familiar, and the custom of the friends, who are the hindmost in this world and the foremost in that world. They are the witnesses among the prophets and the interceders for the people, the masters of this world, the lovers of the religion and the beloved of the Real. In this verse their grades are mentioned in a pleasing arrangement. He praises them and bears witness to them, beginning with the lowest of them. First He mentions the lower ones, those who repent and turn back from sin, so that they will not stay ashamed and stricken in heart, but will have new hope. He is saying: " The repenters, those who have turned back from sin, who apologize and are regretful; the worshipers, those who worship, observe the commands, and do service; the praisers, those who praise, extol, and laud; the journeyers, those who go on the hajj, keep the fast, and seek for knowl- edge; the bowers, those who are humble, who serve others, who obey the commands of a pir they have reached; the prostrators, those who say the prayer, who plead, and who put their faces in the dust for the sake of My majesty; the commanders to the honorable, those who command the people to the religion, who call out and invite to obedience, who give good counsel and advise each other; and prohibiters of the improper, the just sultans, those who call to remembrance and who bring the people away from evil and who receive them with spirit and heart. Give good news to the faithful! Give good news to the faithful that whatever shortcoming they may have, My unneediness is equal to it. Whatever may be displeasing from them, My loving kindness is on top of that. Whatever the servant may hope, My bounty is greater than that. Give good news to the faithful that when I chose them, I saw the faults. I did not approve before I had examined the hidden things. With My own unneediness I bought the servants as they are.

It is not for the Prophet, and those who believe, to ask forgiveness, to the end of this [verse]: in other words, when they discovered the mystery of divine predestination (qadar) and stood aware of what God has decreed and determined and came to know what sequels of affairs will be, it was not for them to request the opposite of that. Thus they were satisfied with the matter that God has ordained, even if in their natures there was something that entailed the opposite of that. And this is because they have detached themselves from the entailments of their natures. Thus if natural kinship and formal relationship entails excessive compassion and gentleness towards someone who corresponds to them and is connected to them in that respect but they witness God's judgement against him that he should be subjugated and chastised, their religious zeal drives them to endure patiently if they do not possess the station of satisfaction. Nay indeed, separation on the basis of religion prevails over them against natural kinship and they therefore declare themselves innocent of him and do not request from God what is the opposite of His wisdom and His command. That is why they say: 'The aspiration of the [mystical] knower has no effective power after his knowledge has been perfected'. In other words, when a person is certain that everything happens by His determination and that it is impossible for something to happen in contravention of what God has determined in pre-eternity, he will know that what God wills will be and what He wills not will not be, and neither his aspiration nor anything else can have an effect on anything and hence he does not unleash his aspiration on any matter, unlike the veiled one who ascribes effective agency to something other than God and does not know the mystery of [divine] determination.

And God would never, send them astray from the path of submission and obedience to His command and of satisfaction with His judgement, after He had guided them, to the cognitive affirmation of Oneness and to seeing that everything happens according to His decree and His determination, until He had made clear to them, all that which they ought to be wary of in every one of the stations of their wayfaring and [every one] of the levels of their arrival. So, if they engage in some station of theirs in something which it had been made clear to them that they ought to be wary of, then He will send them astray because they will have been engaging in what is the sin of their state, which is a wickedness in terms of their religion. And refuge is sought with God from error after guidance. Surely God is Knower of all things, knowing the intricate details of the sins of their states, even if no one [else] should discern them, and consequently He requites the guided ones from among His friends for these [sins], as mentioned in the lordly ḥadīth: 'Warn the truthful ones that I am a jealous One'.

O you who have faith, be wary of God and be among the truthful! This is a command, a bestowal of eminence, and a felicitation: a command of God, a bestowal of eminence through good news, and a beautiful felicitation; a lovingly kind command, a heart- holding bestowal of eminence, a magnificent felicitation. He is commanding to bring the servants near to Himself, bestowing eminence so that the travelers will give their hearts to His love, giving felicitation so that they will seek His companionship. The servants who get the work done are those who have His love in their hearts. Those who reap the Real's fruit are those who have living hearts. Those who remember Him are those who receive eminence from the Real. They pass their days in the world with the world's folk like strangers. O you who have faith! This is a call of generosity and an infinite caress. The ears for the Real's call are the seven members of the body. When He discloses Himself, the sorrows of the two worlds are forgotten. He put the call of generosity in front so that hearing it, the servant would find it easy to carry the burden of the decree. What is the decree? " Be wary of God and be among the truthful! " He commands to godwariness, and He commands truthfulness in godwariness. Godwariness is the basis of the submission, truthfulness the perfection of faith. Godwariness is the beginning of familiarity, truthfulness the mark of love. Godwariness is the capital of the wor- shipers, truthfulness the mark of the light of recognition. Godwariness belongs to the travelers in the world of the Shariah, truthfulness belongs to the pain-stricken in the world of the Tariqah. When someone comes to possess the good fortune of godwariness and he is shown the beauty of truthful- ness, his mark is that he strikes fire into the hut of his own existence, launches the ship of createdness in the ocean of nonbeing, makes his children into orphans, bids farewell to his near ones and family, and cleanses his inwardness of habits and customs. His outwardness comes to be adorned with the light of the Shariah, his secret core filled with love for the Real, his heart emptied of love for this world, his secret core of desire for the afterworld-he has no joining with this world or the folk of this world, and no ease with the afterworld. Remembering the two worlds is no doubt to be pregnant. If you claim to be a man, do not be pregnant. You were good-do not be bad for the sake of talk. You were a man-do not be a woman for color and scent. [DS 326, 325]

[It is not for the believers to go forth altogether.] Why should not a party of every section of them [go forth]: in other words, every prepared person from a [particular] group must wayfare along the path of the pursuit of knowledge, since it is not possible for all of them [to do so], either outwardly [impossible] because of the [potential] forfeiting of [the groups's] welfare, or inwardly [impossible] because there is no preparedness [for it in each of them]. 'To gain understanding in religion' (tafaqquh) is a kind of knowledge that belongs to the heart and not one that is earned. For not every person who earns knowledge gains understanding, as He says And We have placed covers upon their hearts so that they do not understand it (yafqahūn) [Q. 6:25]: these covers (akinna) are natural overlays and ego-centric veils. Thus whoever desires to gain understanding, let him go forth in the way of God and let him wayfare the path of self-cleansing and self-purification until knowledge manifests itself from his heart onto his tongue, as was revealed to one of the prophets of the Children of Israel: 'O Children of Israel: do not say that knowledge is in the heavens and so who will bring it down, or that it is at the furthest edges of the earth and so who will bring it out, or that it is beyond the sea and so who will traverse [it] and bring it overḍ Knowledge has been placed in your hearts. Acquire [spiritual] refinement at my hands through the refined dispositions of the spiritual ones and assume the character traits of the truthful ones so that I might make manifest the knowledge that is in your hearts until your are immersed and covered in it. Thus what is meant by 'gaining understanding' (tafaqquh) is [the gaining of] knowledge that is firmly rooted in the heart, striking its roots [deep] within the soul, its effect being manifest upon the limbs such that the one possessing it is unable to commit anything that stands in opposition to that knowledge. For otherwise, he would not be a learned one (ʿālim). Do you know not see how God has deprived of understanding (fiqh) that person in whom the awe of God does not prevail over the awe of people, where He says: You indeed rouse greater awe in their hearts than God.

O you who believe, fight those [of the disbelievers] who are near to you, from among the disbelieving faculties of your souls, which are the most hostile of your enemies, and let them find harshness in you, that is, a vanquishing and a severity until you attaint the degree of God-fearing so that there then descends upon you assistance from God as He says: and know that God is with the God-fearing.

Do they not see that they are tried, [to the end of] the verse: trial is a steersman from God, exalted be He, that steers people to Him. It is mentioned in the ḥadīth: 'Trial is one of God's scourges, exalted be He, by which He drives His servants towards Him'. Every illness, impoverishment, or evil state that befalls a person breaks the vehemence of his soul and its faculties, curbs its attributes and its vain desires so that the heart becomes tender and emerges from its veiling and is roused from its reliance on this world and its pleasures, becoming constricted and recoiling in disgust from it, orienting itself instead towards God. The least of the degrees of this [trial] is that if he should discover that there is no escape from Him except to Him and should find no flight from or way out of the trial besides [through] Him, he submits humbly and yields before Him, as He says: And if waves cover them like awnings, they call on God, sincere before Him in their faith [Q. 31:32]; and [also where He says]: If misfortune should befall a man, he calls upon Us on his side, or sitting or standing [Q. 10:12]. In sum, it [trial] necessarily brings about a thinning of the veil or its [complete] removal, so let him make the most of his moment, seek refuge [with God] and adopt a [virtuous] character trait that will always define him so that awareness and remembrance might be established and presence and repentance might be facilitated [for that person] so that he no longer habituates himself to forgetfulness upon deliverance [from trial] and that the soul is not fortified when security reigns, lest it prevail and [lest] the veil is drawn down [even a] denser [veil] than the one before, as He has said: but when He delivers them to land, behold! they ascribe partners to Him [Q. 29:65], [and] but when We have relieved him of his misfortune, he passes on as if he had never called upon Us because of a misfortune that befell him [Q. 10:12].

Now there has come to you a Messenger from among yourselves; what troubles you is difficult for him; eagerly desirous is he for you, clement and ever-merciful toward the faithful. He is in contact with you through mortal nature, but he is different from you in election. " O MuḤammad, keep on saying, 'I am a mortal like you' [18:110]. I will keep on saying, 'Did He not find thee an orphan and shelter thee?' [93:6]. You are the orphan pearl, the like of whom is no other. How can a mortal reach the forefront of the Real's acceptance such that He puts up with his disdain? By thy life! [15:72]. How can a mortal be worthy for the grasp of the attributes to explain the polish of his heart's mirror by virtue of solicitude? Did We not expand for thee thy breast? [94:1]. How can a mortal be such that the auditor of the beginningless and endless register turns over the acceptance and rejection of the creatures to his threshold? Whatever the Messenger gives you, take; whatever he prohibits you, forgo [59:7]. O Muhammad! You are something dif- ferent, and your work is different! " You are a tongue other than the speech of every mouth, you are a soul other than the gentleness of anyone else. You are a thought other than in anyone's mind. How can they reach you? You are indeed another world. It has been said that in friendship are both separation and union. In the era of the Beginningless, when love was apportioned, the wail of separation's pain rose up from the house of Abū Jahl, and the glitter of union's sun shone from the chamber of MuḤammad the Arab. From that separation was created a hell in the heart of the estranged, and from this union was affirmed a paradise in the breast of the friends. After the sun of union shone on that paragon, the world's folk were bewildered in his work. The wish for his beauty and for following him rose up in the prophets. Moses the Speaking Com- panion said, " Lord God, make me one of his community! " Jesus the Spirit of God said, " Lord God, make me the door-keeper of his threshold! " [Abraham] the Bosom Friend said, " Lord God, make my mention flow on the tongue of his community! " More wonderful than all this is that the paragon himself became bewildered in the steps of his own path.

So if they turn away, and refuse to receive [your] pity and mercy, because of their unpreparedness or because of the disappearance of this [preparedness], and have exposed themselves to eternal wretchedness, say: 'God suffices me: I have no need of you, nor of your assistance, in the same way that a man has no need of a painful and gangrenous appendage, which, on the basis of reason, must be amputated. In other words, God avails me [of all else]. There is nothing in existence except Him and hence there is no effective agent other than Him and no helper except Him. In Him I trust: I cannot see that any [other than Him] possesses [the power to] act and there is no might or strength except in Him, and He is the Lord of the Tremendous Throne', that encompasses all things, from which issue His judgement and command for all.

Alif lām rāÌ: [the rāÌ is] an allusion to the mercy that is the Muḥammadan essence, since He says We did not send you except as a mercy to all the worlds [Q. 21:107]. As for alif lām, they have already been mentioned. Those, that is, what is being alluded to by these letters is the pillars of the universal Book that contains wisdom, or the one whose differentiations have been set clear and precise. Or [it means]: I swear by God - in consideration of the ipseity of exclusive unity (aḥadiyya) in concentration and the attribute of inclusive unity (wāḥidiyya) in differentiation within the inner aspect of the realm of divine power (jabarūt) and the outer aspect of the realm of divine mercy (raḥamūt) - to what is being mentioned, or to that those signs mentioned in the sūra, are the signs of the Book, containing wisdom.

Give good news to those with faith that they have a footing of truthfulness with their Lord. MuḤammad ibn ʿAlī al-Tirmidhī said, " The footing of truthfulness is the leader of the wholesome and the sincerely truthful, the obeyed interceder, the asker who receives response, MuḤammad. " It has been said that the footing of truthfulness is the precedence of solicitude and the bounty of guidance. On the first day during the First Compact, He gave the drink of affection to the spirits of the faithful during the session of intimacy from the bowl of love in the cup of kindness. That wine made them drunk and dizzy. He promised them a straight and truthful promise: " We shall bring you back to this domicile of generosity and We shall caress you again with increase over this excellence: He will increase them from His bounty [4:173]. " This is why He says,

He directs, the affairs of the heavens and the earths in accordance with His wisdom by the Hand of His power. There is no intercessor, to intercede for anyone by effusing perfection and extending a light with which to bring that person close to God and deliver him from the darknesses of the soul and purify him from the abomination of its attributes, save after, He grants [His] permission by bestowing preparedness, then by facilitating the causes [for that intercession]; that, one who is described by these attributes, is God, your Lord, who nurtures you and directs your affair, so single out worship for Him and know Him by these attributes. Do not worship Satan and do not veil yourself from Him through one of His attributes such that you then ascribe His words and His acts to Satan.

To Him is your place of return, all together-God's promise in truth. To return is to go back, and going back must have a beginning. To God belongs the command, before and after [30:4]. Concerning the intimations of the verse, " To Him is your place of return, all together, " Junayd said, " From Him is the beginning and to Him the end. What is between these are the pastures of His bounty and the uninterruptedness of His blessings. For those to whom felicity preceded at the beginning, this will be displayed in His pastures and in moving about in His blessings by their mak- ing manifest the tongue of gratitude, the state of approval, and the contemplation of the Patron of Blessings. As for those who were not permitted the felicity of the beginning, they will nullify the days of training their souls and collect ephemeral chaff so as to be pushed back to the wretchedness that preceded at the beginning. " Junayd is saying that all things begin with God and all return to God. In other words, everything is brought forth by His power and returned to His decree. He is the First and the Last. The Begin- ningless is His predetermination, the Endless His decision. Everything arrives newly through His gentleness, and all the newly arrived things are annihilated by His severity. Between this and that are the pastures of His bounty and the marks giving witness to His blessings. All those whom the begin- ningless command brought into being inscribed with felicity came forth in the pastures of bounty giving gratitude for blessings and approving of the apportionment, their tongues in remembrance, their hearts grateful, and their spirits limpid and believing. All those who received the beginningless decree of wretchedness had ruined lives, indigent days, and bad outcomes. They were tainted by this world, captivated by the forbidden, and attached to diversions and games. He wanted this for them in the end in order to take them back to the beginningless decree and the First Day. This is what the Lord of the Worlds is saying: " To Him is your place of return, all together-God's promise in truth. " It has been said, " Promised to the obedient are the highest paradises, and promised to the disobedient are mercy and approval.

He it is who made the sun a radiance and the moon a light. In terms of allusion, this sun is the sun of success-giving, which shines from the constellation of so- licitude on the servant's bodily parts so that they will be adorned with service and obedience. The moon alludes to the light of tawḤīd and the brightness of recognition in the heart of the recognizer, for with this light he takes the road to the Recognized. The Pir of the Tariqah said, " O God, the recognizer knows You with Your light, not with the ray of worship's light. He burns in the fire of love and does not turn back from joy. "

Truly in the alternation, of the night of the victory of the darkness of the soul over the heart and the day of the irradiation of the light of the spirit upon this [heart] and [in] what God has created in the heavens of spirits and the earth of bodies, there are signs for a people who fear, the veils of the attributes of the commanding-soul and who have attained the level of the self-reproaching soul and have recognised these signs.

Surely those who do not hope for Our encounter, are content with the life of this world and at rest with it, and those who are heedless of Our signs, it is they whose refuge will be the Fire for what they were earning. The unbelievers do not hope for the vision of the Real, for they deny it. Inescapably they will never reach it. The faithful have faith in the vision of the Real and hope that they will reach it. Inescap- ably they will reach it. This is the same as what MuṣṬafā said: " When someone hears of the Real's generosity " -that is, he hears a report that the Real is generous toward the servant and will caress him with the vision of Him- " but does not accept the report and does not have faith in the vision, he will never reach that generosity. " It has been said that they do not hope to see the Real because they have not yearned, they do not yearn because they have not loved, they do not love because they have not recognized, they do not recognize because they have not sought, and they do not seek because the Real has not brought them into seeking and has shut the door of seeking. So, all is from God and according to His desire and will. God says, " Surely the final end is unto thy Lord " [53:42]. Had He desired that they seek Him, they would have sought Him. Had they sought, they would have recognized. Had they recognized, they would have loved. Had they loved, they would have yearned. Had they yearned for Him, they would have hoped for His encounter. Had they hoped for His encounter, they would have seen Him. God says, " And had We willed, We would have given every soul its guidance " [32:13]. As for those who do not hope for His encounter, their home will be chastisement and separation. This declaration shows that the final goal of those who hope for His encounter is union, encounter, and nearness.

Surely those who do not hope for Our encounter, are content with the life of this world and at rest with it, and those who are heedless of Our signs, it is they whose refuge will be the Fire for what they were earning. The unbelievers do not hope for the vision of the Real, for they deny it. Inescapably they will never reach it. The faithful have faith in the vision of the Real and hope that they will reach it. Inescap- ably they will reach it. This is the same as what MuṣṬafā said: " When someone hears of the Real's generosity " -that is, he hears a report that the Real is generous toward the servant and will caress him with the vision of Him- " but does not accept the report and does not have faith in the vision, he will never reach that generosity. " It has been said that they do not hope to see the Real because they have not yearned, they do not yearn because they have not loved, they do not love because they have not recognized, they do not recognize because they have not sought, and they do not seek because the Real has not brought them into seeking and has shut the door of seeking. So, all is from God and according to His desire and will. God says, " Surely the final end is unto thy Lord " [53:42]. Had He desired that they seek Him, they would have sought Him. Had they sought, they would have recognized. Had they recognized, they would have loved. Had they loved, they would have yearned. Had they yearned for Him, they would have hoped for His encounter. Had they hoped for His encounter, they would have seen Him. God says, " And had We willed, We would have given every soul its guidance " [32:13]. As for those who do not hope for His encounter, their home will be chastisement and separation. This declaration shows that the final goal of those who hope for His encounter is union, encounter, and nearness.

Surely those who have faith and do wholesome deeds, their Lord will guide them in their faith. In terms of allusion according to the tasting of the folk of recognition, this verse has another inti- mation. He is saying that in reality the faithful and the good men are those whom the Unity keeps under the domes of jealousy through the blessing of generosity. He nurtures them with the beauty of solicitude, He gives them access to recognition of Him, and He brings them close to companion- ship with Him so that they will become one for Him and estranged from other than Him. The Pir of the Tariqah said, " TawḤīd is not just that you know Him to be one. True tawḤīd is that you be one for Him and estranged from other than Him. " The beginning of solicitude is that He gives them a goal in the Unseen to take them away from the world. When they become solitary, they are worthy for union with the Solitary. Your seeker must be solitary like You- he must be free of every defect and pain. Until the diver cuts his heart away from the kingdom of life, it is not permissible for the hand of his seeking to reach the desired pearl. What then do you say about someone who, in seeking His majesty and beauty, aims for the greatest salvation? As long as he does not wash his hands of love for life, how will he reach union with the proximity of the Beloved? In the session of Moses a poor man let out a cry. In anger Moses shouted at him. At once Gabriel came: " O Moses! God says, 'In your session, the owner of pain and possessor of heart was that one man. It was he who was present in your session for My sake. You shouted at him. Even though you are My speaking companion and My dear one, you do not see the secret that we have placed under a black blanket. It is yearning for My beauty that brings the friends into ecstasy. It is the demand for My beauty that pulls their hearts into the world of fear and hope, contraction and expansion. And God contracts and expands [2:245]. When the eyes are full of this world, they cannot hold the attribute of the afterworld.

And their greeting therein will be " Peace!, " and the last of their supplication will be " Praise belongs to God, the Lord of the Worlds. " On that desert of the Mustering and station of the Resurrection, the disobedient of AḤmad's com- munity will be kept back at the place of the exposure of the reckoning. The preceders will have gone on ahead with the light of obedience, and the disobedient will stay there alone with the heavy burden of disobedience. In the end, God's mercy will take them by the hand. He will have pity on their aloneness and helplessness. With the call of generosity, He will say, " My servants! " When this address of exaltedness and call of generosity in the attribute of mercy reaches their ears, it will put their spirits at ease and open up their hearts to repose and ease [56:89]. He will say, " My servants, surely the companions of the Garden are today busy rejoicing [36:55] and have no leisure time for you. The Companions of the Fire have no tenderness for you because of the intensity of the chastisement. O assemblies of the indigent, peace be upon you! How will you be when your similars and companions have preceded you and none of them will be your guide? I then shall be your guide. If I were to treat you as you deserve, would that be generosity? " I would be disloyal like them were I to leave them as they left Me. When the Real's clemency and mercy reach them, He washes away their dread and disobedience with the water of mercy, and the sun of kind favor shines from the constellation of solicitude. With the attribute of boasting and the state of brokenness they will weep sweetly and cry happily at the Court of the Possessor of Majesty. The Exalted Lord will accept their weeping and crying and place a balm on their hearts' pain. He will open their mouths with praise of Him, and they will laud and praise God in the measure of the capacity of servanthood. The last of their words will be what the Lord of the Worlds says: " And the last of their supplication is 'Praise belongs to God, the Lord of the Worlds.' " The last of their words will be, " Praise belongs to God, Lord of the Worlds, for the enemies' schadenfreude has not reached us, and God's bounty and mercy have embraced us. " Our only goal was God's forgiveness- the favor is God's, for we have reached our goal.

And if God should hasten for mankind evil, to the end of this [verse]: since preparednesses were created as naturally disposed (mafṭūra) to relative good, whether formal or supra-sensory, in the measure commensurate with their degrees from pre-eternity, then every supplication such [a preparedness] makes and [every] request for good, by the configuration of its receptivity and its purification and yearning for that [good], necessarily brings about the actualisation of that [good] for it promptly and its being effused upon him from the Effusing Principle who is the source of good things and blessings, as He says: And He grants you of all that you ask of Him [Q. 14:34]. Every time that good is effused upon him by virtue of his meriting it because of the existence of purification and cleansing, his preparedness increases by the joining of that good to him, becoming thus stronger and more receptive than the former, and so the Principle, exalted be He, is quicker to respond to him and more effusing upon him. Accordingly with the increase in preparedness comes the increase in effusion until it reaches its [full] extent, which is the significance of 'the doubling of good deeds' and the significance of His words: whoever brings a good deed shall have better than it [Q. 28:84]. As for evil things, these are nothing but the veils of preparedness and the impediments to receptivity and the barriers to effusion. When these [evils] are actualised, what takes place because of them is simply the non-receptivity for good things, whereby they are prevented from the effusion of these [good things] and the preparedness remains as the veil constituting what has been actualised by that [evil] and nothing else. If, in accordance with correspondence, that [preparedness] entails the effusion of evil, then there is nothing in the effusion of the Principle that corresponds to that [evil effusion] and so nothing is effused upon the latter from Its genus, and this is the significance of His words: and whoever brings an evil deed shall only be requited the like of it [Q. 6:160], unless, perhaps, if he has gone to excess and transgressed the bounds of mercy, eliminating [his] preparedness totally, thereby corresponding to devilry and drawing upon its world, as He says: Shall I inform you upon whom the devils descendḍ They descend upon every sinful liar [Q.

Mankind was but one community, upon the primordial nature which God created in mankind, oriented towards the unity, illumined by the light of original guidance, then they differed, by the exigencies of creation and the different constitutions and desires, habits and [social] interactions. And had it not been for a word that had already preceded from your Lord, that is, [were it not for] a decree that had preceded from pre-eternity to designate terms [of life] and provisions and that every fortunate one and every wretched one should fulfil the limits of what has been determined for him in terms of the things he does, it would have been decided between them regarding that over which they differed, imminently and the fortunate one would have been distinguished from the wretched one, as well as truth from falsehood in terms of their religions and communities. However, God's wisdom has entailed that every one of them should attain the direction to which he has turned his countenance through the deeds which he performs and to manifest what is hidden in his soul.

And when We made people taste of mercy after adversity that had afflicted them: it has already been mentioned how different types of trials in the way of adversities and hardships and all kinds of severe distress [serve to] break the soul's enthusiasm for evil (shirra) and make the heart more tender by removing the veils of the soul's attributes, thinning the densities of nature and lifting of the coverings of vain desire. That is why their hearts incline by nature to their point of origin when in that state [of tasting mercy], since they are then returning to the entailments of their primordial nature, their original luminosity and their primordial faculty, and they are inclining to ascending, something which is rooted in them, once the impediment has been eliminated. Nay to incline to the upper aspect and to the luminous points of origin is a predisposition created in the nature of all spiritual faculties, even the animal soul, if it should cleanse itself of dark corporeal configurations. For to tend to what is low belongs to corporeal accidents. So much so that even beasts and wild animals when in hardship during times of scarcity and days of drought, [you see them] gather in groups with their heads raised towards the heaven as though their spiritual connection senses the coming down of an effusion from the upper aspect so that they might then draw on it [for relief]. Similarly, when outward graces are plentiful for people, the resources of nature in full supply for them and [their] corporeal needs [satisfied], the soul is strengthened [and emboldened] by the reinforcement of the lower aspect and its faculties become arrogant and overbearing towards the heart, the veil becomes denser and harsher, vain desire acquires mastery and becomes victory such that corporeal nature holds sway and dark corporeal configurations pile up. And thus the heart becomes shaped by the configuration of the soul, hardening, becoming harsher and insolent, made recklessly arrogant by [the plentifulness of] grace to the extent that it becomes ungrateful, blind and inclines to the lower aspect remote as it is to luminous configuration in such instances. In the measure that the soul acquires mastery over the heart, so too does the estimative faculty acquire mastery over the intellect, whereupon devilry becomes master, given that the rational faculty is now captive in the shackles of estimation and under its command, exploited by it for its own pursuits and rendering its goals palatable to it as it actualises the pleasures of the soul, reinforcing it [the rational faculty] from the world of abomination and strengthening its attributes with equipment from the world of natural character and tools of the substrata of [worldly] shares through reflection, such that the heart becomes veiled through [the accumulation of] rust to the receptivity of the attributes of the Truth totally.

He it is who makes you journey on land and sea. Even so, when you are in the ship-it takes them along with a goodly breeze, and they rejoice in it; there comes upon them a raging wind, and waves come from every place and they think that they will be encompassed by them; they supplicate God, purifying the religion for Him: " If Thou savest us from this, we shall surely be among the thankful. " In the tongue of the folk of allusion, the journey on land is taking the road to the drinking places of the Shariah through inference by means of the message. The journey on the sea is the overwhelm- ing force of the Real which, at the moment of ecstasy, pulls the reins of the servant's steed without intermediaries through the way stations of the Haqiqah to the places of contemplating holiness. Just as on the sea you make a one-month journey in one day, so also in this field the chevalier traverses the distance of a whole lifetime with one divine attraction. This is why they say, " One attraction of the Real is equivalent to all the deeds of jinn and men. " The journey on land is the journey of the worshipers and renunciants in the desert of struggle on the steed of discipline with the guidance of the Shariah. Their goal is the paradise of approval and everlasting blessings. The journey on the sea is the journey of the recognizers and the sincerely truthful in the ship of kind favor, which is driven by the wind of solicitude in the sea of contemplation. Their goal is the Kaabah of union and the mystery of the Beneficent. It has also been said that land and sea are allusions to the contraction and expansion of the recognizers. Sometimes in contraction they weep between confoundedness and bewilderment, and sometimes in expansion they are delighted between witnessing and finding. When the wind of happiness again blows from the horizon of self-disclosure and the rain of generosity pours down from the cloud of gentleness, they see solicitude and kind favor, and the hard cash of their present moment becomes it takes them along with a goodly breeze, and they rejoice in it: On the carpet of witnessing, in the state of intimacy, joy comes over them.

[O mankind] your insolence is only against your own souls, to the end of this [verse]: insolence is the opposite of justness. So just as justness is a virtue that subsumes all other virtues and configuration from the [inclusive] unity that procures an effusion from the light of the Oneness for the soul, so insolence can only be the result of utter engrossment in vices such that it requires all of them. The one so [insolent] is at extreme distance from the Truth and utter darkness, as it is said [in a ḥadīth]: 'Injustice shall be [a heap of] darknesses on the Day of Resurrection'. That is why He says 'against your souls' and not against the victim of the injustice, because the one suffering the injustice will end up fortunate thereby while the unjust one will be utterly wretched. It is but the enjoyment of the life of this world since all excesses and acts of immoderation that are the counterpart to justice are mere natural enjoyments and animal pleasures that will perish with the perishing of sensory life whose similitude in being quick to disappear and of little endurance is given in the similitude here in which the earth adorns itself with its ornaments by [receiving] rainwater but is then quickly destroyed by some ruinous matter before there is time to profit from the plants [that had shot forth with the rain]. There then follows eternal wretchedness and everlasting painful chastisement. According to the ḥadīth it is said that the good that is quickest to receive reward is kindness to relatives; and the evil that receives its punishment most promptly is insolence and the perjurious oath, since against this latter there accumulate the dues of people and so his punishment cannot be delayed for the length of time that a due of God, exalted be He, can. I have heard one [Sufi] shaykh say: 'Rarely does an insolent [tyrant] die a natural death and rarely does a wicked person reach old age', and that is because they both challenge God, exalted be He, by trying to demolish the order which God's solicitude is devoted to keeping in check and because they both contravene His wisdom and His justice.

And God invites to the Abode of Peace, and He guides whomsoever He will to a straight path. Invitations are four: First is the invitation to tawḤīd and bearing witness. That is His words, " He invites you so that He may forgive you some of your sins " [14:10]. Second is the invitation to praise and response. That is His words, " He will invite you, and you will respond to Him " [17:52]. Third is the invitation to following and leadership. That is His words, " We shall invite all the people by their leader " [17:71]. Fourth is the invitation to generosity and hospitality. That is His words, " And God invites to the Abode of Peace. " When someone wants to invite someone and to make his friends and dear ones his guests, the condition of the entertainment is that first he sends one of those close to him, one of his own special friends, to inform them and give them the good news. Then, when they come, he sends his dear ones to welcome them. He does not invite any of them alone, but rather he invites their friends and relatives as well. He sends steeds and torches in the road, and when they come their place is made up and ready. When they sit, he first gives them rosewater, then fruit is brought. The prepared food is placed, and the serving boys and servants stand by. When that is finished, they listen to music. It is also a condition that the host not hold himself back from being seen by the guests, and finally that he send them back with respect and honor. The Lord of the Worlds has made all of this ready and set it up for the entertainment of para- dise, and He reports of it and explains it in the Qur'an. The first to call them and give them good news is MuṣṬafā, who is, the Real says, " inviting to God by His leave " [33:46]. Then the angels and Riẓwān will come to welcome them: and the angels will receive them [21:103]. He will send them mounts: We shall muster the godwary to the All-Merciful in droves [19:85], which is to say that they will be mounted on noble steeds of light.

Those who do what is beautiful shall have the most beautiful and an increase. Neither dust nor abasement shall overcome their faces. It is they who will be the companions of the Garden, dwelling within it forever. The companions of the Garden are one thing, the lords of companionship something else. About the companions of the Garden He says, " And God invites to the Abode of Peace " [10:25]. About the lords of companionship He says, " And He guides whomsoever He will to a straight path " [10:25]. The most beautiful, blessedness, and nearness belong to the folk of the Garden. Increase, proxim- ity, and companionship belong to the folk of recognition. I envy your house because of your neighborhood- blessed is he who becomes a neighbor of your house! God's Messenger said, " When God settles the folk of the Garden in the Garden and the folk of the Fire in the Fire, He will send the Faithful Spirit to the folk of the Garden. He will say, 'O Folk of the Garden! Your Lord greets you and commands you to visit the courtyard of the Garden.' It is the bed of the Garden, and its soil is of musk. Its pebbles are pearls and carnelians, its trees are gold and dates, and its leaves emeralds. The folk of the Garden will go out happy and joyful. Then there will be an assembly, and therein God's generosity will alight upon them, and they will gaze on His face. It is this that was promised by God, and He fulfills it for them. " He said, " God will give them permission to listen to music, eat, and drink, and wear the cloth- ing of generosity. Then a caller will call out: 'O friends of God! Does anything of what your Lord promised you remain?' " They will say, 'No. He has fulfilled what He promised us, and there remains nothing but gazing at the face of our Lord. " He said, " So the Lord will disclose Himself to them in veils and say, 'O Gabriel, lift My veils for My servants so that they may gaze at My face.' He will left the first veil, so they will gaze at a light from the Lord and fall prostrate before it.

And for those who earn, all kinds of, evil deeds, in the way of deeds, words and beliefs that veil their preparedness from the reception of perfection, [there shall be] the requital of an evil deed by the like thereof, in terms of the configuration that has been perpetrated by their hearts by way of their evil deeds, preventing them from purity and light, and ignominy, inclination to the lower aspect, shall overcome them - they have no protector against God, to protect them from that ignominy and forsaking on account of the presence of the veil and the non-receptivity for protection by virtue of the impurities becoming fixed [therein] - as if their faces had been covered with strips of darkest night, because of the excessive extent to which they have acquired that dark configuration through their natural inclinations and despicable deeds. Those, they are the inhabitants of the Fire, which their state entails in tending to the lower [aspect] in the way of the fires of [their] vestiges and [evil] acts.

And the day on which We shall gather them all together, at the greatest gathering, the source of the non-delimited union of existence; then We shall say to those who associated others [with God], from among them, that is, the veiled ones who have halted with the other in love and obedience: 'In your place!, that is, hold your place. You and your associates!': the meaning [of this] is that they are made to halt with that with which they had halted [in their idolatry] at the halting place in addition to the severing of the union (waṣl) and the means (asbāb) which are the very causes of their love and their worship, with the worshipped being dissociating from the worshipper because of the absence of corporeal instruments and natural individual desires which necessitated that union. That is the meaning of His words: Then We shall make a separation between them, in other words, even though they are together at the halting place, We shall make a separation between them in terms of direction, in that the level of the worshipped ends up being higher while the level of the worshipper ends up lower in addition to the discrepancy between their two states, if the worshipped being was a noble being, such as the angels, Jesus or Ezra and their like from among those who have a preceding reward from God, as He says: Indeed those to whom [the promise of] the fairest reward went beforehand from Us, those, they will be kept away from it [Q. 21:101]; and their associates will say: 'It was not us that you were worshipping, rather you were worshipping Satan by your obedience of him and what you fancifully invented by your estimations in the way of corrupt falsehoods and fallacious wishes.

God suffices as a witness, to the end of this [verse]: in other words, God knows that we did not command to you this and we did not desire that you worship us.

There, that is, at that halting place, every soul, shall be tested and made to taste, what it did before, in this world, and they shall be returned to God, at the halting place for recompense having been cut off from their deities and being isolated from them [and along with], their rightful Lord, who takes charge of requiting them justly and equitably, and that which they were forging, in the way of their fanciful inventions, the principles of their religion, their creed, their fictitious estimations and false wishes, shall fail them.

Say: Is there any of those whom you associate who guides to the Real? Real is one of the names of the Lord. The commentary is that in truth He is God; He is worthy of Godhood, and His measure is in place. What was, is, and will be must go, but He subsists. He is found in the hearts of the friends and known to the spirits of the recognizers. He does not accept alteration or change of state, and He is everlasting in worthiness for Godhood. The name Real often comes forth from the tongue of the Folk of the Tariqah. This is because upon witnessing the acts, this group began to witness the attributes, and then, upon witnessing the attributes, they fell to witnessing the Essence. First they gazed on the artisanry, then they passed beyond the artisanry and gazed on the attributes, then again they passed from gazing on the attri- butes to gazing on the Essence. About gazing on the artisanry He says, " Have they not gazed upon the dominion of the heav- ens and the earth? " [7:185]. About gazing on the attributes He says, " Thou art not upon any task, neither dost thou recite any of the Qur'an, nor do you do any deed, unless We are witnesses over you when you go forth into it " [10:61]. About gazing on the Essence He says, " Say 'God,' then leave them " [6:91]. About gazing on the acts MuṣṬafā said, " I seek refuge in Thy pardon from Thy punishment. " About gazing on the attributes he said, " I seek refuge in Thy approval from Thy anger. " About gazing on the Essence he said, " I seek refuge in Thee from Thee. " Then he passed beyond his own seeing and became disengaged from his own attributes, and he spoke from the station of annihila- tion: " I do not number Thy laudations. " Again, he stepped higher to the station of subsistence and gave a mark of the reality of solitariness. He said, " Thou art as Thou hast lauded Thyself. " First is the station of inference, second the station of poverty, third the station of contempla- tion, fourth the station of life, and fifth the station of subsistence. The Pir of the Tariqah alluded to the intimations of these meaning when he said, " O resurrec- tion of the marks bearing witness and destruction of the traces! The recognizer is alive through his own nonbeing. O Splendorous and Self-Standing, everyone hopes for vision, and I am lost in vision. When the flood reaches the ocean, what then is known of the flood? The world is full of day, and the poor blind man is deprived. " The antagonists say, " These are not suitable words. " The sun does not sin if someone is blind.

And this QurÌān is not, a fabrication [concocted], besides God; but it is a confirmation of what is before it, of the Preserved Tablet, and a detailing of the Book, which is the Mother, as where He says: And it is indeed in the Mother Book, with Us, [and it is] indeed exalted, full of wisdom [Q. 43:4]. In other words, how can it be discordant [with previous revelation] when it has already been confirmed previously in two Books, in terms of detailed knowledge as in the Preserved Tablet and in terms of undifferentiated knowledge as in the Mother Book the detailing of which is this [QurÌān].

Nay, but they denied that, the knowledge whereof they did not comprehend: in other words, since they did not know the modality of its confirmation according to God's knowledge and its revelation to our master Muḥammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and [since] their knowledge fell short of that, they denied it; and whereof the interpretation has not yet come to them, that is, [before there has come to them] the manifestation of what it [the QurÌān] alludes to of promised eventualities and similes, the affair and knowledge of which constitutes its unfolding (taÌwīl) whereat they would not be able to deny [it], because once its realities are manifested no one will be able to deny it. The like of that tremendous denial, did those who were before them deny. Behold then what was, their sequel when they did evil by [their] denial.

And of them are some who believe in it, that is, who will believe in it because of the thinness of their veil, and some who would never believe therein, ever, because of the thickness of their veil.

Among them are those who listen to thee. The listeners are diverse and their degrees disparate. One hears through nature with the ear of the head; he was sleeping and listening wakes him up and relieves him of sorrow. Another hears through the state with the ear of the heart; he was resting and listening brings him into movement until the breeze of intimacy blows. Another hears through the Real with a soul that is dead, a heart that is thirsty, and a burning breath; the beginningless reminder arrives, the spirit takes its ease in loving kindness, and the secret core is filled with love. Bū Sahl ṣuʿlūk said, " In listening the listener is between curtaining and self-disclosure. The curtaining of the Real belongs to the beginners. It is the mark of mercy's gaze on the work of the Men, for in their weakness and incapacity they are not able to bear the unveiling of the ruling power of the Haqiqah. " In this meaning it has been recounted from Manṣūr Maghribī that he said, " I alighted at a camp of nomads. A young man made me his guest. Suddenly he fell down unconscious, so I asked about his state. I was told that he was in love with the daughter of his uncle, and that she had just come out of her tent. The youth had seen the dust of her garment as she went, so he fell down unconscious. I got up and went to the doorway of that tent and interceded for the youth. I said, 'A stranger among you has respect and safeguards. I have come to intercede with you in the business of this young man. Be kind to him in his longing.' " The woman said to me, 'You have a sound heart. He is not able to put up with witnessing the dust from my dress. How will he put up with my love?' This is the state of the desirer, for He keeps him covered by the curtain of selfhood so that he will not be totally burnt and melted by the assaults of the Haqiqah. He sees no more than one flash of the lightning of the Haqiqah, and it brings him into movement; he shouts out, tears his clothing, and weeps. Again, when he reaches the place of straightness and achieves stability in the reality of solitariness, the breeze of proximity begins to blow on him from the horizon of self-disclosure. His movement is changed to stillness, for the influxes of awesomeness bring forth courtesy with the Presence. This is why the Lord of the Worlds says, " When they were in [the Qur'an's] presence, they said, 'Give ear!' " [46:29].

And of them are some who look toward you, but do not perceive the truth nor your reality, because of one of the two mentioned reasons or both, as in the case of the blind person to whose loss of sight is added the loss of insight so that he neither sees nor perceives: how can such be guidedḍ

Verily God is not unjust towards mankind in any way: since there is mention of deafness and blindness, both of which indicate a lack of preparedness for perception, one is given to think from these statements that an injustice has taken place by virtue of the fact that some possess preparedness while others do not. However, He disavows any [suggestion of] injustice with regard to Himself because the lack of original preparedness is not [an act of] injustice [on His part], on account of the non-existence of the possibility of better [preparedness] than that with regard to that person's specificity and ipseity: thus his entified reality entails that [preparedness] at some level of contingency. It is like in the case of an ass which, given its asinine nature, cannot possess preparedness entailing human perception and its entified reality requires the asinine preparedness entailed therein: nothing is demanded of it that would be beyond [the capacity of] its preparedness. Hence there is no injustice in this case, since there had not been any at the outset. If, however, it [the preparedness] is invalidated by dark configurations taking firm root, then [the matter is clear and] there is nothing more to be said about this. In both cases, that person is unjust to his soul. As for the former, [he is unjust] because he has fallen short in terms of the degrees of contingency and his deficiency relative to what is above him, as, for example, with the ass falling short of [the level of] man and its being deficient in relation to him but not in relation to itself: in terms of itself it [the ass] has neither fallen short nor is deficient. As for the latter, it is obvious. According to this sense then: they [mankind] are unjust to their own souls. They diminish their shares. Or, it is that God does not wrong mankind in any way by demanding of them what is beyond their [individual] preparedness and then punishing them for [failing] that. It is that mankind wrong their own souls by using their preparednesses for things other than for which these were created.

And on the day when He shall gather them as if they had not tarried but an hour of the day, since they do not sense motion, a concomitant of their obliviousness (dhuhūl) to [the passage of] time. For the one who is oblivious to motion will [also] be oblivious to time. Thus a single hour or interminable ages are all the same to them; they recognise one another, by virtue of their former companionship and the exigency of vain desire that is a corollary of the original correspondence [between them] [and recognising each other] by the sign of the ominous fate [that awaits them]. Then if the original genus-correspondence and correspondence of primordial nature remain by virtue of their having the one orientation and coincidence in terms of goals the mutual recognition between them remains. If it does not remain because of the variance of desires and difference of opinions as well as the discrepancy in terms of the configurations deriving from the appendages of creation and the accidents of substrata, this [mutual recognition] turns into mutual denial; those will verily have lost who denied the encounter with God, because of their having fallen under the loneliness (waḥsha) of mutual denial in that case and their veiling themselves with the veils of their wicked habits and the configurations of their corrupt beliefs, and they were not guided: and the light of their preparedness is invalidated so that they are not guided to God nor to mutual recognition and are thus made to slink in a loathsome state, banished, having no intimate with whom to be familiar nor any acquaintance to give refuge to.

And for every community there is a messenger, who corresponds to them in terms of ego-centric states so that he might make possible between them that familiarity which leads to their being able to learn from him and so that he might be able to descend to the limits of their intellects and the levels of their comprehensions and thus cleanse them by means of what will rectify their states and remove their veils and teach them that which will result in their elevation from their stations and guide to God. And when their messenger comes, judgement is passed between them, with the guiding of those who have accepted guidance and the sending astray of those who have chosen to stray and the felicity of the fortunate ones and the wretchedness of those who are damned by the manifestation of all of that in his presence, some obeying him because of their closeness to him, others denying him because of their remoteness from him, justly, that is, with equity, that which prevails in the state of a prophet, being as it is the outward aspect of his affirmation of [God's] Oneness, his conduct and his chosen path, and they are not wronged, by having other than what is their state ascribed to them and then being requited for it. Or, it is that judgement is passed between them by delivering and confirming those who have found guidance through him [the messenger] and destroying those who have gone astray and chastising them on account of the manifesting of the causes for such [chastisement] through his presence [among them].

And they say: 'When will this promise come to pass, if you are truthfulḍ': a disavowal [on their part] because of their being veiled from the resurrection and their failure to become aware of its meaning, since had they known its modality by the lifting of their veils through disengagement from the garments of the soul, they would have believed them concerning that [promise] and would not have disavowed [it].

Say: 'I have no power to hurt myself, to the end of this [verse]: he approximated for them the presential vision of the [divine] acts by denying that he has power or effective agency and that if such does come about from him it must necessarily be through God's will, so that they might recognise the vestiges of the resurrection. He then intimates [to them] that the minor resurrection will take place at the termination of their appointed times, which are determined by God as in where He says: For every community there is an appointed time, to the end of this [verse].

O people! There has come to you an admonition, that is, a [means of] cleansing for your souls by way of [the mention of] promise and threat, warning and glad tidings, restraining from sins that lead to punishment and incitement to deeds that result in reward, so that you might conduct yourselves on the basis of fear and hope, and a healing for what is in the breasts, that is, [for what is in] the hearts of sicknesses, such as doubt, hypocrisy, rancour, deception and the like thereof, [a healing that cures by] instructing [people] in the realities and the wisdoms that necessarily result in certainty and [by] purifying these [hearts] for the reception of gnosis and illumination by the light of the Oneness and being prepared for the self-disclosures of the attributes, and a guidance, for your spirits towards the presential vision of the Essence, and a mercy, by way of the effusion of the perfections that befit every one of the three stations after the actualisation of preparedness at the station of the soul through admonition, and at the station of the heart through purification and at the station of the spirit through guidance, for those who believe, by way of affirmation first, certainty second and eyewitness thirdly.

Say: " In the bounty of God and His mercy-in that let them rejoice, for it is better than what they gather. " " O MuḤammad! Give the faithful good news and tell them that they should be happy in the bounty and mercy of God: 'I have honored you with faith, the Qur'an, submission, and MuḤammad, so be delighted! Become intimate with remembering Me. Accept My covenant in your spirit. Delight in My love. A happy servant is he who is happy with Me. There is no happiness but happiness with Me. May he who is not happy with Me never be happy! The servant has two happinesses in Me: today he is happy with Me, and tomorrow he will be happy along with Me.' " My face is happy with Your face when You are present. May my spirit be happy with remembering You when You are absent! It has been said that the bounty of God and His mercy that you have with Him in the precedent apportioning is better than the varieties of obedience and the kinds of service that are your own self-exertion. In terms of allusion He is saying, " My servant, have confidence in My bounty and mercy, not in your own worship and service, for there is no confidence in anything other than My bounty and no ease in other than My mercy. Everyone has a resource, and the resource of the faithful is My bounty; everyone has a storehouse, and the storehouse of the poor is My mercy; everyone has a leaning place, and the leaning place of the recognizers is My precedence; everyone has a treasure, and the treasure of those who trust is My assurance; everyone has a delight, and the delight of the rememberers is remembering Me; everyone has a hope, and the hope of the friends is seeing Me. " There was a renunciant among the Children of Israel who sat for seventy years in a monastery worshiping God. After seventy years revelation came to the prophet of the time: " Say to that re- nunciant, 'You have completed beautiful days and passed a life in worshiping Me. I promise you that I will forgive you by My bounty and mercy.' " The renunciant said, " He will take me to paradise by His bounty? Where then will that seventy years of worship be seen? What about that? " In that very hour, the Exalted Lord placed a tremendous pain in one of his teeth.

Say: 'Have you considered what God has sent down, to the end of this [verse]: that is to say, inform me: that which God has sent down in the way of spiritual provision, such as the realities, forms of gnosis, states, and bestowals and [provision] such as refined manners, divine laws, admonitions and counsels, how you have made some of it unlawful, as in the case of the first group, and some lawfulḍ', as in the case of the second group. Say: 'Has God given you permission, to judge what is unlawful and what is lawful, or do you invent lies concerning Godḍ'

And what do they suppose, those who invent lies concerning God, [will happen to them] on the Day of, the middle, Resurrectionḍ, at the disengagement of the heart from the garments of the soul and the actualisation of certainty; or, on the day of the major resurrection at the affirmation of the Essential unity and the manifestation of eyewitnessing. In other words, their supposition shall not endure and will amount to nothing then. Or, [it is] on the day of the minor resurrection at [the point of] death and the actualisation of privation: in other words, their supposition shall have an evil consequence for them and will be a chastisement then. Truly God is Bountiful to people, with both kinds of worlds, effusing both [onto them] and facilitating [for them] the reception of both and setting up the preparedness to accept the two; but most of them do not give thanks, for His graces and so they use what He has bestowed on them of preparedness and knowledge in order to actualise particular benefits and sensory goals, becoming ungrateful for His graces and hence prevented from increase.

Surely God's friends-no fear shall be upon them, neither shall they sorrow. God's friends are those who dive for the pearl of wisdom in the oceans of knowledge, who are the sun of desire and the resting place of the covenant of good fortune in the heaven of the innate dis- position, who are accepted by the Divine Presence and the oyster shell of the secrets of Lordhood, who are the title-page of the Shariah and the proof of the Haqiqah. Through them the lineage of MuṣṬafā is alive in the World of the Realities, the pathway of truthfulness is filled with the firm fixity of their feet, their outwardness is adorned with the rulings of the Shariah, their inwardness is illumined by the pearl of poverty. When the traces of the gaze of these exalted ones reach the thorn-bed of deprivation, the jasmine of the religion blooms. When the blessings of their breaths shine upon the salt-waste of misery, the ambergris of passion wafts its scent. If they gaze on a disobedient person, he becomes obedient. If they open their eyes on someone wearing a sash of unbelief, he is accepted and protected by the Exalted Threshold. Thus it is told that once the exalted one of his time and the master of his era, Shiblī, became ill. The caliph of the time liked him, and it reached him that Shiblī was ill. There was a Christian physician, ex- tremely skillful, so he sent him to Shiblī to cure him. The physician came and said to Shiblī, " O shaykh! If I have to make your medicine from my own skin and flesh, I will not hold it back and I will heal you. " Shiblī said, " My medicine is less than that. " He said, " What is it? " He said, " Cut off that sash, and you will have cured me. " The physician said, " It is no stipulation of chivalry that I make a claim and not carry it through. If your healing lies in my cutting off the sash, that's an easy job. " When the physician cut off his sash, Shiblī got up from the illness. The news of what happened reached the caliph. He became happy and said, " I thought I was sending a physician to someone ill.

Those who believe and fear [God]: if [this clause is] understood as an adjectival qualification of 'God's friends', then the meaning is: those who believe with the faith of the Truth and who guard against any remnants from themselves or the manifestation of any variegations in them;

For them is good news in the life of this world and the next world. They have two sorts of good news, one today and one tomorrow. Today: " Give good news to those with faith that they have a footing of truthfulness with their Lord " [10:2]. Tomorrow: " Their Lord will give them the good news of mercy from Him, approval, and the Gardens " [9:21]. Here you have boundless caresses, everlasting bliss, the happiness of friends, a satisfied King, and joyful ser- vants: " My servants, whatever you seek, seek for nothing greater than My satisfaction. Whatever you reach, you will reach nothing better than My bounty. Whomever you choose in friendship, you will choose no one like Me. Whomever you see, you will see no one like Me. 'This house is your house, and I am your neighbor.' " Great are those days whose final outcome is this! Exalted is that servant who is worthy for this! Beautiful is that seed whose fruit is this! Blessed is that night whose morning is this! A house of light, everlasting happiness, and the Forgiving Patron! Say to Our friends, " Let your eyes be delighted- the ruined house has come to Me in safety. "

And let not what they say grieve you: in other words, do not be affected by it, for it is [mere] contentiousness [on their part]. Rather, witness the might of God and His vanquishing power so that you might look upon them in light of the annihilation and see their deeds and statements and their threats to you as [scattered] dust. For he who witnesses God's power and might, will see that all power and might belongs [only] to Him and that there is no power or strength in anyone else. He is the Hearer, of what they say about you and will requite them [for it], the Knower, of what ought to be done with them. He then demonstrates their weakness, incapacity and the impossibility of their overcoming him with His words:

Why, surely to God belongs all who are in the heavens and all who are in the earth, all being under His dominion, disposal and subjugation and have no power over anything other than through His Essence and His will and His empowering of them. Those who call upon besides God are not following associates: what thing can those who call upon besides God follow as associateḍ In other words, if all are under His subjugation and dominion, then what they call upon besides God cannot be anything, nor can it have any effective agency or power; they are following nothing but, the illusions of their conjecture and what they conjure up in their imagination, and they are but reckoning the existence of something which has no existence in reality.

He it is Who made for you the night, of the body, that you should rest therein, and the day, of the spirit that you should perceive thereby the realities of things and that by which you might be guided to Him. Surely in that are signs for a folk who are able to hear, the speech of God and thus understand its esoteric meanings and bounds and discover thereby His attributes and His names and thus witness Him as He is described and qualified by these.

They say, 'God has taken [to Him] a son', that is, a defective [thing] to correspond to Him in genus. Glory be to Him!: declare Him as transcendent above correponding in genus to anything. He is Independent, One who exists by His own Essence and by Whom everything comes to exist. How then can anything be like Himḍ And the One to whom all existence belongs: how can anything correspond to Himḍ

And recite to them the story of Noah when he said to his people, " If my station and my reminding you of God's signs are too much for you, then in God I trust, so gather together your affair and those whom you associate, and let not your affair be obscure for you. Then decide about me, and do not leave me waiting. " This is a lordly example from the Glorious Presence. He is saying, " Trial from My court is a robe of honor for the friends, and drinking the draft of tribulation from the cup of love is the job of men. If someone's makeup is not worthy to be a target for the arrow of My trial, his countenance will also not be worthy of My love and beauty. " When people choose someone for friendship, it is their habit to want every ease and comfort for their friend. The divine custom is contrary to this: Whenever He approves of someone for friendship, He sends him the drink of tribulation with the robe of love. " Surely the people most severely tried are the prophets, then the friends, then the next best, then the next best. " " When God loves a servant, trial is poured down all over him. " For a moment look at the state of Noah, the elder of the envoys and the leader of the godwary: What suffering he saw from his own community, what tribulation, and what a load of trial and trouble he carried in inviting them! For a thousand years less fifty he was inviting them, and ev- ery day they would beat him such that he lost consciousness, and they advised his own children to strike and beat him. With all this tribulation and trial he used to say, " I have so much sorrow that I care nothing for your beating. " He said to them, " In God I trust, so gather together your affair and those whom you associate: Do whatever you want, and prepare whatever deception you can, for I am leaning on my Lord and have accepted Him as my caretaker, for in God I trust. " Trust is the bridge to certainty and the pillar of faith. The Exalted Lord says, " And in God put your trust, if you have faith " [5:23].

And Moses said, 'O my people, if you have believed in God, a faith of certainty, then put your trust in Him: he has made trust as one of the concomitants of submission [to God], and it is the submission of one's countenance to God, exalted be He. But he did not make submission as a concomitant of faith, in other words, if your faith and certainty have become perfect in such a way that this has had an effect upon your souls and made them purely for God, annihilated in Him, then trust in Him must necessarily follow [from that]. For the first level of annihilation is the annihilation of acts, followed by the attributes then existence. Once annihilation is complete then trust must follow, which is the annihilation of the acts. If what is meant by islām is obedience, then it is a precondition for trust and not a concomitant thereof, in which case the meaning would be: if your faith is sound in terms of certainty, then trust in Him on the condition that you do not act and that you do not see yourselves or others as having any power or effective agency, but that you become obediently submissive, as one who is dead. For the precondition for the soundness of trust [in God] is the annihilation of the remnants of acts and the faculties, as they say, 'If you do not like this [kind of] tree, then pull it out if you can'. As for the remainder of the sūra to the end, some of it cannot be submitted to allegorical interpretation, and the rest is known from what has already been mentioned.

Set thy face to the religion. In other words, " Purify your intention for the religion and disengage your heart from affirming anything touched by the severity of the bestowal of being. " He is saying, " Cleanse your religion from the contamination of eye-service and fix your inten- tion on seeking the alchemy of the Haqiqah-your heart cut off from attachments, your belt tight- ened, and the ring of service on the ear of loyalty. Let your wants be sacrificed to the beginningless want, your soul to approval, your heart to loyalty, your eyes to subsistence. " My soul wants life only for union with You, my spirit wants ease for joining with You. My ears want hearing for the sake of Your words, my eyes want sight to yearn for Your beauty. From here the light of the Haqiqah begins, the falcon of love flies in the air of solitariness, and the divine attraction arrives. It takes the servant away from the hand of self-determination. None of the intrusive dust of hoping for paradise settles on his present moment, no dread of hell blocks his path. With the tongue of his state he says, " In the road of passion the passionate must remember neither hell nor paradise. " Up to this point the servant was seeking, but now he is the sought. He was the lover, but now he is the beloved. He was desiring, but now he is the desired. He saw the carpet of oneness and hurried until he found the proximity of the Friend. Reports turned into face-to-face vision. The obscure became clear. The servant arrived at himself when he reached the Friend. He did not see himself, for he saw the Friend. The Pir of the Tariqah said, " O God, when I learned what was to be learned, I burned all the learning. I overthrew the collected and collected the overthrown. I sold nonbeing to illuminate being. O God, when I recognized oneness, I melted in the hope of happiness. When will I be able to say, 'I threw away the cup, I turned away from attachments, I gambled away all my being'? " When will I throw off this cage and build a nest in the divine garden?!

Alif lām rāÌ: [This is] a Book: [the interpretation of] this has already been mentioned; whose verses have been set clear, that is, the individual entities and realities of which [have been set clear], within the universal world by being confirmed as enduring in those states, not liable to alteration, change or corruption, preserved from every deficiency and defect; and then detailed, in the world of particulars and was made clear outwardly and entified according to a predetermined (maʿlūm) measure, from One Wise: that is, the judgements and differentiations concerning these [entities] come from a Wise One who has based them on knowledge and wisdom so that there can be nothing better or more firmly set clear, [and One who is], Informed, of how these have been differentiated in the way that they ought to be according to the wise order in terms of their measure, their timing and their hierarchy.

[Saying:] 'Worship none but God, that is, this [Book] utters to you by the tongue of the state and through proofs that you should not associate anything in the worship of God and that you should devote worship exclusively to Him. Truly I am to you a warner from Him and a bearer of good tidings': speech by the tongue of the Messenger, namely, that I bring you a warning from the Wise and Informed One of the punishment of idolatrous association and its corollaries, and I [also] bring you good tidings from Him of the reward of affirming [His] Oneness and the benefits thereof.

And [bidding you]: 'Ask forgiveness of your Lord, in other words, proclaim His Oneness and ask of Him that He forgive the configurations of looking upon the other, the veiling of oneself with the multiplicity, confinement to things and halting with them even your acts and attributes; then repent to Him, return to Him by having [your] essences annihilated in Him, and He will give you fair enjoyment, in this world, on the basis of the divine law and justice in the case of subsistence after annihilation until the time of your reception at death, and He will give every person of merit, in terms of character traits, knowledge and perfections, [the due for] his merit, in the way of reward and degrees; or, He will give you fair enjoyment of the pleasures of the self-disclosures of the acts and the attributes, upon your disengagement, up to the moment of your annihilation; or, He gives every person of merit in terms of preparedness, [the due for] his merit in the way of perfection and level upon his elevation and drawing closer. But if you turn away, that is, refrain from affirmation of Oneness and disengagement, I fear for you the chastisement of an awful day, one [that will be] severe for you, the day of the return to God, the Powerful over all things, in other words, the day on which your incapacity and the incapacity of what you worshipp shall be manifested through His manifestation, exalted be He, in the attribute of His powerfulness whereupon He will subjugate you with chastisement.

And He it is Who created the heavens and the earth in six days, in other words, He created the corporeal world in six directions - and His Throne was upon the water, namely, His Throne which is the First Intellect founded upon the first knowledge and reinforced by it, preceding the corporeal world in terms of existence. If we were to interpret the six days as the period of concealment, as has already been mentioned, and the creation of the heavens and the earth as His concealment, exalted be He, within the differentiations of existents, then the meaning of His Throne being on water would be that it was before the incipience of concealment manifest and known to people, as in when you say, 'I did it knowingly', that is, in the state of its being known to me, or while I had knowledge of it, that is, in full knowledge [thereof]. [This is] similar to when Ḥāritha asked the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace: 'How do you find yourself O Ḥārithaḍ', to which he replied, 'I find myself a believer, in truth'. He [the Prophet] said, 'For every truth there is a reality. So what is the reality of your faith'. He [Ḥāritha] said, 'I saw the people of Paradise visiting each other and I saw the people of Hell-fire howling to one another [in agony]. I saw the Throne of my Lord projecting forth'. He [the Prophet] said, 'You are on the right path. Stick to it'. In many instances in [statements relating to] the divine precepts the primordial substratum (mādda hayūlāniyya) is referred to by the expression 'water'. Among these is the ḥadīth in which it is related that the first thing that God created was a jewel (jawhara). He then gazed upon it with the eye of majesty whereupon it melted in shame, half of it becoming water and the other half fire. If we were to interpret it [water] with reference to this [jewel], it would mean that His Throne was before the heavens and the earth in essence and not in time, with mastery over the substratum, above it in terms of rank. Should you wish to effect a [spiritual] correspondence with [this and] the differentiations of your existence, the the meaning would be: He created the heavens of the spiritual faculties and the earth of the body in six months, being the minimal period of gestation.

And if We cause man to taste some mercy from Us, to the end of this [verse]: man ought to have confidence in God, trusting in Him, in poverty, wealth, hardship, comfort, sickness and health and [should] not veil himself from Him by the existence of a grace or in his striving or conduct with regard to acquiring [his livelihood], or [veil himself] by his strength or power to pursue his needs or in any one of the ways or means whatsoever, lest there should be despair upon the loss of those means or [alternatively] ungratefulness, the wantonness of comfort or insolence when they are forthcoming such that he then becomes remote from God, exalted be He, and forgets Him so that God forget him. Rather, he should see the giving and the withholding as being from Him and no one else. And so if He should bring upon him a mercy in the way of health or a grace, he should thank Him first by seeing that as being from Him and witnessing the Gracious in the form of [His] grace, which is [done] with the heart then with the limbs by using them in that which satisfies Him and in acts of obedience to Him and by fulfilling His dues with regards to that [mercy]; then [he should thank Him] with his tongue by [words of] praise and laudation, fully certain that He has the power to strip [him] of it, and preserving it by giving thanks for it, seeking more of it on the basis of His saying, exalted be He: If you are thankful, then assuredly I shall give you more [Q. 14:7]. The Commander of the Believers [ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib], peace be upon him, said: 'If the edges of grace reach you, then do not repel the fullness of it by the sparsity of [your] thanks'. Then if He should wrest it from him, let him be patient and not grieve for it, in the full knowledge that it is He who has wrested it from him and no one else because of some welfare that will [ultimately] finds its way to him. For the Lord, exalted be He, is like a father who is compassionate in the nurturing of him, nay, He is more gentle and more merciful, since a father is veiled from what God knows seeing only the immediate and outward welfare, while He is the Knower of the unseen and the visible, knowing what is in his immediate and future best interest.

save those who endure [patiently], an exceptive clause [referring back] to 'man': in other words, this species [of man] is despairing, ungrateful, exultant, and boastful in both states, except those who endure patiently with God, halting with Him in [both] the states of adversity and fortune, hardship and comfort, as ʿUmar [b. al-Khaṭṭāb], may God be satisfied with him: 'Poverty and wealth are [like] two riding animals. I do not mind which of the two I ride'; and who perform, in both states, what is in their best interest of what has been mentioned; those, theirs will be forgiveness, from the sins of the soul manifesting itself in despair, ingratitude, exultation and boastfulness in both states, and a great recompense, in the way of the reward of the self-disclosures of the acts and the attributes and the Gardens of these two.

Perhaps, you might [think to] leave out some of what is revealed to you: when they failed to accept his speech, may God bless him and grant him peace, by [their] volition and repudiated what he said with corrupt requests [of their own], countering it with obstinacy and mockery, his breast became straitened and was not expanded for the [reception of the divine] speech. For volition attracts speech and the receptivity of the listener increases the energy of the speaker and makes him expansive therein; but if the speaker does not find a receptive locus, it is not facilitated for him and becomes [a source of] anxiety for him. Consequently, God gave him heart with these [words] and spurred his faculty and his energy with His words: You are but a warner, and your warning will always accomplish one of two things. It will either remove the veil and have a successful effect on the one whom God has granted success for that purpose; or it will serve as a definitive argument against the one who is not granted such success. And God is Guardian over all things, so entrust guardianship of the guiding [of people] to Him.

He who desires the life of this world: in other words, every person who performs a deed, even if that [deed] should seem to belong to the deeds of the Hereafter outwardly, with the intention of [gaining things of] this world and solely desiring a share of its shares, God, exalted be He, shall repay him in full the recompense for it therein, but nothing of the reward of the Hereafter shall reach him. To every person there belongs a portion of this world in accordance with the plane [of creation] upon which he is and a portion of the Hereafter in accordance with the primordial nature upon which he was created. Thus if he only desires this world with his deeds, then he [himself] has turned his face towards it and has turned away from the Hereafter, and he will have made, by his being attracted and oriented towards the lower aspect, his this-worldly portion the very thing that veils [him] from his other-worldly portion, such that his primordial nature degenerates and follows the plane [of creation] and his soul begins to employ the heart in the pursuit of its shares and so his other-worldly portion becomes joined to his this-worldly portion: and therein they shall not be defrauded, in other words, they shall not be diminished, that is, nothing of the reward for their deeds shall be diminished in this world, because when the heart is configured according to the mien of the soul, its share takes on the form of the share of the soul.

Those are they for whom there is nothing in the Hereafter but the Fire, by virtue of their hearts being chastised by this-worldly veils and their being deprived from what their preparednesses entailed and their suffering pain as a result of things which they have acquired that do not befit them; what they contrive, of pious works, will fail, in the Hereafter, since they were [performed] with the intention of [gains in] this world, judging by his [the Prophet's] statement: 'Actions are [judged] according to the intentions [behind them] and for every man is what he intended [�]', to the end of the ḥadīth.

Is he who relies on a clear proof from his Lord: that is, is he who desires the life of this world like the one who is upon a clear proof from his Lordḍ In other words, there is a tremendous distance between the two in terms of level. As for the one who relies on a clear proof, [this means]: a certainty on the basis of rational demonstration (burhān ʿaqlī) or one on the basis of an ecstatic consciousness of unveiling and there follows that certainty, a witness, from his Lord, namely, the QurÌān that confirms the veracity of the rational demonstration in terms of the affirmation of Oneness as well as the soundness of [Muḥammad's] prophethood and the principles of religion; and before this QurÌān [there was], the Book of Moses: in other words, there followed the demonstration before this Book the Book of Moses being in that state, as a standard, to be followed and an exemplar to be held on to in realising goals and a mercy from the Merciful that guides people, cleanses them and instructs them in wisdoms and precepts. Those they believe in it, in reality unlike those who seek the shares of this world.

And who does greater wrong than he who invents a lie concerning Godḍ, by affirming the existence of another besides Him and ascribing an attribute of His, such as His speech and the like, to anotherḍ Those, they shall be brought before their Lord, by halting at the first halting place, veiled and forsaken, and the witnesses, the affirmers of Oneness, will say: 'These are they who lied concerning their Lord', by means of [their] idolatrous association. They are then driven away and cursed on account of their idolatrous association, [a sin] which is the gravest of injustice;

they who bar, people from the way of God's Oneness and describe this [way] as being crooked despite its straightness, and who, in addition to being veiled from the Truth, are veiled from the Hereafter to the exclusion of others from among the followers of religions.

Truly those who believe, with the faith of certainty in the unseen, and perform, deeds that make them righteous for the encounter with God and draw them closer to Him, such as repentance, real renunciation, penitence, worship, patience and gratitude and all those corresponding deeds that relate to the wayfaring folk and their stations; and who humble themselves before their Lord, [and who] are self-effacing [before God] and are reassured by Him through yearning and who detach themselves [from all else] for Him, annihilating themselves in Him: such will be the inhabitants, of the Garden of the hearts, the Garden wherein they shall abide.

The likeness of the two groups is that of the blind and deaf and the seeing and hearing. Are they equal in likeness? The truly blind are those who do not have the eye of heedfulness to gaze on the signs of the hori- zons by way of inference, nor the heart of reflection to ponder the signs of the souls, nor the insight of the Haqiqah to see the unveilings of the unseen secrets with the light of perspicacity. The truly seeing are those who look with the knowledge of certainty at the marks giving witness to the acts, for Have they not gazed upon the dominion of the heavens and the earth? [7:185]. Again, with the eye of certainty they see the realities of the attributes, for Do they not ponder the Qur'an? [4:82]. Again, with the truth of certainty they see the majesty of the Essence, for Dost thou not see thy Lord? [25:45]. The knowledge of certainty relies on demonstration, the eye of certainty derives from clarity, and the truth of certainty is described by face-to-face vision. The knowledge of certainty belongs to the faithful, the eye of certainty belongs to the prophets, and the truth of certainty belongs to MuṣṬafā. This is why the world's folk have reports, and he has face-to-face vision. All the world is the shell, and he is the pearl. All the world is a hanger-on, and he is the goal. Were it not for you, O lustrous pearl, Adam would not have taken a breath in this ruined street.

The council of his people who disbelieved, that is the noblemen who were brimming with the affairs of this world, with power over these [affairs] and who were veiled by their intellect and by their rational concepts from the Truth, said: 'We see you but a mortal like us, being as they were exoteric folk, halting at the limits of the intellect which is tarnished with illusion and bewildered with vain desires: this is the intellect [used for the pursuit] of livelihood. These [folk] cannot see anyone being at a stage beyond the one which they have attained on the basis of reason and have no awareness of the levels of preparedness and perfection as being one stage after another and one level above another [and so on continuously] to an extent that only God knows. Thus they have not felt the station of prophethood and its significance; and we see not that any follow you save the vilest among us, the poor among us, those who are lower [in status] than us, since for them level and status are related to reputation and wealth, exactly as God, exalted be He, said: They know [merely] an outward aspect of the life of this world; but they, of the Hereafter, they are oblivious [Q. 30:7]; [through] rash opinion, that is, [they are] impulsive and spontaneous opinion since they are of weak intellect, unable to acquire livelihood, while we are folk of reflection and consideration: they said this because they were veiled by their intellect which is incapable of perceiving reality and spiritual merit as its used is restricted to the acquisition of livelihood and halting at the limits thereof. As for the followers of Noah, peace be upon him, they are folk of far-reaching aspirations and intellects that hover over the Holiness not engaged in seeking livelihood or concerned with the means of acquiring or actualising it, which is why they denigrated and scorned their intellects. We do not see that you have over us any merit, or advancement in terms of what we are referring to, since for them merit was confined to advancement in terms of wealth, property and reputation; nay, we deem you liars', for being unable to perceive what you affirm or understand what you say despite our abundant astuteness.

[He said:] 'O my people, have you considered if I am [acting] upon a clear proof from my Lord: that it is incumbent upon you from the point of view of reason to submit to Him, and He has given me mercy, that is, special guidance through unveiling that is high above the degree of [rational] demonstration, from Him, that is, above the stage of intellect, being from the forms of knowledge that are God-given and from the station of prophethood, and it has been obscured from you, for your veiling of yourselves from the inward with the outward and from the Reality with creation. It can only be received through the volition of the folk of preparedness: how then can we compel you and coerce you to it, while you are averse to itḍ, in other words, if you wish to acquire acceptance of it, then cleanse your souls and purify your preparedness, if one has been bestowed on you, and abandon your denial so that the effect of the light of volition might be manifested upon you and you might then [be able to] receive it, God willing.

I do not ask of you any wealth for this, that is, anything that I desire for myself of the things confined to the [context of the] actualisation of livelihood. I do not demand that of you, so be alerted to my [true] desire, if you are possessors of rational faculties as you claim; and I will not drive away those who believe, since they are people of propinquity and stature before God, and if I were to drive them away I would be an enemy of God and one in strife against His friends: I would not be a prophet in that case. But I see you are a people who are ignorant, of what makes a man fit for the encounter with God, knowing neither God nor the encounter with Him, because your intellects have taken flight to this world or because you are foolish, hurting the believers with your foolishness.

And O my people, who would help me against God, who is the Vanquisher over His servants [cf. Q. 6:18], if I drive them away, and make myself liable to His vanquishing power by driving them awayḍ Will you not then remember, the requirements of the human primordial nature and thus be restrained from what you sayḍ

And I do not say to you, �I possess the treasure houses of God�: in other words, I [only] claim merit [over you] on account of prophethood, and not on account of any wealth or great property, nor on account of having knowledge of the unseen or by claiming to be an angel, so that you might [justifiably] deny my merit for the absence of these [things]. Nor do I say, to the poor believers whom you scorn and regard with the eye of disdain, that God will not give them any good, as you claim, because for me 'good' is that which is with God and not property - God knows better, than me and you, what is in their souls, of good. He is best acquainted with their capacities and thoughts and none [except Him] knows the measure of their goodness, because it is tremendous. Lo! then I, that is, if I were to deny [any association of] good with them or drive them away, would be of the evildoers indeed'.

Make the ship through Our eyes and Our revelation. In keeping with the Shariah and by virtue of the outward decree, a command came, " Build a ship from teak and sit in it so as to be delivered from the storm. " In keeping with the Haqiqah and by virtue of special favor and the attribute of proximity, a call came to his secret core, " You have the ocean of the soul before you. It is a drowning, destructive ocean in which are waiting whirlpools full of danger and spirit-stealing sharks. You must cross it in order to reach the shore of security. Build a ship of self-purification in three levels: one fear, the second hope, and the third approval. Then attach to it the sail of truthfulness and set it toward the east wind of awareness of Me. " This is why He said, " through Our eyes and Our revelation: I Myself will drive it as it should be driven and where it should be driven. " He it is who makes you journey on land and sea [10:22]. And We carried them on land and sea [17:70]. By way of allusion He is saying, " My servant, turn over the governance of your work to Me, entrust yourself totally to Me, and keep your self-determination distant. You are being carried by My gentleness, and 'He who is carried by the generous does not fall. And if he does fall, he will find someone to take his hand.' " This is just what MuṣṬafā said: " You indeed will be threading a bridge of fire. If one of you treads on a spark, the bridge will say, 'Your Lord has said to shelter him!' " This is a great generos- ity and an infinite gentleness that the Exalted Lord will do for the disobedient servant tomorrow when he crosses the Narrow Path. " So, sometimes he will stop, sometime stumble, " falling and getting up. The Exalted Lord knows that the servant has no one to come to his aid but He and no one to take his hand but He. In the reports it is mentioned that God's mercy toward the servant is more than a mother's mercy toward her child. Supposing that a child's foot gets caught in the mud a thousand times, each time the mother will say, " Rise up, O soul of your mother! " Each time she will be even more tender and lovingly kind toward the child.

And he was building the Ark, to the end of this [verse]: the [literal] exegesis of this, as indicated by its apparent sense, is a reality in which one must believe and a truth which one must affirm, in accordance with what has been transmitted in the historical accounts of the details of the story of the Flood, its time, its modality and its extent. As for the [allegorical] interpretation [of this episode], it is possible to interpret the Ark as Noah's Law (sharīʿa) borne by him and those of his people who were believers like him, as the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace: 'The likeness of the family of my house is the likeness of Noah's Ark: whose comes on board shall be saved and whoso stays behind shall drown'. And the Flood [may be interpreted] as the mastery acquired by the sea of primordial substrata and the destruction of all those who did not disengage from that [substrata] by following a prophet and cleansing their souls. Similarly, of the words of the prophet Enoch (Idrīs), peace be upon him, and of his conversations with his soul something has been related to the effect that this world is like a sea that is brimming full with water, and so if you manage to find a ship to ride upon the destruction of the body you will be delivered from it to your world; otherwise, you will drown therein and perish. On the basis of that, the meaning of 'and he was building the Ark' would be: he was adopting a Law from the wooden boards of righteous deeds and the nails of the forms of knowledge by which deeds are arranged and confirmed; and whenever a council of his people passed him, they scoffed at him: as you know is the case with scoundrels and profligates notorious for their licentiousness (ibāḥā), scoffing at adherents of the [divine] Law who are restricted by its constraints. He said, 'Though you scoff at us, in your ignorance, yet we scoff at you, upon the manifestation of the awful nature of the consequence of your disbelief and your veiledness, even as you scoff;

and you shall know, then, to whom will come a chastisement that will degrade him, in this world in the way of destruction, death, sickness, harm, hardship or poverty and how he will be perturbed and distressed at what he is losing, and upon whom an enduring chastisement will fall', an everlasting one in the Hereafter in the way of the mastery [over him] of the fires of privation and the dark configurations of vices and utter loss.

Such that when Our command came, for the destruction of your community, and the oven, of the body, overflowed, at the point of the mastery of the corrupt mixtures and the excretive moistures over the natural heat and [the mastery of] the natural potency of the primordial water over the fire of the animal spirit. Or [such that when there came] Our command for their spiritual destruction and the oven overflowed at the mastery of the water of natural vain desire over the heart and its drowning it in the primordial sea of the body. We said, 'Carry therein of every one two pairs, that is, from every kind of every species two, being their two forms, special and that of kind, which remain upon the annihilation of individuals. The meaning of the 'carrying of the two therein' is his knowledge of their subsistence with the subsistence of human spirits. For his knowledge is part of his all-subsuming ship, since it is composed of knowledge and deed. Thus its knowledge regarding the two is its carrying of the two and his knowledge concerning the two is his carrying of the two therein; and your family, and those who are joined to you in your religion and your conduct from among your kin, save those against whom the Word has already gone forth, that is, the judgement from pre-eternity that that one should be destroyed for his disbelief, and those who believe', in God from among your community.

And he said, 'Embark therein! In the Name of God be its course and its mooring, that is, in the Greatest Name of God, which is the existence of every perfect knower from among the individuals of the human species [shall be] its effectuation, the putting into force of its judgements and the propagation of these [judgements] across the sea of the corporeal world, in addition to the establishing, the setting clear and the confirming of these, as you see in the case of every [divine] law whose command is effected, confirmed and set clear by the presence of a prophet or one of the leaders (imām) of that community [subject to that law] or one of its religious scholars (ḥabr). Truly my Lord is Forgiving, of the dark corporeal configurations of your souls and the sins of the garments of physical nature that bring about your destruction and cause you to drown in it sea, if you follow the Law; Merciful', by His effusion of bestowals of knowledge and unveilings as well as luminous configurations by which He delivers you. Were it not for His forgiveness and mercy, you would surely be drowned and destroyed like your brethren.

And it sailed with them amid waves, of temptations of the sea of corporeal nature and [waves] of the overwhelmingness of its [corporeal nature's] summonings of people and the victory [over them] of its vain desires by their consensus over its requirements; like mountains that block vision and are [too] unstable for travelling along. Or [it sailed with them amid] waves of the deviations of the constitution and the overpowerings of ruinous mixtures. And Noah called out to his son, who was veiled by his intellect - that was [itself] overcome by illusion, being the intellect of livelihood - from the religion of his father and his affirmation of Oneness; who was [standing] in a place cut off, from his religion and his law: 'O my son, embark with us, that is, enter into our religion, and do not be with the disbelievers!, those who are veiled from the Truth and who will be destroyed by waves of the vain desires of the soul to drown in the sea of natural character traits.

He said, 'I shall take refuge in a mountain that will protect me from the water', meaning by this, the brain which is the locus for the intellect, in other words, I shall take refuge with the intellect and the intelligible so that it might protect me from the overpowering of the sea of primordial matter that I might not then drown therein. Said he, 'This day there is none that can protect from God's command, except him on whom He has mercy', with the religion that proclaims the Oneness and the Law. And the waves, of the vain desires of the soul and the overpowering of the water of the sea of nature, came between them, that is, these veiled him from his father, his religion and his affirmation of Oneness, so he was among those drowned, in the sea of corporeal primordial matter.

And it was said, 'O earth, swallow your waters, and O heaven, abate!': in other words, a call came from the direction of the Truth by the tongue of the Law [to] the earth of corporeal nature to the effect: O earth, by the command of the Law and by following its precepts diminish the power over you of your vain desire and its mastery by the gushing forth of your substrata over the heart and halt at the bounds of moderation through which it [the heart] acquires its proper condition; and O heaven of the intellect, veiled [as you are] by habit and sense, tarnished by illusion and overcast with the clouds of vain desire that reinforce the soul and physical nature by preparing for it its substrata and means [of nourishment] through consideration, desist from reinforcing it. And the waters, of corporeal nature and the lifeline of the moisture that screens off the light of the Truth and prevents real life, subsided. And the affair, of God, was accomplished, by the deliverance of those who were saved and the destruction of those who were destroyed, and it became steady, that is, his law was upheld, upon the Jūdī, of Noah's existence and it settled, and it was said: 'Away with, that is, destruction for, the evildoing folk!', who denied God's religion and worshipped vain desire instead of the truth and substituted the place of the Law with the path of nature.

And Noah called out to his Lord and said, 'My Lord, lo! my son is of my family: fatherly compassion and the affectionate bonds of kinship drove him to demand his deliverance on account of the intensity of his attachment to him and concern for his affair. Despite that, he was mindful of the [refined] manners required in the [divine] presence and the virtuous [form of] requesting [from God], saying: and truly Your promise is the Truth, and he did not say, 'do not break Your promise to deliver my family'. And he said that [which he did say] only because of the presence of some variegation and a remnant within him, since by 'family' he had understood those related [to him] by form and natural ties of kinship, oblivious on account of his excessive distress for his son of God's proviso where He said: save those against whom the Word has already gone forth [Q. 11:40], failing to realise that his son is the one against whom the Words had already gone forth. Nor did he [Noah] solicit the compassion of his Lord, but alluded with his words: and You are the Most Just of Judges' to the fact that the Knower, the Just and the Wise does not break His promise.

He said: 'O Noah, lo! he is not of your family: in other words, that [the one who is of] your family in reality is the one with whom you share religious kinship, a spiritual relationship and a real connection not a formal one, as in the saying of the Commander of the Believers, peace be upon him: 'Verily the friend of Muḥammad is the one who obeys God, even if he should be distantly related and verily the enemy of Muḥammad is the one who disobeys God, even if he should be closely related'; lo! it is not a righteous deed: He makes clear that he is not of his family by [saying] that he is not righteous, pointing out that his family are the righteous ones, the followers of his religion and his law and that because of his [the son's] indulging in corruption and error his soul is as it were a unrighteous deed and that the cause of deliverance is only righteousness and not his kinship with you on the basis of form. Thus the one bereft of righteousness shall be denied deliverance. He [God] also intimated that he [his son] was a form of sin that issued from him [Noah], as in the saying, 'he is one of his father's secrets', according to what the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'The child is the secret of his father'. That is because when he [Noah] had done his utmost in his [prophetic] call [to his people] and expended all effort in the prolonged period without his people responding to him, he became wrathful and invoked [God] against them with his words: My Lord, do not leave from among the disbelievers a single dweller upon the earth. Assuredly if You leave them, they will lead Your servants astray, and will beget only disbelieving profligates [Q. 71:26-27]. In this way he was distracted from the presential vision of God's power and wisdom and [from the fact] that He brings forth the living from the dead and brings forth the dead from the living [Q. 10:31]. That invocation of his constituted the sin of his state at the error of his station. Consequently God tried him with the disbelieving profligate whom he claimed, during his state of wrath, was the only thing which they would beget, prejudging God this supposition of his, which is why He cleansed him of that sin with that punishment.

He said, 'My Lord, I seek refuge in You that I should ask of You that whereof I have no knowledge. Unless You forgive me, my variegations and the manifestation of my remnants, and have mercy on me, by [granting me] uprightness and fixity, I shall be among the losers', who lose their souls as a result of being veiled from Your knowledge and wisdom.

It was said, 'O Noah, go down, that is, descend from the locus of the union and the pinnacle of the station of sanctity and absorption in the unity to the station of differentiation and law-giving prophethood by returning to creation and witnessing the multiplicity at the source of unity, neither wrathful because of [your] being veiled by them [the multiplicity] from the Truth, nor satisfied with their disbelief by veiling [yourself] from them with the Truth, in peace, that is, safe from being veiled by the multiplicity and from the manifestation of the soul in wrath and from the existence of variegation and the actualisation of attachment after disengagement or error after guidance, from Us, that is, [a peace] issuing from Us and through Us, and blessings, as a result of the legislation of the rules of the Law and the establishing of the foundations of justice by means of which everything grows and is augmented, upon you and upon some communities, that will issue, from those with you, following your religion and your path until the end of time. And [there will be other] communities, that is, and there will issue forth from those with you communities, to whom We shall give enjoyment, in the life of this world, because of their veiling themselves therewith and halting [thereat], and then a painful chastisement will befall them', when We destroy them for their disbelief and burn them in the Fire of the vestiges and chastise them with the configurations.If you wish to effect a correspondence [between this and your own existence], you would interpret Noah as your spirit and the Ark as your cognitive and practical perfection through which shall be your salvation at the point of the Flooding of the sea of primordial matter, such that when the oven of the body overflows as a result of the mastery of alien moisture and corrupt mixtures and there comes the call [proclaiming] its [the body's] disintegration, he [your spirit] rides in it and carries with him [on board] from every two kinds from among the beasts of the animal and the natural faculties and the birds of the spiritual faculties two, that is, their original pair. And [he carries with him] his three sons, Ham (Ḥām) the heart, Shem (Sām) the considerative intellect and Japheth (Yāfith) the practical intellect as well as his wife, the reassured soul, taking it [the Ark] on its course in the Greatest Name of God and [finally] being delivered with timeless subsistence from eternal destruction in the Flood, while his other wife, the corporeal nature, and his son from her, the estimation that sought refuge in the mountain of the brain, are drowned.

And, O my people, ask forgiveness of your Lord, for the sins of the soul's veils and for halting with vain desire in idolatrous association, then turn to Him repentant, by orienting yourselves to the affirmation of Oneness and to the wayfaring along His path through disengagement and illumination, and He will release the sky of the spirit, upon you in abundance, with the waters of true knowledge and gnoses of certainty, and He will add to you, the strength of perfection, to, the strength of preparedness. And do not turn away from Him, as sinners', by manifesting the attributes of your souls and orienting yourselves to the lower aspect through the love of this world and the pursuit of nature.

They said, 'O Hūd, you have not brought us any clear proof: [they said this] because of the deficiency of their understanding and the blindness of their insight to the perception of the proof, [itself] the result of the place of the natural coverings [over them], and so since they could not comprehend him, they necessarily denied him.

Truly I have put my trust in God, my Lord and your Lord; there is no creature, but He takes it by the forelock: he makes clear the necessity of trusting in God and that this [trust] is a fortified citadel, firstly by that His Lordship subsumes all and the one who is lord over another manages his affair and preserves him such that he has no need of the protection or guardianship of another; then by that every soul-possessing individual is subject to His vanquishing power and authority, captive in His disposing hand, His dominion and His power, unable to act, without power over or effect upon another and immobile in himself, like the dead, and as such there is no need to guard oneself or seek protection against him; then by that He is, on a straight path, that is, on the path of justice in the world of multiplicity, which is the shadow of His unity, and consequently He does not give anyone warrant over another except when that person deserves it on account of some sin or crime. Nor does He punish anyone unless he has slipped, even if it should be a minor [slip]; but such [punishment where it is due] might be for the purpose of cleansing [that person] and raising [him] by a degree as in the case of [the degree of] witnessing. In addition, within all of that he denies them and their deities the power to bring benefit or harm.

And, O my people, this is the she-camel of God: the interpretation of the she-camel has already been given. As for the deliverance of Ṣāliḥ and those with them, according to the mentioned interpretation, this is like the deliverance of Jesus, peace be upon him, from crucifixion, as related in His words And yet they did not slay him nor did they crucify him but for them he was given the resemblance [Q. 4:157] and His words and they did not slay him for certain. Nay, God raised him up to Him [Q. 4:157-8], similar to the deliverance of the believing man from among Pharaoh's folk [cf. Q. 40:28], according to what He has alluded to in His words So God shielded him from the evils of what they had plotted [Q. 40:45].

And verily Our messengers came to Abraham with good tidings, to the end of this [verse]: noble human souls possess connections with higher disengaged principles and the holy spirits of the celestial spheres in the way of the vanquishing intellectual lights and the heavenly governing souls and [they also enjoy] mixing with the higher council of the inhabitants of the realm of [divine] invincibility (jabarūt) and ingressions into the realm of dominion (malakūt). For each soul, depending on its primordial nature, there is a principle that corresponds to it from the realm of invincibility and a governor that nurtures it from the realm of dominion. From the former [the principle] it derives the effusion of knowledge and light, while from the latter [the governor] it derives its supply of strength and deeds, as alluded to by His words and every soul will come accompanied by a driver and a witness [Q. 50:21]. And [for each soul] there is also an original resting-place to which it resorts from the Side of the realm of the Divine Essence (lāhūt) should it disengage, as he [the Prophet] said, 'The spirits of martyrs shelter in lanterns of light that hang from below the Throne'. Every time that it [a soul] is attracted to the lower aspect by inclining to natural physical pleasures, it is veiled by the subsequent coverings from that [Divine] Side and is cut off from the supplies that it receives from that aspect in the way of the lights of invincibility and the angelic faculties. As such it becomes weaker in its perception, since it has become veiled from the reception of those irradiations and [weaker] in vigour and strength, cut off as it is from those supplies [provided] by that [angelic] faculty. But each time that it orients itself towards the higher aspect by rising above corporeal configurations and disengaging from material garments and drawing closer to God, the Principle of all principles and the Light of all lights, exalted be He, by [acts of] renunciation and worship and by adhering to these principles with cleanliness and probity, with his [this person's] deeds bound to sincerity of intention and devoted conscience, God will reinforce that person, by virtue of his correspondence with the residents of His presence, from their world with the reinforcement of light and power so that it [that soul] will know what no one else knows from among those of its own genus and will have the power to do what no one else will have the power to do from among those of its own species; it will also have moments in which it penetrates that [world] by detaching itself from its body and other moments where it will be remote therefrom depending on what afflicts it from [its] governance of its body.

[Shuʿayb said] I see you in prosperity: when Shuʿayb, peace be upon him, saw [the extent of] their misguidance by their idolatrous association and their veiledness to the Truth by [their worship of the idol] al-Jibt [Q. 4:51] and their desperation to acquire ephemera through all manner of vices and their extreme covetousness to garner wealth by means of the most evil characteristics, he bid them to desist from that, saying to them [in effect]: I see you [potentially] prospering in your preparedness with the possibility of actualising perfection and receiving guidance. Therefore I fear for you lest your sins should encompass you for your being veiled from the Truth, your halting with some other [besides God], diverting your reflective energies in their entirety to the pursuit of livelihood, your turning away from the final return and restricting your aspirations to the mere securing of the corrupt transient things instead of the actualising of the enduring righteous deeds, and because of your orienting yourselves towards the lower aspect instead of the higher aspect and your preoccupation with the bestial specific qualities instead of the human perfections. So adhere to the affirmation of Oneness and justice, separating yourselves from idolatrous association and injustice which is the sum-total of vices and the mother of ruinous dangers.

And do not be degenerate, in your corruption, that is, do not go to extremes or to the utmost in corruption, for injustice is the end-result of such [corruption], just as justice is the end-result of righteous work and the sum-total of virtues.

The remainder [which is] with God is better for you if you are believers: in other words, if you believe in anything remaining, then what would remain for you with God in the way of perfections, felicities of the Hereafter, intellectual assets as well as cognitive and practical acquisitions are better for you than those ephemeral acquisitions in which you endure hardship and which you oppress yourselves in order to acquire and actualise but then abandon at death and nothing remains of them with you except the evil consequences of the implications of such [acquisitions] and the necessary chastisement for the firmly-rooted configurations of your souls. After he had witnessed their denial, their obdurate persistence in disobedience and their mockery of his obedience [to God], as well as his renunciation, his affirmation of [His] Oneness and his integrity with their words:

Does your [way of] prayer, to the end of this [verse],

He said, 'O my people, have you considered, in other words, tell me: what if I might be [acting] upon, a proof of certitude regarding [my] affirmation of the Oneness, from my Lord and that He has provided me with fair sustenance from Himḍ, in the way of cognitive and practical wisdom, as well as perfectedness and perfection by means of uprightness in affirming the Oneness, would it be right for me to abandon my forbidding of idolatrous association and injustice, and my desire to set things right by cleansing and adorning you [with righteous deeds]ḍ The apodosis of araÌaytum ('have you considered') has been omitted because it has [already] been indicated in similar [passages], as the aforementioned stories of Noah and Ṣāliḥ, peace be upon them both, and [indicated] by the words here that are specific to him: And I do not desire to be inconsistent before you, to the end of this [verse]: that is, that I should seek to procure transient this-worldly benefits [for myself] by committing the very injustices which I am forbidding you. I desire only to, set my soul and your souls right by acts of self-cleansing and preparation for the reception of wisdom so far as I am able. And I am only successful in setting things right, through God. In Him I trust and to Him I turn [repentant].

And ask forgiveness from your Lord, then repent to Him. Surely my Lord is ever-merciful, loving. He says, " Ask forgiveness from your Lord, for He is the forgiver and the servant-caresser-not as is fitting for the servant, but as is fitting for Him. No matter how many offenses the servant may have, in the end the Patron's bounty is more. It is the gentleness of lordhood that offers its gentle- ness to the attribute of servanthood: Whatever shortcoming servants may have, My unneediness is equal to it. Whatever may be unapproved from him, My loving kindness is on top of that. What- ever the servant may hope, My bounty is greater than that. " Surely my Lord is ever-merciful, loving. The loving is He who shows His love to His servants by His beautiful doing toward them. The loving is He who caresses the servant with His loving kindness and pours over him continual blessings so that the servant will become His friend. This is why He said to David, " O David, make Me beloved to My servants. Make My path clear to My servants and throw friendship for Me into their hearts. Teach them about My blessings and make My words sweet in their hearts. Tell them that I am the Lord with munificence and no niggardli- ness, with knowledge and no ignorance, with patience and no incapacity, with wrath but no annoy- ance. There is no change in My attributes and no alteration in My words. With Me the word does not change, and I do not wrong the servants [50:29]. " So, if the servant should fall short, not recognize what is rightfully due to this generosity, and not show gratitude for blessings, He will rebuke and say, " O son of Adam! You have not been fair to Me! I showed My love for you through blessings, and you showed your hate for Me through acts of disobedience. My good descends upon you, and your evil rises up to Me. " ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib narrated this hadith from the Prophet, who narrated it from God.

They said: 'O Shuʿayb, we do not understand: they did not understand because of the existence of rust on their hearts as a result of the sins which they earned. The reason why it was the fear of his clan and not the fear of God, exalted be He, that prevented them from stoning him was because they had veiled themselves with creation from the Truth, which is caused by a lack of understanding, similar to where He says: You indeed arouse greater awe in their hearts than God. That is because they are a people who do not understand [Q. 59:13].

And so, some of them will be wretched, and [some] fortunate: since [the expressions for] 'wretched' and 'fortunate' are given as indefinite nouns in order to emphasise the magnitude [of the affair], this indicates that the ones meant are the pre-eternally and sempiternally wretched or fortunate. And having described them in differentiated divisions, He indicates an exception in the case of the wretched one's everlasting stay in the Fire and in the case of the fortunate one's everlasting stay in the Garden by His words:

except what your Lord may will, because what is meant by the Fire and the Garden is the chastising of the soul with the fires of privation from what is desired and the pains of the [dark] configurations and vestiges, and [respectively] the rewarding of the soul with the Garden of the actualisation of desired things and pleasures. And [what is meant] by the excepting of both from the everlasting stay is [respectively] the exiting of the wretched one therefrom to what is more severe in the way of the fires of the heart from the veils of the attributes and the acts through wrath, banishment, humiliation, degradation and the fires of the spirit through veiledness, accursedness and subjugation; and the existing of the fortunate one therefrom to what is more pleasurable and more delightful in the way of the gardens of the heart at the station of the self-disclosures of the attributes through beatitude, gentleness, honouring and exaltation and the gardens of the spirit at the station of presential vision through the encounter [with God] and the manifestation of the august glories of the Majesty and what no eye has seen or ear has heard or has ever occurred to a mortal's heart, since the wretched one is the counterpart of the fortunate one. As for the exiting of the fortunate one from the Garden and into the Fire, that is impossible as indicated by His words:

an unending gift, that is, one that is not interrupted. Likewise is true of the opposite [case of the wretched], even though His words, exalted be He, [that He is] Doer of what He desires [Q. 11:107] suggests it, given that it is a very severe punishment (waʿīd). But that is the tongue of refined manner and [the way of] being mindful of the manifest senses before verifying esoteric meanings. Reality dictates that because the wretched one belongs in the various aforementioned levels of the Fire, he will not exit from it but will move from one layer to another and from one grade to another and is thereby eternally condemned. Consequently what is meant by the exception [in his case] is something else and that is that from the perspective of the [exclusive] unity [of God] he is with his Lord and the Lord leads him by his forelock along a straight path: the barren west winds (al-dabūr), which is the vain desire of the soul, drives him to Gehenna. There he finds himself at the source of propinquity (qurb) alongside the vain desire of his soul and takes pleasure in that which is appropriate for him so that it becomes [for him] the source of bliss. And in his case that which is called the Fire (musammā al-nār) disappears and becomes a Garden by virtue of his enjoyment of pleasures therein, even if he should be distant from the bliss of the fortunate one, as related in the ḥadīth: 'Watercress will grow forth from the bottom of Gehenna', and it is also [stated] therein: 'There will come a time when Gehenna's gates will be closed shut when there no longer remains anyone in it'. Likewise is the case with the fortunate one, as he passes through the Gardens and its degrees; but the exiting [therefrom] in light of the exceptive statement is something else [too]. Thus in his annihilation in the [exclusive] unity of the Essence and his being consumed by the ardour of fervent love, he will be among the august glories of the Beauty, where the Truth is [at once] the witness and the witnessed, not at the station of witnessing by the presence of the spirit but by the presential vision of the Essential unity in which there remains no entity or vestige of anything other than Him, [the like of which] no eye has seen or ear has heard or has ever occurred to a mortal's heart.

So remain upright as you have been commanded, by fulfilling the dues of God through God. For he, blessings and peace be upon him, was commanded to safeguard God's dues and to magnify His command and to direct His creatures by enforcing the judgements of the self-disclosures of the [divine] attributes after his return to creatures together with his presential vision of the [inclusive] unity of the Essence in such a way that he does not move, be still, speak or reflect except through Him, without the manifestation of any variegation from the remnants of his attributes or essence and [such] that no incoming thought occurs to him from without Him without violating one of the conditions of [his] magnification [of God], as he himself said: 'Should I not then be a grateful servantḍ', when, after his feet became swollen from [standing in lengthy] night vigils, he was asked, 'Did not God [already] give you the good tidings with His words that God may forgive you what is past of your sin and what is to come [Q. 48:2]ḍ'; and without [violating] any substation (daqīqa) pertaining to the forbidding of indecency and the enjoining of decency and to [his prophetic] warning and call, which is an incredibly difficult thing. That is why he [the Prophet] said, 'Sūrat Hūd has made my hair turn grey'. It is reported that when the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, saw a certain knower in his dream who asked him about that saying: 'Why, O Messenger of Godḍ Is it because of the stories of the prophets [mentioned therein] and the chastisement that befell their denying communities and the hardship they [the prophets] had to endure because of their communitiesḍ', to which he [the Prophet] said, 'No! It is because of His words So remain upright as you have been commanded'; and he who repents, from his ego and the sin of his existence, with you, from among the affirmers of Oneness who have arrived at the presential vision of the multiplicity at the source of [the inclusive] unity and the station of subsistence after annihilation. And do not transgress, by veiling yourselves with the veil of I-ness and ascribing the non-delimited divine perfections to your individuated I-ness which are confined to seeing [only] you and which necessarily result in veiledness by virtue of being confined to [something] other than non-delimitation. For the Divine ipseity cannot be confined by haecceity (hādhiyya) or I-ness (anāÌiyya). Truly He sees what you do, [and] whether you do it through Me or through your souls.

And do not incline toward the evildoers, that is, [those] who are guilty of associating [God] with a latent vain desire produced by the existence of some elusive remnant or some subtle shift towards the affirmation of another [besides God], for that is indeed the swerving that is comparable to [evil] transgression [alluded to] in His saying: The eye did not swerve, nor did it transgress [its bounds] [Q. 53:17]; lest the Fire, of [divine] wrath and privation, touch you, by way of [your] becoming veiled and chastisement by [your] separation, of the fires of the Beloved's jealousy, as in where He said to His beloved [Muḥammad]: 'Give good tidings to sinners that I am the Forgiver and warn the truthful that I am the Jealous One'; it is because of this idea that he [the Prophet] said that the sincere are in tremendous danger. For the substations (daqāÌiq) of the sins of their states are too fine to be perceived by the intellect and their punishment too severe to be estimated by illusion; and you will have, then, besides God, no protectors, to guard you from His punishment, govern your affairs or nurture you, and then you will not be helped, against His might: this is a threat for His friends. How [much worse] then [would it be] for His enemiesḍ

And establish prayer at the two ends of the day: since the five senses are sources of distraction that distract the heart with corporeal configurations that rush in on it and attract it away from the Presence of the Compassionate One, veiling it from the light and from being present by turning [it] away from the Holy Side and orienting [it] to the substance of abomination, substituting its intimacy with loneliness and purity with sulliedness, five prayers were prescribed in which the servant can devote himself without distraction to being present and close the doors of the senses, lest there should rush in on the heart any distraction, and [in which] the door of the heart is opened up to God, exalted be He, by orienting [to Him] and by means of the intention for [the reception of] the arrival of the reinforcement of light, and [in which] that person can gather his scattered thoughts and enjoy the intimacy of his Lord away from loneliness alongside a united orientation and an actualised concentration. Thus these prayers come to constitute five doors for the heart that open out to the Side of the Lord through which light enters onto him - in contrast to the five that open up to the side of Deluder and the abode of the Accursed Deluder through which darkness enters - so that the incoming light might dissipate the vestiges of its darknesses and sweep away the dust of its sulliedness. That is the meaning of His words: Indeed good deeds annul misdeeds. It is also related in ḥadīth that [the period] from one prayer to the next expunges what [sins] are between them, so long as the grave sins are avoided. He has commanded that it be observed at the two ends of the day so that its provisions, for the subsisting of concentration and the mastery of the luminous configuration, might be extended from the first [end] to [include] all the times [of the day], so that maybe that person might be of those who regularly observe their prayers [cf. Q. 70:23] by the regular occurrence of that presence and the subsistence of that light, and that perhaps he might sweep away and remove at the end [of the day] the separation and the sulliedness that were actualised in all of the other moments.

And be patient, through God as you [endeavour to] remain upright and with God through being present during prayers and not relying on the other; for indeed God does not waste the wage of those who are virtuous, those who witness Him while they fulfill the dues of uprightness, maintain justice and satisfy the preconditions for the magnification [of God] in acts of worship.

Had your Lord willed, He would have made mankind one community, of equal [levels of] preparedness and in accord on the religion of Oneness and the requirements of primordial nature; but they continue to differ, in orientation and preparedness,

except those on whom your Lord has mercy, by guiding them to the affirmation of Oneness and granting them success for perfection: these are in agreement with regard to beliefs and goals and in harmony with regard to their conduct and their [spiritual] path, their prayer-direction being the Truth and their religion, the affirmation of [His] Oneness and love; and for that, difference, He created them, so that each one of them might prepare for some task and some activity and select by his nature a pursuit and a vocation, and that the arrangement of the world might thereby become ordered and that the means to livelihood might be established. They [mankind] are thus bearers of the command of God, made to bear the baggage of causes and provisions, and that by which mankind can sustain themselves. By them He has regulated the proper order of the life of this world. The group who are the recipients of mercy are loci for the manifestation of His perfection, by whom He manifests His attributes and His acts, making them a repository for His wisdoms, His gnoses and His mysteries. And the Word of your Lord has been fulfilled, that is to say, It has been consolidated, concluded and confirmed, and It is the following: 'I will surely fill Hell with jinn and mankind together', because Hell is one of the levels of existence and, from the point of view of [divine] wisdom, cannot be suspended and concealed indefinitely in non-existence while it is a possibility.

And all that We relate to you of the accounts of the messengers, that with which We might strengthen your heart: since We have apprised you of how they suffered hardships at the hands of their communities but remained firm at the station of uprightness without slipping therefrom, and [apprised you] of how We reprimanded them for their variegations and for the manifestation of some remnant of theirs, as in the story of Noah when he asks for the deliverance of his son; and [apprised you] of the strength of their steadfastness and courage in their certainty and trust [in God], as in the story of Hūd where he says: Lo! I call God to bear witness and you, bear witness also, that I am innocent of what you associate [Q. 11:54] to where he says [Surely my Lord is] on a straight path [Q. 11:56]; and [apprised you] of the perfectedness of their generosity and virtue in the face of insolence, as in the story of Lot where the daughters are offered up in exchange for the safeguarding of guests from evil, [since We have apprised you of all of that], your heart has been made firm by all of that and your uprightness has been stabilised and your fixity has been strengthened by the dissipation of the vestiges of variegations from you, and your trust, your satisfaction, your certainty and your courage have been fortified and your character and your generosity have been perfected. And in this, sūra, there has come to you the truth, that is, that by which the convictions of the believers are verified, and an admonition, for them with which they might guard against that for which He destroyed [former] communities, and a reminder, of what they should follow as [their] religion and adopt as their path and conduct. But God knows best.